Chapter Twelve

  What Knife Scar said is true, in a war there will always be deaths! But I don't want to die like this, and I think not just me, anyone wouldn't want to die like this! Let's not talk about death being heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather. I think when you're a soldier, if you have to die, it should be a glorious death on the battlefield, isn't there a saying that goes something like "a man should return wrapped in horse hide"? Anyway, it shouldn't be like Sergeant's... just now we gave her food so she wouldn't run around randomly, but in the blink of an eye there was a "bang"!

  You want to say that the squad leader is a martyr... He was beaten to death by the people! If you say he's not a martyr, how can we justify the sacrifice of the squad leader and his family?!

  Everyone says that a smiling face is not hit when hands are outstretched, so I just can't figure out why that Vietnamese woman would do such a thing! What a vicious woman she was! She clearly understood what we were saying, clearly knew we meant no harm to her, and clearly knew we'd be leaving her house soon... So why did she still want to kill our squad leader? Why did she want to kill me too? Is this really what war is like?

  It was only later that I realized my thoughts at the time were too naive. In fact, the Vietnamese had long been prepared to fight us, and most of the local civilians had already been evacuated. The vast majority of those who remained in the border area were soldiers disguised as ordinary people. Of course, there were also some elderly men who really couldn't move.

  It is precisely because of these so-called "ordinary people" that we have suffered unnecessary casualties.

  We are like having our hands tied behind our backs, wrestling with a pack of ferocious wolves!

  When we follow the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention" to get close to and win over the Vietnamese people, the enemy among them will look for every opportunity to harm us.

  They are ordinary civilians during the day, but once night falls and they pick up their guns, they become a military force. For example, our army's logistics supply line was ambushed by Vietnamese "old ladies", and even the stretcher teams carrying wounded soldiers became targets for them to shoot at. Soldiers who got lost or separated from their units were subjected to brutal treatment before being killed in extremely cruel ways.

  I once saw the corpse of a Liberation Army soldier, his limbs were cut off and various organs on his head were flattened, he was left to rot in the wilderness and bled to death...

  All this is after the fact, I was very clear that my behavior violated discipline, even if the Vietnamese woman was not an ordinary civilian but a Vietcong agent, I still violated the "no abuse of prisoners of war and killing of prisoners of war" clause. But I don't regret what I did, if I had to do it again, I would still pull the trigger.

  What I find strange is that just a day ago, I was still the kind of person who would be scared by seeing corpses and blood, but now I dare to face my enemy head-on and shoot them in the head...

  The body of the class leader gradually lay on the side of the road, I really couldn't imagine that someone who was just talking to me and smiling at me had no signs of life left in them, lying there waiting for the collection team to collect the bodies. However, I soon realized that the casualties we were about to face would not be limited to just the class leader alone.

  Gunshots and screams came in waves from the depths of the old street, occasionally accompanied by a few explosions. The once seemingly peaceful and harmonious old street suddenly became fraught with danger.

  This situation continued until the arrival of nightfall, when the warriors finally completed a task that seemed simple to their superiors, using their own lives and blood: concentrating Vietnamese civilians in the town hall of Old Street for unified management.

  Among them, some warriors were stabbed in the chest by a sharp knife while carrying an old lady; Some warriors saw children and didn't guard against them, who would have thought that just a few steps later, a burst of bullets from behind would knock them to the ground; There were also some warriors who only saw some wounded men go to rescue them, who knew they still held a hand grenade with the safety catch released...

  It's not just a matter of casualties, but to a large extent it affects the morale of the troops. To the point where soldiers sitting in the camp facing the fallen soldiers on the roadside were all holding back their breath and couldn't speak.

  I can actually understand their feelings, because I also have a belly full of anger. With hands and feet tied, how can one feel good about fighting the enemy? Comrades are dying one after another at the hands of those "ordinary people", but we still have to love and protect every blade of grass and tree of theirs - can our hearts be at peace? And yet we also have to protect their lives and property? Even if mistakes are made, we will be punished.

  "Commander, I...I don't understand"

  "Those ordinary people... can they be considered ordinary people? They have guns, knives and hand grenades. What about our Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention? If the squad leader hadn't been careful today, I would have lost my life to an old man!"

  It wasn't until later that I found out that Knife Scar had been quietly following behind us all the way to the meeting hall, waiting for the old man to pull out his dagger so he could rush forward and knock him down with a gun butt.

  From this point of view, Knife Scar seems to have a lot of experience in this regard.

