When the soldiers of the Ninth Company took a steamboat and withdrew to Jiangyin. In the afternoon of the same day, a force of several hundred people appeared in the place where Kuroiwa Sakatsu was killed.

On the ground, a row of corpses covered with a white cloth lay out. Those corpses were the Japanese soldiers who were wiped out by the Ninth Company in the early morning battle. In total, there are dozens of them.

Among the many corpses, there was a bouquet of pale yellow chrysanthemums on top of one of the corpses.

It was the corpse of Kuroiwa Sakatsu, and in front of this corpse, there stood a middle-aged man who bowed his head in silent mourning.

This man was in his early forties, wearing the uniform of a Japanese officer, and his eyes were cold and fierce. He wasn't very tall, and he was still with his head down, but when he stood there, he gave people a very majestic feeling.

He is none other than Kuroiwa Sakatsu's own brother Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu.

Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu is the brigade commander of the 22nd Brigade under the 11th Division of the Japanese Army, and he has just become a brigade commander in his early forties, with the rank of major general.

"The enemy was the ninth company under the 88th Division of the National Army, and there were only more than 40 people left in number at that time. Squadron Leader Kuroiwa Sakatsu led his troops in pursuit at that time, but was ambushed by the enemy. His command knife was also taken away by the enemy. The brigade commander of the 22nd Brigade said in a low voice in Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu's ear.

Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu held a Japanese sword in both hands, and the body of the Japanese knife was engraved with the words "Ichiro". It means that it is for the firstborn in the family.

His sword and Kuroiwa Sakatsu's sword were created by their father and by the famous artist himself. But at this time, there was only one left, and the one that Heiyan Zuosheng had already captured by Qin Chuan.

His staff officer handed over an unfinished letter and said, "This is a letter from His Excellency Sakatsu Kuroiwa to you, but it is not finished. ”

Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu looked at his brother's handwriting on the letter, and his heart throbbed. Kuroiwa Sakatsu was obviously happy when he wrote this letter, saying that he would wait until he arrived and let him see the corpses of the enemies he had led his troops to annihilate.

He carefully folded the letter and placed it in his pocket.

"Do you know where the enemy is going?" Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu's voice was a little hoarse, and his voice was very low.

"Got into the dock and got on the steamboat. Went upstream along the river. His staff officer said.

"Did the troops go into pursuit?" Kuroiwa asked.

The staff officer replied helplessly: "At that time, no one would sail the troops that chased past. And the sailboats in the dock were too slow, and they had already lost their tracks. ”

Hearing this, Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu's palm holding the sword suddenly tightened, and the green tendons burst out in anger. He tried his best to suppress the anger in his heart, and only after a while did he say, "What about the 88th division?" ”

"The latest intelligence is that their division commander Sun Yuanliang ordered the troops to retreat without authorization, and they have already withdrawn from the Songhu battlefield." The counselor said.

After hearing this, Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu raised his head and looked at the sky, tears rolling in his bloodshot eyes.

"Zuo Sheng, my brother will avenge you." He looked at the sky like this, as if he was bidding farewell to the soul of his brother Kuroiwa Sakatsu.

After a while, he passed away the tears from the corners of his eyes, then put down the sword in his hand, squatted down and picked up Kuroiwa Sakatsu's body.

His strength is very great, and it is difficult for ordinary people to pick up such a dead body, and it often takes two people to carry it. But Kuroiwa Yoshikatsu alone directly picked it up, and walked towards the armored car not far away on the ground covered with blood.

As he walked, he whispered to the dead Kuroyan Sakatsu: "Sakatsu, my brother sent you home, my mother wrote two days ago that I miss you very much, and now my brother will send you home." ”

The steamboat they took in Qin Chuan did not arrive at the Yangtze River Wharf in Jiangyin until the evening.

There were almost no people at that pier, because of the battle in Songhu, this side also became the range of Japanese planes. Many people left their hometowns temporarily, some went to Jiangbei, and some went in the direction of Nanjing.

After Qin Chuan and the others arrived on the shore, the first thing they did was to help Xiaobao find a cemetery.

In the end, they determined the location where Xiaobao was buried on a mountain ridge on the bank of the river. According to veterinarians, if Xiaobao is buried here, he will be able to absorb the aura of the mountains and the Yangtze River at the same time.

Lu Chengshuang had always wondered what was inside the baggage that the veterinarian carried with him. It wasn't until the Ninth Company buried Xiaobao that she knew that the burden was a child's body.

After burying Xiaobao, Qin Chuan took a few soldiers and entered the urban area of Jiangyin to find the person who engraved the tombstone.

They searched several streets in a row until they finally found a shop with an engraved monument with an open door.

The shopkeeper is already very old, and in his words, he is already half of the earth, and he is still afraid of some Japanese devils, and if he kills it, he will kill it. He had even carved his own inscription, and the coffin was prepared in the store.

After explaining the intention, the shopkeeper generously said that he would not need money to carve a monument for children. But Qin Chuan said: "It's not just children. ”

The shopkeeper helped his black-rimmed glasses, and then asked, "Name the deceased." ”

Qin Chuan glanced at a few soldiers beside him, and then said, "Xiaobao." ”

"Xiaobao, good!" As he spoke, the shopkeeper planned to use a brush to lay a base on the stele. But Qin Chuan didn't stop, but continued to talk.

"Kong Sheng, Yu Qingnian, Chen Guohui·····" Qin Chuan began to say one name after another.

Zhang Changshan, who was next to him, moved in his heart, because he knew these names. Every name Qin Chuan recited was the name of the soldiers of the Ninth Company who died in battle.

At this moment, Xiaobao's stele is no longer just Xiaobao's tombstone, but the tombstone of all the soldiers of the Ninth Company who died on that battlefield.

The corpse of Xiaobao brought back by the veterinarian became the carrier of the soul of every dead soldier. The grave that buried Xiaobao is no longer just Xiaobao alone.

Qin Chuan kept reciting these names until the fifty-sixth before stopping.

It was the names of fifty-six soldiers who died on the battlefield.

"Okay?" The shopkeeper squinted his eyes and asked Qin Chuandao.

Qin Chuan nodded and said, "Okay, there are fifty-six names in total, if you can't write them, you can change them to a larger tombstone, and I'll give you money." ”

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "No money, no money." With that, he began to write his name on the stele, and kept carving words on it.

During this time, Qin Chuan asked Liuzi to go to Jiangyin City and contact the people from the Military Affairs Department. At the same time, Shang Feng asked to go to Nanjing to repair the troops and replenish the troops.