Chapter 8: A Long Journey

I had breakfast for a long time, but I don’t know if it was because of the lot of dishes and wine, or the soldiers hoped that the meal would not end. After more than an hour, the soldiers were still shouting big bowls of wine. The sound of wine, shouting, and clinking glasses filled every corner of the cafeteria. Even Li Shuibo, who was usually not good at dating others, held the wine to toast the soldiers frequently. However, he was obviously unable to drink, and his face turned red in a short while and he was unsteady when walking.

I am the only one in our company. My hometown and Yang Songjian rarely drink because we know that the soldiers can be "unrestrained" at this time, but we as platoon leaders cannot. We must always be sober to carry out the next tasks, otherwise, if we are carried away by someone on the battlefield, our face will be greatly lost.

"Squeak..." The sound of the brakes of the car calmed the soldiers in the cafeteria, and they all turned their eyes to the square outside the window. One after another, Jiefang military vehicles dressed in disguise were parked neatly in the square, as if waiting for the soldiers to review.

But the soldiers all knew that this was not waiting for their review, but coming to pick them up.

"Get together!" With the order, the soldiers dropped their bowls and chopsticks and ran towards the dormitory. Then they carried the equipment they had already prepared as quickly as possible and concentrated them in the square.

"Stand at attention, look right... look forward! Report count..." The people from my hometown stood in front of the team and issued a command as usual. However, this time, the sound of the shout seemed a little different, and his eyes kept aiming at everything around him, as if full of nostalgia and reluctance. Later I realized that he had been here for five years!

"Get on the bus!" With the order, the soldiers got on the bus in neat formations in order in rows. The soldiers got on the bus quietly, and no one said a word.

With a roar, the car raised a piece of smoke and dust. Under the brilliance of the rising sun, one after another drove towards the barracks. When the car drove out of the barracks, the soldiers standing guard at the door stood up to us and saluted a standard military salute. The soldiers raised their hands together, and without exception, they all turned their eyes to the barracks that gradually faded behind the carriage, with reluctance in their eyes.

Although the soldiers only stayed here for two months, they felt like they were separated from each other by leaving here and walking on the battlefield where life and death were uncertain, and they felt a little sad.

The soldiers still sat in each row as usual, divided into four rows, two rows against the carriage, and two rows against the back to the back. Under the carriage, the soldiers sat on the backpack with weapons. I sat in the middle row. Because there was no place to support, my whole body couldn't help but shake left and right with the fluctuations of the car.

But I don’t care about this. Although I rarely ride cars on the Korean battlefield, after several years of training on the battlefield, I will not be unable to bear this little bit of pain.

The car staggered all the way to the train station. As soon as the car stopped, the soldiers jumped down the car one by one as if they were on the battlefield.

I jumped out of the car and looked around, and couldn't help but be stunned. The train station was full of soldiers in military uniforms, and there were so many people that they could not see at first sight. Some were queuing, some were transporting equipment and ammunition to the train, and some were hiking into the carriage row by row. There were whistles and commands everywhere, and there were even several troops singing military songs loudly. Behind the two trains there was a truck carrying tanks, cannons, and cars...

The soldiers were all stunned when they saw this scene. From joining the army to now, they have only stayed in the recruit camp. The soldiers they have seen are at most thousands of soldiers, and the equipment they have seen is the rifles, submachine guns and machine guns in their hands. How could they have seen so many soldiers, such "magnificent" heavy weapons?

Perhaps it was because of the strength of the troops that were felt from these tanks, cannons and so many soldiers at the railway station, so the atmosphere of the soldiers quickly became active.

"Hey, look! We have so many cannons and tanks!" The first person to speak was Shunzi, who couldn't hide his words: "Look at the cannon barrels, they are thicker than their legs. And those tanks! With these things, we don't need to be afraid of the Vietnamese devils!"

"I look at it too!" Wu Haiguo next to him answered, "What are the abilities of the Vietnamese devils? We have so many troops and so many weapons, why are we afraid of them doing?"

"Yes! Let's teach those surviving Japanese a lesson!"

...

The soldiers discussed with one left and one right, and their tone was more or less full of optimism.

Upon hearing this, I couldn't help but look at the people in my hometown, and each shook my head secretly. The soldiers had this idea because they had never seen the world. Both the people and the people in my hometown knew very well that the Vietnamese army was much higher than ours in terms of weapons and equipment and personnel quality. If it were just the few people and equipment in front of me, then there would be no need to fight this battle.

However, my hometown and I have a tacit understanding and do not point it out. It is better to give the soldiers some courage first, which can at least reduce their fear to a certain extent and build up their confidence in the enemy. If you really want to point out, wait until you reach the border!