  "Think it through no matter what!" Lian Zhang replied in a loud and coarse tone: "This is an order from above!"

  "Comrades!" The instructor took over the topic and said: "Comrades, don't be discouraged by some sacrifices and casualties in front of us. We must know that we are a team of the people's masses, and all our victories are achieved with the support of the people's masses. Although the Vietnamese people still have some misunderstandings about us, I believe that as long as we do well, do right, and persist... one day, the Vietnamese people will understand and support us! This is also the requirement of our superiors! We must execute the tasks assigned to us by our superiors with a brand new spirit and attitude, and report back to the Party and the people with outstanding achievements!"

  The instructor is a special ideological and political worker in the army, and what he says is indeed extraordinary. However, no matter how we listen to it, it's not quite right... I feel even more absurd listening to it, can these Vietnamese people really become our own people, our own masses? Does the superior still hope that the Vietnamese people will welcome us with drums and cymbals when we occupy Vietnam? Isn't this nonsense?!

  But I didn't say anything and the soldiers also stopped making comments because everyone understood that it would be useless to mention it, this is an order from above!

  Soldiers must unconditionally obey their superiors' orders, even if it means sacrificing their blood and lives!

  However, I didn't consider myself a soldier, to be honest, I never was... The hardships of this day have already tormented me until I'm neither human nor ghost. And now there's even more reason to slack off! With superiors giving such blind orders, letting us sacrifice ourselves in vain on the front lines, no way am I going to do that!

  So I was thinking... this old street can be said to be full of broken houses and tiles everywhere, and it's not far from the Chinese border either. If I disguise myself as a Vietnamese civilian and escape, wouldn't that be... Our troops have three major disciplines and eight points for attention, right? Even if I get caught, at most I'll just be sent to the meeting hall to stay with those Vietnamese civilians, and I won't be "dealt with" as a deserter.

  Thinking of this I was about to get up and pretend to go to the side, but then I thought again and felt that it wasn't right... after all, I had two guns on my back.

  The 56 is fine, just wrap it in clothes and the problem is solved. However, that sniper rifle is too big and long, and it's easy to attract attention from others.

  Forget it! Thinking of this, I gritted my teeth and handed the sniper rifle to a small stone sitting next to me: "I'll go take care of something, you help me keep an eye on this gun!"

  "Alright!" Xiaoshi enthusiastically responded, he had been eyeing the sniper rifle on me for a long time, and now it was just what he needed.

  To be honest, I felt a little sorry to drop this sniper rifle, but thinking that there were only two bullets left anyway, it was like throwing away a fire stick, so my heart also became calm.

  Said to act out the whole set, before leaving I specially asked the reader for some toilet paper, and then ran to a civilian house with a flashlight half covering my stomach... As soon as I entered the house, I saw that no one was paying attention, and immediately pulled out a broken piece of clothing from the messy bed and put it on, then grabbed the rifle and ran straight to the back door.

  Because I was very clear about the location of the sentry post, I escaped to the village entrance a few minutes later with ease. Seeing the moonlight and night color outside the village, my heart couldn't help but feel relieved, finally escaping this hell-like environment... These days of constantly worrying about sacrificing myself were really not humanly livable, but it was only after truly experiencing this taste that I came to realize the importance of life.

  This is true, as long as I can survive, I won't have any complaints even if I go back to my home country and work like a cow or horse. Of course, if I can live a good life, I wouldn't mind either. I've even made plans, first go to that place where the coffins are buried... If I can return to modern times, it would be best to go back to that warm and comfortable home, but if not, let's just escape back to my home country and make a living somehow! Even begging for food is better than going to war, isn't it?

  However, I soon found myself thinking too simply, because at this time there were suddenly several dozen figures crouching with guns in their hands around me. Under the moonlight... they all turned out to be PLA soldiers.

  I couldn't help but think to myself that it's all over, and unexpectedly, I still can't escape the Buddha's palm. Now I just hope they won't take me for a deserter, I've made up my mind, when they ask later, I'll insist that I just came out to relieve myself and happened to take a walk, as for this civilian clothes on my body... I'll say it's for keeping warm.

  I was just about to greet them, but suddenly I felt something was off... If these guys were the PLA, why were they crouching and advancing cautiously? Moreover, one of them seemed to be secretly waving at me. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the weapons in their hands were AK-47s, and then I understood - this was a group of Vietnamese soldiers disguised as the PLA.

  It's better if I don't understand it. Once I understand it, I'm shocked and break out in cold sweat, standing there blankly, not knowing what to do...