The silent mountain, because of the arrival of the troops, became lively, and the neighing of war horses and the words of soldiers echoed on the mountain road and in the forest. However, the vagaries of the weather soon taught the soldiers how powerful the mountains were.

In summer, the weather in the mountains is changeable, and after a while the clear weather is overcast, and strong winds and heavy rain follow. In the past few days, it has been raining almost every day, and the sun is coming out again, that's the kind of weather. The road is mountainous, and it is slippery in some places.

The road became more and more difficult to walk, and the muddy mountain road seemed to never reach the end, and the soldiers, who were still wet from the rain despite wearing ponchos, began to become tired, and the sound of heavier and heavier pantings replaced the original laughter.

The marching troops stopped talking, singing, or breathing. But the mountain road was still bustling, the heavy breathing of the soldiers echoed through the forest, and the mules and horses carrying mountain guns, heavy machine guns, and ammunition also breathed heavily.

Despite the fatigue of the people, no one complained, and it was useless to complain. This unit crossed Wushan, hit Jingzhou, which was guarded by the Manchu army, occupied the mountain city of Yucheng, and now rushed towards Chengdu, for the past ten days, every day, after a night's rest to recuperate, the next day, as soon as the day dawned, the officers and soldiers rushed to carry their guns, marched along the mountain road, and then at noon, they became exhausted again.

Gritted his teeth and got through.

Everyone told themselves like this, to be precise, the officers told them that "no matter how hard and tired they are, they will survive by biting", the heavy rain fell, the sun came out again, the summer sun scorched the earth, the forest no longer had a trace of coolness at noon, the sun scorched the forest steaming, the clothes of the soldiers who had just been dried were soaked with sweat again, and the sultry, humid and hot steamer-like weather made the officers and soldiers become irritable, but even if they were bored, the soldiers carrying guns were only shown on their faces, but not in action.

No one needs to doubt that if even 100,000 Manchu troops appeared in front of them, they would pounce on them without hesitation, they would hit them with bullets from afar, and they would not blow them up with cannonballs, they would use the most primitive weapons, with bayonets, with the butts of their guns, and with their fists, to beat those bastards to death, in order to vent their dissatisfaction.

Fifteen days ago in Jingzhou, when their offensive was frustrated, after the city wall was blasted, they used bayonets to kill all the way from the ancient trough gate to the Nanji Gate in the south of the city.

The Xiangtan disciples of the 17th Division seem to be polite and polite, but the cruel and ruthless training of the past two months has already worn off their literary quality, and some of them are probably the fire storm in the bones of the Xiangtan children, and it is this fiery temper hidden in the bones that makes them carry long rifles and kill all the way from Hunan to Sichuan.

At this time, although the mountain road is difficult, they still dream, dream of killing under the city of Chengdu, occupying Chengdu, recovering Sichuan, and ...... Well! You can get a good night's sleep, get drunk, and then ...... The fiery Jiaoyang was shrouded in dark clouds again when the soldiers were just about to rest, after the original heat was dispelled, the sky was a little cold due to the heavy rain, and at the same time the fierce battle began in the afternoon, the soldiers running in the rice fields outside the county town were covered in mud, they ran silently, and fought silently.

When the attacking troops occupied the first trench of the Qing army, they found that the trench was full of rain like a mud ditch, and the soldiers' legs were soaked in muddy water.

In the process of waiting for the artillery, the vanguard troops, whether officers or soldiers, were looking forward to charging as soon as possible and ending the war as soon as possible.

The battle was stalemate in the process of waiting for the artillery, but this made the commander of the advance company, Zhu Ziyang, hold a fire in his heart, this alcoholic captain, can now only horn in the trench full of muddy water, chewing dried chili peppers, wiping the rain from his forehead to the tip of his nose again and again, and his mouth keeps chattering.

"Can't wait any longer, can't wait any longer!"

Everyone knows that if they continue to shoot at each other in such a lifeless manner, they will not be able to solve the problem at any time, and the artillery will not know when they will come, and if the artillery cannot catch up in an hour, the soldiers will continue to stay in the trench and let the muddy water soak and the rain will be drenched?

"Charge! Charge! ”

Zhu Ziyang muttered to himself, "A bayonet charge will press them down!" ”

Nagging in his mouth, he twisted and carefully observed the situation of his subordinates, and there was no loss in the troops, and the guns of the Qing army were not accurate. Looking ahead, it was less than 100 meters away from the Qing army's trenches, and only one charge was needed.

"Brothers!"

He screamed, climbed up from the trench with his hands on the loose dirt, and waved his pistol forward, not only the first to climb out of the ditch, but also the first to get up and rush out.

"Charge!"

