Chapter Fifteen: A Sudden and Profound Change

  Half an hour later, the devils had all been annihilated, and the battlefield, which had fallen silent, seemed to still be able to hear the miserable cries of the two sides that had clashed not long before. The ground was a blur of blood and flesh, with the bodies of the devil soldiers and the warriors of the 259th Brigade and the 137th Regiment lying scattered all over the place.

  The battlefield was swept by soldiers from some regiments, the stench on the ground made even those who were used to killing vomit, after all, the stench was too nauseating. The entire position was like a slaughterhouse, and few of the dead soldiers on both sides had bodies that could remain relatively intact. The stench of red and white things rushed into the nose, it's no wonder that the soldiers who swept the battlefield would vomit.

  The casualty report was delivered to Yi Anhua's hands in the first time, and the 259th Brigade lost nearly half of its strength. The 137th Regiment, which served as a reserve force this time, suffered relatively fewer casualties than before, with only 800 soldiers killed or injured. However, the regiment's officers above the rank of squad leader were severely damaged, with 20 squad leaders, 14 platoon leaders, 4 company commanders, and 1 battalion commander killed or wounded. Upon seeing the report, Feng Ping's heart sank by half, and the joy of annihilating a Japanese infantry regiment was blown away.

  Currently, the 259th Brigade has 2,203 combat personnel, while the 137th Regiment only has 1,000 people left. Fortunately, the ammunition for the three-eight large covers and the crooked handle machine guns is exceptionally abundant. In addition to the firearms and ammunition collected from the dead soldiers of the 259th Brigade and the 137th Regiment on the battlefield, there are now enough weapons to assemble two infantry brigades with some to spare. The severe shortage of hand grenades has also been alleviated due to the capture of 80 mortars that the enemy did not have time to destroy and four large wooden boxes of artillery shells. Yi Anhua, who had been worried about ammunition for a long time, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer needs to curse the logistics department's garbage logistics support.

  He patted Ping's shoulder and said, "Brother, don't be sentimental anymore. We don't have time to mourn for our fallen comrades. The devils may come back at any moment. You quickly go and reorganize the 137th Regiment. We must dig in and consolidate our positions as soon as possible. Who knows when reinforcements will arrive?"

  Feng Ping nodded silently and walked towards the 137th Regiment, which had already been severely damaged.

  There is no complete victory on the battlefield, although it seems to be a smooth victory, but in fact, the 137th regiment also suffered heavy casualties. This time, being able to join forces with the 259th brigade to capture the Japanese army's position with fewer deaths than the Japanese army is already considered a very successful offensive. If those annoying military reporters were to find out about this situation, they would probably come running to dig up information. However, the telegram sent by Yi Anhua to the General Headquarters only mentioned "Luodian has been captured by our troops, and it is feared that it will be difficult to prevent the Japanese army's follow-up troops, please request the General Headquarters to provide reinforcements quickly."

  For You Fei's class, the loss was also significant. Chen Ah Si and Liu Li Quan, two honest and kind-hearted men, died in battle. What's more tragic is that Hu Wei Yue also bled to death, with over a dozen blood holes pierced on his chest by the enemy's bayonet, and two Japanese military knives inserted into his abdomen. At the time of his death, he still had his eyes wide open, but the usual sparkle in his eyes could no longer be found.

  You Fei and his four brothers knelt on one knee, silently surrounding the body of Hu Weiyue. There were no tears or wails, only a deep sense of sorrow hidden in the depths of their hearts. As they stood in silence, time seemed to stand still. The five of them thought back to many things about Hu Weiyue, a man they had previously struggled to accept as their superior officer, but now was their most respected comrade and leader.

  His leg was also cut by the devils, and he walked to Hu Weiyue's body with a limp. When he heard that his good friend had died in battle, he came to see him off and take one last look at his old friend. You Fei slightly raised his head, and when he saw it was Qiu Lin, he had completely forgotten the hatred he once held for Qiu Lin. At this moment, looking at the sorrow in Qiu Lin's eyes even produced a feeling of affection, You Fei nodded to Qiu Lin, and Qiu Lin also smiled back at him in friendship.

  Qiu Lin covered Hu Wei Yue's eyes that could no longer close with his hands, grabbed a handful of dirt beside him and sprinkled it all over Hu Wei Yue's body. "Brother, sleep well, you don't have to suffer anymore. You often told me that you wanted to live freely and die happily. Today, you can die in battle, which is also a worthy death. Go home, before your soul goes to report, I hope you can send a message to our family in the south for us, and ask if they are all well." Qiu Lin's hoarse voice was filled with deep sorrow.

