In the damp and dark tunnel, the singing voices of the crowd echoed repeatedly in the earth and sand rushing down.
It was in this song that the fear caused by the bombardment gradually disappeared, and calm hope appeared on the young faces one after another.
Wei Ran didn't know how many times he sang along with that song, and he didn't know how much time had passed. Finally, as the accompaniment of the artillery attack outside the tunnel ended, everyone stopped singing in hoarse voices.
"Let me introduce it to you."
While Chen Qi was speaking, he had used a match to relight the oil lamp that had been extinguished by the shock. He then took off the kettle from his waist and handed it to Wei Ran, "This is Comrade Wei Ran, the shooter who was transferred to our place recently."
"Hello, Comrade Wei Ran!" The little soldier with a broken voice who rivaled Wei Ran was the first to salute and then stretched out his hand towards Wei Ran.
He hurriedly raised his hand to return a not-so-standard salute, and Wei Ran quickly shook his calloused hand.
This little warrior looks to be at least four or five years younger than him. What is quite special is that not only does he have a slingshot with a wooden handle hanging around his neck, but he also has a telescope. If the former is just a child's toy
If so, then the latter is something special. Although it is just a telescope, it is not an equipment that everyone can have.
"He is Zhao Shengli from the reconnaissance team"
Chen Qi introduced on the side, "Although he is small and sings very off-key, he sounds like a mocking bird, and he runs so fast that even American machine guns can't catch up with him."
"Your name is so nice"
Wei Ran couldn't help but sigh that once upon a time, during the Battle of Stalingrad, a tank soldier used the same words to comment on his Russian name.
"It was the group leader who gave me the name."
Zhao Shengli's face was filled with a smile from beginning to end, "I used to have a nickname, which was given to me by the landlord, called Zhao Cao Cao. Later, our regiment leader led a large force and passed by us and punished the landlord.
There was no need to herd cattle anymore, so I joined the army. The regiment leader said my name was not nice, so he named me Shengli. At that time, we had not yet been liberated."
"You...how old were you when you joined the army?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.
Zhao Shengli proudly replied, "In 1947, I was only 15 years old."
"Although Comrade Shengli is young, he is already a veteran among us. I have to call him squad leader."
Chen Qi helped with the introduction and handed the rolled cigarette to an old soldier who looked to be forty years old, with a thin build and sunken cheeks. After Wei Ran and him saluted and shook hands, this
Then he introduced, "But the one with the most senior qualifications is our Squad Leader Sun. He is an old Red Army veteran who has gone through the Long March!"
"What are you talking about?" Squad Leader Sun waved his hands nonchalantly, "I'm just a cook."
Having said this, Squad Leader Sun opened the wicker basket beside him, took out a golden cornmeal pancake, pinched out a small lump of pickles and handed it to Wei Ran, "You must not have eaten, right? Drink first."
Saliva, and eat something more."
"I do, I have something to eat." Wei Ran quickly patted the dry food bag hanging on his chest, "I just need a drink of water."
"How come you, little comrade, are still out here? Take it!" Squad Leader Sun couldn't help but force the steamed buns and pickles into Wei Ran's hands.
"Thank you, thank you," Wei Ran said with some discomfort. Compared with the fried noodles in the dry food bag, these cornmeal pancakes and pickles are really good things.
"Young! You still say thank you? This little comrade is as educated as Chen Qi?" Squad leader Sun clicked his cigarette and teased Wei Ran cheerfully.
"I am not a cultural person"
As Chen Qi spoke, he handed the second cigarette he had rolled to a shirtless soldier who looked to be about the same age as Wei Ran, "Comrade Lin Yuehua is a cultural person. He is the squad leader of the reconnaissance squad. Bei Han speaks well."
Already."
"Team Leader Lin!" Wei Ran quickly saluted proactively.
"Don't you also speak American?"
The shirtless Lin Yuehua first uncovered Chen Qi, then shook hands with Wei Ran politely, "Hello, Comrade Wei Ran. I heard that you can shoot accurately, do you want to come to our reconnaissance squad?"
"I..."
As soon as a word came out of Wei Ran's mouth, the young soldier who was responsible for delivering the message before the bombardment started opened the sack curtain of the tunnel, "Squad leader Lin, the company commander is looking for you!"
"knew"
Lin Yuehua stood up while speaking, patted Wei Ran on the shoulder and said, "Let's talk when we get back."
Before Wei Ran could say anything else, Lin Yuehua had already emerged from the tunnel with his submachine gun and jacket.
Only then did Wei Ran have time to unscrew the kettle that Chen Qi had just handed him and take a drink.
After returning the kettle to the other party, Wei Ran asked curiously, "This wounded man..."
"He is a machine gun means Zhicheng"
Chen Qi introduced him familiarly, "During the day, his ribs were broken by an American's cold gun. It's not serious. I just gave him an injection before you came back and let him sleep for a while. By the way!"
Chen Qi put the kettle aside, lowered his head and opened the medical box that he had never left. He took out Wei Ran's pen and handed it over, "Your pen, I have already finished writing the letter."
"You can keep it for now." Wei Ran thought for a moment, then took out the camera from the metal book under the cover of the canvas bag and handed it to Chen Qi.
"What is this for?" Chen Qi asked confused.
"I might have to find a place to hide later. You can take this camera and use it. When you are not busy, help take some photos for everyone. When I come back, return it to me along with the pen. By the way, do you want to use it?
Shall I teach you how to use it?"
"It's not necessary, but this thing..."
