readx; Dai Anlan sat in a low bush, and by the light of the western sun, he pulled out the crumpled map and unfolded it on his lap. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Zheng Tingqian also came over.

On the map, Langko is only half a finger long from the border, about seventy or eighty kilometers. The journey back home has been ten out of ten and nine minutes has been completed. Langko is facing Nankan on the China-Myanmar border. When the national border comes here, it suddenly protrudes in the direction of Myanmar, in the shape of a "U", and Nankan is the bottom of the "U" figure. This "U" word, in Dai Anlan's eyes now, is like his mother's outstretched arm to him. As long as you take a little further forward, you can firmly grasp this warm hand and return to the embrace of the motherland!

"In three or five days, we'll be home!" Dai Anlan was extremely excited, and then sighed deeply, "Alas"

A sigh, a lot of ups and downs.

I thought of going on an expedition abroad, leaving my wife and children, saying goodbye to my relatives, going abroad, going to a foreign country, fighting on the battlefield, and swords and blood. Now, who can be indifferent when they step into their homes?

Thinking again, after the defeat and retreat of Burma, they went into the dense forest, walked in the wilderness, did not wear clothes to protect themselves from the cold, did not eat their stomachs, walked in the thorny bushes, slept in the grass, there were chasing soldiers behind, there were nets in front, and they were in a desperate situation, and they were in danger. Now, who is not overjoyed to see that they are out of danger and throw themselves into the arms of the motherland?

But after thinking about it again, I went on an expeditionary army, covered with flags, swords and guns, held confidence in victory, made a steel oath, defended the Yunnan-Burma Road, and carried forward the Chinese soul, but as a result, I lost my armor and armor, returned in defeat, lost my teacher and humiliated the country, and lost the face of the Chinese. When I set foot on the country, I felt ashamed and ashamed.

Drunk and lying on the battlefield, how many people came back to fight in ancient times? I really deserved to die in Burma with a bang, and I shouldn't have come back from such a mess. Dai Anlan was happy and sad at first glance, with mixed feelings.

The teacher looked melancholy, Zheng Tingqian felt uncomfortable, and wanted to comfort a few words, but he couldn't find the words after searching his stomach, and only repeated two old sayings: "Stay in the green mountains, don't worry about no firewood." ”

Dai Anlan looked at the thousands of remnants in front of him and behind him, and immediately felt a huge responsibility. The most urgent task at the moment is to bring the officers and men back to China, and it is not worth thinking about personal honor and disgrace!

Keep moving! Dai Anlan puffed up his chest, threw off his stride, and walked to the front of the group.

The closer you get to the border, the more you dare not be careless. The officers and men were both excited and uneasy, raised their feet high, landed lightly, and stepped forward without a sound. There is a path in the forest, which is trodden by horse gangs between Yunnan and Myanmar. Most of the caravans are drug smugglers and traffickers, and their paths are very hidden, and even the locals are difficult to detect. The road is difficult to walk, with twists and turns, stumbling and stumbling, and from time to time you can step on piles of stinking horse manure. This is the only reliable signpost. Every time you step on a foot of porphyrine horse manure, it gives people the feeling of being down-to-earth, rather than falling short; Hope, not frustration.

The team cautiously advanced through the dense forest. The forest is so beautiful at night!

The moon hung in the treetops, and the silver light poured down the land. Thousands of branches and leaves reflect a little ghost light under the bright moon. The forest is like a nightgown encrusted with pearls and gemstones. The evening breeze from the Indian Ocean blows gently, and the night mist is misty and wisps in the forest. The unknown wildflowers were scented in the dark. I don't know when the tip of the leaf petal grass has been hung with dewdrops, touching your face, giving you a trace of coolness, a trace of sweetness. The mountains are all over the wilderness, the insects are singing and the birds are noisy, and the high-pitched frog sound, which is melodious and melodious.

But don't be fooled by the night in the forest!