  Qiu Lin's last words stirred up a storm in You Fei's heart, and he looked southward, where his home was, with an old wife who might be considered his family; You Fei thought luxuriously, having been alone since childhood.

  The soldiers who handled the bodies came and carried Hu Weiyue's body to a not-too-distant place for burial. The people around all stood up and saw off this brave warrior who sacrificed his life for the country and the nation.

  Feng Ping had actually arrived behind You Fei and the others, silently watching. At the moment when Hu Wei Yue was carried away, Feng Ping felt as if one of his closest relatives was being taken away for burial, and his heart ached with pain.

  Feng Ping coughed softly and brought the thoughts of the crowd, who had long been gazing after Hu Weiyue's departure, back to reality. "Commander! Commander!" As Feng Ping walked by, the surrounding soldiers all stood at attention and saluted in unison. After going through life-and-death experiences together, Feng Ping had become the true leader in the hearts of all officers and men of the 137th Regiment.

  Feng Ping walked straight up to You Fei, looking at him. This originally arrogant and reckless young punk was now covered in blood plasma, it was unclear whether it was the enemy's or his own. The expression in his eyes had changed a lot, now filled with a bloodthirsty will to fight and ruthlessness. At this moment, Feng Ping knew that he had truly entered the role of a soldier, entering the psychological state that a warrior should have.

  "Your name is You Fei! I'm not mistaken, am I?" Feng Ping asked solemnly.

  "You're right, Captain."

  Feng Ping smiled and said: "I once remembered you telling me that you were the deputy class leader of your class. Now that Hu Shi Guan is dead, I want to promote this second-class soldier to be an officer, and you will become the class leader of your class. Are you willing to accept it?"

  "You think being a class leader is something to be afraid of? I, Ou Fei, will definitely do better than Hu Wei Yue!"

  Feng Ping burst out laughing: "Good, you've got guts! Do a good job and I'll give you a promotion!" Feng Ping gave You Fei a heavy punch on the chest, then went to get the list of recommended commanders for each platoon from his remaining company-level cadres, while he personally selected those at the regimental level.

  After Feng Ping walked away in a hurry, He Tianhao rushed over and laughed: "Big brother, congratulations, you've been promoted!"

  "We younger ones will definitely go all out to support our elder brother. Wherever he points, we'll hit." said Huang Long.

  But the relatively clumsy Jiang Zhuang and Xu Zhiwei just kept smiling foolishly and couldn't say anything.

  Qiu Lin took a deep look at You Fei, then mysteriously smiled and turned to leave. In his heart, he shouted loudly: "Kid, congratulations!"

  Looking at Qiu Lin, who had walked away without a word, You Fei found that he no longer had the same hostility towards Qiu Lin as before. On the contrary, he now thought that this person was quite good, and at least someone who could get along with Hu Wei Yue, that big roughneck, couldn't be too bad.

  After the grief, they faced the cruel reality again. After sorting out all the trivial matters, the soldiers of the 259th Brigade and the 137th Regiment began to dig trenches and fortify their positions in the midst of the mother cat's general howling.

  Feng Ping was worried about the physical condition of the soldiers who had not rested well for a long time, and added that all the soldiers had only eaten a few pieces of bread at the Songhu battle line, and since then they had not eaten a single grain of rice. Feng Ping anxiously asked Yi Anhua: "Old Yi, how can we solve the food problem for our soldiers? Now everyone is digging trenches on an empty stomach, this won't do, before the devils arrive, our soldiers will be starving to the point of dizziness."

  "Damn it, those bastards in the logistics department are always good at cutting our military pay, but when we really need them to transport supplies, they're nowhere to be found. Just thinking about it makes me angry." Yee An Hua shouted.

  Feng Ping sighed: "Where can we get food now? First, we need to fill the bellies of our brothers."

  Yi Anhua furrowed his brow, unable to think of a solution. He had asked the logistics department in the rear for food and ammunition, but he hadn't really expected them to be able to transport the supplies.

  "People are made of iron and rice, if people don't eat anything it won't do. Soldiers who haven't eaten enough can't fight with spirit either. Alas, where am I supposed to get so much food from? Can't expect me to conjure up big steamed buns out of thin air!" Yi Anhua sighed.

  Feng Ping said: "Even if we are robbed, we must get some food, otherwise this battle will be lost halfway."

  "Right now, I think we should send some people to the nearby town to see if they can find some food. The little devils still have some canned goods that can support the soldiers for a while, and hopefully those damned logistics will arrive soon."

  Feng Ping nodded, he also knew that this was just doing his best, it wasn't easy to find food in the midst of war and chaos. So Feng Ping went to the 137th regiment's You Fei squad to search for food.

  Even if he was extremely unwilling to do such a challenging task, You Fei had no choice but to obey Feng Ping's orders.

