War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1614 Don’t forget the national humiliation

Riding on the galloping warhorse, Wei Ran had never felt so refreshed. All the humiliation he had suffered in Teng County, and all the pent-up anger he had accumulated in Baiyangdian, Yeren Mountain, Tianjin, and Songpan grasslands were vented out as he rode his horse and swung his sword again and again.

Gradually, he and the biting horse under him were covered in more and more blood. They were chasing the fleeing Japanese cavalry farther and farther away, but at the same time they were getting closer and closer to the grain transport convoy that had just been bombarded!

  It is not difficult to guess what this Japanese cavalry is planning. They are planning to use the grain transport convoy to help them attract firepower!

After all, if the food was stolen, the worst that could happen is that you could just go and collect more food. But if the cavalry was killed, you can't expect to catch some strong men riding mules to make up the numbers, right?

What he could figure out, Company Commander Ma Jintao could naturally figure out even better, so when the two wings were busy hacking and killing the enemy, the cavalry on the periphery were already loading bullets into their guns while galloping on their horses.

"Du-du!"

As Ma Jintao blew the whistle, the cavalrymen who were fighting around them immediately broke away, while the cavalrymen in the distance raised their box guns one after another.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately distanced himself from the target and got out of shooting range after killing a Japanese soldier, and took out his camera as quickly as possible.

“Da da da da—!”

At the same time as he pressed the shutter, after another long burst of concentrated fire, the Japanese cavalry, who had been almost surrounded, fell to the ground again, leaving only thirty or forty war horses.

Without paying any attention to the war horses, the cavalry company commanded by Ma Jintao did not even stop, nor did they even take a second look at the Japanese and puppet troops who had run to the willow grove where Wei Ran and others were hiding in the distance and were waiting for reinforcements after the recent artillery attack.

Their target from the beginning was not the grain transport team, let alone their food!

"kill!"

  While shouting, Ma Jintao led the cavalry to change direction within the range of the machine guns of the grain transport team, and rushed to the second dike near the river, where there were nearly ten trucks carrying Japanese infantry!

The machine gun fire just now coming from the other side of the river has intercepted more than three quarters of the Japanese trucks. These trucks either stopped where they were or simply drove down the second embankment and overturned or got stuck. At this time, the Japanese were either busy pushing the trucks or busy firing back at the other side of the river.

Under the cover of friendly machine gun fire on the opposite bank, the two hundred cavalrymen who had returned acted like they were in an empty space, slashing with swords, trampling with horses, firing guns, and even the last row of cavalrymen threw grenades at the trucks and the crowd of Japanese devils.

After this round of charge, Ma Jintao still did not stop, but led them to cross the river directly from the front.

At the same time, a group of soldiers who had been ambushing in the reed marsh at some point ran out. After throwing two rounds of grenades at the few remaining Japanese soldiers around the truck, they immediately ran over and began to finish off the Japanese and pick up guns and ammunition as quickly as possible.

Among the soldiers responsible for cleaning the battlefield, there were about ten sturdy warriors who did nothing else but wield their sabers to chop off the heads of the Japanese soldiers and throw them aside.

On the river bank, many small wooden boats and even sheepskin rafts were launched from the reed marshes. Whenever a small boat was filled with guns and ammunition, it would immediately cross back to the other side of the river.

A little earlier than them, when Wei Ran and others were charging at the Japanese infantry near Erdao Dike, an old soldier in his fifties had already run out from his hiding place riding a mare that was not very tall and whose horse's pattern was definitely not pretty.

After getting off the horse, the old man slowly took a puff of his pipe, and then actually put the pipe to the mare's mouth.

This mare was obviously also an old smoker. She pursed her thick big lips around the pipe and took a deep puff. The tobacco leaves in the pipe bowl suddenly emitted a ball of red light.

After the long puff of dry tobacco came out of the mare's nose, the mare suddenly raised her front hooves and let out a loud but slightly hoarse neigh.

From a human perspective, this neighing sound is definitely not pleasant to the ear of a horse.

But for the thirty or forty Japanese war horses that had lost their masters in the distance, the neighing sound was like the chanting of mermaids, full of temptation that made them feel amorous - even though they had been castrated long before they joined the army.

"You slut, scream again!"

The old man patted the butt of the mare next to him, and the mare neighed a few more times with all her might, then slightly spread her legs and urinated loudly.

Glancing at the Japanese war horses running towards him in groups in the distance, the old man took a puff of his newly relit pipe with satisfaction. Then he once again put the pipe to the mare's mouth for her to take a sip. Then he quickly jumped on the horse, turned the horse's head and started running back across the river.

