Chapter 9 Episode Nine

The gunpowder smoke cleared on the road shelled by the Vietnamese army.The comrades carried the stretcher.Tong Chuan and courier Xiao Huang had already wiped the face of the sacrificed driver with water from the jug.Tong Chuan gently covered the martyrs with a white sheet.It seemed that he was afraid of waking up the comrade who had closed his eyes forever. Tong Chuan: "Where are you going to send it?" "Send it directly to the tomb of the martyrs." "Little Huang, let's send off the martyrs..." "Oh—okay. Maybe the Vietnamese army fired artillery to block them, and the people we pick up won't come." Xiao Huang spoke very cleverly.

"She shouldn't have come. There are no women on the battlefield." Yes, that's what a writer said.Is Jiang Man considered a woman?Xiao Huang didn't dare to ask.But, "Deputy Battalion Commander, what should the chief ask?" "What nonsense? Didn't we go down the mountain and wait all the time? Let's go, let's send off the martyrs..." They carried the martyrs into the army-green van, and no one spoke anymore.The car drove to the martyrs' cemetery near the county seat. Duansonggang, where the tomb of the martyrs is located, is adjacent to the small county town.The majestic gate is built of granite, and stone steps are built from the gate to the top of the mountain.The comrades who died in the battle in 1979 are resting on both sides of the stone steps. Marble tombstones are erected, engraved with their hometowns, unit numbers and names.They are forever eighteen, nineteen, twenty.From the half slope up is the new tomb, a pile of loess separates the comrades-in-arms who were alive not long ago from the living, and a temporary wooden sign is erected in front of the new tomb of the martyrs, the ink is still fresh.Further up is the dug grave, which is empty, and it makes every soldier who comes here clearly understand that the word "death" is real.There are wreaths in front of almost every tomb, and some have burnt cigarettes, paper ashes, candy, and empty wine bottles, which are traces of people paying homage to the dead.The short pine whimpered in the wind.In front of the tomb of the martyrs, several young students silently counted the tombstones.

Tong Chuan stands in front of the tomb of a martyr who died five years ago. There is a bouquet of plastic flowers in front of the tomb.This bouquet has been here for some time.Traces of rain erosion can be seen.The names of the people who came to pay homage to the martyrs—Jiang Man and Lin Xiaolin—were written on the white ribbon, and the handwriting was somewhat blurred. There are seven words engraved on the tombstone: Tomb of Martyr Lin Dalin. On the top of the marble tablet, there is a portrait of Dalin inlaid. Dalin, Dalin! ... Tong Chuan silently called his dead friend's name, and before his eyes was that serious and lively face again, his bright little eyes were blinking again, and Dalin's voice was roaring again...

Five years ago, the dawn of the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam five years ago still seems like what happened yesterday... "Who else can swim?" This is the third time that deputy company commander Lin Dalin asked his company. Tong Chuan had declared twice that he could swim, but this time he hesitated a little. In the valley is the tranquility before dawn, so peaceful that one feels that something is about to happen. In another forty minutes, the shelling will begin, the general offensive will begin. The war gave Tong Chuan a chance to wash away his shame with blood.The Beijing Military Region where he is located wants to recruit some soldiers to the front line. Tong Chuan wrote a blood letter requesting to join the war.He finally got his wish, finally got on the stuffy tank truck transporting troops, and finally set foot on the land on the Yunnan-Vietnam border.Here, before Tong Chuan even had time to taste the air in the subtropical jungle, he was immediately assigned to the company as a digital presence.Standing in front of them were nine company-level cadres, each assigned a "seven" or "eight".The newly recruited soldiers were cut into several small sections and received by unfamiliar company commanders.It was the moment when the chaotic sunset was about to sink, and the evening fog quietly floated out from the valley.Tong Chuan's new commander, the company commander, was introducing himself when Lin Dalin, who was next to him to receive his "combat strength", recognized him.

Tong Chuan avoided the man's provocative gaze, but that gaze penetrated straight into his heart, without any intention of keeping it. Lin Dalin actually walked over! Listen to what he said? "Unexpectedly, just two months later, we met on the battlefield." What's the meaning? ——The enemy’s road is narrow? Tong Chuan didn't answer. Lin Dalin said to the company commander: "Hey, old man, give me this soldier, and I'll change it for you." "You know each other?" "know!" The words came out through gritted teeth. "We are still from Beijing!"

