Volume 1: The First Battle Chapter 38 Epilogue
"The platoon leader is back!"
"Platoon Leader Cui is back!"
…
When I returned to the company, it was already dawn. My comrades were all in high spirits after a night's rest. When they saw me coming back, they immediately surrounded me and asked me all sorts of questions. I hadn't had a good rest for several days, and I had to walk back with the prisoners. My legs felt heavy as if they were filled with lead, and my eyelids seemed to be glued shut and I couldn't open them wide.
"Boy!" Hu Zi pulled me and almost made me fall. He said with an unhappy face, "You are so impressive, aren't you? You are the only one in the company who went to fight the Yankees. How's it going? How's the fight?"
"We won the battle, why do you need to ask?" Zhao Yongxin looked me up and down and said, "Didn't you see that Platoon Leader Cui's nose, eyes, ears, and limbs are intact? If he didn't win a great victory, he must have deserted!"
"What are you talking about!" Liu Mingquan didn't agree with Zhao Yongxin's words. He pushed Zhao Yongxin unceremoniously and said, "Can our platoon leader Cui be a deserter? Can the people of our second company be deserters?"
"Okay, okay...I was just saying that." Zhao Yongxin also felt that he had said something wrong and smiled embarrassedly.
"Platoon Leader Cui!" Liu Mingquan didn't pay much attention and came up to ask, "How's the fight going? We won, right?"
"Yes, we won!" I nodded tiredly. "The Americans were driven away, and our people captured more than a hundred American prisoners!"
"Wow... Hoo..." The comrades burst into cheers excitedly, as if the storyteller was telling a wonderful part and asked them to cheer loudly.
"What do Americans look like?" Hu Zi asked stupidly, "I heard that Americans all have big noses. Is mine as big as yours?"
"Platoon Leader Cui!" Liu Mingquan asked impatiently, "We have captured more than a hundred prisoners. Tell me, what are you doing?"
For a while, my comrades were talking to each other, and I was staggered by them and didn't know what to say for a while.
"I'm talking to you guys!" The old squad leader pushed everyone aside, took the rifle from my hand, and said unhappily, "Don't you see how tired Platoon Leader Cui is? Can you stop talking? Let Platoon Leader Cui take a rest!"
"Right, right...rest first!" My comrades finally came to their senses and hurriedly spread out the blanket to help me lie down. Then they also tactfully stopped asking me questions and sat in a group beside me, chatting quietly.
"The Americans aren't that great!" Hu Zi said, "They say their planes, tanks, and artillery are awesome, but they just run away after we hit them once."
"That's right!" Liu Mingquan continued, "In the past ten days, our team has been here, and wherever we go is our position. The enemy just keeps running away, and we just keep chasing them. We spend more time walking than fighting, and the enemy hasn't fought a single decent battle! I say it won't be long before we can go home!"
The old squad leader agreed and said, "If we keep fighting like this, we will be almost there in ten days or half a month."
"Ah?" I was lying drowsy, but I couldn't help but sit up after hearing their discussion. It is said that when the first batch of volunteers entered the Korean War, they generally believed that they could return home victoriously in the time it took to use up a tube of toothpaste or a bar of soap. It turned out that this was all true.
"What's wrong?" The old squad leader asked in confusion when he saw me sitting up: "Why aren't you sleeping? Did I disturb you?"
"What are you arguing about?" Zhao Yongxin said unhappily, "You can sleep just fine even when bullets are flying overhead and shells are exploding beside you. Oh... you can't sleep without shells or gunshots, right? How about I let you have some?"
Zhao Yongxin made such a joke, and all the soldiers couldn't help laughing. The old squad leader said bitterly: "What a bad idea! Do you want to lure the enemy planes here?"
"No." I also forced a smile and said, "Comrades, this war will not be over so quickly . It will take three years!"
"Three years?"
All the soldiers were stunned.
"Three years, who are you trying to fool?" Hu Zi said in disbelief, "Just based on the character of the reactionaries, they will also fight for three years?"
"That's right!" Zhao Yongxin nodded. "Let's not talk about others, let's talk about our Platoon Leader Cui. In just over ten days, he has killed dozens of enemies and captured hundreds of prisoners. How many reactionaries are there? If Platoon Leader Cui captures prisoners for three years, it will form a division. Then let Platoon Leader Cui be the commander of this division, and the number will be called Cui's Prisoner Division. How about that?"
Zhao Yongxin's words made the soldiers burst into laughter. Everyone was immersed in the excitement of victory and didn't take my words to heart at all.
I sighed secretly, knowing that nothing I said now would change the minds of my comrades. Once an idea has been recognized and spread among the public, it will be as difficult to stop as a plague.
What they didn't know was that the several great victories won by the Volunteer Army since entering North Korea had fostered a serious underestimation of the enemy in their hearts. They no longer took the South Korean army or the US army seriously, and even had the toothpaste squeezing theory
This serious underestimation of the enemy caused the volunteer soldiers to suffer heavy losses in the subsequent battles, so that even though they were equipped with more advanced equipment and relatively sufficient supplies in the later period, they still failed to achieve better results.
With some regret, I lay back in bed and closed my eyes, but my mind was full of thoughts. Can't this history be changed? If it can't be changed, then why did God arrange for me to go to this past that has already happened to me? If it can be changed, then wouldn't the history in my memory be wrong?
Until now, I still feel like this is a dream, a dream in which I am the only one awake, or only I am confused. Maybe when I wake up and open my eyes, I can see my relatives, friends, and everything that is familiar to me...
Unconsciously, I fell asleep, and in the dream I returned to reality, but I was no longer troubled by the low salary, no longer discouraged by the unsatisfactory job, no longer sighing for not having a house or a car... Because I have clearly realized that as long as I can eat enough and not go hungry or cold, and don't have to risk my life running through bullets every day, that is the greatest happiness!
…
(This volume pays tribute to the 38th, 39th, 40th, 42nd, and 66th Armies that participated in the first battle!
The first battle lasted from October 25, 1950 to November 5, a total of 10 days. The Chinese People's Volunteer Army drove the northward-moving "United Nations Army" from the Yalu River to the south of the Cheongcheon River, shattering MacArthur's plan to occupy all of North Korea before "Thanksgiving Day!", initially stabilizing the war situation, and gaining initial experience in fighting with the US and South Korean armies, which enhanced confidence in victory and created favorable conditions for subsequent operations.
In this battle, more than 15,000 enemies were killed and more than 10,000 Chinese soldiers were wounded or injured. The ratio of enemy and our casualties was 1:0.62.
