War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1435 Good guy Zach

Before Wei Ran could characterize the benefits he was likely to experience next, Li Youfu had already finished taking a shower and walked out.

Seeing this, Wei Ran tore open a transparent plastic bag, took out a new pair of underwear and a towel and walked into the bathroom.

While taking a shower, he was still thinking about another piece of less important information he had just obtained from Li Youfu in the darkroom - the timeline and location.

Here and now, January 1968, 1, the US military air and sea base in Da Nang. To be more precise, it was a wonderful weekend, a great day for the Playboy Club to organize a dance show.

Of course, Wei Ran, who has already covered his whole body with foam, can be introduced in another way——

Da Nang is only half a month away from the Tet Offensive.

There was only one week and one day left in Da Nang before the Battle of Khe Sanh.

There is only a month and a half left before the number of people who are anti-war in the United States exceeds the number who support the war for the first time.

Of course, given the status it holds at this time, CBS will spend half of its news time covering the Battle of Khe Sanh in the coming period.

So it’s probably going to be the Battle of Manxi San. Wei Ran thought to himself while rinsing the foam all over his head and body.

He finished the shower as quickly as possible, and when he walked out of the bathroom wearing clean underwear, Li Youfu had already dressed and was carefully wiping the camera lens with a glasses cloth.

"Where are we going next?" Wei Ran asked expectantly as he put on a clean fourth-class uniform.

"You'll find out later"

"Clang!"

Before Li Youfu could finish his words, Zach had already opened the door and walked in, shouting hurriedly, "Quick! Get the camera! We have work!"

"I knew it!"

Wei Ran, who had expected this for a long time, muttered secretly, and then hurriedly asked before Li Youfu, "What are you filming this time?"

"I just got the news that Team T is going to go on duty at the forward base. Get everything quickly. If it's late, we'll have to wait until next month for the chance!"

While Zach was speaking, he had already taken out a key and opened the cabinet that belonged to him. He took out a pistol belt that was also full of various things and tied it around his waist.

At the same time, Li Youfu also reacted very quickly and ran to his cabinet, reached inside and pulled out a 1965 version of the lightweight backpack frame.

A large, bulging backpack is fixed on the top and bottom of this metal back frame. An obstacle-clearing knife in a scabbard is fixed horizontally on the bottom, and a MAT49 submachine gun hangs on the top.

"Are we going to the front lines?"

While Li Youfu was speaking, he and Wei Ran had already tied up the belts with various things hanging on them in no particular order.

Especially the latter, while listening to their communication, he did not forget to hang the two empty plastic water bottles in the cabinet and the 1911 pistol on his belt, and then put the lifting belt installed in advance on his back. On the back.

"Yeah, we got a week for interviews."

Zach said as he also put on his hip bag, "Take your half-frame camera, we have a lot to record. Also, Victor, if I remember correctly, can you talk?"

"You remember correctly"

Wei Ran, who was already used to it, nodded in response, took out the Minolta camera from the cabinet, and hung it around his neck along with the Nikon half-frame camera on the table.

"There is a battalion unit stationed next to the forward camp. How about we go over there and interview them?"

As Zach spoke, he also took out a Nikon Big F and a Leica M3 camera, and hung them around his neck together with a Nikon Half-Gate of the same model as the one used by Weihan.

Similarly, Li Youfu also hung the Konica half-frame camera he used to shoot Huang Jing'er around his neck, along with the same Minolta camera he took out of the cabinet and a Nikonos diving camera.

Photographers in this era must have an iron neck that would rather break than bend!

Wei Ran muttered secretly, and put on the tropical scarf that he had just washed in the shower and had not had time to dry, and then put on the bonny hat, and then responded unhurriedly, "no problem!"

"Then it's settled!"

As Zach spoke, he pulled out a 1911 pistol in a canvas holster from his cabinet. He closed the cabinet door with a clang and locked it while asking, "Forgot to ask, Troyer, those negatives?" Have you washed it out?”

