Chapter 14: The Years of Mass Murder

  "Which unit are you from, is it the Eleventh?" Under the leadership of a cavalry squad, Chu Si Nan and Gil Neylov came before a middle-aged man with a large beard, whose uniform epaulets had four rectangular bricks marked on them. This rough-looking fellow didn't wait for either of them to speak, but instead asked first, "I am Colonel Baryshnikov, commander of the 105th Cavalry Regiment under the First Cavalry Corps."

  Chu Si Nan and Gil Neylov exchanged a look, then Gil Neylov spoke up: "Comrade Colonel, we are the ones from the eleventh... higher-ups..."

  Before Zhil'nikova could finish, Baryshnikov waved his hand and interrupted: "I know, I have already received the order from the army command. My troops are still stuck here now just to meet you. Since you are the 11th unit, mainly female soldiers, then you must be my reception target. Don't say more now, after we sweep the battlefield, I will take you to transfer, it's not safe here now, the German vanguard is advancing very fast, we have to withdraw in the shortest time."

  Barielning finished speaking and ignored the two, turning to walk towards his warhorse. Behind him, a group of men who appeared to be his guards also followed and left.

  Seeing Bariel Ningen ignore his existence, Chusenan felt a bit annoyed, but he soon let it go. After all, the other party was a senior colonel, a superior officer, while he himself was nothing at present, at most just a temporary lieutenant, an officer temporarily appointed in an emergency situation.

  "Comrade Commander," just as Baryshnikov was about to mount his horse, a cavalryman galloped up, reined in beside Baryshnikov's detachment and asked loudly, "The battlefield has been cleared, Comrade Sverchenko instructed me to ask how the German prisoners of war should be handled."

  "Are you telling him that such things still need to be reported to me?!" Perhaps it was the huge loss of the previous battle that made Bariel feel unhappy, he roared and said, "Bury those damn guys! Does he want to take a group of pigs on the road?!"

  "Yes, Comrade Colonel!" The communications soldier was startled and stuttered before hastily responding, wanting to quickly get away on horseback.

  "And also, Sverchkov, round up those remaining war horses and hand them over to the female comrades on the other side, let them ride with us." Baryshnikov stopped him and gave another instruction.

  "Yes, Comrade Regiment Commander." The signal soldier responded with a single word and then urged his horse on.

  Chu Si Nan listened with a stunned expression to the order issued by Bariel Ning regarding the treatment of German prisoners of war, no doubt he wanted to execute those poor guys immediately. Massacring prisoners of war was something that Chu Si Nan believed should be tried in The Hague's international military tribunal, it was a war crime, it was inhumane, but here, this cavalry colonel seemed to think it was justified.

  However, Chu Si Nan only thought it was unbelievable and would not jump out to accuse on the spot, saying "you are wrong, what you did is inhumane, violating international conventions", that's something a fool would do. What kind of environment is this? This is war, there is no humanity or rationality in war, once the war breaks out, all possible means must be used to eliminate the enemy's living forces, in other words, to eliminate the opponent's population. As Hitler said: "We must exterminate the population - it is part of our duty." International conventions on humanity can only restrict those poor and weak countries, but have no restraint on powerful countries like the Soviet Union and Germany now in this war.

  Before long, a group of war horses were driven over by a cavalry, all of which had lost their owners but survived the battle earlier. Most of the horses' saddles and horseshoes still flowed with the blood of their masters.

  Chu Si Nan had learned horse riding and was quite good at it, which was also a compulsory training course for special forces. Therefore, he immediately picked out a spirited warhorse from the herd and mounted it.

  Perhaps due to its wild nature or fierce temperament, the warhorse that Chu Si Nan rode onto suddenly went berserk, neighing loudly as it galloped and bucked wildly on the ground, exerting all its strength in an attempt to throw off the rider on its back.

  Chu Si Nan was startled at first, but immediately calmed down. He clamped his legs tightly on the horse's back and grasped the reins with both hands, pulling hard while simultaneously whipping his legs to spur the fierce horse forward whenever it jumped up.

  As the war horse leapt and bucked, Chu Si Nan repeatedly struck its belly with his spurs. This was a contest between man and horse, and in the end, either the war horse would throw Chu Si Nan off its back or Chu Si Nan would subdue it with his not-so-sharp spurs.

  The battle between the men and horses was still quite fierce, with dust flying everywhere, causing the surrounding cavalry to cast their eyes over, occasionally accompanied by a whistle or two and cheers. These Cossacks were mostly raised on horseback, they might have looked down upon those mechanized troops with brilliant military exploits, but they admired the heroes on horseback exceptionally.

  The battle between man and horse lasted only a few minutes, and in the end, with a mournful neigh of the warhorse, Chu Si Nan emerged victorious. He flipped over from the horse's back, grasping the reins, and gently stroked the long face of his newly tamed steed twice. The military horse that had just been extremely fierce now became unusually docile, even extending its large pink tongue to lick Chu Si Nan's palm.

  "Comrade Chinese, what's your name?" A horseshoe sound rang out, and Balyerining jumped off the horse beside Chusinan, patted him on the shoulder, and asked in a loud voice. At this time, Balyerining had already regarded Chusinan as his own person. In the Soviet Union, although people often called each other "comrades", it was not a term used to address just anyone. Generally, it was only used among people who were relatively familiar with each other.

  "Chu Si Nan." Chu Si Nan did not turn his head, still stroking the war horse he had just tamed, and replied absent-mindedly.

  "Good job!" Barrelnin patted Chusenan's shoulder again, and it was clear that through the previous scene, he had become very appreciative of this young man from China. "I know many Chinese people, and you are the best among them."

  "Thank you, Comrade Bariel Ning." Chusinan put down the knot in his heart and turned around to smile.

  "Mount up and let's ride together, I still have some things to ask you." Barieru said with a wide grin.

  Chu Si Nan didn't stand on ceremony with him either and mounted his horse first.

  Ping!

  Ping!

  ……

  Just as Chu Si Nan jumped onto his war horse, a series of gunshots sounded from behind him.

  He turned back in shock, just in time to see a group of Soviet soldiers on a nearby hill, busily pinning down German soldiers who had been cornered and were now being forced to kneel, then shooting them in the head with their rifles... In the blink of an eye, the hill was covered with the bodies of dead German prisoners.

  "Alas," sighed Chusinan, turning his head and lightly patting the horse's rump, following behind Barielning's horse as they galloped southeast.