Section I

No one thought that Zheng Pusheng's "retreat" in the early hours of the morning became the most frequent word they heard in the second half of the month, the abandonment of one county town after another, the surrender of dangerous terrain everywhere, let them clearly feel the bitterness and endless sorrow of the defeat and evacuation, looking at a large area of the country is about to become a colony of devils, any Chinese with a conscience can clearly feel that the heart is dripping blood, the flesh is festering, the kind of cone piercing pain, It torments everyone's nerves all the time.

And along with it, everyone's temper is getting hotter and hotter, and some ordinary little things can even attract guns to each other, draw swords against each other, all kinds of chaos and quarrels, from time to time there are groups of soldiers who break away from the team and flee in the dark night, and at the same time, they also attract a team of former robes to chase and kill, plus the devil planes that appear overhead from time to time, the number of people in each department is constantly decreasing on the way to retreat.

On November 13, the 302nd Regiment retreated to Suzhou with its troops after resting in Qingpu for two days. After receiving follow-up supplements, the 306th Regiment of the 153rd Brigade, which had a decent combat strength, was ordered to hold Qingpu after the break, under the command of the regiment commander Qiu Weida, the 306th Regiment withstood the multi-way siege of the Japanese army from Chonggu, Beixinjing, Baziqiao, Baihegang and other places. Even a squadron that assaulted from the left flank accompanied by two pilot tanks, after entering the county seat, was cleverly seized by Qiu Weida to use a battalion of troops to copy the back road, if it were not for the follow-up tank firepower is really fierce and unstoppable, I am afraid that this squadron will not escape the fate of the whole army, even so, in the case of concentrating firepower to strike fiercely, this Japanese squadron in a pillar of incense in the time of four to three, two pilot tanks were destroyed, and the assault troops were killed and wounded. This heavy loss directly caused the Japanese army to dare to continue to bombard with artillery, supplemented by aircraft bombardment, and the infantry stopped at a distance of more than 100 paces outside the county town and did not dare to advance half a step.

On November 14, the 306th Regiment, which had completed the covering task, was ordered to divide the 2nd Battalion to stay and defend the city, while the main force broke through the Japanese army and retreated to Kunshan. On the same day, the enemy bombed the position of the 2nd Battalion with planes in turn, and cooperated with the fierce attack of the ground troops, the commander of the 2nd Battalion, Yin Yuan, did not retreat from the battle, and fought tenaciously and hard with several times the enemy, the corpses in front of the position were bleeding like a river, and the heavy machine behind the strong bunker was light, and even destroyed two tanks of the devil, and gained a lot, but after repelling the Japanese attack many times, the battalion also lost more than half. At noon, the Japanese army rushed into Qingpu City from all directions, the second battalion still organized the remnants of the troops to launch a counterattack in street fighting, and the battle reached 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the whole battalion only supported more than 70 people to break through, and Qingpu was occupied by the Japanese army.

On November 16, the 74th Army was stationed on the defense line from Suzhou to Wujiang, and guarded along the Taihu Lake to cover the flank of the retreating army in the Songhu battlefield.

On November 18, the 74th Army was ordered to occupy positions in the area between the left end of Wujin City (not included) and the south bank of the Yangtze River to cover the retreat of friendly forces. On the 21st, they withdrew to Danyang and then left for the capital Nanjing.

On November 28, the 74th Army withdrew to Nanjing and was stationed on the line from Tongjimen to Chunhua Town.

On the shore of Meilong Lake, a group of unkempt soldiers of the national army sat or lay down, some took off the steel helmets on their heads and scooped up the water and poured it into their mouths unscrupulously, some people put the kettle into the water and filled it with water and then raised their heads to drink, and some people simply lay on the shore of the lake, stretched their heads down, and sucked whales on the surface of the lake, and streams of cold lake water poured directly into the chests of these people, making their hot bodies feel indescribable comfort and coolness.

The soldiers of the cooking squad were also busy at this time, they unloaded the cauldron on their backs, built a pot stove with the stones collected in four places, and after lighting the firewood collected along the way, bursts of cooking smoke drifted straight into the air, accompanied by rice grains into the pot, and after a while, bursts of fragrance were emitted.

The lively lakeside gradually quieted down with the rising smoke of the cooking, and the smell of rice came out of the four directions, almost instantly attracting all their attention, the continuous march for more than half a month and the previous two months of fighting, completely exhausted their physical strength, plus these days there is no meal, so that their thirst for food has become great, in the process of rice cooking, naturally one by one swallowing saliva and waiting quietly.

The stone stretched out his hand to tuck the corners of the quilt, looked at Lao Meng's sunken eye sockets, couldn't help but feel sour, beckoned to Xiao Shandong on the side, and after taking him to stagger a few steps, he asked softly with a trace of stalk: "How is the old man?" Are you better? ”

"I just drank the medicine, and it seems to be better, but the military doctor said that Uncle Meng is old, and he had a cold before, so if he doesn't take care of it well, I'm afraid it won't work!" Xiao Shandong said with a gloomy expression, his thin face was not as rosy as before, and it was obvious that he was not tired during this time.

