War Photographer's Notebook

In the cave under the heavy rain, Wei Ran took the initiative to end the topic about the ghost reporter, and helped each other check with Zhou Guochang, cleaned up the few leeches on each of them, and then helped the donkey to remove the locusts from his body. The leech cleaned it up, and prepared a small bucket of rainwater mixed with coarse salt and a large armful of fresh bamboo leaves for it.

Finally, enough firewood was added to the iron pot, and the two agreed on the time and order of the night watch. Wei Ran immediately curled up on the blanket beside the campfire and fell asleep.

There was nothing to say all night, and it was six o'clock the next morning. When Wei Ran woke up again after completing his second night duty, the torrential rain outside the cave still showed no sign of stopping.

This is barely good news, at least it is absolutely impossible for those chasing soldiers behind to catch up, but there is good news and there is bad news, among other things, at least there is an extra one less than 20 meters away from the cave. A muddy river mixed with a lot of dead leaves and even dead animals.

"I don't know how they are doing?" Zhou Guochang, who got up a little later, said worriedly.

"For one night, they must have found a place to hide."

While speaking, Wei Ran had already removed the bamboo pole blocking the entrance of the cave, and while putting on his dried raincoat, he said, "Let's get some firewood by the side of the river, we can't continue on our way due to the heavy rain. "

"Are we going to stay here?" Zhou Guochang got up while speaking.

"Otherwise?" Wei Ran asked back.

Zhou Guochang was stunned for a moment, but finally put on his raincoat and put on his shoes, and went out of the cave with Wei Ran. From the edge of the flood discharge ditch, he picked up two bundles of dead wood that had been washed away by the flood, and he also took the donkey with him. He came out and tied him to a tree not far away that was big enough to shelter him from the wind and rain.

Just as Wei Ran rekindled the bonfire with the leftovers in the cauldron and the small amount of kerosene, and was about to smoke the horse meat in the back basket again, Zhou Guochang, who was using banana leaves to catch the rain outside the cave, suddenly came in. , and shouted in a low voice, "Brother Wei, come out!"

"what happened?"

Wei Ran hadn't finished speaking, he had already picked up the submachine gun at hand, and rushed to the entrance of the cave with a stride.

"look over there"

Zhou Guochang pointed to a location not far from the natural flood discharge ditch and said, "Is there someone there? The root of that banyan tree."

Hearing this, Wei Ran looked in the direction of the opponent's finger, and as expected, there really seemed to be something stuck between the air roots of the banyan tree impacted by the flood discharge ditch.

"Just now I saw with my own eyes the one floating along the water and stuck there," Zhou Guochang explained beside him.

"Take a gun and hide in the cave."

Before Wei Ran could finish his sentence, he was already holding a gun and leaned over with his waist bent.Behind him, Zhou Guochang also immediately took the Enfield rifle, squatted at the entrance of the cave, and aimed the gun at the person stuck in the air root of the banyan tree.

Deliberately giving way to Zhou Guochang's shooting range, Wei Ran cautiously approached the edge of the banyan tree, followed closely, and he saw that there was indeed a dead body stuck between the air roots that were less than half submerged in water!
Subconsciously looking at the upstream direction, Wei Ran approached cautiously with the thick air roots in his arms, grabbed the tarpaulin on the corpse, and pulled it up. …

Just by looking at his attire, it can be seen that this man is the same as the two killed yesterday, and there is even a submachine gun slung across his shoulder.But his head has collapsed into a piece as big as the mouth of a bowl.Moreover, even the cervical spine was bent at an angle that normal people could never achieve.

After a rough inspection, Wei Ran found that apart from multiple fractures, there were no gunshot wounds or knife wounds on the corpse.

This made him somewhat relieved. At the very least, it showed that Squad Leader Liang and the others were not around them, and they had not encountered any exchange of fire with these devils.

After a little thought, Wei Ran took off the submachine gun on the body, and then took off the ammunition bag and other things that were used, and wrapped them in the rainproof cloth that the other party was wearing. Before leaving, he did not forget to put the The corpse was pushed into the river again.

After the corpse floated away, Wei Ran returned to the entrance of the cave with the things he had found.

"Is there really someone?" Zhou Guochang asked from a long distance away.

"It's a ghost. I guess it was hit by a mountain torrent last night." While speaking, Wei Ran handed the submachine gun he picked up to Zhou Guochang, "It's yours."

Taking the submachine gun in a hurry, Zhou Guochang asked worriedly, "So those devils are right behind us?"

"It's not a bad thing, at least it proves that they were attracted by the two of us."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he burrowed sideways into the cave, and first hung up all the items he had picked up to dry. Then, while he was busy smoking the strips of horse meat, he thought about the pursuers behind him, and Squad Leader Liang and others who separated from them yesterday. situation at the time.

