Chapter 4 Two Water Caves

  Liusha Cave is not a cave, just like abalone is not fish and Tang Bohu is not tiger.

  Damn... when will I learn to speak like Gu Long?

  I scratched my head, somewhat suspecting that my brain had gained some boring literary cells during the crossing process.

  The first ray of sunlight pierced through the thick clouds like a sharp sword, and the stars and moon instantly lost all their color. The horizon grew brighter and brighter, and the light ruthlessly drove away the darkness, revealing everything in the world clearly before my eyes in an instant.

  I, who had been lying in ambush in the trenches, only now saw clearly where I was - Hill 216.

  The 216 indicates the elevation of the highland, and as the gullies extend forward, a long, winding road appears at the foot of the highland, winding its way northward. Beside the road, the Jiulong River flows gently in a south-north direction, emitting a pleasant gurgling sound. On the opposite side is another highland - 239.8 meters high. The entire terrain consists of two highlands sandwiching a river and a road at the foot of the mountain. Soldiers from the two battalions of the Volunteer Army were ambushed on both sides of the road, near the 216-meter highland and the 239.8-meter highland.

  I gazed enviously and admiringly at the 239.8 highland across from me, how great is the 239.8 highland? It's separated from the highway by the Jiulong River, which isn't conducive to charging forward, so the soldiers hiding on the highland just need to hide behind cover and fire cold guns... unlike us, our highland is directly connected to the highway, and the order given to us by Commander Chang is to charge down as soon as the bugle sounds... I mean, we're from the same army, how can our fates be so different?

  "Comrades, this is our volunteer army's first battle abroad. We must fight beautifully, show our might, break through the situation and crush the enemy's arrogance..."

  I recalled the pre-war mobilization speech made by our instructor earlier, and I couldn't help but clench my fists tightly around the Type 38 rifle, the chill from the wooden stock spreading through my hands straight to my heart, making me shiver involuntarily.

  As soon as I reached the top of the mountain, the company commander threw this Type 38 rifle at me like a firewood, with an ammunition bag on the side, and then threw out a sentence: Can't find your name, from now on you're my man.

  It's not that you need to find a matchmaker when marrying a wife, is it? It's not that you need a sedan chair and all the formalities, is it? And isn't it also necessary to give betrothal gifts and host a wedding banquet? Can a grown man really become someone else's just with a single sentence?

  I can't describe the feeling of holding a gun for the first time, it's as if my heart has become more solid, with a sense of security and some tension, and also... a killing intent. I brought my eyes closer to the sight, curiously aiming at this and that... Since the enemy hasn't appeared yet, I treated the trees, rocks, and soil in the valley as imaginary enemies, making soft "pa-pa" sounds with my mouth, imagining them falling one by one under my gun before they could even react.

  So cool! So exciting! How majestic!

  But... how am I supposed to use this thing? This is...

  "What's wrong?!" Seeing me holding a gun and looking left and right for half a day without finding the door, a sturdy warrior with a mustache next to me looked at me disdainfully: "You've never fired a gun before, our 40th Army still has such a rookie like you..."

  He snatched the gun and opened the chamber with a few clicks: "It's not loaded yet, press the bullets here, five rounds, then like this... done, try it..."

  "Oh, thank you big brother."

  "Call comrade." Before I could react, this guy slapped me heavily on the head, and he was still muttering: "Where did this country bumpkin come from, always losing face for our 40th Army."

  "What's wrong with me?" I was suddenly hit for no reason and was even called a country bumpkin, which made me feel somewhat angry.

  "Look at you, you don't even look like a new recruit, how can you not even know how to shoot a gun?" Lao Hu Zi glared at me fiercely and turned his head away, ignoring me.

  "Be careful with that comrade... he's been injured!" the old squad leader shouted from over there, separated by several people.

  "Hmph!" Tiger child curled his lips and bluntly said to me: "I'm telling you, comrade, bullets on the battlefield don't have eyes, don't count on others!"

  "That's that... " I sneered: "If others could be relied on in the battlefield, tigers would climb trees."

  "It's fine if you know... Huh, isn't it a sow?"

  "Exactly!"

  "Not the same."

  "That's about it!"

  "It's far from enough..."

  "It's really like him!"

  "What the...!" The bearded man stared at me in astonishment: "I'm telling you, comrade, have you gone mad? How can a tiger look like a sow?"

  With a snort, a seasoned warrior next to him burst out laughing: "Tiger, he's saying you're like a sow! Looks like he's read a few books, doesn't even use dirty words when cursing!"

