Twenty-fifth

The Japanese began to attack the city early the next morning. Yao Yan went with Company Commander Liu to lead the troops to the fortifications to fight against the Japanese invaders, and before leaving, he entrusted Qiusheng Ziyang to the logistics master Liu to help him get food and do some chores. Yao Yan is concerned about the safety of Qiusheng and Ziyang, and it is much safer to be in the rear than to go to the front to help the troops carry ammunition and transport the wounded.

The Japanese first bombarded all kinds of military fortifications and city walls in the city with a round of artillery fire, and the earth and stone sleepers flew everywhere in the rumbling artillery fire, and a corner tower in the thousand-year-old city of Changde collapsed under the smoke of the first round of artillery fire, and the city wall was collapsed in several places. After the artillery attack, the Japanese soldiers of the brigade followed the turtle armored tank and launched round after round of attacks on the city.

After several battles under the city walls, the national army fought hard to repel the Japanese devils.

In the afternoon, a group of Japanese planes like locusts flew over Changde, and after a burst of bombardment, puffs of smoke rose in the city, and the burning slabs and walls were crackling and burning, and the city was full of purgatory on earth.

The battle ahead was tight, and Ziyang Qiusheng and they didn't see Yao Yan again until the third day.

At that time, Yao Yan was covered in dust, his eyes were red, and he must have been fighting fiercely for several days and nights. Yao Yan said to Ziyang and them a little nervously: "Ziyang, sister Langzi, Deshan has been lost, the peripheral stone gates, and Taoyuan have fallen into the hands of the Japanese invaders, and Changde is already a lonely city." You are always ready to pack, and if I have the opportunity, I will find a relationship to let you break out with the troops. ”

Qiusheng and they were nervous when they heard this, Ziyang was busy getting him food, Yao Yan didn't wait for the meal to be cooked, and he was tired on the bed with his clothes, and he fell asleep after a while. Qiusheng brought a military blanket to cover him, during which the Japanese planes bombed again, and Yao Yan, who was tired and asleep, did not wake up in the bomb explosion, he was really tired.

When it was nearly dusk, the company headquarters temporarily became a reception station for the wounded, and the officer who led the team woke up Yao Yan. Yao Yan complained about why Ziyang didn't wake him up earlier, and hurriedly went to the front line after eating. Before leaving, he said to Qiusheng and them: "According to the wartime regulations, you have been temporarily requisitioned to fight against the Japanese chieftains, and your task is to assist in caring for the wounded."

When he was about to go out, he lowered his voice and said to Ziyang: "Changde can't hold it, the Japanese have broken into the city a few times, you are ready to run away at any time." I'm a soldier, and I deserve to be in my place. You are ordinary people, and you can't be buried with this place! ”

The wounded soldiers were strong and silent, some of the soldiers with broken hands and feet wailed, and two others died after a short time of carrying them in, and the wounds on their chests and abdomen were still oozing blood from between the taut gauze belts. Most of those soldiers were the same age as Qiusheng and them, and some of the younger ones were only sixteen or seventeen years old.

It was three days after I saw Yao Yan again, when the Japanese invaders had already entered the city for two or three days, and the 57th Division of the Nationalist Army suffered casualties. Three days ago, local police stations, government personnel, and young men were temporarily and urgently requisitioned to join the defensive operation, and street by street, alley, house by house, fought with the Japanese invaders.

Qiusheng Ziyang traveled to several places with the health center, and Yao Yan's company had already fallen into the hands of the enemy. Seeing Qiusheng and them, Yao Yan was very excited, and muttered excitedly: "You are still alive, alive well, alive well!" Otherwise, I'm so sorry for you, I said I'd send you out of the city and home! Qiusheng and they were also very happy, looking at Yao Yan, whose military uniform was dirty and tattered and stained with dark red blood, Ziyang also touched it up and down.

Seeing this, Yao Yan's smeared face showed a mouthful of white teeth, and said with a smile: "Okay, there is not a single part missing, and the Japanese bullets and explosives that killed me are still being made improvly!" Qiusheng looked at the only dozen or so soldiers left behind Yao Yan and asked, "What about Company Commander Liu, he is not in the same place as you?!"

