War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 591 Making Dumplings in the Dark

Watching Squad Leader Lin and the two captives run away and finally disappear completely in the coniferous forest, Wei Ran asked Zhao Shengli who was standing beside him, "Why did you follow?"

"Can you walk back without me?" Zhao Shengli said as a matter of course, "I have been to this place several times, and I am familiar with it."

"Wait, listen to me, listen to you?"

Wei Ran asked while checking the blood-stained US military backpack, it was not bad, in addition to two US military cans and a few compressed biscuits, there was also a kettle full of water, a few pieces of chocolate and ten A few condoms, and even a few opened letters and a few pictures of beauties of various varieties inside.

Apparently, the U.S. auto soldier found it troublesome and packed almost all his personal items into the bag.

"It doesn't matter who you want to listen to." Zhao Shengli subconsciously moved his eyes away from the photos of the beauties who were barely wearing clothes, and asked indifferently, "What are you going to do?"

"Don't worry, just wait."

Wei Ran put the backpack aside, put the ammunition bag on and said, "Look at what those idiots are going to do later, it would be best if they don't plan to search."

"I saw quite a few convoys on both sides just now," Zhao Shengli reminded while hiding behind a waist-thick pine tree, "There are at least twenty vehicles on both sides."

"Then let's climb to the top of the mountain again." Wei Ran simply changed his mind, put on the captured backpack and climbed towards the top of the mountain.

Seeing this, Zhao Shengli quickly chased after him, with an easy-going attitude that Wei Ran would do as he said.

In less than 5 minutes, Wei Ran also stopped at the same time as the two opposing convoys at the foot of the mountain, and then took out the telescope in the metal book under the cover of the captured backpack.

Because of the occlusion of the vegetation in the forest, even with the help of binoculars, Wei Ran could only vaguely see the mottled outlines of the two convoys, and it was impossible to tell whether the other party had sent a search team.

Seeing this, he simply raised the Garand rifle in his hand, fired a shot at the top of the head, and shouted loudly in English, "Captain Morgan! They are right ahead!"

"Hug a shuttle above your head!" Wei Ran switched back to Chinese and whispered to Zhao Shengli who stared round his eyes.

The latter was stunned, and immediately raised the American carbine in his hand and pulled the trigger!

It wasn't until Zhao Shengli fired almost half of the magazine's bullets in a row that Wei Ran waved his hand, fired again, and shouted towards the foot of the mountain in pitch-shifted English, "Don't let them run away! I just hit one!"

"Run!"

Seeing that someone was chasing up to the foot of the mountain, Wei Ran greeted Zhao Shengli in a low voice, and Sa Yazi ran towards the top of the mountain. At the same time, he continued to send out false signals in English at the top of his voice, "Hurry up! That person has a radio station on him." !"

Before he finished his words, the whistle of the US military convoy at the foot of the mountain immediately sounded, and then, Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli also saw figures rushing into the coniferous forest one by one.

"Do you have a flashlight?" Wei Ran asked Zhao Shengli who was running beside him.

"Yes! Yes!" Zhao Shengli immediately pulled out the tin flashlight pinned to his belt and handed it to Wei Ran.

Taking the flashlight, Wei Ran pointed at the direction of the U.S. military position and shot a beam of light, and continued to shout hoarsely in English, "I saw him! Quick! Surround him! Don't worry about other people, don't let the one with the radio on his back run away! He must be an artillery spotter!"

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran fired another bullet towards the top of his head, then turned off the flashlight and let out a scream accompanied by curses.

"Let's go! Come on!" Wei Ran urged Zhao Shengli to run in the opposite direction from the US military's position.

"You can speak American?" Zhao Shengli asked curiously while running, "What did you just say?"

"I said we found artillery spotters here." Wei Ran grinned and replied, "Look at it, they have to chase them even if they try their best."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, two dull explosions came from the direction of the foot of the mountain behind him. Immediately afterwards, red flames shot up into the sky, so that both of them felt the strong wind and dazzling light from behind. fire.

"Now they have to catch up even if they try their best."

Wei Ran teased in a low voice but stopped, lying behind a bush under a pine tree.And Zhao Shengli is worthy of being a veteran, he didn't even need to say hello, and he and Wei Ran found a bunker at a distance of more than ten meters.

After waiting for a while, Wei Ran aimed at an American soldier who was chasing up from the foot of the mountain and decisively pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

After the crisp gunshots, the American soldier rolled and fell down, and the carbine in his hand flew aside.

At the same time, Wei Ran immediately left his original position and hid behind another pine tree far away from Zhao Shengli at the fastest speed.

Before he could pick up his gun again, the American soldiers who were chasing him had already started shooting indiscriminately.

