Volume 1: Sudden Battlefield Chapter 2

  "What's your name?"

  Yang Xuefeng.

  "Native place."

  Fujian Province

  ……

  I was led by a scar-faced man to a soldier wearing glasses who was said to be the instructor, and he asked me a lot of questions while writing on a roster, after asking for a while, he pointed to a position on the roster and said: "Sign here!"

  I wrote my name on the top, and the instructor smiled with satisfaction as he put away the notebook, saying: "Comrade Yang Xuefeng, welcome to join our 14th Army, 40th Division, 11th Regiment, 1st Battalion, 2nd Company. As a soldier of the People's Liberation Army, I hope you can uphold the revolutionary spirit of not fearing hardship and sacrifice in future battles..."

  "What?" I was taken aback by this. It's that easy to join the troops and become a soldier? Just now I was still thinking about whether or not to review some documents!

  However, this seems normal too. I seem to have heard the old man say that due to insufficient preparation time for the self-defense counterattack war, the battle was very chaotic. Some troops had been fighting on the front line for several days, and some people were still on their way and hadn't arrived yet. Those who arrived couldn't find their own unit, so they randomly found a unit, took bullets, and followed the charge. Some people even died in battle without anyone knowing their name. It's also because of this that the devils can easily mix into our troops by changing into military uniforms.

  I wanted to say something, but in the end I swallowed my words. Because I knew that the instructor was the person responsible for political work in the unit, and if I said it in front of him, there would be no result other than being given a lecture or writing a deep self-criticism.

  This is terrible. I couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Just now, I was thinking of intentionally doing something unqualified to get kicked out by them, but it seems like I've been trapped instead.

  "Go for it!" After a long speech, the instructor patted me on the shoulder: "Comrade Yang Xuefeng, just follow the second row leader!"

  Scarface, who was standing beside me, nodded and introduced: "The second row leader is nicknamed Knife Scar, he's also from Fujian Province, with excellent military quality. You're both from the same hometown, so you should exchange combat experiences often. Now is the time when our motherland needs us, we can't disappoint the expectations of our motherland and people..."

  Upon hearing this, I could only bitterly smile. The expectations of our country and people? What about my own expectations then?

  "Fall in!" As the instructor walked away, I hugged a glimmer of hope and said to Knife Scar: "You see... am I material for being a soldier? I don't even know how to fire a gun. This troop won't be any stronger with me, nor will it be weaker without me..."

  "Hey, comrade!" Scar Tiger's eyes widened, interrupting me: "Why do you always think of slacking off? What's this nonsense about not being able to shoot a gun? Didn't we just shoot earlier? And didn't we kill one of those Vietnamese devils?"

  "Ah?" At the sound of this, the scene of that Vietnamese ghost's head exploding in front of me appeared again in my mind, and my stomach couldn't help but churn with another wave of nausea.

  "Look at them!" Scar ignored my words, dragging me to the middle of the troops and pointing at a young soldier: "Do you know how old he is? He's not even 18 yet, just had his birthday, and just a few days ago he didn't even know how to shoot a gun, now isn't he still going onto the battlefield?"

  "Comrade, hello!" Little Warrior stood up with a smile: "My name is Wang Shilei, everyone calls me Xiao Shitou!"

  "And this one!" Scarface dragged me in front of a man with a mustache: "He was originally a butcher, and when he went to the battlefield, didn't he also make meritorious achievements? In one battle, he used his bayonet to take down over a dozen devils!"

  "Comrade, hello!" Zhang Dapeng stood up with a silly grin on his face, looking like a big girl getting married, and said in a bashful tone: "My name is Zhang Dapeng, comrades all call me Stabbing Sword!"

  "Zhang Dapeng!" Knife Scar raised his head and said: "Introduce your experience in killing enemies to Comrade Yang Xuefeng!"

  "Actually... nothing much!" Ci Dao scratched his head, thinking for a long time before responding: "I'm uncultured, can't say anything about experience... that, I just treated the devils like pigs and killed them..."

  With a loud laugh, the warriors around him were all amused by this remark and burst into laughter.

  Scars on his face said seriously to me: "I'm telling you, Comrade Yang Xuefeng, it's not allowed to slack off on the battlefield! You should learn from other comrades!"

  Scar said, handing me a rifle and lowering his voice: "You lost your gun on the way, I got you another one. Next time be more careful, as a soldier, losing your gun is a serious mistake!"

  "Made a big mistake?" I felt disheartened: "Leader, what's the point of saying 'made a big mistake'? You... you punish me!"

  "You...!" The scar-faced man's finger viciously jabbed at me several times: "Listen up, kid! I'm warning you! Not a single one of us is a coward. If you humiliate our squad, I won't let you off easy!"

  He said nothing and turned away, his face stern, to sulk by himself. I thought he must be cursing his fate for being stuck with a soldier like me who is both afraid of death and has no sense of shame.

  Damn it, did I want it to be like this?

