Chapter Ten: Blood-Stained Flatbread

  The smoke has not yet dispersed, the breath of death lingers in every corner of the battlefield, and the joy of repelling the devils' attack slowly settles down. The departure of comrades who once fought side by side brings sorrow to everyone's heart. In addition to Ye Zhiming and Liu Yunqing being killed in action, Ye Hao and Lin Fugui also died together, leaving only eight people in the original twelve-man squad, plus Ding Ling making nine people guarding position 19. Similarly, each squad of the 137th Regiment also suffered heavy casualties, with one-third of them lost in a single attack that was completely suppressed.

  Upon receiving the casualty report, Feng Ping felt a lump in his throat and his face burning with shame. In comparison, the casualties of the 259th Regiment were less than one hundred, but eight times that number made Feng Ping feel utterly ashamed. Yi Anhua saw Feng Ping's low spirits and gently patted him on the shoulder to console him.

  Taking advantage of the lull, the troops began clearing away the bodies of the dead soldiers from all over the battlefield.

  Tears on You Fei's face had long since dried, leaving only two faint tear marks. He said in a low voice: "I'll take the bodies of Ye Zhi Ming and Liu Yun Qing to the big ditch for burial. None of you need to help me. I want to see this last journey through myself. This is all I can do for them now!" Jiang Zhuang, He Tianhao, Huang Long, and Xu Zhiwei sobbed quietly, while the others mourned in silence.

  "What goes around comes around." This phrase has been on everyone's lips countless times, but when the day of reckoning finally arrived, You Fei still felt that his heart couldn't bear it.

  With a heavy gait, You Fei carried the two corpses to the large mud pit, where many bodies were already piled up in great disorder. The stench of rotting flesh wafted out of the pit and was extremely foul-smelling.

  The battle is still going on, so the pit has not been filled up yet, and bodies can be thrown in at any time. His own brother died, without even a coffin, You Fei's heart was bitter, it was really in vain to have been called "big brother" for so many years.

  You Fei couldn't throw the two corpses into the pit, so he entrusted a soldier who was handling the bodies to take care of them after he left.

  Taking a deep look at his two brothers for the last time, You Fei silently bid farewell in his heart: Farewell, my two good brothers!

  You Fei stepped firmly towards position 19, gripping his gun even tighter, with an even thicker battle intent in his eyes.

  When You Fei walked onto the battlefield, everyone saw that he was no longer as dejected as before, but instead his entire body was radiating a murderous aura. Hu Weiyue nodded in satisfaction.

  You Fei didn't greet He Tianhao and the others, but silently walked back to his own position, leaning against the yellow earth, taking out a piece of cloth from his pocket to wipe the steel gun in his hand. You Fei had never been so meticulous about doing something like this before, from the barrel to the chamber to the body of the gun, every inch was carefully wiped by You Fei.

  Ding Cong kicked Yu Fei's foot lightly and said in a low voice, "Hey, nothing's wrong, right?"

  You Fei shook his head, his eyes fixed intently on the front, although he could no longer see any signs of the enemy within sight, but You Fei's eyes still flashed with a bloody color, filled with resentment.

  "Hey, tell me what your squad leader is like. Don't be so quiet and hurt your body!" Dīng Jiān, who had always been taciturn, suddenly took the initiative to chat with Yóu Fēi.

  Yu Fei Chong Ding sighed and said with a smile: "When I was young, I heard the old man tell many stories. One of them was that Genghis Khan once asked his generals not to be too strong, because if they were too strong, the other soldiers would not be able to keep up with them, and they would quickly become tired. This would only weaken the entire army's combat effectiveness. Although I've never been to school, I know what Genghis Khan said makes sense. Our 137th regiment's commander, Feng Ping, is a brave warrior. Last time, he single-handedly killed hundreds of fleeing people. He's indeed brave, but also somewhat excessive. Following such a sharp and decisive commander, we little soldiers won't have an easy life!"

  Ding Cong chuckled and said, "Our regiment commander Yi Anhua is also a tough guy. The brothers all respect and fear Commander Yi. As an official, you have to have some authority, otherwise how can you intimidate us soldiers?"

  You Fei burst out laughing, he saw that Ding Dang's thumb and index finger on his right hand were constantly rubbing against each other. Previously, You Fei had also noticed that whenever Ding Dang was idle, his fingers would start to rub the skin off. You Fei laughed and said: "I say, Ding Dang, you usually like to rub your hands when you're free, why don't you rub your feet instead? Why just rub your hands, haha!"

  Ding said in a low voice: "The feel of the finger and the trigger is very important, I usually like to grind my skin, because doing so can make my hand better integrated with the trigger, and then integrate with the whole gun, at that time the little devils will have to suffer from my bullets."

  "What's going on here!" You Fei exclaimed in surprise.

  You Fei involuntarily walked over at this time, he played with Ding Zhuo's Czech-style light machine gun, and for this gun that can be equipped with 20 rounds of ammunition, You Fei was very fond of it. After carefully stroking every part of the gun, You Fei raised his head and asked Ding Zhuo: "Ding Zhuo, how many devils did you kill just now?"

  "I haven't counted, probably around twenty or so!" Ding Ling said lightly.

  "Damn, twenty something? That's a lot!"

