Ning Zhiheng never expected that the young military officer lying on the stretcher and wrapped in gauze was actually Miao Yongyi, his childhood friend and classmate!
Since graduation, Ning Zhiheng had written to Miao Yongyi twice, but received no reply. It is normal for the military to relocate its bases at any time in response to combat needs.
But meeting him on the battlefield of Shanghai today, and seeing him in such a terrible state of being seriously wounded and on the verge of death, Ning Zhiheng felt as if a stone was pressing on his heart, and he felt a heavy tightness in his chest, making it hard to breathe.
He urgently asked the soldiers carrying the stretcher, "Yongyi, what happened? Where are you injured? Doctor!"
Dr. Li, who was following closely behind, was also anxious. He pushed Ning Zhiheng aside and urged, "Saving lives is urgent, don't delay the patient's rescue."
After saying this, he quickly carried the stretcher and walked towards the operating room, with Ning Zhiheng following closely behind until the stretcher entered the operating room.
Soon, two soldiers carrying a stretcher came out of the operating room. Ning Zhiheng grabbed the taller soldier and said, "How is Yongyi? Tell me what happened!"
The tall soldier saw that it was a major and quickly saluted, saying, "Sir, we are medics. When our division was fighting for Yunzaobin, Platoon Leader Miao was hit by shrapnel during the charge. By the time we took back the position, only two people survived."
Next, the two soldiers explained the situation clearly. Yunzaobin was the most crucial support point on the left flank. At this time, the Chinese army was on the defensive and the Japanese were on the offensive. The vanguard of the Japanese attack was aimed directly at Yunzaobin. As long as they broke through here and formed a breakthrough point, they could force their way into the important Dachang area and attack the Chinese army on the front line from both sides. Once the breakthrough was achieved, defeat would be inevitable.
It was a battle of life and death, a brutal tug-of-war between the two sides. While the Japanese army paid a heavy price, it also inflicted several times the casualties on the Chinese army with the support of aircraft and heavy artillery fire. The battle was extremely fierce.
Both sides committed heavy troops to the battle, and Chinese soldiers faced the enemy's powerful heavy weapons with their bare hands, with entire units disappearing one by one.
Miao Yongyi was wounded and collapsed on the battlefield under such circumstances; his unit no longer existed.
Ning Zhiheng remained silent for a long time after listening to the two soldiers' words. The officers behind him did not dare to say anything more and just watched Ning Zhiheng quietly.
Ning Zhiheng opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. He felt an unbearable pain in his chest. He finally spoke again, his voice weaker than ever before, with a hint of fear in it.
"Your entire unit was wiped out?"
"They're all gone! Our entire division couldn't even last two days before it was all wiped out. We were medics, otherwise we would have gone with our brothers long ago," the tall soldier said sadly.
"Have you heard of Xia Yuanming and Ke Chengyun?" Ning Zhiheng finally mustered up the courage to utter these two names, two of the five closest brothers among them at the military academy.
These two, like Miao Yongyi, were assigned to the Northwest Front. If nothing unexpected happened, they should be in the same unit. Even Ning Zhiheng's class of students were assigned to the 52nd Army and must all be on the Shanghai-Nanjing battlefield now. He didn't know how many of his classmates would survive this time. He didn't even dare to ask the names of his other classmates, for fear of hearing bad news from the soldiers.
The tall soldier, looking at Ning Zhiheng's expression, clearly knew what his superior was afraid of: he was afraid of hearing bad news from him.
He had seen this expression many times these days, but each time his reply disappointed the other person. He hesitated and remained silent for a long time.
A glimmer of hope rose in Ning Zhiheng's heart. He asked urgently, "You haven't heard of them, have you? They're not in your unit, are they?"
He hoped the other person would answer yes! He even regretted asking the question; perhaps no news would actually be good news!
However, a slightly shorter soldier replied uncertainly, "We've never heard of Xia Yuanming. Ke Chengyun was the platoon leader of the third platoon of the second regiment. Three days ago, his entire regiment was wiped out. They all died for their country. They lost their position, and they haven't even recovered their bodies!"
Ning Zhiheng experienced that feeling of emptiness in his body once again, and the image of Ke Chengyun kept appearing in his mind. This was the second close partner who had left forever, and each piece of bad news was hard for him to accept.
He considered himself to be resolute and capable of facing any difficulty with composure, but when the moment came, he realized how fragile he truly was. These were his most cherished family and brothers, and he would rather face any bloodshed himself than let them leave so soon.
"Captain, are you alright?" Man Gaoge, the second company commander behind him, noticed Ning Zhiheng's changed expression and quickly asked.
The other former subordinates of Ning Zhiheng also looked at Ning Zhiheng with concern. They had been listening to the narration and had already guessed the general idea. It must have been an accident involving Ning Zhiheng's closest person. Otherwise, the usually calm and collected Team Leader Ning would not have shown such a dazed expression.
Ning Zhiheng waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, and then instructed, "The rest of you go back to handle military affairs. Old Sun and Hongyi stay here."
The group exchanged glances, realizing that Ning Zhiheng was going to stay at the hospital, and they obeyed and left. After all, the military still needed someone to supervise and manage it, and they couldn't all stay here.
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