Volume 1: Sudden Battlefield Chapter 50

  The rest ended on the evening of that day. It was said to be a two-day rest, but not only did battles occur during the rest period, but also strictly speaking, the time before and after did not add up to two days.

  What I didn't know was that our rest time was supposed to last until the next morning, but because of the intense fighting at the front, we had no choice but to pull our troops up ahead of schedule.

  "Comrade Company Commander!" I ran a few steps on the march and caught up with Comrade Lian, asking: "What's tonight's mission?"

  In the past, I was just a small soldier and didn't need to worry about anything, but now that I'm a squad leader with thirty or so soldiers under me, I feel like I should understand what's going on.

  "Scouting!" Luo Lianzhang simply replied with two words.

  "Reconnaissance?" Luo Lianzhang said, and I had an opinion: "Lianzhang, isn't it a bit too dangerous to do reconnaissance at night? What's our route? What's the enemy situation like? What if we run into those Viet Minh special agents disguised as our Liberation Army... how can we identify them?"

  "Alas! Why ask so many questions? Just mind your own business!" Luo Lianzhang didn't respond, seemingly not in a good mood.

  It wasn't until afterwards that I found out that Luo Lianchang had actually raised these questions at the battle conference, but no one had answered them either. The regiment commander just said: "You're so talkative, Luo Xianwen! You were assigned to be the scout company precisely because we wanted you to fight while gathering information!"

  The arrangement by the superior is also reasonable, because... as mentioned before, the management of troops is not strict, and soldiers from other troops can join the battle by simply reporting their number and name. As a result, it's natural that many Vietnamese agents who speak Chinese will infiltrate our army...

  So at this time if we prematurely tell the grassroots troops about the route of march and strategic objectives, it is actually telling the Vietnamese army.

  So we were faced with a very strange battle, we didn't know the enemy's position, nor did we know whether our neighbors were friends or foes, and we even didn't know what task to complete... All we knew was that the order consisted of four words: Advance forward!

  I didn't like this feeling of dishonesty, so I pulled out a map that had just been handed to me from my backpack and called Chen Yiy over.

  Two people found a place to hide under a tree by the side of the road and then turned on their flashlight covered with black cloth.

  The purpose of doing so is to prevent the flashlight from exposing the entire unit, or exposing oneself to the muzzle of a Vietcong sniper.

  Fighting in this godforsaken place Vietnam, a slight carelessness could cost you your life.

  "Take a look!" With the faint light of the flashlight, I said to Chen Yiy: "Where are we now, what's in front of us..."

  Chen Yiy looked at it for a long time and still didn't understand. At first, I thought she couldn't read the map, until she frowned and said: "This map is wrong... This road is clearly going to Sabah, how can it be drawn to Mengkang... And here, this should be Honghe River, and this mountain doesn't exist..."

  "Hmm!" It was only then that I remembered an old saying: "When our troops entered Vietnam, the maps we used were drawn during the time of resisting America and aiding Vietnam. They were old things from over a decade ago, and they had serious errors. Many units couldn't find their way..."

  What's the difference between having this map and not having it?

  What's the point of fighting if we don't know anything?

  Suddenly, I have a feeling of a blind man riding a blind horse.

  But that's how it is on the battlefield. It's not like I don't want to fight, but orders from above are there... even if we're unwilling, we still have to move forward.

  "Line up!" After walking in the dark for more than half an hour, Chen Yiyiy suddenly caught up and reminded: "There is a checkpoint ahead, which the Vietnamese call 'Ghost Gate Pass'. The highway passes through the middle of the high ground, with dense grass and trees, making it very suitable for ambushes. What do you think... shouldn't we send someone to scout ahead?"

  I immediately reported the situation to Captain Luo, and Captain Luo immediately ordered the troops to stop. After understanding the general terrain, he gathered several platoon leaders for a brief meeting. It was decided that two platoons would advance along the mountain ridges on both sides of the highway, one platoon would follow the highway, and a squad would be sent ahead.

  This decision is certainly correct. If the main force is dispersed to both left and right sides, once there is an ambush in front, our army will undoubtedly directly threaten the enemy's two wings.

  Just as we were about to proceed according to plan, the communication officer rushed up hastily: "Company Commander, it's a call from the Regimental Headquarters! It's the Chief of Staff..."

  "What position have you reached?" The loudspeaker blared out a string of questions.

  Luolian Chang searched on the map for half a day and vaguely mentioned a location. In fact, Luolian Chang was not sure if he was accurate or not, because the map itself was inaccurate...

  "What are you doing?! The voice on the phone was full of anger: 'It's been over two hours and you've only gone five kilometers? Speed up right now!'"