  Ding Ling chuckled and said, "The Czech-style is a two-three burst, once the devils are hit, it's all over. I don't dare say I'm the best machine gunner in the whole regiment, but I can still hit a kettle 300 meters away. Just now, at that distance, the little devils wouldn't have been swept dead by me! However, machine gunners are usually the first target for the little devils to take out with grenades, so they generally don't live long!" As he spoke, Ding Ling's eyebrows flashed a hint of melancholy and helplessness.

  You Fei hurriedly came forward and said with a smile: "Ding Ding brothers, what else should be paid attention to when using light machine guns? Can you tell your brother too, so that I can gain some experience?"

  "This is naturally no problem. In close combat, you must never let the enemy determine your time and frequency of reloading, that's fatal for a machine gunner." Ding said seriously.

  "What can be done about it?" You Fei asked in pursuit.

  Ding Ling smiled and said, "You just need to change the frequency of replacing the magazine. Sometimes you can replace it before the bullets are finished, and sometimes after they're finished. This way, the little devils won't be able to figure out when you'll replace the magazine. The most critical moment is still when you switch barrels. It takes ten seconds to switch a barrel, and some of those ghosts are very cunning, waiting for this moment to charge forward."

  Yu Fei nodded repeatedly as he listened, but in his heart, he deeply remembered all these things.

  Jiang Zhuang, He Tianhao, Huang Long and Xu Zhiwei were still frowning, the shadow of the two brothers' death still lingering in their minds, unable to shake it off.

  The entire battlefield was eerily quiet, the officers and men guarding the trenches were quietly waiting for the devils to launch an attack at any moment.

  At such a quiet moment, I suddenly heard the loud sound of "gurgling, gurgling!" Following the sound, it turned out that Jiang Zhuang's belly was growling. Seeing everyone's eyes focused on himself, Jiang Zhuang's face, although thick-skinned, also reddened slightly.

  "Damn, look at that, I'm starving, aren't I? As a fat guy, I naturally eat more and digest faster, so I get hungry faster too. What's there to look at?"

  You Fei furrowed his brow and shouted at Hu Weiyue, "I say, Hu Dabanjiang, the brothers are defending the country, but they haven't eaten a grain of rice for two days! Can you please tell the superiors about it? Those gentlemen won't have forgotten that the brothers are still starving, will they?"

  "Ah!" Hu Weiyue let out a long sigh, plopped himself down on the ground, pulled out his tobacco pouch from his pocket, carefully measured out a few strands of tobacco into his pipe and began to puff away with a "puff, puff".

  You Fei saw the fire getting bigger and was about to rush forward when Ding Bing pulled him back. He sighed and said, "You Fei, you can't blame the superiors for this matter. The transportation routes around us have been cut off by the devils, making it difficult to replenish supplies. Our 259th Brigade has already gone hungry for three days!"

  "What's the point of just sitting here waiting to die?! I think this battle is pointless, the devils haven't even charged yet and a large group of us are already starving!" You Fei shouted in exasperation.

  He Tianhao walked over, chuckling: "I'm telling you, big bro, just say a few less words, getting so angry isn't going to fill your stomach, calm down, calm down!"

  "You're angry about what? I'm afraid we'll starve to death in this trench!"

  You Fei also squatted down and stopped speaking, and for a time the battlefield fell silent once again.

  Suddenly, only the sound of cheering came from the adjacent camp, You Fei coughed and said in a low voice: "Silly bird, shouting so happily, shouldn't someone have brought food?"

  Before long, a small soldier with a bunch of big buns hanging from his neck came running towards You Fei's camp, his face beaming with joy.

  "Old... the old fellow has sent us some steamed buns! Haha!" Little Soldier's body was slender, and his oversized military uniform hung loosely on him. He just smiled foolishly now, with a big string of steamed buns hanging from his neck, grinning: "The officer has given orders, each person gets two steamed buns, everyone must be frugal, this is the kind intention of the old fellow that we must cherish!"

  Everyone cheered and rushed forward, each taking two large flatbreads from the little soldier.

  The little soldier finished distributing the cakes and then rushed to distribute them in other camps.

  Everyone held the biscuits in their hands, found a spot to crouch down, and began to savor them slowly. Although they were extremely hungry, they still ate very slowly. It wasn't that they were being refined, but rather the biscuits were too hard, so hard that people with poor teeth almost had all their teeth chipped off. Moreover, the biscuits were extremely dry, and after eating just a few bites, several people started coughing violently. If there hadn't been a few drops of water left in the canteen beside them, it's likely that these biscuits would have been impossible to swallow.

  You Fei didn't eat, he just stared at the buns in his hand with dead eyes. One of the two buns was different from the other, with more than half of it stained red. You Fei looked at it for a long time, sniffed it with his nose, and became even more silent. This was the smell of blood, or human blood. Although You Fei wasn't an old soldier, he could still distinguish the smell of fresh blood.

  Ding Bing saw You Fei holding the pancake in his hand without eating it, and he also curiously looked at the pancake. When he saw the bright red bloodstain on the big pancake, Ding Bing suddenly realized what was going on. He patted You Fei's shoulder and said in a low voice: "The one above should be the blood of the old fellow who sent the big pancake. Eat it, it can give you courage. Don't disappoint the old fellow's kindness!" As he spoke, Ding Bing's eyes also became moist.

  He took a big bite, the stench filled his nostrils, and he struggled to hold back the urge to vomit. He washed down the dry cake with a mouthful of water, forcing a laugh: "This cake is really dry, hard as a rock, can be used as a hand grenade to smash those little devils, haha, haha!"

  Ding Mao no longer made a sound, silently eating the dry crackers in his mouth.