The dilapidated and messy house was simply tidied up by Lao Wangtou and the others. A few door panels were laid on the floor and covered with tattered bedding found from the house next door, and a simple bed was made.
A bonfire in the center of the room was burning with orange flames. The heat from the bonfire warmed the room, insulating the cold outside the windows.
Dozens of people in the third row have all moved into several surrounding courtyards. Compared to the sleeping trenches where they had been sleeping in the open air, this place is like a paradise.
The exhausted soldiers wrapped themselves in tattered bedding and quickly fell asleep, snoring loudly. Yang Ling slept for a while in the afternoon. At the moment, he didn't feel sleepy at all. He sat next to the fire, pulled a piece of cloth and started to clean his gun.
.
A gun is the second life of a soldier. Although the 38 cap in Yang Ling's hand was captured by the Japanese, it had been fed with bullets for so long, and it had become familiar and easy to use. He wiped and cleaned it carefully.
The residue remaining in the barrel was subjected to a simple maintenance.
Although it was almost midnight, the sound of gunfire in the east still kept ringing. From time to time, pale flashes of light flashed out from the paper windows. Yang Ling shook his head and sighed. If all the troops retreated to Wu Fu's front line of defense,
How could the fortifications be so difficult?
In plain areas, relying on simple trenches to fight positional warfare against well-equipped Japanese soldiers relies entirely on human lives. As soon as the Japanese artillery comes over, they have to destroy a squad or a company. This is not how the war is fought.
However, Yang Ling is now just a small company commander whose life is in danger. He has a humble position and is powerless to change the tragic and cruel war. Besides, the balance of victory and defeat cannot be changed by one person.
This is a game between two countries. The battle depends on the national strength of both sides. There is no doubt that China's national strength is more than one level behind Japan at this moment. If it falls behind, it will be beaten. This is vividly reflected here.
Yang Ling didn't know when she fell asleep. She vaguely felt someone tapping her shoulder, and her body instinctively squeezed the hand that tapped her shoulder.
"Ouch - I say company commander, be gentle... be gentle..." Yang Ling opened his eyes and used the faint light from the fire to see clearly the old Wangtou who was grinning and screaming.
Yang Ling let go of Lao Wangtou's hand, looked at the still dark night outside and asked, "Old Wangtou, what are you doing up so late at night?"
Lao Wangtou rubbed his red and swollen hands and complained: "Company Commander, you are so heavy-handed, your wrist is almost broken."
"You deserve it. Who made you walk without even making a sound?" Yang Ling said angrily.
"Is there something wrong?" Yang Ling asked, staring outside.
Lao Wangtou nodded: "The second platoon leader just sent someone to say that a group of refugees wanted to enter the town to rest, but they were stopped. I asked you for instructions on what to do?"
"Refugees?" Yang Ling frowned. In the afternoon, they cleaned up the surrounding area. Everyone had fled. Are there any refugees there?
"Did that group of refugees say they were coming from there?"
"They said they were coming from the city and were going to Nanjing."
After thinking for a moment, Yang Ling grabbed the 38 rifle leaning against the wall and said, "Let's go take a look."
The night was dark, and as soon as he walked out of the house, a cold wind hit him, making Yang Ling shiver. He tightened his hand on his thin old military uniform, and followed Lao Wangtou straight to the second row.
The two people walked like two ghosts on the depressing and dilapidated streets, their shoes making a clattering sound on the broken rubble.
"Who is it?" As he approached the east street intersection, a cold shout came from the darkness ahead, and several sentries with guns emerged from the houses on both sides.
"I'm Yang Ling."
After seeing clearly that it was Yang Ling and the others, the sentry with the gun disappeared into the darkness again. Yang Ling was very pleased that they could maintain such a high level of vigilance.
These are all veterans who have crawled out of the dead. The only advantage is that they have rich combat experience and are not as easy to relax their vigilance at night as those new recruits.
The second platoon was responsible for guarding the east street entrance. The leader of the second platoon was an old and steady man. In addition to placing a few sentries in the houses near the street, he also placed several hidden sentries outside the town. When this group came over
The refugees were discovered in advance by secret sentries outside the town.
At this moment, all the people in the second platoon were called out by the second platoon commander. They were holding their guns and hiding themselves. The guns were pointed at the thirty-something refugees standing at the street entrance carrying large and small bags.
"Boss, we won't go into the town to disturb you. We'll spend the night outside." Some of the refugees, perhaps impatient with waiting, said hello to the second platoon leader standing at the street corner and turned around to leave.
"What's the rush? We've already asked the commander for instructions. Just wait a moment." The second platoon leader looked at the dark street and muttered in his mind, why the company commander hadn't given any news yet.
Faced with the second platoon leader's request to stay, the refugee who spoke waved his hand: "No, no, we'd better not disturb the bosses."
"Let's go over there and have a rest." He said, beckoning the refugees to walk towards the side of the town.
"What's going on?" Yang Ling also got the news and rushed over. Seeing the refugees who were about to leave, he asked the second platoon leader about the situation.
The second platoon leader replied helplessly: "They won't enter the town anymore. They have to deal with them outside all night."
Seeing the refugees carrying large and small bags, Yang Ling shook his head and ordered: "Go over and call them back and let them go into the town to spend the night."
The cold and humid Jiangnan area is already cold at night. Moreover, they are close to the Suzhou River and the humidity is heavy. If you sleep outside for a night, you will definitely get sick.
After receiving the order, the second platoon leader led his men to chase the refugees back and let them stay in the town overnight.
The number of refugees was not large, only about thirty, both men and women, all dirty and carrying large and small packages. When Yang Ling let them stay the night in the town, they were very grateful to Yang Ling.
"Thank you, boss. You are a good man..." The refugees bowed their hands to Yang Ling to express their gratitude.
Yang Ling waved his hand and said to Old Wangtou behind him: "Old Wangtou, take them to the courtyards that haven't been destroyed by the bombing to spend the night together. They are our common people, and share the rest of our food with them.
a little."
"Everyone, go ahead. There are several courtyards over there where people can live." Lao Wangtou was also willing to help these refugees and greeted them warmly.
Yang Ling and the others were originally soldiers, and the duty of soldiers was to protect their families and the country. But now that the Japanese invaders came, they were retreating steadily, and these ordinary people had to flee with their families. Yang Ling felt deeply guilty in his heart.
After going through so much trouble in the middle of the night, Yang Ling was completely sleepless. He took the gun and went to check the sentry posts again. After everything was fine, he turned around and prepared to go back to sleep.
But when he looked up, Lao Wangtou rushed over in a hurry.
"Company Commander, some of the refugees feel something is not right." Lao Wangtou looked a little solemn. Although he had not been the platoon leader for a long time, his eyesight was not bad.
"What's wrong?" Yang Ling was also frightened and asked immediately.
"There are several people who don't look like refugees. When they enter the town, their eyes wander around. They don't look like good people."
"Are you mistaken?"
Lao Wang shook his head, and Yang Ling's expression suddenly became serious. He had only taken a rough look at it, and saw that among the refugees there were men and women with families. They shouldn't look like spies, but since the old man
Wang Tou said, then we need to investigate carefully.
Yang Ling was silent for a moment and then said: "In this case, you ask a few brothers to go and take a look in the name of delivering food. Once we are sure that there is nothing wrong, we will arrest the person directly for interrogation. If there is no problem, we will release him."
It is said that extraordinary means should be used in extraordinary times. The fighting on the front is fierce now and the enemy situation is complicated. There is no guarantee that spies will not sneak into the refugees to inquire about the military situation.