Two and a half hours after the fierce battle ended, in an unnamed valley not far from Hanjiagou.

On a sunny slope full of morning glories, more than 800 blood-stained soldiers of the Eighth Route Army stood solemnly around an open space in two groups.

In front of them, there were rows and rows of corpses of the sacrificed soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, one by one, as if they were urgently assembled in peacetime.

Under the sun, Zhao Shixun and the surviving soldiers of the Seventh Company stood on the side of the team, and at this time he was quietly waiting for the start of the memorial ceremony with the weak black baby.

The sun is setting, and the remnant sun is like blood.

Levan barely stood on a log with the help of a warrior, his face pale from blood loss full of fortitude.

"Lao Jiang...... Ahem! It's up to you to preside over today's ceremony. ”

Lei Wancheng's calf was pierced by the devil's bullet, and there were still a few pieces of shrapnel on his body that had not been removed. He wanted to preside over the memorial ceremony in person, but his body really didn't allow it, and it was already very reluctant to stand.

"Old Lei, you better lie down and listen."

Seeing that Lei Wancheng's face was getting paler and paler, Jiang Hongfei said worriedly.

"Out of the way, ......, I will stand to see off the brethren on their last journey."

Hearing this, Jiang Hongfei nodded, and Jiang Hongfei didn't say anything more. He carefully adjusted his military appearance, turned around and slowly walked to the top to look at the soldiers below, and stared at them for a long time before he said in a deep voice:

"Comrades, lying here are a group of faces that we once knew so well. It is for the dear comrades-in-arms who fell for national liberation and freedom. In the face of the enemy's guns, they were fearless and brave enough to pounce on the enemy. With their own lives, they guaranteed victory in this crucial battle, which belonged to them and to these comrades-in-arms who sacrificed for national liberation and freedom. ”

"With their own practical actions, they have fulfilled their oath to fight for the liberation of the entire Chinese people.

We are here to remember them, to remember them, and to follow their example and fight for our nation and our country! ”

Speaking of this, Jiang Hongfei looked at the familiar faces in front of him and continued:

"Maybe one day, we too will fall on the path of revolution.

But we have no regrets, and we have no complaints!

Because, for the sake of the country, for the sake of the nation. We've done the best we can!

At that time, we will still meet these fallen comrades.

At that time, we will hold their hands and proudly tell them that we have taken a big step forward in their unfinished business! We, like them, died on the way to the charge! ”

Looking at the strong and simple faces under him, Jiang Hongfei's voice trembled slightly.

Comrades! Wipe away your tears and turn your grief into strength. Let us pay our highest salute to these fallen comrades-in-arms!

Crash......

All the surviving soldiers of the Vanguard Regiment, whether intact or on crutches, placed their right hands flat on their chests and solemnly saluted the corpses in front of them.

"Spy Company!"

"To ......!"

Yang Chenghu, who was wrapped in a thick bandage on his left shoulder, responded loudly.

"Shoot into the sky, see ......off our sacrificial comrades!!"

"Yes......!"

Bang bang......

……

The sound of gunfire like popping beans echoed through the valley like the shouts of countless soldiers. One after another, like the drumbeat of the soul, it knocked one after another in the depths of the soul of every soldier of the Eighth Route Army.

Listening to the gunshot, Zhao Shixun's brows furrowed slightly, as if something was blocked in his chest, which made people extremely uncomfortable.

In the past, Zhao Shixun had also heard about the Communist Party ceremoniously sending dead people. In the past, he, like many Kuomintang officers, also felt that it was because the Communist Party was too poor to give anything that he would use this ancient method to rally people's hearts and morale.

In Zhao Shixun's impression, what ordinary big-headed soldiers care about most is not ethereal things such as honor, but things that can be seen and used.

People have military salaries when they are alive, and they have settling-in allowances when they die, which is what ordinary soldiers care about the most.

But at this moment, Zhao Shixun suddenly felt that his previous thoughts were a little ridiculous, and even a little vulgar. At this moment, he suddenly felt that those fallen soldiers were not numbers in the mouth of the officers, but living people.

……

After the brief and solemn memorial service, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who died were buried on this sunny slope. Due to the rush of time, there was no time to identify the monuments one by one, so only a few wooden stakes were erected according to the company, on which the combat collective to which they belonged.

As for the dead Japanese puppet soldiers, the soldiers collected all the useful ones on their bodies, and threw them directly into a large earth pit and buried them hastily.

For these invaders and traitors, it is already merciful not to let them storm the wilderness.

Two days later, the Pioneer Regiment, which had suffered heavy casualties, finally returned to the regimental headquarters.

After arranging the soldiers and resting for the night, Zhao Shixun went to the conference room of the regiment headquarters alone at dawn the next day and reported the battle damage of the Seventh Company to the mountain.

In this blocking battle, the Seventh Company can be said to have suffered a great loss of vitality.

