Four

  On the other side, the soldiers of the Wuhan Garrison Brigade had long understood that this was a rescue team sent by their superiors. After narrowly escaping death, they had all made up their minds and were filled with boundless joy and gratitude as they gazed at the brother unit that had come to their rescue despite the danger, and they saluted them with the most meaningful military salute since they joined the army.

  "Report your position."

  Yan Wei returned a military salute to a sergeant who was rushing towards him, and looked at the latter's already injured shoulder.

  "Reporting to superior officer, I am Xiang Chao, squad leader of the first squad, first platoon, special operations company, 27th regiment, Wuhan Garrison Division."

  Yan Wei looked at the sergeant in front of him, taking out a cigarette from his upper pocket while saying: "Where is your highest commanding officer? Why did you encounter the Japanese army and yet still resist until now without being completely annihilated? What are the Japanese trying to do?"

  He immediately saluted Yan Wei again and said, "Reporting to the superior officer, our platoon leader Li has been killed in action! Now I am temporarily taking over the platoon's affairs." After finishing speaking, he slowly lowered his right arm, seemingly puzzled, saying: "It's also very strange, originally we encountered the Japanese army on the highway, and we shouldn't have even had the opportunity to retreat into the mountains with the children. At that time, the Japanese army only needed a fierce round of firepower to completely wipe us out on the highway! But...

  Xiang Chao saw Yan Wei suddenly take out a handkerchief and hand it to him, hastily standing at attention: "Commander, I'm fine! This little injury doesn't count for anything! Last year during the Battle of Shanghai, I was shot twice but still managed to stay on the front lines! Now I've just been grazed by a Japanese rifle bullet, it's nothing."

  Yan Wei looked at Xiang Chao and said: "Oh, you participated in the Battle of Shanghai, and were bravely wounded! It seems that you are also a veteran, which year did you join the army?"

  "Reporting to the superior officer, I was enlisted in 1935 in Jinshan County, Jiangsu Province by the Jiangsu Security Corps. Later, I was reassigned and reorganized into the Wuhan Garrison Brigade."

  Yan Wei took a drag on his cigarette, looking at Xiang Chao and said: "Oh, you enlisted in the 24th year of the Republic of China, fought in big battles, and even bravely got wounded! Why are you still just a low-ranking soldier till now?"

  "Officer..." Super didn't know what color Wei was getting at with this remark, and for a moment he couldn't think of how to respond.

  Seeing this, Yan Wei smiled and said to him: "If I say that your superiors are quite discerning in their assessment of people. A soldier like you, if he followed me, I wouldn't promote or reuse him either!"

  "After saying that, he took another puff of smoke and said: 'Fighting is fighting, bravery is bravery, healing wounds is healing wounds, these are fundamentally not the same thing! Soldiers who get injured easily in battle I never liked much anyway, this only shows that this soldier's skills are limited, and his brain isn't very bright either! It's completely different from being brave in combat! You're also a veteran, you should have seen on the battlefield people who can't even protect their lives by crouching down and covering their heads? But if you get injured like this and still stubbornly refuse to treat your wounds, then you can only be considered a second-rate soldier!'"

  After finishing speaking, he handed the handkerchief to him and said: "Just hold on for now, after my medical soldier has finished treating your several seriously injured members, we will deal with it later. You are talking to me on this side, and bleeding from your shoulder is what kind of thing!"

  "The superior's teachings are: inferiors obey instructions!"

  He immediately took the handkerchief with both hands and pressed it against his still bleeding wound, thinking to himself: "This officer not only cares about his subordinates but also acts uniquely. It seems that he is quite different from other officers." He then thought: "If it weren't for an officer like him leading the team, how could they have annihilated a Japanese battalion with just dozens of men in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea? If I can follow an officer like him, I would be willing to die without regret!" But thinking that Yan Wei no longer liked his personality, he couldn't help but feel melancholy.

  "What's on your mind? I'm still waiting for you to report back to me!"

