Neither of them continued their conversation, but sat there and listened to the three-inch anti-aircraft guns of the Japanese army bombarding the four rows of warehouses at a rate of one fire per second. Feeling the slight tremor of the Sixing Warehouse again and again, tasting the hot tea that was worse than rotten leaves, but finally hot, and silently thinking about his own thoughts.

Gradually, Lieutenant Colonel Smith felt that it seemed that the intensive shelling of the three-inch caliber flat-fire guns, as well as the incessant slight tremor of the four rows of warehouses, did not seem to be so terrifying, and the sweat on his forehead did not flow so fast. With a complicated gaze, he glanced at Xie Jinyuan, who was sitting there, exuding a kind of relaxed freehand all over his body, Lieutenant Colonel Smith really didn't want to imagine how many life and death battles this man in front of him had experienced in order to have such an almost weird calmness in the face of danger.

The boiling water in the aluminum lunch box had already been emptied, and just as the two of them raised their teacups at the same time and drank the last sip of tea inside, on the south side of the Sixing warehouse, there was a sudden loud roar that was still loud in the dense shelling and explosions, and instantly overwhelmed all sounds. This sound made Smith involuntarily think of the bombshell dropped by the bomber, if it weren't for the fact that in the face of a soldier like Xie Jinyuan, who was too calm and calm, Lieutenant Colonel Smith might have been unable to help jumping.

Xie Jinyuan smiled, "Lieutenant Colonel Smith, would you like to make a bet with me?" Bet that the artillery bombardment will stop in a minute. ”

Of course, Lieutenant Colonel Smith didn't believe Xie Jinyuan's judgment, he opened his mouth, and just as he wanted to say something, he closed it again. Because at this time, the shelling of the army had stopped.

"If you can afford to put it down, if you find that you can't do anything, you can stop the senseless interference immediately, the commander of the other party is really simple enough." Xie Jinyuan sighed lightly: "I thought I could bet on a bag of good tea from you!" ”

"Report!"

It was still the company commander, his face was excited, and he quickly said: "Report, the fire on the south side of the warehouse has been controlled!" ”

"You still led someone to plant explosives in the houses on the south side, right?" Xie Jinyuan looked at the company commander in front of him who had reported the military situation to him three times in a row, and said with a smile: "You put so many explosives, enough to blow up a separation zone more than 20 meters long, why are you so unconfident in the work you do?" ”

Lieutenant Colonel Smith was stunned again. He finally understood why Xie Jinyuan could not be moved in the face of the fire that could burn the Sixing warehouse within half a small entrance. It turned out that before he entered the Sixing Warehouse, he had already analyzed the offensive methods that the army might use, and made effective precautions in advance. The commander of the army found that the fire that could really threaten the Sixing warehouse had been suppressed, and the small-caliber artillery in his hand was not enough to destroy the Sixing warehouse, so he immediately stopped the unnecessary consumption of ammunition.

"Now that the night attack of the Yue army has ended, if within fifteen minutes, they have not made any new moves, respected Lieutenant Colonel Smith, you can take those five students and safely withdraw from the Sixing warehouse."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith nodded, "No problem, they are all students who came to our concession barracks because they respected Lieutenant Colonel Xie and asked us to open the checkpoint and come to the Sixing Warehouse to listen to Lieutenant Colonel Xie's teachings." We in the UK are a country that values freedom and we respect the patriotism of these students and understand their desire to see their heroes. So this time, when I came, I brought with them the five delegates they had elected, and of course I will bring them back safely......

Listening to what Lieutenant Colonel Smith said, the smile on Xie Jinyuan's face gradually disappeared, he understood too well that Britain, an old capitalist country that had started the Age of Discovery by smuggling and piracy, had relied on plundering slaves and gold, forcibly occupying colonies, and establishing an empire that would not fall, and he knew too well the essence of the flow in their veins.

Mark Twain, a well-known writer in the West, once commented on those Western capitalists...... If there is a ten percent profit, the capitalists will do it; If there is a thirty percent profit, the capitalists will drive it away; If there is a 100 percent profit, the capitalists dare to trample on any law in this world; If there is a profit of 300 percent, even if it is to send one's own head to the gallows, the capitalists will have the courage to try! The two Opium Wars of that year were not wars of aggression launched by Britain in order to reverse the trade gap between imports and exports with China? !

