The incident caused by Shang Zhen and Hou Kanshan just passed like this.
Everyone was speechless. They had been fighting and running around for several days and everyone was very tired.
Moreover, as the commander, Wang Laomao specifically said that there was no need to arrange sentries tonight, because it was impossible for the Japanese to come to search the mountain with just a few of us.
Just when everyone was feeling tired and sleepy, someone spoke up. It was Qian Chuaner.
"Platoon Leader Wang, are you asleep?" Qian Chuaner called Wang Laomao softly.
"Just say it if you have something to say." Wang Laomao said unhappily.
Considering Wang Laomao's temperament, his reply was already very polite. If the soldiers in their platoon asked Wang Laomao something, Wang Laomao's answer would usually be "If you have something to say, say it. If you have to fart, fart."
After all, Qian Chuan'er was not a soldier in their company, although at present there were only him and Erhanzi left in Qian Chuan'er's company.
"I just want to ask you, why don't we defend Jinzhou?" Qian Chuan'er walked around Erhanzi who had fallen asleep and sat down next to Wang Laomao.
When they heard what Qian Chuan'er said, the people who were gathered together started to listen attentively even though they were not sitting up.
Although they were already very tired, the questions Qian Chuaner asked were exactly what confused them.
The students they rescued said that the Japanese army had almost occupied the three northeastern provinces.
And what is Jinzhou?
From a defensive perspective, Jinzhou was the first checkpoint preventing the Japanese army from breaking into North China.
From the perspective of counterattacking the Northeast, Jinzhou was the springboard for the Northeast Army to return home.
Now their large army has actually given up Jinzhou, which really makes them feel sorry.
In the minds of all of them, the Northeast Army should hold Jinzhou.
Although China is big, there is nothing better than your own home. As the saying goes, "A nest of gold or silver is not as good as your own cat or dog nest." The home of people from the Northeast is naturally in the Northeast. If you, a person from the Northeast, run to the South, you are "a stranger in a strange land"!
Wang Laomao did not answer Qian Chuaner's question immediately. He reached into his pocket and took out half a pack of cigarettes.
But he frowned when he saw the smoke.
Just because half the pack of cigarettes was wet.
I guess they accidentally got themselves wet while drinking water from that puddle.
"Hou Kanshan, do you have any cigarettes in your pocket?" asked Wang Laomao.
Hearing Wang Laomao calling him, Hou Kanshan, who felt that he had not made up his mind because of the argument with Shang Zhen, walked over from outside the circle and handed a box of cigarettes to Wang Laomao.
"Look at that donkey face of yours! Who are you showing it to?" Wang Laomao cursed Hou Kanshan while taking the cigarette.
Hou Kanshan was already angry, and Wang Laomao's scolding made him even more dejected.
"Get out of the way and stop getting in the way!" Wang Laomao became even angrier when he saw Hou Kanshan's cowardly look.
Hou Kanshan walked out with his head hung low, but Wang Laomao followed him and added, "Look at how popular you are, how did you end up in this dung heap?"
What does it mean to end up in this dung heap? The dung heap stinks. What Wang Laomao meant was that Hou Kanshan’s popularity is really bad!
Qian Chuan'er saw that Wang Laomao started to light a cigarette without any hurry, and his little eyes started to stare again.
Although Qian Chuan'er did not understand the saying "grieve for their misfortune and be angry at their lack of struggle", he also believed that Wang Laomao did have a good relationship with Hou Kanshan.
"That's right, I think we shouldn't give up Jinzhou." Seeing that Wang Laomao had no intention of answering, Chen Hanwen said from the side.
"Why?" asked Wang Laomao, who had just exhaled a puff of smoke.
"Of course it's because Jinzhou is very important!" As a half-scholar, Chen Hanwen still knew the terrain.
"On one side is North China, on the other side is Northeast China, in the middle is a narrow and long Liaoxi Corridor, in the southeast is the sea, in the northwest is the mountainous area. It's like a carrying pole, with the terrain at both ends. How can it not be important?
Shanhaiguan, Pingxingguan, Niangziguan and Yumenguan are all our Chinese passes. Our army is not as powerful as the Japanese, and our defense depends entirely on the terrain.
Our Jinzhou is also a mountain pass, can we easily lose it?" Chen Hanwen answered fluently and loudly.
After all, he was a clerk in their company, and he knew that even if everyone in their company were still alive, few would be able to say what he said.
After saying this, he glanced towards the students' positions intentionally or unintentionally. As for who he wanted to hear what he said, only he knew.
However, Chen Hanwen's self-righteous attitude earned him a "wake-up call" from Wang Laomao!
As a former bearded man who is now a sturdy warrior, Wang Laomao was hit hard by the stick.
"You know shit!" said Wang Laomao.
Chen Hanwen was stunned by what Wang Laomao said, but he had long been accustomed to this group of people in the company, especially those like Wang Laomao who had a boss following them. In the Northeastern dialect, they were extremely unreasonable!