Behind it, the Anglo-Norman war horses that the Japanese had carefully bred for their cavalry had forgotten their tragically dead masters, and, tempted by their lost testicles, they eagerly caught up, and after sniffing the still fresh urine, they did not hesitate to chase the peerless horse across the Yellow River, and willingly became the slave horses.

Wei Ran was destined not to see such a magical scene, as he was already riding a horse and following the large group, almost reaching the center of the river.

It was only at this time that he had time to check himself and the condition of the biting horse.

Fortunately, because they had an absolute advantage, neither he nor the horse were injured even though there were a lot of blood on their bodies. Only the sabers were cut and the blades were bent.

Wei Ran slowed down his horse without leaving any trace and came last. He took out his camera as quickly as possible and pressed the shutter button towards the victorious cavalrymen in front.

After changing to a telephoto lens, Wei Ran turned to the soldiers cleaning up the battlefield and the trucks on fire and pressed the shutter a few times. After putting away the camera, he rode his horse to catch up with Li Sui'an and Zhao Jinyu and asked curiously, "Aren't we going to steal the food?"

"Can't grab it"

Li Sui'an sighed, "Even if we grab the food, the devils in Huaiyang City won't give us time to transport it back, and we don't have that many ships."

Zhao Jinyu said cheerfully, "It's great that we were able to kill so many devils and cavalrymen at once this time."

"That's true"

Li Sui'an agreed, "Our mission is to contain the enemy. Our logistics supply was attacked, and we sacrificed so many cavalry. Our goal has been achieved.

If the Japs plan to risk crossing the river next time, we might have a chance to give them a hard time!"

"You'd better come quickly," Zhao Jinyu muttered expectantly.

After a brief chat, the cavalry company commanded by Ma Jintao successfully crossed the Yellow River.

Almost at the same time, the soldiers responsible for cleaning up the battlefield also brought back the last boatload of spoils.

There was no rush to leave. Ma Jintao and Li Sui'an raised their binoculars and looked at the other side of the river. The rest of the soldiers either dismounted and talked in various dialects and minority languages, or let the helpers who came to them treat their wounds and those of their horses.

Less than half an hour later, Li Suian was the first to shout "Here they come!", and the others immediately turned their attention to the other side.

Although the distance was quite far, because the weather was good, Wei Ran could still vaguely see the grain transport team still parked at the intersection in the distance.

This grain transport team remained where it was because of the lack of mules and horses to pull it, and because of the panic and threat brought about by the recent artillery shells.

A moment later, Wei Ran, squinting his eyes, vaguely saw that there seemed to be a team rushing towards him from the direction of Huaiyang City.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Just at this moment, a series of dull artillery fire sounds came from behind Wei Ran.

Although the calibers and models of the only four or five guns were different, after the initial round of calibration firing, the accuracy of this artillery fire was particularly terrifying!

After the first round of artillery shells were fired, the grain transport team and even the Japanese troops who had just arrived and were preparing to organize their forces to chase towards the riverbank were immediately blown to pieces and hurriedly scattered to take cover on the spot.

"Let's go!"

Ma Jintao put down the telescope and waved his hand, "There's nothing for us to do next, let's go back to the camp!"

"Qiang! Qiang! Qiang!"

All the cavalrymen, including Wei Ran, responded by hitting their stirrups with their blood-stained sabers.

Almost in the blink of an eye, this cavalry company left the river bank and disappeared from the sight of the Japanese soldiers' telescopes on the opposite bank.

While galloping along the way, Wei Ran also took the opportunity to take out the wound-up Robert camera and took several photos from various angles of this cavalry unit that had just won a victory.

Perhaps it was Li Sui'an's deliberate arrangement, or perhaps it was the deliberate protection of Zhao Jinyu and other cavalrymen around him, Wei Ran was not injured this time, but it does not mean that no one else was injured.

Most of these cavalrymen were actually not as old as Wei Ran. Some of them were cut by the enemy's sabers, with wounds of varying sizes and depths in the fighting with the Japanese cavalry. Some were hit by bullets and only received a hasty bandage when they were observing the results of the battle on the river bank.

Some of them didn't even survive, and their already cold bodies were picked up by their comrades and put on the backs of horses. Only the lonely horses were left, following the horse team to continue running towards a place that could barely be called "home".

Amidst the complex emotions of joy of victory and sorrow of the death of comrades, the cavalry company finally rushed back to the threshing floor.

Without any rest, the crowd buried the bodies of seven or eight soldiers who had been brought back after their sacrifice in a piece of abandoned farmland not far from the threshing ground.

There are already many grave mounds of varying ages here. On the fallen and scattered stone pillars not far away, you can barely see the words "Ancestral Tomb of So-and-so".

And those sacrificed cavalrymen were buried in this ancestral tomb of an unknown family, without even a tombstone.

"salute!"

