When he opened his eyes, he saw the broken sky between the leaves. It was not azure blue, but dark blue. The white clouds were dark as black clouds. The sunlight leaked through the forest in strands, and the pale halo made the green leaves look gray.
Enduring the pain all over my body and the tinnitus in my ears, I sat up in a daze and saw my puppet army hat tilted in the grass a few meters away. Only then did I realize that it had been blown away by the shock wave of the explosion. It seemed like there were gunshots in my ears and there seemed to be crying nearby, but I couldn't hear clearly.
His shoulders shook suddenly, and he turned his face to the side. A subordinate half-knelt beside him and pulled his shoulders. His face was distorted by fear and he shouted at him: "The Eighth Route Army is coming from the south! Platoon leader! Let the brothers retreat! Platoon leader..."
Platoon leader? Yes! He remembered that he was a platoon leader. Being a platoon leader meant much more money, and he had saved up the money for several months. His family had arranged a marriage for him from a neighboring village, and they needed to choose an auspicious day.
Suddenly, half of his face was splashed with hot sticky liquid. The subordinate's hand that was clenched on his shoulder let go of him. He looked around blankly and saw the subordinate beside him trying to cover his neck. His expression of fear had solidified. Suddenly, his head trembled as if it had been hit, as if a dark line pierced through his head at that moment. Plop - a corpse fell beside him, blood was still gushing out, but in his pale eyes, it was not bright red, but very dark.
Looking back to the south, between the light and the shadows of the trees, there were black figures of soldiers swaying, forming a horizontal attack line every few meters, crouching in a despicable and mean manner, carefully raising the muzzles of their guns, or hanging bayonets under the muzzles, and slowly approaching calmly.
He did not shout to retreat, in fact the survivors were already retreating in panic, fleeing towards him. However, he knew that this was wrong.
"Fight back! Hold on! Hold on..."
He was shouting heart-wrenchingly, his hysterical voice could be heard in the dark and not-too-dense woods, but it had no effect on the deserters. They watched helplessly as they were shot in the back, falling heavily into the gray vegetation, or stumbling to their feet and being shot again, as if they were being harvested.
Soon, all the fleeing targets were killed. Then he realized that the situation was not as hopeless as he had imagined. There were at least seven or eight more who were trying to fight back and not flee. Regardless of whether they were following his orders or resisting instinctively, at least there was hope.
He could finally hear clearly the sound of gunfire, bullets cutting through branches, the cries of the wounded, and noise coming from another platoon on the northwest side, which had hesitated and had not yet come to support.
They had been surrounding the wine station, deploying platoon after platoon in a fan-shaped line. His platoon was at the easternmost end of the woods. The insidious Eighth Route Army suddenly launched an attack from this end. It was impossible to get fire support. The only one who could save him was the adjacent platoon. However...
He picked up the Type 79 rifle beside the corpse, and with a blank mind, he ran to the nearest tree trunk, pulled the bolt to load the bullet, and mustered up his courage to lean half of his body forward and raise the gun.
He and a few of his remaining subordinates fired desperately, and after the magazine was emptied, he thought he had hit one, so he pushed the bullet clip back into the chamber, probed the gun and fired again. The black offensive line behind the light and tree shadows finally came to a standstill, but he still did not give up, and shot madly at the shadows of the tree trunks, wishing that his bullets would not penetrate.
Having emptied the magazine again, he reloaded the clip for the second time. Courage eased his tension and he felt that at least he could survive.
He pulled the bolt and raised his gun again, and suddenly found that two of his subordinates were missing from the front. While he was hesitating, the third one was shot. He was clearly half-kneeling behind the tree, why? The body tilted sideways out of the tree trunk and was sinking headfirst into the soil.
"From the side!"
The attack line formed by more than twenty black shadows was nearly fifty meters wide. He and several surviving subordinates vaguely blocked their limited front, but the other end of the attack line did not stop at all, and a group of wretched and gloomy black shadows could be seen on the left!
Rustle, rustle - that was the sound of something heavy hitting a nearby branch, which sounded creepy. A few leaves fell and crashed into the grass.
"Grenade!"
He felt like he fell, no, he was pushed down, lying in the grass looking at the fallen leaves after the explosion, the halo under the shade of the tree was still so pale. The battlefield was different from what he imagined, shouldn't everyone be shooting at each other from a distance? Why did they have to shoot at each other? This was a forest, too close, so close that he could see the muzzle of the gun pointing at him. It was the first time he saw the muzzle of the enemy's gun so close.
He could feel the slaughter line resume its advance, step by step, from tree to tree. Finally, Zhao Wu's military boots stopped beside his face as he lay on his back. The leggings on the boots were tied in a strange way, something he had never seen before. The white light from the tree shadows made the face looking down at him dark, but the brim of the hat was worn low, and the curl was perfect.
"I don't want to die. I can't die. I'm getting married. I surrender. I ..."
