War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1453 Captured

Damn it!

Wei Ran, who was running wildly in the jungle, immediately changed direction and separated again from Zach and the other three who were about to catch up. At the same time, he kept cursing and hurriedly replaced the grenade launcher in his hand with a flare, thinking Without even thinking, he raised his hand and struck in the direction of the explosion.

Before the signal bomb exploded in the air and ignited into a dazzling star, Wei Ran, who was running wildly, had already ejected the stubby shell and loaded it with a high-explosive bomb.

However, it is a pity that the helicopter above the head simply circled around the position where the flare was lit, but did not go to rescue the bombed pursuers. Instead, after circling, it seemed that there was a direction. Flying in the direction of Zach and others.

"Your uncle!"

Wei Ran gritted his teeth and raised the grenade launcher, aimed at the helicopter hovering at low altitude, and decisively pulled the trigger to fire the high-explosive bomb he had prepared in advance.

"boom!"

The high-explosive bombs that exploded in the air immediately frightened the Huey into the air. Unfortunately, using 40mm low-pressure grenades that were not very fast to attack helicopters was a very difficult technical task. The difficulty is that you may not be able to hit a moving target, and the difficulty is that the distance may not be reached at all.

But even so, this high-explosive bomb still successfully attracted the attention of the helicopter. As for Wei Ran, as soon as the grenade flew out, he had deliberately thrown away the backpack that belonged to Ruan Qingcha and started running wildly. When the plane began to change direction, he jumped into a mire to hide himself. .

“Da da da da”

As the helicopter began to circle, the machine gun mounted on the hatch also began to fire.

Wei Ran murmured to himself, and at the same time prayed in his heart, hoping that the next round of shooting would not pass through his body.

"boom!"

"Hands up!" the person behind said in off-key English as he ran to his second grandma's house.

Wei Ran resisted the tremors in his body caused by excessive adrenaline. With his heart beating violently, he patiently waited until the nose of the helicopter was caught by the slightly tilted grenade launcher sight and pulled the trigger!

When the machine gun swept through the quagmire, Wei Ran, who was trying his best to stay close to him, also clearly saw that less than one meter away in front of him, he was hit by a series of machine gun bullets that flashed away but then reappeared. Disappeared again, and finally extended the impact point to the mud pit in the jungle on the other side of the mire.

This defoliant is really easy to use

With almost only half of his head exposed, Wei Ran, who was hiding in the shadow of the trees on the edge of the quagmire, cursed bitterly at the smell of mud that hit his face. If the leaves of the surrounding trees hadn't fallen off, he would have been able to hide. Turn around the helicopter overhead.

Fortunately, although the helicopter was not shot down, Wei Ran escaped with his life.

Similarly, before the RPG exploded, the roar of an anti-aircraft machine gun also rang out from a position not too far away from Weiran!

Under the watchful eyes of Wei Ran, who accidentally fell and had not yet had time to get up, the machine gunner at the door of the Huey helicopter was beaten into rags, and then he easily tore open the skin to let the glass of the cockpit pass. The inside turned incredibly red.

Amidst the explosion of the helicopter, Wei Ran slowed down slightly and looked around for traces of Zach and others.

Wei Ran immediately got up and started running towards the direction where the tail of the plane was pointing at the risk of his life. In desperation, he hoped to find another place where he could reach him before the helicopter completed an 80-degree turn and the fire snake of the door gun was aimed at him. Hidden location.

"Puff puff puff puff——"

As he rolled under his own control, the smelly mud all over his body became the best glue, successfully covering him with dead branches and leaves everywhere!

"Not even close."

Amidst the silent impact, the soft and wet ground trembled. The helicopter also hit hard near the mire where Wei Ran had been hiding, and was swallowed up by the flames in the blink of an eye, making a slight scream. Call.

The helicopter began to turn around when the barrage fired by the machine gun was less than two meters away from the center of its feet, and the deadly fire snake also moved four to five meters away.