At the same time, just a few kilometers away from them in a straight line, under a certain banyan tree with a mountain in the middle, among the air roots, the raincoats that had been stretched had been pulled on as early as last night.Right under these raincoats, a half-meter-deep fire pit has been dug, surrounded by various dead branches and leaves picked up from under the banyan tree.

On the fire pit that has been burning all night, there is an enamel kettle that is steaming, and a horse meat that is being heated is placed on the shovel of a devil's engineer shovel next to it. strip.

"I don't know what happened to the two of them?"

Tan Shou, who was holding a gun, was talking worriedly. In his hand, there was also a small wooden stick wrapped with snake meat, which was slowly spinning around the campfire.

"It's not a big problem." Squad Leader Liang had already changed the medicine for the wound on Luke's arm while speaking.

"Are you saying that his problem is not serious, or Wei Ran and the others?" Qin Shouzheng asked while picking up a piece of horse meat.

“Both problems are not big”

Squad leader Liang poured a cup of hot tea into his bamboo bowl, "I didn't hear any firefights this night, but Wei Ran and the others have enough food and clothing. As long as they don't get lost, it's not a big problem."

"When are we going?" Luke asked, "We can't waste the time they created for us."

"At least until the rain stops"

Squad leader Liang didn't give Luke a chance to finish his sentence, he picked up a bamboo bowl full of tea and handed it over, "Eat something and drink some tea, I heard from our company commander that you British people like to drink tea the most. "...

Luke opened his mouth when he heard the words, but in the end he could only nod, reached out to take the bamboo bowl, and took a sip of the rough tea that didn't have the option of adding sugar.

While the two sides waited patiently across a mountain, the time passed by, the torrential rain that had been raging for a long time finally stopped without warning near noon, and it completely cleared up in a very short time. Then once again, thick water mist evaporated in the jungle.

In the cave where Wei Ran and Zhou Guochang were hiding, they packed all the smoked horse meat strips into several large bamboo tubes that had been prepared all morning and sealed them up. Then they put all the luggage and the obsolete Enfield rifle , all mounted on the donkey.

In the end, they fed the donkey another small handful of coarse salt, and the two sprinkled enough anti-leech powder on themselves and the donkey again. Zhou Guochang also took the submachine gun that Wei Ran had cleaned for him, and walked on the road holding the reins. up front.

Under the guidance of Wei Ran who held a compass in his hand, the two continued to shuttle in the depths of the jungle towards their destination.

Almost at the same time, Tan Shouzheng also put on the bamboo basket, carried a submachine gun and walked behind the businessman Luke, while Squad Leader Liang, who was holding a compass, walked at the front of the line.

After the torrential rain, the ghosts behind them seemed to have given up their plan to hunt down everyone, but everyone, whether it was Wei Ran or Squad Leader Liang, knew that those ghosts were probably already waiting for them in Manxi Town.

But even so, they could only bite the bullet and head towards Mansi Town, hoping to get help from the British or expeditionary forces stationed there.

As time passed, at around five o'clock in the afternoon, the jungle darkened again, and the dense fog mixed with the smell of blood also enveloped the field of vision again.Fortunately, there was no rain that night, and the two groups of people naturally did not stop.

When Wei Ran and Zhou Guochang finally reached the edge of the forest and saw the paddy fields outside, it was already past six in the morning of the next day.

Cautiously, he leaned out of the jungle and turned around. Wei Ran returned to the jungle and shook his head at Zhou Guochang who was waiting with his donkey. "I didn't see any burning trees, and I didn't even see a spark."

"Then let's find a place to wait," Zhou Guochang said immediately.

"Don't wait, we can't wait."

Wei Ran took the initiative to explain without waiting for the other party's rebuttal, "Our goal is too big after we meet together, and a white man like Mr. Luke is too conspicuous. Instead of waiting for them to arrive and go to Muncie Town together, it is better to go to that one first." The British Army needs the officer for help. By the way, you haven’t lost Mr. Luke’s dagger, have you?”

"No! It's here!" Zhou Guochang had already pulled out the fighting dagger from his boots as he spoke.

"give it to me"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already untied the black cauldron from the donkey, hid all the weapons and ammunition he was carrying inside the wooden frame that fixed the black cauldron, and then began to take off his clothes.

"What are you doing?" Zhou Guochang asked puzzledly, and at the same time subconsciously began to take off the weapon on his body.

"You don't have to move"

Wei Ran waved his hand, took off his ammunition boots and put on a pair of straw sandals, then beckoned Zhou Guochang to help, and burned the leeches off his body one by one. …

"I'll go to Muncie Town to see the situation first"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already untied Zhou Guochang's burden from the donkey's back, put the contents into the basket, and then wrapped the fur skin around his waist to serve as a cage.

