Chapter 26

  "The Japanese call our China the old empire, and again the old empire. This phrase is indeed borrowed from Westerners. Alas! Is our China really old? Liang Qichao said: What nonsense is this! In my mind's eye, there is a young China..."

  I was acting, he was enjoying it, I suddenly choked on the five words "Young China" and changed their tone - I was stunned, I suddenly felt very tired and sad. I thought this sadness had nothing to do with me, because I no longer believed in it.

  Today I learned a lesson: don't mock your past ideals in front of others. Whether you believe it or not, what you've been paying for all along is your own life.

  I came to and said in a hoarse voice: "...... This is not the time for nonsense."

  He fell silent, let out a sigh, as if he had just realized that we were about to face a war. "Yeah, but you guys don't have to worry too much, those who can make it here are all seasoned veterans, experts in survival - I mean they're all great fighters."

  He said, we in the woods didn't stop for a moment, two heavy machine gun nests had been fortified and concealed so that even if you opened fire, you couldn't see its outline; Snake butt beat out a recess with soil-filled bags, putting the gun on it to make it more accurate; Want to tie up the tree because it's more advantageous to be high and low; Not spicy tore someone else's clothes into earth-made hanging grenade bags, hanging grenades around his neck, whether this kind of charging hand can quickly throw out grenades determines his life and death - not just them, everyone is doing similar things, this is indeed a group of old slickers.

  "Die die, there's a joking tone that says: 'When speaking of the country's old and young, first speak of people's old and young. The elderly think of the past, the young think of the future. Thinking of the past gives rise to nostalgia, thinking of the future gives rise to hope.' Annoying annoying, come with me to take a look."

  I shook my head, "You're too dangerous."

  He then turned back from that teasing and looked at me, I didn't make a sound. He began to mobilize the people who were going to charge with him, and I followed behind.

  I think he wasn't talking about this charge, and neither was I.

  This was a rather vicious and despicable battle, although they had the advantage of numbers, they still launched a sneak attack from behind. He, I, Mí Lóng, Bù Là and others easily crawled into the empty second line trenches of the Japanese army due to lack of manpower. A burst of machine gun fire and hand grenades passed by, interspersed with several despicable guys flashing something in their hands - they were throwing lit torches.

  He yelled "Down! Down in the pit!", and he led by example, diving into the ditch with his head not even exposed, that was a blind spot where even artillery couldn't hit. The Japanese army split half of their forces to attack from behind, when they were approaching the second line of trenches, the faint light of the fire was enough to provide illumination for the guys hiding in the dark, the forest on the slope burst into gunfire, two heavy machine guns that had been pre-aimed swept away the Japanese who had nowhere to hide, the riflemen who had been aiming for half a day were picking off the stragglers with crisp shots.

  Several light machine guns were carried by the dead. The dragonflies lay on the ground, firing their machine guns at the second batch of Japanese troops who came along the communication trench, while the others threw hand grenades and advanced forward under the cover of firepower in the forest.

  This was almost a one-sided massacre, with over half of the Japanese losses quickly retreating to the flanks and we pursued.

  I fired my rifle in short bursts at the Japanese troops fleeing into the night, watching them fall. I knocked over a Japanese grenadier who was reloading his launcher, and watched as the loaded launcher exploded under him. My field of fire was blocked by my comrades, who were pursuing, so I stood up, dragging my rifle, and hobbled after them.

  If we had fought like this five years ago, or even eleven years ago, I would have been confident of a youthful China. But it has come too late now, and I am already an old man with the energy of youth.

  Speak of a country's old and young, speak first of people's old and young. I am young yet aged, my ancestral land is young yet aged.

  That black-skinned, naked lieutenant colonel rushed into the pile of soldiers, shouting and firing, he really didn't look like a lieutenant colonel.

  He's sprawled out in the Japanese machine gun emplacement, getting comfortable as he can. He's eating a Japanese can of something, one foot bare so he can use his toes to flip over and examine the several Japanese insignia on the ground - he's studying their rank badges.

  We scattered around, searching for spoils of war. Not spicy again hung a bunch of Japanese hand grenades on his neck, I rummaged through a military medical kit marked with a cross, Mi Long held a machine gun and sat among the corpses, he was probably still thinking that he was the last Northeasterner.

  People came one after another in the forest, Snake Butt, Want Ma, Bean Cake wrapped around his head, Hao Shouyi and A Yi, and so on. Our charging faces were written with discomfort, their reinforcements doubled with discomfort - uncomfortable with such a onesided battle, this victory left them somewhat dazed.

  Die die die! He waved his Japanese ladle at the newcomers and shouted loudly: "Please come in! Please sit down! Please take a seat! --- You are all my grandfathers now, I am the grandson of you all!"

  He was in a great mood, very relaxed. Even this fool could see it, and at times like these, he truly shone with charm, leaving us even more stunned. "What's going on?" he asked Mi Long, who gave him a sideways glance; "What do you mean?" he asked Bu Lao, who chuckled to himself; "Don't be silly, is that right?" he asked Dou Bing, who quickly composed herself.

  Die die, it looks like it's so intimate that it's going to die. "Today, you all get to sit in the main seat! Because what you got before was either something the big old master didn't want, or something the heavenly old master threw at you, or relying on your own pitiful self, or waiting for others' kindness——today, is something you earned yourselves!"

  I dragged that medicine box and handed it over to Hao veterinarian, whispering: "Damn buying people's hearts."

  The old man said: "It's good as long as you know people have a conscience."

  The old man hehe laughed, but he couldn't laugh for a few seconds, because the dragon suddenly stood up, putting his machine gun on the fortifications. Although he didn't speak, it was a hint, and we all took our positions.

