On the morning of the 16th, the Japanese concession in Shanghai fell completely silent, the Japanese warships anchored on the Huangpu River did not continue to shell Zhabei, and the Nationalist artillery did not continue to shell the Japanese strongholds, and only the outposts of the two sides occasionally exchanged fire.

Taking advantage of the truce between the two sides, a group of Zuihou nationals stranded in the Japanese concession began to flee one after another.

The various units of the national army also took advantage of this gap to begin to clean up the bodies of the fallen soldiers, the previous fierce fighting, the bodies of the fallen soldiers have been scattered on the front line, and they have not bothered to clean up, and now they finally have time.

The Japanese army also sent people to negotiate with the Nationalist army to redeem the bodies of the fallen officers and soldiers.

Xu 19 took a team of soldiers and rented a few trucks through personal connections, and also came to the Honghe Road and Bridge position to collect the bodies of the brothers who died in battle.

Broadway Road and Heeward Road were silent, only the collapsed houses and rubble everywhere were still showing the tragedy of yesterday's battle, Xu Shijiu lit a cigarette, and smoked silently while watching his brothers carry a mutilated body onto the truck, looking at it, two lines of tears flowed down.

Yesterday's battle, the 19th Brigade killed nearly 500 people in the Honghe Road and Bridge position, you must know that the entire 19th Brigade has a total of more than 600 people, but 500 people were killed here at once, since the end of the battle opened, Xu 19 has become a ruthless war machine in front of people, but no one knows, that is just his appearance.

It is true that war and killing can distort human nature, but it is still human nature no matter how much it is twisted.

According to the standards of the West, if more than one-third of the casualties are disabled, they should be withdrawn to the rear for rest, and if they have suffered more than two-thirds of the casualties, they have completely lost their combat effectiveness, and they should consider abolishing the number or reorganization, but this standard is obviously not suitable for the East, where there has never been any talk of being disabled or losing combat effectiveness.

In the East, whether it is the Japanese army, the Nationalist army, the communist army, or later the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the People's Volunteers, another standard is applied, and this standard is that people are in positions, and a unit, as long as there is one soldier left, as long as this soldier has one breath left, the battle will never end!

On the Songhu battlefield, the divisions of the Nationalist Army often had the whole battalion and regiment fighting until only a few men remained, but they were still fighting on the front line, and the Japanese divisions, especially the 3rd Division and the 11th Division, which were the first to land in Shanghai, often did not withdraw from the battle after almost all the casualties of the entire wing.

This is the difference in standards caused by cultural differences, which is better or worse can be put aside, but for the torture of human nature, the Eastern standard is obviously much more cruel than the Western standard, especially the commander of the Eastern army, in the face of the casualties of the entire battalion and the whole regiment, but he still has to grit his teeth and hold on, and the torment in his heart is by no means describable by pen and ink.

Xu 19 is now suffering from such a mental torment, nearly 500 brothers, nearly 500 fresh young lives, Xu 19 can even recall their appearance, but now, they have become a cold corpse or even a severed limb and stump, lying on top of the same cold truck.

What made Xu 19 suffer was that it was he who personally sent these brothers to the battlefield.

Tang Ying, a Shanghai socialite who is also known as the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Northern Continent with Lu Xiaoman, once said to Xu Shijiu after a drunken illness that his heart is cast of iron, and no matter how much tenderness and scorching aiqing fire is, it is difficult to melt it, in fact, she doesn't understand at all, real soldiers, cold is only on the outside, and their hearts are actually just as soft.

Under the ruins, a young and handsome officer of the national army is crying silently in front of the remains of his comrades all over the ground, such a picture is undoubtedly quite touching, especially the officer's pistol is in stark contrast to the tears on his face, the two conflicting emotions of iron and tenderness are perfectly integrated at this moment.

Ye Ruxue, who followed several colleagues to the front line for an interview, saw this scene.

Ye Ruxue felt like her heart was being pinched by something, and she couldn't help but float in her mind two lines of poems that were going viral in Shanghai recently, weishenme I often have tears in my eyes, because I love this land deeply, is the officer of the Security Corps in front of me crying for the land he guards?

"Click, click." The shutter of the camera suddenly sounded from not far from his side, and Xu Shijiu quickly turned around and wiped the tears from his cheeks without a trace.

Several reporters with cameras walked up, and one of them asked, "Sir, are you the commander of the Honghe Road and Bridge position?" ”

"It's not." Xu Jiu pointed to Yang Furui's headquarters diagonally opposite and said, "The person you are looking for is there." ”

"Sir Xiexie." Several male reporters thanked them and took pictures all the way with their cameras, but a beautiful female reporter didn't leave, just staring intently at the tears left on Xu Shijiu's cheeks.

Xu Shijiu pointed to Yang Furui's headquarters again and said, "You should go over there." ”

"No, you can fool them, but you can't fool me." The female reporter shook her head and said in a low voice, "All the sacrifices here are the soldiers of the Security Corps, not the Central Army." ”

Xu Shijiu threw down the cigarette butt, turned around and left.

The female reporter followed, and then asked, "Can I know your name?" ”

"Soldiers." Xu 19 stopped, turned around and replied, "My name is Chinese soldier. ”

"I know you're a soldier." The female reporter stomped her feet and said coquettishly, "What I want to ask is, your honorific name." ”

"My surname is the Chinese name Guo, the word soldier, the Chinese soldier." Xu Shijiu replied very seriously, and then walked away without looking back.

