Chapter 66

  "What a long line?" We had just returned from the chaotic battlefield, and Captain Luo looked at us and asked, "Where are the rest of our comrades?"

  The warriors didn't say a word, and as the squad leader, I had to force myself to say: "Two warriors sacrificed themselves to cover our retreat, and the squad leader went missing in action while trying to draw enemy fire... his life or death is still unknown..."

  "Life and death are uncertain? What is life and death uncertainty?!!" I said this, and several soldiers in front of me did not respond. The first one was Wang Gening, who I remembered had reported the previous company commander to be removed from office.

  "Second Lieutenant!" Wang Gening glared at me with fierce eyes and said, "I thought you were a capable person. The previous battles were still somewhat decent, but what's wrong with this one? You're letting your soldiers cover for you and having the platoon leader absorb firepower. What the hell are all of you doing?"

  "What did you say?" As soon as Wang Genning said this, the soldiers under my command naturally didn't agree, especially Stab and Little Stone, who had gone up with me, rushed forward to argue with Wang Genning.

  "Everyone, stop!" Luo Lianchang's command made everyone return to their positions. His scholarly face turned fierce and was quite intimidating.

  "Look at you all... what are you doing?! " Luo Lianzhang pointed fiercely at Wang Gening and the others, saying: "The Japanese devils are right in front of us, with guns and cannons ready to tear us apart, and you're still bickering and causing internal strife!"

  "We are not cowards who fear death!" Chen Yiy also brought the second row of soldiers over: "After fighting so many battles, everyone has seen it before. Our squad leader has made so many contributions, when was he ever afraid?"

  "Right!" The second row of soldiers also followed, each one proudly raising their heads and chests. It was actually me myself... who had no confidence in my heart, and in fact not only feared it, but several times thought about deserting.

  At this time, the instructor also squeezed in, he looked at me with ill intentions and said: "Well, Comrade Yang Xuefeng... every time the troops make trouble, you have a share!"

  I'm going to screw your mother... Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but curse in my heart: I don't even know where I offended you, everywhere is targeting me. Just now on the battlefield, I risked my life to fight against the devils, and now that I've returned, I still have to endure criticism...

  But this can only be kept in mind, because I know that the instructor is our superior, and offending him will not bring any benefits.

  Chen Yiyuan didn't care if he was an instructor or not, his face turned cold and he reached for the AK hanging from his waist... I'm so scared, this girl is always grabbing guns, last time it caused a big commotion, this time if she points her gun at the instructor again... won't our troops be in chaos?

  Thinking of this, he hastily took a step forward and blocked Chen Yiyis path.

  "Hey... are you still not convinced or what?" I took this step to cover up Chen Yiy's action, but unexpectedly, it made the instructor misunderstand again. He glared at me with a menacing gaze and said: "What? Are you thinking of rebelling again?"

  "Hey Lao Yu! Calm down..." Luo Lianzhang also felt it was a bit too much and advised, "Let's figure out the situation first!"

  "This is not a matter of understanding the situation!" The instructor said coldly: "This is a matter of troop discipline, a matter of ideological and political work, a matter of revolutionary style..."

  I couldn't help but think that it's really easy for people to put a high hat on others, and the remnants of the decade-long turmoil can't be changed just by saying so.

  "Company commander is back! The company commander has returned..." At this critical moment, the shouts of several soldiers interrupted the instructor's thinking.

  Following the sound, I saw a scarred and blood-soaked man holding an assault rifle, crouching and running towards us in the trenches, with two additional AK-47s on his back.

  "How was it? Nothing wrong, right?" Knife Scar plopped down beside us, panting heavily: "Damn it! Those devils can really run, they ran for two whole hills before I could shake them off! Hmm? And there are still two people left?"

  "They sacrificed themselves!" Little Stone replied, "The two of them were injured and voluntarily stayed behind to cover our retreat... In the end, they detonated the explosive tube and perished together with the enemy!"

  "Hmm!" Scar nodded silently for a moment, then nodded and said: "Good job! Didn't bring shame to our troops!"

  Suddenly felt a bit strange atmosphere on the scene, and couldn't help but ask: "What's going on?"

  "Hmm, nothing." Luo Lianchang explained: "Just now... your soldiers were asking the second squad leader about your whereabouts! It's good that you're back..."

  Dàobā (Knife Scar) took a look at the anger on our faces, seeming to understand something. He didn't say much either, just smiled lightly: "Hey, that last battle was really intense! The six of us ran into at least two platoons of Viet Cong and we actually managed to push them back!"

  "Right!" Xiao Shi Tou chimed in, "We've already taken down over twenty of those Vietnamese devils. When we get back, they'll still treat us like criminals and interrogate us!"

  As she spoke, she fiercely stared at the instructor.