  Upon hearing Yan Wei's reprimand, Xiang Chao immediately stood at attention and said "Reporting to the officer...", but only managed to say one sentence before trailing off, clearly unable to continue after being interrupted.

  Seeing his awkward situation, Yan Wei also felt that this man was absolutely not a material to be trifled with. He hinted at him: "You said the Japanese army can completely solve you on the highway."

  Upon receiving the hint, Xiang Chao immediately said: "That's right, at that time, facing the five Japanese military trucks rushing over from the opposite side of the highway, seeing a large number of Japanese soldiers charging over, I thought we were done for! We would definitely die here with these poor children! But as soon as we engaged in battle, we all felt something was off! I've fought against the Japanese before, this isn't their combat style at all! It's more like the local security corps fighting bandits in the past, just pretending to fight without actually doing so! Just surrounding us without annihilating us!"

  "At that time, we saw the Japanese army setting up a large number of machine guns on the roof of the car, but they didn't use them. The entire Japanese team did not launch a fierce attack on us, but instead all of them lay down on the spot to find cover and made precise and controlled shots at our soldiers! If I hadn't been very familiar with the Japanese army's style of combat beforehand, I would have really thought that we had encountered a righteous and benevolent army, seeing that we were carrying children, so they were afraid of mistakenly injuring civilians and children, and only fought against combat personnel."

  "It was like this that we were not annihilated by the enemy's fire! The company commander gave timely orders to ensure the children retreated into the mountains and conducted resistance while relying on the terrain. Then, in a timely manner, he sent a telegram to the brigade department requesting support, which managed to hold out until your arrival."

  Yan Wei listened and found it was no different from what he had expected earlier. He looked at Xiang Chao and asked, "How did your superiors specifically instruct you when you received the task?"

  "I don't know the specifics. The order was directly given to us by a messenger who called us to the battalion headquarters. All we knew was that this mission was to escort a group of war orphans to the rear, and we were required to safely escort the children to the great rear in Chongqing."

  Yan Wei saw that asking this person again was useless, so he asked him instead: "How many people and how much ammunition do you have left now?"

  "Reporting officer, there are six people left."

  He said to Chao, then turned his head and looked back, saying: "I'm afraid that only three of us, including me, can maintain our combat effectiveness and continue to fight! But fortunately, the children, except for two who were mistakenly killed by the Japanese army and one who was seriously injured, are all safe. Ammunition is not a problem, with more than 30 brothers in the whole squad, it's enough for us to use."

  "Go down and have the medic treat your wound," Yan Wei said as he walked away towards his own men.

  Yan Wei walked over, and Lan Gang stepped forward: "Comrade Commander, the children are fine, but this group of brothers from the Security Regiment is done for. There aren't many left, one had his stomach shot through by machine gun fire, it's clear he won't make it! The other two were injured in the legs, I'm afraid they're also useless now. I think we might as well take over and let them go their separate ways."

  Yan Wei looked at several soldiers of the guard regiment not far away and said, "The situation is now very complicated, it's not as simple as we thought before. I must contact our headquarters first, and ask the relevant department to inquire about the next step." After that, he loudly ordered the communication soldier.

  "Hello officer."

  Yan Wei turned his head and saw a tall and very stylish girl walking quickly towards him.

  Actually, Yan Wei had seen her from the moment she came up. Seeing that she was not wearing a military uniform and was protecting the children from head to toe, it seemed that she should be a special caregiver assigned by the nursery for the children.

  "Officer, hello. My name is Fang Lan, and I am a staff member of the Wuhan Orphanage. This time, I am in charge of taking care of this group of children. One of my colleagues sacrificed herself just now, and three children also lost their lives. Officer, can you please order your soldiers to bury them here?"

  Yan Wei looked at his subordinates who were cleaning up and gathering the bodies of the fallen soldiers, walked slowly to the front of the gathered deceased personnel in an empty space, took off his military cap with his left hand, and gave a standard military salute with his right hand. Then he said to Lan Gang behind him: "Order to bury them on the spot."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Fang Lan looked at Yan Wei with a face full of gratitude.

