Chapter Twelve

  It's still too early for the people in the shelter, and those like me are sleeping in the cramped space under the porch, while others like Miao Long and his recliner occupy a cooler and more secluded spot.

  Zhang Lixian and Li Bing rushed in, shouting "Assemble! Assemble!" like killing pigs to this lazy world.

  We got up, dazed and confused, even more so because of this long-forgotten command. We just got up and huddled together, without making any effort to assemble, actually, given our diverse backgrounds, it would have been futile anyway.

  Yu Xiaoqing walked in, like a walking stick, Zhang Lixian and his gang were surrounding him with knives. He looked at us, he was not satisfied, but he wouldn't show his dissatisfaction.

  "My surname is Yu! My name is Xiaoqing! My superior told me that if I go to Burma to fight, he will give me a fully equipped reinforced regiment! I said heartedly - why?"

  He swept his gaze over us, and we lowered our heads. He even glanced at the bewildered dragon outside the circle of people, who was fanning itself unnecessarily in the not-so-high temperature, and froze when it was swept into view - Yu Xiaoqing's eyes were like gunpoints.

  "Because what I want is my troop! My sworn brothers, when you mention the three words 'Yu Xiaoqing', I think of my troop leader! When I mention my sworn brothers, I think of my troop! —— My superior is angry, he says that's the Sichuan Army Troop for you! He knows it, and I know it too, the Sichuan Army Troop is a troop that has already been wiped out! I said okay, I want the Sichuan Army Troop, because the Sichuan Army Troop fought very bravely against the Japanese! Someone in the Sichuan Army Troop once said, as long as there's still one Sichuan man left, the Sichuan Army Troop won't be completely gone! I'm a Hunanese! I'm a Hunanese who admires the Sichuan Army Troop to death!"

  I have a sleepwalking-like expression, can't see the excitement or fervor, but I don't need to turn my head to know how many people are boiling over. The remnants of the Sichuan army will definitely be defeated, and it's hard to say if the Hunanese won't be spicy too. Ah Yi's face must be bright red now. Yu Xiaoqing that guy is like a bullet shot straight at his forehead, without even using humble words like "I'm beneath you" or "brother", every single "I" from him sounds like it was blasted out with gunpowder.

  Not spicy but very proud to say "Hunan skin itching."

  "Can't take it anymore!" "Unbelievable!"

  Yu Xiaoqing didn't even look at him and shouted: "He Shuguang!"

  We found that He Shuguang was not only a guard, but also a walking scabbard. Yu Xiaoqing pulled out the knife on his back, an extremely sharp and broad blade with a long handle and flat head, which seemed to be able to cut a horse in half - Yu Xiaoqing swung the knife in his hand.

  "This is the sword I forged myself at twenty, and with which I have killed many people. The Japanese used bayonets to stab us, we used swords to chop them. But this time you won't need to chop, you have something better."

  He Shuguang was still a moving gun rack, Yu Xiaoqing returned the knife to him and removed the Thompson from his back. Yu Xiaoqing's marksmanship was quite skilled, but I think he did it on purpose, letting an entire magazine of bullets pour onto the roof of the house just a few meters above the dragon's head, which couldn't be blamed on him, as the dragon had really found itself a very conspicuous position by refusing to scatter.

  Shattered bricks and tiles fell from the eaves, Mi Long crossed his arms to protect his head and face. For a moment, we thought Mi Long would be crushed to death, but after the dust settled, Mi Long and his recliner were still in the rubble pile. The most impressive thing was that Mi Long brushed off the dust and debris on his arm, completely ignoring the blood stains that had been smashed out - he remained lying down.

  Yu Xiaoqing and Mí Lóng exchanged a brief glance, like the tip of a gun pointing at a sleeping lion. I was almost certain that Yu Xiaoqing was looking at this matter with approval - then he threw the gun back to Zhang Lixian, never looking at Mí Lóng again.

  Yu Xiaoqing thinks it's necessary to explain what that thing is, "Thompson submachine gun, .45 caliber bullets can kill a horse. It's yours once you've gone." - Li Bing.

  Li Bing handed over the semi-formal rifle on his back to him, Yu Xiaoqing pulled the bolt and fired several rapid single shots, and a tile in the neighboring yard exploded several times.

  "The Type 79 rifle is more accurate than the Type 38 Arisaka. Yours." - Zhang Lixian.

