As eyewitnesses of the September 18th Incident, although Zhang Lianjie's battalion did not "stand up and die for the country", they still suffered dozens of casualties because they did not fire back.
However, as a small person, although they also have the trouble of being cannon fodder, they also have the advantages of being a small person, that is, they only need to obey the orders from above, and those things that they cannot catch up with naturally have nothing to do with them.
In the blink of an eye, it was mid-October, and Zhang Lianjie's battalion was stationed near Jinzhou with the main force.
Small figures like Wang Laomao, Li Fushun and Shang Zhen knew very little about the development of the entire situation after September 18th. They did not know that the Japanese army had occupied more than 30 cities in the three northeastern provinces in just one week after September 18th.
At noon that day, Shang Zhen, who was in charge of serving as a sentry, was standing guard with a gun in hand.
The rifle he used was called Liao Type 13 79 rifle, which was manufactured by the Northeast Army's arsenal.
The Northeast Army, formerly known as the Fengtian Army, has the strongest industrial base in China today.
Shang Zhen heard that their arsenal can not only produce rifles, but it can also produce airplanes and tanks!
Shang Zhen had seen airplanes in the sky, which had four "wings" and two on each side. He had also seen tanks from afar, which had wheels underneath and tracks outside the wheels.
As for the reason, it is naturally because his home is near Dongdaying.
But whether it was flying in the sky or running on the ground, it had nothing to do with him as a new recruit. He now had an urgent desire to practice his shooting skills.
His desire came from two reasons: one was that after breaking out that night, he felt the crisis of survival; the other was because he returned home.
That night he was left behind and broke out from the Japanese army.
Li Fushun was naturally happy to see him come back.
But just as Shang Zhen was eating the half-eaten steamed bun given to him by Li Fushun, he cried out "Ah".
Li Fushun asked him what was wrong, and Shang Zhen said, "I feel my hands are sticky."
Ma Erhuzi, who was standing by, quickly struck a match to check, and only then did they discover that Shang Zhen's body was splattered with blood, and there was also blood on the handle of the bayonet in his hand.
Li Fushun quickly asked Shang Zhen what was going on, and Shang Zhen told him roughly what had happened to him.
Only then did Li Fushun realize that Shang Zhen had actually encountered the Japanese army and he had actually rushed out from the enemy camp!
Li Fushun and Ma Erhuzi naturally admired Shang Zhen's behavior, but this experience deeply stimulated Shang Zhen.
At that time, he was forced into a corner by the Japanese army. He had to either fight his way out or surrender. As a result of the struggle between the two, he finally became a brave man.
But becoming a brave man at that time did not mean that he was not afraid afterwards. If he had hesitated even a little at that time, he might really not have been able to rush out!
When Shang Zhen saw the blood on his hands and body, he was also stunned. If he remembered correctly, when he was eating steamed buns just now, he swallowed the sticky stuff directly into his stomach.
Although I was very tired because I have always been weak, I didn't feel any pain in my body.
If I didn't feel any pain, it meant I wasn't injured. So why would I even ask whose blood that was? And I actually swallowed the blood of a Japanese soldier straight into my stomach. How could I not feel disgusted?
This association reminded her of the soldier who was beaten to death when breaking out from Beidaying. The ancient people who were killed by firearms appeared in her mind again, and she was about to vomit.
Just when Li Fushun was about to comfort Shang Zhen, he suddenly held back.
At that time, the match in Ma Erhuzi's hand had gone out. The so-called match was like the matchstick in the hand of the little match girl in the Danish fairy tale. How long could it last?
Because of the darkness, even Li Fushun didn't know that when Shang Zhen was trying hard to resist vomiting, he stretched out his hand and stuffed the steamed bun that had been vomited down his throat into his mouth back into his mouth!
Perhaps, one afternoon, a young boy who was taking a nap felt some changes in his body.
Perhaps, after some hard work, a young girl met her mother's legendary sister.
This is a process that must be experienced in human growth, and it is the awakening of the human body.
However, when Shang Zhen covered his mouth with his hand to prevent himself from spitting out the food that filled him with energy, it also represented his awakening, the awakening of a warrior!
That night, just as Shang Zhen overcame the urge to vomit and prepared to follow Li Fushun to catch up with the main force, Li Fushun suddenly said, "Don't you want to go back to see Mom? We never know when we'll be back."
This place was not far from Shang Zhen's home. From where they were at the time, it was the only way to go east, so Li Fushun was sure that as long as Shang Zhen came back, he would definitely pass by here.
When Li Fushun, Shang Zhen and Ma Erhuzi arrived home, it was already dawn. Before they entered the house, they heard Shang Zhen's mother snoring and gasping.
Shang Zhen's mother had asthma, which people in Northeast China called "he lao". This refers to the "he lao" sound made by the respiratory system when a person suffers from asthma.
When Shang Zhen knocked on the door and entered the house, he saw his mother who was struggling to breathe, and his elder brother and sister-in-law who were standing beside him at a loss.
When the old lady saw Shang Zhen and Li Fushun coming back, her face, which was already flushed from coughing, became even redder under the light.
When she knew that Shang Zhen and Li Fushun might have gone to a faraway place, she took great effort to say a few words.
She said, "Mom will definitely not survive this winter, and you will be without a mother in the future. You two must live well and think about finding a wife for yourself."
Li Fushun comforted his mother, while Shang Zhen remained silent.
But they were worried about the troops setting off, so they and Ma Erhuzi just drank some water and ate some dry food at home, and then hurriedly left home again.
People are often like this. When they have a mother, they will talk back to her and not take it seriously. But when they feel they are about to lose their mother, they feel like they have become the most pitiful child in the world.
The moment he left home, Shang Zhen realized for the first time how strong his sense of belonging was.
There is no home without a mother. Without a mother, there is no home. Even brothers are not as good as before!
Shang Zhen decided to live well. He would try his best to survive this war, and then find himself a wife to fulfill his mother's wish!
Because of this, Shang Zhen was eager to improve his fighting skills, so these days, whether he was on the road or when he stopped, he practiced aiming.
With Shang Zhen's physique, his arms would naturally become stiff after holding a rifle for a long time.
But if you want to be a real warrior, don’t you need to be ruthless to yourself?
Shang Zhen still remembers Ma Erhu's surprise when he said he had killed Japanese soldiers, but what left the deepest impression on him was what his third brother, Li Fushun, said.
That night, Li Fushun said that no matter how good a soldier is at fighting, he is still an ordinary person. He is just ruthless to himself and not afraid of death at critical moments. Our Xiaoer has this ruthlessness, and he will definitely become a good soldier in the future!
But that was what Li Fushun said.
Although Shang Zhen also felt the passion when killing the enemy, as if something was awakening in his blood, he certainly wanted to be a good soldier, but he cared more about his own life.
How to save his life and find a wife in the future as his mother said, this is what he really thinks.
No matter what, whether it is to save your life or to become a good soldier, you need real skills.
Both Li Fushun and Ma Erhuzi had taught him how to load bullets into the rifle and how to aim and shoot, and he had practiced it many times.
But the problem is that he hasn't fired a single shot so far!