At this time, Yao Yan, who had just laughed, suddenly lowered his expression, pursed his lips and slipped a line of tears from the corners of his eyes. Yao Yanqiang couldn't hold back his crying, wiped his face and calmed down and said to Ziyang: "Brother Liu left yesterday, when he and I led the remaining two teams of brothers to attack the Japanese devils separately, and after the rendezvous, we were killed by Japanese planes in the rice flour factory in the south of the city. He pounced on me, and then the plane left, and we got up fine, and he got up and sat on the ground against the pillar, and I pulled him and told him to hurry up and go with him. I was careless, damn it, I didn't notice that he had shrapnel from a Japanese plane in the back! He didn't move when he pulled him, grinned at me with his dirty yellow teeth, and said, 'Brother, my brother is tired and can't walk, you have to take care of yourself in the future.' My brother has settled the account, I owe you a life last time, and I will return it to you this time! Live well, your cousin is still waiting for you at Yiyang Qili Bridge! After a while, a stream of black-red, black-red blood spurted out of his mouth, and the blood on my body was his! You say, I'm not a bastard?! Let him block the bomb for me, it's really a sin made in my previous life, I'm sorry for his old brother! ”

When he finished speaking, Yao Yan had already burst into tears again, and they were also sad in Qiusheng, and Company Commander Liu, who was still alive some time ago and said that after the battle, he would personally send them out of the city and go home. After a moment of sadness, Yao Yan wiped away the tears on his face and said to the officer of the health team: "Brother, these two are my relatives, who came to see me, they helped you for a few days a few days ago, and I want to go back today!" Then he turned back to Qiusheng and said, "From now on, you will act with us, and everyone will live and die together!"

In this way, Qiusheng Ziyang followed Yao Yan to fight in the corners and alleys, and Yao Yan nervously guarded the two of them along the way. In the predicament of being isolated and helpless, Yao Yan and the others survived for another three days lying on the ruins and broken walls, and on several occasions they exchanged fire with small groups of Japanese soldiers, and they didn't know if they killed the Japanese devils, but there were three fewer people on their side. Once, when the Japanese turtle king eight shells rumbled through a messy street, they lay motionless in the ruins, and they didn't dare to come out.

Through the crack in the door panel, Qiusheng saw the Japanese soldiers sitting on the tank with guns, and those Japanese soldiers actually looked about the same age as Qiusheng and them. At that time, Qiusheng was still puzzled, thinking in his heart, they are all the same kind of people, can they come so far to our country to fight to the death? !

In the end, he died with Yao Yan in a grocery store, when Yao Yan and they encountered a team of Japanese soldiers, and after a round of fighting, Yao Yan took Qiusheng Ziyang to break out of the encirclement, and there was no soldier by his side.

In the collapsed grocery store, Yao Yan searched for things for a while, and suddenly Yao Yan found a cellar, opened the cover and found the sweet potato dry food hidden by the previous owner, and there were two buckets full of water in it. Yao Yan stood there and looked around for a moment, and ordered: "Ziyang, sister Langzi, I order you as the acting company commander of the Eighth Company, your task is to stay in the cellar and wait for reinforcements, and the reinforcements must not leave the cellar for half a step in the future." This is a military order not to be disobeyed! ”

Qiusheng Ziyang and they hurriedly went down to the cellar, Ziyang greeted Yao Yan and said, "Yao Yan, you can come down too, you can't kill the Japanese soldiers alone!" Yao Yan didn't answer, and covered the cellar lid piece by piece, and suddenly the cellar was dark and there was no light. Yao Yan was still carrying something on the ground, and the dust fell on Qiusheng's heads and faces along with the cracks in the cellar cover.

After a long meal, Yao Yan finally stopped, and said through the lid of the cellar: "You live well, there is always a time when the battle stops, you will be saved when the reinforcements come, and the reinforcements will not wait for the battle to stop for a few days, you will flee home in the middle of the night while it is dark!" When Qiusheng heard this, he hurriedly shouted: "Cousin, you better come down, you are worthy of the country if the battle is like this, you are useless to be reckless alone."

Yao Yan didn't say anything, and after a while, he sighed and said, "Sister, don't persuade me, I understand my own affairs." If you go back to your home and tell my parents, I am loyal to the country and cannot be filial! They have to take good care of themselves, and they are sorry for them! And my cousin Xiangqin child in Yiyang Qili Bridge should also be born, if I am really gone, the children born will be brought back to Yingzhai regardless of gender. You tell my parents, don't give me the festival of Xiangqin, if you are young, you will marry while you are young, and say that I Yao Yan is sorry for her in this life, and I will definitely make a cow and a horse in the next life and give it back to her! Fu said loudly to Ziyang: "Ziyang, you have to live well, my old Yao family owes your Wang family a life, my father is sorry for your father, don't hate my father, I will ask you for a favor for him, I can live to fall back to Yingzhai and we will be good brothers with different surnames in the second half of our lives!" All right? ”

Speaking of this, Yao Yan also said with some self-deprecation: "Ziyang, there is also a plaque written by my father in front of the gate of our ancestral hall, and the couplet also says that the tree has a thousand branches and roots are the same, and the streams and rivers gather the four clans!"