  Who doesn't know about face? But if you let me carry a gun to fight, if you let me go kill people... You say I've never even killed a chicken before, can I do this job?

  But I really did it, and now I recall that I killed someone earlier. The scene keeps appearing in my mind from time to time, and I think I'll never forget it for the rest of my life.

  Helplessly, he found a place to sit down and picked up the rifle in his hand.

  This is roughly the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, I've heard old men say that this thing is our military's standard-issue rifle, because it was equipped in '56 so it's called the Type 56. Soldiers are used to calling it the "56 Semi". Considering that once you're on the battlefield your life depends on it, I took out a magazine and tried to load it, but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find the entrance.

  "Comrade!" Little Stone chuckled and came over, snatching the rifle from my hand to demonstrate: "Press here, ten rounds of ammunition, the front is a bayonet, pull down and it comes out... shoot like this..."

  He struck a shooting pose in front of me, drawing a burst of laughter from the other soldiers.

  "Alright! Little Stone, how many days have you been shooting?"

  "Great! Our little stone has also become a master!"

  ……

  Only said a few words and the little stone's face turned red with ears, hurriedly returned the gun to me and escaped like a monkey.

  I didn't say anything either, because I sensitively sensed that there was a kind of disdain in the eyes of those warriors looking at me, and I also knew that they were actually laughing at me when they laughed at the small stone.

  If it were the old me, I would have gathered a group of friends to discuss this matter. But now... they are all soldiers who have been through battles, and I am just one person, as the saying goes "two fists can't defeat four hands", wouldn't it be self-inflicted humiliation to argue with them?

  "Everyone is here! Gather!" At this time, a warrior with a gun at his waist, slender and dark-faced, came up and shouted loudly at us.

  Later I found out that this lean and strong warrior was our company commander. It is said that he was a good farmer, and during the Great Production, his troops were always able to complete tasks quickly and efficiently, so he was promoted from a small soldier to company commander. When I heard this, I couldn't help but be stunned - a good farmer? Became a company commander just because he farmed well?

  At the sound of Lian Zhang's command, the warriors sprang up from the ground like they had springs installed and quickly formed a line. I didn't want to be the only one left standing still, so I reluctantly got into position with a slow shuffle.

  "Attention... at ease!" After shouting a string of orders, the company commander stood with his hands on his hips and shouted: "Comrades! The last battle didn't go very well because we weren't fully prepared. But all the soldiers showed great bravery and didn't bring shame to our company. Our superiors have taken into account our difficulties and agreed to give us ten minutes of artillery support. This time, we absolutely cannot disappoint our superiors. We must take down the high ground in front of us with one swift motion and report back to the people of the motherland and the Party Central Committee with outstanding achievements!"

  "Down with Vietnamese revisionism!"

  "Down with all reactionaries!"

  ……

  The warriors were shouting in unison, one voice after another, but this shout sounded so awkward to me...

  "It's now 10:05!" The lean and agile warrior looked at his watch and said, "The general attack will start at 10:30 sharp. Comrades, take this opportunity to rest well and recharge your energy to wipe out the devils!"

  "Kill all Japanese devils!"

  "Kill all Japanese devils!"

  ……

  As the order to "dismiss" was given, the troops immediately became busy. Some were checking their equipment, some were packing up their luggage, and others were whispering to each other, seemingly discussing how to fight this battle... Only I sat blankly on a rock, not knowing what to do.

  "Kid!" I didn't know when Knife Scar came to my side, handed me a cigarette and said: "Later, follow me closely, do what I do, got it?"

  "Yes!" I replied crisply.

  It's a matter of life and death, how dare I pretend to be a hero.

  "Don't be too nervous!" Scar said nonchalantly, "Fighting is just like that, once you're used to it, you'll get the hang of it. Everyone's been afraid before, after a few battles, you'll naturally become a seasoned veteran!"

  I can only bitterly smile in my heart, fearing that I won't even make it to becoming an old soldier before going to see King Yan.

  "Charge!" At this point someone chimed in: "If we take No. 7 High Ground, won't we be fighting our way to Lao Street?"

  "What's wrong with that?" Scar replied excitedly: "Comrades, let's make an effort, and we'll camp in the old street tonight!"

  "Good..."

  "Old Street? No. 7 Highland?" As I listened, my heart skipped a beat.

  I remember the old man saying before that when our troops fought in Laojie, we used the main force of a division to hold back the enemy head-on, and a regiment-sized force bypassed the enemy's front line from the flank of Xiao Cao area, inserting into the depth of the enemy's defense, thus making the enemy's front line lose its significance.

  This strategy was originally no problem, but in the Xiaocao area there were seven nameless heights of varying sizes. The numbering of these heights had problems. Simply put, the 1 to 7 numbered heights compiled by the command and the 1 to 7 numbered heights compiled by the frontline troops were different. As a result, during artillery preparation, all the shells fell on their own people's heads...

  It can't be a coincidence that I'm here, thinking of this made me shiver involuntarily.