Dalin's white face flickered, and Dalin returned to his soldiers.A soldier obeyed the order and ran here, and Tong Chuan also ran to Dalin. Dalin took his own people and left first. What is this for?Called jealousy to the battlefield?This time, you're welcome, he's going to give you a "little glass shoe" to wear - in this life and death arena.Tong Chuan's heart was obviously very heavy, as if it had been squeezed by a big hand, it shrank, and immediately, the blood rushed faster.Anyway, it was a distraction, and I didn't expect to go back when I went to the battlefield.The company commander will give you a chance to make meritorious deeds.Yes, Tong Chuan thought.

Six of the seven fighters who arrived reported their names, and Lin Dalin shook hands with all six of them. It was Tong Chuan's turn. Dalin glanced at him contemptuously, turned his face away, and said, "Hurry up and recognize the cadres of the company platoon." Now, the sky will break.The whole company assembled at the starting point, waiting to cross the river.Deputy company commander Lin Dalin will choose a "sailor" to swim with him first, and then pull the rubber boat to ferry the whole company to the opposite bank and attack the enemy's position on the opposite mountain.

"Who can swim?" Dalin asked for the third time. "Report to the deputy company commander, I can! I have trained in the Beijing Amateur Sports School." Tong Chuan replied for the third time and added a reason. Lin Dalin cast his eyes sideways on Tong Chuan's face. He was both contemptuous and dissatisfied, and he roared, "What are you asking and answering? What are you calling? This is not a free market. What's so great about Beijing? What's so great about an amateur sports school? , What are the questions and what are the answers, do you hear me?"

"Yes. I heard you." All the soldiers in the company were surprised, what happened to the deputy company commander?How to roar like thunder for no reason?Perhaps pre-war jitters?No, Tong Chuan knew that there were complicated elements and painful emotions mixed in this roar.Finding faults is because there are already contradictions.He didn't argue with the deputy company commander, he was patient, and patience was his forte.The company commander came over and muttered something to Lin Dalin, who roared again: "Tong Chuan, come out!" dequeue. Lin Dalin didn't make another sound, turned his head and got naked.

Tong Chuan also quickly took off his military uniform. It was the war that bound him to him! Just as they took off their military uniforms and all their cares and fetters, and were about to run to the river, the officer of the propaganda department of the regiment shouted, "Da Lin!" Deputy company commander Lin turned his head, and the camera flashed , leaving a glimpse of history. Tong Chuan was not interested in this, and ran towards the river beach without looking back. When we got to the river, no one said a word.Just as Tong Chuan was about to jump into the river, Da Lin grabbed his arm and swung him back.