  Listening to this, I couldn't help but feel wronged for Lian Zhang, and also for ourselves. Some cadres only know how to use a ruler in the office, not to mention that the map is inaccurate, the distance measured with a ruler is also straight-line distance... Let him come to Vietnam himself and try walking on this winding road in the dark?

  "Chief of Staff..." Luo Lianzhang hastened: "We estimate there are enemy ambushes ahead, planning to scout and advance..."

  "Cut the chatter!" The voice on the other end of the receiver interrupted Lian Chang's words: "Get your troops ready immediately, advance at a run!"

  "Yes!" Luo Lianchang reluctantly responded and hung up the phone.

  After being stunned for a long time, he muttered: "The sky is so dark... gathering troops to advance at a run, isn't this courting death?"

  But military orders are like mountains, we don't know what arrangements our superiors have made, nor do we know whether not executing the order will disrupt our superiors' overall plan, so we can only carry it out.

  Maybe our superiors ordered us to gather our troops and advance at a run because they knew there was no danger ahead.

  We can only comfort ourselves like this.

  While holding the gun and following the troops, I made an effort to pour out the things in my mind... hoping to find the old man's depiction of this battle. But after thinking about it, there was not a single word related to this battle.

  At this time, I couldn't help but feel a little regretful. If only I had listened to the old man's stories more back then, how great would that have been! In the past, I always felt annoyed by what he said, in my words... it's all passed so many years ago, what's the point of bringing it up again? A good man doesn't talk about his past heroics. What do I care about your past prowess? The person standing in front of me now is just a blind old man.

  Now that I think about it, the old man's words were almost a summary of his combat experience. Almost every sentence could save my life!

  But it's not every sentence is useful, because the battlefield situation changes too fast.

  Just like last time, the old man clearly said that our artillery battalion would be ambushed by the Viet Cong, and I remember it very clearly.

  But...

  I didn't even know what an artillery battalion was until it arrived at my side and started firing, so even if I remembered, it wouldn't have been of any use.

  "Get in line!" Just as I was daydreaming, Chen Yiyin poked me with the butt of her gun from beside me: "It's just up ahead..."

  Along Chen Yiyuan's line of sight to the corner, under the dim starlight, there was indeed a highland tens of meters high. Because it wasn't very high, the highway was dug through the middle of the mountain pass... The two sides of the road were like knife cuts, if someone walked there and was ambushed, they would only get beaten, while the enemy seemed to just need to throw hand grenades inside... Not even showing their faces. No wonder it's called Ghost Gate Pass.

  Seeing this terrain, I couldn't help but frown and immediately ordered the troops to halt. I said to the company commander, "Company Commander, don't you think it's too dangerous for us to go up like this?"

  "Do you have a way?" The company commander also had a worried look on his face as he came up. He gestured to the soldiers behind him to stop advancing, then spread out the map in his hand and pointed to a high ground, saying: "Take a look, our superiors ordered us to reach 239 high ground within three hours, now more than two hours have passed, we are still seven or eight kilometers away from our destination..."

  It was then that I realized our target was Hill 239.

  "Uh..." I hesitated and said: "We can't just go die like that even if we want to complete the mission!"

  "Are you sure there are devils ambushing ahead?"

  "I'm not sure!"

  "What's the point of going to die?"

  So I lost my voice.

  In fact, on the battlefield, there should be a principle: that is to be careful and cautious, even if it's just suspicion, we must treat it as if it's real and make preparations. This is in stark contrast to the law, which presumes innocence until proven guilty, whereas in war, we presume guilt until proven innocent.

  Luó Liánzhǎng wasn't unaware of this principle, but there were orders from superiors weighing on him, so he could only hold onto a lucky mentality.

  But I still didn't want to give up, mainly because I was thinking of my own life, so I mustered up the courage again and said: "Company Commander, why don't we try to probe the enemy, anyway it won't take much time!"

  "Hmm!" Luo Lianchang thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "You're saying... Firepower reconnaissance!"

  "Right! It's firepower reconnaissance..."

  Actually, I didn't know what "firepower reconnaissance" was before this, but thinking about using the "startling the snake by hitting the grass" tactic is actually true. However, whether it's "firepower reconnaissance" or "startling the snake", what needs to be done is actually the same, which is to shoot at the target and pretend to have discovered enemy activity to lure in ambushing enemies.

  "Alright!" Luo Lianzhang nodded in agreement: "Then you guys go ahead and get in line, hurry up! Remember to make it look real!"

  "Yes!" I replied crisply.

  Isn't it just a firepower reconnaissance? Can't we just shoot and be done with it?