The sky was gloomy and dull, and the muddy roads were filled with troops who had withdrawn from the front line. Their smoke-blackened faces were full of depression and exhaustion, and the atmosphere was dull and depressing.
The broken flag drooped on the bamboo pole, which was full of transparent holes. The wounded soldiers supported each other and walked numbly and mechanically in the mud. The cold wind blew their dirty and blood-stained clothes, and the original colors could no longer be distinguished.
The newly arrived reinforcements, armed with guns on their shoulders, lined up and moved forward. They looked at these exhausted and scarred friendly soldiers passing by them. Their faces were filled with curiosity, solemnity, and so on.
The Japanese army concentrated the 3rd, 9th, 101st Division and other powerful forces in an attempt to forcibly cross Yunzaobang and implement a central breakthrough. The Chinese army fought bloody battles with the Japanese army at Yunzaobang. They fought fiercely for days and nights and refused to retreat. The Japanese army advanced for several days.
It was less than five miles, but the defenders also paid a heavy price and almost lost their money.
Fatty Tian San stood beside the muddy road with a broken gun, watching countless injured soldiers with missing arms and legs, groaning in pain, being carried by stretchers, and his heart became heavier and heavier.
"Brother, have you seen our people from the 61st Division?" Fatty asked the wounded soldier holding a wooden stick, asking for news about Yang Ling and the others.
The wounded soldier with a tired face shook his head helplessly and kindly reminded: "Go and ask behind."
Fatty limped against the flow of wounded soldiers and kept pulling back the retreating soldiers to inquire about news about the 61st Division, but everyone shook their heads, and Fatty's heart slowly sank to the bottom.
You must still be alive, you must still be alive. Although the fat man knew that there was little hope, he still asked over and over again without giving up, with despair and crying in his voice: "Brother, have you seen our people from the 61st Division?"
?”
Finally, a remnant soldier with a bandage around his neck stopped and said, "I'm from the 61st Division."
Fatty Lu's desperate face showed surprise, just like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw. He grabbed the arm of the remaining soldier and asked excitedly: "Have you seen the people of the 3rd Battalion of the 361st Regiment? How are they?
Yes? Have they withdrawn it too?"
Fatty was not a member of the 361st Regiment before. He followed Lao Smoking and Yang Ling before becoming a member of the 3rd Battalion's supplementary company. They fought side by side and shared life and death, and they had already become an inseparable whole.
When Yang Ling and the others followed the regiment leader Li Zhong to counterattack, Fatty Tian San was left behind because of his butt injury and was unable to move. Before leaving, Yang Ling and the others told Fatty that if they could not come back, they would let him retreat with the troops.
But the fat man had been staying in this dilapidated house on the roadside, waiting for Yang Ling and the others, looking eagerly, but the familiar figure never came back.
The fat man's tone was excited and urgent. The remnant soldier who was pulled by him was stunned for a few seconds before he said apologetically: "I am from the 365th Regiment."
"Then do you know the news about our regiment? How is our third battalion?" The fat man grabbed the arm of the remaining soldier, his face full of nervousness.
The remnant soldier sighed and said in a low voice: "There was no movement in your position before we withdrew. I guess... I guess all of them were killed..."
"You're talking nonsense! We still have more than 300 people, how could we all be killed? There must be... there must be some alive." The fat man became very excited. He didn't believe that all of his regiment was killed, and he didn't believe that Yang Ling and the others were all dead.
The remaining soldier looked at the hysterical fat man and shook his head helplessly. The 365th Regiment was almost wiped out behind the 361st Regiment, let alone the 361st Regiment in front. He reached out and patted the fat man on the shoulder, helplessly.
He shook his head and continued to join the gray crowd and left.
The fat man's hopeful eyes once again became dull, and his hands dropped weakly. Finally, he squatted on the muddy roadside holding his head, his face full of pain. He hated himself and why he didn't follow them.
Counterattack together, hating why I got injured and left the team.
Thinking of Yang Ling who gritted his teeth no matter how difficult it was, the old smoker who was sharp-tongued and heartless, and Luo Ziqiang who always took care of him as his own brother...
Thinking that they might be blown to pieces by Japanese artillery shells, thinking that they might be killed in battle and become corpses in a mountain of blood.
The fat man could no longer hold back his tears and sobbed. Why didn't you take me to counterattack? Why did you leave me alone to endure the suffering of loneliness? He murmured to himself, with a cry in his voice. He felt like he was now
Like an abandoned ghost, so helpless.
Countless wounded soldiers were sent down from the front line, and countless new reinforcements were filled in. The muddy road became even muddier. The fat man squatting in the mud on the roadside and crying looked so lonely in the cold and humid weather.
Looking at the crying fat man, the remaining soldiers passing by sighed helplessly and shook their heads. They felt the same pain in their hearts. Their comrades fighting side by side died one after another. What could they do? They were equally desperate and helpless.
help.
Some kind-hearted remnants passed by the fat man and patted his shoulders to express comfort, while more people walked around numbly and mechanically.
Under this dark sky, no one knows whether they will live to see the sun tomorrow, and who has the energy to pay attention to a fat man who is mentally broken down and sad because of the cruelty of war.
The fat man didn't know how long he cried. When he raised his head again, the remaining soldiers who had retreated on the muddy road had disappeared at the end of the muddy road. His eyes were red and swollen. He stretched out his dirty sleeves to wipe away his tears and stood up.
He wanted to go to the position, he wanted to find Yang Ling and the others. Even if Yang Ling and the others were all dead, he would continue to hold the position. An obsession arose in his heart, so strong.
The limping figure walking on the muddy road looked so alone, so lonely, helpless and determined to move forward. He had to go to the battlefield, even if he died, he had to be with those familiar brothers. His eyes were full of determination.
The fat man joined the army just to fill his stomach and make a living. In his simple mind, eating always comes first.
He didn't have any noble patriotic feelings. He just followed the troops and had to come to this bloody battlefield to fight against the Japanese. However, he watched the people around him die one by one, and those who laughed and cursed with him disappeared one by one.
Only now, when he was alone, did the fat man feel the cruelty of the war, and began to hate the little devil. He stepped deeply and shallowly into the mud, cursing.
Little devils, damn little devils, we didn’t provoke you. Why do you come to beat us, kill, rob, and occupy our land? The fat man cursed, and finally thought about those familiar faces, which he might never see again.
When it was over, his tears couldn't help but roll down again, and his voice sounded like crying.