Under the leadership of Sun Yumin, the first company retreated to Kunshan with the main force of the second regiment, rested in Kunshan for half a day, and then boarded the stuffy tank train heading north.

During the war years, human life was as cheap as paper.

There was only a thin layer of straw in the stuffy tank carriage, and a lantern hung in the middle of the carriage. Under the dim yellow light, a company of soldiers was happily bragging and farting.

The battle of the Octagonal Bridge was a big show. The fewest casualties, the most Japanese killed. When the regiment commander and the regiment deputy were waiting for the bus in Kunshan, they made a special trip to visit the first company, and promoted Sun Yumin to major on the spot, acting commander of the second battalion, and rewarded the company with 500 oceans.

The company has never been so beautiful since the day it was built, which made the tails of the veterans who survived the catastrophe to the sky.

In this simple and smelly carriage, the soldiers of the first company gathered in a large group, the remaining soldiers of the second company gathered in a group, and the remaining few people of the third company crowded in the corner, as if the distance of this carriage was the distance between heaven and hell.

Sun Yumin looked at the remnants of the second and third companies, and wanted to go over and comfort them, but he didn't know what to say, and he didn't know what he could say.

Liu Wenzhi was Sun Yumin's old subordinate, and he knew very well what the old company commander thought, so he supported the ground with his right hand, struggled to stand up, and said to Sun Yumin: "Why don't I go over?" Record their names of origin, and they will also be brothers who eat in a pot in the future. ”

Sun Yumin cast an approving look, nodded and said, "Go, it's best to count the list of fallen soldiers of the second and third companies, and I'll hand it over to the regiment commander after getting off the car." ”

"yes, okay."

Liu Wenzhi took the small notebook with the roster of the first company and walked towards the group of people in the second company.

Zhang Xiaohu also stood up and said to him, "I'll go and count the three companies." ”

Sun Yumin nodded, rested his head on the thigh of a soldier next to him, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

The teaching corps was ordered to withdraw to Hunan to recuperate, but Sun Yumin knew that in the noisy noise of Tang Shengzhi, the commander of the Nanjing garrison, Lao Jiang was impatient and left his treasure in his hand: the Central Military Academy Teaching Corps, in Nanjing.

It was precisely knowing the fate of this unit that gave Sun Yumin a headache. How can I get these brothers out of Nanjing?

In the confusion, there was a clang, and the train stopped.

A few soldiers sitting on the edge of the door pulled open the door with their hands and looked to see that the train was stopped at a small and unnamed station. This small station has only three tracks, and there is not even a platform. The crowd was very puzzled, and some people asked puzzledly, "What do you do when you stop where the birds don't poop?" ”

Sun Yumin knew in his heart that he must have received an order from Shangfeng to transfer to Nanjing. There is less than a month to go, and the eternal pain of the Chinese nation: the battle to defend Nanjing, is about to begin. And the three regiments of the teaching corps on this special train will be completely wiped out. The fate of his own company and his second battalion will also end in this ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, which is now the capital of the Republic of China.

Sun Yumin thought to himself: It is a good thing to know that your fate is not visible, and it is inevitable to look forward and backward when you are a person and do things. It's better to simply be a big soldier, don't think about anything, don't worry about anything.

Thinking of this, Sun Yumin stood up, jumped out of the car under the gaze of the whole carriage, smashed out the pee-tearing thing, opened the gate to release the water, and said: "Suffocate the uncle." ”

Only then did everyone in the carriage realize that they had already been suffocated and uncomfortable, and they jumped out of the car one after another, and dozens of people lined up in a long line to release water. Slowly, the soldiers of the national army carrying the adjacent carriages and farther carriages followed suit, and the whole train was surrounded by white dragons spitting water, and the scene was very spectacular.

A veteran soldier next to Sun Yumin asked him, "...... camp?"

"Call the company commander." Sun Yumin interrupted him.

"Company commander, what do you think is going on here?"

Sun Yumin shuddered, wiped a little urine on the old soldier, and straightened his pants before replying, "It should be that the order has changed." It is estimated that the brothers will have to go to the battlefield again. ”

The veteran was speechless when he saw Sun Yumin using his dirty military uniform as a hand cloth, but he was not annoyed, and asked with a hippie smile: "Company commander, where do you think we will be transferred?" ”

"Nanjing!" Sun Yumin looked into the distance and spit out two words resolutely in his mouth.

The surviving soldiers of the 1st Company, the 2nd Company, and the 3rd Company all looked happy when they heard this, and some of them shouted: "Go to the capital!" It is not in vain to be able to enter the imperial city once in this life. ”

Sun Yumin sighed in his heart how humble these lowest-level soldiers were, and even their wishes were so small and simple. Could it be that these soldiers who are so kind and so pitiful can bear to watch them serve as cannon fodder? Isn't it my own obligation to bring them to life? Sun Yumin kept asking himself!