"You go by yourself? No, do you speak Burmese?"

Zhou Guochang grabbed Wei Ran's wrist and refused, "Let me go! I can speak Burmese, and"

"And the devil must know your face"

Wei Ran blocked the other party back with one sentence, "Wait here honestly, if you see Squad Leader Liang and the others, bring them here."

Having said that, Wei Ran took the fighting dagger from the opponent's hand, pointed the tip of the knife to the top of his head, "I will try to come back before the sun rises completely."

"Gun, take the gun with you!" Zhou Guochang said, and he wanted to untie the wooden grab box on his waist.

"No, you can hide yourself."

Before Wei Ran could finish his sentence, he had put on his bamboo hat again, left the jungle with a stoop, walked through the muddy paddy field, and before climbing up the country road, he dug up a lump of mud and wiped it on his neck and hands indiscriminately.

Walking all the way forward, Wei Ran was also paying attention to the paddy fields on both sides of the road, and Manxi Town, which was getting closer and closer.

Seeing that he was about to approach the town, when Wei Ran passed a stilted building, he took a basket and a sickle and threw it over his shoulder.

When he walked around the banana grove next to another stilted building, besides the sickle, there was already a large bunch of bananas that were about to ripen in the bamboo basket that came along, and even his body was changed into a Gray and black coarse cloth jacket, and a longi skirt that has not yet dried.

Carrying a basket of bananas on his back, he walked into Manxi town calmly. On both sides of the only street extending from south to north, there were some scattered buildings on stilts and some brick and wood houses.The most conspicuous of these are naturally the temple located in the center of the town and the monks who are doing morning classes.

After observing the busy monks and the town residents who were offering food, Wei Ran took off his straw sandals and put them in the basket, washed his hands and feet carefully in the pool at the entrance of the temple, and then followed the villagers who got up early Walking into the temple, I clasped my palms together and bowed in front of the Buddha statue whose name and position I don't know, and then handed over the bananas that came along to a young monk with delicate features.

The little monk took the banana in surprise, then bowed slightly, and said something in Burmese that Wei Ran couldn't understand.

Wei Ran also clasped his hands together to return the salute, but just smiled, then turned and left the temple, carrying an empty pannier, wandering aimlessly in this small town that is not too big and definitely not too populous.

Along the way, he made quite a few discoveries, including small items such as British army towels and soap, razors, beard brushes, and beard cream for public sale at a small stall.

He took off his bamboo hat and took out a Burmese coin from inside. After Wei Ran bought these things pretending to be generous, a dark-skinned little man moved up and opened his back basket enthusiastically, chattering at the same time. Whispering something, while mysteriously displaying the machete that was supposed to be issued to the British army, and a Gurkha machete that was definitely not produced locally! …

Although there is a natural gap in the communication between the two sides, Wei Ran can already be sure that the British troops stationed here have probably run away, otherwise these things would not be openly sold by the locals.

With a few kyats, he bought the machete and Gurkha machete in the other party's back basket. Wei Ran bought some glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves in front of a woman's booth, and imitated the locals around him. He seemed to be eating slowly, and continued wandering aimlessly in this small town by the way.

After a portion of glutinous rice was eaten with only plantain leaves, he finally found several brick houses connected by walls at the corner of the town.

Passing through the concealed wooden door and the sandbags on both sides of the gate, Wei Ran suddenly found that there was a wooden sign hanging on the wall of one of the houses, which clearly stated the daily afternoon tea in English. Information such as break times.

But in these few houses, there are only various disassembled wooden boxes and a few broken teacups, plus a few empty tin cans, a few squashed enamel kettles, and sprinklers. Unknown drugs are everywhere.

Turning around from room to room, Wei Ran found not even a living person or a dead body of a British soldier except for two brand-new British army shorts.

Following the signs staring at the wooden doors of these rooms to find the quartermaster's office, Wei Ran shook his head helplessly. Except for a poster of a beautiful woman, it is almost cleaner than a dog licking it. At the corner of the wall on one side of the door, a large amount of ashes left by the burned documents can still be seen.

Carefully pulling out the ashes, after finding nothing, Wei Ran unrepentantly opened the poster of the beauty.It's a pity that there is a brick wall behind this poster, and there is no information hidden at all.

Unwilling to give up, the poster was rolled up and put into the back basket. He checked every corner for the last time before turning around and walking outside.

However, just as he stepped out of the door with one leg, he found that there were two men wearing bamboo hats and longi belts outside the door, aiming at him with the revolvers they were holding.

The leader of the group chattered a long list of things. Although Wei Ran couldn't understand, he still nodded and took off the pannier, took off the British army shorts that covered it, and then took a step back obediently.

