In the night, the cold wind began to be mixed with more and bigger snowflakes.
On the shore of the island, everyone was hiding behind a temporary shelter made of snow, nervously looking at the bonfires on the ice that were supported by three logs and placed directly above the ice cave.
At the edge of these bonfires, Wei Ran held a fried fish can in one hand, and under his arm, he also held an extra can for fried fish.
Even, in order to avoid accidental slipping when taking pictures in the evening, an additional copper-footed horse made of cannon shells was tied to his Lapland boots.
"Everyone hide! I'm going to start!"
Wei Ran shouted loudly, and everyone hiding in the temporary bunker subconsciously pressed their bodies down.
Without any hesitation, Wei Ran threw the can he was holding in his left hand into the first ice hole, took two quick steps and threw the can he was holding in his right hand into the second ice hole.
Without stopping, he picked up two other cans from the armpit of his other arm and threw them into the other two ice holes.
Before the last can sank into the ice hole, and before the first one that had sunk into the water exploded, he took a quick step, ran to the lake shore and jumped into the temporary bunker, risking his life.
"Why hasn't it exploded yet?" asked Ivan, an old fisherman.
“Not so fast”
Wei Ran explained, "But it will definitely explode. Wait a minute, Vasily, let's count with everyone. Let's see how many times it will explode."
"good!"
Vasily covered his ears with his hands, cleared his throat and started counting.
"1,2,3,4..."
In anticipation of more and more people starting to count in unison, when they all counted to "16" in unison, an explosion finally started under the ice cave!
"Bang!"
After the first explosion, the ice covering a radius of more than ten meters shattered. Everyone also cheered.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
After a series of dull explosions, all the ice within a few dozen meters shattered, and all the bonfires that had been set up fell into the water and were extinguished.
Immediately afterwards, a large number of bubbles emerged from the cold lake surface as if a pot was boiling. Wei Ran knew that this was caused by the rising methane gas in the lake.
"Why not..."
"Fish! I see a fish!"
Before Yulia could finish her words, her little boyfriend Sasha let out an even louder and surprising cheer!
"It's a fish! I saw it too!" Gunner Jonja also cheered.
At this time, the surface of the exploded lake looked like boiled dumplings, with fish of various sizes floating up from the water.
"Catch fish!"
The old fisherman Ivan was the first to react, climbed out of the temporary bunker, pushed a small wooden boat onto the ice.
Almost immediately, the others rushed out of the bunker, either grabbing nets, sacks, or wooden boxes originally used to hold ammunition!
Amid everyone's joyful cheers, Seryosha and Saha each used a dip net to fish out lake fish floating on the edge of the broken ice, while old Ivan rowed a small wooden boat to fish deeper alone.
fish everywhere.
The rest of the people, including Wei Ran, put all the fish caught ashore, regardless of size, into sacks and wooden boxes, and then used large and small sledges to pull them to the shore.
"After the war is over, I'm going to fry fish like this too!"
Sasha, who is also a fisherman, said excitedly, "Comrade Stalin testifies! Before the war, neither my father nor I had ever caught so many fish in one net! This is simply a dream!"
"There is a better way!"
Wei Ran said loudly, "You must live until the end of the war, and then I will teach you how to make a new energy fishing rod!"
"What is that?" Sasha, who was busy fishing, asked loudly and excitedly.
"It's a secret! I'll tell you after the war is over!" Wei Ran promised loudly.
"Then it's settled! You can't lie to me!" Sasha said.
"I promise! I swear to Comrade Stalin!"
Wei Ran made a loud assurance that he really hoped that the other party and everyone present could survive until the end of the war.
"Victor! I think we might be able to go to the other side of the island and continue bombing a few more times!" Lisa, the ammunition hand, suggested, "It's rare for us to encounter such good weather!"
"That's right!"
Ruslan and Igor, who had an injured hand but still came to help, said in unison.
"In that case, you continue to fish, and I'll prepare the bomb!"