Wei Ran carefully wriggled to the edge of a pile of shrubs. Wei Ran, whose body was already covered with fallen leaves, lay on his back and pressed the butt of the grenade launcher against the damp ground against the creaking hole.

But even so, he knew even more clearly that if he moved at this time, the fire snake would probably catch up with him immediately!

In the sudden acceleration of his heartbeat, the helicopter also flew closer in the blink of an eye. Wei Ran could even clearly feel the strong wind brought by the propeller approaching him little by little!

I touched hard, and sure enough I found a big stick that seemed to be coated with pulp. This was the way to lift myself up like an animal!

Holding back the pain in his wrist, Wei Ran tried his best to look out through the hole in the sack that was the size of a little fingernail, and at the same time listened.

"Fly over here and let me give it to you."

But now, he even began to worry that the opponent's round of fire just now might have just missed the aim - maybe the people on the helicopter could clearly see the different shades of color in the quagmire where they jumped.

Amidst the rumbling noise of the propellers, the machine gunner began to fire again, but what made Weiran frightened was that according to the current trajectory, the fire snake was likely to hit itself vertically into two pieces!

However, what made Weiran desperate was that even though the grenade almost perfectly wrapped the propeller at the tail of the helicopter within the fatal killing range, it did not seem to be affected in any way!

Glancing at the helicopter hovering in the sky, Wei Ran shook off the mud in the grenade launcher barrel, and then loaded the last high-explosive bomb as quickly as possible.

Wei Ran, who was like a mud monkey, reacted and crawled to his feet. He ran forward for his life, looking back at the out-of-control helicopter every few steps, ready to change direction or lie down at any time!

Immediately afterwards, someone knocked him down, and then tied his hands and feet together!

Hey!

Wei Ran, who realized something was wrong, just cursed in his mind, and immediately felt a tightening in his wrists and ankles, followed by a lightening of his body.

However, at this moment, a cold barrel pressed against his heart.

Before he could clearly see the face of the person behind him, a bag like a torn sack was placed over his head, and even tied with a rope from his neck.

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he also saw the nose of the helicopter approaching him from the front right!

Good luck!

Hearing this, Wei Ran happily threw away the grenade launcher in his hand, squatted down in an imageless manner, and raised his hands.

Done!

Just as the Huey's gunner shouted and noticed Wei Ran, an RPG suddenly flew out of the jungle from a position not too far away from Wei Ran, and missed the target again and again. It hit the nose of the aircraft and shot into the air, leaving only a tail flame that almost scared everyone on the helicopter to death.

"call out!"

The high-explosive grenade came out of the chamber smoothly and exploded with a "boom" as Wei Ran opened the grenade launcher.

We need to find a way to get rid of this helicopter

Wei Ran thought about it secretly, and when he looked up and could see the helicopter's tail propeller, he immediately struggled to jump out of the quagmire, and jumped towards a gentle slope that he had been eyeing for a long time.

"boom!"

"grass!"

Unfortunately, except for the sound of firefights in the distance, the surroundings were quiet. The only thing that can be seen at the small hole is a pair of feet wearing tire slippers and fallen leaves on the ground.

"Tom!"

So that’s what the Huey helicopter is called.

Wei Ran muttered like he was nervous, but in fact it was just to help himself adjust his mental state as quickly as possible and slow down his heartbeat that was almost jumping out of his throat.

The fire snakes mixed with tracer bullets slammed into the ground full of fallen leaves only forty or fifty meters away from him, easily tearing Ruan Qingcha's toad backpack into pieces, and also shocked the guard who was hiding in the quagmire. Ran couldn't help but sink his body and leaned towards the edge of the quagmire.

Met a veteran.

Wei Ran secretly made a judgment, and at the same time he wisely tried not to make any misunderstanding.

After being so persistent and patient for almost half an hour, he suddenly heard Li Youfu's voice!

