Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 28 Enemy Planes
"Ouch!" As soon as Captain Chu walked into the room, he was startled by the prisoners sitting on the floor.
"Hello, Commander!" When we saw Commander Chu, we all stood up and saluted , even the prisoners stood up.
"What's going on?" Perhaps because he had helped Captain Chu interpret several times, he recognized me as soon as he entered the room. He walked straight up to me and pointed at the prisoners and asked, "These soldiers..."
"Report to the regiment commander." I said with some pride, "We have captured fifty-four prisoners in total. The others are in the room next door!"
"What are you doing?" Unexpectedly, Captain Chu's face relaxed and he scolded us: "Just take the prisoners and send two people back. The soldiers are all outside chasing the enemy, and you..."
Regimental Commander Chu pointed his finger at us and said with a red face, "Ah...you are hiding in the house, roasting fire and eating canned beef! Do you know that the comrades outside are starving, bleeding and dying! Everyone, join the battle immediately!"
"Yes!" After hearing what Captain Chu said, we couldn't even raise our heads. We hurriedly packed our equipment and walked out.
When I walked out of the door, I realized that my previous thoughts were wrong. There was no such thing as offsetting merits and demerits in the Volunteer Army. Merits were merits, and demerits were demerits. Having merits did not mean that we could make some small mistakes without being criticized. Just like we captured so many prisoners just now, but it did not mean that we could enjoy special services such as food and clothing in that small house for a while.
"Oh my god..." I cried in my heart. When did I even think that "food and clothing" is a special service? No wonder the Chinese people call the volunteers "the cutest people". At this time, I deeply felt the spirit of the volunteers who never stop fighting and never stop living.
"Comrade, comrade!" After running for a while, Political Commissar Chen Ye caught up with him breathlessly, saying, "Comrade, I recognize you. You are the comrade who gave me advice that night in Wenjing!"
"Hello, Political Commissar!" I stopped, stood at attention and saluted.
"Comrade, don't take the commander's words to heart." Chen Ye patted my shoulder and said, "The commander has a hot temper. He is very strict with others and himself. He hates people being lazy the most."
"Yes!" I didn't know what to say. In fact, I also felt that Captain Chu was right. In the same unit, we should share the joys and sorrows with our comrades, and we should not make excuses to be lazy.
"Comrade, you did a great job!" Chen Ye continued, "You captured so many prisoners and secured some food and ammunition for the troops. You fought well and you must keep working hard. But you must remember that we are revolutionary soldiers. We must have the spirit of hard work, the spirit of selfless dedication, and the spirit of sacrifice. Hedonism is not acceptable!"
"Yes!" I stood up again, and cried out in my heart: 'Oh my god, this is the legendary ideological and political work. I would rather let Captain Chu scold me again.'
"Hmm..." Chen Yeben wanted to continue, but seemed to remember something, so he stopped and said, "Okay! The military situation is urgent, and the 38th Army is blocking us. Go chase the enemy! Capture a few more prisoners and show them to me. I'll report my achievement to you!"
"Yes!" I turned around and ran with Hu Zi and others as if I had been freed. The speed was so fast that even when I was chasing my beloved beauty, I didn't run that fast.
At the same time, my heart skipped a beat. The 38th Army? Isn't that the 38th Army known as the Long Live Army?
The 38th Army was powerful, but in the first battle it failed to reach the designated location on time, allowing the puppet 8th Division to escape the encirclement. For this, the commander of the 38th Army was scolded by General Peng!
Oh, yes! I just remembered that we were chasing the fake Eighth Division... Thinking of this, my steps slowed down involuntarily.
"What's wrong? Platoon Leader Cui?" Hu Zi saw that I slowed down and turned back to ask in confusion.
"Don't chase them, we can't catch up." I said angrily, "The 38th Army can't stop the enemy. How can our two legs outrun the enemy's four wheels?"
"Platoon leader!" The old squad leader stopped and said to me in a serious tone, "Captain Chu is right. We can't let our minds wander after being criticized! Don't take it to heart, ah!"
"Ah, I..." I was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to explain. I had no choice but to run forward with the crowd. I felt so depressed, thinking that sometimes even knowing the result is not a good thing.
I don’t know if it’s because I had the strength from eating the canned food or because I’m used to running, but I didn’t feel tired or sleepy when I started running. I just knew in my heart that I was doing useless work, and I felt depressed that my thoughts were misunderstood.
The sky in North Korea brightened very quickly. Perhaps because the snow on the ground reflected the light, it was gray just now, but in the blink of an eye the surrounding scenery became clear.
I couldn't help but look up at the sky with some worry. The sun gradually rose from the east, illuminating half the sky, but the mountains under the sun seemed even darker.
