On the vast grassland, the fiery red sun jumped out of the horizon with difficulty, and everyone who was already shivering after leaving the middle of the night breathed a sigh of relief.
"Have a rest...have a rest..."
Zhang Erwa, who was walking at the front, finished speaking tremblingly and led everyone to a small, bare highland.
Returning the wind and rain lantern that had been blown out long ago to Nurse Ji, Zhang Erwa ignored Li Zhuang's help, took out the oilcloth from Wei Ran's bag, and set up the tent as quickly as possible.
Now, although the sun has finally come out and the snow that has been falling for most of the night has stopped, a cold wind is blowing on the grass that can almost freeze people to death.
It was quite difficult to fix the four corners of the oilcloth with wooden sticks. Everyone immediately got in and sat on their bamboo hats. They put on the only three blankets and took off their fur shoes with difficulty with their hands, which were red and numb from the cold.
And the "cloth shoes" covered with ice ballast rubbed the feet that were also frozen and unconscious.
"Squad leader, please...at least light the kerosene lamp so that the little lama can stay warm, right?"
Li Zhuang shivered and said, his shoulders already covered with a layer of ice, "He is still sick, he will freeze if he continues like this."
"No need to light kerosene lamp"
Wei Ran said before Zhang Erwa could speak, "I...I have a way..."
As he spoke, he reached out and rummaged through the bamboo basket and took out his enamel jar. There was more than half a cup of horse oil that had solidified due to the low temperature, and four rags that had been soaked before the oil solidified.
After searching for fire sickles and other objects, Wei Ran finally lit the tinder and then the rags after ten minutes of beating.
As the enamel jar ignited with black smoke and flames, everyone sat closer together, and stretched out their cold and red hands around the constantly beating flames to absorb the precious warmth.
"Nurse Ji, lend me the oil lamp." After Wei Ran finished speaking, he couldn't help but sneeze again.
Nurse Ji didn't ask any questions and immediately took out the oil lamp and handed it to Wei Ran.
Taking the oil lamp, Wei Ran studied it and carefully removed the spherical glass lampshade, which was only one size smaller than a volleyball, and shined it on the enamel jar.
With this lampshade, the four flames stabilized and stopped beating, and the heat they released no longer drifted with the wind, but was first conducted to the lampshade, and then slowly released by the lampshade.
"Have something to eat!"
Zhang Erwa suggested. As he spoke, he had already pulled out two kettles wrapped in blankets from the bamboo basket.
"Gudu" everyone swallowed involuntarily.
The two kettles, including the larger copper kettle, had been filled with boiling fish soup before they set off. They had been carried by Wei Ran before. They even wrapped all the blankets in them to keep warm.
The outside of the three containers.
"It's still hot. Everyone, please take out the bowls quickly."
Zhang Erwa said hello, and Li Zhuang quickly took out the enamel bowl he found with the kettle and gave everyone a bowl of fish soup.
"Nurse Ji, give the little lama some medicine," Wei Ran reminded.
Hearing this, Nurse Ji immediately took out the copper lunch box from her satchel, opened it, picked up two charcoal grains from the tray and handed them to the little lama.
Now that the little lama is no longer thirsty, there is no need to drink the salt water anymore, but the charcoal blocks still need to be eaten for a while.
After the little lama had eaten the charcoal, Wei Ran and Nurse Ji each picked up their enamel bowls and eagerly drank the fish soup, which was still a little hot.
"Squad leader, shall we continue walking later?" Li Zhuang asked.
"What do you think?" Zhang Erwa posed the question to everyone, "We still have breakfast to eat, what if..."
"I think it's better to keep walking."
Nurse Ji said worriedly, "We have already rested several times. If we delay any longer, we will really not be able to catch up with the large army. In addition, such a big bowl of fish soup is enough. The fish in the lunch box should wait until we persist."
Let’s eat while we’re not here.”
"Okay..." Zhang Erwa thought for a while and asked carefully, "Can the little lama's body still bear it?"
"No problem, he doesn't need us to help him walk in the second half." Nurse Ji replied.
"I also think we should keep walking," Li Zhuang agreed, "while we have food and drink, we can go as far as we can."
"I have no opinion"
Wei Ran nodded the same way, and then took another mouthful of fish soup. This bowl was not as big as Nurse Ji said, and the capacity was probably not as big as the enamel jar.
"Then let's continue walking when it gets warmer." Zhang Erwa finally made a decision.
"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison. By the time everyone drank two bowls of fish soup, the sun was already two fingers high above the horizon.
