Twenty: Chilling

The woman looked at her, and the man bowed his head and said a little anxiously, "What is the old saying?" As I say, the river will slip with you, and you will cross the river wherever others cross it, or you will be drowned.

"So many people go to Qixia Temple, which shows that there is a glimmer of hope when they go there. Maybe it's a way to live. Although the road is dangerous, if you want to break through, you can't wait for death here.

"There is a river in front of the mountain gate of Qixia Temple, and the soldiers must be guarding the bridge. It's winter, and there's almost no water in the river, so you can wade through.

"When we entered the mountain gate, we were saved. Let's go in order to survive. She spoke in a firm tone.

When the woman saw that the man lowered his head and did not speak, she said anxiously, "You are dumb." Stinky man, when it comes to the critical moment, he can't make up his mind. ”

The man said, "At this point, I can't figure out which step is right, and I don't know which step is wrong." You have to think about the big things that matter life and death. ”

The woman said, "If you don't go, I'll take the child with me." It's my fate to meet devils on the road. I arrived safely in Qixiazhi, that is my creation. ”

The man said, "Don't you worry. You make me think about it. Stay here, the devil will come sooner or later, it won't last long, it's not a way. Let's go, what should I do if I encounter a devil.

"Hey! Staying here is a way to die. Walking, if you can't get out, you are dead, and if you go out, you are alive, these are two paths. Let's go, let's appoint! Heaven bless us to go out. ”

They followed with their children. Some of them thought it made sense to hear him, and it was better to go than to stay here, so they got into the mule cart and followed eastward.

The cart was followed by soldiers and civilians, and a great crowd followed them eastward.

Wang Mingming said: "It's right to go, the mountains here can't hide people." When the devil comes, he will search the mountains and sweep one village after another. They won't leave their mouths alive. ”

The policewoman said, "Benefactor, you're right, you can't wait here for the devil to call." I went with them, I went there as a caseholder, and I knew the big roads and small roads there. Let's go together. ”

Wang Mingming looked the policewoman up and down and said, "You put on this dress and cut your hair, you really look like a handsome young man." People who don't know the details will say that you are the son of a big family.

"It's a good thing that you're familiar with that side, you go quickly, follow them, be smart on the road, be careful when crossing the river, be vigilant, and guard against devils."

The policewoman said, "You're right, there will be a situation if you can't keep such a long road, I'll be careful." She bowed deeply to Wang Mingming to express her gratitude. She's gone.

Those who didn't follow thought that going east was not a way, and the road to Qixia was very far, and it was already occupied by devils. It's easy to alarm the devil with so many people.

They were in a hurry. The hearts of the people are even more panicked.

More than a dozen soldiers gathered together with sad faces, and one soldier stomped his feet and scolded: "Lao Tzu said,, what is this called the War of Resistance!" Let's fight, the devil didn't come into the city to retreat.

"It's better to fight to the death with the devil than it is now. I knew that I wouldn't go to the battlefield like this, and I would end up with the devil. ”

One of the soldiers beside him comforted him and said, "Brother, stop scolding, it's useless for you to smash the sky with bricks now." We are determined to live and die with Nanjing, and we have no way to retreat.

"From the time Commander Tang commanded us to defend Nanjing to December 12, we only killed about 10,000 people in battle, and the army also killed 6,000 or 7,000 people.

"How many of our brethren have drowned since the retreat, how many have been killed by the devil's warships, how many have been captured and killed by the devils in the city. That's tens of thousands.

"Speaking of which, a few of us are still alive. How long God can let us live depends on our efforts. Let's think about how to survive. ”

The soldier said, "I want to live!" Desperately tied up a wooden platoon to cross the river. Only halfway through the river, the devil's gunboat came, and sank the wooden platoon with one shot. Several of the brothers were killed.

"The devil's gunboat swept back and forth on the river, and we had to swim back, and finally got ashore and escaped here and were surrounded by the devil again.

