In the thick darkness of night, the sleepless student soldiers gathered around Yang Ling and listened to him tell the tragic and tragic stories on the battlefield.
Yang Ling spoke carefully, as if he wanted to tell the story of the bravery and tenacity of every comrade who died. The students also listened attentively, as if the scene of the raging war was right in front of them, so real and moving.
Especially when they heard the scarred veterans rushing towards the Japanese tanks and chariots holding explosive packs, the blood all over their bodies boiled, and they wished they could join in the vigorous battle.
In Yang Ling's calm narration, the students' inner tension and fear disappeared without a trace, leaving only the emotion for the veterans who sacrificed their lives and the hatred for the enemy.
Seeing that the student soldiers had eliminated their fear of the enemy, Yang Ling patted his buttocks and stood up on the dirt: "Okay, that's it for today. Let's go to bed quickly. The Japanese are coming tomorrow, so please be careful."
Be brave and kill the enemy."
"Don't worry, Chief Yang, we are not cowards!" the students also shouted in response.
Yang Ling returned to the makeshift battalion command post behind the position, and saw Liu Yidao sitting there with a frown on his face and smoking a cigarette.
"The student soldiers are too nervous to sleep. You are considered a veteran. What's going on?" Yang Ling found a place to sit down, unscrewed the kettle and drank water and asked Liu Yidao.
"Batalion Commander, do you think we can win this battle?" Liu Yidao put out his cigarette butt and raised his head and asked.
Liu Yidao's question made Yang Ling pause, and then he said with a smile: "Why did such a question suddenly come up? What have you been thinking about all day long?"
"During the day, I heard people say that the officers had already prepared the ferry at Xiaguan, ready to run away at any time. Judging from the officers' peeing habits, I think this is probably true. I'm afraid we will become cannon fodder again.
, my heart is really filled with panic."
Yang Ling sighed: "Nanjing is the capital of the country, and the general will have to guard it for a while. We are too lazy to guess what the commander is thinking, but we soldiers must do our duty to eat food. Whether we are fighting or retreating, we only want a clear conscience.
."
Seeing that Liu Yidao was silent, Yang Ling continued: "I have asked Company Commander Zhou and others to collect ferries. Even if Nanjing cannot be defended by then, I will take our brothers out alive."
Yang Ling's relief made Liu Yidao's brows relax. Why did he think so much? He would not suffer any loss if he followed Yang Ling.
"Battal Commander, there's a situation!"
While the two were talking, the sentry sentry rushed into the battalion headquarters from the darkness.
Yang Ling's expression tightened: "What's going on?"
The guard post replied: "There are many people coming towards us! It's too dark to see clearly. I don't know whether they are Japanese soldiers or friendly forces."
"Would you like to wake up the brothers and prepare to fight!" Liu Yidao also stood up.
Yang Ling thought for a moment and then ordered Liu Yidao: "Don't alarm the brothers first, go and check the situation first." After saying that, he grabbed the shell gun and walked out of the battalion command post.
When Yang Ling arrived at the forward position, he looked around and saw a large number of people holding torches rushing towards us along the road.
"He seems to be one of ours." Liu Yidao withdrew his gaze.
Yang Ling ordered the guard Huzi: "Huzi, shout to them and ask them what part -"
Huzi poked his head out of the bunker and shouted at the top of his lungs. The other party quickly replied that they were the retreating troops of the 51st Division.
Liu Yidao breathed a sigh of relief: "Since they are brothers from the 51st Division, let them go."
Yang Ling shook his head and refused: "Why don't you know if it's a kid pretending to be a kid? We've suffered a lot."
"What should we do?" Liu Yidao was in trouble.
"Let their commander come over and let's confirm first."
The defense line of the 51st Division was smashed to pieces by the Japs. Now the Japs are chasing after them. Now they are blocked again. The defeated troops crowded on the road are as anxious as ants on a hot pot.
Soon, officers arrived at Yang Ling's position under the protection of guards. When the two met, they discovered that they were old acquaintances.
"Brother Yang, I didn't expect that we would meet again." Zhang Lingfu, leader of the 305th Regiment, had his arm hung with a bandage around his neck. He was covered in blood and looked quite embarrassed.
Yang Ling didn't expect it to be Zhang Lingfu, the leader of the 305th Regiment, so he hurriedly saluted and asked, "Is it okay for Captain Zhang to be injured?"
"It's okay, it's just a bullet." Although Zhang Lingfu said it lightly, everyone knew that the pain of being shot was not that good.
"Brother Yang, the Japanese are too fierce. We really can't stop them. Now we are ordered to retreat. Please let the brothers pass by."
Yang Ling said apologetically: "We had no choice but to block the way. We were worried about Japanese infiltration. Since it was Captain Zhang's troops, we would naturally pass through."
Yang Ling immediately ordered his brothers to put away their guns and let Zhang Lingfu's troops retreat.
"The Japs are coming with a bite on their butts. Brother Yang, you should be more careful." Zhang Lingfu did not stop for a long time. Before leaving, he kindly asked Yang Ling and the others.
Yang Ling also thanked him. During the day, he saw that Zhang Lingfu's team was still in high morale, and they were evenly matched against the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat.
But now, these troops who have retreated are languid and demoralized. It cannot be described as miserable. Their mood is even darker. It seems that a fierce battle is inevitable.
The troops led by Zhang Lingfu retreated. Yang Ling was worried that the Japanese would attack, so he was extremely vigilant. The number of guard posts and patrol posts was doubled. He spent the entire second half of the night in fear, but for some reason, he never saw them.
The traces of Japanese soldiers.
In fact, Yang Ling didn't know that the Japanese forward troops had been advancing forward for days and fighting with the 51st Division for so long. Many squadrons were almost exhausted. Although they defeated the 51st Division, they were unable to follow up and lost the opportunity to continue the attack to expand the results.
Attack ability.
When it was almost dawn, Yang Ling wrapped herself in a ragged army blanket and squinted for a while, but was soon awakened by the roar of the engines of the Japanese planes. Looking up, she saw that densely packed Japanese planes were flying towards Nanjing.
Liu Yidao also didn't sleep well all night. He cursed loudly with his red and swollen eyes, but the curses were of no use. The Japanese planes were already arrogant, and soon they heard violent explosions coming from the direction of Nanjing.
Yang Ling lay on the edge of the hard bunker, holding up the captured Cao Changjing to observe the enemy's situation, but Cao Changjing was filled with smoke and could not see anything clearly.
The sky is still dark. I don’t know if it’s the dark clouds or the gunpowder smoke. The gunpowder smoke covering the ground is also lingering, which makes Yang Ling a little crazy and his vision is blocked. Who knows that the Japanese armored regiment has already assembled behind the smoke, and maybe a large number of Japanese soldiers are approaching.
Woolen cloth.
Yang Ling didn't like fighting uncertain battles, so he reluctantly put down Cao Changjing and prepared to send someone to the smoke to see what the Japanese were doing.
The trench about a mile away from Yang Ling's position, which was originally the position of the Chinese defenders, was now densely packed with Japanese soldiers wearing helmets.
A Japanese soldier looked at his watch and waved to the officer behind him. The officer understood and waved to the front trench.
With the wave of the big hand, the Japanese soldiers in the entire trench started to move. The gloomy Japanese soldiers were like a rolling wave. The trenches overflowed, and under the cover of morning mist and gunpowder smoke, they moved towards Yang Ling and the others all over the mountains and plains.