"gather!"

The order came down soon, and we waited quietly in two rows in a row, in a row, in a shape of a character. After more than ten minutes, an old train stopped in front of us, panting like an old cow. The steam ejected was enough to compete with the smoke bombs of the US military, wrapping us all tightly.

"Get on the bus!"

With a command, the soldiers pulled out the team and walked onto the train. As soon as they boarded the train, they smelled a strong smell of disinfectant. It was obviously just disinfected. Then they looked closely... Oh my God! This is also called a train, empty and nothing, just a few dozen straw mats were flat on both sides. The visible things were a horse lantern hanging in the middle and a wooden barrel at the bottom of the carriage. At first I didn't know what the wooden barrel was used for, but I quickly knew its purpose - that was the side station!

I just found a seat by the window to sit down, and the train slowly started. The soldiers also found the right seat one by one and put down their backpacks and rifles. Although the carriage was much more closed than the car, the soldiers were in a much better mood than when they were riding in the car. Many people gathered on a few windows and looked out the windows, and from time to time they would make a few awesome surprises:

"Look, another train! This car is full of cannons!"

"There are quite a few tanks! I think there are more tanks! Even if we can't drive tanks, we can hide behind the tank and fight!"

...

Maybe the soldiers are not unaware of the situation of the Vietnamese army. In the past few decades, China has supported Vietnam and resisted France and resisted the United States. So many people know that the Vietnamese army has fought against the top people, the French, and the Americans. They are elite soldiers who have fought for decades of war, and what about us? They are recruits who have only been trained for more than two months... From this point of view, I am really not very confident! I used to watch the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam in textbooks and documentaries. It seems that our army captured Lang San, the important position of the Vietnamese army, in ruins. But now when I really stand in this position, I realize that maybe the fact is not that simple.

"Teacher!" Shunzi leaned against me with a gun in his arms.

"I'm still calling the instructor? I'm calling the platoon leader!" another soldier interrupted.

"Yes, yes... the platoon leader! I haven't changed my words now..." Shunzi smiled and said, "Plane leader, speaking of it... we have to thank you!"

"What do you thank me?" I was a little confused by Shunzi's words.

"Thank you for training us during this period!" Shunzi replied: "If this is what the people in my hometown are like..."

Speaking of this, Shunzi couldn't help but stop, glanced secretly around, and then continued: "If the people in my hometown are not nearby, we will only walk in a straight line when we go to the battlefield and fold the quilts. We don't know how they die!"

"Shunzi is right!" Al Ziri interrupted: "Last night I talked with fellow villagers in the company for a long time. When it comes to our training period, they envied us. We still have some confidence, but they have nothing left and have a great chance of survival!"

"To be honest! At first I blamed the platoon leader!" Some soldiers also interrupted, "At that time, I was wondering whether the platoon leader had a grudge against us, and tried every means to punish us. Now I understand!"

...

I smiled without comment. To be honest, sometimes I really don’t know whether it is better to train them or not to train them! Shunzi is right. After training, they will indeed be of higher quality and have a greater chance of survival on a single battlefield. But what he didn’t expect was that if he performed well on the battlefield, there will be more and more dangerous tasks soon. I have deeply experienced this after fighting in the Korean War.

"Go to sleep!" I lay down on the straw mat and said coldly: "It's been a long time since I reached my goal! Comrades didn't sleep well last night, so now I'm fully energetic!"

"Yes!" the soldiers responded and dispersed.

The soldiers didn't sleep all night last night, and they drank a lot of alcohol just now. Maybe they were really sleepy, but they lay down and snoreeded in a while. Only the one who was the first to yell to sleep couldn't fall asleep. The "clang" sounds made by the wheels of the military line when they came into contact with the railroad tracks, and the comrades who died beside me appeared in my mind again.

My original intention was to save them and to take them out of the battlefield alive, but the result was exactly the opposite. They eventually fell to me one by one.

Maybe! I didn't save their lives!

Objectively speaking, I sacrificed after I let them suffer more and struggle. What I used to get is the lives of more other warriors. If they realized this, I don’t know if they would thank me or hate me more!

And now, the same thing is happening to me again, should I do it like before?

I am obviously not wrong with my approach. I exchanged less sacrifices for more people's lives. This is an addition and subtraction that even elementary school students can do. But... is this fair to them? Is it fair to me? They may not be willing to exchange their lives for others' lives, and I am not willing to look at their comrades and watch those familiar faces fall down one by one by one. And in a sense, it is me who pushed them to death...

