Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 10: Head of Group
"Comrades of the Volunteer Army, Comrades of the Volunteer Army..."
Not long after Cui Xixuan passed by, a dozen people quickly walked out from behind the hill, led by a middle-aged man in his fifties. In the darkness, he was wearing a black leather coat, with the khaki woolen military uniform faintly visible underneath. It was obvious at a glance that he was an important figure. He was dressed like this when he was escaping, so it was no wonder that he hid himself when he saw the troops and did not dare to show his true face.
With a "pa..." sound, he came closer and saluted us in a proper manner, saying, "Kim Jong-song, commander of the 15th Division of the People's Army, welcomes you on behalf of General Kim Il-sung and the Korean people."
"Hello, comrades! Hello, comrades..." Before we could return the greetings, Jin Zhongsong enthusiastically shook hands with each of us one by one. His wrinkled face and bloodshot eyes were full of excitement, and he kept saying, "Comrades, you have worked hard! Welcome! Thank you, thank you..."
It wouldn't have been a big deal if he greeted everyone one by one like a pecking rooster, but it made it difficult for me, as a translator, to follow him and keep saying those flattering words to his comrades. I felt very uncomfortable.
"Do you have a plane?"
At this moment, I suddenly heard someone ask in Russian. I turned my head and noticed that there was a Soviet man with a mustache. He was crossing his arms and looking at the marching volunteer army with disdain.
"Oh, this is Comrade Vikowski, the Soviet advisor of the 15th Division." Jin Zhongsong introduced me in Korean: "He wants to know if the comrades have airplanes."
"No!" I answered directly in Russian.
I am a journalist after all. A journalist has to be able to speak several languages. Now I have no choice but to act as a translator again.
"Hmm?" Seeing that I could speak Russian, a strange look flashed across Wikowski's face. He looked at me with surprise and then asked, "Do you have any cannons?"
"No." I answered coldly.
"Where's the tank?"
"No!" I gritted my teeth, and a nameless fire rose in my heart.
"Then what do you rely on to fight? Just with these Japanese equipment?" Wikowski pointed at the Type 38 rifle in the hands of the volunteer soldier next to him and chuckled.
Jin Zhongsong and his group obviously understood Russian. The excitement quickly faded from their faces, and was replaced by disappointment and helplessness. The deathly silence quickly drove away their previous enthusiasm.
It is said that the backbone of the Korean People's Army are all veterans who returned from the wars in China and the Soviet Union. Seeing that this group of people can't speak Chinese but can understand Russian, it seems that this is also an army composed of Soviet backbones! No wonder they don't know how powerful the Chinese People's Liberation Army is, no wonder they don't know that the People's Liberation Army has always defeated the strong with the weak, no wonder they don't know Chinese soldiers...
"What's the matter?" Sensing that the atmosphere was not right, I didn't translate, and Captain Chu asked impatiently.
"Report to the regiment commander." I came to my senses, stood up to the regiment commander and said , "They complained that we didn't have planes, cannons, or tanks, and asked us why we were going to fight?"
"Ball!" Captain Chu got angry when he heard it, and his originally pale face turned red in an instant.
"Why?" Captain Chu grabbed a Type 38 rifle beside him, shook it vigorously in front of them, and shouted loudly: "Why? Just relying on this Type 38 rifle, you can't defeat them and have fled here, let us tear them apart. Let's go..."
After saying that, he ignored the embarrassed Jin Zhongsong and others and joined the marching team. However, Captain Chu's marching habits were also strange. Why did he need a guard to pull in front and a guard to push in the back? I looked at Xiao Shandong standing next to me in confusion.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Shandong also looked at me puzzledly.
"Why does the captain walk like that?"
"Oh! I was wondering what it was!" Little Shandong grinned.
"Our regiment commander had surgery a few days ago. It's here!" Xiao Shandong pointed to his waist and said, "They said it was... acute appendicitis. Look, the incision hasn't even been healed yet, but he's already on the battlefield. He couldn't buckle his belt, so he had to hang it around his neck. It was so painful that he couldn't walk, so he had to have one person pull him from the front and one person push him from the back."
"Then the wound hasn't been healed yet, and you're still letting me go to the battlefield?"
"Who told him not to come?" Xiao Shandong shook his head helplessly. "The superiors talked to the regiment commander several times and asked him not to come. But the regiment commander was so stubborn that he refused to agree and insisted on coming, saying that..."
I stopped unconsciously. The shock Xiao Shandong's words brought to my heart is indescribable. I couldn't imagine that a person could give up his warm and comfortable home and come to this foreign country to suffer from hunger and cold, or even sacrifice his life. What was even more unimaginable to me was that he had a very good reason not to come.
After standing there for a long time, I straightened my chest, adjusted my Type 38 rifle on my back, and quickly followed the large group forward. In the darkness, I didn't seem to be so hungry anymore, and the snow and wind blowing in my face didn't seem so cold anymore...
…
(This chapter pays tribute to Chu Chuanyu, the head of the 353rd Regiment of the 118th Division of the 40th Army of the Volunteer Army. He had appendicitis before going abroad, but he still ignored everyone's persuasion and resolutely stepped out of the country to aid Korea. He made great achievements on the battlefield and wrote a heroic hymn for the Chinese people to resist the US and aid Korea.)
