Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 27 Canned Food
We took the captives back to the village and detained them in two rooms. Then we found a problem. I was very happy to find this problem. Capturing so many captives meant that we could justify not chasing the enemy anymore. If we chased them again, who would take care of these captives?
This discovery made me very excited. Who would want to run around outside in this icy and snowy weather? Like now, lighting a fire in the house, lying comfortably on the kang and watching dozens of prisoners, what a pleasure! I made up my mind that from now on, whenever I have a pursuit battle, I will capture a few prisoners as quickly as possible...
I hadn't had a good sleep for a few days, so my eyelids drooped as soon as I felt comfortable. I almost fell asleep after lying on the kang for a while, and I was so scared that I quickly sat up. I didn't want to wake up and find myself a prisoner.
He glanced at Hu Zi and the others sitting beside him. Although they were holding guns in their hands, they were also sleepy. He thought to himself that it was no wonder that people say "born in adversity and die in comfort". These soldiers were all strong men in the ice and snow, but in this warm and comfortable little house, they couldn't fight the sleepiness.
"Sir, can you give us something to eat?" The handsome officer sitting on the ground asked with some embarrassment, "We were busy retreating last night and didn't have a single bite to eat all night!"
"There's no food, but how about cigarettes?" I took out the "Coffee" brand cigarettes I had searched out of the puppet soldiers' pockets and handed one to the handsome officer.
"What's your name?" I lit his cigarette with the fire from the kang. In order to keep myself awake, I made small talk.
"Sir!" The fake officer stepped forward and replied, "Captain Chief of Staff of the 3rd Battalion, 10th Regiment, 8th Division of the Korean Army - Park Xusong."
"Okay, okay... I'm not interrogating you!" I patted his shoulder and said, "Relax, Comrade Park, where did you learn Chinese? You speak well, have you been to China?"
"You are wise, sir." Pu Xusong bowed and nodded and replied, "I once served in your country's central army and served as a platoon leader for two years."
"Oh." Now I understand why he always calls me "superior". I was wondering why it sounds a bit like the way the Kuomintang calls people in the movies. It turns out it is really...
"So, are there many soldiers serving in the Central Army who come back to join the Republic of Korea?" I asked casually.
"Not many," Park Xusong replied, "probably a few thousand people, but because of their combat experience, they were given important positions in the army after returning home."
So that's how it was. No wonder he surrendered so easily after knowing we were Chinese, and even took the initiative to bring his subordinates to surrender. It turned out that he had served in the Kuomintang army before, and he knew that the Communist army would not kill prisoners.
I didn't expect that in this era, the boundary between communism and capitalism is so clear. I smiled bitterly. After Korea was occupied by Japan, many Koreans fled to China to serve as soldiers. Some of these people joined the Communist Party, and some joined the Kuomintang.
After the Second World War ended and Japan surrendered, these people returned to their country one after another. Those who had served in the Communist Party joined North Korea after returning to their country, and those who had served in the Kuomintang joined South Korea. Because they all had combat experience, they naturally became the backbone of the armies of both sides. In a sense, the Korean War was also another contest between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.
"I say, where are your military rations?" I touched my hungry stomach and asked, "You also know that our Communist army has little military rations, but you have a lot of food, right? Will the Americans let you go hungry?"
"Well... Sir." Park Xusong replied somewhat awkwardly: "There is a house at the end of the village that is almost burned down. Our military rations are burning inside."
"Oh, you can't take it away, you're afraid we'll eat it!" I laughed and said, "Then we deserve to be hungry."
"I dare not, I dare not..." Pu Xusong kept bending down and nodding, as if he was afraid that we would vent our anger on him.
"Damn it, you still don't dare." When Hu Zi heard that the food was burnt, he couldn't help but get angry: "It's already burnt, and you still say you don't dare! I say, do all you reactionaries talk like this? It's irritating, don't you understand? Eh..."
At this moment, Hu Zi suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and he became alert all of a sudden. He rushed forward, grabbed Pu Xusong by the collar, and asked, "Do you have any canned food? Are there any canned food in the military rations?"
Hu Zi was so smart. Soon, everyone, including the prisoners, was holding a can of beef in their hands and wolfing it down. The beef was still hot and steaming when we opened it.
I said, there are many professions, and every profession has its own top talents. How come no one thought that the canned food could not be burned? Only Hu Zi, with his stupid brain, could think of it... I couldn't help but feel ashamed. If it weren't for Hu Zi, a group of us would still be starving while guarding a pile of hot beef.
"Huzi, this is your credit."
"What?" Hu Zi's mouth was full of food, and he spoke incoherently: "This... this can be regarded as meritorious service? I, I, I... I don't want it. If I tell others, people will laugh at me. Just give me one more can!"
" Why not?" I tutted my lips and said, "Do you know that the comrades in our regiment, our division, and our army are all hungry? The canned food in that room can at least allow everyone in our regiment to eat one! Otherwise, people will starve to death, don't you know?"
"Then..." Hu Zi was stunned for a moment, his face flushed for no reason, and he replied embarrassedly: "Then I don't want that can either. If I eat one more, one more comrade in our regiment will go hungry!"
I was stunned when I heard this. What a simple and pure answer. If it were in the real world, such an answer would definitely be labeled as "fool" or "affected", but at this moment, this sentence was so natural and so true.
At this moment, I truly felt that after coming to this society, I felt not only the shock of blood and fire from the battlefield, but also the care between comrades-in-arms, and their heartfelt kindness and selflessness.
"Who is it? Password!"
The shout from the soldier standing guard outside the door made everyone in the house nervous. The volunteers grabbed their rifles as quickly as possible and ran towards the window, while the prisoners looked around with nervous eyes, not knowing what fate awaited them.
"Liberate New China!"
A familiar voice came from the darkness.
"Serve the people! It's the regiment commander..." The soldier outside the door shouted excitedly into the house: "Platoon Leader Cui, it's our troops, the regiment commander is here!"
