Volume 3 The Third Battle Chapter 3 Battalion Commander
"Company Commander!" Under the moonlight, I saw fear in Jin Qiulian's eyes. She whispered, "I am scared. I have never fought such a hard battle, never seen so many dead bodies, and never been so scared..."
"Who wouldn't be afraid?" I sighed secretly in my heart. Humans are not plants or trees. If anyone says they are not afraid in such a scene, they are either a fool or a madman, not to mention that she is just a teenage girl.
"Captain Cui, are you afraid too?"
"Afraid, how can I not be afraid?"
"I don't believe it!" Jin Qiulian stared at me with her big eyes and said, "Look at how brave you were on the battlefield. You killed so many enemies without blinking an eye."
"How about this, Comrade Xiao Jin." I smiled bitterly and said noncommittally: "Tomorrow I will tell the regiment commander to let you go to the rear to look after the wounded."
"I'm not going..." Jin Qiulian pouted in dissatisfaction.
"I heard that there is a shortage of people in the rear. There are many wounded after fighting several battles!"
"I'm not going..." Jin Qiulian raised her voice and glared at me fiercely.
"You also know medical skills, right? They will come in handy in the rear..."
"I told you I won't go!" Jin Qiulian stood up and turned to run. After running a few steps, she seemed to remember something and came back to pull the sheet off me. She said viciously, "If you want to go, go now. You don't need this sheet anymore."
"Hey, you little girl, why do you change so suddenly?" Looking at Jin Qiulian who ran into the air-raid shelter without looking back, I couldn't understand for a long time what I said wrong or how I offended her.
A gust of cold wind made me shiver again. Forget it, this is just asking for trouble . Why should I be outside the cave blowing the wind in this freezing weather? I might as well go back into the cave!
When we returned to the air-raid shelter, the soldiers were still talking loudly, while Jin Qiulian was hiding in the quilt pretending to be asleep. I called her twice but she ignored me, so I had to walk away in frustration and get into my own bed.
I thought to myself, "Women are fickle animals." This is true! I have had so many girlfriends, but I still don't understand what they are thinking.
The next morning, before daybreak, I was awakened by a loud noise. I could only hear my comrades shouting, "The commander is back, our troops are back!"
I turned over and stood up, holding the gun and walked out. Don't ask me why I was not wearing clothes but shoes. Since I came into this world, I have no habit of taking off clothes and shoes before sleeping. It was freezing cold, and I would be frozen to death if I took off clothes and shoes under such a thin quilt.
There is another more important reason. Last time, my feet were itchy and I took off my shoes. My feet smelled... The water was too cold and I couldn't wash them. If I washed them, my whole feet would become popsicles. I had to put my shoes back on in two seconds!
When I walked out of the cave, I saw a black mass of prisoners. Most of them were Americans. Occasionally, I would see a few puppet soldiers, standing in a long line. Some raised their hands, some held their heads, and walked dejectedly under the guns of the volunteer soldiers. They looked so miserable.
"Platoon Leader Cui!" A familiar voice came, and I turned around and saw that it was Company Commander Xu Feng, with whom I had fought side by side.
"Platoon Leader Cui! Has the company commander of your company been selected?" What surprised me a little was that Xu Feng's tone of voice seemed to be asking in the tone of a superior.
"I've chosen one." I nodded and replied, "It's me..."
"Hmm!" A look of surprise flashed across Xu Feng's face, as if he had guessed that the result would be like this.
"Then what about the deputy company commander and platoon leader?" Xu Feng continued to ask.
"Oh, that's not the case..." I touched my head with a headache. It wasn't long after I became the company commander that trouble came.
"Why don't you go and make arrangements? Why are you still standing here?" Xu Feng said in a commanding tone, "The cadres haven't been selected yet. If a war breaks out, how will you command?"
"Hey, bro..."
"What brother? You should call your comrades 'comrade' when speaking to them and say 'yes' when accepting orders!"
"No way!" I looked at Xu Feng in front of me with a bit of disbelief. He was so different from the Xu Feng I saw in the Yunshan battle a few days ago.
Unexpectedly, Xu Feng straightened his face, adjusted his discipline button, and said to me very seriously: "Captain Cui, as the commander of the third battalion, I order you to immediately select the backbone of the company. Because you disobeyed the order of your superiors, you will be confined in the air-raid shelter for a day."
"What? Battalion commander?" I was stunned when I heard that. Xu Feng was promoted to battalion commander, and he was my immediate superior. I guess the original battalion commander died. The casualty rate of the Volunteer Army soldiers and cadres was high, and it was common for the subordinates to take over when the superior cadres died. But he was the battalion commander, which was too coincidental.
“Captain Xu!” When I heard that I was going to be put in solitary confinement, I protested a little unconvinced: “You didn’t tell me, I didn’t know you were…”
"Still not obeying orders?"
"Yes!" I took a deep breath, then stood up and saluted. I comforted myself in my heart that this is the army, no matter what, I should never argue with my superiors, and I should always obey orders.
What I didn't know was that when I turned and walked away , Captain Chu appeared from the side.
"Captain!" Xu Feng saluted uprightly.
"Yeah." Captain Chu nodded, looked in the direction I left and said, "This kid is good at fighting and has a lot of clever ideas, but he's too casual and doesn't know any rules. He's bound to suffer on the battlefield. It's just right for you, a well-behaved guy, to take care of him!"
"Huff..." I sneezed loudly and touched my nose, wondering if someone was cursing me and making fun of me.
"Xiao Shandong!" I called out as I spotted a familiar figure in front of me.
"Here!" Little Shandong stood up straight when he saw it was me.
"Call the people from our company, um, and have a meeting!"
"Yes!" Xiao Shandong saluted and turned around and ran away. Looking at his decisive look, I really felt that my performance in front of Xu Feng just now was a bit poor. There was nothing I could do about it, as I was not a soldier anyway.
There were only seven people in the company, and they sat down in the air-raid shelter in a short while. Six pairs of eyes stared at me. The most exaggerated one was the Shandong boy, who seemed to have some knowledge and could write. He took out a small notebook and pen to take notes of the meeting...
"Comrades." I cleared my throat. I've long been accustomed to seeing officials do this before meetings. There is usually an opening speech before a meeting. Unfortunately, as a reporter, this is my first time organizing a meeting, and I've been thinking for a long time but still don't know what to say. I really admire those officials, who don't have so much nonsense in their long speeches...
"How about this!" After thinking for a while, I said, "The superiors asked us to elect a deputy company commander and a platoon leader. I think Zhao Yongxin should be the deputy company commander, and Hu Zi, the old squad leader, and Xiao Shandong should be the platoon leaders. As for which platoon leader you will be, you can decide for yourselves. Let me know when you've decided. Meeting adjourned!"