  Leading his four brothers, this small group of only five people randomly chose a direction and moved forward. After walking for half a day, the sky had gradually darkened, and most of the houses on the road were empty, with the villagers having fled early, leaving behind only some worthless debris, and not even a single edible thing could be found.

  As the sky had already darkened, the five of them entered a civilian's house to rest.

  "Huang Long, go outside and keep watch, we'll take a nap first, damn it, I'm really too tired." After Yu Fei instructed Huang Long, he hugged his gun and fell asleep in the corner of the wall. Jiang Zhuang and the other two were also very tired, so the four of them squeezed together in a heap.

  Huang Long's expression was extremely strange, he turned his head to stare at the four of You Fei every three steps. He tightly bit his lower lip, and after heavily stomping his feet, Huang Long quickly walked out of the door...

  Dazed and confused, he didn't know how long he had slept. You Fei opened his eyes to find that this sleep wasn't particularly refreshing, only because the intense hunger pangs were always pressing on his nerves, not giving him a moment's peace. He pushed awake the stout Jiang Zuo beside him, and suddenly discovered that Huang Long was missing. You Fei immediately tensed up and loudly shouted: "Everyone get up!"

  He Tianhao and Xu Zhiwei immediately jumped up from the ground, He Tianhao rubbed his blurry eyes and said: "Big brother, why are you shouting so loudly in the early morning, do you want to scare people to death?"

  "Did you guys replace Huang Long last night?" You Fei asked anxiously.

  Jiang Zuantong shook his head, and this time You Fei was really anxious, shouting Huang Long's name as he ran out. As soon as he walked out the door, there was no sign of Huang Long anywhere, a Zhongzheng rifle leaning against the wall by the door. You Fei picked up the gun and let out a deep sigh.

  Jiang Zhuang, who arrived later, said in a low voice: "Huang Long has escaped..." He Tianhao forcefully poked Jiang Zhuang's waist with his finger, and Jiang immediately shut up.

  You Fei threw Huang Long's spear to the ground and walked forward in large strides with a dark face, not making a sound. Jiang Zhuang and the others silently followed behind You Fei.

  You Fei's mind was a jumbled mess, his feet wandering aimlessly forward, while Jiang Zai and the others didn't dare to disturb him at this time, only following behind with their heads hung low.

  As they walked, the four of them suddenly realized that the more they walked, the more desolate it became. The four people who were originally unfamiliar with the local geography had no idea which direction they came from. You Fei stopped in a wilderness and shouted angrily: "What's going on? We've walked to this godforsaken place, why didn't you three stop me?"

  He Tianhao scowled and said, "You just looked like a crying ghost, who dared to stop you?"

  The extremely anxious You Fei loudly shouted, "If we continue to struggle like this, we won't be able to find any food either. Let's head back and hurry back to the team as soon as possible." The four of them painstakingly tried to figure out which path was the one they took when they came, after all, they were unfamiliar with the place, and no matter how much they turned around, they couldn't find their way back to the original route.

  After a long time of struggling, You Fei and the others finally returned to Luo Dian before sunset. Under the bloody sunset, You Fei saw more than 100 soldiers from the 259th Regiment and the 137th Regiment walking towards him with extreme fatigue. On the road, other troops were rushing in batches towards the direction of the Luo Dian position.

  You Fei rushed over, only to see two soldiers carrying a stretcher in the crowd. On the stretcher was Feng Ping, who looked like he had been soaked in blood. You Fei tightly grasped Feng Ping's hand and asked in shock: "Commander, what happened? How did it end up like this?"

  Feng Ping was already weak and feeble at this time, but he still gazed at You Fei with a radiant smile. You Fei saw Feng Ping's lips slightly open, wanting to say something, so he leaned his ear forward. Feng Ping said in a weak voice: "The devils used planes to bomb us badly, half of our brothers are gone, but we still held on...held on..." A flash of sorrow flickered across Feng Ping's eyes, as if he was recalling that bloody and brutal defensive battle once again.

  Feng Ping also called over his orderly and whispered something in his ear, whereupon the orderly shouted loudly: "By order of Commander Feng Ping, in accordance with the last will of Colonel Yi Zhi, all original members of the 137th Regiment and the 259th Brigade are to form an independent company, with You Fei as its captain."

  You Fei was stunned, just wanting to refuse the appointment from Feng Ping, but Feng Ping had already closed his eyes peacefully and no longer responded to You Fei's calls. Death is indeed a terrifying thing for ordinary people, but for Feng Ping who had long been determined to die for his country, he had longed for this moment for so long that it was an exceptionally peaceful departure.

  You Fei was still standing on the side, looking very confused, silently standing there, and hadn't said a word for a long time...