"Take it"
Wei Ran couldn't help but push the camera to Chen Qi, "If you think it's cumbersome, just put it in the tunnel first. It doesn't matter if it gets damaged. I guess there will be many people who want to take a photo and send it home."
"Okay, I'll take it first." Chen Qi took the camera happily, "Shengli, I'll take a picture of you first after daybreak."
"Why are you taking pictures of me?"
The little soldier Zhao Shengli said nonchalantly, "My parents are gone long ago. I didn't even know who to send the photos to."
"Nonsense!"
Chen Qi frowned and said, "Take a better-looking photo and develop it when I have time. I will send it back to my wife and ask her to make a portrait of you."
Zhao Shengli blushed and retorted, "We can't have an arranged marriage! What are you..."
"What is it!"
Squad leader Sun gave Zhao Shengli a gentle slap on the back of the head, "You are now a grown-up, do you really plan on beating the bachelor so that you, the old Zhao family, will not be the next in line?"
"As long as we can drive away the American devils, we will never succeed. I am not the only one with the surname Zhao."
Zhao Shengli took out half a pack of Haocai cigarettes that he had confiscated from unknown sources from his pocket, took a sip from the oil lamp and lit it, "I want to fight the American devils now, and I will kill them later."
Hurry back and talk about anything else, just in case..."
"What a fool!" Squad Leader Sun slapped Zhao Shengli on the back of the head again, "I'm still here, and it's not your turn even in the queue."
Chen Qi also gave the little warrior a scratch on the back of his head, "That's it, you go find some clean clothes and change into them when the sun comes up."
"Chen Qi, find a way to wash out one more picture."
Monitor Sun said with a smile, "I have a niece who is about the same age as this guy. I will also send it back to my mother-in-law and ask her to ask my niece. If she is really interested, I will ask her to take my niece with her.
Take a photo and send it over.”
"But just in case..."
"What if something happens!"
Squad Leader Sun puffed his smoke and said, "You guys still have a long time to live. We can definitely drive the American devils back, and then we can cross the Yalu River back together with our guns and big red flowers."
My home is hundreds of miles away across the river. When the time comes, you come home with me and I'll cook you some pork and vermicelli stew. If you enjoy the meal, you can stay in our village and become a son-in-law who steps in.
.”
"I'm not the son-in-law who cuts in the door!" Zhao Shengli's dissatisfied complaint immediately made the remaining people in the pit burst into laughter.
Before the laughter stopped, Squad Leader Lin from the reconnaissance squad also returned to the tunnel, "I have a mission, Comrade Wei Ran, Comrade Shengli, come with me."
"yes!"
Zhao Shengli, whose face was red just a moment ago, immediately handed the unfinished cigarette to Squad Leader Sun, then crawled out of the tunnel with an American M1 carbine in hand.
Upon seeing this, Wei Ran immediately picked up the rifle at hand and chased after him.
Outside the tunnel, in addition to Lin Yuehua, the squad leader of the reconnaissance squad, there were two soldiers wearing unconventional military uniforms. Even the weapons in their hands were M1 carbines and a Garand rifle respectively.
In addition, there was a basket at their feet, which contained not only several American-style backpacks, but also several engineer shovels.
"The five of us have to go around behind the American position to grab a tongue and come back later. We only have 24 hours in total." Squad leader Lin motioned for everyone to squat down against the trench and whispered the mission content.
"Just the five of us this time?" Zhao Shengli asked in a low voice.
"There are too many people and the target is too big. Five of us are enough." Squad Leader Lin looked at Wei Ran after saying that, "The company commander said that you have a good way of capturing, so he specifically asked me to lead you."
Does the company commander still know this?
Wei Ran muttered to himself, knowing that this was probably the arrangement of the metal book, but it was exactly what he wanted, so he immediately nodded confidently.
“Try not to shoot unless you have to”
Squad Leader Lin said, raising his head and pointing to the basket next to him, "As a rule, we won't bring any dry food bags. Each person will take two extra mines. You can't go in vain."
Before they finished speaking, everyone took a heavy backpack from the basket and put it on their shoulders, and then each picked up an engineer shovel or a short-handled pickaxe.
Weighing the engineering shovel in his hand, Wei Ran took off a twenty-kilogram bag of dry food and handed it to Squad Leader Sun, who had just emerged from the tunnel. Then he took a pack of rifle bullets from Squad Leader Lin.
A kettle filled with water, and several seized American compressed biscuits.
With everything ready, without saying goodbye, and without any unnecessary words, Wei Ran followed Zhao Shengli along an inconspicuous path in the night, avoiding American searchlights and flares, and quietly left the position.
Amidst the faint rustling sounds, the five people, led by Squad Leader Lin, walked farther and farther, and finally got into a forest that was not dense. Then they turned around and almost trotted towards the main entrance of the US military position.
rear.
Wei Ran, who was following the team, secretly took out the compass in the metal book and looked at the direction. Then he turned over and glanced at the watch fixed on the compass. It was already about four in the morning, and the distance was
There was only more than an hour left before dawn.
In other words, they would either have to return to their position with the captured tongue within an hour, or they would have to wait until it gets dark again before they can go back.
Obviously, after the recent exchange of fire, now is the stage when both sides are most vigilant. At this time, it is definitely unrealistic to go to the American front line to grab tongues. Their only option is to go around to the rear of the American position.
This also indicates that they will probably have to lurk behind the Americans for more than ten hours before they can go back with the captured tongue.
Keeping his suspicions to himself, Wei Ran quickened his pace to catch up with Zhao Shengli, who had already pulled some distance away.
