Volume 2 The Second Battle Chapter 25 Ice Wall
Another pile of gravel fell down, and I couldn't help but sit down dejectedly. There were too many gravels on this high ground and they were not sticky. They fell while I was digging. I dug for a long time and my hands were bleeding. This trench was still like a pot. I looked at my comrades around me and they were in similar situations.
I couldn't help but sigh and lay down beside the trench. It took so much effort and time to build fortifications in this place, it would be better to save some time to sleep!
"Platoon Leader Cui, why don't you dig anymore?" the old squad leader next to him asked in confusion.
"Old squad leader!" I said with a wry smile, "Do you think it's useful for us to dig like this? We've been digging for a long time, but once the Americans' heavy artillery explodes, won't everything be gone?"
"That's true." The old squad leader said helplessly, "But we still have to do this work. Otherwise, once the reactionaries come, we won't be able to withstand the heavy artillery or machine guns!"
"Boy, I have an idea!" Hu Zi, who was a few steps away, was digging the soil and talking to himself, "This ground is loose, and the Americans' heavy artillery will make a big hole. When the time comes, we can aim at it, and when the shell explodes, we can run to the hole. Don't you think that will be a great ready-made fortification?"
"Tiger!" A comrade who heard it nearby laughed, "Don't let the Yankee bombs peel off your tiger skin!"
"Hey! What are you talking about? The bomb that can blow up my tiger has not been invented yet!"
The soldiers were talking and laughing as they dug the fortifications seemingly nonchalantly, but don't be fooled by the happy faces because a closer look would reveal that the blood on their hands had dripped onto the gravel and formed pieces of "blood ice".
Yes! When I saw the blood freeze, I suddenly remembered a story . I forgot the exact story, but it seemed that Cao Cao was fighting with Ma Chao. Because he had no materials to build a city, he could not build a city and was repeatedly attacked by Ma Chao. Later, someone told him that he could build an ice city overnight by moving soil and pouring water. So this...
"Kitchen? Where is the kitchen?" Thinking of this, I jumped up suddenly, which scared the old squad leader next to me.
"It's behind!" The old squad leader pointed in a direction behind him.
He didn't quite understand why I was looking for the kitchen staff at this time. I didn't explain much and just ran away.
As I ran, I was thinking, God bless, the kitchen team must have ladles, basins, buckets, etc. Otherwise, even if there is a way, it will be useless. Although the soldiers all carried kettles, the mouths of the kettles were too small. I am afraid that they would freeze into ice when they were filled with water in the Taedong River and ran to this side.
It was almost dawn, and the Americans didn't dare to attack at night and could only fire randomly from a distance. By dawn, they would be unable to hold back and would run away!
"Kitchen staff, kitchen staff!" I didn't care about the pairs of doubtful eyes looking at me, and kept shouting while running.
There were very few people looking for a kitchen team these days, because the volunteer soldiers did not dare to make a fire to cook, whether day or night. They were afraid of the light at night and the smoke during the day. These would expose their targets and attract bombing from American planes and artillery. Therefore, most of the volunteers brought dry food that did not need to be cooked, and the kitchen team was really in name only.
"What do you want from the kitchen team?" I didn't expect that Captain Zhang was also digging trenches here. Seeing me shouting, he stood up and asked curiously, "Do you want the kitchen team to make you some dumplings or something?"
Captain Zhang's words amused the soldiers around him, and one could even hear a few people swallowing saliva.
"How can that be possible, Captain?" I smiled sheepishly and said, "I just want to borrow a few buckets, basins, etc...."
"No!" A short, slightly fat volunteer soldier stood up and answered, "I'm the squad leader of the kitchen squad. Buckets and basins are troublesome to carry around and are useless. I threw them away a long time ago."
"What about the ladle?"
"also not!"
I couldn't help but feel disappointed. Time was running out. Where could I find something to hold the water? It would be easy to hold it somewhere else, using leaves or something , but this was North Korea with a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius. If I used such a small container, it would probably freeze before I got here.
Just when I was worried, the volunteer soldier thought for a moment and continued, "There are two pots, but I thought our troops still have some rice, so I didn't dare to throw them away..."
"It's good to have a pot, it's good to have a pot!" I couldn't help but be overjoyed when I heard that.
"Hu Zi, Hu Zi!" I called Hu Zi, carrying two pots and rushing to the river.
"What's wrong?" Hu Zi took the pot I handed him and couldn't help but feel puzzled. But he touched his head and quickly continued: "You are a weird kid. Although I don't understand what you do, it seems that you can always get the upper hand."
After saying that, he didn't ask any more questions and just ran after me with the pot in his hand.
It only took me two minutes to reach the river. I carefully walked on the stones and thin ice into the deeper water, scooped up half a pot of water, and then walked back carefully.
These may seem like ordinary actions to us, but for us at this moment, it is risking our lives. In this freezing cold weather, if we fall into the river without a change of cotton-padded clothes , it means that we will soon become two pieces of frozen meat.
I tried my best to keep the pot steady along the way, and then ran back as fast as I could. I saw a thin layer of ice slowly forming on the surface of the water in the pot. I felt a chill creeping up my arms where I held the pot, and I couldn't help but shiver.
As soon as he ran to the trench, he couldn't wait to pour water into the trench. With a creaking sound, the water slowly seeped into the gravel and soil, and then quickly froze into ice...
At this time, Hu Zi also ran up with a pot in his hand and continued to pour water down like I did. Now some sparkling ice cubes could be vaguely seen between the trenches.
After a while, Hu Zi used his hands to break the stones...
"Hey, you're amazing!" Hu Zi tried his best but still couldn't move the gravel that would have fallen down by itself. He looked up in amazement and said, "You can even think of this method. You're really amazing!"
"What? Are you kidding me?" The old squad leader saw it clearly from the side. He came over to check it out in disbelief. Then he picked up the pot and left without saying a word.
The other pot was quickly grabbed by other soldiers, and the squad leader's eyes turned green: "It turns out that I have a treasure on my back, but I don't know what to use it!"