In the dark, they were not as dark as when they first came in, and they could see the contents of the cellar in the dark. In this way, they chatted for half an hour in the cellar, and suddenly there was a faint roar of tanks in the street outside, which shook the cellar slightly.

At this time, Yao Yan's sad voice above trembled a little, and he roared in a low voice almost like a lion: "The battle is like this, and most of China will fall into the hands of the Japanese." This place is only a hundred or dozens of miles away from our house, and we can risk it if we retreat! It has come to this point, and there is no innocent and pitiful person in the whole world. Kong said Chengren, Meng said Yiyi, and my father and Mr. Wang taught him before. As soldiers, if the Japanese want to go to our Anhua, let them step on my Yao Yan's body first! Ziyang, sister-in-law, we will be brothers again in the next life! ”

When Ziyang heard this, he was anxious, and shouted regardless of it: "Yao Yan, don't be stupid!" You can't do it alone! Yao Yan didn't respond and left lightly.

About half a pillar of incense was spent on the streets, and a loud noise shook the cellar. The dust rustled down on Qiusheng and them, and it was the only remaining grenade and Japanese tank that Yao Yan had tied to his body. Yao Cheng always said that the Japanese bomb that killed him had not yet been made by the Japanese, and he did not die under the Japanese bullet bomb in the smoke of gunpowder, but he pulled his grenade and died with the Japanese tank!

The young man who studied in Changsha to save the country failed to become a future scholar and master, for the sake of the future of China, not to speak Japanese, it was not easy for Tang to dress up in Hanfu, and used the body of a soldier to defend the last bit of dignity and face of this country and this nation!

At this moment, Qiusheng Ziyang, who was lying in the cellar, covered his mouth and cried and didn't dare to make a sound, and the snot and tears that Ziyang shed were soaked with a large piece of soil.

Coincidentally, I learned after Qiu's birthday that on the day Yao Yan pulled the grenade and exploded, Yao Yan's child was born in a simple slab-walled house on Qili Bridge in Yiyang, more than 200 miles away. At that time, the pale face of the parsley, which had just been produced, was full of happiness, and he said to his wife: "It's a boy! It's good, his dad is still fighting Japanese devils in Changde! Yao Yan, do you know? Your Yao family has a queen! ”

Two months later, Xiangqin learned of Yao Yan's death and took her child to Anhua County to participate in the memorial ceremony of the anti-Japanese martyr Yao Yan.

On the day of the sacrifice, the small Meicheng 10,000 empty alleys, in front of the heroic Yao Yan martyr statue is full of wreaths, the temporary mourning hall banner is written heroic martyrs through the ages, and the towering couplets on both sides are inscribed by the county magistrate himself: "The first battle in Changsha, and then the battle in northern Jiangxi, the scholar joined the army to punish the Japanese invaders; Transferred to western Hubei, bloody Wuling, and the strong man was martyred. ”

As a martyr's uncle and also the leader of the county government, Uncle Lilac cried silently when he saw his daughter-in-law and grandson whom he had never met. At the sacrificial ceremony, Aunt Lilac cried so much that she fainted on the spot.

A few months later, Parsley gave the baby to Uncle Lilac and went to the north alone. When leaving, Yao Zhipeng and his wife cried and sent a long distance, and forced her to give her a lot of silver dollars.

Later, I heard that she joined the Jiangbei New Fourth Army, and was shot and drowned in a Japanese sweep, and her body was found in the capital.

Yao Zhipeng and his wife cried bitterly after hearing the news, and found a few clothes left over from her last visit to Meicheng to change and buried them next to Yao Yan Cemetery, which can be regarded as a reunion between their husband and wife in the underworld.

Qiusheng Ziyang and the two stayed in the dark cellar, drinking the water in the bucket when they were thirsty, and sipping those sweet potato dry food when they were hungry, and Lasa was in the corner of the cellar. The cellar was dim, and I don't know how many days and nights passed, but finally the reinforcements who repelled the Japanese invaders came.

When everyone picked up the debris piled on the cellar and opened the first cellar lid, a dazzling light shot so bright that they couldn't open their eyes. It took a long time to get used to the environment and climb up from the cellar.

In this way, Qiusheng Ziri traveled all the way back to Anhua. Ziyang went to Meicheng to issue a letter of repentance, and Yao Zhipeng did not deliberately embarrass him. First, the current situation of the villagers in a village has also changed, and secondly, Yao Yan's martyrdom touched his sad heart a lot.

Since then, Ziyang has worked in the county seat to work hard.

End of the twenty-fourth round