The UK, left and right on the international stage, what they show is a standard businessman's face, and they will not do anything that is not driven by profits. Asking them to take risks only for the sake of justice and truth is the greatest luxury.

But Lieutenant Colonel Smith risked his life by taking five patriotic students to the Sixing Warehouse and promising to send them back safely!

This kind of behavior is absolutely not in line with the habits and thinking logic of the British!

Sure enough, Lieutenant Colonel Smith continued, "But Lieutenant Colonel Xie, you should also understand that this is a war between the two of you, and we, the United Kingdom, as a country of gentlemen who maintain a neutral position, respect the will of the two sovereign states, and hope that you can resolve all problems peacefully, will not and are not inconvenient to get too involved in your disputes. We can deal with overzealous students, there are restrictions on opening, but we don't guarantee their personal safety. ”

At this time, Xie Jinyuan's face had turned pale.

Threat, this is the threat of nakedness! Opening the checkpoints to those unarmed students who have not received any military training, and allowing them to enter the battlefield blocked by the army, is tantamount to pushing these students with hot blood in their veins into the arms of death with a gentle face! In particular, the so-called "restricted open gates" allow the army to clearly know the entry and exit times of these students, and crack down on their surnames.

Xie Jinyuan couldn't imagine that after the British political axe opened these passes, those enthusiastic students poured into the Sixing warehouse in batches, and fell under the guns of the A-level shooters of the army, which aroused the unyielding patriotism of more students and drove more students to flock to the Sixing warehouse, which caused the terrible consequences.

Xie Jinyuan clenched his fists tightly, and since the shelling had stopped, Smith could even clearly hear the soft sound of the bone joints coming from Xie Jinyuan's fists squeezing together. At this time, Xie Jinyuan's body was trembling slightly.

Lieutenant Colonel Smith smiled, and in the confrontation with Xie Jinyuan, he saw Xie Jinyuan exude personal emotions for the first time. Although he couldn't help it, he finally showed his hole cards, but he finally found Xie Jinyuan's weakness.

Xie Jinyuan suddenly grabbed the military lunch box on the table and said, "Do you still want to drink tea, I'll boil some more water." ”

Without waiting for Smith to answer, Xie Jinyuan poured water into the lunch box. In the soft sound of the matches, more than a dozen blue flames and wisps of black smoke came out of the kerosene stove, and the lunch box filled with clean water made a "squeak" sound after a while.

Xie Jinyuan didn't stand up, he squatted in front of the kerosene stove, watching the water in the lunch box be heated little by little, tumbling layer by layer, until finally it turned into boiling water.

Picking up the lunch box full of boiling water, Xie Jinyuan turned his head to look at Lieutenant Colonel Smith and said with a smile: "The water is boiling, do you want to change some new tea?" ”

Lieutenant Colonel Smith was stunned, because Xie Jinyuan, who was carrying a lunch box in his hand, raised that indifferent smile on the corner of his mouth again, and his eyes were once again calm and bright and unpredictable. Lieutenant Colonel Smith screamed in his heart that it was not good, and the Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan Xie in front of him successfully adjusted his mentality when he was boiling water. Looking at Xie Jinyuan's indifferent smile and saying that he hadn't found a solution to the problem, even Lieutenant Colonel Smith wouldn't believe it.

"I forgot that those students risked their lives to rush to the Sixing Warehouse to find me and want to listen to my lectures." Xie Jinyuan smiled and said: "I don't dare to take the lecture seriously, as the so-called learning is not before and after, and the master is the first, so I will chat with them." I wonder if the esteemed Lieutenant Colonel Smith would be interested in having a heart-to-heart conversation with us? ”

When Xie Jinyuan and Lieutenant Colonel Smith found the five students, they were sitting in a pile of ammunition boxes, reloading magazines and heavy machine gun chains with wounded soldiers. Seeing Xie Jinyuan and Lieutenant Colonel Smith coming over, the five students stood up together.

