Chapter 88: Flinch

(... Many surviving heroes, veterans who are regarded as heroes, you can't see much pride in them; because every veteran has a guilty and self-blame side, they can become heroes alive because everyone has been grandchildren... Excerpted from "Grandpa's Memories of the War of Resistance")

When Cao Xiaomin and his friends arrived in a village, there were two guerrillas carrying muskets waiting at the entrance of the village and led everyone into the village for dinner. The village was not big and had not been harassed by the Japanese, but there were still few people. They either fled or hid in the nearby wilderness. Those who dared to stay in the village were quick and confident that they could escape the Japanese, and there were people watching on the mountain at the entrance and end of the village.

Seeing Cao Xiaomin and his team coming, the guerrillas who received the order to pick up here carried the prepared meals. The food was already ready and put into a basket and could be transferred or buried at any time. They looked thoughtful. However, these guerrillas still did not look like soldiers in Cao Xiaomin's eyes - not only the posture of carrying guns, but also their standing posture and habits. A guerrilla actually pressed the gun handle with both hands, and supported the ground pillow with the gun on the mouth of the gun and watched these soldiers eat with interest... Chinese farmers have a long way to go if they become soldiers!

"Baojing!...Baojing!..." Suddenly, gunshots came from afar. When the first gunshot was heard, everyone was stunned. When the second gunshots, all the veterans suddenly increased their speed and almost poured their food into their mouths! When the last bite of food was still in their mouths, everyone had already picked up the guns and prepared to fight. Some people were holding pieces of dried fish or bacon in their hands...

The gunshots were still far away, but the veterans were on guard: everyone was huddled against the wall, and no one moved around. Everyone looked out of the corners of the house to make sure that their location would not be exposed to people outside the village.

"Come here, withdraw first, follow the company sequence..." Situ Xing and Wang Ye graduated from a genuine military academy after all, and started commanding without waiting for Cao Xiaomin to give orders, which made Cao Xiaomin feel extremely ashamed. When it comes to commanding in the front line, he is actually not even qualified to be a platoon leader!

When the Japanese saw a village, they probably would come in to take a look, so everyone started to retreat outside the village - they could not go to the entrance or the end of the village, and passed through some houses with small lanes in the middle of the village to the back mountain, quietly followed the bamboo bushes that were very small and still yellow, green and not withered in winter, and then quietly moved under the cover of vegetation. The traces of eating, whether it was the baskets of food or the tabletops stained with soup, were taken away by the soldiers - even if the people who could survive on the battlefield were stupid, they had already learned a whole body of ghosts.

At first, the guerrillas thought these soldiers were too timid and wanted to laugh, but soon they were also infected by the atmosphere and were extremely nervous. The common people were also controlled by the soldiers and did not let them run around. There was no movement in the village, and it seemed to be a abandoned unmanned village outside.

The gunshots came from three directions, from the north, northeast and west of the village; on the small mound that could barely be called the hill, thousands of people lay on the ground, hiding in the bushes and motionless. The machine guns and rifles bullets were loaded, and the safety covers of the grenades were also unscrewed one by one, and each of them occupied a favorable position to prepare for the battle.

Unless they have to fight, everyone is unwilling to fight. Once the fight starts, the Japanese will have developed communications and will soon attract reinforcements and there is basically no danger to defend nearby, so it is difficult to advance or retreat. If the Japanese find that they are a team of thousands of people, they will definitely encircle and suppress them or even dispatch air forces... Everyone is ready to fight, but everyone is afraid of fighting!

In the three directions of the gunshot, there were several gray shadows wearing Kuomintang military uniforms running towards this small village. There were Japanese chasing them behind them, and the Japanese were about forty people. There were more Japanese 120 people. According to guns, there were more Kuomintang troops, but everyone knew very well that in such a situation, they would easily be surrounded by Japanese. Once they could not rush out, they would be surrounded by subsequent Japanese reinforcements, and finally the entire army was destroyed...

"It's really a damn evil, why are the Japanese coming from several directions? You can't even walk..." Situ Xing murmured beside Cao Xiaomin: "You little Japanese, don't break into the mountain, Hello everyone; otherwise, grandpa, I might be alive if I kill you, and I have to continue fighting on the road to the underworld..."