The heralds in the regiment came to find Sun Yumin and asked him to go to the third carriage for a meeting immediately.

When Sun Yumin arrived, dozens of officers had already gathered in the carriage. Basically, all of them have the rank of school officer, and Sun Yumin, the captain, looks very eye-catching in it.

Someone on the left side of the middle of the carriage was waving to him, and when Sun Yumin saw that it was the commander of the third battalion, he hurriedly walked over, and when he walked to the front, he found that there was a battalion commander sitting next to him, a deputy regiment commander and a chief of staff sitting in front, and the regiment commander Xie Chengrui was sitting in two positions alone. Sun Yumin was embarrassed to sit next to the regiment commander, saluted several regiment commanders, and wanted to turn around and find an empty seat to sit behind.

Xie Chengrui turned sideways, made way of the passage, and said, "Just sit next to me." ”

Sun Yumin's face was full of shock, and he looked at the third battalion commander with inquiring eyes. For a grassroots officer like him, although he knows a lot of people here, the only one who can speak is this third battalion commander.

The third battalion commander nodded at Sun Yumin and gave another thumbs up.

Sun Yumin laughed and sat down beside the head of the regiment in an extremely embarrassing manner.

Captain Xie waited for Sun Yumin to sit down, and then said, "How is the morale of the brothers below?" ”

"Not too high! The first company is still so-so, the second and third companies are not good, and there are less than thirty complete people left in the two of them. Sun Yumin replied truthfully.

"Yes, the artillery of the little Japanese is too powerful, and the second regiment has never suffered such a big loss. If it weren't for your strength at critical moments, Xie would probably have been court-martialed. ”

"Tuanza, you are too high-minded to be a subordinate." Sun Yumin was taken aback and hurriedly wanted to stand up.

Commander Xie seemed to know what he was going to do, reached out and pressed his shoulder, and said, "In the future, the second battalion will rely on you, and the second regiment will rely on the three of you." Yan Bi glanced at the commanders of the first and third battalions sitting in the second platoon behind him.

The commander of the first battalion and the commander of the third battalion looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

Head Xie chatted with Sun Yumin for a few more words, and then heard a sound of footsteps, and the star officer shouted loudly: "Stand up." ”

It was still a miasma of smoke just now, and the noisy carriage was immediately silent, and the officers in the carriage stood straight one by one.

I saw a middle-aged man dressed in the uniform of a major general of the national army walking over with a soldier wearing the rank of colonel and glasses.

Sun Yumin didn't know this person, so he asked in a low voice: "Regiment leader, who is this chief?" ”

Head Xie waved his hand at him and motioned for him not to speak.

The major general walked to the front of the carriage, turned around and pressed down with both hands, and motioned for everyone to sit down. He spoke: "On the Songhu battlefield, I taught the officers and soldiers at all levels of the corps to fight bloodily and hold the position of the Octagonal Bridge for six days, without letting the enemy advance half a step!" However, due to the huge disparity in the strength of the enemy and us, the chairman and the commander's department ordered a retreat for the sake of the overall situation. However, you must understand that the purpose of retreating is to better organize superior forces to fight against the Japanese invaders, not to flee all the way, and not to give up the great rivers and mountains. The Major General paused and glanced at the officers sitting straight in front of him. He continued: "Our unit was originally ordered to go north to Hunan to rest and recuperate, but just an hour ago we received an order from the Commander's Department and Captain Gui: go to Nanjing to rest and assemble, accept the command of General Tang, the commander of the Nanjing garrison, and fight to the death with the Japanese in Nanjing."

When the officers below heard this, they began to whisper and talk to each other.

Sun Yumin had long known that he would turn to Nanjing, and he was not too surprised. The head of the regiment Xie on the side frowned, not knowing what he was thinking.

The Major General did not prohibit everyone's discussion, but stood still and watched everyone, and after a long while, he clapped his hands and said, "I see that you seem to have a lot of opinions." Who's going to talk about it? ”

Xie Chengrui hurriedly stood up and said loudly: "There is a problem with the humble position. ”

"Speak!"

"More than half of the inferior Second Regiment has lost more than half of the battle, and if it is not replenished, I am afraid that its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. The brothers below have just experienced a bloody battle, and I am afraid that the combat power will be greatly reduced if they do not rest. Add the two together, do you say that this battle still needs to be fought, deputy commander? ”

Sun Yumin has a very good impression of this regiment commander in his heart, not because he promoted himself to an official and gave him a series of awards, but because this colonel regiment commander died in Nanjing in the end, and did not abandon the city and abandon his position. Sun Yumin was worried that the major general would be angry with Regiment Commander Xie, so he raised his hand and pulled the corner of his clothes.

