On 13 December, when the first rays of early morning sunlight poured into the ward, Xie Jinyuan was already sitting in front of the sand table energetically, flipping through the newspapers and all kinds of information they had recorded on the radio, while repeatedly deducing in his mind the possible development of the defense of Nanjing.

I don't know how long I studied like this, until Ling Weicheng put a bowl of steaming egg drop soup and two fritters in front of him, in the corridor outside the ward, there was already a sound of "kicking" and "kicking" footsteps, mixed with a crisp sound of bowls and spoons colliding, and the family members who were taking care of the patients had already gotten up and gone out to buy breakfast. Xie Jinyuan realized that the time was not early, and at this time, the work and rest time was more accurate than the alarm clock, and Ma Lan, who had never been late, had not yet come to their ward.

Looking at his watch, the hour hand was almost pointing to eight o'clock in the morning, Xie Jinyuan was really a little anxious, eight o'clock was an important time for them to listen to the central radio, and the radio was placed in Ma Lan's hospital room.

Ling Weicheng was no longer in the ward at this time, she went to the hospital canteen kitchen helper again, Xie Jinyuan thought for a while, and said to Lei Zhen, who had also gotten up, "You go and call Ma Lan, let her come down quickly." ”

Ma Lan's ward, on the third floor of the inpatient department, secretly carried the bed board down and used it as the base of the sand table, Lei Zhen once followed Ma Lan to her ward once. When Lei Zhen wore a hospital gown, climbed the stairs, and came to the door of Ma Lan's ward again, he knocked lightly, but there was no response inside.

Is it already out?

Lei Zhen subconsciously pushed the door of the ward, and the door that was hidden was pushed open by Lei Zhen. It's already the middle of December, and considering the patient's physical condition, the heating in the hospital room is boiling hot, and the cold steamed buns are put on top and they will be reheated in a short time. But Ma Lan's ward was very cold, so cold that Lei Zhen was caught off guard, and he couldn't help but shiver.

Now that it's so cold, the windows of Malan's ward are actually open. But what made Lei Zhen's eyes round in an instant was that Ma Lan was still nestled in bed, she just held the radio in her arms and cried silently.

Lei Zhen couldn't imagine that a woman like Ma Lan, who stopped breathing seven times and her heart beat three times, could break free from the arms of death and return to this world, and she should have been so strong and impeccable that she would cry!

She just sat there alone, silently, crying incessantly. Let the crystal tears slide down her delicate face, wetting her clothes and the quilt in her arms.

Lei Zhen once heard that women are made of water, and he has never understood the meaning of this sentence, but now he understands. He couldn't imagine how long Ma Lan had been sitting here and crying, and he couldn't imagine how many tears Ma Lan had shed.

When Lei Zhen cautiously walked into Ma Lan, he was surprised to find that Ma Lan, who was so strong and impeccable, so dangerous that he would be vigilant when he approached a little, was gone!

Sitting on the hospital bed, stupidly holding a radio, Ma Lan, who kept crying like a little woman, was like a body that had lost her soul, and lost all her pride and self-confidence, and there was no longer that kind of sharpness from the heart, her lips kept squirming there, Lei Zhen distinguished for a long time, and finally understood that she was constantly saying the same word: "It's over, it's over, it's over...... It's all over! ”

"Ma Lan, what's wrong with you?"

Hearing Lei Zhen's whispering in his ear, Ma Lan finally regained a little consciousness and turned her head, she looked at Lei Zhen with blurred teary eyes, at this time she seemed to be trapped in a dream that she couldn't break free, her eyes were as bright as the stars in the night, and there was a thick layer of smoke.

"Ma Lan, hurry up, Xie Jinyuan is still waiting for you below."

"I can't get up." Ma Lan muttered: "I don't have any strength in my body, I can't get up, I'm finished!" We...... It's all over! ”

Before Lei Zhen could figure out what was going on, Ma Lan had already rushed into his arms, she was like a child who had been lost with her mother and had been frightened. At this time, whoever can provide her with a safe embrace, even if it is just a false comfort, she will hold on to it. Lei Zhen could clearly feel that Ma Lan's body was trembling.