Do you know what kind of world this is under the moonlight? The night in the forest is not quiet and not harmonious. Known as the king of the forest, the tiger is most fond of nocturnal action. Elephants and wild boars also walk at night. Black wolves, Indian leopards, Malayan bears, these ferocious carnivorous beasts, many of which recuperate during the day and fight each other at night. Animals such as owls and bats sleep heavily during the day and hunt exclusively at night. Even the nasty gnats are more rampant at night than during the day.

At night in the forest, under the hazy moonlight, in the silence of all the voices, there are murderous opportunities hidden everywhere! What prevails here is the iron law of survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle. This kind of fighting is more brutal and ruthless than during the day.

On the other side of the mountain, a pack of wolves howled in hunger; On this side of the mountain, the even hungrier howl of the Malayan bear immediately echoed. In the long and hearty sound of pine waves, who is sure that there is no hidden footsteps of hungry tigers pounced on food? Around, gnats are buzzing and whining, do you think it's good music? No, every whine is accompanied by an attack!

The night in the forest is like a cluster of blooming poppies, so beautiful that it makes people feel frightened; The chorus of the animal world is like a melodious nocturne, so sweet that it makes people chill.

The officers and men of the 200th Division were vigilant and marched forward with their canes. Fearing a noise, experienced veterans sewed cloth covers for kettles and shovels; Soldiers who are addicted to cigarettes can only crush shredded tobacco and put it in their mouths to chew; In order to prevent falling behind, the scheming company commander pulled up a long vine, and the officers and men of the whole company led forward one by one.

At 11 o'clock in the night, the troops covertly approached the west side of Lashio to the Mogok road. This is the last road to cross on the way home. As long as you pass the Minamo Highway tonight and bypass the Baldwin mine tomorrow night, there will be two or three days to go, and the border will be at your feet.

But it must not be reckless, this place is only a few dozen kilometers away from the enemy-occupied Lashio.

The Hoshima Highway stretches silently in front of you. The asphalt pavement glistens in the moonlight, and the road follows the mountain until it disappears into the darkness at the back of the mountain.

At this time, Dai Anlan was lurking on the high ground south of the road, staring wide-eyed, peeking at the movement on the road.

Because he is the commander of the mechanized army, Dai Anlan's feelings for the highway are as deep as his feelings for combat vehicles and artillery. In particular, the road built by the British was wide and smooth, and all of it was paved with asphalt, and when the expedition was made in February, the huge convoy of the 200th Division rumbled through this road.

How majestic that is!

Now it's different, his chariot is gone, the car is lost, and the road no longer belongs to him. He and his team could only hide on the side of the road like rabbits, secretly watching the movement, waiting for an opportunity to jump over. Dianlan once again tasted the pain of defeat.

There were no passing cars on the road, not even a single figure, and everything was calm. However, lying in front of you is a sleeping python, so don't wake it up.

"Quack, quack" came from the front of a few frog whining, which was a code signal from the spearhead to "pass".

A group of dark shadows then leaped onto the highway; In an instant, he rushed into the jungle north of the road. The divisional avant-garde troops passed safely.

Dai Anlan also set foot on the road with the follow-up main force. The division commander had no intention of leaving immediately, his sharp eyes searched in the dark, as if looking for traces of the chariot rumbling from here more than two months ago. He noticed a milestone on the side of the road, and immediately ran to it, and by the light of the moon, and by the touch of his hands, he read the rows of English letters engraved on the stone tablet:

20 km from Mogok to Mogok.

That being said, we're going in exactly the right direction. Based on this milestone, Dai Anlan was able to determine where the troops were now and accurately calculate the distance back home. This place is no more than 60 kilometers away from the national border, and due north is Nankan, which is the big hand stretched out by the motherland. The division commander was very excited, and when he looked up, he saw the Big Dipper winking at him, as if to say, "Yes, that's right, let's go boldly!" ”

He turned to follow the group, left the road, "rubbed" a few times, and ran into the jungle.

At this moment, sparks bloomed in the dark jungle. With a sudden explosion, Dai Anlan saw his soldiers dancing wildly in the firelight, and then slanted like felled trees.