"Look over there!"
Li Zhuang suddenly sat upright and raised his hand to point in the direction of travel. However, there was no hint of surprise in his tone. In other words, what he saw was definitely not a good thing.
By this time, the sky was getting brighter, the wind was lighter, and even the visibility was much higher.
Looking in the direction of Li Zhuang's finger, sure enough, at the end of the field of vision, there was a meandering river that was dyed golden by the rising sun.
"Let's go"
Zhang Erwa stood up as she spoke, "Pack your things and try to get to the other side of the river today."
Upon seeing this, Wei Ran immediately blew out the horse oil lamp and carefully placed the enamel jar in the bamboo basket.
We worked together to put away the oilcloth and blankets, and once again put on the cold cloth shoes and fur shoes. Before the sun melted the snow on the ground, we filled the empty kettles with cold snow grits.
Zhang Erwa was still in the front, but this time it was Li Zhuang who was in second place, and then Wei Ran who was carrying the burden.
"Pfft"
As soon as he stepped down, the cold mud immediately took away some of the warmth that had finally accumulated on his feet. Wei Ran shivered uncontrollably, clenched the wooden stick in his hand, gritted his teeth and took the second step.
,third step.
As time went by, the sun gradually climbed above the head, the originally biting wind also gradually stopped, and sweat alkali formed on everyone's clothes once again being exposed to the sun.
One meadow after another, one swamp after another, and one stick after another, either tied with cloth strips or not tied with cloth strips, were gradually bringing their journey closer and closer, but they still couldn't see.
destination reached.
From time to time, they could still see swollen corpses of Red Army soldiers floating on the water in the swamp, or they could sit alone on the meadow, holding wooden sticks in their arms, looking at the corpses of Red Army soldiers at the finish line.
Narrowing his eyes to look at the rising sun, Wei Ran took advantage of them to stop again, waiting for Zhang Erwa and Li Zhuang to explore the way, and placed the kettle filled with fish soup on the black raincloth.
And covered it with a layer of black raincloth, hoping to use solar energy to heat the remaining fish head soup in the kettle.
As for the breakfast that they had never eaten that was still in the lunch box, it seemed to have been forgotten by everyone. In order to keep it longer, Weiran even deliberately put it outside last night.
, at this time the fish meat and fish soup inside have been frozen into jelly with ice.
After a short stay, Wei Ran and the other three took steps again under the greetings of Zhang Erwa and Li Zhuang, following the path of the black mud soup they had waded through in the mud, and carefully walked over with wooden sticks.
"Comrade Wei Ran, can your camera still take pictures?" Zhang Erwa, who was walking at the front, suddenly asked.
"Yes," Wei Ran responded, "I can still take three more pictures."
"How about we take a photo together after we cross the river?"
Zhang Erwa asked without looking back, "We will take another photo after we all walk out of the grass."
"Where's the other one?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously, "What's the other one to take?"
"Can I still use them all for you?" Zhang Erwa smiled, "For the remaining one, take whatever you like."
"good"
Wei Ran responded loudly, "When we cross the river, we'll take a picture, and when we walk out of the grass, we'll take another picture!"
The agreement to take pictures together was like another shot in the arm for this small team with only one person left. Everyone gritted their teeth and stepped forward to speed up, just hoping to cross the river as soon as possible and take a photo together.
a photograph.
"It would be great if we could still catch fish in that river." Li Zhuang couldn't help smacking his lips, "We'll make another big pot of fish soup then."
"You have to have firewood," Zhang Erwa couldn't help but remind her, "We don't have much firewood."
"Maybe there is one on the other side of the river," Li Zhuang speculated optimistically.
But everyone knew that it was just a daydream. Along the way, except for the pine forest where they stopped last time, they didn't find even a decent shrub.
In the middle of the casual chat, the sun began to set little by little, the sky was gradually shrouded in clouds, and the river finally appeared in front of us.
Although this river had the same ropes as the previous one, it was four to five meters wide. The only thing they were lucky about was that the flow of the river didn't seem to be too fast.
But what makes people desperate is that on their side of the river, on the meadows, there are nearly a hundred Red Army soldiers sitting in groups, holding wooden sticks and sitting on bamboo hats, facing the other side of the river.
Sitting in the direction.
The military caps on their heads were very neatly worn, and the red stars on their caps were particularly conspicuous, but... they all stunk.
The strong smell of corpses could be clearly smelled even more than half an hour ago when Wei Ran and others were still far away from here.
