The ruffian reminds you: please collect it after reading it.
Deep in the snowy coniferous forest, the short day was once again replaced by a long night. The sleigh pulled by two reindeer cautiously and difficultly crossed the mountain pass. The people on the car also saw a large frozen lake covered with snow.
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Everyone put down their telescopes, and Markla shouted to the reindeer and started running slowly on the frozen lake.
"Makra, there seems to be something on the right front!" Wei Ran, who had been observing the surroundings with a telescope, shouted.
Hearing this, Markla immediately shook the reins and shouted at the reindeer to slow down. Karl and Konon, who were chatting on the sleigh, also reacted quickly and picked up their weapons.
As the distance got closer, the protrusions on the lake became more and more visible, and then they saw a small two-wheeled trailer leaning sideways.
"This is a trailer for a half-track self-propelled anti-aircraft gun!" Konon was the first to shout the correct answer.
"Be careful"
Markla reminded him and ordered the reindeer to stop at a distance. He waited for his son Karl to take over the reins, and then walked over cautiously with a submachine gun. Behind him, Wei Ran and Konon followed closely.
Jumped off the sleigh.
It wasn't until they followed Markla's footsteps to the side of the broken down trailer that they saw clearly that one of its tires had been disconnected from the axle, and the contents of the trailer had been emptied, leaving only
Some empty gasoline barrels were lying quietly in the car.
Markla took off the square flashlight hanging on his chest and turned it on. He carefully lay down on the thick snow, puffed up his cheeks and blew the snow away. When a complete footprint was revealed on the ground, he squinted and looked up again.
Looking at the falling snowflakes, he turned off the flashlight and said firmly, "This car was abandoned about an hour or two ago. On this kind of road surface, a half-track can only cover 20 to 30 kilometers in an hour."
"So we are at least fifty or sixty kilometers away from them?" Konon asked with an ugly face.
“It shouldn’t be that far”
Markla took Weiran and Konon back to the sleigh, and waited until Karl ordered the reindeer to start running again before saying, "The Germans' half-tracks are not like our reindeer sleds. They can't go at all in many places, so between us and them
The distance between them may not be that far.”
Konon was not very happy when he heard this, "But even so, we don't know where they are going, so we can't take a shortcut to catch up with them."
Markla glanced at Wei Ran, who was sitting across from him thoughtfully, and asked tentatively, "Victor, what do you think?"
What ideas can I have?
Wei Ran secretly cursed, Markla was testing himself by asking such a question, wanting to see if he could say the name of Muonio. He could even guarantee that even if he said it, the other party would definitely go further around.
road to avoid contact with the armored vehicles they have been tracking.
Seeing Konon looking at him, Wei Ran said absently, "The safest way now is to follow their tracks."
Markla secretly breathed a sigh of relief and pretended to have a helpless expression, "That's all we can do for now, Karl, please speed up a little!"
"We can't go any faster," Carl said distressedly. "We've been running all day. If we speed up any more, these two reindeer will die from exhaustion."
Markla pondered for a moment and said, "Then we will chase for another hour and then find a place to camp and rest."
Konon looked at Markla hesitantly, and finally gritted his teeth and said nothing more.
The reindeer started running again and pulled the sleigh across the ice slowly, following the ruts and entering the dense coniferous forest again. However, as they moved forward, everyone could smell the burning wood.
The smell of fireworks afterwards.
These slight anomalies immediately attracted their attention, including Carl, who was driving the car. Everyone held their weapons vigilantly.
After a long wait, the panting reindeer finally passed through the dense forest and came to a flat area surrounded by mountains. But far away, they saw the faint light of fire.
"Something happened to Muonio!" Macra picked up the submachine gun on his shoulder, and then returned the previously confiscated magazine to Conon.
As the reindeer ran, the smell of fireworks that drifted into their noses became stronger and stronger, and they gradually saw clearly a small village that had been reduced to ruins and scorched earth.
In this small village, except for the church in the center which is still intact, all the other wooden houses have been burned and collapsed. The snow around the houses melted in the high temperature, and then gradually froze as the fire reduced.
There was a layer of turbid ice mixed with coke.
In everyone's silence, the sleigh slowly stopped under the sign at the entrance of the village, and their attention was attracted by what was on the sign.