"I originally thought that I wouldn't be able to cross the Yangtze River and be a prisoner at most, and I would be a prisoner and do hard labor, no matter how hard I was, who would call me a prisoner.

"I didn't expect that a devil is a devil, a devil kills prisoners, kills ordinary people, what do you say I can do now! Hide, there is nowhere to hide. Let's fight with the devils, the fucking gun is gone. ”

He scratched his scalp and shook his hand fiercely and said, "It's really better to break through at the beginning." It's a pleasure to beat it, and it's worth it to die. ”

One of the veterans across from him said, "Breakout? It's not that easy. You haven't heard about the 66th Army and the 83rd Army of the Canton Army being ordered to break through from Taipingmen. What a terrible fight.

"They exchanged fire with the devils at the fork in the northeast of the Purple Mountain, and many brothers died in a battle, not to mention, Major General Yao Zhongying of the 156th Division of the 83rd Army was also martyred.

Major General Luo Cequn of the 159th Division of the 66th Army took Huang Jifu, Cai Rubai and other generals to cover the brothers of the 83rd Army and command the troops to break through the siege. They took the lead and were martyred in battle.

"Major General Situ Fei of the 159th Division commanded the troops to fight for a day, and they rushed to Dashui Pass and were besieged by the Yue army. The whole brother fought desperately, and finally ran out of bullets. ”

He sighed heavily and said, "Thousands of officers and soldiers all died heroically. Think about how badly the battle for the breakout was. ”

The soldier was not convinced, and he said, "If you want to say miserable, we are miserable." If I were to fight devils as hard as they did, it would be better to be vigorous and heroic than to be a turtle with a shrunken head here. ”

Another soldier said: "I heard that the brothers of the 57th Army broke through yesterday, and they fought hand-to-hand combat with the devils at the Taiping Gate.

"The brave and tenacious soldiers broke out of the encirclement, and Major General Li Lanchi was shot and martyred in the battle. I would like to die like him, with a bang and a glorious death.

"Compared to them, we are like something, like a chicken in soup, like a ghost grandson, like a lost dog. Where do we still have soldiers? One by one, like deserters.

"Anyway, death is coming, let me say something wrong, the base camp should not ask us to retreat, if we don't retreat, Nanjing City can't be lost.

"Now the army has been annihilated by the devil's entire division, thousands of soldiers who crossed the river have been swallowed up by the river, and the soldiers who stayed in the city have been captured by the devils and killed en masse. It's all the result of the retreat.

"We're desperate here and waiting for death, think about it." The soldiers were silent again. One by one, they lowered their heads and made bitter faces.

The soldier broke the silence and said: "I think it is a road to Qixia Temple, it is risky to walk during the day, and there is no way to hide when you encounter a devil." We'll go when it's dark. We'll be there before dawn.

"We can't wear this dress anymore. On the way, we met people who were killed by devils, and we changed clothes with them. ”

The other soldiers agreed. One of the soldiers said, "We should forge a path, we can't wait for death." Go to Qixia Temple or go to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to find a boat to cross the river. ”

Their hearts are very bitter. But what can be done? No one can help them. They can only save themselves on their own.

The soldier said: "We soldiers used to be a company, but now the commander is gone, and our highest position here is the deputy squad leader, and we will listen to him in all actions from now on." ”

The other soldiers said they had no opinion. The deputy squad leader stood up and said, "Listen to me, that's good, we will fight to the end and resolutely fight devils." When it got dark, march eastward and go to Qixiazhi.

"There are thirteen of us, except for me, divided into four groups, a group of three people, and the group leader chooses himself. Find a way to change your clothes on the way.

"The task at hand is to save lives, and from now on, thirteen people must be safe, and no one should be missing. Our second task is to find a way to get back to the team. ”

More than a dozen soldiers got excited and shouted in unison: "Yes".

Wang Mingming silently walked towards his aunt's house, where a wide dirt road stretched up the hill and disappeared into the woods, where her aunt's house was in a col.