Wei Ran stopped what he was doing happily. He didn't care if he had already overfulfilled the task of hunting fish in his return mission. He wanted to blow up all the fish in Lake Ladoga!
"Can we help?" Father Seryosha asked loudly.
"need!"
Wei Ran responded in the wind and snow, "You guys immediately choose a location for fish frying, dig holes in the ice, and light a bonfire!"
"I know where there are more fish!"
Old Ivan, who came back in a small wooden boat, said, "I have brought back the firewood. Everyone, hurry up and grab some dry wood. I will take you there!"
Under the leadership of this old fisherman, except for the sentry Yuri who was on guard and the gun crew members who could not leave their positions, most of the others helped carry the empty wooden boat and ran away, leaving only the cook Fu
Radha, the injured Igor and the youngest Vasily were busy using sleds to carry the fish they had just caught to the kitchen.
"God, what kind of person have you sent..." Vlada secretly crossed herself on her chest in the wind and snow, her tone full of gratitude.
In the shack, Wei Ran made more than a dozen fried fish cans with familiarity, and then carried them in airdrop boxes sent by the Germans. Under Vasily's guidance, he arrived at the lake on the other side of the island.
Four ice holes have been drilled here and bonfires have been lit to attract fish.
"Old Ivan has already taken people to dig ice holes in another direction," said Father Seryosha, "Let's blow up a few more times tonight!"
"no problem"
Wei Ran said, "You all hide, Father Seryosha, you are personally responsible for guarding this airdrop box full of bombs. No one is allowed to touch the cans inside. They are very dangerous now."
"Leave it to me!" said Seryosha.
Still holding the four cans as before, Wei Ran threw them into the ice cave one by one with increasing proficiency, and hid in the bunker.
This time, without him having to say anything, Vasily started counting, and the others followed suit in unison with great interest.
This time, when everyone counted to 15, the cans exploded under the water one after another, and the ice surface shattered one after another.
The only difference from last time is that this time everyone rushed up like a swarm before the fish floated up. They used nets, small wooden boats, and even sticks to get all the fish that had just floated to the shore.
.
This time, Wei Ran did not participate. He just pulled the airdrop box and followed Vasily along the footprints on the ground to the next fish frying spot.
On this rare blizzard night, the German planes rarely caused any trouble, and Weihan stopped his efforts after consuming all the can bombs he had retrieved.
When everyone braved the increasingly heavy snow and wind and returned to the shack, several large wooden basins and wooden boxes in the kitchen shack were already filled with fish, and even the trees outside the shack were covered with fish.
The belly is broken, and the fish meat with the internal organs and scales removed.
"There are at least one to two hundred kilograms of fish here now!"
Vlada said excitedly, "While the disappointing Germans are not here, all of you must help!"
"Aunt Vlada, what do you need us to do?" Vasily asked first.
"Clean the internal organs, scrape off the fish scales, cut off the fish head, and tie the fish meat with a rope and hang it on a tree outside to freeze!"
Vlada seemed to take over the command, "Don't throw away the fish scales, internal organs and fish heads, they can all be eaten!
Also! I have cooked a pot full of fish heads! I declare! Everyone will get enough midnight snacks to fill their stomachs today!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone cheered—including Wei Ran, who hadn't eaten anything all day long.
Obviously, the kitchen could not accommodate too many people, so everyone automatically divided into two groups and used various transportation tools to drag the frozen fish into ice sculptures to the relatively spacious boys' dormitory and the girls' dormitory respectively.
"Vasily, your job is to read to everyone."
Seryosha lit the oil lamp and issued an order, "Igor, you have to work harder. You are responsible for hanging the cleaned fish on the tree, and the rest are responsible for killing the fish!"
"yes!"
Igor and Vasily were the first to respond, and the others responded even louder.