  Suddenly, the trench that was originally filled with tension erupted into a burst of laughter. However, this only made things worse for the old tiger, whose face turned red and white as it glared at me with its fierce eyes.

  "Big brother... oh! Comrade, don't be angry, just a joke!" I apologized to the man with the whiskers.

  "Hmph..." The whiskered man didn't seem willing to give up, and he said straightforwardly: "You young punk, I'm a rough guy, my verbal sparring skills can't match yours. How about we compare our real abilities? What do you say? Dare to compete?"

  "Who's afraid of whom? What kind of comparison is this?" My personality has always been that I never concede verbally.

  "Let's see who kills more reactionaries, whoever loses has to wash feet, how about that?"

  "I'll stick to it till the end!" That's my personality!

  "Don't blame others when you lose after making a bet."

  "You're the one who's lazy!" My personality is such that I hate it when others say I'm lazy.

  "Comrade!" A soldier beside him laughed and said, "You don't understand this, do you? Tiger Brother is a famous tiger in our company. If you want to compare with him on killing reactionaries, you'd better prepare some foot-washing water!"

  "That's not necessarily true!" I said with a curl of my lip, "No one can predict what will happen on the battlefield. Tiger Brother wants to keep his feet intact, don't win and then have no feet for me to wash!"

  My personality is that I never give anyone an inch verbally.

  "Heh heh......" Another faint snicker echoed through the trenches, leaving Whiskers' eyes green with rage.

  "Silence, silence...... get ready for battle!"

  A warrior wearing a straw hat and covered in branches crouched down and jumped into the trench. This warrior was responsible for releasing the wind from high places, his appearance meant that the enemy had already been discovered. In an instant, all the warriors put away their smiles, leaned their heads against their own weapons, and focused on aiming at the highway at the foot of the mountain through the sights, waiting for the moment when the enemy fell into the encirclement.

  A faint hum of the engine came, like a small drum beating in my heart. I thought of the bet that had just been made and couldn't help but secretly curse. Just now it was only because I didn't want to lose face in front of so many people, but now I have to compete with that "tiger" to see who can kill more enemies, and not let the enemy kill me would be good enough.

  No choice, two evils weigh and take the lighter one, it's still important to keep my life safe. It is said that volunteer soldiers are brave in battle, but not washing their feet for a month or two is common, and some even sleep without taking off their shoes. Just thinking about washing such a pair of feet makes my stomach turn!

  "Uggghhh..."

  The engine sound suddenly became louder, and five cars full of infantry turned over the foot of the mountain and appeared on the highway. This should be a reconnaissance company, which is for the main force to check if there are any ambushes ahead. However, this reconnaissance company in front of us doesn't have any intention of reconnaissance at all. They neither get off the car to search nor conduct firepower reconnaissance. The soldiers on the car all carry guns on their backs, wear helmets slantingly, and laugh and joke on the car without any vigilance.

  This must be the South Korean army, although it's hard to hear what language they're speaking under the noise of the cars, but they look almost like Chinese people, so it can't be any other than the South Korean army.

  The predecessor of the South Korean army was a puppet army under Japanese rule. Just as Japan established a puppet army controlled by them in China when they invaded China, the Japanese also established an army composed of Koreans who were afraid of death and exploited the people when they invaded Korea. After Japan's defeat and surrender, this puppet army also surrendered and was handed over to Syngman Rhee, becoming the current South Korean army.

  It can be imagined that such an army has little cohesion and combat effectiveness, and is also not supported by the people. In contrast, the main force of the North Korean People's Army comes from the people, from the guerrilla forces who have been fighting against Japan for a long time and are unwilling to be enslaved by Japan. Even several divisions were formed in the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the Anti-Japanese War and the Liberation War, and Kim Il-sung himself served as a company commander in the PLA.

  So when North and South Korea went to war, the South Korean army didn't have a moment's hesitation in "attacking in another direction", but just as the People's Army was about to successfully liberate the whole of Korea, MacArthur brought the US military and launched an Inchon landing, cutting off the People's Army's supply lines, turning the tide of battle around, and the North Korean People's Army ended up retreating on all fronts...

  At this time, I saw with my own eyes the legendary Southern Korean army, and their lazy appearance made my hanging heart put down a bit. Although these people were dressed in neat uniforms and well-equipped, even I, an outsider, could see that they were not opponents of the volunteer army at all.

