Volume 3 The Third Battle Chapter 5 New Soldiers
"Wenha! (Ask)" A Sichuan accent interrupted my comrades' torture of me in the moonlight: "Comrade, may I ask which company is the 2nd company of the 3rd battalion of the 353rd regiment?"
There was silence outside the cave for a while. After a long while, the old squad leader nodded and said, "This is it. Who are you looking for ?"
"It's right here!" The one with Sichuan accent didn't answer , but shouted in another direction: "Hey, it's here, it's here..."
Suddenly, more than a hundred people gathered under the moonlight. The leader saluted the old squad leader and shouted, "Report to the company commander, we are the new recruits reporting in. There are a total of one hundred people, not one more, not one less!"
"New recruits?" Zhao Yongxin looked them up, sat down on a stone like a wilted cabbage, took off his hat and touched his head.
"I'm not your company commander." The old squad leader raised his head towards the air-raid shelter and said, "Your company commander is in there!"
I jumped up and walked to the cave entrance. Only then did I understand why my comrades outside the cave behaved so abnormally.
Under the night sky, a group of 17 or 18-year-old kids with beards that hadn't grown hard yet were standing outside the cave. They all had excitement on their faces. It was obvious that they were innocent and wanted to make merit on the battlefield and then return home in glory to bring honor to their family. Some of them even joked with the people around them with the guns in their hands...
"Report to the company commander." The leader, who looked a little more serious, stood up to me and shouted, "We are the new recruits who have come to report. There are a total of 100 people..."
"Have you ever shot a gun?" I asked before he finished shouting.
"No." He was stunned for a moment and shook his head hesitantly.
"Have you ever thrown a grenade?" I asked.
"No." He blinked his round eyes a few times and lowered his head, not daring to look me in the eye.
"Then, let's march in step!" I was almost on the verge of collapse.
"No...no." He still shook his head.
My heart sank to the bottom and I almost fainted. I never thought that the new recruits that our superiors gave priority to were really “new”… so new that they had not even received the most basic military training!
"So what did you do before?" I asked weakly.
“I’m a carpenter!”
"I'm a farmer!"
“I’m still studying!”
…
"Enough!" I suddenly got angry and shouted at them, "All of you stay here and don't leave. I'm going to find the leader..."
The last sentence was addressed to his comrades. After saying it, he trotted towards the regiment headquarters, completely ignoring his comrades who kept shouting, "Captain, you are still in solitary confinement!"
"Stop!" Unexpectedly, Cheng Yaojin appeared out of nowhere and suddenly Xu Feng blocked his way.
"Captain Cui! Aren't you still in solitary confinement?" Xu Feng said stiffly, "If I remember correctly, the time has not yet come."
"Captain Xu!" I didn't even listen to what Xu Feng said. I pointed at the new recruits and said angrily, "Captain Xu, look at this, look at this... These are the new recruits assigned to our company. They've never fired a gun, thrown a grenade, or even marched in step. They just changed their clothes and came here. Can such soldiers go to the battlefield? What kind of company commander are we? A company commander who takes a bunch of kids to die? I'd rather not be one!"
"Stand at attention!" Xu Feng said with a sullen face, gritting his teeth: "Cui Wei, what do you mean by being a revolutionary soldier? You can be a company commander if you want to, and you can be one if you don't want to? You don't have any sense of organization or discipline! How can you lead the troops to fight? As a company commander, you should set an example for the soldiers. Look at you! If you don't obey the arrangements of your superiors, how can you expect your soldiers to obey your arrangements in the future?"
"You!" After a pause, Xu Feng ordered the old squad leader standing behind me: "Take away his gun!"
"This... Battalion Commander..." The old squad leader couldn't help but hesitate.
"Excuting an order!"
"Yes!" The old squad leader ran to my side helplessly, took the sniper rifle off my body, and whispered in my ear as he left : "Don't worry, Captain, I'll keep it for you."
"You!" Xu Feng ordered the old squad leader again: "Watch him. Stand here and don't move or eat. If he has to poop, poop in your pants. Let him reflect on himself! And let the new recruits see the consequences of disobeying orders and superiors' arrangements!"
"Yes!" The old squad leader stood up and really stood beside me, watching me.
Watching Xu Feng walk away, I felt so bitter. I had never lost face like this before, and in front of more than a hundred new recruits. Why did Xu Feng turn his face against me? Once he became a leader, he spoke differently. He even tortured me to death. It was freezing cold, and he made me stand outside like this. This could cost someone's life...
I couldn't help but glance in the direction of the air raid shelter. I was inside and couldn't come out just now, but now I was standing outside and couldn't go in. Is this how you play tricks on people? Who did I offend?
The first ten minutes were fine, and I didn't feel any discomfort except for feeling aggrieved. As time went on, I felt my hands and feet were cold, but I didn't dare to stamp my feet and rub my hands like the old squad leader next to me, so I could only stand there.
Suddenly I felt something on my shoulder. It turned out that Jin Qiulian took a sheet to cover me. I couldn't help but feel warm in my heart. I felt grateful and ashamed. I couldn't describe the feeling.
"Don't!" The old squad leader hurriedly stopped him, "If the battalion commander sees this, I don't know how he will punish the company commander! Take it away, take it away..."
"How long will we have to stand there?" Jin Qiulian said pitifully, "If we stand there like this for two or three hours, our hands and feet will freeze off. Will we be able to survive?"
"Then...how should I know?" The old squad leader was a little embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it." I gritted my teeth and said, " Everyone go back to the cave."
"I'm going to find the battalion commander!" Jin Qiulian threw the sheet to the ground and ran, but was quickly stopped by everyone.
"Comrade Jin," Zhao Yongxin advised, "You are a member of the People's Army and you don't know the discipline of our troops. So, don't cause trouble for the company commander, okay?"
"That's right!" The old squad leader also nodded and said, "The discipline of our army is ironclad. If you shout a few more times, not only will you lose money, but the company commander may even have to stand there until dawn!"
After the old squad leader said this, Jin Qiulian fell silent, including the more than one hundred recruits behind me. They were originally laughing and joking, but now they were silent. Everyone looked at each other and listened with wide eyes.
Ha... Now I finally understand, it turns out they are killing a chicken to scare the monkeys! Using me as a living teaching material to educate those new recruits!