  Zhang Lixian was holding a ZB26 Czech-style machine gun, Yu Xiaoqing took it and fired an entire clip, we dodged to the side, and another corner of the brick wall in this courtyard was chipped away.

  "Czech-style light machine gun, the Japanese Type 11 is no match for it. Yours... Browning heavy machine gun, air-cooled, too heavy to carry, yours. Tanks, anti-aircraft guns, howitzers, mortars, field guns, mountain guns, yours."

  He stretched out one hand, and Yu Zhi knew what he wanted - Yu Zhi pulled out a mortar shell, and Yu Xiaoqing weighed it in his hand like a toy. "Were you badly hurt by the little Japanese cannon? The American 60mm mortar is more ruthless, more accurate, and farther-reaching than theirs." He tossed the shell back to Yu Zhi, watching them toss the shells around like stones, making us worry and envy at the same time. "You have enough guns and cannons, enough food and clothing, three meals a day, a field hospital with American doctors and medicine, American planes for transportation, military pay, and money to be sent after death. The most important thing is that there are devils to kill."

  He stared at us, I was trembling, actually it wasn't me who was trembling, but the Not Spicy beside me was trembling, dragging me to tremble together. The worshiped, admired, and intimidated ones, every gaze around me was radiating such information, Yu Xiaoqing in front of me looked at us, the elite behind him were like sculptures, the dragon lay motionless under the eaves behind them, I don't know what he was thinking.

  To many of us, he is a god with the magical power to turn a patch of rotten mud into a javelin. I watched him, watching the phoenix soar above the flock of chickens, making them no longer content with reality, but in the end, the chickens still have to peck at food in the mud. He made me shudder, but after the shuddering, I didn't feel like I had gained a soul.

  "For Yu Xiaoqing, what he wanted to say is almost over. Before the expedition, he still had a lot of things to do. "I am Yu Xiaoqing, 30 years old, from Hunan Province. My fellow brothers who came with me must remember that the warrior I most admire in my life is Yue Fei, and the literary man I most admire is Qu Yuan. If I were born in the same year as Qu Yuan, I would fight to the death for him, and never go to throw myself into the Miluo River. - My words are over. Those who want to come should immediately take part in the physical examination. We are the Sichuan Army Corps, priority is given to Sichuan soldiers, those who have been educated are prioritized, and those who have fought battles are prioritized. See you on the front line."

  "Got it! Heard that? Hunan donkey."

  He was very indignant and said, "In these times, even Hunanese are growing their skin in the opposite direction!"

  Yu Xiaoqing left without warning, his elite followers leaving with him, leaving behind Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang.

  Zhang Lixian could hardly conceal his disdain for us, "Line up for inspection! Line up for inspection!" But the vast majority of us almost immediately sat back down.

  Kang Ya had not yet recovered from the shock of just now, "My god." She Bi Gun rubbed his own knife handle and said: "I want to go, I want to go." Bu La changed his tune, as if he hadn't scolded Yu Xiaoqing earlier, "Hunan people are still Hunan people!" A Yi had a look of admiration, "Who cares where they're from, as long as they can lead us to victory."

  "He Shuguang shouted: 'Form ranks! You leftovers, do you know what it means to form ranks?'"

  The dragon finally jumped up at this time, as if it had shaken off the bricks and dust.

  "What kind of bastard is this?!"

  We finally started lining up in the attic, I was standing in a team of seven or eight teams after, I took off my left shoe and threw it away while no one was looking.

  "Doctor! Doctor! Who is a doctor?"

  Hao squeezed out of the ugly queue and replied: "I am a doctor."

  I squeezed beside Dr. Hao's body, "I am a doctor."

  Under the gaze of everyone's astonishment, I exchanged glances with Hao Shouyi, who was hesitating, but I stared at him. The old man stuttered for a long time: "...He is my assistant."

  He Shuguang pointed to several tables that had been pushed together, "Go check quickly!"

  I followed Hao Shouyi over there, but was stopped by Zhang Lixian, "What's wrong with your foot?" I let him see my bare left foot, "Missing a shoe, the ground is uneven."

  "Where are the shoes?"

  "I'd rather be held by a dead man and buried together," I said.

  Zhang Lixian is indeed better at coaxing than Zhen Daoren, "Got it."

