Volume 3 The Third Battle Chapter VII Rules
"Captain, what's going on?"
"What happened? You didn't get punished, did you?"
…
As soon as I returned to the air-raid shelter, my comrades-in-arms surrounded me and asked me questions with concern.
"No, nothing!" I felt a little embarrassed. It was so embarrassing to be criticized in front of my subordinates.
"Oh, this is the instructor assigned ." Seeing everyone staring at Instructor Zhao behind them in confusion, I introduced him: "His name is Zhao..."
"Zhao Changshun!" Instructor Zhao interrupted and said, "Comrades, I am honored to be the instructor of a heroic company like yours. I have heard about your deeds. You are very brave! I hope that in the future struggle, comrades will continue to carry forward the spirit of not fearing hardship and sacrifice, continue to fight for our revolutionary cause, and resolutely fight against the reactionaries and U.S. imperialism. All reactionaries are paper tigers. As long as we ..."
"Ah..." I opened my mouth, slowly moved behind the soldiers, and then slipped into my bed under the cover of night when no one was paying attention. I was so frozen just now that I'm still shivering!
Lying in bed, I was thinking about the criticism I received today. Actually, it's not Xu Feng and Captain Chu's fault. There are so many volunteers. If every one of them is like me and always disobeys orders and acts on their own, then we won't be able to lead this team and we won't be able to fight this battle.
I can only blame myself for not having been a soldier before, and for being a modern person from 60 years later, so it is difficult for me to integrate into the culture and rules of this era. For example, the words that the instructors say now, the soldiers all listen with great interest and excitement, but I feel uncomfortable no matter how I listen to them.
In fact, I also know that it is not difficult to adapt to these rules and regulations, and this is also the most basic requirement as a volunteer soldier. But what I am worried about is that I am a person who knows the course of this war and can avoid unnecessary casualties of volunteer soldiers to a large extent in certain situations. Once I am restricted by those rules and regulations, what else can I do?
If I was completely docile to them and only knew to obey the orders of my superiors, then even if I knew the dangers of this war and knew a lot about it, what role could I play? Wouldn't I still be the same as an ordinary volunteer soldier?
For the first time, I felt that I was tied up in the army, and my freedom was restricted by the army's discipline. But what could I do? Should I go to Captain Chu and tell him that I was a savior from the future and ask him not to use the army's discipline to regulate me and to let him listen to my command? If I did that, he would think I was crazy.
As I was thinking, I fell asleep in a daze. I was woken up by the cold before dawn the next day. I shivered, stood up and jumped a few times.
The weather was getting colder and colder, and the thin cotton coats and blankets were not warm enough. The soldiers were still sleeping, but they were holding the blankets tightly, and they didn't seem sleeping well.
I couldn't help but curse in my heart. When the war started, I had no sleep and was marching outside to kill the enemy all day long; when the war stopped, in order not to expose the target, I could only stay in this air-raid shelter with nothing to do. I was afraid of hitting my head if I jumped a few times, so I could only go out and move around at night.
"Captain Cui!" Perhaps he was awakened by my movements, Instructor Zhao half-raised himself from the quilt and said, "You almost froze to death last night. Get some more rest!"
"No, it's okay." I couldn't help but blush. Hearing his tone and expression, it seemed that he knew that I secretly hid under the quilt while he was talking last night.
"Last night..." Instructor Zhao handed me a cigarette while speaking. We lit each other up, and then he continued, "Last night I arranged for all the new recruits to dig five air-raid shelters by themselves, with 20 people living in each. Otherwise, we were afraid of the American planes at dawn, and it was snowing hard outside. We didn't know if anyone would freeze to death."
"Hmm!" I hadn't thought about all this. I had just become a company commander and didn't know anything. I was secretly glad to have this instructor.
"I also accepted the 20 veterans that Captain Xu transferred over." Instructor Zhao continued, "So our entire company will have 128 people, 100 new recruits and 28 veterans. Excluding the cadres and veterans, there are still 22 people. I plan to mix the veterans with the new recruits, with each veteran leading four or five new recruits, so that they can intensify their training and learn combat skills as soon as possible so that they can go to the battlefield in the future. What do you think?"
"Well, okay!" I nodded, thinking to myself that this instructor was really capable. I didn't expect that he had arranged everything when I woke up from a sleep.
"It just so happens that the superiors also want us to rest for a while!" Instructor Zhao exhaled a puff of smoke. "I just came down from the headquarters and learned some of the situation. The logistics can't keep up. The soldiers are short of clothes and food. Especially the comrades in the 42nd Army are in a difficult situation. It is said that some soldiers are still wearing straw sandals. There is only one pair of cotton shoes in a squad, and everyone in the squad is reluctant to wear them. So they have to stipulate that whoever is on guard will wear them!"
This instructor is well-informed. I couldn't help but look at him more. He is indeed a political worker, and nothing escapes his eyes and ears.
"Plus, the soldiers have fought two big battles, they are tired and have few bullets. It's time to take a break!" Instructor Zhao continued, "So the superiors plan to rest for two to three months. We can use this time to intensify the training of new recruits. More sweat in peacetime, less blood in war. What do you think, Captain?"
"Okay! But..." I hesitated for a moment, because I knew that the Central Committee would not approve the originally planned two or three months of rest and recuperation, and the third battle would start in ten days.
After the second battle, the UN forces were driven south of the 38th parallel, but they shamelessly demanded that the Chinese army stop north of the 38th parallel on the grounds of the contract.
The United Nations forces can cross the 38th parallel regardless of the contract, so why do they require our army to abide by the contract and stop at the 38th parallel? So from a political point of view, our army must cross the 38th parallel, even if it is just one step.
Fighting is not allowed from a military perspective, but it is necessary from a political perspective. Military action must be subordinate to political needs.
This is the third battle...
"Just what?" Instructor Zhao looked at me who was daydreaming and asked in confusion.
"Oh! Nothing, nothing..." I responded verbally, but I was thinking in my heart that it was too late to train the new recruits. At most, I could let them learn how to shoot and protect themselves.
