Chapter Eighteen: Unbearable
For a soldier, being unable to protect his own people is absolutely tragic. It's like a man who can't protect his wife and children - it makes us lose all our confidence and dignity!
In the first few days, Little Japan did not make any big moves. This may be because they had previously set out negotiation conditions and Song Zheyuan had fully satisfied all their demands without reservation. Even if they didn't have the intention to negotiate, they still had to put on a show. So for the first three days, the whole of Beiping was very quiet, except that from time to time some civilians from the Japanese military zone would sneak into our defense zone, and nothing else happened.
Although the people of Beiping considered us as traitors and running dogs, after all, we are still Chinese, and it's not like we would solve problems with bayonets and rifles like the Japanese do. And the Japanese army also turned a blind eye to these civilians who ran into our defense zone... Of course, this isn't because the Japanese were showing mercy, I think there are at least two reasons for this: first, it's negotiation time now, and it's not suitable for armed conflicts between each other; another more important reason is that they're very clear that no matter how these civilians run around, they can't escape their control within Beiping city. In fact, this is indeed the case, sometimes I even want to advise those civilians who keep pouring into our defense zone: it's useless for you to come over, we can barely protect ourselves now, let alone protect you...
For a soldier, being unable to protect his own people is absolutely tragic. It's like a man who can't protect his wife and children - it makes us lose all our confidence and dignity! Perhaps that's why the morale of our troops has plummeted like a helicopter in free fall, and even our military training team is no exception. Alas, we weren't defeated by the enemy on the battlefield, but instead were defeated by those politicians at the negotiating table!
At this time, Beiping was as calm as if the war had already ended, and some brave small vendors even took to the streets to start business. However, I knew that beneath this peaceful surface, a storm was brewing!
Things took a turn for the worse on the fourth day, when I and the soldiers were squatting under sandbags smoking... Although we didn't fight in Beiping for these few days, we were always anxious. The soldiers weren't fools, they all knew that this time was likely to be disastrous, and the reconnaissance units sent in various directions reported the appearance of Japanese troops one after another, making it clear that our army had already been surrounded by the Japanese.
It seems that we are now faced with only two options: one is to die in battle, and the other is to surrender to the Japanese army. As for a third possibility... successful negotiations leading to the withdrawal of the Japanese from Beiping, this is just an extravagant hope for us. I, who have come from modern times, also know clearly that when the Japanese withdrew from Beiping, it was at the time eight years later when the Japanese declared their unconditional surrender...
This intangible pressure almost suffocated us, the troops left behind, anxiety, unease and fear constantly gnawing at our nerves, corroding our willpower. It was like a demon haunting us, making it impossible for us to eat or sleep, until soldier after soldier took their own lives with guns in the military camp. Many thought they would rather die than be slaves of a defeated nation, but we knew the truth - they just couldn't bear this pressure!
Of course, we also have such pressure on us, and our way of relieving it is... smoking desperately.
I didn't have a smoking habit in modern times, because I think smoking is a very boring thing, so I'd rather spend the money on two bottles of drinks or browsing the internet! However, it wasn't until now that I discovered that cigarettes are actually good stuff, at least they can make me relax for half a minute in this tense and oppressive atmosphere!
"Get out of here!" Chen Dalie said with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, half-closing his eyes: "Are we just going to wait for death like this? Is there no way out?"
"Are you annoying or what?" I irritably replied, "You've asked this question countless times already. If I had a way out, would I still be stuck here until now?"
What I'm saying is true, although I know the history, but for the current situation, I am at a loss: Little Japan has already entered the city of Beiping, and outside the city, there are ambushes everywhere. Now even gods can't help. However, in history, there was a regiment that successfully broke out of Beiping, my only hope now is that this lucky regiment is our military training regiment.
"The situation is indeed not optimistic!" Li Wenxi also sighed and frowned, saying: "I heard that three more brothers committed suicide last night, and I even heard some people secretly discussing surrendering to the Japanese army..."
"Keep your voice down!" The old class leader interrupted Li Wenxi's words and said: "This kind of thing can't be said, the more you say, the worse it gets!"
Listening to the old squad leader, I also think it makes sense. In the army, what we fear most is this kind of whispering and then reaching a negative consensus. It's just like in the fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes", when the emperor walks on the street wearing his "new clothes" and all the people start praising how beautiful the "new clothes" are, until a child unintentionally says: "The emperor is not wearing anything"...