In the firelight released by the fireplace and oil lamp, Wei Ran took off his Marizza robe and placed it on the bed that belonged to someone unknown. Then he rolled up his sleeves and picked up a pike, and then took out the gravity knife from the metal book.
, scrape off the fish scales and cut off the fish head, cut open the frozen fish belly, use the gravity knife's rope-unhooking needle to pick out the similarly frozen internal organs, and throw them into a wooden box aside.
"In the pre-dawn mist, the Dnieper River shines vaguely; the water washes away the stones on the bank, making a slight splashing sound..."
In the reading of Vasily's duck voice, everyone kept silent in tacit agreement, busy handling the fish saving lives with their lives, just like Lake Ladoga.
That night, the wind and snow got heavier and heavier, and the German planes really didn't plan to come. Even if they did come, they wouldn't see anything at all.
Because of this, the artillery crew members led by Zonya and Yuri, who was in charge of night sentry, also ran back to the shack at midnight and joined in the work of processing the catch.
When all the catches were cleaned, when the fish scales, internal organs and fish heads were brought to the kitchen, Olga and her mother Vlada also filled a lunch box full of fish head soup for everyone.
"What are you going to do with this?"
Wei Ran asked curiously while holding his lunch box and soothing his stomach after being hungry for a whole day with the soft stewed fish head.
He had to admit that although there was not much seasoning, the fish head stewed by Aunt Vlada tasted quite good.
"Boil the fish scales overnight and let them cool, and they will turn into delicious jelly tomorrow."
Vlada explained happily, "Those offal are not dirty, and boiling them overnight can produce a lot of fish oil. Not only can they treat children's chilblains, but they can also be used as candles after solidification, which can help us."
Save precious kerosene."
"Where's the fish head?" Wei Ran asked curiously.
"It's for eating." Vlada responded naturally.
"Those fish..."
"The fish and meat will be sent to Leningrad"
Olga answered the question for her mother, "They need this food more, comrade reporter, there are still a lot of can bombs on this island, right?"
"It seems like the fish in the lake are going to suffer," Wei Ran said with a smile, "but I like this job."
"We were still worried that you would have different opinions on how to deal with it." Vlada was completely relieved.
"I've been to Leningrad," Weiran said abruptly.
"We are Leningraders," Vlada and her daughter Olga replied in unison.
“So there’s a consensus.”
As he spoke, Wei Ran put the lunch box to his mouth and took a big mouthful of thick fish soup, "This fish soup is really delicious."
"Everyone ate with open stomachs today," Vlada said with a smile, "We still have a lot of fish heads."
"There are also many can bombs on the island"
Wei Ran added, and everyone still in the kitchen burst into laughter.
Putting down his lunch box, Wei Ran took out his camera again. After some adjustments, he focused the lens on everyone, especially Vlada, who was serving soup and fish heads by the pot, and pressed the shutter on her.
That night, Wei Ran left the warm and lively kitchen until he had completely filled his stomach, was sweating profusely from eating, and had taken photos of everyone holding lunch boxes with fish head soup.
He returned to his shack and lit the fireplace. He burped happily, lay on the bed and lit a cigarette. While patiently waiting for the shack to heat up, he was also secretly thinking about how to take the remaining group photos.
And how to complete the tasks of early warning and destroying enemy aircraft.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! In addition, he was inevitably worried secretly about whether he would be able to find can bombs on the island after the blizzard, and whether
Step on a disgusting butterfly bomb.
"Sergei is back!"
Just at this moment, Andre's shout of surprise came faintly from outside the shack.
Hearing this, Wei Ran, who had been lying down, immediately got up, put on his boots and ran out of the shack.
When he ran all the way to the door of the boys' dormitory, he saw the shivering Sergey being helped off the sledge by old Ivan and Seryosha, and he even saw the kerosene lamp he had provided.
Olga came over, and Vlada held a lunch box of fish soup in her hands.
"Yeah...sorry"
Sergey, who was shivering from the cold, said guiltily, "I didn't... didn't bring back the gun shield, I... I only received..."
