Chapter 46 Hero

(... Actually, when I wrote this memoir, I didn't expect those people from the Propaganda Department to come back and really help me publish it; I encountered several such interviews during the war. No matter how good or enthusiastic those who hold pens are to you, or how high they praise you, they are just for their propaganda tasks; as a veteran, what you really cannot do without is your brothers, those brothers who fill the trenches with corpses... Excerpted from "Grandpa's Memories of the War of Resistance")

Cao Xiaomin and his team walked on the ridge for another day and night, but what surprised them was that they did not see any signs related to war throughout the way - there was never a Japanese fighter jet in the sky, nor a village that was slaughtered or looted on the ground. Even the villagers of the two wilderness villages they passed by did not know that the Japanese had already arrived.

"Where did the Japanese soldiers come from on the road?" A villager said skeptical: "I transported some surplus grain to the town for salt this morning. I saw a lot of soldiers on the road, but they were all Kuomintang soldiers... and they were like them." The villagers pointed at the refugees.

Cao Xiaomin almost fainted: they had been walking in the mountains, deserted beaches and swamps for so long, and finally arrived at a place close to Suzhou, but learned that there were no Japanese on the way!

Cao Xiaomin was once again harassed by his literary works of time and space before traveling through time: in his consciousness, the Battle of Songhu was the defeat of the Kuomintang army thousands of miles to Nanjing, and the Japanese were chasing them along the way, and the Kuomintang army had no ability to resist at all. But in fact, the Kuomintang army was still defending each layer and retreating; in fact, until Cao Xiaomin faced these villagers inquiring about the news, the Battle of Songhu had not officially ended, and the 88th Division, which finally withdrew from the battlefield, were still fighting with the Japanese in the outskirts of Shanghai!

Under the guidance of the villagers, everyone finally returned to the much easier road with skepticism. Only then did they completely believe what the villagers said: On the road, there were all the Kuomintang troops moving in two directions, some heading to the front line, and some transporting wounded people to the rear, and the front line was still fighting!

Finally arrived at the rear, their temporary troops were built and the refugee members fell down like apart. Many people were quietly talking about where they would go in the future and how they would eat and drink tonight. Refugees, who had been with the soldiers for several days, were reluctant to part with this unit that was still with the joys and sorrows, but everyone knew that the moment of separation was coming.

Just next to the road, under the spotlight, many people couldn't bear to part with each other and cried; war correspondents from all over the world came to interview this heroic unit that broke out from the city of Shanghai; while Cao Xiaomin was surrounded by a large group of officials and reporters from the Ministry of Military Affairs - now he is a national hero!

"I won't get in the car! I have to be with my brothers!" Cao Xiaomin shouted a sentence like a very Hollywood hero, then learned from the classic American blockbuster, threw a military and political propaganda officer in glasses on the ground and shrugged, looking at the military and political officers who never dared to push him into the car, turning around and jogging back to the crowd that were hurting each other...

...In fact, when I wrote this memoir, I didn't expect the people from the Propaganda Department to come back and really help me publish it. During the war, I encountered several such interviews. No matter how good or enthusiastic the pen is to you, how high the high you praise you, it is just for his propaganda task; as a veteran, what you really cannot do without is your brothers, those brothers who fill the trenches with corpses... Grandpa Grandpa wrote this memoir to commemorate those brothers on the battlefield in the past, and to let those who see know this history; as for those bullshit literati who disrespect historical facts at all, he didn't see it at all. Cao Xiaomin was the same. When he was about to be pushed into the cart to Nanjing to be a hero, he suddenly felt that he was not caring about the heroes, but the brothers who were bleeding together!

"All assemble!" With Cao Xiaomin's order, the army formed by various scattered soldiers gathered again in front of Cao Xiaomin like they broke through the siege along the way. Maybe they wanted to tell everyone that they had defeated, but they were still soldiers. The troops gathered this time more neatly and quickly than any other time; all the soldiers, including the wounded, stood up quickly.

"Someone told me that the national heroes we came out of Sixingcang. He asked us to go to Nanjing to be heroes in front of the people!" Cao Xiaomin suddenly realized that his words had become extremely quick, no longer the computer programmer who could not beat a single stick: "But I want to remind everyone that we are not heroes, we are just soldiers who are preparing but have not sacrificed their lives for the country! The heroes are Commander Xie, those comrades who have died in battle, and those brothers who have not even left their names after their sacrifice, and whose bodies are stuck in trenches to resist the Japanese! We should not go to Nanjing, we should go to places where there are gunfire!..."