Unexpectedly, his small action made the major general look at it, and seeing that he only wore the rank of captain, he was very curious, so he pointed at Sun Yumin and said, "That captain, do you have any opinions?" ”

Sun Yumin didn't expect to call his name, so he hurriedly shook his head, forgetting to stand up even when he stood up.

"Which unit are you from? Don't even know how to answer the chief's question? The Major General frowned slightly, slightly displeased.

Sun Yumin reacted, immediately stood up, saluted, and replied: "The commander of the first company of the second battalion of the second regiment, because the battalion commander was injured, he temporarily acted as the commander of the second battalion." ”

The major general's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he said happily: "You are Sun Yumin, who hit the Japanese invaders in a strange formation on the Octagonal Bridge?" ”

Sun Yumin was blaming himself for not standing up and replying just now, for fear that he would be involved with several commanders of the Second Regiment, and he didn't hear what the major general said, and he was thinking hard about countermeasures, but he didn't expect that people were asking him again.

When the officers in the carriage saw Sun Yumin's dejected appearance, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Sun Yumin didn't know that everyone was laughing at him, his face was dazed, thinking that the chief in front of him had said something funny, and he grinned and smirked.

This time it amused the big guys, everyone laughed crookedly, and even the major general was happy.

Commander Xie couldn't bear to see his subordinates being treated as fools, so he took a step forward and said to the major general: "Report to the deputy commander, he is Sun Yumin, who led his troops to defeat a Japanese brigade at the Octagonal Bridge. ”

This major general was none other than Liu Zhenqiang, deputy chief of the teaching corps, followed by Colonel Wan Chengqu, director of the General Staff Office.

Liu Zhenqiang walked in front of Sun Yumin, straightened his collar for him, and said: "The future is terrifying, Captain Sun is ......" Before he finished speaking, he turned his head and asked Commander Xie: "I remember that I have given him an order to be promoted to a higher rank, how can I ......?" ”

"Report to the deputy general seat, the order for promotion has been conveyed, but I left in a hurry, and I didn't come to change my clothes in a hurry."

Liu Zhenqiang nodded, and said to Sun Yumin: "Major Sun is a rare talent for my teaching corps, and the battle of the Octagonal Bridge has played the prestige of my teaching corps and the spirit of Chinese soldiers!" ”

Sun Yumin's face was full of compulsion, and he didn't understand it at all, he only knew that this big official was praising himself, and he could only nod vigorously.

The officer in the carriage laughed even harder at this.

Zhou Zhenqiang slapped it on the table next to him, startling everyone who laughed wildly. After glancing around, he said sharply: "Who of you can defeat the onslaught of nearly 1,000 people in two squadrons of the Japanese army with a company of less than 120 remnants, and send reinforcements to support the position of the brothers, I will immediately promote him to his rank!" After a pause, he added, "Is there one?" If so, please stand up! ”

No one said anything for a while, and Zhou Zhenqiang said again: "You are all the pillars of my teaching team, and you should work together to unite and go to the national disaster together." ”

Many officers below lowered their heads one after another, but several people in the second regiment were happy, and they all cast approving glances at Sun Yumin.

Zhou Zhenqiang let out a long breath and said, "Next, please ask Director Wan to read out the order!" ”

Wan Chengqu took a step forward and shouted, "Order!" ”

The officers in the carriage quickly stood up and stood straight.

Wan Chengqu slowly opened the Chinese folder in his hand and read it aloud: "The Central Military Academy Teaching Corps has made meritorious contributions in the bloody battle on the Songhu battlefield, and it is terrifying to the enemy!" Specially given the title of Tiger Master! Jiang Zhongzheng "turned another page and read: "Order: The Central Military Academy Teaching Corps was promoted to the division level, the commander of the corps, Major General Gui Yongqing, the deputy commander, Major General Liu Zhenqiang, the chief of staff, Colonel Qiu Qingquan, and the chief of staff, Colonel Wan Chengqu. The corps has jurisdiction over three brigades and six regiments: Major General Liu Zhenqiang, commander of the first brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Ma Liangui, chief of staff, Colonel Qin Shiquan, commander of the first brigade and one regiment, and Colonel Xie Chengrui, commander of the second regiment. Major General Hu Qiru, commander of the Second Brigade, and Colonel Liao Yaoxiang, chief of staff............ He Yingqin, commander-in-chief of the Army of the Republic of China. Wan Chengqu read the order in one breath, turned another page, swallowed his saliva, and read: "The Nanjing Garrison Command order: The Central Military Academy Teaching Corps must arrive at the Purple Mountain in Nanjing before November 16 to garrison, and all the necessary supplementary troops, weapons and equipment, and food will be in place within three days. Commander of the Nanjing garrison, Tang Shengzhi. ”