Chapter 14: Deserter ()

(... Many soldiers who are brave on the battlefield will also become deserters after retreating, especially those who have stayed in the hospital. They are afraid of injuries and death, but it is strange that they push them back into the trenches and they recover. Perhaps the cure for fear of death is to throw people into the pile of dead people... Excerpted from "Grandpa's Memories of the War of Resistance")

"You are seriously injured, and there is almost no good piece of meat..." Cao Xiaomin knew in Dr. Wang Qiming's mouth that he was seriously injured: a shrapnel on his head was penetrated with a steel helmet, which was inserted into the scalp and visible bones. After that, his various struggles made the scalp skull rub against the shrapnel constantly; he ate a stock on his face, and several of his teeth were loosened, and his cheekbones were swollen from the high cheekbones covering one eye; his cheeks had scratched bullet marks, seven bayonet wounds on his upper body, bullet piercing injuries on his left rib, his left rib was shattered, his right shoulder was rubbed into blood and flesh by the butt stock, and a total of nine shrapnel pieces of large and small were taken out of his body. He was scalded by the shells and burned objects and dozens of blood blisters were burned, and each part of him was almost wiped by the sand and stones in the trench...

"Every injury you have may be fatal... The abrasions on your knees have been seriously infected and suppurated. If they cannot be eliminated, they may cause joint erosion..." In addition to the damage caused by the weapons he knew, Cao Xiaomin also knew from the doctor that his injuries that were not considered injured in the eyes of soldiers would also be fatal or disabled!

If it weren't for his company commander's identity that allowed him to get the opportunity to use anti-inflammatory needles for three consecutive days, he might have been dead or disabled. After three days, he would only know this after he was basically awake. The hospital was filled with all kinds of wounded soldiers, and officers like them were not treated preferentially. He just set up an area to gather all the officers above the platoon leader, but he still lay on the ground, with a bed half a meter apart. In this way, what about the hospitals in Shanghai!?

The food in the hospital is pretty good. Three meals a day are filled with white porridge, pickles or green vegetables. Two of them will have one steamed bun, and the seriously injured will have one meal with duck eggs!

At this time, Shanghai was in a shortage of food, but patriotic merchants were trying their best to smuggle rice and flour into Shanghai. There were basically no lucrative merchants who hoarded goods on the market, and some of them were stationed for their own use. Every Shanghai citizen knew that the country was resisting foreign aggression, and many people saved their own food and donated them to the hospital where the wounded soldiers were resettled. Many students and workers would go to the front line to help transport the wounded soldiers and bodies, and would also bring Shanghai's famous food and rice along the way to wait for the troops to withdraw from the fire. More than half of the nurses in the hospital were volunteers who came to help temporarily... Together, we went to the national crisis together, which is a portrayal of the Chinese in Shanghai at this time!

On the day Cao Xiaomin recovered from waking up, "Lao Bengya" was discharged from the hospital. Although it was obvious that he still wanted to stay in the hospital, the doctor's examination made him immediately return to the army. Then there were Liu Er and Sun Changqing, then Dan Er, and Jam Zi... The nine of them, the nine battlefield ghosts fighting on the position, survived!

Cao Xiaomin learned that Shan Er's surname was Chen, and he knew that Lao Bengya's real name was Qi Guang... Sun Changqing's original nickname was Sun Houzi, but when he became the squad leader, everyone stopped calling him nickname. Just like him, Cao Xiaomin, nicknamed Cao Min, but he was the company commander, everyone still called him company commander. In addition, a few people who were not very familiar, one was called "Drunk Gu", but Cao Xiaomin had never seen him drink; one was called "Old Bengya", and it was said that his ability to pretend to be dead was not under "Old Bengya"; the other was called "Banxian", who was said to be able to tell fortunes, and he would die every time he fought a battle, and the other was called "Crip Man", who was usually limping and letting the officials look pitiful and rarely missed him to do things, but in fact his legs and feet were very quick...

The story of nine of them defending their positions was reported. In a not-so-small piece, there is an article called "Nine Hells Killing Ghosts Eight Hundreds" about the great victory in front of the Kuomintang army. Nine soldiers held their positions and killed 800 Japanese soldiers a day and a night... Eight Hundreds were blown away, but they really killed 300 Japanese. Only Cao Xiaomin had ten regular characters engraved on the handle of the gun, plus machine gun strafing, grenades and hand-to-hand combat. Cao Xiaomin couldn't remember how many people he killed. If every Kuomintang soldier could kill so many enemies, the Japanese would have finished it long ago; unfortunately, only nine of them, nine battlefield ghosts who survived from more than 10,000 dead soldiers did it.