He saw the bayonet pierce his chest viciously and then be pulled out neatly, so he was quiet, watching the tall shadow pick up the bloody bayonet again and ruthlessly step over his body. The sky between the leaves became darker... This is a forest.
…
When Wu Yan opened his eyes, he also saw the sky, but the sky was shaking. Because he was lying on a stretcher, he also saw the sweat-soaked backs of the soldiers carrying the stretcher.
"Where is this?"
Hearing Wu Yan on the stretcher speaking, Tiedan hurried over to the stretcher and said, "Company Commander."
"Tell me where this is?"
"White Rock Beach is not far ahead."
“Why do we need to go to Baishi Beach?”
"At that time, a small group of Japanese soldiers swam across the river upstream, and we couldn't retreat westwards... At the intersection just now, I made it look like we were heading north to Niujia Village. We could get rid of them by crossing the river southwards."
Wu Yan, who was on the stretcher, tried to raise his head to see the team behind him, but failed. He coughed for a while and asked, "How many are left?"
Tiedan bit his cracked purple lips and said, "Half."
After a moment of silence, Wu Yan smiled weakly and closed his eyes: "Okay." He fell into coma again.
More than sixty soldiers were exhausted and marched in a single line, covered in dust and blood. The so-called half included the wounded.
Tiedan didn't feel sad, he was glad that he had carried the company commander on his back, and the back of his uniform was stained with blood. He didn't feel honored to be the acting company commander, but felt infinitely lonely, so he always looked back at the team and counted silently again and again.
Snap—
Suddenly, gunshots were heard from behind the ridge!
The sound of the gunshot was like thunder in Tiedan's mind. This must be what happened to the scouts in the front. More importantly, this gunshot would make the previous illusion go to waste. The furious Japanese pursuers would surely follow the sound, and the dream of a safe transfer would be shattered.
I climbed up the ridge with all my strength. Not far away, I saw a team hurriedly deploying. It looked like a puppet army, with about one company. The two teams were originally marching side by side towards Baishitan in the south across the ridge. When they were close enough, they naturally encountered each other. It was the team sent by Li Yong to go upstream and attack the rear of the wine station.
The puppet army was deploying, but Tiedan was not in the mood. The Japanese were behind him, and if he stopped he would be attacked. Fortunately, the puppet army stopped because they had to cross Baishitan first.
About thirty minutes later, the two teams, one in front and one behind, stopped again across Baishitan. The first company was on the south bank of Baishitan, and the puppet army company was on the north bank of Baishitan. The first company that was dragging the wounded soldiers had exhausted their strength, and the puppet army lacked courage.
The knee-deep river water flows slowly and widely, with large pebbles, making the shallow water appear extremely clear, reflecting the swaying clouds and distant mountains.
"Please go! Please!" a seriously injured soldier screamed.
Tiedan looked around and saw few people were injured. It seemed that the Japanese were madly angry. The pursuit team they sent out was chasing them like mad dogs with red eyes. They fought all the way and their ammunition was about to run out. Almost all the survivors were wounded. The Nantan ambush was worth it!
"Leave you to feed the devils?"
"We'll stop them here! Those who can leave can leave!" another seriously injured soldier stated firmly.
If the company commander was still conscious, he would have given the same order. Tiedan wanted to learn how to be a company commander, but at the moment, he didn't know what to learn from the company commander. He just remembered the bitter smile after the company commander fell silent.
So Tiedan smiled with all his strength: "Okay. Let's continue blocking the enemy. Who told me not to be demoted to a squad leader? Who told me we are the first company? The first company is like an iron plate, which cannot be taken apart. Even if we become corpses, we can still hurt the enemy's feet!"
This is a very bad joke, but some people actually laughed along.
Looking back at the north bank, the peace will not last long. The Japanese pursuit troops will arrive at any time. Add to that the puppet army on the other side, and it will be another spectacular attack. Tiedan can't help but get angry. Can he repel another attack? It's time to use the life-threatening skills of the first company.
Soon after, a fire started on the windward side of the south bank of Baishitan. More and more fire piles appeared, and later the fire piles were covered by various green plants. Thick smoke began to spread in large areas, like clouds and fog, spreading on the south bank and obscuring the blocking positions that were being hastily built.
The range is ineffective, the accuracy is ineffective, the firepower is ineffective, anyone who wants to attack must be prepared to draw their bayonets!
The puppet troops on the north bank were dumbfounded. They thought the Eighth Route Army was pretending to block the enemy and then escaped using the smoke. It must be! Everyone thought so, but no one dared to cross the river with a gun. The more unknown, the more fearful. While they were hesitating, the imperial army arrived panting, with red eyes and extreme fatigue, like hungry wolves. Seeing the swirling scene on the south bank, they were too lazy to set up their machine guns.
The leading lieutenant drew his saber halfway, then put it back into the sheath, raised his hand and pointed at the nose of the puppet army commander who came to report: "You guys cross the river first! Now!"
The river surface was sparkling, reflecting the swaying figures of people wading in the water, and the occasional reflection of the bayonet, a large area...