"The Americans still won't surrender?" Hilo Airport, which has been restored to use and has non-stop fighter planes taking off and landing, is having lunch with a convoy of Ming troops parked in the field near the airport. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info Song Tieniu, who was immortal in the resistance to the landing operation, and He Dazui squatted on the ground together, holding a stainless steel lunch box and eating noodles. In front of them were also two military cans.

"Hmm." Song Tieniu, who put down the stainless steel lunch box and pried open the military canned food with a military dagger, said loudly: "I don't know what they are so insistent on resisting for." Clearly, there is no possibility of victory, and continuing to resist is just a waste of death. ”

After the military cans were opened, they smelled of the thick smell of fat and meat. He Dazui, whose index finger moved, poked out his chopsticks and picked up a large piece of luncheon meat and put it in his mouth. After eating it with satisfaction, he smiled and said, "Who knows what these Americans think in their hearts?" Maybe he wants to fight to the death like those Japanese and be loyal to the country. Forget those idiots who are dying of hunger without food or drink, hurry up and eat. ”

During the previous war against Japan, especially during the Battle of Ryukyu Island. The Japanese army fought tenaciously to the death left a deep impression on the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. The same is true of the U.S. Marines, now besieged on the island of Hawaii. After many attempts to persuade him to surrender to no avail, the Americans hiding in the mountains seemed to have made up their minds to fight the Ming army to the end.

"It's our regiment's turn tomorrow at the latest, and I heard that the resistance of the Americans is fierce." He Dazui snorted and ate noodles while saying, "I heard from the countrymen of the 12th Division that all the people in the United States are hiding in the belly of the mountain now. On the surface, there was nothing in the past, but once the shelling was over and the attack began, those American troops were like rats in the mountains, and they didn't know where to come out and fire to resist. Our heavy firepower is difficult to use in the mountains, and we have lost a lot of brothers in the previous battles. ”

"I've heard about it, too." After eating lunch quickly and putting the stainless steel lunch box aside, Song Tieniu glanced at He Dazui, who was desperately fishing for luncheon meat to eat, and said helplessly, "Eat less of this thing, although it is said to be a first-class military supply, but it is also canned after all." Eating too much is not good for the body, that is, adding more oil and spices feels delicious. ”

"Uh-huh." The habit of eating fast on the battlefield is incomprehensible to ordinary people. No one on the battlefield is full of artillery to eat and chew slowly, and it is likely that if you eat slowly for a while, you will be bombarded. Storms and gobbling are the most common things.

"Huh~~~" After eating the noodles and canned food, He Dazui, who squinted his eyes slightly, let out a long sigh with a look of enjoyment on his face.

Raising his hand to throw away the empty canned food box, he took the cigarette handed over by Song Tieniu and lit it, and said with a smile, "I heard that those Americans don't have anything to eat or drink, and they are all starving in the mountains." Even drinking water has become a big problem. Maybe by the time we go up, those Americans will already be starving to death of thirst. ”

Since Ernest gathered his forces near Maunakea, they had barely managed to resist the Ming army's attack by taking advantage of the terrain. However, the shortage of materials on all fronts has become more and more serious.

The wounded lacked all kinds of medicines and medical equipment, the officers and men lacked bullets and shells, and the damaged weapons gradually lost their effectiveness due to the lack of maintenance materials and spare parts for repair. And most seriously, the US military lacks food and drinking water.

Not much about food, even at this moment, the US military still has nearly 20,000 horses, and these people need to eat every day. But there is little to eat on the already inhospitable island of Hawaii.

Those handful of seabirds, animals, and the famous macadamia nuts are simply not enough to fill so many mouths. Most of the food that the U.S. troops brought with them when they landed had been eaten or destroyed in the fighting.

The U.S. forces captured some of the Ming positions, especially the entire fortification complex near Maunakea Volcano, but they did capture some supplies. But most of these supplies are mothballed firearms and ammunition, military coats, tent spare parts and so on. Basically, there is nothing to eat. Speaking of which, this was originally a reserve storage location, with the food storage technology of this era, how could the Ming army store a large amount of food that is not easy to preserve and easy to spoil in this kind of place.

Earnest had no choice but to cut and cut the supply of troops again and again. Only the wounded and front-line combatants were able to get relatively adequate food, and the rest of the officers and men were basically dispensable, barely hanging for their lives to prevent them from starving to death. It's just that as time goes by, there will still be a day when it will be completely consumed.

