Chapter 34: China will not perish

(...The veterans are superstitious because they saw too many dead people, and they were abandoned coldly on the side, which was too cheap. They were afraid that they would become such a pile of abandoned cold flesh that no one cares about, so everyone would rather believe that there was a next life, and that they were abandoned by themselves and others were just a smelly skin... Excerpted from "Grandpa's Memories of the War of Resistance")

Silence enveloped every KMT soldier in the five-story warehouse building, and no one was in a mood to speak. The Japanese in the distance were beaten by the KMT army and were in a low mood. In addition, the Chinese had guns, they hid; except for occasionally using machine guns to fire a shuttle bullet into an empty place that declared their blockade of the warehouse, they did not launch any attack.

"Company Commander Cao... I, I don't know how to shoot..." Cricket had been with Cao Xiaomin for a long time. He got a gun, which also had bullets, but his most familiar way of using guns was probably to swing it up and smash people.

"Why did you think of joining the army? Don't you know this is a life-and-death matter?" Cao Xiaomin felt very strange. How dare this ordinary person who couldn't even shoot a gun to join the army? How could Shi Meihao accept him?

Cricketer is not a young man. He looks like he is thirty years old. In this era of early marriage, he can be the father of many children.

Cao Xiaomin was smoking a cigarette, and the cricket was stunned. It took a long time for cricket to reply three words in a low voice: "There is no home..." Then he stood up and turned around, and walked away aimlessly.

A loss of home can represent a lot: the family is gone, the house is destroyed... Cricketer only said three words. He didn't want to exaggerate it, nor did he want to express his pain - that would make him even more painful. After a long time, Cao Xiaomin took the initiative to find Cricketer to teach him how to shoot, and he didn't ask any questions.

This is how Chinese people are. As long as their family is still there, they can hold on even the hardships; they are not good at resisting unless their family is gone.

After learning to shoot crickets, they practiced by themselves. Cao Xiaomin once again walked to the shooting port to see the corpses left by the British trenches. The sky changed at the end of October, and suddenly the north wind became a little cold. The cold and dry wind kept lifting up the clothes of the corpses, as if they deliberately exposed people's ugliness and shame.

The man is dead, but all these are still there, although the dead themselves do not know. What entered Cao Xiaomin's eyes was broken blue, two white defiled little magpies struggling in the north wind.

She was such a simple person and such a kind person. Why did she suffer such a fate? Cao Xiaomin was in a daze at the female corpse in the distance... I hope she will have a happy life in the next life, or this shot made her travel through time... Thinking of traveling through time, his mind was filled with Kana Iwasaki.

In the previous few confrontations, the common people collected the bodies. The Chinese Democratic Party soldiers' associations were paid by the Chamber of Commerce to erect a monument and became heroes. The corpses of the devils would be handed over to the devils to deal with, and the corpses would receive some rewards. But today, the British did not allow the Chinese people to go to the battlefield because they were afraid that they would come into contact with the soldiers in the warehouse. The Japanese did not dare to come, and the corpses in the battlefield were stacked on the ground in a row, with their twisted bodies and unwilling expressions frozen, showing the value of life to all living people.

The body of the "little magpie" was stiffly stacked with the corpse of a Japanese man; can't she get rid of the entanglements of those beasts even if she dies? Cao Xiaomin looked upstairs blankly at the pile of corpses in the open space below, soaked in sadness, and felt unspeakable.

Wait until it gets dark, I will come to save you... Cao Xiaomin secretly said to the corpse of the "little magpie" from afar. He has never cared about whether a corpse is "going well" like this. He feels that the "little magpie" must not like to stay on the devil... Veterans are superstitious because they have seen too many dead people and are abandoned on the side, which is too cheap. They are afraid that they will become such a pile of abandoned cold flesh that no one cares about, so everyone would rather believe in the next life.