Cao Xiaomin didn't know that his speech to the army appeared in newspapers of all sizes and big in Nanjing the next day. It was widely circulated during the entire War of Resistance Against Japan and was called the "Hero Declaration"!

Cao Xiaomin's troops were not disbanded. The wounded among them were sent to the hospital and the others were organized into a reinforcement battalion to Suzhou on standby. The officials of the Ministry of Military Affairs, including the officer who was thrown to the ground, did not hold a grudge against him. On the contrary, everyone thought he was absolutely "pure man". He was one of the few officers who could speak to reporters that could be used. The officials of the Ministry of Military Affairs liked him very much.

Propaganda is more important than everything, and it is the same in any time and space. This is China. Although Cao Xiaomin knew that he was promoted to a military rank by the chairman himself and became a captain, he really did not expect that the Ministry of Military Affairs would prepare him a military uniform of a senior officer made of woolen! After half a night of greetings and taking turns toasting, he was dizzy by the flashing lights, Cao Xiaomin finally got rid of the entanglement and took his troops away while many people were half drunk.

"Brothers, look at what this is!" Cao Xiaomin and the invited officers and soldiers who had withdrawn from the Sixing Cang with the blue sky and white sun flag signed by all the 800 heroes. They wrapped their new military uniforms and swept the cigarettes, white wine, rice wine, beer, champagne, roast duck, cut chicken, pork elbow... all the food and drinks they could steal and brought back to the military camp!

"Long live the battalion commander!" The soldiers who were not qualified to attend the banquet were recruited and cheered and began a large encirclement of all food and beverages.

"It's a pity for this dress..." The rabbit who had just eaten nothing and fed half a bottle of flower-drawn rabbit blushed and looked at the wrinkled military uniform, saying, "I have never worn such a military uniform in my life... Battalion Commander, I'll borrow it tomorrow and send it back to my hometown with a foreign shadow?"

"Okay! If you are happy, take it and wear it..." Cao Xiaomin turned the package into greasy and threw the wrinkled military uniform at the rabbit: "This thing is just like it is useful. Wearing this trench is a quest for death; I'd better wear this outfit..." While putting on the original military uniform, he chewed a roast duck leg with big mouthfuls...

"Battorney General, did you not eat enough just now?" The bitter gourd with a mouth full of oily face stared at the roast duck legs with bright eyes...

"Why, even the meat in my mouth is in love with it? Damn..." Cao Xiaomin laughed and scolded.

"What kind of wine is so bad, it's like a cat's urine..." A soldier from Sichuan Army spitted out as soon as he poured a sip of beer into his mouth...

"Don't waste it if you don't drink it!" It turned out that Zhang Jingyue of the 36th Division snatched the beer: "Tell you, this is the 'Aifu brand' beer. I used to be the favorite thing that German consultants loved when I was in the 36th Division... You are also a waste of drinking this country bun..." He raised his head and poured the beer in like his instructor.

"Wow! Spit!" Zhang Jingyue suddenly spitted out: "It's so damn like a cat pee..."

"Hahaha! You kid have only seen someone drink, but you haven't!" Chuan Qizai smiled and bent down with her belly: "Are you a shitty person? It's bright outside, or a rustic bun..." The soldiers all laughed so hard that they turned back and forth...

The soldiers were very unrestrained and drank crookedly. No one had a neat military appearance; the pornographic jokes in their mouths were one after another, and the minor tunes from all over the place were humming incompletely... the entire barracks were in a mess.

Looking at the brothers' unrestrainedness and the fun of their brothers, Cao Xiaomin suddenly felt sour: These people have all rolled in the pile of dead people. It is because they have experienced such a front line of life and death that they are so unscrupulous!

Those heroes with one-character eyebrows, national faces, and Feng Jikou with Adam's apple may only exist in the photos! A real hero may be such a picture that was beaten up and always had a bit of dirty face. Eat the delicious leftovers of politicians and were drunk and dreaming of the sound of cannons on the front line... His chest suddenly became hot, and he wanted to make a small tune like those soldiers!

He didn't. As a time traveler, opera has basically disappeared in that time and space place; he opened his mouth and shouted out a Qin Opera that he heard the most after coming to this time and space: "The three armies in the camp were lying filial piety, and the white flag was waving and snowflakes were floating..."
Chapter completed!