The food can still hold up for a while. After all, there are stupid seabirds and all kinds of plants in the mountains. When people are hungry, they dare to eat anything, and they can eat it. But there is another thing that is really indispensable, but it is difficult to obtain. That's water.

If you don't have anything to eat, you can still last for a while by burning the fat in your body. But once a person has no water to drink, the feeling of a fire in his throat is too painful to last. Although Maunakea is huge, it is an active volcano!

In a place like an active volcano, there is definitely no grass growing near the crater. Even with the size of the volcano, most of the area is unlikely to have any drinking water sources. The American soldiers who hid in the fortifications in the belly of the mountain were all smoked from their throats, but they could not get water to quench their thirst.

Living water is basically at the bottom of the mountain, and the only way to drink water is to risk sending troops to steal water at night when there are no planes dominating the sky. However, the Ming army had already seen through the details of the American army, and the flares, mines and machine-gun fire points that reflected half of the sky and put countless American troops on the way to get water.

The U.S. military, which was forced to be in a hurry, launched many large-scale night assaults just to be able to grab water from the mountain to drink. But each sortie was carried out at a high cost in exchange for a small amount of water. There's not enough water for so many people. If it hadn't rained a few times to save those American troops, I'm afraid they would have been unable to resist by now.

"Let's go up and probably not attack." Song Tieniu, who was smoking a cigarette leisurely, raised his hand and wiped the medal on his chest: "I heard that the above has ordered a blockade of the battlefield, preparing to trap the US army." No more offense. ”

"Really?" He Dazui was a little surprised and said, "Don't attack?" Can it trap them? ”

"When the division commander awarded me the medal, I heard the gossip at the division headquarters." Song Tieniu said with a smile: "The Americans are all trapped in the mountains. It is difficult to destroy those American troops hiding in the mountains with an active attack, and the casualties are not small. So Shangfeng decided to blockade the battlefield and starve to death those American troops. ”

"It's miserable enough." He Dazui shook his head and looked at the military cans that he threw away, "Do you think we can exchange these cans for those Americans to surrender?" ”

"Perhaps." Song Tieniu said with some uncertainty: "I heard at the division headquarters that many Americans have quietly run down the mountain to surrender, just because they smell the smell of cooked food below the mountain every night and can't stand it. Many of the American soldiers who ran down had their stomachs bulging after eating. There are even those who have eaten too much to die. ”

The Americans had a strong will to fight, but they were not as good as the Japanese before them. They may fight to the death on the battlefield heroically, but it is difficult for some strong men to keep them hungry and desperate. Since the U.S. troops went up the mountain, many U.S. troops took the initiative to come down and surrender every day.

This kind of escape and surrender is not allowed in any army. In the beginning, the US military police also took the initiative to intercept or shoot the deserters. But as time went on, this kind of thing became common.

After the gendarmes turned a blind eye, the flight of the American troops became more and more violent. The senior officers, including Ernest, knew about this, but they were not willing to force the soldiers to stay and starve to death.

As long as you leave weapons and ammunition, you will generally not intercept if you want to leave. Even after the U.S. military completely used up its own medical equipment and medicines, the U.S. military took the initiative to send liaison officers to negotiate with the Ming army and send their wounded over.

"This battle is probably much easier." After throwing away the cigarette butts, the whistle of the assembly was heard not far away. Song Tieniu and He Dazui packed up their things and soon boarded the truck and merged into the huge marching column.

......

"Sir, isn't there a new order from San Diego?" In the fortification complex in the hinterland of Maunakea, a senior U.S. military officer approached Lieutenant General Ernest, commander-in-chief of the landing force, and asked him loudly.

Ernest raised his head and looked at his subordinates, shook his head, and said in a hoarse voice, "No new orders." ”

In fact, Ernest and the others were able to receive telegrams of orders from San Diego every day. But all of them were messages ordering them to keep going. As for Ernest's repeated requests for permission to lay down their arms when they could no longer fight, there was no response.

"Last night a few hundred more soldiers fled to the bottom of the mountain. The troops are no longer in control, and there may be a mass mutiny at any time. A look of despair flashed in the eyes of the dirty Brigadier General of the United States.

"Hunter, sit down and talk." Ernest beckoned his subordinates to sit down. The orderly on the side brought a glass of muddy water, and Brigadier General Hunt looked at the glass in front of him in a daze, although it was turbid, but it was life-saving water in the US army at this moment, and he was speechless for a while. (To be continued.) )