Several Kuomintang army brothers who came from the north ran the fastest and almost arrived at the entrance of the village... "Soon!" A series of machine gun fires, only two of the Kuomintang army brothers who could enter the village were left! The few brothers who were shot at the entrance of the village were not dead and were still struggling with difficulty. The Japanese arrived... The sound of "breaking" bayonets was like stabbing people on the mountain. They watched the Japanese kill their brothers, but they dared not take action. It was cowardly! Everyone wanted to not watch this scene, but they couldn't help but see it in the cracks of the grass... If the Japanese were all together, they might be able to take a risk, but the Japanese pursuit team was very long, and it was impossible to solve the battle at once. Once it was a stalemate... Hi! Everyone was angry, but at the same time they even had a thought: die outside the village, don't enter the village...

When the brothers who came from the west crossed the fields, they were all bitten by the Japanese bullets... The two brothers who came from the northeast actually ran to the mountain where they were hiding. Oh my God!

The section on the mountain road is very steep. When I rushed up, I could still run a few steps with inertia, but I immediately slid down... The two brothers who were desperately yearning for the mountain to run up the mountain turned into big characters and lying on the slope of the hillside, becoming targets for the Japanese...

"Bow!Bow!..." He fired a single shot of a rifle like a gun. The two brothers were shot and their bodies slid down. The nearest one had seen his own people in a grass that was only a few meters away from him! What was his mood when he looked at those grass? His own people were right in front of him, but no one shot... If he could live to the end of this war, those veterans who were hiding in the grass and just like their abandoned brother would probably not forget those desperate eyes for the rest of their lives...

...You can't see too much pride in many surviving heroes, the veterans who are regarded as heroes; because every veteran has a guilty and self-blame side, they can become heroes alive because everyone has been grandsons... Cao Xiaomin is a person who is destined to be tortured by such eyes for the rest of his life, and he hides in that grass! He deeply felt the pain of pretending to be grandson as what his grandfather said, which will last for a lifetime... They are not their own brothers, they are from other troops... Yes, he will never save him, but his decision saved more people... All kinds of thoughts suddenly surged up.

If the person who ran up was a "cry" or a "clip", would he shoot himself? It must be! No, it must not! It must be!... Countless self-blame and guilt hit Cao Xiaomin at the same time. He really didn't know what he would do if he was the brothers he was with day and night! He had more than 300 guns and more than a thousand people. Could it be impossible for him to save these brothers?

…Calm down! Calm down! You have to know the choice... Cao Xiaomin can only desperately recall everything that happened in Suzhou and tell himself to hold it back; Cao Xiaomin now feels that he has become very timid and is no longer a time traveler. He is as timid as these peasant militiamen in this era...

Liang Xiaokuan, who ran into the village for a lifetime, was also stunned: The information clearly stated that Cao Xiaomin and the others were in this village! But this was an empty abandoned village. They sacrificed more than a dozen people but failed to lead the Japanese to the hiding place where the enemy who killed their parents was slaying! The Japanese were behind them. If they died like this, they would be injustice! Who would avenge their parents' tragic death?

Growing up in a small mountain village since childhood, Liang Xiaokuan, who had received military training, could only escape in the direction of the village. His last comrade was also shot when he turned around and shot against the Japanese... He could only escape, he could not fight to the death, because he still had unfinished hatred!

The three teams of Japanese soldiers met. They greeted each other and walked around the village for a while. They saw no one, nor did they go around the back mountain. They just took the guns of the bodies of the "KMT Army" who were shot dead, searched them, and cut off the heads of the deceased and hung them on the gun. When the people who chased them out of the village came back, they left.

It's so dangerous! Every person who was ambushing the mountain felt a sense of heat on his body, and their sweat was soaked in the cotton coat. As the heat dissipated, there was a chill suddenly. Then everyone fell into self-blame for not saving him, and did not dare to look at the other brothers in the eyes...

"Hey, that brother is back..." The soldiers at the end of the village cheered - there was a man still alive, and their guilt would be lighter...

"Run so fast..." "Yes, even bullets can't catch up with you..." Surrounded by the cheerful brothers, the person who escaped by luck was brought to Cao Xiaomin.

"The Sixty-Second Division replenishes Liang Xiaokuan..."
Chapter completed!