The train goes south all the way. In fact, for me, as a road blind, I don’t know which direction the train is heading, which route it is heading, which towns it passes. I just know that the train is heading to Vietnam, so I know that it is heading to the south.

Stop on the road, sometimes because it is time to eat, the train will stay at the military station for a few minutes to get off and serve the meal, and also give us the opportunity to carry out the urine bucket that is about to be filled and cleared... Sometimes it is because we have to wait for other military trains to pass. Just like modern trains, there are also fast trains and slow trains, I think military trains also have priority, and the recruits in our train are the slow trains. Because once, we even stayed next to a stinking septic tank for two hours.

What's even more annoying is that the car door is not allowed to open (I guess this is because I'm worried that someone is a deserter on the road) only makes the soldiers in these cars near us complain.

Finally, we got off at another train station before dawn the next day. At that time, the sun had not come out, and it was still shrouded in a hazy fog. I don’t know if it was the steam of the train or the water vapor in the air. Before we could come, we had to quickly look at what this place, and we were loaded into the car again and drove towards the unknown.

To be honest, I don’t like this kind of marching that doesn’t know anything. My habit is to be clear and clear, even if I lose, I have to know where I lose. This gives me the feeling of fighting a battle that I don’t know anything.

But I will soon find that my concern will soon become a reality. Because as a platoon leader, especially a recruit platoon leader, I have no right to know so many high-level strategies.

Amid the roar of the car motor, the sky gradually became brighter. Looking back through the car, you could initially see a few thatched houses and farmers farming in the fields on the roadside, but gradually there was no one to see. It was quiet everywhere. There were no pedestrians on the road except our cars. The farmland on both sides was also deserted, covered with weeds half a person tall. Occasionally, a few dirty and ugly wild dogs would run past the roadside and bark at our convoy.

"Have you reached the border?" someone asked. But no one answered. Everyone felt this tense atmosphere, but no one knew the answer.

Some soldiers were still holding guns nervously, looking out of the car with their heads and heads, as if they were worried about whether Vietnamese would suddenly emerge from both sides of the road and attack us. But I knew they didn't need to worry at all, because they didn't even send bullets to us at this time! Even if the superiors don't pay attention to our new recruits, they won't put the convoy in such danger!

And I also know that the destination should be coming soon, because we haven't had breakfast until now. Obviously, the superiors wanted us to rush to the destination and have breakfast.

Sure enough, more than half an hour later, the convoy drove into a military camp, which was also red brick and tile house, but the houses seemed to be newly built, which can be seen from the color of the bricks. As soon as the car in front stopped, the soldiers in the car jumped out of the car and lined up in the square. So when the car we were in arrived, we didn't know which row it had been lined up. The black piece in front was full of military caps, and there was a wooden podium in front!

Just as I was secretly touching my stomach that was so hungry that I was wondering why I wasn't having a meal yet, several cadres with four pockets on their military uniforms walked to the podium. The soldiers of this era wore 78-type military uniforms, and there were only three pockets on the military uniforms, two on the armed belt and one on the left chest. And the cadres from the company commander to the commander all had four pockets, that is, one on the right chest. So when we saw those cadres walking on the stage, we didn't know what they were, we only knew that they were cadres! Later we learned that the leader was the commander of our division.

"Comrades!" the commander shouted in a sonorous voice to the microphone in front of him: "You are about to go to the front line. The time for you to shed blood and sacrifice for the motherland, the time for the motherland to test you, the time for the motherland to watch you make contributions, and the time for the people to see you defend your homeland!"

The division commander's words were like a bomb, causing a storm in the recruits' queue. Although the soldiers had guessed before that this trip was to head to the front line and head to the battlefield, they were still a little unacceptable to it after finally getting confirmation from the division commander.

The new soldiers responded inconsistently. Some stood dumbly and didn't respond. Some looked around and seemed to find a place to find a place to go. Some squatted on the ground regardless of everything and cried: "Mom! The child is unfilial!"

The cadres were understanding and walked down the podium to pat the crying soldiers and said, "Comrades, cry as much as you want! Now that you have enough cry, you will bleed less on the battlefield!"

With the encouragement of the cadres, the soldiers burst into tears. But only our company was fine. I took the time to look around and only Shunzi and a few were secretly wiping their tears. The others were still standing with guns in their hands.

I think this may be the reason why we have cried enough in the recruit camp! A man cried once, that is his true nature, and crying for the second time, that is a coward!

This made our company stand firmly in the middle of the team like a crane standing out from the crowd, which naturally attracted the attention of those cadres. But what surprised me was that I originally thought the division commander would come over and ask, but he didn't. He just looked at the direction of the people in his hometown and nodded slightly to express his approval.
Chapter completed!