  The instructor's face turned red, and he put on a smiling face: "Hmmm, I said why there was gunfire over there but no enemy came over... Uh... Since the situation is clear now, let's all disperse."

  "Disperse!" Luo Lianzhang ordered, "The Japanese devils have just launched a surprise attack on us, they shouldn't be able to launch another one so soon. All units, take note and rest! Replenish your strength and prepare for the next battle!"

  "Yes!" The warriors responded and dispersed respectively.

  Dāo bā zài wǒ páng biān pèng le pèng wǒ de xià zhǒu shuō: "suàn le, zán men dǎ zán men de zhàng, guǎn bié rén zěn me shuō ne!"

  Translation:

  Dagger Scar touched my elbow and said, "Forget it, let's mind our own business and not care what others say!"

  I was originally holding back a belly full of anger... but thinking about Tōjū's combat ability and command ability, it can be said that he could be a regimental commander or division commander, yet until now he is still just a platoon leader. I'm afraid he has endured more frustration and hardship in this regard than me. But he can be so carefree as if nothing matters...

  Thinking about it makes me feel narrow-minded.

  He let out a sigh and sat down, smiling bitterly as he said: "Actually, what they said wasn't wrong either. It was my order to leave those two wounded men behind and retreat..."

  Dàobā (the character) nodded again, smiled ambiguously and said: "You're right, but you said it wrong. It shouldn't be said that we abandoned those two wounded comrades to retreat, but rather that they gloriously sacrificed themselves while executing a covering mission, understand?"

  "Perhaps..." I said thoughtfully: "If we carry them together and walk, perhaps we can all come back alive..."

  "That's just a maybe!" Scar interrupted me, "If you do that, maybe none of you will come back!"

  He paused for a moment, then Scar continued: "You'll encounter many such things in the future. Now you know what it means to sacrifice the small me to preserve the greater me!"

  Said and patted my shoulder then walked away.

  Sacrifice the small me to save the big me? The words are easy to say, but how many people can actually sacrifice themselves for others when it comes down to it? I used to think no one could do it, but now I've changed my mind. The facts in front of me have made me believe...

  "Ugh……" At this time, the whistling sound of enemy shells rose again in the air, and suddenly the shells exploded around us like usual, layer upon layer of earth waves rushing towards our trenches.

  But at that time, I felt that these shells were not so scary anymore. Later on, maybe it was from then on that my mindset had undergone a subtle change! The reason is simple, after being saved by people several times, there will be a feeling that one's life no longer belongs to oneself. Since even one's own life doesn't belong to oneself, then what's the point of worrying or being afraid?

  This time the enemy did not follow the artillery shells and charge as usual. At first, we were tense and set up various weapons on the trenches, but after waiting for a long time, there was no one in front of the position... Just when we relaxed, another burst of gunfire came... Still no one appeared...

  The devils won't be playing the "wolf came" game, will they? If so, it's a bit too stupid. Our army just needs to arrange a few sentries in front of the formation and their tricks won't work. Then, the scar-faced man's shouting made me feel that my thoughts were a bit too simple.

  "Comrades! The devils are using fatigue tactics on us!" Scar shouted at us: "They want to make it impossible for us to sleep, we must seize the time to rest well and build up our strength in order to better fight the devils!"

  It wasn't until then that I realized the enemy's goal was still to exhaust us... It should be said that the enemy's tactics were quite successful, as we had been marching and fighting continuously for two days and were already exhausted. Now the enemy was using this method to "harass" us, which was adding insult to injury.

  The scar said it was good to rest, but how could he rest? His eyes had just closed and he was about to fall asleep when a burst of cannon fire boomed from above, followed by an earth-shattering explosion that felt like sitting on top of a volcano about to erupt... If he could sleep through this, he'd be a saint.

  At this time, I complained in my heart, where did our big guns go? Why did the devils' big guns charge against us so triumphantly, and not a single shell was fired from our long-range artillery.

  It wasn't until later that I found out, just as the 316th Division was launching a full-scale attack on our unnamed high ground, it was also when our army intensified its offensive against Gangtou, and long-range artillery fire was used to bombard the enemy's 345th Division stationed in Gangtou!

  It should be said that the superior strategy is correct on this point. The devils don't want to use the 316th and 345th regiments to attack our old street, do they? Then we'll use one unit to block the 316th regiment and then launch a full-scale attack on the 345th regiment...

  The strategy of our army has always been to pick the soft persimmons and squeeze them first, whether it was fighting against the Nationalist Party or on the battlefield in Korea against the coalition forces.

  Isn't the 316A Division strong? Then the main force will naturally attack the 345 Division, it's just that our regiment... no, should say our company, from start to finish has been stuck guarding this transportation hub against the Vietnamese army's 316A Division.

  From this point of view, the superior's strategy is also wrong, what if we can't hold on?

  Of course, I naturally wouldn't want to fail to hold on, because this often means death.