War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 414 Liaoyuan's Dream

When the white light in his field of vision faded and Wei Ran saw the metal book spread on the dead tree, he was relieved and sat down on the wet ground.But immediately after, he felt a sharp pain in his thigh, like a tear.

Isn't it cured?
Wei Ran gritted his teeth and muttered, tremblingly unbuttoned his trousers, and retreated together with the thermal trousers inside, and then saw that the injured part was already red and swollen, and tried to curl up his legs, but it was just that A simple knee-bending action caused cold sweat to break out instantly on his forehead.

"A wound hurts once, but it hurts twice."

Wei Ran cursed dissatisfiedly at the metal book placed on the dry log beside him, and put on his trousers again tremblingly.At the same time, the pattern drawn on the eighteenth page of the metal book had also turned into a slightly blurred black and white photo.

Although he couldn't see the face of the person in the photo clearly, he could still tell that the one who was planting landmines in the photo was the bearded guerrilla captain Aufjay who didn't have much communication with him.And under this photo, the metal quill also wrote a string of words.

"Dream of Liaoyuan"

Partisan Shura died in an ambush on the German railway line on October 1942, 10. In April 9, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Partisans of the Patriotic War Second Class.

Guerrilla Gianna died in the battle to rescue the guerrilla hospital on October 1942, 10. In April 9, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Bravery and the Order of Partisans of the Great Patriotic War.

Partisan Slava, during the Battle of Belarus in 1944, joined the 34th Guards Tank Brigade as a T-34 driver and assisted in destroying three German tanks. On July 7 of the same year, the tank he was driving was killed by an anti-tank gun.

During his service, he was awarded the Partisan Medal of the Second Patriotic War and the Bogdan Khmelnitsky Medal of the Third Class. On November 1944, 11, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the Second Class.

Partisan Sasha, during the Battle of Belarus in 1944, joined the 33th Infantry Division under the 344rd Army under the Second Belarusian Front Army and won the Medal of Bravery during his service. During the Battle of Berlin in 1945, unfortunately, he was hit by a stray bullet while helping the wounded and died outside Berlin.

The guerrillas Avjay and Antip, during the Belarus campaign, led the guerrillas to assist the main force to cross the Dnieper River and died.In December of the same year, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of the Patriotic War of the Second Class and the Medal of the Partisans of the Patriotic War of the Second Class.

The guerrilla Alisa, in early 1943, was enlisted in the 587th Dive Bomber Regiment. During her service, she performed many bombing missions, and her crew was awarded the Medal of Bravery and the Medal of Victory over Germany. After retiring due to injury in 1947, he returned to Liuban and worked as a pesticide sprayer driver. He was never married and died on September 1982, 9.

Ivan, a guerrilla, was conscripted into the army in 1943 and joined the 33th Infantry Division under the 344rd Army under the Second Belarusian Front. During his service, he was the highest position platoon leader. Order of the Great Patriotic War.

After retiring in 1953, he returned to Liuban and joined the local police in August of the same year. He died in the line of duty while chasing criminals in 8.He had a son who died in Afghanistan in June 1967.

Sergey, a guerrilla, went to Tula, Moscow and other places to study in 1943. Since 1957, he has been a teacher of the Department of Mathematics of Belarusian State University. He retired in 1987 and now lives in Minsk.

As I wrote this, the metal quill listed the medal numbers that these people had received, and then another line listed a detailed address in Minsk, as well as two sets of precise coordinates.

After a while, under Wei Ran's gaze, the metal quill slowly wrote a question, "In that colorful future world, will anyone remember them? Will anyone know what they did?"

But this time, Wei Ran couldn't answer the same question with such firm tone as he did not long ago.

In his silence, the pale yellow page was turned over.The metal quill also continued to write under the slowly rotating red swirl, "From today onwards, I am also a qualified guerrilla."

In a trance, Wei Ran seemed to see the young man wearing a boat cap and his face full of vigor, the smile he had when he joined the army, the back of him fighting bravely on the battlefield, and also saw his life after the war ended. The identity of the police continues to protect the appearance of those around him.

"It seems that you have realized your wish. You are already a Hero of the Soviet Union, a Hero of the Soviet Union who will always live in the future world created by yourself."

In the almost raving whisper, Wei Ran reached into the red vortex, and slowly pulled out a Bobosha submachine gun that uses a drum.

Looking at the weapon in his hand, Wei Ran sighed in disappointment, sent it back to the whirlpool, and then put away the metal book.

Looking up at the sky blocked by the tree canopy, the early morning sun has dyed the sky a golden yellow.The water droplets on the treetops are also dazzling because of the melting snow.But in the silent sky, there will be no planes dropping bombs at any time, let alone the Bo-2 plane flying quietly in the night.And there were no Germans with sick brains popping up in the surrounding forests.