“We’ll talk about this later!”
Father Seryozha ignored Wei Ran who was pressing the shutter next to him, and said distressedly, "Hurry and help him in to warm him up!"
"ammunition"
Sergey turned around with difficulty and pointed at the sledge, "Kerosene... and... medicine... medicine."
"Let's talk after we get in!"
Seryosha directly carried Sergei into the shack, but Zonia took the gun crew members and lifted eight boxes of ammunition and a barrel of kerosene from the sledge. At the same time, Olga also picked up
A wooden box containing medicine.
This was not over yet. Almost at the same time as the supplies on the sledge were being emptied, Vlada brushed the ice and snow off the horse pulling the sledge and directed everyone to put out the ammunition boxes filled with cleaned fish and meat one by one.
After lifting the sledge, there were also eight boxes.
Seeing this, Wei Ran, who had originally planned to get into the shack, raised his camera again, took another photo under the bright light of the kerosene lamp, and then got into the shack.
At this time, Sergey, who had taken off his frozen cotton-padded clothes, was sitting by the fireplace, holding a lunch box full of fish head soup and drinking tremblingly. At the same time, he was telling intermittently that he rushed to Kobona.
The situation of receiving ammunition at the dock.
"The political commissar told me"
Sergey swallowed a mouthful of fish soup and said, "I don't know his name, everyone calls him political commissar.
He told me that he would help us find an artillery shield as soon as possible.
He also asked me carefully about the situation on the island. He hoped that all the underage children and the wounded would leave the island tonight and go to Cobona with me.
He also said that he would organize militia as soon as possible to support and replenish the area."
“There are no underage children here”
It was the youngest Vasily who said this, "Brother Sergei, please tell comrades the political commissar that there are no underage children here, only militiamen who can take up arms at any time."
"Vasily is right."
Igor, who had an injured hand, also said, "There are no wounded here. My hand is slightly injured, but I can replace Yuri or Sonia as a sentry, and I can also serve as a gunner! Anyway, our artillery only needs
You can fire it by stepping on it."
"Igor, you and Vasily are leaving tonight." Father Seryosha said, "This is the order of the political commissar."
"My father is also a political commissar. He can't even drive him away!" Vasily stood up and said, "I won't leave!"
"I think you should stop discussing these meaningless issues. If you are willing to go to Kobona to escape the war, you will not take the risk of coming to this island."
Later, Aunt Vlada walked into the shack and said, "Sergey, are you leaving tonight?"
"There's a snowstorm tonight, and the German planes won't come," Sergey said. "So I want to make another trip. Maybe I can deliver some ammunition before dawn."
"Then go ahead"
Vlada helped everyone make a decision, "Reporter Victor helped us catch a lot of fish tonight. I just asked everyone to load eight boxes on the sledge. You can go back to the ice road later.
Bringing the Leningrad convoy, just one more box of fish per car will not have any impact."
"You caught so many fish?" Sergey was stunned, and subconsciously looked at Wei Ran, who had just taken another photo of him.
"It's just good luck," Wei Ran explained vaguely.
"I'll leave now!"
As he spoke, Sergey drank the remaining half of the bowl of fish soup in two gulps, and ate the two fish heads in large gulps. Then he stood up and put on his clothes and said, "I will reply to the political commissar,
There are no wounded here, let alone underage children, only militiamen who are ready to fight at any time."
"Take this, you need it more than I do."
Yuri said, handing the stove that Wei Ran gave him yesterday, and then looked at Wei Ran apologetically.
"He really needs this more." Wei Ran's agreeable attitude also made Yuri relax a little.
"Let me go in this weather." Old Ivan said, "Sergey, you take a rest and wait until I come back to take over. I am more familiar with this place than you are."
"This is my job until I'm buried in the grave."
Before Sergei finished speaking, he had already put on a robe of the same style as Wei Ran's. After putting on his hat, he took his mittens and got out of the shack.