Ma Jintao, the captain of the cavalry special company who had remounted his horse, let out a roar, and the other soldiers who had already mounted their horses raised their cavalry swords to their chests in unison, and chopped down diagonally in unison, hitting the wet stirrups hard.

"Qiang! Qiang! Qiang!"

Amid the uniform knocking sounds, the war horses also kicked their hooves restlessly, and those that had lost their partners even neighed.

"Brothers! The sky gate is open!" Ma Jintao roared loudly after the knocking ended.

"Brothers! The sky gate is open!" The rest of the soldiers roared their unique blessings in unison and knocked on the stirrups again.

At the same time, Wei Ran couldn't help but raise his camera and pressed the shutter towards these cavalrymen who were trying hard to hide their sadness and suppress their hatred.

After the short ceremony, the threshing floor returned to silence and the injured soldiers were willing to accept further treatment. Those who were not injured worked together in groups of three or two to fetch buckets of clean water to wash themselves and their horses.

"Do we always have to have so many deaths every time?" Wei Ran asked curiously as he brought up a bucket of water.

Li Sui'an said as he washed his chestnut horse, "Once we lost more than 30 brothers at once."

"We are cavalry, cavalry that kills people with swords."

Zhao Jinyu said nonchalantly, "How can there be no casualties among the cavalry? It's just a matter of dying sooner or later."

Hearing this, Wei Ran couldn't help but open his mouth, but put down the iron-toothed brush he had just picked up. After wiping the water stains on his hands, he took out the camera stuffed in his arms again and pointed the lens at Li Sui'an and Zhao Jinyu.

"You still have your camera?"

Zhao Jinyu asked in surprise, and a smile appeared on his face a second before Wei Ran pressed the shutter.

"I have it with me," Wei Ran nodded, "Let me take a few photos for you."

“Let’s take a few photos together!”

Zhao Jinyu said, putting his fingers into his mouth and whistling loudly, then he stood on the edge of the well and shouted loudly, "Brothers, brush the horses clean and put on new clothes! Brother Wei, take some photos for us!"

"it is good!"

Just like the anti-Japanese fighters who fought in the icy and snowy primeval forests back then, these cavalry soldiers from all over the country were so excited about the opportunity to be photographed that they even brushed their horses extra carefully.

In this heated atmosphere, the soldiers who had just come off the battlefield brushed their horses clean and even sharpened their sabers until they gleamed like a cold gleam. Then they took a bath in icy well water, went back in groups of three or five, and put on new military uniforms that they usually didn't want to wear.

When these soldiers got back on their horses, even Ma Jintao and the wounded changed into clean clothes, tried their best to cover their wounds and rushed over.

Without any discussion, or any need for discussion, the soldiers of this cavalry company led their horses to the cemetery, surrounded the mounds that were not even as high as the horses' legs, and once again stood shoulder to shoulder with their former comrades.

There were more than 200 people, and Wei Ran had no way to take a photo of each of them. There were only four rolls of film in his camera bag and the camera.

The only thing he could do was to press the shutter as many times as possible, use more film, and take clearer pictures of this huge group photo separately, so that he could put each part together when he had the chance in the future.

In addition, he also took a few extra group photos of the cavalry company as a platoon.

It was during the photo-taking opportunity that he learned that the box-gun pistols equipped by the pistol platoon led by Li Sui'an were actually all purchased by Ma Jintao and the regiment commander Ma at their own expense, with the purpose, of course, of killing the enemy.

He also took a few individual and group photos of the company commander, the regiment commander who came after hearing the news, as well as several staff officers, adjutants and the like. Wei Ran only had two rolls of film left in his hand.

Fortunately, the team leader, whose surname was also Ma, promised to find a chance to get him some rolls of film.

Although he didn't know when the promised film would arrive, Captain Ma was extremely generous and rewarded Wei Ran with 200 pistol bullets. This was definitely a pleasant surprise.

After seeing off the "regiment commander", Wei Ran immediately split the two hundred bullets into four parts and tried to distribute them to Company Commander Ma, Li Sui'an and Zhao Jinyu.

"Do I need you to give me bullets?"

Ma Jintao smiled and patted Wei Ran on the shoulder, "Split it among the three of you brothers. I'll ask Xiaobai to give you 200 rounds as a thank you gift later.

Brother Wei Ran, you have to develop the photo as soon as possible. I am planning to send it back to Jin Yu's sister."

"How about you just send the film back?"

Wei Ran, who was leading the horse, asked. He didn't get the bag containing the developing solution this time, and he didn't know where to go to develop the photos.

On the contrary, he knew from the documents and archives that Xia Shushi had helped him find that they would have several fierce battles in the near future.

What's more, the return mission this time requires a "fight to the death". In this case, it is better to send the film out now.

“That’s fine.”