Perhaps the only thing that remains the same is the tall trees that once provided protection to the guerrillas.It's just that no one knows whether they have memories, and no one knows, if these trees and vegetation have memories, whether they still remember those brave figures who used to shuttle and fight in the forest.

"How can a tree have memory?"

Wei Ran muttered another sentence as if nervous, waved his hand and took out the half-track motorcycle from the metal book, took off the polar bear skin blanket fixed on it, spread it on the wet grass and sat down, and then took out the Guqin Yaoguang, right here In the primeval forest that was also forgotten by people, a piece of Guangling San, which was not suitable for the occasion, was played slowly.

After a long time, when the last piano sound dissipated, Wei Ran, who had calmed down a lot, looked around and said with a smile as if he was chatting with his friends, "I have learned a new piece of wine maniac, let me play it for you too." !"

After a while, the melody jumped out of Guqin Yaoguang's resonant cavity with a little wanton, free, easy and cheerful, and drifted into the distance with the water vapor from the forest being evaporated by the rising sun, and floated into the ears of those flowers, plants and trees that have no memory. inside.

After playing the only two pieces he knew, Wei Ran let out a sigh of relief, and carefully put away the qin case containing the guqin. Then, enduring the pain in his leg, he rolled up the bear skin and fixed it on the On the half-track motorcycle, put it back in the metal book.

Finally, he picked up the rusty scrap copper and iron, and the limping Wei Ran left the forest with deep feet and shallow feet, and got back into the car borrowed from Diane, the leader of the Edelweiss Organization.

After rubbing his face vigorously, he took out the metal book again, copied all the two sets of coordinates recorded in it into the mobile phone, and then took out the laptop that Kajianka gave him, and entered them one by one.

Contrary to his expectations, one of these two groups of addresses is located about 20 kilometers away from the northeast corner of Liuban Reservoir, a small village surrounded by vast farmland.But the name of this small village displayed on the satellite map turned out to be "Guerrilla Village"!
The location shown by the second set of coordinates is not too far from the site of the hospital discovered by Diane and others.Fortunately for him, this location is still surrounded by primeval forest, even if it is about two kilometers away from the nearest edge of the forest.

And from the relative positions of these two points, he can roughly determine that the small village named "Guerrilla Village" is the new camp that Slava brought people to move to.

If so, maybe there are people in that village who know what happened at that time?Or put another way, does anyone out there remember what they did?
After hesitating for a moment, Wei Ran finally started the car, endured the pain in his thigh, and slowly returned to Liuban's hotel.

Just like every concern, there is obviously no way to explain the results of the investigation so early, so this matter is destined to be delayed.

Limping back to the room, Wei Ran took out the negatives in the metal notebook and the paper bag next to the photo, stuck them on the window and looked at them one by one.

Following his memory, he found the group photo of Ivan and Sergey from the negatives of these photos, and then found the last big group photo. After thinking for a while, Wei Ran took out his mobile phone and dialed Diane.

As soon as the phone was connected, Wei Ran took the initiative to ask, "Ms. Diane, did you find anything at the excavation site?"

"Your call came just in time"

Diane said with some excitement, "Last night, Prohor found a light armored reconnaissance vehicle used by Germany in World War II in the swamp."

"Are there any other discoveries?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"Bones"

Diane continued. "Almost similar to the bones found in the well, but the number is very large, and it can even be said to be scary. But these bones are basically broken, just like the armored reconnaissance vehicle. It's like it was fried."

Wasn't it just bombed? Wei Ran muttered to himself, he still remembers the power of that homemade bomb.

Seeing that Wei Ran was silent, Diane asked, "Mr. Victor, are you interested in coming over?"

"no need"

After thinking for a moment, Wei Ran replied, "If it's convenient, just take a few more photos for me, Ms. Diane, I'm calling you to prepare to go back."

"go back?"

Diane obviously misunderstood Wei Ran's thoughts, and hurriedly said, "Mr. Victor, we will give you a satisfactory reward as soon as possible."

"no no no"

Wei Ran replied with a smile, "It has nothing to do with the commission. I just want to go to the archives in Minsk to see if I can find anything. As for the commission, why don't we talk about it after I get the results of my investigation?"

"Really?" Diane asked in disbelief.

"of course it's true"

"I'm going back to Liuban now!" Diane said excitedly, "Mr. Victor, I'm going back now, and I'll take you to Minsk immediately!"

"I'll wait for you at the hotel." After finishing speaking, Wei Ran hung up the phone.

　Thanks to the boss of Hua Bixie for the reward, I... I am really a garbage that has not paid off its debts, I am extremely guilty and grateful.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)