Unfortunately, what the other party said at this time was also difficult words that he couldn't understand, so he couldn't get any effective information at all!

Although he couldn't understand, at least from the tone, frequency, speed and tone of the conversation, he could roughly judge that Li Youfu was not treated as a "traitor" at this time, which was undoubtedly good news.

What about Zach? Why didn't you hear Zach's voice? And Ruan Qingcha, where is she?

He continued to be carried away like this for more than an hour. Just when he felt that his wrists and ankles were about to be dislocated, his butt finally touched the ground.

Immediately afterwards, the wooden pole holding him was taken away, and the ropes binding his hands and feet were untied.

However, before he could move his numb hands and feet, he was cuffed from behind with handcuffs, but the sack on his head was not untied.

He counted the time silently in his mind. About 5 minutes later, he heard Li Youfu talking to several unknown people again. During this period, he also heard Ruan Qingcha's weak voice.

At the same time, he also noticed that all the weapons and equipment on his body had been taken off, and even his clothes, shoes and socks had been taken off.

"You two, come with me."

An unfamiliar voice said in fairly standard English, and Wei Ran secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "Two of them, that means Zach is next to him."

Continuing to wisely remain silent, Wei Ran, who was stripped down to just a pair of underwear, allowed the person behind him to pull the handcuffs and lead him forward. Soon, he noticed that the light outside the sack became brighter again, but his feet became more and more pierced. He even heard Zack's screams behind him as he was being pierced.

After walking with such difficulty for more than half an hour, the person holding Wei Ran finally stopped. Immediately afterwards, the rope around his neck was untied, and the sack piece was removed, allowing him to see clearly. Everything around.

However, all he could see was a dark cave. Looking around, in addition to himself and Zach, there were Li Youfu and Ruan Qingcha standing beside him in the distance, as well as several others holding weapons. guerrillas.

He glanced at Zack with squinting eyes, and the latter blinked his eyes, and then shook his head inconspicuously.

After getting the hint, Wei Ran glanced at Li Youfu and Ruan Qingcha again.

At this time, whether it was Zach's camera, the grenade launcher he just used, or even the 54 pistol exchanged with Ruan Qingcha, as well as those dirty medical bags, butt bags, 56-type bullet bags, etc., they were all piled up. At the feet of Le Huu Phuc and Nguyen Thanh Cha.

After looking at Li Youfu who was busy loading his camera and other items into his backpack, Wei Ran quickly withdrew his gaze.

"You two"

A guerrilla pointed at the cave directly ahead and said in English, "Go inside and wash yourself, then change your clothes and go to the prisoner of war camp. Don't try to resist, otherwise we will kill you at any time."

After the man finished speaking, Wei Ran and Zac took steps forward in no particular order and ducked into the cave.

The cave is not that big. There is a spring with flowing water on the rock wall at the end, and below it is a small puddle with a diameter of at most two meters.

Beside the puddle, there were two pairs of tire slippers, two sets of gray clothes with dark red stripes, and two bamboo hats.

"I'll give you five minutes."

The person who sent them in had already opened the handcuffs as he spoke, "I will call you out in five minutes."

After saying that, the guerrilla retreated and left the cave.

"what's the situation?"

While Wei Ran was talking, he was already sitting on the edge of the pool and tried to put his feet in.

Contrary to his expectation, although the pool was not big, it was deep enough to submerge his navel, and the spring water was extremely cold.

"Shortly after you lured the helicopter away, we encountered Charlie, lots and lots of Charlie."

Zach had no intention of taking a bath. He just squatted by the pool and whispered into Wei Ran's ear, "Later, Miss Run said something to the other party, and seemed to introduce Troyer to the other party, and then they shook hands. shake hands."

"Then what?" Wei Rancui asked.

"Then while they were going to rescue you, Troyer secretly told me that Miss Run introduced him as her friend and comrade. Do you understand what I mean?"

