Volume 3 The Third Battle Chapter 11 Deserter
Soon Xu Feng came back , with two mines hanging from his shoulders, swinging like two discus. As soon as he returned to the forest, he reported in a low voice: "Captain, the enemy has laid mines 100 meters from the river bank, and the density is very high!"
"Can it be ruled out?" asked Captain Chu.
"It's no problem to eliminate them." Xu Feng nodded and replied, "But those mines are covered by snow, and there's no guarantee that none of them will explode!"
Everyone fell silent upon hearing this, because everyone knew that as long as a landmine exploded, the puppet troops on the other side of the river would become wary, and it would be extremely difficult to dig tunnels under their noses.
At this point everyone was once again in trouble. Just as Political Commissar Chen Ye said, not only could the original plan not be implemented, but there was also an additional minefield in front of them. In this situation, if they wanted to force their way across the Imjin River, it would be tantamount to seeking death.
Looking at the landmine on Xu Feng's shoulder, I raised the rifle in my hand with lingering fear, and looked at the Imjin River through the 2.5x sight on the gun. It was all white. Who would have thought that under this whiteness, there were hundreds of landmines that could kill people.
"Let's clear the mines!" After a long while, Captain Chu gritted his teeth and said, "Organize all comrades who can clear mines to do so immediately, and try not to explode a single mine!"
"yes!"
"Wait!" I suddenly had an idea, put away my gun and said to Captain Chu: "Captain, I think it might be better if we don't clear the mines!"
"What?" Captain Chu was stunned by what I said.
"Captain!" I replied, "The enemy has laid mines. We can't walk on the ground. Why don't we walk underground?"
"Go underground?"
"Yes!" I replied, "Aren't we just going to dig a tunnel to hide our soldiers? We can just pass the tunnel through the minefield and dig the other end of the tunnel to the riverside. Then the puppet army's mines will become useless, right?"
"You're in trouble, Captain Cui!" Chen Ye thought for a while and soon understood. He pointed at me and said, "What is meant by 'the higher the virtue, the higher the evil'? Today I finally saw it."
"I say, Captain Cui!" Captain Chu pretended to be dissatisfied and said, "You didn't tell me such a good idea earlier, and made me and the political commissar worry about it for a long time! Next time, think faster!"
"Ah? This..." I felt dizzy. How could this happen just like that?
Captain Chu is an impatient man and he does things as soon as he says they will. However, this time he replaced them with soldiers from another battalion, so we had some free time.
As soon as he returned to his company with the veterans, he felt that the atmosphere was a little different. All the new recruits were sitting outside the air-raid shelter, lined up in rows, and Zhao Yongxin was pointing above their heads as if he was counting something.
"Company commander, company commander!" When Zhao Yongxin saw me coming, he hurriedly limped over and reported, "I counted and counted, and there are only two missing..."
"What? Did he desert?" Instructor Zhao rushed over to me before I could answer and asked, "Did you send anyone to chase him? Deputy Company Commander, if someone runs away at this time, it's no joke. How could you be so careless?"
"Report to the instructor!" Zhao Yongxin said ashamedly, "I didn't send anyone to chase them. I was taking care of these 100 recruits by myself. If I went to chase them, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to catch up with them. I caught up with two of them, but ten of them ran away..."
"Platoon leaders , count the number of people immediately!" I gave the order before Zhao Yongxin finished speaking.
"Yes!" The three platoon leaders responded without delay and immediately separated the people in their own platoons to take count.
"Everyone in the first row is here!" The old squad leader finished the count first.
"Damn it!" Hu Zi cursed, "Captain, our platoon is missing two people. Isn't that embarrassing? I'll catch them and skin them alive!"
"Come back!" I stopped Hu Zi who was about to leave with his gun, and ordered, "Old squad leader, take the veterans from your platoon and march quickly along the way we came. You must chase them back!"
"Yes!" The old squad leader responded and left with a few soldiers.
"Company commander!" Hu Zi said unconvincedly, "He's my soldier, why don't you let me go find him..."
"Hey, Huzi." I replied, "If I let you go to look for them, I don't think those two soldiers will come back. It would be strange if they weren't killed by you on the way!"
"The deserter..." Hu Zi's face turned pale and blue as he said, "I, I really want to beat his mother up! He brings shame to us!"
I couldn't help but smile bitterly when I heard this . When I first arrived here, I had thought about deserting. Who can stand coming to this bitter cold place without having fought before, starving, freezing, and being frightened? Now the new soldiers may know that the war is about to start, and it is normal for some of them to be nervous and want to desert.
"Captain Cui!" Instructor Zhao asked with some concern: "Do you think we can catch up with them? Should we send more people? This is a serious matter. What if they are captured by the enemy and the news leaks out? But..."
"Don't worry, instructor!" I shook my head and said, "Those recruits are unfamiliar with the area, and they don't want to fall into the hands of the enemy, so they must be walking back. Not to mention that they are not running fast, where can they run to in the snow with footprints everywhere?"
"Hey! Comrade new recruits!" I sat down, picked up a piece of cloth and wiped my beloved rifle, and joked to the new recruits who were sitting upright: "Next time you want to be a deserter, you must choose a good day, okay?"
The recruits looked at each other, no one knew how to answer. Suddenly, a weak voice came from behind: "Yes! Company Commander!"
"Puchi!" The sound made our comrade Xiao Jin laugh. Many comrades around him blushed and endured it bitterly. Even the instructor kept making a chuckling sound.
I almost fainted, but it was worth it. Looking at Jin Qiulian who was laughing happily, I couldn't help but sigh in my heart. This little girl hasn't laughed for a long time since that brutal blocking battle.
This battlefield, even she, who was born a hunter and has fought in gaming wars for several years, would be afraid, let alone those new recruits who have never seen the world.
"Do you want to report to your superiors?" The instructor whispered in my ear after a while.
I shook my head silently. Thinking of what Captain Chu said about the punishment for revolutionary record, I felt a chill in my heart. Do you know what revolutionary discipline is? This is not like the catchphrase that our officials are always talking about now. The volunteer soldiers would not say this unless they were in a critical moment.
Although I have heard Captain Chu say this several times, each time he said it at a critical moment when the whole team would be in crisis, including this time.
If their superiors knew about this, these two deserters would probably get nothing out of it. Even if they didn't die, they would be skinned alive.
Let's wait and see! I've made up my mind. If the deserter is brought back, that would be the best. A deserter who comes back can only be considered half a deserter at best. If he can't be found, I'll be the only one to take the blame! It's better than losing two lives...