Nodding with a stern expression, the stone glanced at Lao Meng, who was sleeping on the single shelf, and then advised: "Take care of the old man, come to me immediately if you have anything." ”

While they were talking, Zhu Zi also walked over, his always calm face was also full of concern, and he cautiously asked at the stone, "How is Old Man Meng?" I've been lying on the single frame for more than ten days, why don't you talk to the battalion commander and go to the hospital in the city to have a look? ”

Shi shook helplessly and said: "Uncle is hungry, the key is to get something for him to replenish his body and bones, if he can boil a few bowls of broth for him to drink, it is estimated that it will be better soon!" ”

"Broth!" When the pillar heard this, he immediately smiled bitterly, he could only eat two porridges a day for four or five days in a row, where to get broth in this case. And Xiao Shandong on the side also wiped his mouth involuntarily, obviously this simple word evoked his endless fantasies.

The pillar also complained rarely, "Stone, we shouldn't have taken in so many people on the road before, now we are full of a company, but this food is getting less and less, if it goes on like this, I'm afraid we won't be able to wait for the devil to come, and we will have to disperse with a bang." ”

Shi Shi looked around, in the past half a month, they have successively gathered groups of scattered friendly brothers, plus Zheng Pusheng transferred more than 20 people to him when he retreated from the vicinity of Chonggu, the entire third company has as many as one hundred and twenty-three people, although the number has been replenished, but the problems that have come with it also make Shi Tou very big.

Not to mention anything else, the problem of eating every day alone is enough for him to scratch his scalp, more than 120 people, more than double the amount at the beginning of the retreat, and facing the food distributed by the camp is only enough for more than 50 people, except for adding water to boil porridge, there is no other way to do the stone. This also led to the fact that the entire Sanlian people, in just ten days, have all lost a lot of weight.

Gritting his teeth, Shi also said: "I'll go to the battalion commander again to find a way, now that I have withdrawn to the periphery of the capital, I can't let the brothers fight hungry!" ”

At the east gate of Chunhua Town, the stone who came quickly saw Zheng Pusheng who was commanding a series of four defenses, but still a distance away, he heard the scolding in the mouth of the battalion commander Zheng, which made the stone stunned, the battalion commander has always been capable and elegant, and rarely heard him burst into foul language, listening to this scolding is enough to see that the battalion commander does not seem to be in a good mood at the moment. However, thinking of Lao Meng lying on a stretcher and dying, the stone could only walk towards that side.

"Who let you into the fortifications? The order from above has not come down, you are looking for death! It's all fucking a company commander, why are you still so brainless about doing things. Zheng Pusheng's scolding came from afar, and he saw the two company commanders and several officers of the first and second companies bowing their heads and saying nothing.

It wasn't until Zheng Pusheng's scolding ended that the first company commander whispered: "Battalion commander, isn't this fortification just for us to fight devils, who knows when the devils will come up, use it early, and kill a few more devils when the time comes!" ”

"Give me less! No one was allowed to enter these fortifications until the order was issued. Zheng Pusheng rudely interrupted the words of the company commander, and then pointed to the east gate, asking them to try to hurry up and set up a few machine gun bunkers at the city gate, so that they could resist for a while in case of a sudden situation.

After arranging these things, Zheng Pusheng turned around and shouted at the stone: "You kid don't take care of those people in your company, what are you doing here?" ”

Shi didn't expect that Zheng Pusheng seemed to know that he was coming, and after being stunned for a while, he shouted with a sad look on his face: "Battalion commander, there is nothing to eat, at most there is a meal at night, and there will be no food tomorrow!" The old man's body also needs to be well conditioned, but there is nothing in the cooking class. ”

When Zheng Pusheng heard this, he also scolded angrily: "You deserve it!" How many times did I tell you two days ago, but you just didn't listen, so I got down, and I couldn't stay up after drinking porridge for four or five days, and I ran to toss me every day! Who am I going to look for? ”

Shi thought of Zheng Pusheng running to move food with the company commander for him two days ago, his face turned red, and he said ashamedly: "Battalion commander, what should I do now, if there is no food, something big will happen." ”

Zheng Pu laughed angrily: "You know that you are in a hurry now?" What did you do before? This is just a lack of food, and when the war starts and there is a shortage of guns and ammunition, what will you do? Let them go up empty-handed to die? Or do you think that they are all like you, and they can kill the devil empty-handed? Stones, stones, fighting a war doesn't just depend on a large number of people, supplies can't keep up, the more people, the faster you lose! ”

Shi nodded, obviously at this time, he gradually had such a feeling, thinking that he was about to run out of food, thinking that Lao Meng was still lying there and couldn't move, Shi Shi was anxious, and he also shouted hard: "Battalion commander, you have to save the old man, the military doctor said, as long as the nutrition can keep up, and recuperate for a few more days, the old man will be fine!" ”

Zheng Pusheng also sighed helplessly and shook his head: "Okay, I'll go find Tuanza, but I can't guarantee whether I can get food!" ”