"When we cross the river, let's take a picture of them." Zhang Erwa said, trying her best to suppress the trembling all over her body.
"good..."
Wei Ran nodded, turned his head and looked at the river dozens of meters away that looked like a divine punishment. He took a breath and said, "Drink the fish soup before crossing the river. It has been exposed to the sun for a day, so it should be hot. This way you can avoid it."
It overturned when we were crossing the river."
"Alright"
Zhang Erwa nodded, "Drink all the fish soup. When we cross the river, we will eat and eat all the fish leftover from yesterday!"
Before he finished speaking, Wei Ran put down the bamboo basket, first took out an enamel bowl and gave one to everyone, then lifted the raincloth that had been exposed to the sun for a day, and held the handle of the kettle which was slightly hot.
He opened the lid of the pot and asked Nurse Ji to add some coarse salt to it, then put the lid back on and shook it, then removed the wooden plug from the spout and poured a bowl of fish soup for everyone.
"This fish soup is still hot!"
Nurse Ji said in surprise, even though everyone had been exposed to the sun all day long, there was still cold mud from the knees down. Moreover, it was cloudy again and they were about to cross the river. They could have a drink at this time.
There is nothing better than piping hot fish soup.
Putting down the kettle and picking up his own bowl of fish soup, Wei Ran took a sip and found that the fish soup had been heated to about 50 degrees Celsius. What's more, it also added salt that his body desperately needed, which was already beyond his limit.
Expected.
Each person finished four bowls of fish soup in succession, until only the fish heads, fish scales and bones that were about to fall apart were left in the kettle, and everyone couldn't help but look at the river.
"Let's go" Zhang Erwa threw the enamel bowl into the bamboo basket.
For a while, everyone who had finished the fish soup threw the enamel bowls into the baskets, and helped Wei Ran tie the mouths of the two bamboo baskets with blankets, and connected everyone's leggings together, and then stepped on them.
Walking through the mud, I walked to the edge of the river.
Reaching out, she grabbed the rope that was only 20 centimeters above the water surface of the river and pulled it. Zhang Erwa took the rope from Li Zhuang behind her and tied it around her waist and asked, "You can swim, right?"
"I can" Li Zhuang responded first.
"Me too," Wei Ran replied secondly.
"I..."
Nurse Ji panicked, "I don't know how, otherwise I'll stay..."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Zhang Erwa said without thinking, "The monitor asked me to take you all out. Even if you die, you will have to die outside on the grass!"
After speaking, he looked at the little lama, made a dog-pawing gesture, then pointed to the river, and asked the little lama in Chinese whether he could swim.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! I don’t know whether it’s because I didn’t understand or because I didn’t understand. The little lama shook his head and then said in a language that only he and Wei Ran could understand,
"I can not swim".
"It seems he doesn't know how to do it either," Wei Ran helped make a judgment.
"fine"
Zhang Erwa tightened the rope tied around her waist, "It's okay if you don't. We'll drag you two over later, and you'll choke on a few mouthfuls of water at most."
As he spoke, he put the wooden stick in his hand into the river, and then watched helplessly as his elbows were already under the river, but he still hadn't reached the bottom.
Zhang Erwa's face turned pale, she took back the stick and took off the gun and water bottle on her shoulder, "I'll go over first, Li Zhuang, you'll be the second to go."
"Yes!" Li Zhuang agreed without thinking.
Without making any preparations, Zhang Erwa grabbed the rope hanging above the river and walked into the river. With the help of the rope, she swam to the other side smoothly.
"Li Zhuang! It's your turn!" Zhang Erwa said as he untied the rope from his waist and tied it to a wooden stake on the shore.
After receiving the signal, Li Zhuang, who was already prepared, immediately tied the rope around his waist, walked into the cold river water without thinking, and swam smoothly while holding on to the rope hanging on the river.
"Wei Ran, send us the weapons and the bamboo basket first!" Zhang Erwa gave the order again.
"good!"
Wei Ran immediately put everyone's weapons in the bamboo basket originally carried by Nurse Ji, then tied the rope and wrapped the strap around the thick rope hanging on the river.
With the help of the rope, Zhang Erwa and Li Zhuang pulled the first bamboo basket to the other side smoothly. Immediately afterwards, the two bamboo baskets and even the poles carried by Wei Ran were also pulled.
Pulled it over.
"Nurse Ji, you go first." Zhang Erwa said, "What will happen to the little lama?"
"How do I do that?"