This scene, like a negative film exposed to the light, will remain in his mind forever.

Ambushed.

A simple thought flashed through Dai Anlan's mind like a lightning bolt. His first reaction was to lie down on the spot, and then, reaching out to pull Browning from his waist.

In the face of sudden events, as a commander, you must first judge and then act. Lying in the grass, Dai Anlan pricked up his ears. Judging from the intensity of the fire, the enemy has about 2~3 brigades. It seems that the enemy does not have enough forces to form an encirclement of us. I am outnumbered, and it is not appropriate for me to fight with them. It was necessary to detach the troops from the enemy's firing range, and then flank and detour to counter-encircle the enemy.

The division commander called the operational staff officer and asked him to inform the 599th Regiment, which was in a melee with the enemy, to quickly retreat to the depression on the western side. However, the troops encountered a surprise attack by the enemy during the march, the ranks were scattered, the command was paralyzed, and the whereabouts of the regiment commander Liu Shuren were unknown. In the panic, the officers and men of the squadron opened fire from all sides, shooting blindly, just exposing themselves and attracting more fierce fire from the enemy. In the firelight, the officers and soldiers of the [***] squadron fell to the ground one after another, Dai Anlan could no longer hold back, jumped up from the grass, held Browning, and shouted as he ran:

"Brothers, retreat westward, quick!"

The officers and men in the melee heard the familiar Anhui accent of the division commander, and suddenly came to their senses and turned around and retreated westward.

Dai Anlan led the officers and soldiers to move while fighting, and the bullets of the army rained down, suddenly, he felt something hit hard from behind, the golden flowers in front of him were blooming, the fire snake was dancing, his feet were weak, and his body leaned back, and in an instant, he saw that the Big Dipper above his head suddenly dimmed

After daybreak, the gunfire stopped.

The army that set up an ambush was outnumbered, and those who died died, and those who were alive fled through the dense forest. The army is a cunning wolf, bite you, grab a piece of meat and run.

The 200th Division was miserable.

This dense forest, which had been fiercely fought at night, was like being struck by a typhoon and lightning. The body of the tree is crooked and scarred; The canopy branches and leaves are missing, sparse and sparse. Among the bushes and grass, lying corpses. Occasionally, a barrel of a gun, a broken hat, or a blown thigh could be seen hanging from a branch, and the red blood was still dripping. The 599th Regiment and the 600th Regiment each had only one battalion left. Liu Shuren, the head of the 599th Regiment, and Liu Jie, the deputy head of the regiment, were killed.

The remnants of the team gathered themselves on the hillside, but the division commander was nowhere to be seen.

Where did the division commander go? The team immediately panicked. Deputy Division Commander Gao Jiren, Chief of Staff Zhou Zhizai, and Infantry Commander Zheng Tingqi Look at me, I look at you, and a wave of fear hit my heart.

"Go to the division commander!" Gao Ji shouted. The officers and soldiers hurriedly burrowed into the bloody jungle to find their division commander.

While shouting for the division commander, people tossed through the woods, tore down the big trees that had been blown down, cut through the dense bushes, and examined the corpses.

It was Chief of Staff Zhou Zhi who found the division commander in the grass under the dirt slope. The division commander was curled up, lying on the thick withered grass, surrounded by blood. The chief of staff pounced and found that the division commander had been shot in the chest and abdomen. He lowered his head, pressed his ear lightly to the division commander's chest, and heard a faint pulsation like a gossamer.

"The division commander is here!"

"The division commander is still saved!"

Zhou Zhi gently picked up the division commander again, he raised his head, let go of his throat, and shouted loudly at the mountain, at the forest, and at all the officers and soldiers.

Yes, the division commander should be saved. He had a body as strong as steel, and his heart as powerful as the engine on a chariot. In 1939, in the Battle of Kunlun Pass, he was also seriously wounded, didn't he survive? Moreover, in the present time of crisis, a broken army, thousands of ragged and hungry soldiers, were counting on him.

