Volume 2 The Second Battle Chapter 7: Provocation
"Captain, Captain..."
"Oh, you're injured, Platoon Leader Cui? Is it serious?" I was a little surprised by the first words that Captain Chu said when he saw me.
"It's not serious, just a superficial wound."
"The bandage is not even tied properly." Chu Tuan said as he helped me untie the bandage and tie it, muttering, "Who tied it so carelessly?"
"Well..." I didn't know what to say for a moment. It took me a long time to remember the main thing. I stood up and saluted and said, "Captain, I think the blame for the explosion of the enemy's munitions yesterday cannot be placed on me alone."
"Well, tell me about it!" Captain Chu handed me a cup of hot water.
"Thank you, Commander." I took the cup and took a sip: "Commander, the dozens of ammunition trucks I blew up may be a lot for the Southern First Division, but what is it to the US Eighth Army? Isn't it just a drop in the bucket? In my opinion, it was the US Army Commander Lieutenant General Walker who was too suspicious. Originally, he..."
"Wait, wait!" Hearing this, Captain Chu's face became more and more strange. He stared at me and asked, "Comrade, how do you know about the US Eighth Army? And you know that the commander of the Eighth Army is Lieutenant General Walker?"
Ah? This is bad. I was stunned when I heard this. The soldiers running around on the front line didn't know what the US Eighth Army was, let alone that the commander of the Eighth Army was Walker. If things go wrong, maybe Captain Chu will think I'm a spy. What the hell am I doing?
"That regiment commander!" Fortunately, I was quick-witted and found an excuse immediately: "Didn't we see a radio when we fought in Yunshan? I took it with me and didn't dare tell you. It only talked about the Eighth Army, Walker, and Arthur?"
"Oh!" Captain Chu nodded, and his expression softened.
I secretly felt lucky and hoped that Captain Chu would not ask me to show him that damn radio. I must surrender one of these when we fight the Americans next time.
"I heard on the radio..." Since I had already started the lie, I followed it up with another one: "That guy named Arthur..."
"MacArthur!" Captain Chu corrected me.
"Yes, the commander knows more." I flattered Commander Chu, and then continued, "MacArthur said that the battle would be ended before Christmas, so the Christmas Offensive was launched. But Lieutenant General Walker was always worried that he would be ambushed by us, but he was reluctant to send troops because of military orders. Now that I accidentally blew up the munitions, he found an excuse to take no action."
"That's right." Captain Chu said with a smile, "If the stick is not on you, then who else should it be hit on? And you want me to hit that Lieutenant General Walker?"
"This..." When asked by Captain Chu, I was speechless for a moment.
"Comrade Cui!" Captain Chu patted my shoulder and said, "You are right. I have thought about this matter. I can't blame you entirely. Even if you hadn't blown up the munitions, they would have stopped anyway, just earlier. I was a little angry yesterday, don't take it to heart!"
"Captain! I..." I always thought I was good at speaking, but now it seems that is not the case.
"I'm really anxious!" Captain Chu's brows slowly knitted together again: "Why did this cowardly mission of escape fall on our regiment? We might as well just do it quickly! Look at the enemy now, he won't try to get into our pocket, and we can't drag him away..."
"Hey, Captain!" I suddenly thought of something and said to Captain Chu, "I do have an idea. We can't pull it, but can we motivate him?"
"Major!" I could hardly recognize Major Paltz when I stood in front of him. His hair was disheveled, his mouth was full of stubble, and his eyes no longer had the arrogance they once had. All that was left was fatigue and desolation.
"What's wrong, Major?" Looking at his miserable appearance, I couldn't help but ask curiously, "Major Paltz, did our people abuse you? How could you..."
"No, no, no..." Major Paltz quickly stood up and shook his head, saying, "You misunderstood, respected Chinese soldiers. They are very kind to us. The food they distribute to us is no less than what they eat themselves. Look..."
He pointed to a wounded soldier with a bandage on his head and said, "I know you are short of medicines, and even your own wounded can't use antibiotics, but after my subordinate fell ill, your doctor gave him antibiotics without hesitation. You are true gentlemen, and we are grateful for everything you have done."
"Then how come you ... um!" I couldn't find the right words to describe Major Paltz and his men. At this moment, they no longer looked like soldiers in front of me. It would not be an exaggeration to describe them as a group of beggars.
"Dear Chinese soldiers," Major Paltz sighed and shook his head. "We have no choice but to lower our noble heads and admit defeat to you. In the past few days, we have eaten as much as you, slept on the same quilts as you, slept as long as you, and walked as much as you, but in the end, we... have become like this!"
