Section I
In the winter of that year, there were several heavy snowfalls in the Wild Green Mountains, and the reckless mountains and forests were covered with snow. The stiff leaves squeaked in the wind and snow. A wisp of white-haired wind swirled from the hill and swam among the trees, and the stiff branches trembled twice in the wind, and with a "quack" sound, they broke.
The sky was high and desolate, gray and hazy. A few crows clung to the treetops and let out a few mournful cries, which were wrapped in the wind and snow and twisted into a few drifting moans. A few tufts of weeds, peeking out of the snow, make a final swing in the white-haired wind. The wild green ridge is in the wind and snow.
It was already dusk, and the sun was setting in the west, and only a dim yellow bright mass was left on the western mountain, burning weakly there. At this time, the world is like a dying old man, gasping for the last few wisps of yang energy.
The snow covers the long and winding mountain road at the foot of the Wild Green Ridge Mountain, making the mountain road unrecognizable. It was nearly dusk, and three trucks were struggling to get along the snowy road. The car screamed high, the wheels clattered against the snow shells, and the three cars moved forward little by little like three heavy beetles, wheezing and howling. All three cars had plaster flags on them. The flag was skewed on the guardrail of the car, "huhula" and fluttering in the wind. More than a dozen Japanese soldiers in overcoats curled up in the carriage with their guns in their arms. Three cars struggled to crawl on the snowy road of the Wild Green Ridge.
The sky was getting darker, and the wind was getting stronger. The white-haired wind is like a mad horse, swinging east and west in the valley of the wild green mountains. Three trucks, with their headlights on, illuminated the snowy ridge in front of them. The soldiers in the car looked nervously along the miserable white pillar of light. The sky was getting darker and darker, and the wind was getting stronger, and a dozen soldiers looked at the scene in front of them, and their hearts rose to their throats, and they looked around for a long time, but they did not find anything unusual, and then buried their heads again and shivered in the cold. The three cars made a turn, and the one in front of them, one wheel, fell into a puddle of snow, and the engine howled hoarsely a few times before it turned off. The two cars in the back also stopped, and the people in the back shouted at the front.
At this moment, a gunshot suddenly rang out from behind the snow shell on the cliff. The gunfire was sparse at first, but then intensified. The Japanese soldiers in the car were so frightened by the sudden gunfire that they came to their senses for a long time and groped their way to climb out of the car. Several Japanese soldiers were numb from the pain in their legs, and they rolled out of the car in a panic and fell into the snow. The Japanese soldiers crouched behind the car and fired at the place where the guns rang out on all sides. The lights were still not off, but they were shining more and more dimly. A bullet hit a headlight and went off abruptly. The world is much darker. At this moment, the guerrillas, wearing sheepskin jackets, hiding behind the snow shells, shouted and stumbled towards the three vehicles. After a while, the gunfire stopped, and the world went dark. After a few noises, after a while, three fires burned on the mountain road of the Wild Green Ridge, and the three trucks burned into three fireballs in the firelight.
A day later, the Heihe Daily of Manchukuo sent a message: ...... Three trucks loaded with munitions by the Imperial Japanese Army were sniped by the guerrillas at the Wild Green Ridge. The Imperial Army fought valiantly, but because they were outnumbered, the munitions were intercepted by the guerrillas. Ten Imperial soldiers bravely sacrificed their lives in the battle against the guerrillas, and five defeated soldiers who escaped were shot on the spot as a show of military justice. There are also four soldiers, whose whereabouts are still unknown, and are being searched......
It was almost dawn, and the thin glimmer of light shrouded the wild onion ridge in a blur. The mountains before dawn were quiet, except for the snake-like streak of cold air that swam through the valleys.
Four people staggered each other, stepping on knee-deep snow, slowly moving forward. Yukino let out a long, monotonous "crunch" sound under several pairs of weak but heavy feet. Kawakushiro stiffened between the three of them, dragged and squirmed forward a little. In the scuffle, Kawakushiro was hit by a bullet in one leg, and the blood flowed down the corner of his pants on the snow, and finally the blood-soaked cotton pants were frozen into a shell-like tube and stiffened on his leg. When Kawakushiro was initially wounded, he cursed all the way. Eventually, the cold drained his strength. Kawakushiro's face was as pale as the snow before dawn. A few people walked all night, and Kawakushiro was dragged all night. At first, the injured leg still had the heart-piercing pain, the hot and sticky blood, he could still feel it, and finally everything became unconscious. The intact right leg was dragged at first, and it was still able to use some strength, but gradually the left leg also stiffened and lost consciousness. Kawakushiro only felt the cold all over his body starting from his legs, and a little bit was crawling towards his upper body, and the irresistible cold was rushing towards his heart. Kawakushiro fainted for a while due to blood loss and cold, and his breathing became more and more difficult for a while, so he really wanted to close his eyes like this. He saw that Kawao, Nofu, and Chino were looking at him weakly, and he let out a wail in his heart, and said weakly: "Leave me alone, you can go." The three of them all lowered their heads and knelt on the snow when they heard Shiro's words. Kawashima lifted Shiro's shoulders. Nofu grabbed one of Shiro's hands and choked up, "No, if we want to die, we will die together." "Don't forget, Shiro, we're all from Hiroshima." Chino crawled over and looked at Shiro's face in a state of panic. Shiro wanted to smile at the three of them, but he only opened his mouth, and the flesh on his face moved stiffly. Then he remembered the snow in Hiroshima, which was not cold at all, soft and soaking. He thought again of the wooden house by the stream, where his mother sit. It was very warm in that house, and every winter, he lit a charcoal fire for his mother to keep her warm forever. Shiro couldn't help but shout: "Mom-" The voice was very soft, and several people still heard it, their bodies trembled suddenly, and when they looked at Shiro's eyes again, Shiro's gaze was already hazy.