At the time of departure, there were 86 people in the whole company plus Zhao Shixun, and now after removing a few seriously wounded who died on the road, there are still 27 intact soldiers, 11 lightly wounded, and 8 seriously wounded in the whole company.

Among the four combat squads, one squad leader, Heiwa, was seriously wounded, and there were still seven intact fighters left in the class, three lightly wounded, and two seriously wounded.

The second squad leader Tiewa died, and there were still six intact fighters left in the class, two lightly wounded, and one seriously wounded.

The third squad leader, Kiko, was slightly wounded, and there were still six intact fighters left in the class, four lightly wounded, and three seriously wounded.

The fourth squad leader, Zhou Dahu, was slightly wounded, and there were still eight intact fighters left in the class, two lightly wounded, and three seriously wounded.

According to statistics, the whole company lost 40 people and seriously injured 8 people! Thirty-eight people were left to stand up .......

And of the eight seriously injured, Zhao Shixun estimates that at least more than half will not survive for three days. There was no way, most of the seriously injured were puncture wounds and open wounds with bayonets, and there was a delay of two days along the way, and many people missed the best time to help.

If it weren't for the large amount of Japanese medicine captured this time, the seriously wounded soldiers of the Pioneer Regiment would have been all on the way to the garrison, let alone advancing to the regimental headquarters.

Since the regiment commander has been in a coma since he returned from serious injury, the work in the regiment is temporarily in charge of political commissar Jiang Hongfei and staff officer Xue Liqun.

After a brief report, Zhao Shixun also obtained the exact number of casualties of the Pioneer Regiment in this battle from the political commissar.

In this ambush battle, the vanguard regiment has been directly reduced from more than 1,500 people before the war to more than 890 people today, and the reduction has reached almost half!

The total strength of the Japanese army in this ambush was 208 Japanese troops and 230 puppet soldiers. In order to annihilate them, the vanguard regiment paid more than twice as many casualties as the Japanese puppet army.

In addition to the seventh company, the largest number of losses in the combat unit was the first battalion, and not only was the battalion commander Han Weimin seriously wounded, but the entire battalion alone lost more than 240 people!

Among them, the fourth company of recruits fought less than ten people, and almost the entire army was wiped out. The special service company, which had the strongest combat effectiveness in the whole regiment, also suffered great losses, with more than 75 people killed.

The second company, which was responsible for blocking the devil's retreat route, suffered more than 80 casualties in order to prevent the Japanese army's desperate breakthrough. As for the only reserve company in the whole regiment, the casualties were the smallest, only about thirty people.

……

After leaving the regiment headquarters, Zhao Shixun went to the regimental hospital to visit his injured brothers.

Before entering the courtyard where the hospital was located, Zhao Shixun smelled a strong smell of blood from a distance. Accompanied by the wails of the wounded soldiers, one wounded soldier after another was carried into the makeshift operating room.

Originally, it was impossible for a combat unit of the level of the Pioneer Regiment to be equipped with a surgeon, let alone such a decent field hospital.

But all that changed after the arrival of a Japanese military doctor, who was Masao Kadokawa, or Lyu Huanxian.

Zhao Shixun also learned about Lu Huanxian after the battle, and he, like most people, was very curious about this Taiwanese Japanese military doctor.

Because Lu Huanxian, who has lived in Taiwan for many years, does not speak Chinese very well, especially some medical words, he only knows how to say Japanese. For this reason, Zhao Shixun also acted as a temporary translator when he first returned, helping Kadokawa and Lao Wu to build this temporary field hospital.

After the hospital was established, Kadokawa asked several medical soldiers and Lao Wu to help him and began to operate on the wounded soldiers of the Pioneer Regiment.

In this battle, the vanguard regiment added nearly 200 wounded. In order to rescue these wounded, it is said that Lu Huanxian has not closed his eyes for a day and a night, and dozens of seriously injured people were pulled back by him from Lord Yama.

Now the whole regiment respects Lu Huanxian very much, and everyone is saying that the pioneer group has picked up a treasure this time. In Zhao Shixun's opinion, Lu Huanxian did help the pioneer group a lot, but in order to save this person, the price paid by the pioneer group was also very high.

Zhao Shixun learned from the political commissar that in order to safely rescue this Taiwanese Japanese doctor, the Pioneer Regiment had to abandon the use of grenades and machine guns in the final general attack, and instead used bayonets and broadswords to storm the devil's last line of defense.

It was true that this did not accidentally injure Lu Huanxian, who was mixed in the devil's convoy, but the price paid for this was dozens of lives!

Now looking at the busy temporary hospital in front of him, Zhao Shixun also recognized the decision of the head of the regiment in his heart at this time. Indeed, the help provided by an excellent surgeon to the Eighth Route Army, which was short of medical treatment, could not be described in a few words.

A soldier may not be afraid of being killed on the battlefield, but he will never be able to bear to be tortured to death by his wounds. And the massive death of the sick and wounded is an extremely serious blow to the morale of any army.

(End of chapter)