Taking a short breath, Wei Ran aimed at the one who seemed to be firing the fastest and pulled the trigger again, then immediately moved the muzzle of the gun and fired another bullet at an enemy next to him.

After two shots, Wei Ran beckoned Zhao Shengli to turn around and continue running up the mountain. It was only then that he realized how important the hunter game he and Ji Ma played in the birch forest in Hongqi Forest Farm was.

At this time, he even had the same illusion that he was the quarter horse back then, and those American soldiers who were attracted were the same himself back then.

Leading Zhao Shengli to bring the distance between the two sides to about 200 meters again, Wei Ran found a tree to hide again, aimed at one of the bravest American soldiers and pulled the trigger again.

After the shot, the American soldiers chasing after each found their own cover again, and started shooting indiscriminately in the direction of Wei Ran. At the same time, several vanguards rushed up with their guns under the cover of their teammates.

Wei Ran didn't move and didn't fight back, and Zhao Shengli naturally didn't stand up, but both of them picked up a fist-sized stone from their feet at the same time.

Seeing that the vanguards had already narrowed the distance to within 100 meters, Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli threw the stones in their hands in no particular order, followed closely by Zhao Shengli from behind the pine tree where he was hiding. The muzzle pulled the trigger again and again.

To Wei Ran's amazement, Zhao Shengli's marksmanship was unexpectedly accurate. Although he used an M1 carbine, he almost hit every shot.

Especially after the two stones fell to the ground one after another, those vanguard who mistakenly thought that a grenade was thrown over hurriedly left the hastily found bunker.And this kind of death behavior undoubtedly helped Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli a lot.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately fired the last bullet in the chamber at an enemy who was rounding his arms and was about to throw a grenade.

Let the magazine pop out with a "ding", and before it hit the ground, the grenade in the hand of the soldier hit by Wei Ran also rolled down, followed by a "boom" and completely exploded.

"withdraw!"

Before Zhao Shengli could finish his sentence, he had already thrown a captured American grenade, followed by another stone.

Under the cover of the two real and fake grenades, Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli shifted their positions again, and ran desperately through the coniferous forest until they could neither see the pursuers nor the residual fire after the explosion. Only then did it stop.

"You're really accurate." Wei Ran leaned against a pine tree, pulled out a magazine, knocked it on the trunk and put it into the rifle.

"Stop praising me. No matter how close I am, I can only go to the cooking class to pick up slop." Zhao Shengli replied as a matter of course.

Wei Ran grinned, changed the subject and asked, "Should it be enough?"

"It's probably almost there. Even if they want to chase Squad Leader Lin at this time, they are too late."

Zhao Shengli paused at this point, and asked rather greedily, "I think there are only a dozen or so left after catching up. Should we surround them? Night battles are no different than dead waste."

"What are you going to do?" Wei Ran simply gave up the command to Zhao Shengli.

If he had long been used to Mao Zi's recklessness on the Soviet-German battlefield, then in this large-scale local war after the end of World War II, he could be considered to understand after following this reconnaissance team for a day. I think about making dumplings anytime, anywhere.

"The American position is on our right hand"

Zhao Shengli said while pressing the bullet in the weapon in his hand, "Wait and go around to the left, you lead them to run along the mountainside away from the American position, and I will lie in ambush and go around behind their buttocks.

According to our previous reconnaissance, the trucks driving from the position to the rear at this time are all transporting fuel and wounded, and the trucks going from the rear to the front are basically delivering food supplies.

So at most they have a few heavy machine guns that are too difficult to come up with. Now we are at least two miles away from the roadside, and with so many trees blocking it, those machine guns are no different from fire sticks. "

Zhao Shengli paused here, held up the binoculars to observe, and continued, "Without the support of heavy machine guns, and they are so close to each other, it is unlikely that their planes will come over, so as long as we cooperate well , the dozen or so people probably won’t be able to escape.”

"How long does it take to drive here from their position or behind?" Wei Ran asked cautiously.

"At least a quarter of an hour," Zhao Shengli replied.

"10 minutes, run after the fight." Wei Ran had already stood up while speaking, "Also, I will lay an ambush behind."

"Anyone is fine, come with me." Zhao Shengli put down the binoculars, and ran to the left with his back bent.

Under the cover of the pine trees, those protruding stones and bushes on the mountainside, Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli walked around to the side of the pursuers at the fastest speed.

After such a short period of time, as the sky became darker and darker, some of the chasing soldiers who were not afraid of death turned on their flashlights.However, the beams of these flashlights were still pointing in the direction Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli retreated from before.

Obviously, as Zhao Shengli said, these American soldiers fighting at night are no different from trash.

Holding up the binoculars, Wei Ran estimated that the distance between the two was about 300 meters. Wei Ran put the rifle on a pine branch in silence, adjusted the scope slightly, and aimed at an unopened gun. The flashlight, but the flashlight illuminates the whole back of the big wronged species.

