Yang Ling's shouting sound spread far into the surrounding wilderness. The two soldiers following Yang Ling were extremely nervous, fearing that the Japanese would be attracted.
Lao Wang's head slipped into the ditch. The continuous running was too much for him. In order not to drag Yang Ling and the others down, he simply lay down in the ditch to recover his strength. He was already determined to die.
Now that he heard that Yang Ling and the others had come back, Lao Wangtou heard clearly that it was indeed Yang Ling's voice, and he struggled to stand up in the ditch with excitement.
No one wants to die, but sometimes when faced with despair, one has to face death, and when there is hope of living, people who are on the verge of despair will desperately grab the last straw like a drowning person.
The ditch was very deep and slippery. Lao Wangtou struggled for a long time but could not climb up. He could only open his mouth and shout: "Company Commander, I am here - I am here." hoping to attract Yang Ling's attention.
Yang Ling shouted while holding a gun while observing the movements around him. He soon heard Lao Wangtou's voice, his face lit up, and he hurriedly called to the two soldiers following him and ran over.
Under the dim light, the dark ditch looked unfathomable. At the bottom of the ditch, Lao Wangtou saw the familiar figure of Yang Ling standing on the edge of the ditch.
He had thought that he would definitely die, and had already thought about fighting another Japanese until he died. Seeing that Yang Ling and the others took great risks to find him back, Lao Wangtou couldn't hold back, and big tears rolled down his wrinkled cheeks.
Like a river flowing in a ravine, full of gratitude.
"Hold the gun for me, and be careful -" Yang Ling handed the 38 rifle to the remaining soldiers behind him, while he squatted on the ground and stretched out his hand towards Lao Wang's head at the bottom of the ditch.
"Old Wangtou, grab my hand and I'll pull you up!" Yang Ling shouted towards Old Wangtou at the bottom of the ditch.
"Okay... okay..." Old Wangtou burst into tears. He quickly stretched out his sleeves to wipe his tears, fastened his saber to the belt around his waist, and stretched out his hand.
Yang Ling and another soldier worked together to pull Lao Wangtou up from the bottom of the ditch. Although Lao Wangtou was wet and a little embarrassed, at this moment, he felt happier than ever before.
"Old Wangtou, are you injured?" Yang Ling asked with concern as he unloaded the canvas bag from Old Wangtou onto himself.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's just a scratch on my skin." Lao Wangtou grabbed the canvas bag on his body and said, "Company Commander, I can carry it..."
Yang Ling still couldn't help but share the canvas bag on Lao Wangtou's body with himself and the other two soldiers. He said reproachfully: "Next time you can't walk, just tell me. Everyone is helping you walk. You fell into the water like this."
You didn't say anything in the ditch. If we hadn't found you and came back to find you earlier, wouldn't you have been dead if the Japanese caught up with you?"
"Besides, you have all the dry food we eat. If you say you don't have it, wouldn't we be hungry? Do you think this is true? So if you can't keep up with the team in the future, you must remember to speak up."
Although Yang Ling was blaming, a warm current surged through Old Wangtou's heart, and he nodded vigorously. He originally just didn't want to drag Yang Ling and the others down, but now he realized that he was completely wrong. His silence actually dragged the team back to look for them.
Seeing that Lao Wangtou also realized the problem, Yang Ling waved his hand and said: "The Japanese are about to catch up, let's leave quickly."
Yang Ling supported Lao Wangtou and the other two soldiers and hurriedly chased the team. Behind them, the gunfire sounded closer and closer, and the Japanese soldiers' pursuit troops had already rushed over.
…
Li Tiezhu, the platoon leader of the Gui Army, felt that his body was jolting violently. His whole body ached due to the jolts, and his head was dizzy and confused. He opened his eyes, but there was still boundless darkness around him, and there were still gunshots in the distance.
He found that he was being carried on someone's back, and he was surrounded by people running hastily with their heads down. He could hear the heavy breathing of everyone.
"Put me down, put me down." Li Tiezhu reached out and slapped the Gui Army soldier who was carrying him and shouted.
The soldier carrying Li Tiezhu stopped and put Li Tiezhu down. His face was full of joy: "Company Commander, are you awake?"
