The chaotic situation became more chaotic as time went by. The fighting on the front line was fierce, and the maimed and defeated troops were continuously withdrawn. The atmosphere was tense and panicked.
Everyone was in ragged clothes and exhausted, and they were in small groups, with the injured helping each other. Many troops were defeated before they could be withdrawn. The organization was completely messed up. Some companies were still blocked in Dachang Town, and some battalions were blocked.
We have already reached the north bank of the Suzhou River, and we cannot look at each other from the beginning to the end.
Yang Ling and the others had recovered a lot of their physical strength and relieved some of their fatigue after a night's rest. The faces of the remaining soldiers also regained a lot of energy.
"Old Wangtou, everyone is hungry. Share the dry food with everyone." Yang Ling walked around outside to find out the situation, then came back and gave instructions to Old Wangtou.
After Lao Wangtou responded, he took off the canvas bag he kept from his body and opened it in front of him. It was filled with dry food that had been looted from the corpses of the Japanese.
The dry food for the Japanese soldiers is very abundant, including canned rice and biscuits, and a few bulging canvas bags. However, Lao Wangtou has been the cook squad leader for a long time and is a man of great calculation. Now that the war is in chaos, who knows when he will be able to receive supplies.
So it's very economical.
Each remnant soldier could only receive a few biscuits, and five people could share one can. For the hungry remnant soldiers, this amount of food was not enough to squeeze between their teeth.
"President Lao Wang, can you share a little more? It's gone before you can taste it. My stomach is still empty." After someone wolfed down his portion, he immediately looked at him eagerly.
He threw himself at Lao Wangtou.
Lao Wangtou laughed and scolded angrily: "Who told you to eat so fast? Everyone only has so much, just wait for the next meal."
After hearing what Old Wangtou said, the soldier's face suddenly fell, and he felt worried as he touched his empty belly.
Lao Wangtou looked at the dejected soldiers and said with a smile: "If you want to stop being hungry, I will help you find a way."
He pointed to the pond not far away: "Go over there and get two bottles of water. Drink it to make sure your stomach is full."
"Then I'd better drink the northwest wind -" The surrounding soldiers burst into laughter, and the atmosphere became much more relaxed.
Although Yang Ling and his group of remnants could not eat enough because they had plundered some dry food from the corpses of the Japanese in advance, they would not be without food. However, the rest of the troops who had withdrawn might not be so lucky. They could only drink water when they were hungry.
But if you drink water, you won't feel hungry, and your physical strength will drop drastically.
Yang Ling and the others ate deliciously, but the more than 20 Gui soldiers who were not far away from them could only look at it eagerly, swallowing saliva from their throats.
They all received a small bag of dry steamed buns last night, but they had devoured them long ago. Now that they saw the friendly troops eating the dry food while talking and laughing, their stomachs growled unsatisfactorily.
"Old Wangtou, bring some food to the brothers over there." Yang Ling glanced at the Gui Army soldiers who were looking at them eagerly, and withdrew his gaze and ordered Old Wangtou.
After all, these Gui Army soldiers had fought side by side with them in the same trench. Although they were now parted ways due to Li Tiezhu, I felt bad watching them starve.
Lao Wangtou took a canvas bag of dry food and walked over: "Brothers, come, let's eat."
The soldiers of the Gui Army were so hungry that their chests were touching their backs. Now when they saw Lao Wangtou bringing food, they immediately rushed forward excitedly and started to grab. They were so grateful in their hearts.
"Sit back, everyone!" Li Tiezhu stood up with a dark face and shouted coldly at the Gui soldiers who were snatching food.
After receiving such a cold shout from Li Tiezhu, the Gui Army soldiers who were full of joy were like eggplants beaten by frost. They reluctantly moved their eyes away from the food and returned to their seats angrily to sit down.