The leader took a step forward, kicked over the back basket, dumped all the contents inside, then picked up the rolled up poster and opened it, laughing and bent over to pick up Guer What was said by the companion of the scimitar.

This time, although Wei Ran still didn't understand, he can be sure that what comes out of the dog's mouth is definitely Japanese!
Thinking of this, Wei Ran immediately pointed to the basket, then carefully poured out the contents, picked up the fighting dagger, held it in both hands and handed it to the devil who was playing with the scimitar.

Seeing this, the devil handed the scimitar to his companion, and reached out to take the not-so-big fighting bayonet.

However, before he could grasp the knife tightly, Wei Ran had let go of it ahead of time.And the other party subconsciously stretched out his hands to catch the knife.

"puff!"…

Amidst the sound of a water bag being cut, a slender and sharp Mauser bayonet first cut through the opponent's wrist holding the gun, and then stabbed it obliquely into its lung cavity.

When he pushed away the enemy who was still alive for the time being, the man who had just caught the Gurkha scimitar and was looking at it was also stunned, but immediately after, his eyes widened.Because, as he watched the man on the opposite side and beside him, a wooden boat brushed with tung oil appeared out of thin air!

But before he could react, as the wooden boat fell to the ground with a bang, Wei Ran already had another anti-Japanese sword in his hand!

With a soft sound of "Poof!", the sharp anti-Japanese sword easily cut off the arm of the stupid dog holding the gun.

"Ah~!"

Amidst the ear-piercing screams, Wei Ran swung the Anti-Japanese Broadsword again, and slashed at its temple at an angle.

Withdrew the knife, frowned and tensed his muscles. After waiting for a while, Wei Ran was surprised to find that he didn't feel the indescribable sense of brain shutdown.

So that secondary language task wasn't completed?
Wei Ran frowned and glanced at the man with the Mauser bayonet nailed into his lung cavity, and after a little hesitation, stepped forward and stomped on its neck.

Accompanied by the crisp sound of "Kaba", the devil who was about to be drowned by the blood flowing into the lung cavity also died, but the long-awaited sense of brain shutdown still did not appear!
"Fuck! You don't need to kill Luke, do you?"

Wei Ran's heart trembled, and when he came to his senses, he immediately took away the cheating rowboat and Mauser bayonet, searched the two devils in a hurry, put some burmese coins he found into his pocket, and then Throwing the two corpses into the cesspit of the dry toilet in the yard, he immediately packed up the scattered things in the back basket, and quickly left the empty big yard with the things he just bought or found.

When he returned to the town again, he was able to confirm that he still couldn't understand Burmese through shopping, and he didn't know anything else in his mind except the few sentences he learned from the art teachers. New words.

With all kinds of guesses about the secondary language task that required killing at least one spy, Wei Ran deliberately changed his direction and left Mansi Town where the murder just happened, and used a sugarcane field as a cover. Quietly returned to the jungle outside the town.

"How? Did you find it?" Zhou Guochang, who had been waiting for a long time, asked immediately.

"no"

Wei Ran suppressed his worries and briefly described what happened in Manxi Town. Then he took out glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves from his back basket and handed it to Zhou Guochang. At the same time, he did not forget to ask, "Squad leader Liang and Mr. Luke and the others haven't come out yet?"

"I just hid in the rice field and stared around, and I didn't see any smoke coming out."

After Zhou Guochang finished speaking, he opened the banana leaves tied with straw, took out a pair of fast nuts from the back basket, and started to eat them.

"hold on"

Wei Ran looked out of the jungle and said, "I bought you a set of local clothes, wait a minute, if there are locals passing by, you can change your clothes and touch them, try to find a way to ask those British people when they left. "

"give it to me!"

The voracious Zhou Guochang agreed vaguely, and then asked, "Do you think Squad Leader Liang and the others will encounter accidents?"

"Hard to say"

Wei Ran waved his hand absently, but he was still thinking about how to complete the secondary language task, and if he couldn't complete it, whether he could go back.

During this anxious wait, the sky gradually brightened completely. Wei Ran and Zhou Guochang still did not wait for Squad Leader Liang and the others, but when it was approaching noon, the roar of the plane and the unique whistle of the falling aerial bomb came from above their heads!

Immediately afterwards, Wei Ran saw helplessly that the small temple in Manxi Town that he had visited in the morning also ignited a huge fire in the explosion!

"This group of beasts!" Zhou Guochang cursed through gritted teeth.

When he came back to his senses, Wei Ran rubbed his face vigorously, and muttered to himself with doubts, "Why are they blowing up temples?"

"Wherever our expeditionary forces go, they will bomb the temples there."

Zhou Guochang said angrily, "They will also send people to preach that as long as they help the expeditionary army, the temple will be blown up. You may not know how much Buddhism is valued in this country."