Gun smoke, artillery fire, and bright red blood surged between heaven and earth, forming a vast picture that spread out in the cold and humid Jiangnan.
Fierce fighting continued day and night, and the roads were still muddy. The escort company and health team, totaling nearly a hundred people, hurriedly headed straight for the battlefield with the roar of artillery. This was a team that moved forward in silence.
More than thirty soldiers from the escort company were scattered around the health team, with their rifles removed from their shoulders and held in their hands, with bullets loaded, silently performing their guard duties.
The sound of gunfire became more intense as we moved forward. Bodies lying in the muddy water could be seen from time to time beside the muddy road, and the air exuded the smell of decay.
The battle ahead was fierce. In order to block the defenders on the Chinese position, the Japanese's roaring and harsh motors never completely disappeared. They continued to drop bombs and fire machine guns in an attempt to cut off the defenders' rear supplies.
The wounded soldiers from the front could not be sent, and the supplies from the rear could not be sent. This was a fierce battle with great disparity in strength.
Zhang Hongying was carrying a wooden box with a red cross on it, which was filled with first-aid hemostatic bandages and medicines. It was a bit heavy, and the shoulder straps caused pain to her shoulders.
The original color of the white-soled and black-topped cloth shoes could not be seen clearly, and they were covered with thick mud. She felt that every time she raised her legs, it was so difficult, as if they were filled with lead.
Mud water seeped into the cloth shoes along the gaps, making them wet and cold. The continuous rapid walking made her breathing become disordered and rapid.
The farther forward the sound of gunfire reached the ears, the stronger the explosion sound became, as if the earth was shaking. Many female soldiers in the health team turned pale. After all, this was their first time on the battlefield.
Zhang Hongying was not much better. Smelling the stench, her heart was filled with all kinds of emotions. If she hadn't gritted her teeth tightly, she would have vomited. However, as the captain of the health team, she could only endure it.
Two months ago, she was still a female student shouting on the streets to resist Japan and save the nation, but now she has taken practical actions to join the movement to resist Japan and save the nation, becoming a female medical soldier.
China and Japan invested nearly a million troops in this land with dense water networks, fighting fiercely for nearly three months, with mountains of corpses and rivers of blood flowing.
One division after another was thrown into the battlefield, but most of it would be lost within a few hours. Some divisions could not hold out for less than a day, with less than a quarter of their men still alive.
There were many dead and even more wounded. The lightly wounded who could move were still fighting to the death with the Japanese on the battlefield, while the seriously wounded who were missing arms and legs could only lie down and wait for death.
The Chinese army in this era did not have a complete logistics system like the Japanese army. They were equipped with medical soldiers, but the Chinese army did not. Many injured soldiers died of excessive blood loss due to lack of timely treatment, and countless more died of infection.
…
Yang Ling was walking in front of the team holding a 38-meter cap. The sound of gunfire was fierce in front, and booming explosions could be heard from time to time. They were already very close to the battlefield.
The clever Jiao Chaoming was sent by Yang Ling to serve as a leading soldier. He was one of the survivors of the 361st Regiment. This time he was also temporarily transferred to the escort company and returned to the battlefield.
Jiao Chaoming held a gun and distanced himself from the large group behind him by more than 200 meters. As he walked, he looked around and heard movement in the reed marsh next to him.
Jiao Chaoming suddenly became nervous. He stopped, gently pulled the bolt of the gun and loaded the gun. He stared at the dense reeds and listened carefully.
There were painful moans coming from the reeds. Could it be the Japanese who had infiltrated? But the sound sounded like injured people.
Jiao Chaoming held the gun and carefully pushed through the reeds with his gun. His finger was already on the trigger. He had already made up his mind to shoot at any time if the situation went wrong. After all, this place was close to the battlefield, and it was possible for the Japs to infiltrate.
The reed pole blocking the view was pushed aside. Jiao Chaoming's footsteps stopped, and the gun in his hand dropped. Soon he turned around and ran towards the large troops at the rear.