  These people may not be able to come back, I thought to myself. The first battle of the volunteer army abroad is to establish prestige and strive for a perfect victory. These rubbish do not know that at this time, there are nearly five times as many veteran soldiers of the volunteer army around them, waiting for them to drill into their pockets...

  Further back were medium trucks towing howitzers, with long barrels pointing up at the sky, one after another, a total of 12. Behind them were more than 20 cars carrying infantry and shells. On the hood of each car was mounted a light machine gun, and the machine gunners were equally unguarded, some sitting, some leaning, and even some lying comfortably on the sunshade of the car, gazing at the white clouds in the sky.

  "Rat-a-tat-tat..." At this moment, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out, causing the leaves on the trees beside me to rustle loudly.

  My heart skipped a beat, thinking it was about to start, and I stretched out my hand, ready to pull the trigger.

  "Halt...!" The mustachioed lieutenant pressed my hand down, his face twisted in rage as he growled in a low voice: "No shooting without orders, got it? Are you scared shitless by the enemy's reconnaissance fire?"

  "Oh..." My old face turned red, and I just realized that the few shots were actually from the enemy's car-mounted machine gun sweep, with the intention of making me, a rookie, tense up and expose myself as a target. At the same time, I was secretly admiring the organizational discipline of the volunteer army soldiers. There were four or five thousand soldiers hiding in ambush nearby, but not one person couldn't hold their breath and fire a shot. Of course, if the mustachioed man hadn't held me down earlier, there would have been one.

  "Spare the gunners and attack the infantry behind."

  "Spare the gunners and attack the infantry behind."

  ……

  Orders were being quietly passed from one soldier to another. It was only then that I realized how close we had just come to ruining the entire military operation... I heard that the Volunteer Army is extremely strict, and if I had fired a shot earlier, who knows whether I would have been taken away by the political commissar and executed? Thinking about this made me break out in a cold sweat, and at the same time I couldn't help but glance gratefully at Lao Hu's prone form beside me.

  The enemy, under intense firepower reconnaissance, couldn't see any movement, perhaps feeling safe, and the car accelerated forward with full force. The convoy stretched longer and longer, extending over five kilometers, filling the entire valley with dust, gasoline fumes, and pungent exhaust smoke.

  The enemy's artillery was right under the muzzle of the volunteer army, and as they walked further and further away, they finally turned a corner and disappeared from view. The valley returned to calmness once again, except for the sound of the Jiulong River water and dust still churning, there was no other sound, everything was so quiet and mysterious...

  "Whoosh...... whoosh......"

  The sound is heard before the person is seen. The chaotic footsteps are getting closer and closer, accompanied by the sound of metal clashing and laughter.

  Here came, my heart was tight one after another, although I knew that the volunteer army would win this battle and still win a big victory, but after all, it was the first time to go on the battlefield, a kind of inexplicable fear arose in my heart.

  "Whoosh...... whoosh......"

  A vast expanse of gray dust, a fully armed battalion marched in, led by an unknown officer riding a large red foreign horse, shouting something to the troops behind him.

  Do I really have to kill people? One after another, the enemies pass under my crosshairs. Although I know that even if I pull the trigger, I may not necessarily hit them, but I still can't help thinking of them being ruthlessly penetrated through the head by a bullet.

  "Whoosh...... whoosh......"

  The enemy's vanguard has entered our ambush circle, and more people are constantly moving forward from behind. The dust in the valley hasn't had time to settle before it's stirred up again by new dust.

  Can I bring myself to do it? For some reason, what I'm thinking about now is no longer whether I can save my own life, but whether I can use a cold bullet weighing only a few grams to take away a life full of hot blood and make a heart stop beating.

  "Whoosh...... whoosh......"

  They saw the tail of the enemy's troops, with about 700 people, the strength of a reinforced regiment. They continued to walk, completely unaware that they were walking towards death, unaware that they were walking into the hunter's trap. All they knew was their opponent - the People's Army, which had already lost all its combat effectiveness under the UN army's attack at this time, only knowing that ahead was the Yalu River, and as long as they walked to it, they would have accomplished the great cause of unifying Korea.

  "Brother Hu... " The old squad leader lowered his voice and said to the man with a braided beard: "When the fight starts, you move quickly and get that big red foreign horse for me."

  "Alright!" The whiskered man nodded, turned his head to glance at me, a hint of a smile in his eyes, as if telling me that even with a new task, he could still beat me without breaking a sweat.

  "Whoosh...... whoosh......"

  At last... all of our enemies have walked into our encirclement, it's time to close the net.