  So I controlled myself to limp rather than drag myself towards those few tables, and spread out the very limited medical tools on the table. "Line up! Examination! Examination!" I shouted louder than Veterinarian Hao.

  The snake's butt stared at me in surprise, "This works too?"

  I pinned him down on the table, poked him with a stethoscope, and casually pinched him, "Shut up."

  Kang Ya squeezed behind me and scratched my ribs, "I'm annoyed, turn around and write 'no face' on the wall, let me see it every day."

  "Do you have a bed or not? Are you familiar with it after sticking to me? If I replace 'face' with 'butt', can you tell the difference, that's an extra word, if I replace it with 'hip' can you recognize it?" I hit back at his hand that was scratching me.

  Hao Shouyi was facing me with a bitter smile, "Alright, alright, you win. But can I have my stethoscope back? You can't use it as a dagger, can you?"

  He's right, Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang didn't care about us at all. To be honest, they tried to stay away from us as much as possible, while I was constantly poking the snake's butt with the metal edge of my stethoscope until it was in agony.

  I returned the stethoscope to Dr. Hao and picked up a piece of chalk to mark the passed goods with a tick on their bodies. The idiots suppressed their laughter and said nothing more, watching me draw ticks on the snake's buttocks. When I turned around, I bumped into A Yi, who was the only one who didn't suppress his laughter, and his serious face had a greater destructive power than others' sarcastic smiles.

  "I'm touched, I know what you're doing. You've finally done something that moves me," he said sincerely to me.

  I was stunned for a few seconds, then I pinned him down on the desktop, pressing his very flat stomach with all my might, making him laugh so hard that he cried.

  "Are you all looking for a beating?!" He stood up and never sat down, with his hands on his hips glaring at us to death, and we all knew that what he shouted was a very serious provocative phrase in the Northeast - as if he was challenging all of us.

  But what's the point now? The words "crazy" and "his brain was smashed by a toilet" were quietly spreading among us, Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang also heard it clearly, so they treated him as a madman and didn't take him seriously anymore.

  The dragon stared sullenly at the sky.

  No one paid attention to the dragon, but no one fought or scolded him either. So he would suffocate for a while and curse once in a while, even we suspected that he had gone mad.

  "A bunch of B-grade tigers!" The Lost Dragon was yelling like a madman, but nobody paid attention to him.

  Never mind. Those who had undergone physical examination walked to another table with their hooks, telling Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang about themselves in order to be registered. The tediousness made us not feel tragic at all, we also found others ridiculous, but still felt ourselves tragic.

  Li Sifou, it turns out you're from the Sichuan Army Corps. A sergeant in a heavy machine gun company.

  Zhang Lixian raised his eyes slightly at the three words "Chuan Jun Tuan", but then lowered his head and wrote down his name.

  Still fighting for the glory of Hunan people, "What makes Sichuan troops superior? You bite and pinch your fingers to come down, I'll obey."

  He Shuguang didn't care about his nonsense, "Top-grade soldier?"

  This time I dare not play, a nearly Prussian salute, "Deng Gang, Baoqing, Hunan, fought in the Little East Ocean but never attended school. Seventh Guard Battalion Infantry Company First-Class Soldier."

  Zhang Lixian glanced at the non-spicy Hanyang-made (sword) and said, "You haven't lost your own weapon."

  At once he sprang up and gave a salute, feeling deeply honored. "Present arms! Sir!"

  But Zhang Lixian didn't continue to praise him, just waved his hand and said "Next one."

  The vigor of inserting jokes has passed, and I am indeed helping Hao Shouyi with his veterinary work.

  I didn't need to check, because I was checking others. I thought of many tricks to muddle through, but only one was enough. The inspection and acceptance were so simple that it was frightening, so fast that it was frightening. Later, I realized that there was no need to waste too much ceremony and procedure on the dregs of society. Almost no one was eliminated.

  Kang Ya, hunching his back, "Kang Ya, Shanxi Datong. Fought in battles. Deputy platoon leader of the 17th Logistics Regiment's transportation battalion." The guy smiled fawningly, "Sir, I can drive a car."

  He Shuguang didn't give him any face at all and hinted at the next one, "After winning the battle, there will be a car for you to drive."

  Bean cake dragged him with his oversized shoes, "Valley little wheat, Henan Jiao doing, fifty-one new compilation teacher heavy camp upper soldier. Fought battles, not on top of school."

