Volume 3 The Third Battle Chapter 17: Throwing Cold Water
The soldiers were all overly optimistic about the war ahead, so they had no idea that I was doing this well. They had no idea that the volunteers would soon be out of ammunition and food, and even had to eat tree bark and weeds to die of poisoning. So they naturally couldn't understand my actions, and even Instructor Zhao was puzzled. But fortunately, they listened to the company commander as soon as the gunshots were heard. I insisted on doing this, and they couldn't do anything about it. It seems that being a company commander is not without benefits.
Soon, the soldiers used the uniforms stripped from the enemy's corpses to wrap the guns, ammunition and food, and then put them into simple wooden boxes made of wood blocks and buried them in the ground. Then they carefully marked the surrounding trees and marked the location on the map. I don't want to bury a lot of equipment and not be able to find it myself.
Just now I roughly counted and found that I had collected about a thousand rifles and 60,000 to 70,000 rounds of ammunition in one day, plus supplies such as bread, canned food, and compressed biscuits, which was enough to equip a regiment! But I knew that this was far from enough, because on a battlefield where several armies and hundreds of thousands of people were fighting, especially for the volunteers with weaker firepower, the strength of a regiment was very weak. At this rate, it would take more than ten days to collect equipment and food for a division, and by then the enemy would have already started to counterattack.
With dead branches lying beneath me and a military blanket covering me, I looked at the sun rising slowly in the sky through the gaps between the leaves. I kept thinking over and over in my head how I could collect as much equipment and supplies as possible in the shortest time possible so that the volunteers wouldn't have to fight so hard and fewer people would die. I fell asleep in a daze in the sunshine.
I was suddenly awakened by several explosions. I looked up and saw several enemy planes hovering in the sky nearby. They would dive down and drop bombs on any cars and tanks left behind by the puppet army when they fled. Before long, they left behind several cars and tanks emitting black smoke and drove away.
"Damn it!" Hu Zi cursed fiercely in the direction where the enemy plane flew away: "American planes are so arrogant!"
"We can't do anything about it. We don't know how to build one." The old squad leader said with a smile, "We can't just fly into the sky and shoot down airplanes!"
"There will be a time when this plane will land, right?" Hu Zi responded unconvincedly, "If we can't hit it from the sky, we can just hit it from the ground. Maybe we can actually shoot down a few planes and have some fun!"
"Dream on!" The soldiers all smiled disapprovingly after hearing Hu Zi's words. Even the new recruits joined in the fun, making Hu Zi feel embarrassed.
"Comrades!" At this time, Instructor Zhao spoke up. He clenched his fist and said in a rhythmic voice: "Although it is not very realistic to shoot down the American planes, Comrade Huzi's spirit is worthy of praise. It is said that the American army is good at fighting and their planes and artillery are powerful, but in the end, we saw that it was just like that! Didn't they still make our troops rush away like ducks? In this battle, we may be able to drive the Americans into the sea in one go. Then we will see how arrogant their planes are!"
"Yes! Down with the reactionaries!"
"Yes! Drive the Yankees into the sea !"
"Down with the Yankees and let's go home for the New Year!"
…
After hearing this, the soldiers clenched their fists in excitement. Not to mention the new recruits who were even more excited to hear that they could go home so soon. Their faces, which were originally filled with fatigue and pain, were now filled with smiles.
"Comrades!" I interrupted, "It's getting late, everyone, take some time to rest, eat some dry food, and get ready before setting off!"
"Yes!" the soldiers responded and dispersed in boredom as if they had been poured with a basin of cold water.
I could see the dissatisfaction in their eyes, as if they were wondering why I, a company commander, had become so unkind once I became an official, and why I could no longer get along with them once I became a company commander.
It was then that I realized that the biggest enemy the Volunteer Army faced was not the advanced aircraft and artillery of the US military, nor the fragile logistical supplies, but their own excessive optimism.
The Korean War was really funny. First, the U.S. military was overly optimistic and underestimated the enemy, so they were severely beaten by the Chinese People's Volunteer Army. Then, the Chinese People's Volunteer Army was overly optimistic and underestimated the enemy, so they suffered heavy losses...
I smiled bitterly in silence, and thought to myself, if I didn't come from that future society, if I didn't know about this history, would I have the same optimism as them?
Seeing that it was getting dark, I ate a few bites of fried noodles and a few pieces of American compressed biscuits, then set off again with the troops.
Along the way, we collected weapons and food along the way just like last night, but we didn't find much because of the bombing by American planes during the day. At first, the soldiers would look inside the cars and tanks that were emitting black smoke, but after being disappointed several times, they no longer held out hope.
In the end, the only things they could pick up were a few broken guns discarded on the road, or the Type 38 rifles thrown away by the volunteer soldiers. Even if they searched through the enemy's corpses, they could not find any ammunition or food.
"What's going on?" Instructor Zhao asked in confusion, "Why is there such a big difference between last night and tonight?"
"It should be our troops fighting the Yankees!" I said noncommittally, "If we move faster, we may be able to catch up with the main force tonight."
"This...what does this have to do with whether our troops have fought with the Americans?" Instructor Zhao was even more puzzled when he heard this. Not only him, but the other soldiers also looked confused when they heard this.
"Why is it okay?" I answered casually, "When our troops fight the Americans, they don't have enough bullets. If they don't have enough bullets, they will use the enemy's guns to search for bullets on the enemy. That's why we can't pick up guns or search for bullets, right?"
"Ah? This..." My words made the soldiers stunned for a moment, then they thought it made sense. Several soldiers scratched their heads and asked, "Why can't I think of this?"
"Comrades! Speed up the march!" I simply gave the order: "We can't pick up anything anyway, let's speed up and try to catch up with the main force before dawn and fight the American devils together!"
"yes!"
Although there was only one response, I felt like there were two voices. One was the veterans' energetic and loud response, and the other was the new recruits' timid and helpless response. The two formed a very sharp contrast. It was really like heaven and earth!