Li Tiezhu walked up to Lao Wangtou who was stunned there with a dark face, raised his face and said: "We won't eat the dry food of deserters, take it back -"
When Lao Wangtou heard this, he immediately lost his face. What do you mean? We kindly gave you food, but you didn't thank us and said we were deserters. He was so angry that he grabbed the canvas bag filled with dry food and turned around to leave.
, even if I throw it away, I won’t give it to you to eat.
When they were in Dingjiaqiao, the troops were dispersed at night. Li Tiezhu, who was stubborn, insisted on fighting back to die, but was kidnapped by Yang Ling and withdrawn. He had always been grudged against Yang Ling and the others, and had already concluded that they were deserters.
In fact, Yang Ling also had troubles in his heart. He also wanted to resist and defend his family and country. However, the situation at night was very complicated. Dingjiaqiao was surrounded by Japanese soldiers on three sides. They finally broke out, but dozens of soldiers broke out around them.
, to go back is to die.
Yang Ling was not afraid of death, but he just didn't want to follow his brothers in making unnecessary sacrifices, meaningless sacrifices, so he withdrew and prepared to go to the second line to collect the broken troops and then defend.
But they failed to defend the second-line position, because the command to retreat was issued from above, so they had no choice but to retreat all the way here, and the second-line position was handed over to the First Army troops.
Yang Ling was very clear about the resentment in Li Tiezhu's heart. It was not just because of him, but because they rushed to the battlefield with high morale, preparing to defend their homeland and make meritorious deeds.
However, he was defeated in less than three days after entering the battlefield. It was normal for Li Tiezhu, a young platoon leader, to find it difficult to accept the gap between ideals and cruel reality. Yang Ling understood him very well.
Yang Ling didn't want to explain or bothered to explain that Li Tiezhu thought they were deserters. Li Tiezhu didn't have the final say whether they were deserters or not. They were also fighting the Japanese from Wusongkou to Yunzaobang.
The people around them changed one after another, and the unit they belonged to collapsed again and again. They were repaired and pulled up, repaired again and then crippled. This was a vicious cycle. He was just an ordinary person and there was nothing he could do.
I just want to survive. The so-called deserters will be left to the judgment of future generations.
"So many of our brothers died. We finally broke out. We even saved their lives, but we became deserters in their mouth. Isn't this repaying kindness with hatred? I can't figure it out..." Old Wangtou sat down after returning.
On the ground, muttering and sulking.
Yang Ling patted the angry old Wang on the head and didn't know how to comfort him.
The situation on the battlefield deteriorated, and they retreated again and again. All the soldiers had pent-up resentment in their hearts and urgently needed an outlet. Perhaps only beating the Japanese could make them feel better.
Li Tiezhu was so angry that Lao Wangtou, who was delivering the food, drove away. He turned around and cursed the Gui soldiers behind him: "They are all worthless things. They can't walk when they see food! We want to
Have some backbone! Wouldn't it be shameful for you to eat food from deserters..."
"Platoon commander, I'm hungry..." a soldier whispered.
"I'm a loser! I just know how to eat. I didn't see you so brave during the war!"
Li Tiezhu was scolding and cursing, and the soldiers of the Gui army hung their heads and said nothing, and their stomachs growled.
Li Tiezhu may have been tired of scolding, but when he saw the ragged soldiers who were hungry and cold, he finally waved his hands feebly: "Just stay here."
After saying that, he greeted the two soldiers to leave and prepared to find something to eat. He was so hungry that he didn't want to eat after a meal. Li Tiezhu didn't want to give in in front of Yang Ling, so he didn't eat their food, but if he didn't eat, he wouldn't be able to eat.
You can't march and fight for strength, you can only find it yourself.
However, he and his people searched around for a long time but could not find any food. The supply point where they distributed dry steamed buns last night had been bombed by Japanese planes. People died and the stored food was gone.
The logistics support system of the National Revolutionary Army is not perfect now, and nearly 700,000 troops are now gathered on this battlefield. It is common for them to eat one meal without finishing another. In the end, Li Tiezhu had to accept the reality of being hungry.