“Not yet dry”

Li Youfu, who was also prepared, answered while closing and locking the surrounding windows.

"Let's talk about it when we get back. Remember to lock the door."

Before he finished speaking, Zach had already fixed the pistol and holster on his belt, and walked out one after another with Wei Ran.

When Li Youfu, who was left to lock the door in the end, caught up, the three of them had already reached the entrance of the Playboy Club. At this time, a military jeep was parked here.

However, what Wei Ran didn't expect was that the person driving the car at this time was actually the "Toothless" who had invited him to fight off.

"Hey! Victor! We meet again! It's such a pity that you didn't go to our party just now." Toothless greeted enthusiastically.

Compared with just now, he is also fully armed and ready-in addition to the medical kit, his weapons also include an M79 grenade launcher.

"Don't mention this again"

Wei Ran pretended to be sad and said, "I didn't even have time to take a look at the photos I took for you."

"Zach, you're such a bastard boss." Toothless joked with a smile.

"When this interview is over, I will arrange a blonde girl for Victor to make it up to him."

As Zach spoke, he had already asked Wei Ran to sit in the back seat of the Jeep, while Li Youfu took off the backrest earlier and sat in the passenger seat.

"How about arranging one for me then?" Toothless asked expectantly as he stepped on the accelerator.

"Come on Angus, I don't know that many girls."

Zach smiled and rejected the other party's request, and then asked without waiting for the other party to continue the topic, "Angus, how about telling us about the forward base we are going to this time?"

"Is the interview about to start now?" Toothless Angus asked in a joking tone, and then continued, "There is a company of troops stationed in that forward base. It usually does not have many combat missions. It mainly focuses on Clearance and helicopter support are the main tasks.

About two miles apart, there is another camp manned by baton soldiers, also the size of a company, mainly infantry. "

"Do you know which army the baton company belongs to?" Wei Ran asked.

"9th Infantry Division"

Angus replied with disdain, "Those poor fellows are worse than mercenaries. I heard they are always causing trouble and robbing anything they see."

"It's the white horse."

Wei Ran muttered vaguely, secretly wondering if the "kill friendly forces" in the return mission were referring to them.

It is true that the performance of this unit on the 38-degree battlefield can barely be regarded as maggots in the manure pit, with some meat.

But at this moment, whether it was Wei Ran or Angus who was driving, their inner contempt was the same, and this contempt was only because of the performance of this unit on the more difficult battlefield.

Most people know that the United States sprayed a large amount of Agent Orange on difficult battlefields, but most people don't know that the United States took the initiative to come to Vietnam, cried, shouted, knelt down and begged to fight the Vietnam War. A lot of carnage was caused on this battlefield.

Moreover, these massacres not only perfectly implemented the Japanese's Three Guangs policy, but also turned the killings caused by massacres of villages into glorious enemy kills to kill the "Vietnam Cong".

As for the reason why they massacred the village, there was no reason. The only reason was that they were defeated by the surrounding guerrillas, so they massacred the village in incompetent and furious revenge. This turned out to be the only thing they could barely do. Reasons called "reasons".

That's not right either

Wei Ran secretly shook his head. If this incident has anything to do with the penis, what will happen in the future?

Before he could figure out the twists and turns, Toothless Angus also drove a jeep into the adjacent military camp, and finally stopped at the rear of a convoy of M113 armored personnel carriers.

"Come with me"

Angus said, he had already jumped out of the jeep, picked up his weapons, led Wei Ran and others to the rear of the penultimate armored personnel carrier, and greeted the three of them to get in.

"Hey! Good guy Zach!"

Before any of the three people could sit down, let alone before they could adapt to the cramped space and strong smell of body odor in the car, a black soldier who almost blended in with the light in the car immediately came up and said hello. , "Do you have any new photos recently?"

"Of course, of course!"