  Zhang Lixian took a look at Dou Bing's appearance and figure, "I see you're only fifteen or sixteen, how did you become a superior soldier?"

  "I'm starving. I've been nineteen for a long time, sir. I've been in the army for five years, sir."

  Perhaps Zhang Lixian would sympathize with him, but sympathy is not what he will do now. Dou Bing's back is Ah Yi.

  A Yi saluted with precision, he was always better at it than us. "Lin Yi, from Shanghai, never been in a battle."

  He was a bit dejected, while Zhang Lixian was somewhat surprised. "Colonel, you've never been in battle?"

  "Yes." Ah Yi's voice was clearly weak.

  Zhang Lixian saw those small things on his chest, "Have you been through military officer training?"

  "It's the fifteenth term." A Yi replied.

  "Senior, I'm from the 17th batch." Zhang Lixian gave him a most friendly expression so far, and indeed, whether in appearance or mentality, he looked much younger than A Yi.

  "The next man stepped forward and reported his name, 'Ma Shanfeng, from Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, veteran of the war, Sergeant in the 588th Infantry Battalion.'"

  The dragon saw his arch-nemesis, and outside the circle of people, he burst out again, "Shameless Li Wula! How dare you! Tell me how many people you've killed! A whole row of people were thrown away by you, you're a rabbit's father!"

  Li Wura, as usual, expressionless, came down from the few tables, took the hook I drew for him to sign up. His salute was without glory, with a hint of sorghum flavor, "Li Liansheng..."

  "What a string of victories? Your father cursed you when he named you!" Ming Long shouted loudly.

  Li Wula waited for the dragon to finish roaring and then said: “...Jilin Dunhua, fought a battle.”

  "He's lost many battles! Let the Northeastern old masters die, and they can't even collect the money for burning paper! He's a traitor! He only fights this kind of battle!" Ming Long was about to jump up and scold.

  These accusations are meaningless, Li Wula slightly bowed to Zhang Lixian and then slipped into the crowd. His specialty is that he can disappear instantly when he wants to, leaving behind a bewildered dragon staring at the sky and panting heavily. The dragon wanted to scold some more, but when he saw the sheep's egg, whose leg he had broken, watching him with a crutch made of a tree branch, the dragon suddenly became speechless. As the sheep's egg passed by him, he lightly patted his shoulder and limped away.

  The dragon finally fell silent.

  The benefit of being careless is that it can speed up the process, and finally the people who used to flock around me and Dr. Hao have all been diverted to Zhang Lixian and He Shuguang's side. Dr. Hao wiped his sweat, looked at me, and even if he didn't approve of my behavior, he was worried, so he deliberately walked in front of me to cover up my limp.

  Hao Shouyi nodded towards the table, "Hao Xixian, from Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, a doctor. He has been in battles, but never served as a soldier."

  "...wearing military uniform doesn't mean you've been a soldier?" He Shuguang asked.

  "The wounded soldier was dragged here, sir. Now that he's here, he can't leave."

  "...just defeat Little Japan and we can leave. Next one." Zhang Lixian said impatiently.

  "Next is me. Meng Fanle, Beiping native, educated and battle-hardened, deputy company commander of the 83rd Independent Infantry Brigade." I emphasized particularly cautiously, "Assistant to Military Doctor Hao".

  Hao Shouyi is now wholeheartedly helping me, "Really, I couldn't have done it without him."

  But all this was irrelevant to the people who were inspecting us, I noticed that Zhang Lixian had been staring at my left foot, "Meng, bother, I hope you can go find a shoe to wear. You are also a lieutenant."

  I didn't even bother correcting his carelessness in addressing me as "superior officer", "Yes, go ahead, sir."

  He Shugang filled in the last name, and Zhang Lixian pushed his chair back and stood up - he had lost patience long ago.

  "Fall in! From now on, you're all part of the Sichuan Army!" His speech suddenly took on a Sichuan accent. "You bunch of good-for-nothings, lift your legs high! I'm itching to wipe out the dirt from your ears!"

  We finally tried to form a queue, and I smiled wryly at this futile effort.

  Zhang Lixian kicked our butt, "What a mess! Are you used to playing like that?"

  I suddenly realized that the people who were going to take us into battle were just kids, they would have loaded bullets in their nostrils if they could, but just to get us to line up, they had to give up speaking fluent Mandarin and resort to using a harsh rural accent - we handed our lives over to children.