014
The army may change but the camp remains the same. In August, some of the wounded were escorted off the battlefield by medical staff. Xiao Li personally saw off Dong Shiyi, who was shot and wounded in another small-scale battle.
"Don't see me off. Let me go back and recuperate. I'll come back when I'm almost well." Dong Shiyi looked a little disheveled. He looked like he hadn't slept for many days. His eyes were a little red and swollen, and there were small blisters around his lips due to lack of water. His voice was a little weak, and blood seeped out from around his abdomen as he spoke.
"Go back and recuperate, don't just think about coming back."
Not far from them stood a young nurse with a boy's haircut. She kept looking at the two of them, glaring at them with her beautiful frown.
Xiao Li frowned and signaled Dong Shiyi, "Hurry up and get in the car. Look how anxious the nurse is."
Dong Shiyi chuckled and coughed twice. The young nurse heard the cough and trotted over. Seeing the blood oozing from Xie's wound, she looked slightly angry and said to Dong Shiyi bluntly, "The blood is already oozing out. The wound must have opened again. Don't you feel any pain? Why are you so troublesome? You're not being honest even though you're injured. Do you know how much workload you've added to us?"
As the young nurse spoke, she sighed heavily and looked at Xiao Li unhappily. Her expression seemed to be saying: The wounded soldier is willful and ignorant. As a comrade-in-arms, how can you just watch him act like that instead of taking care of him and giving him some advice?
"Ahem, well, hurry up and get in the car." The nurse was probably going to kill both of them if they didn't get in. Xiao Li coughed, pursed his lips and smiled, and said, "Comrade, do you need my help to take him over?"
There was a large military truck not far from where they were standing. Many wounded soldiers were sitting in the truck. Several nurses from the medical department were busy taking care of them. Those in serious condition were being cared for by special doctors. Xiao Li raised his eyes and saw Wang Xuemei who was lowering her head and taking care of the wounded carefully.
Maybe it was because Xiao Li’s eyes were too intense, but Wang Xuemei, who was busy as a child, always felt like someone was watching her. Fortunately, she didn’t sense any ill will in it, so she didn’t take it seriously.
After settling the wounded around her, Wang Xuemei finally had some time. She looked up and just saw Xiao Li turning around and leaving.
"I wish you happiness."
The moment he turned around, Xiao Li looked up at the gloomy sky and smiled with a hint of relief.
A person who has been lonely for too long longs for a family. When there is a person who happens to appear and satisfies all of Xiao Li's fantasies, it is like a shadow in his heart. He personally puts a dreamy dress on the shadow. He regards the shadow as the support of his emotions and is intoxicated in the dream and does not want to wake up. When he sees the shadow's emotions clearly, he realizes that it is not his own shadow, and everything will return to normal.
The injured soldiers left and were replaced by new soldiers. Xiao Li and his men sent a few new recruits to their positions.
As the M army's artillery shells flew past, a sharp whistling sound rang out overhead. The new recruit, Xiao Wang, was so scared that he hid everywhere. "Old M's artillery shells are coming! Get down, get down!"
Who says that all Chinese soldiers are brave and fearless? Xiao Li looked at Xiao Wang, who was holding his head with his butt sticking up, and was so scared that he couldn't move. He seemed to see himself in him when he first arrived at the Korean battlefield.
Look, you’re not the only one who’s a coward.
He laughed and kicked Xiao Wang's butt, which was sticking up high. He said jokingly, "Look, I scared you. The shell is going to land far away from us, and the sound of a shell that lands won't be like this. When a shell falls, no matter how many times you yell 'Get Down' or stick your butt up high, it won't help."
Xiao Wang got up from the ground amid the crowd's laughter. Without getting angry, he sat down where he had been before, patting his chest with his hand and gasping for breath. "Oh my god! I was so scared! I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. It was going "boom, boom, boom!" non-stop. Captain, would you like to feel it?"
"Get lost, why would I touch a man like you?" We've all been there, don't we know how that feels?
Xiao Li glanced at Xiao Wang with disdain at the man sitting on the ground with no image at all, and felt that it was a bit offensive. This man was far worse than he was in the past. Back then, he never let anyone see that he was a coward. No one in the army, from the leaders to the young soldiers, said that he was brave.
I am TN's number one warrior in China.
Thinking of this, Xiao Li felt a little proud.
He completely forgot that he was once so cowardly that he wanted to harm himself and desert.
"Company commander, teach me how to not be afraid." Xiao Wang, a soldier, was very shameless. He rummaged in his military uniform for a long time, took out a wrinkled cigarette, straightened it and handed it to Xiao Li. Xiao Li liked his flattery so much.
"Hey, you kid have some good stuff." The old soldiers stared at the cigarette in Xiao Wang's hand. Many of them rubbed their hands and swallowed their saliva. Cigarettes, what a good thing.
Xiao Li glanced at the old soldiers who were rubbing their hands, took the cigarette and handed it to them. Several of them took it in their hands and smelled it in turn.
An old soldier handed Xiao Wang a cigarette and said, "Light it up. You won't be so scared if you take a puff. Remember, you can only take one puff. Any more will be useless."
Xiao Li: ...promising.
Many soldiers are heavy smokers. After going to the battlefield, they are controlled by the environment and have to endure no matter how strong their smoking addiction is. Especially when they are in the uncomfortable time in the tunnel, they cannot even smoke a cigarette for fear of exposing their targets.
The people in Xiaoli Company are all heavy smokers, and they are particularly addicted to smoking. Sometimes when they feel like smoking, they look forward to the enemy's artillery bombardment coming soon so that they can smoke without worry. Just thinking about it makes me think they are particularly cruel.