At the moment when the company commander rushed out, the whistle sounded, and all the officers and soldiers immediately smashed the position of the Qing army like a big net spread out, under the cover of the machine gunners.

The soldiers shouted "Rush! Charging behind the company commander, in the muddy rice fields, they shook the dirt under their feet, and formed a U-shaped commando with Zhu Ziyang as the center.

This charge formation skillfully protected the first charging company commander, although he held a pistol in his hand, galloping the troops towards the enemy's position slope, this kind of rush seems to be like Mount Tai pressing the top, but the Qing army did not notice him, for the defending Qing army, the biggest threat is the left and right flanks in front of the charge, in the left and right flanks to bear fire, Zhu Ziyang in the center is safe.

When he crossed a row of small graves side by side, the squad platoon on the left flank had already pounced on the enemy's position, and at the moment when the squad platoon on the left flank pounced into the enemy formation, he vaguely felt a black dot flying from the front, and in an instant, he felt as if his body had been drilled into something, and his body stood up in front of him, and he was planted headlong into the paddy field, and he was never able to get up again.

The battle, which lasted for an hour, ended in less than ten minutes, and after occupying the last trench of the Qing army, while the rest of the prisoners were counted, Second Lieutenant Li Shaojie led two soldiers back to see the company commander's situation.

In the paddy field, a soldier lay next to the captain's body in the muddy water, with a bayonet on his gun, guarding the commander, and when he saw the second lieutenant approaching, he stood up and saluted with his gun.

"Report, the chief has died!"

Li Shaojie didn't speak, he knelt beside the company commander on one leg, turned his body over, and put it on his own leg, the company commander's chest, an egg-sized wound, the heavier and heavier rain washed the mud on his face, and the blood flowing from his chest flowed into the paddy field, and carefully wiped the dirt on his face with his cuffs, this face that didn't even grow a beard looked so young and pale.

Looking at the prefect who was one year younger than himself, Li Shaojie only felt a heat in front of him, the two of them were alumni when they were in Xiangtan School, and when they left Changsha, they used to imagine the moment of the country's recovery together, but he ...... At this time, two soldiers found bamboo poles used by farmers to hold straw from nearby, took out portable marching tarpaulins from their backpacks, and tied a temporary stretcher.

There was a violent explosion in front of him, and the shout of the charge sounded again, it was a platoon leader Shao Wu began to attack the city, Li Shaojie's platoon was represented by his subordinate sergeants, raised his head and looked at the charge in front of him, the troops were rushing into the county seat, the city gate was probably blown open by the explosives package, and he didn't look at the wounded soldiers who fell in the paddy fields and groaned, which would be in the vast rain, the horses and artillery carriages were vaguely recognizable, and the large troops in the rear had already come.

"Senior soldier, you two escort the body of the commander to the rear!"

"Yes! Sir! ”

Two soldiers carried the captain's body on a stretcher, and he added another sentence as the two soldiers carried the captain's body on the road.

"There are a lot of wounded people here, when you reach the rear, call the hygienists to come immediately!"

The soldier who glanced at the corpse of the company commander who was guarding him ordered again.

"You stay here and take care of the wounded!"

After giving a few simple orders, Li Shaojie stood there motionless, looking at the body of the senior who was far away, and finally gave a military salute, and then ran to the front line with the muddy water on the ridge.

When he passed the trench halfway, he only saw the corpses lying in the trench, the corpses were all the corpses of the Qing army, for some reason, when he saw these corpses, he did not have any displeasure, just glanced at them blindly.

Before evening, friendly troops broke through the city gates in three directions, swarmed into the city, the tricolor flag planted on the tower of the city gate was wet by the rain, and from the evening until late at night, the troops carried out sweeps in the city, and occupied Lezhi County at nine o'clock in the evening.

Outside the city, the surviving officers and soldiers of Li Shaojie's company lined up to say goodbye to the remains of their comrades, and the cremated bones were collected by the soldiers in empty cartridges or large bamboo tubes, and then their names were written on them, wrapped in cloth, and carried behind by their good comrades-in-arms until the fighting stopped.

Carrying Zhu Ziyang's ashes, looking at the sleeping officers and soldiers around him, thinking about the corpses he saw in the afternoon, Li Shaojie suddenly discovered a fact, he seems to be no longer himself, the battlefield, there seems to be a powerful magic, it can make all the soldiers and ghosts become the same surname, the same kind of thinking, put forward the same requirements, in this army, the students of Xiangtan School once lost their thoughts of culture, and even the monks who accompanied the army lost their own religion and found another religion, Their hearts have assimilated into the hearts of soldiers just like the military uniforms on their bodies.

(To be continued)