On this signpost, which is only made of a wooden pole frozen in the soil and a wooden board, in addition to the word "Muonio", there are also rows of Finnish medals neatly nailed. Among these medals
Underneath, a German sentence "This is a betrayal from a friend" was written in black charcoal.
Seeing Konon, Wei Ran, and his son Karl looking at him, Markla sighed and said regretfully, "These should be the medals that the Germans received in Finland. Since they left the medals here,
,perhaps..."
Markla didn't say what it was about in the end, but the three young people present already had their own answers.
In the unspeakable silence, Konon handed the flashlight to Wei Ran, gesturing for him to help shine it, while he took out his camera and took a photo of the sign.
Everyone did not board the sleigh again, but let Karl lead the two panting reindeer, stepping on the icy ground step by step towards the only intact building in this small village - the not-so-big church.
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Before they could reach the door of the church, the wooden door wrapped in animal skins slowly opened from the inside, and the four of them subconsciously raised their weapons. Until a priest who looked to be at least sixty or seventy years old came out of the wooden door.
, they lowered their guns.
This chapter is not over yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading! "Come in and warm yourself up." The old pastor did not ask about their identities, nor their purpose of coming or where they were going. He simply greeted them in, and then
He slowly turned around, leaving only a shadow, which gradually lengthened against the bright light in the church.
"Tie the reindeer up and feed them some more beans."
After Markla finished speaking, he stretched out the white camouflage clothes on his body, then pulled out the magazine of the submachine gun and ejected the bullets in the chamber, and then walked into the church with Wei Ran and Konon.
This church is not big, and there are only four benches and a small table against the wall. But on that table, there are a lot of tin cans issued by the German army, as well as a few sausages and a basket.
Rye bread and a chunk of smoked bacon.
Directly under the icon painting, there is an extremely clean fireplace, with the flames burning inside constantly jumping, providing warmth to the small church and barely providing the light needed for lighting.
The old priest added a few pieces of firewood to the fireplace, then picked up the iron kettle placed next to the fire, and slowly poured a glass of boiling water for Wei Ran and others. It didn't count until Karl, who came in last, took it.
After picking up the big wooden cup, he slowly walked to the table and picked up a few sausages and a box of cans. Then he picked up two large pieces of bread and a large piece of smoked braised meat and came back.
While the food was being heated, Markla finally asked, "What happened here?"
The old priest struggled to open the can and said casually, "Not long ago, some retreating Germans were attacked by us nearby. Many of the wounded were killed, and many mules were also killed. They were very angry, so in
After killing two Finnish soldiers they captured, they also set the place on fire.
But if you burn it, burn it. Anyway, all the villagers here have fled long ago except for me. The German officers brought me a lot of food and drink before they left. He said that it was the last gift from a friend. From then on
After that we are enemies."
As if he thought of something funny, a smile appeared on the old pastor's wrinkled face, "A few months ago, he and I helped repair the leaky roof of this church with soldiers. I didn't expect this.
They quickly become enemies, almost childishly like a child throwing a tantrum. When you get angry with your best friends, you break their toys. Maybe one day they will become friends again."
In the warm church, the old priest was busy preparing food and drink for everyone, while he was talking about everything that happened here, and the dying old man's views on this inexplicable war.
At some point, the water in the wooden cup in his hand had become warm enough to drink in one gulp, but Wei Ran and others sitting on the floor around the fireplace lowered their heads as if frozen by the low temperature outside the church.
Watching the flames that kept beating, I listened patiently to the old pastor's soliloquy speech.
After a long time, bubbles continued to appear from the tin can placed next to the fire, and the two pieces of black bread had become fragrant in the bonfire.
Until this moment, the old priest finally ended his speech, slowly picked up a Mauser bayonet from the fireplace, refused the help of Markla and his son, and cut the two pieces of black bread into pieces bit by bit.
Four.
Then he brought four wooden bowls and divided the meat, potato pieces and soup in the tin can into four equal parts. Finally, he poured an equal amount of boiling water into each bowl, and put in half a sausage and a few pieces.
After cutting the smoked braised pork into thin slices, he stood up tremblingly and said kindly, "Children, eat. When you are full, you can rest here for the night."
After a moment of silence, young Karl asked blankly, "Dad, are the Germans our friends or our enemies?"
"We were our friends before, but now we are our enemies."
Markla looked at the sign not far outside the window and murmured to herself, "Ever since they nailed those medals there and since they burned this village, we have become real enemies."