"Use the urine, wipe your body, and prevent a cold." Probably he realized the narrowness just now. "No need." "Stop rambling." Tong Chuan had no choice but to obey.The two of them wiped their bodies with urine and jumped into the cold February river.They seem to have intentionally kept a horizontal distance, and opened up the gap. The water is about one foot deep, and the water is bitingly cold.They finally swam over, silently pulling the towing rope of the rubber boat they brought with them, and silently pulling the company across the river. When the last batch of soldiers were about to land, the shelling began!Half of the sky is like a red-hot furnace, and the sound of cannons is deafening.The sound of the waves of the Manwen River was submerged, and the river water seemed to be boiling, flashing red waves.The smell of gunpowder reached saturation in an instant.The world seems to be turned upside down, and the river beach and pebbles under my feet are also beating.An excitement he had never experienced before made Tong Chuan forget the boundary between life and death.Any hardships and pains in life in the past have become insignificant and completely cut off at this moment.All that's left is the desire to charge into battle. At the beginning, the soldiers also inserted their daggers into the river beach to test whether the enemy had planted landmines.After the bombardment began, the company flooded ashore like a tide, and launched a surprise attack on the high ground by the river. Fight, shock. Shock, fight... The battlefield tests and changes the relationships between people.In front of the "Reaper", comrades will hold hands tightly, and several lives will form a life to resist.At the same time, every soldier's contempt for "death" is also the support of the companions who fight side by side.The contradictions, frictions, and even competitions in life in the past have been forgotten and retreated in the fierce battle.Whoever tries to explain the misunderstandings of the past at such a time will appear petty and inappropriate.Tong Chuan clearly remembered that when they were attacking the highland on the other side of the Manwen River, they were pressed down on the hillside by the firepower from the bunker of the Vietnamese army, unable to lift their heads.Deputy company commander Lin organized fire cover and ordered the three of them to occupy favorable terrain in the gaps between machine gun bullets and use rocket launchers to destroy the enemy's firepower.Veterans have jokingly said: Even the chief has a "life and death book" in his hand, and he knows who will be given the "glorious" chance first and who will die first.Tong Chuan went up.As a person who committed the crime of "manslaughter", he had long made up his mind to choose the ending of fighting to make up for his fault.Like "Desperate Saburo", he recklessly rushed to a slightly higher place and was about to aim, but Lin Dalin pulled him down the slope from above, and fell down even with the bazooka. Dalin caught him. Lin Dalin: "Looking for death!" Tong Chuan: "I don't want to go back alive!" At this very moment, Dalin pushed him down again, with an attitude that seemed to be sternly teaching him a lesson, rude and overbearing.Immediately, a shell landed close to the two of them, and the shrapnel swept away the fallen leaves and branches in the jungle, and the earth and rocks smashed them all over... When Tong Chuan raised his head in the smoke and flames, Tong Chuan saw that the shooting position he had just chosen was completely different. Exposed to enemy fire, the left side is bare and unobstructed, the right side is a slope, and the back is barbed wire.He did not choose to retreat. He did nothing.The firepower was knocked down by the monitor of Tong Chuan's class - at the cost of his life. The blood of his comrades made Tong Chuan crazy.When they seized the high ground and rushed to a civilian house once occupied by the Vietnamese army, the comrade-in-arms who had made up with Tong Chuan fell under the sound of shell explosions. Tong Chuan rushed over and hugged the bloody man, but the comrade-in-arms did not say a word died in his arms.He became red-eyed, picked up the submachine gun, and shot aimlessly at the empty houses, shooting at that door, that window, that wall, and that tile. Lin Dalin came up from the flanks and grabbed his hot, vibrating gun. The gunfire stopped abruptly. The entire army is developing in depth. Tong Chuan sat on a rock, Lin Dalin also sat on a rock, "Tong Chuan, you think you are very brave, don't you? Maybe you even think of yourself as a 'character'. In my opinion, it's only 'two hundred and five' at best. It's not easy to die? Some are guns—but what's the point of that?" ?” "I don't want to go back alive." "Your parents sent you to be a soldier, not to die!" "You are wrong, I have no father or mother since I was a child!" "Ah..." Dalin's eyes softened. silence. Dalin threw a cigarette over. smokes. Dalin: "You have been sentenced? Why?" "The gun went off." "Oh……" For the first time, Lin Dalin looked at Tong Chuan without resentment or disgust, and looked at that rough long face.Then he turned his head again and said in a low voice: "For this, she has been taking care of you?" "No. When I was in prison, I cut off all communication with her." Lin Dalin didn't ask any more questions.He seemed a little guilty, guilty because he dragged these things that shouldn't be dragged at this time.He smoked hard into his lungs and stood up. Tong Chuan said: "Deputy company commander, I—hope to make amends and earn the title of martyr—give me a chance." Lin Dalin: "I don't want to see anyone in the company die. Of course, when it's time to die, you and I won't hesitate - for example, if you need to go to Rolling Thunder, to