Section XXVI

The cold wind was bleak, the dead leaves were scattered, and the leaves and weeds that had long been dried up uneasily from the ground under the pull of the cold wind, and flew around in a daze, and then, a more violent cold wind whistled, holding up their thin and thin bodies, carrying them into the air, circling and flying to a farther place, and finally falling down slowly in the corner where the wind had lost its power.

A thin palm stretched out from the trench without warning, caught a shriveled leaf, and then quickly retracted it, looking quite careful, and the owner of the palm, a half-grown young man who looked fifteen or sixteen years old, was staring at the dead leaves curled up in his palm with wide eyes, as if he was looking at a rare treasure, and he was reluctant to blink his eyes.

"Ahem...... Cough...... cough ......" There was a coughing sound without warning, the voice was not loud, quite hoarse, faintly as if coughing up phlegm, it seemed very difficult.

This sound made the young man on the side retract his gaze, clenched his fist lightly and began to slap the other party's back, judging from his coherent movements, such a move was extremely skillful, as if he had experienced it more than once or twice, and gently beat the other party's back, the young man asked with concern: "Uncle Meng, what's wrong?" Looking for a doctor to come and have a look? ”

Coughing heavily for a while, after spitting out a mouthful of thick phlegm, Lao Meng finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the whole person leaned on the trench weakly, stretched out his shriveled old hand and touched the steel helmet on the head of the young soldier on the side, he shook his head tiredly and said: "It's old, it's useless to see it!" I'm old too, and it's time for me to get to the end. ”

This young soldier is naturally Xiao Shandong, listening to Lao Meng's words at this moment, his eyes suddenly turned a little red, and he stammered: "Meng...... Uncle, why do you love to say these unlucky words, the battle is not over yet, he has not lived the life of the landlord, and he has not enjoyed a few days of happiness! ”

The wrinkles on Lao Meng's face seem to be a lot deeper than in previous days, the weather in the south is too cold, the humid air makes people feel more and more biting and cold, in the absence of the sun, the whole body is like being soaked in water, the cold is really unbearable, which also makes Lao Meng, who is not very good in health, suffer, listening to Xiao Shandong's words, he squeezed out a smile on his face and said: "People, it's worth it to live past fifty, and the little devils have killed a lot, it has long been enough, the squad leader and Zhou Wu Tietou they, I've been waiting for me down there for a long time, and I can walk with them on the road, and I can have a companion. ”

"I just can't rest assured that you kid......" Lao Meng said, and sighed involuntarily.

"Old Mengtou, what nonsense? What is not dead, how unlucky! Can't you just say something nice? Chen Daaxe's dissatisfied voice came from the bunker not far away, and it seemed that he had already heard their conversation clearly.

Lao Meng just smiled when he heard it, and he was not annoyed, staring at the pillar on the side and said: "Pillar, if I leave, you have to take care of Xiaoshan, this kid's life is hard, how old is this, and he has to follow them all day long with knives and guns to fight the devils......"

Like the other brothers, the pillar was huddled in the ditch, listening to the cold wind whistling outside, and then said lukewarmly: "See for yourself, I don't have that idle business!" ”

Lao Meng has lived for so many years, and he still can't hear the meaning of the pillar's words, but after shaking his head, he stopped talking, and at the same time, the pair of shriveled hands touched his waist, and he trembled slightly and touched out a long cigarette stick.

"Uncle Meng, you just smoke a little less! Otherwise, you'll have to cough again! When Xiao Shandong saw his movements, his face furrowed deeply, and he said with a worried face.

Lao Meng was trembling and filling the cigarettes, and sighed: "I don't have a few days to live here, no matter how bad it is, how bad can it be!" Cough...... Ahem......"

"Brother Zhuzi......" Xiao Shandong saw that he couldn't convince this old guy, so he immediately asked for help from the pillar on the side, but only heard a row of leaders say calmly: "You just let him smoke a few puffs, decades of old smoking guns, this is his lifeline." ”

"The company commander is back!" "Company commander......" As they spoke, a slight cheer came from the corner of the traffic trench in the position, showing that these people seemed to be very convinced of their company commander.

"Company commander, the devil's cavalry has been circling around for a day and a night, when are we going to go out and fight them?"

"Company commander, are we surrounded by devils!"