  In the night color and fog, the airport on the other side of the extreme goal is swaying with human shadows, and the drum beats are faintly sounding.

  Many of our rifles were aimed at the small squad of British soldiers coming from the other end of the mist, in formation, taking small steps, a drummer beating a drum beside their commander, who was strolling along with his right hand holding a small white flag hanging from a bamboo pole - the former owner of this airport, they thought they had already lost the airport.

  The snake-like butt of the rifle clicked into place, halting their advance. Not La threw a torch over and in the suddenly enhanced brightness we saw the above details - all this left us speechless.

  The commander, a military man with hair that had seen its fair share of gray, looked almost dignified as he solemnly raised the white flag in his hand. "Gentlemen, what we are going to do is just as you see it. We have decided to accept the protection of the Geneva Convention."

  "What's going on?"

  "I said: 'Surrender. What Geneva Convention?'"

  "Is that to say we can have whatever we want?"

  I was somewhat unenthusiastic, "You can say it that way too."

  As the guy walked out, the British army behind the commander had already pulled the trigger. Our respected commander stretched out his hand to stop them - not everyone was used to seeing a black, armed and bare-chested soldier - the old man's experience allowed him to tolerate it, but he did not decide to accept it.

  The commander eyed him coolly, "Othello, sir, it's an honor for a historic army to lay down its flags before its newly risen opponent. So why not put on your clothes and speak to us like a gentleman?"

  The speech was long, and when translated into English it was twice as long. He listened with a diplomatic smile on his face until the end, only to find that the translator had been thrown into the construction site.

  "Dead, dead! He's yelling at me again: 'Within three meters! Messenger!' "

  I unwillingly went within three paces of him, and our dignified ally once again beheld a black-skinned, naked cripple; I don't know whether in his artistic heart he called me Yagou, Richard III or Quasimodo.

  I told him, "He calls you Othello, Othello is a Moor, that is, a black man. He says he's a very dignified person, and you're almost naked from the waist down. Can't you wrap yourself up a bit? That way everyone will have some dignity."

  Damn it! Because they burned all our clothes! Translate for me! 'Damn it' must be translated too!

  I toned down his language considerably, "We can't pretend to be gentlemen because your damned soldiers have burned our clothes, rifles, ammunition, food, medicine, etc., and we get nothing but vomit bags as war supplies. My commander expressed his view on this matter: 'Damn it'."

  I must admire the old gentleman's demeanor, he merely raised an eyebrow, "Why is the young sir so angry? Providing you with supplies isn't my duty, cutting off your supply lines and stifling your offensive is precisely my responsibility. Of course, that was before I tore up my beloved bed sheet to make this little white flag."

  I lower my head, I am silent, I raise my head and look at the dead, the dead are waiting for me to translate. "Don't rush, translate slowly. I often forget words too, forget Chinese characters."

  So I continued to silently watch him, as I gently pinched my own fingers to make the bones crackle, the old gentleman frowned at me, not hiding his astonishment, perhaps this was another very ungentlemanly behavior.

  How can I explain to our allies that they would rather surrender to the Japanese than believe they were rescued by Chinese troops? Our allies couldn't even tell Chinese from Japanese, or rather, they couldn't be bothered to.

  It took us half an hour to break through the airport's encirclement, but it took a full one and a half hours to explain to the airport garrison that we came from a war zone that had long been abandoned by them, that we were the Allies.

  The old gentleman finally broke his white flag, threw it aside, and stepped on it. After indicating his attitude with this gesture, he had his guards form a procession, and his drummers began to play another tune.

  Most of us had been sitting on the ground for a long time, we were tired. We stood up from our ungentlemanly behavior, with a face full of annoyance, yawning very ungentlemanly, and finally entered this base and airport where we should have changed clothes and fully prepared to attack the Japanese army.

  My legs are aching so much they're about to explode, it was too exhausting just now, I told him to walk slowly on one side, and the person supporting me is Hao Shouyi.

  The old man smiled wryly, "You saved the entire airport, do you feel honored?"

  "I don't feel honored at all."

  He's been shouting at me from a distance, "You're really something! You can even teach the British to tell Chinese and Japanese apart. I'm going to promote you again!"

  I gave him a sidelong glance, not wanting to talk to him, but I was willing to say to Hao Shouyi, "Even if we really saved the whole of Burma, which is on the verge of being defeated by the British, the British would only think that this is a war between Chinese monkeys and Japanese monkeys, both foolish and arrogant. Just like when we were divided and scattered in the past, shouting about using barbarians to control barbarians, how ridiculous! And another thing, when we say that the British have defeated Burma, this is just their colony, but we... we are on the verge of defeating our own country."

  "What a lot of ideas he has!" He slapped me hard and walked past us, heading towards the puzzled dragon, looks like someone else is going to be tormented.

  I'm ignoring him, I found that this guy is always trying to say his own words, it's best to just ignore him. "I regret coming here more and more, Old Hao, you're going to be the death of me, I should have just quietly rotted away in Zhendai."

  Hao Lao Tou dryly laughed twice, and the answer was still the previous "dead dead", this guy's hearing is a bit inhuman. "Interpreter, I'll get a British doctor to treat your leg right away."

  My anger rose from the bottom of my heart, I glared at him, "Let me tell you something?"

  "Come on, I'll take whatever trash you've got."

  "It's no use even if you can fight. We've lost this battle in Burma." I glared at him, I had already said enough to warrant military discipline, but I hadn't done anything that warranted military discipline before either. He looked at me, his expression having nothing to do with military discipline, "I'm not fighting for the British... why are you glaring at me?"

  This time he really left, patting and hitting the silent dragon, no longer caring about me.

  Hao Shouyi snorted, "He's fighting for us."

  I splashed cold water on him, "Old man, you old madman, be careful of a stroke!"