"Sit down, don't force yourself." Xie Jinyuan smiled and said, "Don't tell me that your legs didn't go weak after being shelled for so long just now." You must know that the first time I went to the battlefield, the enemy on the opposite side fired a few shots at us with mortars, and I felt that my heart was beating faster and my breath was short, and my legs were more like two soft noodles. If any of you don't have weak legs, and can still act like a nobody, then I really want to be ashamed of myself, sigh The back waves of the Yangtze River push the front waves, and the front waves die on the beach. ”

"What a thing!" One of the most courageous and active students sat down on the ammunition box, raised his right hand, which was still holding the bullet, and shouted: "Don't say that my legs are so weak that I can't stand up, look at my hand, it's still shaking like a cramp, I've been stuffing this bullet for several minutes, and it hasn't been filled into the magazine yet!" ”

"Coax ......"

Not to mention these students and Xie Jinyuan, even among the nearby soldiers, there was a burst of suppressed laughter. Xie Jinyuan just understated a few words, and he became harmonious with these students. He sat down on an ammunition box, stretched out his hand and patted the position beside him, and said, "Then what else is loaded, sit down, who experienced the first shelling, not like this?" Tell me, what was it like to experience shelling for the first time? Dear Lieutenant Colonel Smith, please sit down and talk about it. ”

"I really thought I was going to die!" A student patted his heart and shouted: "The cannon sound was so dense just now, I feel that my heart is about to be resonated and exploded together, not to mention that my legs are weak, I feel stuffy in my chest now, and my head is still buzzing, if they shell it for a while, I will have to vomit out all the overnight food!" ”

"It's okay, I didn't drink much water before I left." There was a slightly chubby student who said slowly, "Otherwise, I would really be scared to pee my pants." ”

A good-natured laughter sounded all around again, and Xie Jinyuan asked, "Everyone thinks that the shelling just now is terrifying, and it is completely different from what you imagined, right?" ”

Several students nodded their heads together.

"But the artillery they fired at the four rows of warehouses just now was only a three-inch caliber flat-fire gun." Xie Jinyuan gestured a small width to a few students, and then continued: "But on those battlefields where there is almost no cover and no protection, our soldiers have to be attacked by the large-caliber artillery of the battleships anchored on the Huangpu River, and they have to be repeatedly bombarded by bombers dropped by bombers. Many troops went to the battlefield without even seeing the enemy's face, and paid the price of half of the casualties first. There were some troops, simply because they were on the march, they set up marching stoves, and the thick smoke attracted enemy bombers, and the whole brigade was bombed by the enemy and annihilated. There was even a field hospital, which was only cleaning the bandages used by the wounded, drying them on the branches outside, and intending to dry them and reuse them again, but they were discovered by enemy reconnaissance planes and eventually blown to the ground. ”

Several students stopped laughing, they quietly listened to Xie Jinyuan's narration, listening to this story piled up with blood and life.

"We mobilized 750,000 troops to meet the 250,000 troops of the original army, fought fiercely for three months, and after paying the price of 250,000 casualties, we could only choose to retreat."

Xie Jinyuan's bright and deep eyes swept over the faces of several students in front of him one by one, and he asked in a deep voice: "Our troops are hard enough, brave enough, our number is three times that of the other party, and we still occupy the geographical advantage and people, but we are still defeated, do you know, why is this?" ”

Several students were silent for a long time before someone finally replied: "Weapons, the weapons and equipment of our army are too poor. ”

"Yes, the weapons in our hands are too poor, and the firepower of our eight divisions can withstand one division of the army. On land, we can still fight with the number of people, but on the sea, the total tonnage of our navy is less than 50,000 tons, and most of them are wooden warships, and the army has 40,000 tons of aircraft carriers. In the face of such an asymmetrical war, in order to prevent the intrusion of the enemy's warships in depth, our navy could only sink 28 old warships and merchant ships into the Yangtze River to blockade the Yangtze River, our golden waterway. And the naval guns on these battleships can only be dismantled and put on the coast to be used as shore defense guns. In the face of the powerful Navy, our Navy is almost a 'zero' existence! ”

Several students were silent, how could this extremely strong military strength be compensated for by blood and bravery?

"As for the Air Force, our Air Force is also very brave, they have also hit the flagship of the Japanese Army, the Izumo, and there are also volunteers such as Chennault from the United States, who have joined the aviation unit. But they flew old planes and fought in the blue sky with enemy planes several times their size, and the final result was equivalent to the total annihilation! Without the Air Force, without the Navy, and artillery is far from being an opponent of the enemy, think about it, can we win such a war? If we really want to bridge the gap with human lives, how many human blood and corpses will we need to win the final victory? ”

Listening to Xie Jinyuan's faint and hoarse voice, listening to him tell the real comparison between the two [***] teams, the entire Sixing warehouse was as quiet as death, and only the sound of heavy breathing remained. No one wants to imagine how much sacrifice China would have to make to confront a country like Samoto, which has had been a country since the Meiji Restoration, in terms of national strength, economy, military, and political influence on the international stage, and which can now only be described as a frenzied war machine.