"Why, why, why? Wasn't it okay yesterday? Didn't the enemy even occupy the outer areas yesterday? Wasn't the four exits still firmly in our hands yesterday? Didn't our brothers in the Teaching Corps of the Central Military Academy still fight off the enemy's attacks again and again in front of the Guanghua Gate yesterday? Didn't you still say on the radio yesterday that Nanjing's defense is impregnable, and our commander-in-chief Tang Zhisheng can still put on a face that looks like death and shouts that he wants to live and die with Nanjing? ”

Ma Lan pounded Lei Zhen's chest hard, she had tried her best, but for some reason, her fist hit Lei Zhen's body, but it was soft and had no strength at all. It seemed that he had also discovered his weakness, Ma Lan suddenly opened his mouth and bit Lei Zhen's chest hard, the sharp stinging pain made Lei Zhen subconsciously reach out and support Ma Lan's shoulder, just when he subconsciously wanted to push away this woman who suddenly went crazy and went crazy, Lei Zhen's hands suddenly slammed hard.

Ma Lan's teeth bit Lei Zhen's chest, her two rows of teeth kept grinding, and almost at the same time, the tears that kept flowing from her eyes quickly soaked through Lei Zhen's hospital gown. That kind of blazing heat and scaling heat was like a soldering iron, piercing Lei Zhen's heart in an instant.

Looking at this woman who suddenly had no more life, no longer strong and brave, looking at the radio that was thrown into his arms with her, and thinking back to what she had just said, Lei Zhen suddenly took a deep breath, and then slowly spit it out.

By this time, there was no need to ask Lei Zhen to already know what was going on.

Xie Jinyuan and Ma Lan are expected to be able to withstand the Nanjing battlefield for three months, and the defense of Nanjing, which made Xie Jinyuan and Ma Lan see hope, and even has a smile on their faces, has undergone great changes in just one day, or it can be said to be a tragic change!

At this time, the Chinese who were also stunned and stupid, why not Ma Lan?

It was on December 11 that Chiang Kai-shek, through Gu Zhutong, suddenly ordered the whole army to retreat from Nanjing, and Tang Zhisheng, who was in charge of the defense of Nanjing, did not immediately carry out the order. On the 12th, Chiang Kai-shek personally issued the order to retreat, and Tang Zhisheng, as the commander-in-chief, was afraid of taking on the responsibility of fleeing without a fight, so he gathered the commanders and division commanders of each unit, asked them to sign and seal the order ordering the troops to retreat, and tied everyone together.

In terms of official career, Tang Zhisheng did nothing wrong, with such a joint signature, he is equivalent to an extra life amulet, and even if Chiang Kai-shek wants to find a scapegoat for defeat in the future, it will not be his turn again. However, it was precisely because of such an order and action that the commanders and division commanders of all units clearly knew that the general trend had passed, and such an oath to defend the Nanjing battlefield had already become a soap bubble that would shatter at the slightest touch.

The commanders of these troops, these high-ranking officers, and a considerable number of them, after Tang Zhisheng held an operational meeting, did not even return to the troops, and directly escaped across the Yangtze River, without informing their subordinates at all! Even Gui Yongqing, the supreme commander of the Central Military Academy's teaching corps, was among them, and what was slightly better than those generals who escaped from the battle was that Captain Gui Yongqing still sent someone to inform his subordinates!

It is precisely because of this that when the senior officers of the Central Military Academy's teaching corps fled one after another, the commanders of the regiments of the teaching corps were still directing the battle, and at 8:30 p.m. on the 12th, when Gui Yongqing and a considerable number of [***] senior officers had already escaped across the Yangtze River on a small steamer, the four regiment commanders and the battalion commander of the special service battalion, Qiu Qilou, were still holding a meeting in the Purple Mountain to discuss the plan for the war of resistance.

It was not until eleven o'clock in the evening that the four regiment commanders and the commander of the special service battalion, Qiu Qilou, received the order to retreat of the whole army. At this time, the tide is gone!

The 150,000 well-equipped, geographically advantageous, well-supplied squadron [***] that is not isolated and helpless is like a headless fly. There were tens of thousands of troops, and they all ran to Xiaguan in a hurry, because the army commanders and division commanders there had already prepared small steamers for crossing the river after the defeat, and the subordinates of these army commanders and division commanders naturally followed when they heard that the commander was retreating there.

The most terrifying thing is that before the war, Tang Zhisheng, the commander-in-chief, did not evacuate the people as Xie Jinyuan and Ma Lan speculated! The citizens of Nanjing saw that the troops were moving towards Xiaguan, and God knows how many Nanjing citizens also followed these troops in the direction of Xiaguan.

However, the 36th Division, which was defending the gateway to the Yangtze River, received orders that only the Commander's Department and the 36th Division could retreat from Xiaguan. In the midst of the chaos and hysterical cannibalism, it was on the edge of the Yangtze River that I don't know how many people raised their weapons and frantically strafed their own people.