This time, the female reporter didn't follow up, because she had already seen that Xu Shijiu was not willing to be interviewed at all, she shouted at Xu Shijiu's back: "My name is Ye Ruxue, I am a war correspondent of the Miller's Review Daily, we will meet Zaijian in the future, please accept my interview when the time comes, okay?" ”

Xu Shijiu didn't look back, and said indifferently: "I don't think we will be zaijian in the future." ”

“weishenme？” Ye Ruxue was stunned when she heard this, and she didn't understand the meaning of Xu Shijiu's words for a while.

"Because I was already dead in battle by then, a soldier in troubled times...... There is no later. Xu Jiu turned to the female reporter and smiled faintly, then bent down and got into the co-pilot of the truck.

The door closed, the engine started, and it quickly drove away with a low roar, leaving only the female reporter named Ye Ruxue standing in place in despair.

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Xu 19 dragged more than 500 brothers who died in the battle to the western suburbs of Shanghai, but due to the tight time, it was too late to repair the graves of each brother one by one, and the bodies of many officers and soldiers were already mutilated, so it was impossible to sort them out one by one, so Xu 19 had to order a big pit to dig a big pit and bury all the bodies together.

When the body returned to the station after burying the body, it was already evening.

It was almost dark, but the playground of the station was full of people, dozens of young students were gathering under the flag-raising platform, listening to a young student standing on the flag-raising platform and giving an impassioned speech, this young student was none other than the student soldier who crawled out of the pile of dead people in Nanyuan -- Shu Tongwen.

Xu Shijiu's brows tightened in an instant, why hasn't this kid left yet?

Shu Tongwen on the flag-raising platform did not notice Xu Shijiu's arrival, his fists were clenched and he was still shouting hoarsely: "A senior once said to me that we students are the future of the country, the hope of the nation, and our task is to study hard, and then build the country well when the Anti-Japanese War is won in the future, and build China into a strong country."

The commander also said that it was the duty of their soldiers to fight a war and defend their homeland and country.

But what I want to say is that soldiers are not born to be soldiers, they also evolved from students, workers, and peasant brothers, and the students of the Central Military Academy are also students, so why can they be soldiers, but we can't be soldiers? The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband, and we also have the right to protect the family and defend the country! ”

Dozens of students under the flag-raising platform shouted one after another, their childish faces were full of enthusiasm for the country's worries and generosity to die, young people are probably like this, their shijie concept is simple and pure, they are optimistic and radical, they despise all hardships and difficulties, they believe that they can overcome everything!

Xu 19, however, was adamantly opposed to sending students to battle, believing it to be a crime.

"Scar!" Xu Jiutie yelled with a blue face, "Get out of the fuck for Lao Tzu!" ”

The shouts of the students stopped abruptly, everyone looked sideways, Shu Tongwen also jumped off the flag-raising platform, and greeted Xu 19 fearlessly, but Scar's figure had already rushed to Xu 19 in front of him, and he helped the German-style steel helmet on his head, and responded loudly: "Yes!" ”

Xu Shiyi pointed at Shu Tongwen and the group of students, and shouted, "Who asked you to let them in?" ”

"This ......" Scar's face collapsed there, and he wanted to explain but didn't know where to start.

Xu Jiu snorted, and was about to give the order to blast these students out of the station, when a gentle voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Ah Jiu, I left them behind to help." ”

"Jiaxi?" Xu Jiu looked back in amazement, and Yu Jiaxi was already standing behind him.

Yu Jiaxi was wearing a white uniform, a mask on her face, rubber gloves on her hands, and the gloves were even stained with blood, looking like she had just come out of the operating room.

Only then did Scar interject: "Captain, this is the field ambulance station that has just been set up by Zhongshan Hospital. ”

Yu Jiaxi said softly: "Ah Jiu, our hospital is understaffed, and it just so happens that these students volunteered to help, so I left them on my own initiative, which won't cause you trouble, right?" ”

Xu Shijiu frowned and said, "Why did your hospital set up the ambulance station here?" It's too dangerous. ”

Yu Jiaxi said softly: "Speaking of danger, isn't it more dangerous for you to stick to the front line?" ”

"It's different." Xu Shijiu hurriedly said, "As soldiers, we should stick to the front line. ”

"Actually, it's the same." Yu Jiaxi replied, "Ah Jiu, we should all do our part for our country. ”

Shu Tongwen also clenched his fists, and lost no time in interjecting the words: "Captain, country, country, first there is a country and then there is a home, if even the country is dead, how can we still have a home?" What books do you still read, what kind of homes do you build? Do you want to learn from the Manchu Qing Dynasty and be a slave to the Japanese who invaded our homeland? ”

Before the words fell, the dozens of students also shouted.

"If you don't notice the cold star, I recommend Xuanyuan with my blood!"

"The humble person does not dare to forget the country's worries, and people still want to serve their family and country!"

"Mr. Gu Yanwu said that the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband!"

Looking at the dozens of young students who were angry, Xu Shijiu's mind suddenly became a little chaotic, he grew up in the military camp since he was a child, and he had read a lot of books, most of which were related to the military, but he almost didn't dabble in books on the survival of the nation and the rise and fall of the country, so he didn't know how to refute it for a while.