All he had abandoned by himself and others was a stinky skin... Grandpa must have been staring at a lot of corpses like this with him now, right? Cao Xiaomin was living the words in his grandfather's memoirs while imagining his grandfather's youthful appearance. He also held a gun and was also dirty looking at his own people and the enemy's corpses in an environment where he could not retreat or advance. Then he unknowingly put himself in, feeling that he had seen himself die...

It turns out that the most difficult thing on the battlefield is not the moments when bullets fly, but the gaps between fighting, the gaps where nothing can make people indulge their thoughts at will... At this time, the guilt of killing, the fear of death, and the despair of the future will all come together; it makes people feel empty in their hearts, and they can't even feel the numbness of some organs, just like they have died... Perhaps the veterans of Grandpa said were not superstition, but a fantasy, a fantasy of the happiness they would not get in this life.

"Company Commander, wipe your face..." Cricketer came to the kind company commander with a basin of water.

Cao Xiaomin shook his head slowly. He knew what he was now - his face was covered with mud and blood, and he looked like a person pinched out of mud; his eyebrows were mixed with sweat and mud and mortar, and he took off his helmet's hair but remained soft; funny? Horror? He didn't know how to describe it.

He picked up the wooden basin and drank a stomach full of water like a cow. He ignored the mud falling into the water on his body and wiped the water beside his mouth with his dirty sleeves: "Do you know why everyone doesn't wash their faces?" He looked at the cricket with a blank face and picked up a handful of mud on the ground and said: "All these are taken off from this warehouse. They were originally part of the warehouse..." Then he threw the mud on his clothes and said: "In this way, you will become part of the warehouse, and it will be difficult for the Japanese to see you... When we fought in Luodian, the brothers would cover them with sacks and sprinkle the soil on the battlefield..."

Cricket had a bit of admiration on his face, and listened carefully to the company commander who had been fighting for the rest of his life to tell him about his experience of survival on the battlefield. Before he knew it, the sky was gradually getting darker. Today, he would not fight again, and Cao Xiaomin had a premonition. He turned his head and looked at the cold corpse of the little magpies outside, which was still alive in his mind, and estimated his visibility.

Soon, after a while, the sky becomes darker and I will come... He said to the female corpse far away.

At this time, he saw a group of British troops walking out of the trenches and leading a group of Chinese civilians to start cleaning up the bodies; while the leading officer walked towards Sixingcang with two guards...

"I know you will not surrender. Matsui Ishien is thinking..." The British Democratic Party officer was not surprised at all after hearing Xie Jinyuan's stern refusal. He said: "Actually, I am just a routine, and I am entrusted by someone to tell you something, so I come here... Someone wrote a song. The scouts in Shanghai practiced for an afternoon, and they sang in the concession tonight..." He handed Xie Jinyuan a piece of paper, which was the lyrics of a song.

It was already dark at this time. In the night, the concession, which had been silent for a day, suddenly rang out a chorus sang by countless people:

"China will not perish, China will not perish. Look at the national hero Xie; China will not perish, China will not perish. Look at the eight hundred heroes who fight alone to defend the battlefield.

There are artillery fire in all directions, and there are jackals in all directions. They would rather die than give in, and would rather die than surrender. Our national flag is floating and floating in the siege... Eight hundred heroes are one mind, and strong enemies in all directions dare not take responsibility. Our actions are magnificent and our integrity is bold. The compatriots get up, the compatriots get up, and quickly go to the battlefield, and set the eight hundred heroes as role models.

China will not perish, China will not perish, China will not perish, China will not perish... It will not perish, it will not perish, it will not perish..."

Just like the big sword marches that everyone sang during their battle, without accompaniment or lead singer, everyone yelled: China will not perish!

In an instant, the guilt brought by the veterans who were shot at their compatriots with their own hands and those confusion and despair in the face of the future were all wiped out! China will not perish, this is their mission! They are soldiers, they must be iron-blooded, and warmth must be suppressed first, buried, and released after victory. Now, they have no right to be weak, they only have the responsibility to fight!

The veteran's smile in tears and returned to everyone's face in Sixing Cang for a moment!
Chapter completed!