When the round-faced nurse in the hospital was reading this passage, Cao Xiaomin listened blankly, and he didn't have a trace of pride or joy in his heart. He was a kind grass man, but now he had to kill many people because he wanted to survive. He would only have a trace of peace when he talked to Jiana in his mind.

The food in the hospital was pretty good, but this place full of separation and separation made people feel very bad, especially the soldiers who spent the dangerous period waiting to recover from the team. A large number of wounded soldiers were sent in every day in the hospital, and Cao Xiaomin slowly recognized them: those who were wearing bamboo hats were Jiangxi soldiers, those who were wearing yellow clothes and straw hats were Guangxi soldiers... Guangxi soldiers only had them a few days ago, and they were suddenly sent in many people, which was said to be severely injured in the counterattack of the Japanese. In the past two days, there were more Sichuan soldiers, and their accents fell into the ears of Sichuan people everywhere in later generations and could be heard immediately; the weather had started to get colder, but these Sichuan soldiers were all wearing tattered shorts. Look at the people who sent the wounded soldiers, their weapons and equipment were the worst, and they were still the oldest "single-one" rifles. Many people just put two grenades on their waists and went to the battlefield...

There were many wounded people, corridors, stairwells, and floors all over the hospital... The hospital was gradually unable to put down, and more and more people near the hospital voluntarily set aside houses for the injured to live in. The various wails and moans filled with ears made Cao Xiaomin want to leave at all times, but he was really seriously injured! Half a month later, the other eight people were discharged from the hospital, and he was the only one left in the Nine Hell Kings, which made him even more lonely; of course, he also met many new people and looked accustomed to the atmosphere of the hospital...

Disabled soldiers commit suicide in the hospital every day, and every time they will make many people silent for a long time, including the wounded and medical staff.

The gloomy atmosphere, the sad environment, the terrifying events... Time passed day by day, nearly two months have passed, and the roar of cannons in the distance can be heard in the hospital; his gunshot wounds have healed, and there are bullet holes in front and behind the ribs; new hair has grown on the scalp with a big scar on the top of his head, but his ribs may sometimes hurt slightly. Cao Xiaomin, who looked calm, was always thinking in his heart: He wants to be a deserter!

...There are many brave soldiers on the battlefield who will become deserters after retreating, especially those who have stayed in the hospital. They are afraid of injury and death, but it is strange that they push them back into the trenches and they recover. Perhaps the cure for fear of death is to throw people into the pile of dead people... This passage in Grandpa's memoirs repeatedly appeared in Cao Xiaomin's mind. Yes, he was afraid of death, fear of injury, and even more afraid of being thrown into the pile of dead people again!

This war did not belong to him, he had been deeply hurt by the war: during the day, he would suspect that everyone who approached would be deceived by him, and at night he would think that the people who approached at night were here to kill him... He doubted everything, cursed everything, including the original time and space and anyone in the present; he knew that he had the battlefield syndrome mentioned in later generations, and he was no longer a normal person, because of this damn war, this damn time travel!

Now he pretends to be dead every day, pretending to be very similar, but in fact he is basically well. He has been paying attention to Dr. Wang's dynamics. The suit he took off during the operation will always be placed in the same place. Cao Xiaomin began to secretly polish his leather boots that he took off from the Japanese feet. He was looking for an opportunity to change into a suit and disappear, leaving the battlefield forever!

Although he was worried that one day he would become the kind of clown-like translator in the concession in a common TV suit and Japanese military cap, although he thought that he might not be able to raise his head for the rest of his life... But as long as he could leave the battlefield and leave a place where that was not a person, he was willing to pay any price!

He used to be a fighting hero. He had killed so many enemies face to face, but he was still afraid of death. Every night when he closed his eyes, he would face the dead comrades, so much blood, so terrible... He never thought of avenging them - are there so many revenge? Didn't the Kuomintang army's anti-Japanese martyrs' cemetery be pushed down to build buildings? Didn't the Japanese still use the Japanese yen to rampage in China?... He complained about everything and cursed everything. Unless he was no longer related to this war, he would always survive in cursing and doubt. He believed that it was like this.

Dr. Wang walked out of his small room in a white coat, wearing a mask, followed by two nurses holding surgical trays in their hands... His suit must be on the chair behind the door... Cao Xiaomin began to observe around whether anyone was paying attention to him...
Chapter completed!