Holding his breath, he pulled the trigger decisively after adjusting his breathing.

"boom!"

After the crisp gunshots, Zhao Shengli, who was holding a binoculars at the side, immediately said, "It hit."

Hearing this, Wei Ran breathed a sigh of relief, the shot was more or less luck, but at the same time it cannot be denied that the flashlight that was still shaking at this time also helped a lot.

Aiming at the target again, Wei Ran pulled the trigger at a soldier who was firing after searching.

At the same time, Zhao Shengli was already about 50 meters away from Wei Ran, and using a hemp rope and the only three grenades left on his body, he had arranged a set of tripping mines hanging on the tree trunk.

There was no need to communicate at all, and the indescribable tacit understanding made these two "peers" whose actual age may differ by six or 70 years old exchange weapons in their hands and then ran in opposite directions.

Zhao Shengli, who was in charge of seducing the enemy, would randomly fire a few bullets with the Garand rifle he had exchanged with Wei Ran while running.

Wei Ran, on the other hand, crawled down the mountain and moved less than 20 meters away, then hid under a lying dead tree at the fastest speed and waited patiently.

As for those chasing soldiers, they were already chasing towards Zhao Shengli following the sound of the gunshots. Some of them ran scattered, and even jumped over the dead wood where Wei Ran was hiding, and by the way, the fallen bark fell on the ground. on his face.

"boom!"

A moment later, three nearly overlapping grenade explosions arrived as scheduled, and only a few of the dozen or so pursuers who could still stand were left in single digits, while those lying down who could still scream were only three to five only one.

After a brief panic, these American soldiers immediately dragged their wounded companions to hide behind the thick pine trees.

"I think we'd better go back now," an American soldier hiding behind a pine tree yelled anxiously. "We need more people. It's best to call a plane to help."

"We do need help"

A soldier who was bandaging a wounded man said very quickly, "Send someone back to ask for reinforcements! Maybe there are many enemies waiting for us in front. Do you remember a few months ago? Hagen and the others The search team chased the two Huaxia people into the forest and was killed by the guerrillas who were ambushing inside."

"Hank, go down the mountain to ask for reinforcements, and ask them to send more people and get some stretchers! Also, don't turn on the flashlight, the other party seems to have a sniper." A soldier with a slightly hoarse voice issued an order, " The rest form the defense!"

Before he finished speaking, the soldier who spoke first stood up immediately and ran in the direction he came from.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who was less than 20 meters away, relied on his accumulated experience in the forest around Hongqi Forest Farm, and quietly hid behind a pine tree in the night.

Almost at the same time that he leaned the exchanged carbine against the tree trunk and took out the Mauser bayonet in the metal book, the American soldier named Hank once again stepped over the dead wood where Wei Ran had just hid, feeling in the dark. Run towards the foot of the mountain.

However, just as he was about to run past a pine tree, a black figure suddenly appeared behind that tree.

Before he could react, the bayonet in Wei Ran's hand had been accurately pierced obliquely upwards from his abdomen into his lung cavity.

Just when the soldier named Hank stared at Wei Ran with his eyes rounded in horror and disbelief, the latter's right hand had already covered his mouth, pushing him against the thick stone. on the pine tree.

After a while, Wei Ran slowly pulled out his bayonet, and wiped two camouflage patterns similar to Indian battle patterns on the face of the still warm corpse.Then he pulled the only two grenades from his shoulders, and threw them silently at the American soldiers who were guarding the corpse and waiting for support.

"Boom! Boom!"

After two consecutive explosions, Wei Ran immediately picked up the carbine that was put aside. At the same time, Zhao Shengli also went back and hid behind a pine tree dozens of meters away with a Garand rifle in his hand. .

"Surrender! We surrender!"

A young soldier knelt on the ground with the back of his head in his hands, and shouted in jerky, out-of-tune Chinese. Apart from a few survivors who dropped their weapons, there were many corpses and wounded around him.

Wei Ran hid behind a pine tree and shouted in English, "You are surrounded. Those who are alive turn on their flashlights and point the lights at their faces. Hold the flashlights with both hands. If anyone makes any unnecessary movements, we will put Throw the grenade."

Hearing this, the living American soldiers No. [-] and [-] who had a flashlight immediately took out the flashlight, opened it, held it with both hands, and pointed it at his frightened face.

"Victory, don't come out yet." Wei Ran switched back to his native language to remind him, and cautiously walked over with his carbine in his hand.

Kicking away the weapons around these people with his toes, Wei Ran instructed them to stand up slowly and move to the side five or six meters. Zhong said frankly, "Either do as I say, or we all die together."

After waiting for a while, Wei Ran saw that the prisoners had no other objections, so he simply called them to pile up all the weapons and equipment on their bodies in a straight line, and then asked them to take off their belts and use a The dagger sliced ​​through the lacing of the boot.