……

Looking at the stone coming back from the top of the mountain, there were bursts of doubts in the trench, it was already noon on December 5, and it had been a whole day since the Japanese cavalry appeared around Fangshan, it was no wonder that the soldiers of the national army in the trench were uneasy and suspicious, and the whole day was spent in such a strange confrontation, and no one could understand what the idea of these little devils was, which naturally made them feel uncomfortable all over their bodies, and it was even more uncomfortable than after a whole day of bloody battles.

Shi's face was calm without any expression, and in the face of everyone's questions, he just said lightly: "Don't care what tricks the little devil plays, if you want to take down the mountain, you have to step on our bodies, this battle has just begun, don't care about anything, first raise your spirit." ”

After repeating it a few times, the sound of doubts in the trench gradually subsided, seeing this situation, the stone also sighed in his heart, and stayed on the top of the mountain for a whole morning, but he still did not find any abnormal movement of the devils around, listening to the undulating cannon sound in the northeast direction, and then feeling the calm of their place, this situation is really uncomfortable.

However, the order of the regiment headquarters in the morning somewhat reassured them, although the friendly troops near Chunhua Town were attacked by the Japanese invaders, but fortunately, the defense fortifications played a big role, and the casualties did not seem to be large, and the devils also temporarily shrank back after several tentative attacks were repulsed, and did not achieve much results, which made them not have to think too much about things here for the time being.

"Uncle, can you still hold on? Why don't you go to the temple behind the mountain to rest, this place is too cold, you are old, and it is too hard to stay here. As soon as the stone saw Lao Meng's thin body wrapped in a coat and shrunk into a ball, his heart was sour, and then he looked at him trembling and stuffing cigarettes, and he was even more emotional, it was only more than three months, and the old man who was still alive and well in Luodian was now like a candle in the wind, and the repeated bloody battles could be imagined for the overdraft of vitality, for these young people, it was not very real on the surface, but for veterans like Lao Meng, it was more obvious and intuitive.

Lao Meng finally filled the tobacco in his pipe, and there were a few gasps in his throat like pulling a bellows, but his wrinkled face showed a thick smile, looking at the pipe, his eyes were full of kindness and love as if he was looking at his juniors, and he didn't have any response to what the stone said, as if he hadn't heard it.

Seeing that one of Lao Meng's hands wanted to reach out to his pocket to touch the match, Xiao Shandong on the side gritted his teeth, and then took out a box from his pocket, covered it with his hand, and then slowly moved it to the top of the pipe, while Lao Meng put the pipe into his mouth, and inhaled deeply at the faint flame that Xiao Shandong came over.

In just a few moments, a cloud of smoke erupted from his mouth, circling around Lao Meng, making his face look a little blurred, but vaguely, you could see the satisfied look on Lao Meng's face. This old man, who only needs a little tobacco at the moment, can make him feel that he wants nothing else, and he really wants nothing else.

Shi looked at Lao Meng's satisfied expression, but he felt more and more uncomfortable, and he opened his mouth to repeat the words before he sent it again, but before the words came out, Lao Meng on the side coughed violently again in vain.

This made Xiao Shandong suddenly scramble, his thin fist once again slammed on his rickety body like raindrops, and he complained in his mouth: "Uncle Meng, let you take a few fewer mouthfuls, you still don't listen, you can't go on like this!" This body and bones can't bear it. ”

The pillar shook his head at the stone at this time, and then scolded at Lao Meng, the calm expression on his face was also involuntarily covered with a layer of sadness, obviously his concern for Lao Meng was not much worse than others, but it was not easy to put on his face.

Shi looked at the pillar's expression, and sighed helplessly, and for a while, his face was full of gloom, and he felt helpless.

"Blood...... Blood...... Brother Shi, Uncle Meng, he ......" Xiao Shandong's exclamation suddenly sounded when the coughing sound weakened, and his young and thin body almost jumped up, and he was about to jump to his feet in a hurry.

These words shocked everyone around, and they turned their heads one after another, and the stone had already turned its head sideways again, only to see Lao Meng's hand covering his mouth, holding a black blood stain at the moment, which was sliding down from the cracks of his fingers, and at this time, Lao Meng seemed to have just remembered something, and was about to shrink into his sleeve in a hurry, as if he was afraid that others would see it.

However, his action was too late, and the black blood stains were seen by almost everyone, which immediately attracted an exclamation all around, and even Chen Daaxe and others in the machine gun bunker rushed out anxiously at this moment, wanting to check what was going on, and at this time, in the sky, there was suddenly a rumbling sound without warning, mixed with the exclamations of everyone, inconspicuous, but when it fell on the ears of stones, pillars and others, it made their whole bodies tremble involuntarily.