Chapter 34 Chapter 30 The Female Stretcher Bearer

At this point, the battle for the Mercury Building was completely over.Of the more than 500 enemy soldiers who crossed the river, one of them never released him. In addition to being shot dead by our army, he was also captured alive by three soldiers including Hideo Suzuki, a first-class soldier in the 68th regiment of the enemy's third division. Cao Shanbenzheng, the first class four of the 133rd Regiment of the 16th Division, captured 18 light and heavy machine guns, 140 rifles, and other items such as military flag documents.Master Yu Chengwan patrolled the position for about ten minutes, and really encouraged the brothers below the head of the regiment before returning to the division headquarters.

The enemy suffered this loss and felt that the fifty-seventh division defending the city was really an army that would not be easily shaken, so they decided to deal with Changde City fundamentally and bombed it indiscriminately.Less than half an hour after the battle in the Mercury Building ended, more than 20 enemy planes were already in the air.They formed a formation of four or three and flew around the city at a low level. When they saw a higher house, they dropped the incendiary bombs and bombs at the same time.In particular, the city circle in the northeast corner was severely burned, and clusters of flames shot straight into the sky with the sound of explosions.The enemy troops on the outskirts aimed at the place where the flames were fierce, and bombarded them with dense shells.Today, the enemies outside the East Gate gathered twenty-seven or eight cannons in response to the battle at the Mercury Tower, and fired at the street outside the East Gate in a continuous manner.The joint sound of clattering and booming, like Jiao Lei when the storm is coming, rises from the ground, one after another.

The one in charge of defense here is still Meng Jidong's second battalion of the 169th Regiment.The battalion command post faces east from Sisuo Street.The enemy's advancing troops approached the rock bridge. The long-distance mortar shells shot at the houses on the street. The southeast corner, and the artillery fire in the southeast corner was shot against the wind.So the fire blocked the fire, and the smoke blocked the smoke. The area around the Northeast City was completely dark and completely shrouded in smoke.Cheng Jianren, who was ordered to supervise the battle, spent a day and a night in the small bunker with Commander Meng.

At 3:00 pm on the 25th, I received a call from the division commander and went back to the division headquarters to wait for orders.On the street full of smog and sulfur smell, he led his orderly Wang Biao, and walked to the east gate in a daze, but he saw several ordinary people rushing forward carrying wounded soldiers and stretchers.Among them was a young man in blue cloth shorts with a peaked cap covering his forehead.Looking at the lower part of the face, he felt very familiar. The young man nodded, but also gave himself a wry smile, but walked over quickly, so he didn't care about it.Entering the Dadongmen, passing through a post-explosion fire scene, soldiers, ordinary people, and police combined with 20 or 30 people are demolishing several houses in the downwind.Unconsciously, he let out a sigh and said, "Didn't all the policemen in the city leave with County Magistrate Dai?"

Wang Biao said: "Maybe there are some who don't want to leave?" The two men stood still and took stock, when a policeman, covered in soot, passed by with an ax in hand. Wang Biao looked at him and said, "Hey! Comrade, you didn't leave?" The policeman said: "We left, but we came back again." He saw Cheng Jianren was an officer, and stood upright to salute. Cheng Jianren asked, "Why are you back again?" The policeman said: "We followed Magistrate Dai out from the west gate. We encountered the enemy within ten miles. Magistrate Dai led us to charge over and fought hand-to-hand with the enemy for a while. More than forty of us were a little behind and were captured by the enemy. The enemy on the side of the road blocked us with machine guns and couldn't rush forward, so we had to retreat. We went to the division headquarters to meet the division commander. The division commander asked us if we would like to join the battle. All of us were willing to join the battle. The division commander praised us for a while , let us take a day off first and stay in the police station. But we can’t be idle, this afternoon, all of us will come out to fight the fire, and probably tomorrow we can be assigned to your army to fight.”

Cheng Jianren said: "The police joined the battle. This is a rare event in the history of the Anti-Japanese War. In Changde, everyone has fulfilled their responsibility to defend the city. If the Chinese were like the soldiers and civilians in Changde, the Japanese would have died a long time ago. Just stop." The policeman was overjoyed when he heard this, and embraced his face, his eyebrows flickered at the same time, he couldn't help but raised his empty hand with a thumb, and said with a smile: " This is entirely due to your tigers, not for you in Changde, the common people would not be able to stand up to this."

Cheng Jianren said: "Having said that, it all depends on everyone's unity. Look at the county magistrate Dai, he is not from my Huben. He is not our division commander. If he is asked to meet the reinforcements, he really won't leave. I forgot to ask In a word, did he break through the enemy's blockade?" The policeman said: "I probably rushed over there. The ax is waiting to be used there. Goodbye!" He then gave another military salute and left. As Cheng Jianren walked, he also said to himself: "The Chinese nation with such a long cultural history is by no means a nation that cannot resist foreign aggression. The problem is only with those who lead the people and stand far and near with them."