How could there be no one without him at this moment?

However, Dai Anlan felt that his injuries were serious, and he was afraid that he would not be able to survive this time.

When he woke up, Dai Anlan began to prepare for the future, and when he saw that the main officers of the division headquarters and the commanders of each regiment were by his side, he left a message in public:

"After I was killed, Zheng Tingqi, the commander of the division's infantry, led his troops back to China."

The officers nodded sadly.

Zheng Tingqian burst into tears and said to Dai Anlan: "Commander, cross the mountain in front of you and you'll be home." You've got to hold on. ”

The division commander nodded and said, "I hope so." ”

Zheng Tingqi called a stretcher and carried the division commander to retreat north.

In late May, it was already the rainy season in Myanmar, and the rain was pouring down. The forest is full of swamps, the roads are muddy, and the journey is particularly difficult. The troops were cut off from food, and a battalion commander saw that the division commander was very weak, and when he was camping, he tried to ask the local natives for a bowl of porridge. ”

As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes.

Not only did the troops run out of food, but they also had no medicine, not even a clean bandage. Even the heavy rain, coupled with mosquito bites and locust bites, red envelopes grow on good skin and meat. The two big wounds on Dai Anlan's body were infected, ulcerated, suppurated, and maggots.

Dai Anlan was in pain.

On May 26, the remnants of the 200th Division marched to the village of Mau Bang in northern Burma. This place is only thirty or forty miles away from the border, and the motherland is close at hand.

However, the gunshot wound worsened, the high fever did not go away, Dai Anlan was exhausted, fainted several times, and the fire of life was like a lamp in front of the wind, flickering and flickering, and could be extinguished at any time.

In the wee hours of the morning, he was awake for a short while. He asked about the current location of the troops, how far they were from Yunnan, and how many days they could return to China. Zheng Tingqian answered them one by one. The division commander nodded as he listened, and a smile appeared on his pale face. He was glad that there was still hope for the troops.

However, the division commander became less and less confident in himself. Already feeling that his life was limited, he instructed the guards to straighten his clothes and lift him up from the stretcher.

His distracted eyes, looking at the sky, the night was low, the dome was lonely, the moon was dark and the stars were scarce, only the Big Dipper was faintly recognizable. Dai Anlan pondered for a moment. As it happened, a meteorite streaked across the sky at this time. The eclipse of the moon and the meteorite meteorite were originally commonplace natural phenomena. Dai Anlan has been a horse all his life, and he has never been interested in such nonsense. However, at this moment, this situation and this scene aroused his sadness. Looking at the passing meteor, he sighed: "Life and death are fate, wealth is in the sky." ”

When a man is about to die, his words are also mourned. Zheng Tingqi listened to the words of the division commander, and his heart couldn't help but tremble: When did this strong iron man who stood up to the sky and the earth, and the brave general who was agitated and agitated, say such resigned and helpless words?

I remember that at the beginning of his trip, Dai Anlan waved his army to Tonggu, but along the way, he saw undulating mountains and lush forests. On both sides of the road, rue herbs bloom everywhere, and the fragrance is fragrant. Dai Anlan couldn't help but think wildly.

Rue herb is endemic to western Yunnan and northern Myanmar. It can be up to 1 meter high, the leaves have a specific fragrance, can be used in medicine, the surname is warm, it has the function of driving away cold and dampness, relieving pain, and antiseptic and sterilization. Legend has it that when Zhuge Liang went on an expedition to the Southern Barbarians, the miasma rose and countless people in the army died of illness. Later, under the guidance of the immortals, pick the shallot leaves and rue from the mountains, each person contains one leaf, then the miasma is not stained, and the patients are all removed, so Meng was defeated. When Zhuge Liang returned to the north, the barbarians stayed. Zhuge Liang comforted me and said, I will do it again. The barbarian asks for the time of restart. Zhuge Liang pointed to the rue herbs all over the mountain and said, the flowering period of this grass is the time for me to come back.