The same was true for others. They couldn't understand why Wang Laomao said that. Isn't Jinzhou important?
"If we defend Jinzhou to the death and fight the Japanese army to the death, do you think the Central Army will provide us with support from other places?
That's impossible!
"The Northeast is our young marshal's territory, and it's also where we Northeasterners live. Whether the Northeast is lost or not is none of their business!" Wang Laomao said disapprovingly.
"That's precisely because it is our territory, so we should not lose Jinzhou and should defend it!" Chen Hanwen argued.
Since he was already accustomed to Wang Laomao's tone of voice, he would not be frightened by Wang Laomao unless he thought his words were reasonable.
Besides, that's how Wang Lao Mao speaks. His harsh words are just a habit, and it doesn't mean that he can do anything to a half-scholar like him.
"Yes, the Northeast is our young marshal's territory. It's true that if you want to get ahead these days, you have to have your own territory, but the question is, can you keep it?" Wang Laomao continued smoking.
This was the first cigarette he had smoked since they escaped to the mountains. After just a few puffs, he had smoked most of the cigarette.
"We fought against the Japanese, and you saw that they were much stronger than the Central Army and the Northwest Army. You know about the Japanese soldiers' marksmanship, but they also had airplanes, artillery, and tanks!
Yes, if you want to get ahead you have to have your own territory, but what’s the use of having a territory if you can’t defend it?
You have to have someone with a gun!
Our people fought the Japanese to the death, and in the end we lost our men, our guns, and our territory.
But if we retreat back to the interior, at least we still have people and guns, and we still have a chance to fight back!
What can we little people understand? It's just this truth. Even the people above us don't understand, but you do?!"
It must be admitted that compared with Chen Hanwen and others, Wang Laomao is a person with a "big picture view".
Don’t worry about whether what he said was heresy or not, but it still left Chen Hanwen and the others stunned.
They had to admit that Wang Laomao was right; reality was cruel! As for the loss of the three northeastern provinces, he didn't care whether soldiers like them, who were supposed to be defending their country, had any responsibility.
This is typical Hu Zi thinking, only caring about not losing their own manpower. Wang Laomao's statement is consistent with that of the top leaders of the Northeast Army!
But no matter what, Wang Laomao's argument was very powerful, so the scene was silent and Wang Laomao continued to puff out smoke.
But after a while, Chen Hanwen protested again: "If we all retreat, who will take care of our parents, wives and children in the Northeast? Will we just let the Japanese do whatever they want?"
Chen Hanwen's words worked, and Wang Laomao fell silent.
There are not so many orphans in this world.
Wang Laomao also has a father and a mother, and they are both still alive.
Although he didn't have a wife yet, Chen Hanwen, as an old man in the company, had heard that Wang Laomao had a lover who was a widow.
In the silence, the sky gradually darkened, and the others saw Wang Laomao, who was unshaven and looked extremely tired, throwing away his cigarette butt and lighting another one.
Wang Laomao took a few deep puffs of his cigarette and then became depressed.
No one knows what Wang Laomao is thinking at this moment. Who knows if he is thinking about his parents or the passion and tenderness of his beloved woman?
Finally, Wang Laomao threw away his cigarette butt again and whispered, "Maybe we can fight back, but I don't know how many of us will be left by then."
Then Wang Laomao shouted again: "Go to sleep!"
The discussion ended inconclusively, and the soldiers finally fell asleep.
They did not know that just before the Northeast Army withdrew from Jinzhou, a brigade commander of the Northeast Army said to thousands of his officers and soldiers: "Brothers, we cannot defeat the Japanese now, but we will definitely fight back!"
Army, division, brigade, and regiment commanders, along with company and platoon leaders and small soldiers.
As a platoon leader with a rare sense of the overall situation, Wang Laomao did not take into consideration one thing. During the Jinzhou Defense War, there were already more than 1,000 wounded soldiers of the Northeast Army in Jinzhou City. They had no medical care and no medicine. So how long could they hold on?
What's more, the narrow strip of land in the Liaoxi Corridor between North China and Northeast China is close to the sea. If the Japanese army lands in the middle of the Liaoxi Corridor by warships, the more than 40,000 officers and soldiers guarding Jinzhou will be surrounded.
However, neither Wang Laomao nor the brigade commander knew that as the situation developed in the future, Jinzhou would only be the first barrier left for China.
There is no doubt that the land of China is vast, with endless mountains and rivers as Chen Hanwen said. But how could Shang Zhen and others have imagined that those endless mountains and rivers could not stop the Japanese invaders from advancing southward, and that this war of resistance lasted for fourteen years.
They kept guarding one mountain pass after another from north to south, and kept breaking through one mountain pass after another, until they reached the southernmost part of China, the so-called place where dreams awaken south of the colorful clouds.