block the hole of the gun, for example, when you may be captured, you would rather die Don't be a prisoner, it's still possible to keep a bullet for yourself-but, Tong Chuan, if you can live, you still have to live. We all have a lot of regrets. We could have kept ourselves, but died with regrets, wouldn't it What's more regrettable? Living can at least make the rear one less person who comes to serve as a soldier, and one more soldier who penetrates and attacks... Regardless of life or death, it's just three words-it's worth it." However, with the regrets of his life, he died forever... Tong Chuan stood in front of the martyr's tomb for a long time. The past flashed back in my mind and faded away.He clearly knew that this was the "camp" of the martyrs, and that Lin Dalin had died, but he clearly remembered that it was the fourth day after swimming across the Manwen River.The company broke up on the way to penetrate in depth.Fighting in the subtropical mountains and jungles is really like falling into the "Tianmen Zhen".In the secret passage of Mingbao, all exposed firepower have been knocked out, but there are still countless caves and earth caves among the dense jungle and the cliffs with strange rocks.Most of them hide light and heavy weapons and sufficient ammunition, and enemies appear and disappear from time to time. The battles of "Dig Out" are tough, dangerous, and grueling.The battles are sporadic and extremely cruel, making people's spirits always in a state of extreme tension—a state of nervousness.After several small battles, the company's concentrated combat strength was less than one-third.Everyone only knows that the deputy company commander Lin Dalin's leg was injured by a landmine, he was bandaged and waited for evacuation, but he disappeared. Tong Chuan went to look for Deputy Company Commander Lin. God gloomyly wrung out the water, and couldn't tell the direction, and Tong Chuan himself lost his way.He looked at himself and could imagine how bad Dalin's situation was.He had been starving for two days, and his long, smoky, bullet-bruised face was disfigured, and his cheekbones were starved.The bell-like eyes are obvious, but the whites of the eyes are also full of blood.The most unbearable thing is no water to drink.The pools in the mountains and jungles were all poisoned by the Vietnamese army.Although he could still eat plantain cores while staggering and running, and smashed the bamboo to absorb the moisture in the bamboo belly, his lips were still cracked and bloody.His mouth was so dry that he couldn't open it, and his throat was already blistered with blood.He hangs his submachine gun upside down, and his blood-splattered military uniform is disheveled. He is an out-and-out "tired soldier".It's hard to imagine the condition of Lin Dalin, whose leg was seriously injured, even if Tong Chuan's physique like a bullock was weak. He stared and stared in a daze for a long time in the mountains. Finally, when he rolled, slid, and climbed a mountain to the foot of the mountain, he saw Dalin's blood-stained military cap and two unfinished plantain cores.Looking forward along the overwhelmed grass, flattened scorched earth and bloodstains, Tong Chuan was horrified—— What is Dalin doing? On the ramp a hundred meters away, there is a Soviet-made tank lying across it, it belongs to the Vietnamese army!The tank had been blasted black and lost its ability to fight.Lin Dalin was obviously too hungry to bear it, and crawled close to the tank bleeding all the way.Veterans know that there is always food and water hidden in tanks.Regardless of whether the tank that was blown up belongs to the enemy or us, and no matter who the enemy or us encounters this thing, they would rather take a risk and loot it, and they will never be empty-handed.Lin Dalin's hands touched the cold iron teeth of the track. He struggled to grab the track and dragged himself to the side and rear of the tank, trying to stand up with the help of the track and climb up. At that very moment, a pair of furry hands and a helmeted hat protruded from under the tank! The Vietnamese army is hiding under the tank! Apparently, the Vietnamese army spotted Lin Dalin when he turned to the back of the tank and was waiting for him.The first thing the Vietnamese army saw must have been the useless leg wrapped in bloody bandages.The hands of the Vietnamese army immediately grabbed Lin Dalin's injured leg, intending to drag Dalin under the tank. What Tong Chuan saw was this astonishing scene. He heard the yelling of the Vietnamese army, and saw another helmet emerge from under the tank.Lin Dalin's body slumped on the track, grasping the iron teeth with both hands, holding on, holding on, and refusing to let go. His injured leg was dragged, and only the flesh and broken bones were torn apart. He was in pain. It was extremely painful, and what was even more painful was that he, Lin Dalin, was about to become a prisoner!This is also the purpose of the Vietnamese army dragging him.Tong Chuan panicked at this moment - if he exposed himself and ran over a hundred meters away to rescue, the Vietnamese army would drag Da Lin to run and resist at the same time.If he shoots, then the Vietnamese army hiding under the tank may kill Lin Dalin! "Deputy company commander!" He yelled out loudly! Lin Dalin turned his bandaged head back at this moment, but his hand still held on to the iron teeth—this was his only ability to "resist". "Shoot—ah—!" What?What is he shouting for?shot?Who to shoot at? "Shoot - shoot at me -!" This roar burst out from Dalin's heart, shaking in the mountains and valleys.He can't be a prisoner, this idea is enough to support him to bravely ask Tong Chuan to shoot a bullet into his chest.Other than that, he lost any abilities.At this