"Oh!" Now I finally understood. It turned out that it was not the volunteers who abused them, but they were used to eating bread, living in tents, and driving tanks. Now they were eating the same small amount of fried noodles, sleeping on the same thin quilts, sleeping for the same short time, and traveling on foot while hungry and tired. Their bodies could not bear it! No wonder they looked like a group of beggars now.
"I'm so sorry Major Paltz, but I don't think this will happen again."
"It won't happen again? That's great!" Major Paltz said excitedly, "Did your supplies arrive? Does that mean we can get more quilts and food?"
"No, no, Major." I shook my head and said with a wry smile, "That's exactly what I wanted to say. Your planes have successfully cut off our food supply, and the supplies have not been transported up."
"So what you mean is..."
"You've seen it all these days, Major Paltz." I spread my hands and pretended to be helpless. "Even if I didn't tell you, you know that we are now in a food shortage. We are almost out of bullets. We can't fight without food and bullets, so we plan to return home and stop fighting. And you...you will be released!"
"What? Please...please say it again?" Major Paltz's eyes instantly regained their vitality.
"I said, you will be released! You are free."
"I, did I hear it wrong?" Major Paltz still couldn't believe his ears.
"You heard me right." I said jokingly, "We have very little food. In order to prevent you from eating us out of money, we have no choice but to let you go."
"Hahaha..." Major Paltz laughed exaggeratedly, while his men jumped up from the ground and cheered.
"Thank you, respected Chinese soldier." Major Paltz held my hand tightly, his eyes full of gratitude: "You saved our lives and gave us freedom. May I know your name? We will remember you."
"Cui Wei." I nodded and said, "My name is Cui Wei. I hope we can become friends one day."
"Of course." Major Paltz nodded.
"Hey, thanks man!"
"Thank you so much!"
"Hi, my name is Jason, and if I can get in touch with you after this damn war, I'll have you over to my house to try some of my wife's pies. They're amazing."
…
Major Paltz and his men kept thanking me and every volunteer soldier they could see. At this time, I realized that Americans are actually very lovely. At least, they know how to be grateful.
"Goodbye!"
Major Paltz and his men walked a long way and kept turning back to wave goodbye to us, but I couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in my heart. The next time I see you, you may be on the battlefield, and maybe we will have to fight to the death ...
"Why... why did you let them go?" Hu Zi realized at this time that I was going to release those American soldiers, and hurriedly ran up to me and shouted, "There are more than a hundred American devils! You let them go just like that? No, I'm going to chase them back!"
"Huzi, Huzi..." I hurriedly chased after him, grabbed Huzi and said, "Brother Huzi, this is the order of the regiment commander."
"Platoon leader!" Hu Zi said with a pained look on his face, "I can't understand why we just let go of the devils we caught with such great difficulty? Won't they go back and pick up their guns and fight us again? This... isn't this too easy for them?"
"What do you know?" The old squad leader next to him helped to scold Hu Zi, saying, "Do you know what it means to play the long game to catch the big fish? Do you know what it means to be reluctant to sacrifice the child to catch the wolf? You only know how to make trouble for the poor! Platoon leader, your equipment..."
"Okay." I took the equipment from the old squad leader, shouted "Let's go", and led the soldiers in my platoon to retreat northward with the main force.
According to what I had agreed with the regiment commander, all the soldiers in the regiment intentionally left behind some equipment along the way, and occasionally a few old-fashioned rifles, and even deliberately blew up the bridge when crossing it, in order to make the enemy believe that we were really escaping...
But this made Hu Zi even more confused. He followed me and asked directly: "Aren't we going to let the enemy catch up? Why did we blow up the bridge?"
It took me a lot of effort to explain it to him clearly. I just felt helpless against Hu Zi, this straightforward comrade.
"Platoon Leader Cui, it was you who came up with this idea, right?" I don't know when Jin Qiulian ran to my side and asked in a low voice.
"Not bad!" I smiled and agreed.
"I knew it was you." Jin Qiulian curled her lips and said, "But don't be too happy too soon. The enemy may not be fooled!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the scouts behind him rushed up and shouted: "The enemy is catching up, the enemy is catching up! Speed up..."
I raised my head to Jin Qiulian like a winner and smiled happily. I was so proud. Ever since I went to save someone but was saved by her, I always felt that I had lost face in front of her. Now I finally got my face back in this matter.
"What are you so proud of?" Jin Qiulian made a face and said, "It's just that those reactionaries are too stupid!"
"Huh?" I couldn't help but cry out in my heart. Are all women so good at sophistry? I suffered a lot from this in modern times. I always thought that in this era where everyone holds Chairman Mao's Quotations, things would change! Unexpectedly...