He was walking with such estimates, but someone beside him called Mr. Cheng softly. When he saw it, there was a young man standing at the entrance of the alley, wearing a blue cotton padded jacket and trousers, and a gray wool peaked cap on his head. This is the young man carrying the stretcher.He is indeed an acquaintance, who is it? Startled for a while, just looked at him.The man raised his hand and lifted his hat, revealing a short black hair. Cheng Jian couldn't help but said, "Miss Liu Jingyuan, why are you dressed like this?" She couldn't help but her face darkened, and there were two tears in her eyes, almost rolling down her eyes.She said slowly: "My father passed away in the Catholic Church the day before yesterday. I couldn't find the coffin. I just made a box with some wooden boards and buried it in the open ground outside the Catholic Church." When she spoke, she finally couldn't hold back her tears. , A few lines of water quickly hung on her face and cheeks, and she immediately raised her sleeve to wipe it off.

Cheng Jianren said, "That's really a little wronged." Ms. Liu said: "Actually, I don't dare to say I am wronged. The blood and blood of the soldiers fighting on the front line is greater than my father's sacrifice. However, I think from the standpoint of a Chinese, I should not let you The soldiers went desperately. Originally, I had a sick old father and had to be with him. Now that he has passed away, I live in a Catholic church for refuge. I consider myself an incompetent old and weak person, which is self-defeating. So I asked someone for this outfit, cut my hair short, and automatically joined the civilian stretcher team outside the east gate."

Cheng Jianren couldn't help but nodded deeply to her and said: "Miss Liu, you are so brave, you... I admire you so much, but if you don't do this, you can't be regarded as giving up on yourself." She said: "I don't really have the courage. To be honest, the enemy forced it out. Do you think the enemy's shells and bombs are falling like rain day and night, and the Spanish flag on the roof of the Catholic Church can be safe?" ?Instead of sitting there waiting to die, I might as well come out and do something, but..." With a forced smile on the corner of her mouth, she continued, "Your army has already found out that I am a woman. They are kind enough to persuade me Don't go outside the city. Although they didn't say it, I knew it was inconvenient for a single woman. They also said that there might be more women in the city, and they asked me to invite them to form an ambulance team in the city. , that's what I'd like to do. But when I get to the city, all I see are soldiers."

Wang Biao saw it from the side, and he also admired it from the bottom of his heart, but it was inconvenient to rush to speak in the middle of Staff Officer Cheng. At this time, he interjected: "There are ordinary people, and there are also women." This question immediately triggered Cheng Jianren's plan, because he said with a smile: "Miss Liu, there are indeed women in the city. As an orderly, I have relatives who live not far from here. If Miss Liu is willing, I will let him guide you." Go, you live in the city, if you want to take care of the wounded soldiers, if you want to take up other duties, you can do whatever you want." Ms. Liu said: "Is there really such a place? That's great. To be honest, there is no safe place in and outside the city. I definitely don't want to come to the city for safety. After my father passed away, There is nothing wrong with it, I have put life and death aside, but I don't want to die in vain, I will always ask for a little price for my little blood. A woman pretending to be a man was discovered, I don't care if I am alone in the line of fire, anyway If you die, it may cause some inconvenience to the warriors. If you can find a few female comrades in the city and work together, it will be easy to do well." Cheng Jianren said: "Ms. Liu's enthusiasm, I will definitely find a way to fulfill you. At least our field hospital needs enthusiastic people like you. It is the best thing if you can invite lesbians. Otherwise, Ms. Liu A person is also very welcome in the hospital. Wang Biao, I will go back to the division headquarters, and you send Miss Liu to your relatives. If your relatives are willing to join her in the field hospital with her, that would be better than working in the city or outside the city. Stretcher team, those are more effective. Ms. Liu, forgive me for not being able to talk to you more." In a hurry, he looked at this and then at that, explaining in two ways. Ms. Liu Jingai was very grateful for Cheng Jianren's care in this lonely environment, and without any hesitation, she reached out to shake his hand and thanked him repeatedly.Cheng Jianren shook hands with her, but he didn't show his respect for her brave admiration, he still felt that it wasn't enough, so he stood upright and raised his hands vigorously, saluting her as a military salute.After the ceremony, he immediately turned around and went to the division headquarters.After walking two or three steps, Ms. Liu called out, "Have you received Mr. Cheng's Bible?" He turned around and nodded, "Thank you, I got it." Ms. Liu smiled and said, "Congratulations on your victory, God bless you." Cheng Jianren didn't know religious etiquette, so he didn't know how to answer her, so he stood and saluted again.