"He's very lucky," Wei Ran said in a low voice. Not only was this good luck, it was almost equivalent to saving Li Youfu's life.

“Really good luck”

Zach whispered, "Before you were rescued, I found an opportunity to discuss it with the two of them, and I decided to hide my identity as a reporter."

"Why?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice while washing the mud from his body.

"I don't want to be used as a propaganda tool by North Vietnam. I want to see the real North Vietnam in an inconspicuous capacity." Zach said in a low voice.

"So we are prisoners of war?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"I'm a camera salesman."

Zach whispered, "We are here to sell cameras on the front line. As for you, the identity I made up for you is my bodyguard and personal doctor."

"Are you sure this bad excuse can get away with?" Wei Ran asked with a frown.

"Definitely"

Zach whispered without any psychological pressure, "We can sell out the explicit information about the Bullpen Camp and the Stickman Camp as much as we want. As long as the information is true, I guess no one cares about our identities."

"Then let's be a bodyguard and personal doctor," Wei Ran said nonchalantly.

"We took a helicopter from the Ham Bang camp to return to the Cowshed camp and then back to Da Nang. We resisted the US military and the Ham Bang army because we saw them massacring the villagers. Also, our press credentials were in Miss Run in the hand.”

Zach gave one last instruction and then began to put on his clothes.

Someone has to believe this shitty identity.

Wei Ran muttered secretly, while diving his upper body into the pool, and at the same time rubbed his hair vigorously.

Wei Ran washed the mud off his body as quickly as possible, took off his shorts, wringed out the water and put them back on, and then put on the gray clothes with red stripes.

Finally putting on his tire slippers, Wei Ran carried the bamboo hat and bent down to get out of the cave. He quickly put the hat on his head before the person guarding outside spoke.

In such a short time, Li Youfu and Ruan Qingcha had gone somewhere, and the pile of things at their feet had also gone.

When Zach, who was deliberately lagging behind, came out, the English-speaking guerrilla immediately put their hands together with handcuffs, and then put sacks on each of them again.

Fortunately, this time he no longer had to be carried by a stick, and he also had a pair of fairly comfortable slippers on his feet, so Wei Ran didn't bother to resist and just followed the people escorting the two of them around to walk in the jungle.

"Victor, where do you think we will be sent next?"

Less than five minutes after starting the blindfolded journey, Zach asked with great interest and even anticipation, "Will we be sent to Hanoi?"

"Do you think we are here for a trip?" Wei Ran waited for a moment until he was sure that Zach had not been beaten, and then replied in a low voice.

“Although I’m not here for travel, I’m really looking forward to visiting Hanoi,” Zack said with great anticipation.

"Your status does not deserve to be sent to Hanoi"

What broke Zach's fantasy was the guerrilla responsible for escorting them. "Now keep quiet. If I hear you talking again, I don't mind killing you."

"Sir, no, comrade, can I ask one last question?" Zack asked boldly.

"Say"

"Are we going to be abused?" Zach asked tentatively.

Unfortunately, there was no answer to Zach's question. The person responsible for escorting them seemed to have disappeared and never said a word again.

With his life under real threat, Zach suppressed his curiosity and allowed the person holding his hand to lead him forward step by step.

Behind him, Wei Ran, who had one hand cuffed to Zach, was secretly counting steps, calculating the distance and also counting the time.

According to his estimate, they kept walking for almost two hours with repeated turns and pauses. Then they stopped for a moment, and then someone removed the handcuffs between him and Zach. Someone used them. Climbing onto a rickety boat hand in hand.

"I'm Troyer"

Just as the boat started moving under his butt, Wei Ran also heard Li Youfu's voice through the sack piece of his head, "Victor, don't resist, I will find a way to get you out."

"You," Wei Ran paused, then whispered, "be careful."

Li Youfu did not respond to his reminder, but Wei Ran clearly felt that there seemed to be something hanging around his neck.

(End of this chapter)