At this time, the morning light was close to the eastern sky, slowly spreading towards the wild green ridge. A few pairs of eyes stared at the sky, and they thought of Hiroshima together. The sunrise in Hiroshima is magnificent, and the sun rises over the sea. At this time, I don't know who took the lead in singing that song, and the last few people softly sang the song together—
Hiroshima is a great place to be
There were fish, sheep, and food
Pretty girl walks in the cherry blossoms
In the sea came the sun
Hiroshima is a great place to be
has a family, a wife, and a father
……
The song drifted gently in the mountains, and the song was sung over and over again, and tears finally flowed coldly down the cheeks of several people. At this time, the sun finally came out, but it was not brilliant, and it shone hazy on the mountains and snows of the wild green mountains.
Several people looked at the white light in the east together, and after a while, Chuan Xiong looked at the distance and said hoarsely, "Where are we going?" Several people also stared blankly into the distance. As soon as the gunshots rang out last night, they rolled out of the car and knew it was over. They knew that the guerrillas had come prepared, and this was completely unexpected. After a flurry of gunfire, the guerrillas overwhelmingly pressed through the snow shells around them. At this moment, Shiro heard the gunshot behind him, and when he turned around, he saw the hideous face...... They were running, three people were carrying Shiro, and no one knew where to run, just running. It was only at this point that a few people really realized the situation. Several people knew in their hearts that running back to the United Team would also be death. They had issued a military order for their mission this time, and the men were under arms, and the group that exterminated the guerrillas was waiting for them.
Several people looked at this mountain and this ridge, and their hearts were empty for a while.
"Let's go—" Shiro said again.
A few people turned their heads to look at Shiro, and then at the silent and desolate mountains. At this point, the cold hit them again. Several people stood on the snow, and the remaining warmth in their bodies was being drained little by little by the cold air of the snow ridge. Chino cried, hugged his head, and said complainingly, "It's over, we're going to die, and we can't go back to Hiroshima again." The seventeen-year-old boy lay on his stomach in the snow in despair.
Yefu stood up, looked into the distance, gritted his teeth and said, "We want to live, we can live." After saying that, he bent down and helped Shiro, and Kawao and Chino also came over and went to Fushiro together. Let's go—" Kawao said, glancing at the place where the sun was rising. Several people staggered and struggled forward. As they walked, toward the place where the sun was rising, it seemed as if Hiroshima was close to them.
At this time, a few people felt that they were really hungry, and the cold and hunger threatened them, and several people felt that they might fall down at any time and would never be able to get up again. The three of them dragged Shiro, making it extremely difficult to take each step forward, gasping for breath with each step forward. Shiro pleaded with the three of them over and over again; "You let go of me, let go of me-" The three of them were silent, looking at the endless mountains in front of them, the reckless and vast forest sea, and the little strength that still existed in their bodies seemed to be drained.
"You ...... If you can go back to Hiroshima...... Daxi, my mother will ask for it......" Shiro struggled.
Kawao's eyes welled up with tears, and he grabbed Shiro's hand and shook it vigorously, and he found that Shiro's hand was already stiff.
The wild man swallowed his saliva and looked at the snowy mountains and snowy mountains with empty eyes. At this time, the white-haired wind blew again, and the hard white-haired wind made several people's bodies as uncomfortable as knives. "Let's make a fire." Nofu said. Together, they lowered Shiro into the snow and climbed out of the snow to pick up dry branches that had fallen on the mountain woodland. There were a lot of branches, and after a while a few people picked up a pile. Then he gathered a bunch of artemisia grass and put it under the branch. The fire gradually ignited, and several people gathered around the fire, and a warmth melted into their hearts little by little. Shiro stiffened his hand as if to pounce on the fire. A few people put Shiro closer to the fire, and the fire burned warmly. Shiro's body trembled under the roast of the fire, and he stared at the fire with a deep gaze. When the cold is gone, my stomach is getting more and more hungry. Hunger is irresistibly devouring the will of several people. The eyes of several people looked greedily at the fire in front of them, as if they could find something to satisfy their hunger from the fire.
Shiro's pale face was crawling with a few traces of red under the warmth of the fire. Shiro struggled to sit up from the snow, looked at the three of them, and said, "Do you remember Maishan?" Several people looked at Shiro in bewilderment. He looked at Shiro's stiff face for a long time. The story of Maishan has been popular in Hiroshima for many years - Maishan and his brother went to the mountains to find medicine for their mother. My mother had a disease, and only a medicinal herb called random examination could cure my mother's disease. The Maishan brothers found the medicinal herbs but got lost, and the Maishan brothers wandered in the mountains for two days and two nights, and finally they were tired and hungry, and they were about to die on the mountain. In the end, the brothers lit a fire, and Maishan cut off a leg and threw it into the fire for the brothers to eat. The brother ate the elder brother's leg and walked out of the mountains and cured his mother's illness. But Maishan died in the mountains...... This is a true story that has been circulating in Hiroshima for a long time.
As soon as Shiro mentioned Maishan, several people immediately realized something, and Kawao put his arms around Shiro and choked up and said, "No, let's go back to Hiroshima together." Noo and Chino also gathered around and said to Shiro, "We can go back to Hiroshima." Shiro gasped for a moment and said, "I can't drag you down." Then he thought of the hideous guy named Yokoji, and he gritted his teeth and said in a trembling voice, "If anyone can return to Hiroshima, don't forget to avenge me and kill Yokoji." ”
Chino screamed, and threw himself into Shiro's arms, crying, "No-no-"
The wind was blowing, the fire was burning, and a few people huddled together were weeping.