Chapter 76: The Defeated Soldiers
There was a burst of gunfire at the entrance of the village. Japanese soldiers in khaki uniforms rushed from a distance like yellow ants under the cover of machine guns.
The situation was certainly chaotic, but even more chaotic was to come, because the Japanese mortars began to extend their firing.
Mortar shells exploded one after another in Hejiatun, and the wormwood, brick and stone fragments, and dust blown up by the blast seemed to be everywhere.
In the smoke and dust of the explosion, the villagers were crying and shouting, and some people had already fallen in a pool of blood.
The soldiers were also in chaos. Some were going to the village entrance to meet the company commander Liu Guodong and his men, some were at a loss and began to flee elsewhere, and some were rescuing the wounded.
With a "boom", a mortar shell hit the kitchen house.
The house was originally an earthen house, and it was blown up into a huge cloud of smoke and flying grass and trees. But in the smoke and dust, some soldiers were already shouting, and they were injured in the explosion.
"The Japanese are going to wipe out this entire village!" said Chen Hanwen as he got up from the ground.
At this time, Hou Kanshan, who was with him, glanced around and shouted, "Qian Chuan'er, you two go to meet the platoon leader. Xiucai and I will go to the hill on the left to meet you."
After saying this, Hou Kanshan pulled Chen Hanwen and the two of them ran to the left.
"Aren't we going to pick up the platoon leader? Don't we care about the people here?" Chen Hanwen asked as he ran after Hou Kanshan.
"The Japanese even blew up the houses. They want to kill the entire village. Can you do anything about it?" Hou Kanshan said disapprovingly.
Chen Hanwen remained silent and could only follow Hou Kanshan.
"This bastard has run away again!" When Qian Chuan'er climbed out of the haystack with a bunch of weeds on his head, all he saw were the backs of Hou Kanshan and Chen Hanwen rushing out of the yard.
The fool who had also emerged from the haystack started to shout, "Ma Gan'er, Ma Gan'er!"
"I'm saving the wounded!" Shang Zhen's voice rang out in the house.
"Why save the wounded at this time!" Erhanzi said angrily.
"Keep your voice down! Let's go to the gate of the yard first!" Qian Chuan'er had already opened the bolt of his box gun.
In Erhanzi's opinion, he, Qian Chuan'er and Shang Zhen are now his people, and as for Liu Guodong's company, they are one level lower after all. As for Hou Kanshan, who jumps into the air when he sees danger, he cannot be considered his own people.
When Hou Kanshan and Erhanzi ran to the gate of the courtyard and looked out, they saw that the whole village was in chaos.
Although the sound of Japanese mortar fire had stopped, some houses and haystacks were already on fire. Amid the smoke and fire, civilians and soldiers mixed together and ran desperately to both sides of the village.
Amidst the clamor, they finally understood what some soldiers were shouting: "Run if you can! There are too many Japanese soldiers. Kill anyone you see!"
"Ma Gan'er, you bastard, if you don't come out we won't care about you anymore!" At this time, Erhanzi also became anxious.
Given the current situation, even the living can’t save their lives, so why are you trying to save the wounded?
As he was shouting, Qian Chuan'er also shouted: "Platoon Leader Wang, we are here!"
Next to a burning pile of firewood in front, there was a man who rushed over with one hand covering his head and the other holding a submachine gun. When he got closer, it turned out to be Wang Laomao.
"What's going on?" Erhanzi asked.
"Liu Guodong is dead, everything is in chaos, run!" Wang Laomao shouted.
It turned out that when the Japanese army launched the attack, although they were also hit by mortars, Liu Guodong was not hurt at that time.
But when the Japanese mortar extended its firepower into the village, Liu Guodong and his men knew that they were in trouble.
The Japanese troops rushing in from afar were so dense that there was no doubt that the Japanese had found their "beards". When they saw so many troops coming, they knew that they would not only wipe out their company, but also the people of Hejiatun would be in trouble!
In this situation, how could Liu Guodong, as the company commander, bear to turn around and escape with his men? Instead, he directly organized a counterattack against the Japanese army in an attempt to buy some time for the people in the village to escape.
But the Japanese army discovered the commander Liu Guodong in just a moment. Wang Laomao, who was not far from Liu Guodong, heard the "hissing" sound again. The sound was similar to that of a mortar but a little thinner. Then he saw several plumes of smoke and dust rising from the earth wall where Liu Guodong was hiding. Amid the loud explosion, Wang Laomao ran back without thinking, and picked up a submachine gun from a dead veteran.
Wang Laomao didn't even know what weapons the Japanese army used, but with that kind of explosion, it was impossible for Liu Guodong not to be killed!
Since Liu Guodong is gone, his entire company has been disbanded. It is not his style to let Wang Laomao go to the front alone to fight the Japanese army.
Besides, as the saying goes, a defeat is like a mountain collapsing. With the chief officer killed in this battle, Liu Guodong’s company is really disbanded!
"Ma Gan'er!" Qian Chuan'er shouted again.
"It's coming out! It's coming out!" At this time, Shang Zhen's voice came faintly from the yard.
But at this moment, the box gun in Qian Chuan's hand and the machine gun in Wang Laomao's hand fired at the same time.
In the drifting black smoke, two Japanese soldiers holding Type 38 rifles fell down with the sound of gunfire.
"You damn bastard, jump out of the back window and let's run!" Wang Laomao shouted anxiously.
Then he ignored Shang Zhen and ran to the left along the courtyard wall with Qian Chuan and Erhanzi.
Now that the Japanese army is powerful, they are defeated soldiers, and their only chance of survival is to run to the mountains.
Under the current circumstances, how could Wang Laomao possibly defend this broken yard of the kitchen team to the death in order to save Shang Zhen!
"There are Japanese soldiers at the gate, jump out of the window quickly!" When Wang Laomao and the other three ran to the south side of the courtyard wall, Qian Chuan'er shouted again.
After all, they are partners, and Qian Chuan'er is still worried about Shang Zhen!
Just when Wang Laomao, Qian Chuaner and Erhanzi ran to the back of the yard, they heard a "click" sound from the small window on the back wall of the kitchen. The window panel flew down, and then Shang Zhen crawled out from inside.
When Qian Chuan'er said "Run" again, he saw another person coming out of the window. It was Old Huotou!
"Where are the wounded you rescued?" Qian Chuaner asked unhappily.
"He's covering our retreat, run!" Shang Zhen said.
"He still has a conscience." Qian Chuan'er muttered, and now the four of them hurriedly ran to the back.
They had only been running for a short while when they heard the sound of a grenade exploding from the kitchen staff behind them.
But there were only two explosions, and then there were gunshots from the Japanese Type 38 rifles, and there were no more explosions. Needless to say, the wounded soldier that Shang Zhen was rescuing must have died.
Note: "尥秆子" means to escape for one's life.
Touching the beard means getting a clue.