Captain Ma gave each of the three of them a cigarette and said, "The messenger should be here soon. I'll let him know when the time comes. Jinyu, you should also think about these things and mention them in your letter to your sister."

"Don't worry, brother-in-law, I'll remember it!" Zhao Jinyu patted his chest and made the promise.

"Go and get some rest. We'll probably have to make another trip tomorrow morning."

After saying that, Captain Ma waved to the groom Bai Yuguang who was following him and said, "Go get two hundred rounds of ammunition for Wei Ran."

"Yes!" Bai Yuguang stood at attention and saluted, then ran away. Company Commander Ma also walked towards the yard where the regiment commander was.

"Let's go! Go back and drink!"

Wei Ran invited them in a low voice. Zhao Jinyu and Li Sui'an just remembered that Wei Ran had hidden a pot of good wine.

When they returned to their west wing, Bai Yuguang had already delivered two hundred rounds of pistol bullets. In addition, a large bowl of offal and a bowl of noodles were placed on the kang table.

"The food is really good," Wei Ran couldn't help but say.

"A few days ago, a few horses were seriously injured and didn't survive," Li Sui'an explained casually, "otherwise we wouldn't have any meat to eat."

"I thought it was beef offal." Wei Ran grinned. This pot of offal was made with plenty of ingredients and was cooked very flavorfully. He really couldn't tell the difference.

"Where can I get the cows to eat?"

Before Zhao Jinyu finished speaking, she had already put the small wine bowl back on the table, urging Wei Ran to pour the wine quickly, "As for this noodle, it was only because we robbed the grain transport team last time that everyone brought a bag of white flour, so we had the opportunity to eat it.

If you ask me, it's all because we killed them so thoroughly last time. Look at the grain transport team today. They only had a few big carts. Why did we send so many people to guard the enemy, including the Japanese and puppet troops?"

"If we didn't send so many people to guard it, we could have a few more meals of white noodles."

Li Sui'an sighed as he helped everyone scoop up the noodles, "Look, these noodles are yellow and rotten. They've mixed corn flour in them again."

"It's much better than eating bread mixed with bran. There are so many refugees out there who eat tree bark."

Zhao Jinyu seemed particularly content. As she spoke, she took out the plate of fried peanuts that she hadn't eaten much yesterday and placed it on the table.

Similarly, Wei Ran also took out the water bottle under the cover of the Japanese backpack, filled it for everyone, and placed the kettle directly on the table.

"Come on! Let's drink one first!" Zhao Jinyu had already picked up the wine bowl while speaking.

"Are there many people who eat tree bark?" Wei Ran asked after picking up the wine bowl and clinking it with the two of them.

“It’s good enough to eat tree bark”

Li Sui'an, who was also holding a wine bowl, explained, "Ever since the dam burst last year, people have been cannibalizing each other."

"If you ask me, that damn Jiang"

"Gold and jade!"

Li Sui'an glared at Zhao Jinyu and said, "Come on, drink!"

Seeing this, Wei Ran knew he shouldn't continue this topic, so he moved the wine bowl in his hand forward before Zhao Jinyu could speak, clinked glasses again and said, "Come on! Let's drink today! Have a drink!"

Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu shook his head weakly, brought the wine bowl to his mouth and gulped down the whole bottle.

While Wei Ran was pouring the wine, Li Sui'an scooped up spoonfuls of the offal and poured it on the noodles, then shared it with Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu.

However, perhaps because of the topic that was just started and then stopped tacitly, this meal inevitably became particularly difficult to swallow, and even the pot of wine tasted a little unpleasant.

After filling his stomach hastily, Wei Ran put away the remaining half pot of wine. After Zhao Jinyu and Li Suian piled up the empty bowls and plates and put them aside, he placed the more than 400 bullets he had just exchanged for the photography on the table and divided them into three roughly equal parts.

"Everyone who sees it has a share, so please don't be polite."

Wei Ran said as he took out the film he had taken earlier, put it into a sealed tube, tightened it, and handed it to Zhao Jinyu. "This film hasn't been developed yet, don't pull it out, or it will be ruined. Remind your sister in the letter and ask her to find a photo studio to handle it."

"Don't worry, I will remind my sister in the letter."

As Zhao Jinyu spoke, he put the two sealed tubes into his Japanese backpack.

"I don't know how long it will take to kill all the devils."

Li Sui'an sighed as he loaded the bullets for the box gun with the poem engraved on it, "I won't return to Sichuan until the Japanese are destroyed. I don't know if I will have a chance to return alive."

"That day will come, and you will return alive." Wei Ran made a serious promise.

But to Li Sui'an, this promise sounded particularly pale, just like the pale and desperate promise he made to Hu Bazhi and others when he was in the vast land of white mountains and black waters.