Nurse Ji suppressed the panic in her heart and asked, not to mention their lack of physical strength now, even in normal times, such a wide river would be scary enough for her.
"Just hold on to the rope!"
Zhang Erwa commanded loudly, and at the same time, Wei Ran also used the rope thrown from the other side to tie a simple protection that was commonly used in later generations around Nurse Ji's waist and thighs.
While he was helping Nurse Ji get ready, Zhang Erwa also wrapped the leggings rope in his hand half a circle around the rope hanging on the river. This was undoubtedly a smart move.
After some preparation, Nurse Ji grabbed the rope with both hands and walked into the cold river. With the encouragement of people on both sides of the river, she was finally dragged to the other side without any danger before she lost her strength and let go.
"It's your turn"
Wei Ran patted the young lama on the shoulder and repeated his old trick to tie the rope thrown from the other side to the other party's body.
On the other hand, the little lama swallowed visibly, and then, under the instructions of Zhang Erwa and others, gritted his teeth and grabbed the rope bridge and walked into the cold river.
One step, two steps, three steps, when the little lama took the fourth step, he seemed to have missed the step, and like a weight, he sank into the river in the blink of an eye.
"pull!"
Zhang Erwa shouted, pulled the rope in his hand hard, and brought the little lama who was beating wildly in the water to the shore.
"vomit--!"
The little lama, whose legs and butt were pulled up first, had a mouthful of mud sticking out before he could stand firmly. Then, after a violent coughing and wheezing, he finally sprayed the choked water out of his nose.
"call..."
Looking at the people on the other side who were busy appeasing the little lama, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief. He thought he would be here...
What are you thinking!
Wei Ran patted the back of his head with a happy expression, but at the same time he also noticed that on the river, which was not flowing very fast, not only was the wooden bowl of the little lama floating, but also the wooden bowl he usually hung around his neck.
The rosary on it.
It's a pity that he discovered it too late, as those two things had drifted quite far away.
"Little Lama!"
Wei Ran shouted to the other bank. When the other bank raised its head, he immediately pointed to the river.
The latter looked in the direction of Wei Ran's finger, and then subconsciously touched his neck and arms. His body, which was also slightly thin, also trembled.
But soon, the little lama showed his bright smile again and shook his head towards Wei Ran.
"Wei Ran, continue!"
Before he finished speaking, Li Zhuang threw the leggings rope back.
Could something happen to me?
While Wei Ran was tying the rope around his waist, he suddenly thought that something unexpected would happen in this river.
With this in mind, he even checked the rope carefully, then stepped into the cold river, held on to the rope bridge, and swam across exceptionally smoothly.
"It scared me to death, I thought... bah bah bah!" Li Zhuang muttered, obviously thinking about Wei Ran.
"Is the little lama okay?" Wei Ran changed the subject while untying the rope.
Nurse Ji, who was also relieved, quickly picked up this new topic, "He seemed to have cramps when he entered the water, and he fell down because he couldn't swim. Apart from choking on a few water and eating a mouthful of mud, nothing happened."
"In this case"
Before Zhang Erwa could say anything, Wei Ran hurriedly untied the blanket tied to the bamboo basket and said, "Let's take a photo here."
"I was just about to say this." Zhang Erwa smiled naively and scratched the back of his head, "Comrade Wei Ran, please check if your camera is soaked in water, right?"
"Let me see"
Wei Ran said, pretending to put his hand into the oil cloth as a cover, and took out the Rollei double reflex camera from the metal book.
"good"
Wei Ran pretended to be nervous and looked at it before saying, "No water, monitor, where should we shoot?"
Zhang Erwa looked at the other side of the river, then at the other people around him, and said, "Just right here, Comrade Wei Ran, can you...can you take pictures of those comrades on the other side?"
"No problem!" Wei Ran responded happily.
Soon, everyone, including the little lama, stood in a row in the mud. Wei Ran also placed his camera on the bamboo basket, used the viewfinder to cover the young Red Army soldiers, and the man behind him.
The bottomless river let them off the hook, and even trapped the comrades on the other side of the river who were watching them on the meadow.
"get ready!"
"All of you - salute!"
Following Zhang Erwa's command, everyone raised their arms in unison. This time, even the little lama's movements were extremely standard - he usually practiced a lot.
After pressing the selfie button, Wei Ran ran over through the mud, stood with them, and raised his arms together.
After taking this photo, Zhang Erwa raised her hand and pointed to a small plateau in the distance and said, "Let's go there! Eat all the remaining fish and meat!"