moment, the traditional integrity of the nation is all condensed in a roar.Of course, when he is completely incapable of resisting, even if he is captured and has not humiliated the country, who will hate him?But he didn't want to be captured, he couldn't be led by the enemy with a rope, and he couldn't wear this national defense green to become a prisoner in the enemy camp.cannot!This roar also contains the character and temperament of Dalin's generation.He willingly and impatiently begged his comrades to kill him. This ending was much better than being a prisoner. But, but, how could Tong Chuan point his gun at the deputy company commander?He trembled.There is no need to recall at all, he and his deputy company commander stood facing each other to understand the relationship between each other-he was his deputy company commander, and he once regarded him as an emotional "enemy".He, Tong Chuan, once brought regret and pain to Lin Dalin, and the knot between them has not yet been resolved.Tong Chuan once killed one of his own people because of a gun misfire. Can he shoot at the deputy company commander a second time when he is fully conscious and the gun in his hand is fully conscious?However, this was the last order given to him by the deputy company commander after all!He couldn't just watch the deputy company commander become a prisoner!He clearly saw Lin Dalin's half-turned face. The upper part of the face was covered with bandages and was covered with blood. Those small eyes burst out with orders and pleas.The outline of the deputy company commander drew an arc in Tong Chuan's eyes, shaking unsteadily.Tong Chuan's eyes were blurred, his hands were shaking, and the muzzle of the submachine gun he was holding was tilted downwards. The patient soldier endured to the limit. His nerves could not stand the strong stimulation, and he almost fainted. His nerves were shocked again in an instant—— "shot!" The sound changed from strong to weak, from bursting out with full force to squeezed out between teeth, Lin Dalin couldn't hold it anymore, his hand was slipping off the track, slipping down. Tong Chuan let out a long hiss of "Ah—" and his face was full of tears. The submachine gun in his hand rang out, and he shot towards the sky instead of Dalin. "Da da da da..." The two Vietnamese soldiers were stunned.If they understood Lin Dalin's roar, they were intimidated by the integrity of the Chinese army; if they didn't understand, they suddenly felt that they were at a disadvantage under the tank and were frightened.The Vietnamese army scattered Dalin, and Dalin collapsed beside the tank.The enemy escaped from under the tank, used the tank as a cover, and shot at the Chinese soldiers who fired.They were originally defeated, but now they don't know how many surprise soldiers came from the other side, and they fought and retreated, and they didn't forget to shoot Lin Dalin again when they were done. The gunshots summoned two other soldiers looking for Dalin. Tong Chuan crazily charged towards the tank, and the submachine gun kept firing.However, most of the shots hit the steel armor of the tank, the sky, and the ground. The Viet Cong escaped. Lin Dalin was lying in a pool of blood, and he was shot again in the arm. ... Tong Chuan remembered that after he bandaged the deputy company commander Lin Dalin, he only found a can of hot and sour vegetables and two bones of salted fish from the tank.The compressed biscuits and canned braised pork were all eaten by the two Vietnamese soldiers under the tank.Dalin was still awake after the bandage, but because of injuries to his arms, legs, and head, he lost too much blood and couldn't even crawl.Tong Chuan divided the two fishbone into three equal parts, and the three of them chewed them separately, and at the same time opened a can of hot and sour vegetables, and fed them to Da Lin.It's hard to feel a fishbone stuck in a mouth that is so dry and blistering, but the deputy company commander who was seriously injured only ate pickled cucumbers, and the feeling in his heart was even more sad! Dalin shook his head and refused to eat: "You guys eat!" "We ate, look—" Tong Chuan tried his best to chew the fishbone into pieces, and the spines stuck on his cheeks and gums, bleeding from the pricks, and he swallowed it with a crunch. "You guys also eat some canned food—it's over, carry me back." "Yes. Deputy company commander." "I was lucky...but you were wrong for not shooting at me just now. It was a fluke that I was alive." Could it be that he didn't admit that Tong Chuan saved him?No, it's not. "Eat something... let's go. I want to go to our side. Go back, I'll be fine..." Tong Chuan understood the meaning of these words - he wanted to live!Tong Chuan could hear Dalin's throat rumbling, he swallowed the pickle whole, closed his eyes for a while, and when he opened them again, he was already on his way.Da Lin lay on Tong Chuan's shoulder, and Tong Chuan felt his breath was weak and hot.Dalin whispered in his ear: "Tong Chuan, after the war, I'll give you leave. Go back and have a look, you should treat her well...!" She, of course, refers to Jiang Man. These were Dalin's last words to him. Since then, Dalin has been in a coma. "Deputy company commander! Deputy company commander! Tong Chuan, the deputy company commander..." Dalin is dead.Swallowed a pickle before dying. Carrying, he is still carrying Dalin.Carrying it silently, walking back... Tong Chuan remembered that he had carried Dalin across the border, all the way to the cobblestone river beach he had crossed while swimming.When he went to pull the rubber boat, he became dizzy and fell into the water... Yes, now we have come to the Manwen River again. He finally brought Dalin back. He, Tong Chuan, walked forward again...