Xiao Wang took the cigarette and lit the match tremblingly. He took a deep puff and felt a choking smoke entering his throat. Because he smoked too quickly, he started coughing violently and his head felt dizzy. But strangely, he felt that he seemed to have become a little braver.
The remaining cigarettes were smoked by a few old smokers, one after another. After they finished smoking, they smacked their lips and said to Xiao Wang with a kind smile, "How is it? Did it work?"
Xiao Wang nodded, his eyes full of admiration. "That's amazing! I'm not afraid at all anymore. I feel like I can wipe out the entire enemy squad in one go!"
Xiao Li: ...Where did this fool come from?
As time passed, Xiao Li became more and more nervous, often sitting alone in the corner of the tunnel for a whole day.
It’s almost time. That horrible day that we only read about in history books is coming.
In the autumn of 1952, during the recess of the negotiations, the M Army mobilized a large number of troops and launched a large-scale offensive near the 38th parallel in an attempt to seize the Shangganling position.
The battle that Xiao Li had always feared finally began.
The main peak of Shangganling is very small, and the main combat units there are companies. From the moment the battle started, the M Army's artillery fire began to bombard in turns as if it were free.
The Volunteer Army's infantry was stationed in the tunnels in companies, taking turns. They would secretly rotate in at midnight, with one company holding out until the early hours of the second or third day before retreating to the rear for rest. It was considered a good performance if half of the company survived the retreat.
Looking at the wounded soldiers retreating again and again, Xiao Li finally understood why everyone in later generations said that the battle was like hell.
Xiao Li's company was very honored to have obtained the qualification to queue up to go to Shangganling. The moment they obtained the qualification, the soldiers in the team all showed proud expressions.
It was a recognition of the soldiers and an honor. The moment they obtained the qualification, it meant that the lives of Xiao Li and others had been given to the country.
Going to Shangganling was a life-threatening mission. The leaders knew the danger of the soldiers' mission, so while Xiao Li and the others were waiting, the food became very good. They had meat to eat and occasionally some luxurious fruits.
But waiting is a very painful thing. There is constant artillery fire in the front and the number of casualties is increasing. Xiao Li and the others can only watch and feel very uncomfortable.
"Company commander, I can't stand it anymore. Let's write a blood oath requesting to join the war." Xiao Wang felt very uncomfortable watching the injured soldiers retreating to the rear every day. Sometimes he was so scared that he couldn't sleep at night. He was afraid of death, and the longer he waited, the more scared he became.
He couldn't help himself and ran to Xiao Li and said, "Captain, we'll have to go up sooner or later anyway, so why do we have to wait here in line? We might as well go up sooner rather than later. If we die, I can become a martyr, and my mother and her family can have a martyr son, so we won't have to be bullied anymore. If we survive, we can retreat to the rear to rest and become heroes. Captain, let's request to join the battle."
"You should know the amount of artillery fire over there. Once our company goes up, have you thought about the chances of our brothers surviving?" Xiao Li did not expect that the most timid person in the company would come and ask for a blood letter to join the battle.
The recruit who was once as timid as a mouse looked at Xiao Li with a resolute expression, "I am a warrior."
"good."
Xiao Li finally used the blood of 120 people in the company to write a letter of request to fight. The moment he handed it to his leader, the huge stone pressing on his heart seemed to disappear.
Yes, I will be a martyr when I die and a hero when I live.
Xiao Li's name may appear in history books of later generations.
Come to think of it, it doesn't seem like a disadvantage.
There were quite a few people who wrote blood letters. On the way back, Xiao Li met several people who were also sending letters of request to fight. Some of them were even written by him. They handed them over with a relaxed look on their faces. They even joked with each other and boasted about their achievements. There was no feeling of having to go to the battlefield at any time.
"Reiko, you're pretty fast."
"There's a first-come, first-served order in the queue. If we hand it in first, the commander will have to send our company up first. You guys, just wait." He was a timid person, but he spoke loudly. This was referring to people like Xiao Li, who was scared to death in his heart but very tough in his words.
"You never know. Maybe by then our company will be the one to advance, while your company will still be sitting on the bench."
His words came true. Xiao Li and his company were unable to go up until the end of the battle.
After the war, the victorious side will clean up the battlefield.
They were sent to clean up the battlefield. One third of the small hill was destroyed. The moment Xiao Li stepped onto the hill, he was shocked by the scene before him.
The ground was covered with ammunition shells and the bodies of soldiers who had not been buried in time were everywhere. Looking down from a high place, it was like hell on earth.
The air was filled with turbid smells, including gunpowder, sulfuric acid, and blood, which permeated the entire mountain and made people suffocate.
The soldiers put together the remains of the martyrs found from all over the battlefield. The bodies were placed there one by one, and there were so many that they could pile up into a small hill. Everyone's eyes were wet when they saw the remains.
"Is it worth it? So many brothers sacrificed their lives in this godforsaken place. Is this war really worth it?" Facing the remains of martyrs piled up into a hill, Xiao Li questioned the Korean War for the first time.
Is it worth it?
"Do you think it's worth it?" he asked softly to the bodies of the martyrs.
A gentle breeze blew by, blowing away a wisp of dust. As the wind blew, Xiao Li seemed to hear someone speaking silently with the breeze.
"The enemy's knife is at our necks. Do you think this war is worth it?"
"How can China allow others to bully and humiliate it..."
"If we want our motherland to become stronger and stronger, we can only fight the enemy..."
"As soldiers, it is our duty to defend our country, and it is our honor to die on the battlefield..."
"worth......"
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