Li Tiezhu glanced at the dark fields around him and asked with a dark face: "Where is this place? How is the Dingjiaqiao position?"
One of the Gui soldiers who stopped to catch their breath replied: "Company commander, we are retreating towards Zoumatang. Our position at Dingjiaqiao has been lost."
The last thing Li Tiezhu remembered was that he was knocked unconscious by the air wave of a grenade that landed beside him. When he saw the Dingjiaqiao position with flames in the distance, he turned around and asked with a cold face: "Who gave the order to retreat?"
The embarrassed soldiers of the Gui Army looked at each other and didn't know how to answer. They were scattered and the Japanese were everywhere. The commander could not be found at all. If they wanted to survive, they had to retreat on their own.
"Tell me! Who gave the order to retreat?"
The Gui Army soldier hesitated for a long time before replying: "Platoon commander, there are Japs everywhere. The officers are dead, and we will die if we don't run..."
Hearing the soldier's answer, Li Tiezhu immediately understood that they were retreating without permission.
He grabbed the rifle from his side and shouted: "Brothers! We have traveled thousands of miles to fight the Japanese. If we retreat without orders and lose our positions, not only will our faces be disgraced, but we will also be embarrassed by the Guangxi elders in our hometown and will be poked.
Backbone! Now go back with me and take back the position from the Japanese ghosts!"
After Li Tiezhu finished speaking, he ignored the obstruction of the Gui army soldiers beside him and staggered towards the distant Dingjiaqiao with his gun in hand.
The surrounding soldiers stood hesitantly and did not move. If they went back, they would definitely die, but if they retreated without authorization, they would still die. Finally, someone gritted his teeth and shouted: "We Guangxi soldiers cannot embarrass our hometown elders, so we will fight back without fear of death!"
The Gui soldiers who broke out in a hurry returned to Dingjiaqiao with guns in hand, but the Japanese troops were already chasing them. Within a few minutes of leaving, the two sides exchanged fire.
"Brothers! Fight for me!" This was an encounter in the dark night. The Japanese were immersed in pursuit. Unexpectedly, the defeated soldiers dared to turn around and fight back. Immediately, a row of guns passed by and more than ten people were knocked down.
The remaining Japs immediately took cover and lay down, crackling gunshots rang out, and the grenades and light machine guns behind the Japs also followed.
Da da da da - the Japanese light machine gun suddenly started howling, and the Gui soldiers who shouted to kill the enemy erupted into clouds of blood mist, their bodies shook involuntarily, and then fell to the ground.
"Machine gunner! Hit me!" Platoon leader Li Tiezhu shouted at the machine gunner with his eyes red and his dizzy head not yet fully awake.
But the machine gunner didn't respond. He turned around and saw that the machine gunner and more than a dozen Gui Army soldiers were already lying in a pool of blood. When he saw the Japs wearing helmets and forcing them towards him, he threw away the rifle in his hand and ran away with great strides.
Pointed at the machine gun.
"Company Commander, there are Japs ahead!" Gunfire like exploding beans rang out from the front, mixed with the unique rattling sound of machine guns. Yang Ling and others who were retreating back suddenly stopped.
Yang Ling looked at the firefight ahead and made a quick analysis in his mind. Hearing the gunfire, the intensity of the gunfire should be around sixty or seventy people. It was probably not a large Japanese army, but a force interspersed to bite the retreating Gui army.
Wu Jiang, whose head was wrapped in gauze, followed him: "Company commander, should we go around?"
Yang Ling looked at the criss-crossing water network on both sides and shook his head. If they took a detour, the terrain was unclear and they would not be able to run fast. Once the enemy got in front of them, they would be like turtles in a jar and could not escape.
"There shouldn't be many Japs. Let's rush out from the front!" Yang Ling gritted his teeth and said.
At this moment, Yang Ling is the commander of their broken team, because he is the captain company commander, with the highest military rank. The rest, except for a second lieutenant platoon leader from Wujiang, are all top soldiers.
Upon hearing Yang Ling's order, dozens of remaining soldiers pulled the bolts of their guns and ran straight to the front where the firefight was taking place.