Zach's answer without even thinking about it made the remaining people in the carriage look over. Even Angus, who finally got in, came to Wei Ran and asked, "I asked you to help me." Will the photos taken be washed out?"

"Shh-"

Without waiting for Wei Ran's answer, Zach let go of the camera he had been protecting with his hand when he got into the car, freed up a hand and put it to his mouth to hiss.

There was no need to communicate at all. Li Youfu, who sat down a little later, had already pulled out an L-shaped flashlight and lit it, shooting a bright beam of light.

It wasn't until he was sure that the attention of the soldiers in the car was attracted by the beam of the flashlight that Zach took out a box of playing cards from his pocket.

"Old rules, there are only 54 tickets in total, and they cost $5 each."

Before he finished speaking, Zach had already opened the card box and poured out color photos one after another!

No slower than him, the soldiers in the carriage all stretched out the dollars they had prepared in advance.

Next, as Wei Ran looked on dumbfounded, a photo was sent from Zach's right hand to the beam of the flashlight for a moment, and then was either bought by the soldiers or handed to his left hand.

When the round of "shuffling" was over, almost half of the photos in Zach's hand were missing, and Li Youfu's hand next to him also had a stack of US dollars or vouchers.

Each one costs $5. Even if 20 of them were just sold, that’s still a full one hundred dollars. What is the hourly wage in the United States in this day and age? One and a half dollars or one and a half dollars?

Wei Ran secretly calculated that he could earn a hundred dollars from just this one car in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette. Even if this happened in later generations, it would probably be a "profitable" business that would make Su Su jealous.

Before Zack could put away his "playing cards", the troop carrier also started to move. The medic sitting next to Wei Ran, or Toothless Angus, also turned on the flashlight while admiring the 15 The three nude photos bought with US dollars said regretfully, "I thought you had developed those photos of mine. But these are not bad. Where were they taken?"

"I found a local model a week ago, and I took the photo myself." Zach said proudly.

“Really well taken”

Wei Ran muttered secretly while Angus answered. Although these photos were all staged, they were very entertaining.

Thinking about it this way, Zach later left the battlefield and went back to open a photo studio. Could it be that he used the skills he developed in this business?

“I still have stockings worn by the two female models in the photo.”

As Zach spoke, he took out another bulging envelope from his pocket, shook it, and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, everyone knows my rules, so who has the latest news that is not in the newspaper?"

"Good guy Zach, you asked too soon."

The black soldier who first came to him to buy photos said while putting away the two photos he had just bought, "There is nothing new around us, but I dare say that when we get to the advanced base, no one will mind."

"I have news outside the newspaper." It was Toothless Angus who said this.

"Tell me about it?" Zach asked while fanning himself with the envelope in his hand.

"Don't worry, I will go find you alone when we get to the forward base."

Angus took out a pack of cigarettes, took out one and lit it, and reminded while puffing, "A pair of silk stockings will not be enough to exchange for the information I know."

"Don't worry, I have enough reward to satisfy you."

As Zach spoke, he handed the envelope directly to Angus. The latter took the envelope but threw it to the rest of the people in the carriage without even looking at it, and as expected, there was a rush of looting. .

Before the stockings in the torn envelope could find a new owner, Zach also changed places with Wei Ran, allowing Angus to whisper something into his ear.

What Wei Ran didn't expect was that after whispering, Zach actually gave Angus all the stack of dollars that Li Youfu had just given him.

Seeing the latter with a bright smile missing one of his front teeth, he rolled up the dollars and stuffed them into his pocket and turned off the flashlight. Wei Ran couldn't help but become curious about what precious information Zach had bought.

etc.

Could it be related to the Spring Festival Offensive soon?

No, not likely

Wei Ran secretly took a look at the location of the two people who seemed to be still whispering in the dark, and then began to think about another question. Could the friendly forces he asked to kill in the return mission be the American soldiers sitting in the car? .