It wasn't until this time that Wei Ran called Zhao Shengli out and started "licking the bag". While inserting the tab back into the safety hole of the grenade, Wei Ran asked, "Is 2 minutes enough time?"

"Enough, definitely enough!"

As Zhao Shengli spoke, he had already slid all the edible things into an empty backpack, and then stuffed some bullets and two water jugs into it.

Looking around, Zhao Shengli put two tin flashlights and an American telescope in it, and then handed the backpack to Wei Ran, and he had already picked up the second emptied backpack, and the seized grenades And half of the first aid package went in.

In the end, without giving up, he stuffed two more jugs filled with water. Zhao Shengli put the backpack on his back and said as a matter of course, "Comrade Wei Ran, tell them that I left half of the first aid kit for them, enough Let those wounded persist until they descend the mountain."

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who was dismantling the firing pins of the rest of the weapons, raised his head in surprise, "What? Let them go down the mountain? Don't kill them?"

"Comrade, why is your awareness so low?"

Zhao Shengli said dissatisfiedly, "It has been said in the newspapers that our enemies are not these ordinary soldiers, but those politicians who plan conspiracies and advocate hegemony to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries. And they all surrendered. We treat prisoners preferentially, but we dare not do massacres." The thing about the prisoners of war is the act of Fazsi."

"If you don't kill, don't kill"

Wei Ran threw away a carbine with the firing pin removed, and said in English, "Fortunately for you, we plan to let you go, the half of the first aid kits on the ground may save the wounded, now hurry up Carry them down the mountain."

"Are you going to shoot us when we are far away?!" A white prisoner of war shouted in horror.

"Stop talking nonsense, get your wounded on your back and get out."

While speaking, Wei Ran had already received a 1911 pistol from Zhao Shengli, as well as the ammunition and matching bullets he had found.

The prisoners looked at each other in dismay, and one of them boldly asked, "Can you return the belt to us?"

"Yes," Wei Ran said happily, and took advantage of the situation to pull up the prisoner's arm, and glanced at the watch on the other's wrist.

"I can give you my watch," said the prisoner of war, about to take off his watch.

"Comrade Wei Ran!"

Zhao Shengli reminded solemnly on the side, "We are not Fasusi. Don't forget our policy. As long as the enemy puts down his arms, he is a prisoner of war. We cannot confiscate all personal belongings of prisoners of war."

"I'm just checking the time."

Wei Ran withdrew his hand, switched back to English and said, "No one wants your watch, okay, let's go! When I change my mind, you won't be able to run away even if you want to."

After finishing speaking, Wei Ran threw the removed firing pins far away, followed Zhao Shengli and ran quickly into the forest shrouded in night.

"We... survived?" the prisoner who had just taken off his watch asked in disbelief.

"It appears to be"

The soldier who surrendered first lowered his hands, "My brother is right, as long as you learn that Chinese sentence, as long as you surrender to them in time, you can survive."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Another surviving soldier complained as he put a belt on his trousers.

"At least make sure they are Chinese or Beihan people."

The one who surrendered first walked towards the wounded not far away with his trousers in one hand and a first-aid kit in the other, "My brother is in their prisoner-of-war camp, and he was there last year. Tell me, as long as you surrender like them, you will definitely survive."

"Hunter, remember to teach me the Chinese phrase for surrender when you get back." The soldier who was putting on his watch again said in a low voice, and soon won the support of the rest of the people around him.

While the surrendering soldiers were preparing for the next surrender while rescuing the wounded, Wei Ran and Zhao Shengli had already changed their direction under the cover of night and ran quickly to the mountains behind the US military positions.

"Comrade Wei Ran, you must seriously review!" Zhao Shengli said seriously while running, "Just now you were planning to steal his watch, don't think I can't see it."

"Nothing! I'm really just going to check the time"

Wei Ran flatly denied that, indeed, he just wanted to grab a watch, but the purpose was just to give it to Zhao Shengli. After all, it would be much more convenient to have a watch.

"After you go back, explain it to the instructor."

"Okay, I'll explain it to the instructor." Wei Ran didn't intend to delve too deeply into this matter, so he changed the subject and asked, "Where shall we go next?"

"After turning over the two mountains ahead, let's find a place to hide."

Zhao Shengli explained, "Let's talk about other things after the Americans behind their butts calm down."

"Or shall we stay and make trouble for them?"

Wei Ran suggested in a low voice while running, "The road where we grabbed our tongues is obviously the supply line of the American position. As long as we come a few more times, the two of us can draw a lot of troops."

"I think so too." In the dark night, Zhao Shengli showed a eager smile on his young face, "Come with me, I know a better position than there."

(End of this chapter)