Xie Jinyuan continued to ask, "Can any of you tell me how to upgrade my weapons and equipment?" ”

One student replied, "Be rich." ”

Another student replied, "Advanced technology." ”

Not to be outdone, the slightly chubby student said, "We must open up the wisdom of the people!" ”

"Yes, that's right! With money, we can buy enough resources in a short period of time, with advanced technology, we can create our own powerful weapons, open up the wisdom of the people, we will improve the quality of the whole people, and will produce more scientists, more industrialists, more engineers! ”

"Tell me, if we want to have money, advanced technology, and open up people's intelligence, what do we need?"

This question is a bit difficult, which has already involved the foundation of the national economy and people's livelihood, and several students looked at each other. Xie Jinyuan said word by word: "What we need is a large number of talents who have received higher education, have a strong sense of responsibility for the motherland, and can continue to carry forward the flame of our Chinese nation...... You guys! ”

The bodies of the five students trembled violently, and they were all stupid.

"If you study agriculture, you can produce more food on the land of our country; If you study physics, chemistry, metallurgy, and mathematics, you can not only make explosives, but also make cars, tanks, and fighter planes that belong to our China. If you study medicine, you can make us physically stronger and help soldiers who have been wounded on the battlefield to get back on their feet. This war to defend the homeland and defend the country is obviously that the enemy is strong and we are weak, but as long as there are people like you, you who can ignite the prairie fire, with our vast land, rich resources, and 40,000 compatriots, sooner or later, we will be able to drive these invaders out of our homeland! ”

Xie Jinyuan stared at the students in front of him tightly, and he said in a deep voice: "Before completing these historical tasks, you must not choose to face death at will because of a momentary impulse. If you do this, then you are definitely not heroes, but deserters, the most shameful deserters! For your battlefield is not here, but on the stage of your work, in the pen in your hand and in the knowledge of your head! ”

"Tell me," Xie Jinyuan suddenly shouted: "Can you promise me that you can complete the heavy responsibility that history has entrusted to you, and fight ceaselessly on your own battlefield for the future and hope of our China!" Tell me, can you do this, so that even if we die on the battlefield here, even if we are a horse leather shroud, we can die frankly and without regrets?! ”

Facing Xie Jinyuan, who suddenly burst out with the strongest light all over his body, facing Xie Jinyuan, who had already let his life begin to burn at this moment, and facing Xie Jinyuan, who had completely opened up all his feelings, all his love and hate, shared with them, and put all his hopes on them, these students had already cried silently.

At this time, what else could they do but bite their lips, look at the man in front of them with stupid eyes, who was really stepping on the ground with the blue sky above his head, and nod vigorously?

"Remember, put your life to the point where you are most needed. Remember the promise you made to me, you will work hard to make China richer and more technologically advanced, and you will let China open up the wisdom of the people and let more people receive higher education. ”

Xie Jinyuan stretched out his hand and said in a deep voice: "I know that the five of you can be the first to come here, and all of you should be the leaders among the students. I don't care what method you use, I want you to promise me that you are the first students I have seen, and the last I have seen! Your life is definitely not for the sake of seeing me, and after a few words with me, you can take risks, you can squander as much as you want! If you think you can do it, if you can take this request and request from me, stretch out your hands! ”

One, two, three...... In the end, the five hands were all put into Xie Jinyuan's big hand spread out in the air. Although these palms are still a little immature, still a little green, and even a little confused, but in time, as long as they choose the right path they should take, they will definitely be able to become the mainstay of supporting the backbone of the entire nation!

Xie Jinyuan suddenly stretched out his arms, took the five students into his arms, and said in a deep voice: "I will put the unfulfilled dreams of our generation on you." Please, thank you! ”

Lieutenant Colonel Smith's face finally changed, and the eyes he looked at Xie Jinyuan were filled with true respect for the first time. No matter where they are, people like Xie Jinyuan are worthy of respect!

(To be continued)