Two minutes later, the health team, Yang Ling and other members of the escort company arrived at the reed swamp. They saw a shocking scene that will be unforgettable for a lifetime.
The reed marsh was densely packed with seriously injured Chinese soldiers, at least one to two hundred of them. They just lay helpless in the reed marsh, groaning in pain. Some of them had already lost their voices and exuded a foul stench.
Obviously, they were deliberately hidden in the reeds in order to prevent being discovered by the Japanese planes. However, they were blocked by Japanese artillery fire and could not be sent out, so they could only wait to die here.
Health captain Zhang Hongying took a deep breath, immediately removed the medical kit from her shoulders, and called for the health team to carry out rescue operations.
It is the responsibility of the health team to save lives and heal the wounded, while the task of protecting the wounded falls on Yang Ling's shoulders. This place is only a mile or two away from the battlefield, and several artillery shells fell on the road outside, causing dust to fly.
The reed swamp is not big. To the south is the dirt road leading to the rear. To the north is a ditch of unknown depth. To the east is a battlefield with fierce gunfire. To the west is the direction of Zoumatang.
Yang Ling stretched out his hand to greet Jiao Chaoming and said, "Xiao Jiao, take two people to walk around this reed swamp to find out if there are any Japanese around."
Jiao Chaoming has a strong execution ability and a flexible mind. Yang Ling feels comfortable entrusting him with such a task. Besides, he is still a member of the 361st Regiment and the only person he is familiar with now.
After Jiao Chaoming led two people into the reed swamp, Yang Ling turned around and walked up to a man with a cold face.
"Platoon Commander Wu, take your people to the ditch over there, dig some foxholes, and keep them as separate as possible. I'll leave that to you."
Platoon leader Wu Jiang was a very cold man who didn't like to talk. He just nodded and walked towards the ditch over there. More than ten people in his platoon also followed in his footsteps.
"Two of you, go two hundred meters to the west and two hundred meters to the south, and remember to fire warning shots if something happens."
"Yes." The two soldiers responded and immediately picked up their guns and walked in the direction of their respective warnings. They walked to a distance of about two hundred meters and found a dry place to lie down.
"Captain Yang, what are we going to do?" Seeing that everyone had their own things to do, except for the dozen or so people in his platoon who had nothing to do, platoon leader Yang Dashu opened his mouth, revealing big yellow teeth, and asked angrily.
Yang Ling looked at the burly Yang Dashu and mouthed at the silent corpses: "Go and help the health team to separate the living from the dead."
Yang Dashu turned around and glanced at the corpses that had been dead for who knows how long. Some of them were even covered with maggots. His head shook like a rattle: "Company Commander, you can't kill a chicken with a bull's knife. Just leave those to the health team. I'll
I feel like I’m still…”
Yang Dashu stopped before he finished speaking. Faced with Yang Ling's dark and deep gaze staring straight at him, he felt uncomfortable all over, and a cold air rose up from his back.
"Isn't it just to carry the corpse? Leave it to us to arrange it!" Yang Dashu felt that the atmosphere was not right, and immediately greased the soles of his feet to greet the brothers behind him and strode towards the health captain Zhang Hongying: "Captain Zhang, if you have any heavy work, just ask us.
There is plenty of strength."
Zhang Hongying was trying to stop the bleeding of the seriously injured person whose arm was blown off. She said without raising her head: "Thank you very much. Can you help carry those who died to the open space over there?"
Come on, my aunt is really rude, but after she said it, it is not his character to shrink in front of women. Yang Dashu agreed with a smile on his neck, and greeted the brothers with grim faces to start carrying the body.
Although the words were easy to talk, the work was not easy to do. Many of these corpses were already rotting and exuding a foul smell. They were surrounded by poplar trees and had thick nerves. In the end, they couldn't hold back the churning in their stomachs, and they vomited and felt exhausted.