As soon as it got light, it was time for American planes to take off to protect the puppet Eighth Army's safe escape.
But I didn't receive any order to stop the pursuit. Was it because the order from the regiment was not delivered in time? Or did I think that the 38th Army was blocking the enemy in front and I was pursuing the enemy at all costs for the sake of the overall operation?
The Volunteer Army’s communication equipment was extremely backward. Only regimental headquarters and above were equipped with radio stations, and communication between troops below the battalion level depended entirely on communicators.
Therefore, in this situation of pursuing the enemy, it is entirely possible that the troops lost contact with the regiment headquarters.
I was anxiously thinking, should I give the order to stop chasing the enemy without the order from the regiment? Otherwise, if we were discovered by the enemy planes, we would be beaten.
But I finally gave up the idea. It is the duty of soldiers to obey orders. I thought bitterly in my heart: "I hope that all the American pilots had stomach problems last night, or they all overslept, otherwise my life... Hey, it's really not good, but bad things work. I haven't even started praying yet! There was a buzzing sound of planes in the sky..."
Everyone stopped involuntarily, realizing what was about to happen.
Looking towards the not-too-bright sunlight, dozens of Mustang fighter planes were divided into five columns and flew in this direction. Some of them seemed to have found the target and left the column to drop bombs and fire.
"What should we do?" asked the old squad leader.
I looked around and saw nothing but white snow everywhere. There was no place to hide. We were like a few black rat droppings in a pot of porridge. Everyone couldn't help but look at me again.
At this moment, two Mustangs were flying towards us with terrible whistles, their silver-white wings reflecting the dazzling sunlight, as if showing off their powerful military power to us. Their oval noses were facing us, and they could spray countless bullets at any time to blast us into sieves.
"I'm going to fight you, you bastard!" Hu Zi raised the rifle in his hand and aimed at the enemy plane, but I pushed him down.
"Wave!" I yelled. "Everyone wave and cheer!"
Then I took the lead in cheering for the enemy planes with our hands raised high. Everyone understood and immediately followed suit. Hu Zi was no exception. What was quite surprising was that he shouted particularly loudly and with great devotion. After listening carefully, I realized that what he was shouting was: "I...fuck...your...old...mother..."
"Woo..." The Mustang fighter flew over our heads safely, and the air flow it created blew my hat onto the snow. Fortunately, I wiped the sweat off my forehead, as it wasn't my head that was blown off.
"Here, platoon leader!" The old squad leader picked up the hat on the ground and handed it to me with a smile on his face, his eyes full of admiration and trust. Then I looked at Hu Zi and the other soldiers, all of whom were looking at me lustfully.
I know in my heart that if they still felt that I was not qualified to be their platoon leader before, then after these battles, they have completely accepted me and have developed an indescribable trust in me and even blind obedience. Just like now when they encounter difficulties, they always push the problems to me.
This is a habit! When I was a child, I heard a story about a shepherd who intentionally placed a wooden stick across the door when driving the sheep out of the sheepfold. The sheep could easily jump over the stick and jump out. When there was only one sheep left, even if the shepherd pulled out the stick, the last sheep would still jump out.
Similarly, in front of my comrades like Hu Zi and Lao Banzhang, I made the right decisions again and again. When I made a wrong decision one day, they would do it without hesitation. Perhaps this kind of blind obedience is what soldiers need!
I glanced at the crowd who were happy about having tricked the American plane, and then ordered, "Run!"
"yes!"
Sure enough, without asking any questions, they formed a column according to my orders, and right above our heads, countless Mustang fighters were roaring and flying around.
What surprised me even more was that every time we passed a hill or a patch of grass, a few volunteer soldiers who were hiding inside would jump out and follow the team. As a result, the team following me grew larger and larger, and soon grew to several hundred people.
I was so proud and satisfied! Leading a team of several hundred people, I was not only a platoon leader, but also a battalion commander! Maybe there would be a few battalion commanders in this team!
Moreover, this team was also assisted by God. The enemy planes flew around overhead, but they did not hurt us at all. Some planes even circled around to provide us with warning and protection...
Perhaps because they were out of fuel, all the Mustang fighters flew away in a swarm after more than half an hour. However, we still moved forward in an orderly formation and reached the Cheongcheon River safely before dark.
What I didn't know was that because of my small action, the US Intelligence Agency received two different versions of intelligence from the puppet army and the pilots.
The puppet army repeatedly stressed that there were a large number of Communist troops chasing them from behind and requested air support. However, the American pilot confidently said: "The Republic of Korea's troops are under our protection, everything is under control, and there is no sign of any large troops behind them."
After seeing this, the intelligence chief Phipps laughed out loud: "These Korean troops were frightened by a few stragglers of the Reds and ran to the Cheongcheon River like rats!"