It is in this war that has just begun, the coach jumped out of the battlefield and left the chessboard, and the core characters have already set an example of escape! I don't know how many hot-blooded men who went to the battlefield to pick up steel guns in order to resist foreign insults fell in front of their own people's guns in such a big chaos. And the hundreds of thousands of refugees, looking at the Yangtze River, cried out in despair.

In the early morning of the 13th, the army successfully pursued the Yangtze River.

It was in such a desperate situation where there was no place to stand and retreat, and the four regiment commanders of the Central Teaching Corps, each fighting their own battle, fought the most fierce and tragic bloody battle on the banks of the Yangtze River against the repeated bombing of enemy bombers and the army several times their size.

Qiu Qilou, the commander of the special service battalion directly under the Central Military Academy Teaching Corps, was wounded all over his body in the end, but he was still holding a saber and standing proudly on the edge of the Yangtze River.

On Qiu Qilou's face, they couldn't see any fear of death, only a faint trace of helplessness and strong nostalgia.

"Hurry, too hurry!" It was with such thoughts, that is, with a hint of sighing, Qiu Qilou slowly closed his eyes, leaving him in this crazy world, this battlefield where blood and fire blended, the last thought: "Farewell, Ma Lan." I haven't even had time to tell you yet...... I like it...... You. But that's fine, at least...... You don't have a special ...... because of my death Sadness! ”

It was with the thought of Ma Lan, recalling the delicate face with a bit of heroism, thinking of her strength and tenacity, thinking of the beauty she unintentionally revealed, Qiu Qilou was finally gently embraced by death, and he slowly flew up, flying to the distant, beautiful, no more war, no more gunpowder smoke and blood, only flowers and truth, kindness and beauty.

In the face of such a hero, in the face of such a pure samurai, the army silently saluted Qiu Qilou's majestic body that was still standing on the battlefield. Then they bypassed Qiu Qilou, and bypassed this small battlefield that left hundreds of corpses in just two hours of fierce fighting, giving them too much shock. One captain even planted a national flag next to Qiu Qilou. In this way, any troops behind will catch up and see this sun flag, they will clearly know that this is a respectable enemy, and in this case, they will carefully bypass it!

In the early morning of 13 December 1937, the Central Military Academy Teaching Corps, the most well-equipped, most rigorously trained, and most capable Chinese troops, was completely annihilated on the Yangtze River!

In the face of such "victories," the sweet-voiced female announcer of the Central Broadcasting Station, which had been talking about the impregnable defense of Nanjing, closed her mouth, while the radio station controlled by the military broadcast their brilliant victories overnight. In just 12 hours, I don't know how many of the [***] squadrons were scattered or even completely wiped out on the banks of the Yangtze River, and I don't know how many [***] people died in cannibalism, or jumped into the Yangtze River, and finally drowned alive.

"Why?"

Ma Lan finally let go of the teeth that had bitten Lei Zhen's chest and had bitten blood, she looked at Lei Zhen stupidly, and asked stupidly: "According to the plan, our Central Military Academy Teaching Corps should be withdrawn to Hunan for repairs. It was that Tang Zhisheng who found He Yingqin, and the newspaper said that they had quarreled with Chairman Chiang, and they quarreled so that the Central Military Academy Teaching Corps was left in Nanjing to participate in the defense of Nanjing. The reporters also wrote about this incident as a beautiful talk, but now, can you tell me that Tang Zhisheng was so desperately arguing that he finally left our Central Military Academy Teaching Corps, is it just to look more spectacular when he escaped, and more people died, and on the battlefield where there was no cover and no way to retreat, he turned around and fought desperately, and died more tragically? ! ”

"And Chairman Jiang, which of our people from the Central Military Academy's Teaching Corps is not your student, and which one is not your most loyal follower? If you really don't plan to resist desperately, why do you want to leave the Central Military Academy Teaching Corps in Nanjing? Since you have decided to transfer the troops to Hunan, why are your ears so soft, so soft that they can't withstand the soft grinding and hard bubbles of others? ”

Ma Lan hissed and cried: "In this kind of national crisis, other troops get half salary, and only our Central Military Academy Teaching Corps can get full salary." Other troops can't even issue rifles, we all have weapons imported from Germany, it doesn't matter how much ammunition is consumed, all of us are descendants of your lineage, and some people even think that we are your Imperial Guards. You are usually so kind to us, giving us so much care and privileges, but in the end, why didn't you pull our troops and let us be wiped out?!!! ”

(To be continued)