Rue herb is rarely flowering, and it is rare to find it in a hundred years. This spring, the Chinese Expeditionary Force marched into Burma, and it happened that the rue flowers were blooming like clouds. Dai Anlan traveled far away with his troops, Top Gun, and saw the fairy grass blooming, welcoming the king, he couldn't help but have a whim, and chanted heroic verses on the way to the army:

The flag of thousands of miles is dazzling, the king of the king leaves the island and destroys it, and the whip is pointed at the flowers as promised, and the predecessor of Zhuge is here again.

Riding a horse and galloping through the eight wildernesses, the expedition meritorious service to the Qin Emperor, clarifying the universe An Lishu, first holding the longbow and shooting the sunset.

However, the rapid development of the war was full of ups and downs, joys and sorrows. The difference between victory and defeat is often instantaneous. By March 22, the battle to defend Tonggu had entered a critical juncture, and Dai Anlan had begun to plan for the worst. On this day, after making up his mind to defend the lonely city, he interrupted the habit of writing notes in the battle for many years, but prepared two suicide notes without hesitation and with a long love for his children.

A letter to his wife, Wang Hexin, wrote:

Dear Hexin,

Yu was ordered to stick to Donggua (Donggua is the same ancient city), because the above plan is undecided, its rear contact is too far, and the enemy moves fast, and now he is fighting alone, and he will sacrifice all his life to repay the country's upbringing! Died in battle for the country, it was extremely glorious, and the old mother went out and failed to serve. Duan Gongxian passed away, and he was not buried in time. Your mother and son will be more miserable in their lives in the future. But the four sons of Dong, Jing, Li, and Cheng are all extremely smart and handsome, and they will have great success in the future. You only have to suffer for a few years, and then you can be blessed, and you will have your own beginning. I hope don't think of me, I want to deploy to kill the enemy, the time is too busy, I hope you will respect yourself, and love your children and serve your mother! The old father is in Anhui, but there is no need to report it. The cost of living can be negotiated with Shikawa, Zimo, and Erkui, because they handle it, and I don't know, I think they will be able to live up to me with all their consciences.

Anlan, March 22, 31st year of the Republic of China.

A letter to a friend, writing:

Zimo, Shikawa, Erkui, three comrades:

Yu's expedition to Burma, because the main force was too far away and the enemy moved quickly, Yu decided to die to repay the country! We are either in-laws or colleagues, we have been together for many years, and we treat each other with all sincerity, and the living expenses are handled by our brothers. After Yu Ru died in battle, his wife's spiritual life was extremely painful, and her material life was cut off. People know each other, you know each other, and I think my brothers will live up to me. This is the song of Xun'an.

Anlan, March 22, 31st year of the Republic of China.

Dai Anlan was determined to defend the same ancient times, but the result was to break out of the siege according to Du Yuming's orders. The defeat in Tonggu affected the overall situation of the Burma war, and Dai Anlan felt that it was difficult to escape the blame. He was haunted by victory and defeat, and his spirit was not good. On April 6, he received a telegram ordering him to rush to Meimiao in northern Myanmar and meet the commission. Dai Anlan predicted: If you go here, you will definitely die. Therefore, before going to Meimiao, he first went to the military headquarters to say goodbye to Du Yuming and hand over military affairs. Before parting, Dai Anlan burst into tears and said to the army commander: "The general of the defeated army should be beheaded according to the law, and I will die without complaint." ”

Unexpectedly, when he arrived in Meimiao, Chiang Kai-shek not only did not investigate the responsibility for the defeat of Tonggu, but praised [***] for his courageous fighting spirit in Tonggu. Chiang Kai-shek and his wife hosted a luncheon at Xingyuan to entertain Dai Anlan. In the evening, he stayed overnight in the line of the committee seat, only separated from the chairman by a wall. Dai Anlan was flattered and secretly vowed to go to the soup to save the defeat and repay the favor of the commander.

However, the battle in Burma ended in a crushing defeat!

(To be continued)