It seems like we are now in a state of being on the verge of collapse, and what we fear most is that someone will be the first to break through that thin layer!
From this point on, the old squad leader is obviously much more mature than us new recruits who have just been on the battlefield for a short time, and also has a stronger endurance.
Bang! A gunshot rang out, startling me and the soldiers to hastily drop our cigarettes, grab our rifles and look towards the opposite side.
Two Japanese soldiers from the opposite camp walked towards us, grumbling and scolding, but I soon discovered that their target was not us, but several civilians between the two camps.
Those villagers looked like a family, husband, wife and two children. They should have been trying to sneak across the line to our side while the Japanese were having dinner in the fading light. Unfortunately, they were discovered by the Japanese. The husband was shot dead with one bullet. The little devil's marksmanship is still very accurate, even in such dim light, he can still hit the target's head with one shot, so that the wife and children were scared to cry loudly but did not dare to move again!
"Get out!" Chen Dalie tensely stared at me.
I knew what Chen Dalie meant, those two Japanese soldiers were approaching the women and children with their guns raised, if they let the little devils catch them again, it would naturally not end well. My instinctive reaction was to pull the trigger at the two Japanese soldiers, but Lao Banzhang pressed my rifle down...
"Get out! You can't fight!" The old squad leader said: "This is a matter of the Japanese military defense zone, we can't intervene!"
"Nonsense!" Chen Dalu cursed: "This is our Chinese people's business, this is our Chinese land!"
I calmed down and thought about it, and I also think that the old class leader is right. If we take action now, we may immediately give the little Japanese an excuse to overthrow the negotiations, and the consequences may be unbearable... So I gritted my teeth and ordered: "Everyone has a duty, no one is allowed to fire without orders!"
"Queue up..."
"Obey orders!" Chen Dali wanted to argue with me again, but was shut down by one sentence from me.
"Ah!" Chen Dali fiercely punched the sandbag in front of him.
I don't want to be like this, but I have no choice! At that time, I only felt that my heart was being twisted by several knives, and it was even more painful than death. If possible, I would rather die in place of that woman and her two young children. However, I couldn't...
I couldn't bear to see the mother and her two children fall into the hands of the Japanese army, so I withdrew my head from the trench and put away my rifle. But not seeing it didn't mean I wasn't worried, because just a dozen meters away from me, there were the woman's and child's distorted cries due to extreme fear and the shrill laughter of the little Japanese devil.
And I, as a soldier, a Chinese, can do nothing at this time!
"Ah!" At this time, a woman's scream came from the opposite side, followed by the sound of clothes being torn and the extremely lewd laughter of Little Japan. I quickly understood what it meant, so without thinking, I stuck out my head, stretched out my rifle, aimed at a Japanese soldier's shadow, and pulled the trigger...
"Bang!" The gunshot shocked everyone, and the whole world seemed to have stopped at that moment. Only the Japanese soldier under my gun shook his body and fell to the ground like a deflated balloon.
"Brothers! Let's fight the devils!" I let out a loud roar and quickly pulled the bolt, firing at another devil. It wasn't that my marksmanship was good, but rather these two devils were too arrogant, thinking we wouldn't dare fire, so they got as close to me as the whiskers on their faces were visible. At such a close distance, even I, a new recruit who had hardly fired a few shots, couldn't miss.
"Let's fight the devils!" The warriors also roared and raised their weapons to fire at the Japanese army.
The Japanese troops opposite us were all sitting on the trenches watching the excitement, who would have thought that our army suddenly launched a surprise attack, and under an unprepared situation, just one row of bullets was enough to knock down more than a dozen of them. The rest hastily lay down their bodies and wailed loudly as they crawled back.
"Hurry up!" I shouted to the side while cocking the gun towards the opposite direction, "Quickly rescue my fellow countryman for me!"
"Yes!" Several warriors leaped out of the trenches and rushed towards the mother and her three children.
However, at this time the Japanese army had also reacted and set up rifles in the trenches. The muzzles of their guns were first aimed at several targets between the two armies, including the mother and her three children... Seeing this, I couldn't help but sigh: In the end, they still can't be saved!
But just then, I suddenly found that those soldiers who had gone to rescue before rushed up and pressed the three mother and child on the ground. They were using their own bodies to protect the safety of the people...