  "You're also great, a woman who is willing to take risks in times of national crisis and not let her eyebrows be shaved off."

  Yan Wei said and looked at Fang Lan nodded, turned around and left.

  "Call headquarters at once."

  Yan Wei gave orders to the communication soldiers and then looked at Lan Gang saying: "Brother Lan, things don't look good!"

  The still youthful-looking Yan Wei nodded solemnly and said, "Not bad, not a big deal, huh? What is the Japanese army doing?"

  Yan Wei saw that they had finished smoking all the cigarettes on their side, but still didn't see any response signal from the headquarters. He then said to Lan Gang: "It seems that the headquarters is currently withdrawing and hasn't turned on the radio."

  Lan Gang nodded and said: "It seems that it is no longer realistic to ask the headquarters for instructions now. For the time being, we can only follow the established tasks and take things one step at a time."

  "I think so too, no matter what the situation is now, it's impossible for us to abandon such a large group of children here and wait for death! We have to find a way to get them to Chongqing. But the brothers from the Security Regiment can't be brought along, they're just a burden."

  Yan Wei said and then walked towards Chao.

  Xiang Chao, who had just finished receiving medical treatment from the medic, saw Yan Wei walking towards him and immediately stood up at attention, saluting: "Please give your orders, sir."

  Yan Wei looked at the soldier and smiled: "Alright, listen up, I'm ordering you to immediately take all your soldiers, find local civilians nearby for help with injuries, or remove your military uniforms, discard your weapons, disguise yourselves as ordinary refugees and make your way back to the rear lines."

  Having said that, he shouted at Lan Gang on one side.

  "Reporting for duty, sir! Myself and all of my troops are still able to continue fighting and complete our mission! Please permit us to proceed with the task at hand!"

  As soon as Yan Wei's voice fell, Xiang Chao immediately loudly opposed it.

  Lan Gang, who was just walking over, heard Xiang Chao's words and pointed at the several soldiers behind him: "You're all like this now, how can you continue to complete the mission? Look at yourself, can your few subordinates still move? If we continue to advance with the team, are you protecting the children or us protecting you?"

  "Give them ten silver dollars."

  Yan Wei said to Lan Gang Dao.

  Xiang Chao looked at Yan Wei, hastily stretched out his hand to stop Lan Gang who was about to take out the money: "Officer, this is a mission for our Wuhan Garrison Troop! The order I received is to safely escort the children to Chongqing! We still have people who haven't given up yet! The mission can't be considered a failure! Please let us continue to complete the mission!"

  Yan Wei looked at Xiang Chao with a somewhat approving expression and said: "Lieutenant Xiang Chao, listen carefully. I am Yan Wei, the commander of the 32nd Military Police Battalion of the National Revolutionary Army. I have been ordered by the Wuhan Garrison Command to officially take over all tasks of your unit. You must immediately lead your soldiers to transfer and retreat, and you are not allowed to disobey orders!"

  "Sir, I'm really fine, can I continue with the mission?"

  Yan Wei looked at Xiang Chao with his hands on his hips and said, "I'm not going to say that you've been a soldier for so many years, but you're still a big fool! You really aren't losing out! Take a look back at your soldiers now. Among you, your military rank is the highest. Now you want to abandon your soldiers and join us together. I ask you, how did you become a sergeant? Abandoning your comrades in times of crisis! Is this what the officers of the Wuhan Garrison Brigade usually teach you?"

  He was speechless and could only nod in agreement. Then he said, "Officer Yan, I accept the order, but we will not take off our uniforms. We are born as soldiers of the party-state, die as ghosts of the party-state! We will forever be a soldier of the party-state!"

  Yan Wei smiled and said: "Suit yourselves." After that, he signaled to Lan Gang to give them some silver coins as expenses for finding a place to recover from their injuries or making further plans to find their troops.

  Then, facing the six good soldiers who were loyal and brave to the party and country, after lining up and saluting himself, he adjusted his military cap with both hands, raised his arm and gave a standard military salute to the six men.