Under the setting sun, grave mounds appeared outside the forest that had been torn to pieces by artillery fire.
Forty-three officers and soldiers of the Northeast Army stood solemnly in front of the tomb, and among these forty-three officers and soldiers, more than ten were injured. These were the last remaining troops of Hu Biao's company.
Those graves were filled with soldiers who had died in their company. Tired and covered in dirt and blood, they stared silently at the new soil on the graves.
Of course Shang Zhen had seen the grave mound.
His home is also in the countryside. There are places called grave circles in the countryside of Northeast China.
That's where every household buries their dead body in the cemetery.
If it is the cemetery of a large family, it will be made more exquisitely.
Great-grandfather, grandfather, uncle, father, they are ranked according to seniority, each person has a grave, which is built with bricks, and some are even built with cement, and then a low wall is built outside these graves.
It was as if the wall was a courtyard used by the living, just as the people in the underworld also had to live in the grave, even though the wall was much shorter and would not exceed the knees of people.
But this is the grave of a rich family. As for the grave of a poor family, it is much simpler, just a mound of earth.
If the poor family is not doing well or has moved away, gradually no one will go to the grave to pay homage to their ancestors.
So as it is exposed to rain, wind and sun, the grave mound will become smaller and smaller, and finally be buried in the vast fields of the Northeast, as if the owner of the grave had never come to this world.
However, the living still do not pay attention to the fact that this person is born to die, but still indulge in their own joys, sorrows, anger and happiness.
However, this situation does not apply to soldiers who have experienced war.
At this time, Shang Zhen no longer felt the stabbing pain in his heart. His perspective was always different from others.
This should be the place where he first experienced a battle of blood and fire. His eyes swept across the woods.
The woods were littered with broken branches and stumps.
The broken branches and stumps were caused by the heavy machine guns and artillery of both sides, and there were also many broken limbs and arms under the trees. They were the puppet soldiers who were chasing them and were blown off by the artillery on the armored train when they were here.
But Shang Zhen knew that even in the graves they buried there were still many broken limbs.
The reason, of course, was that some of their brothers in the company had their limbs broken by the heavy machine guns on the Japanese armored vehicles.
They couldn't figure out which body some of the broken limbs belonged to, so they just buried the broken limbs that were covered with Northeast Army uniforms.
As for the bodies of those puppet soldiers, they didn't care.
"Okay, let's all go back." Company commander Hu Biao finally said with his head down.
Hu Zhen glanced at Hu Biao's face, which showed indifference and numbness.
Shang Zhen knew that Hu Biao was an old soldier who had participated in the Central Plains War, which was also a battle between Chinese and Chinese. Perhaps he had seen too many dead people.
The armored train in the distance was still puffing out white smoke but it didn't move.
The reason was that although the Japanese army did not blow up the armored train, they did damage the railway line, and people from other troops were busy repairing the road there.
Although Shang Zhen and his fellow low-level officers and soldiers did not know the overall situation, they could also imagine that the Northeast Army must have dealt a heavy blow to Zhang Xuecheng's troops this time.
In view of the huge sacrifices their company made in the process of luring the enemy, their superiors did not let them follow in the pursuit, but instead asked them to stay and clean up the battlefield and bury their fallen comrades.
Now they were finally heading back, but they hadn't slept well last night because they had helped to drag the armored train out, and they had been busy all day, so everyone was exhausted.
When we first walked back, naturally no one spoke, but gradually someone who couldn't bear the loneliness started talking. That person was Hou Kanshan.
What Hou Kanshan talked about was all about whether Jinzhou could be defended this time.
The Northeast Army in Jinzhou City still had a lot of troops. Shang Zhen knew that there were three infantry brigades, two cavalry brigades, two artillery regiments, plus a volunteer army.
At this time, Kanshan and the other soldiers were whispering about how many troops there were.
Even though Hou Kanshan was a veteran, he was still a low-ranking soldier. How could they possibly know the exact number? In the end, they estimated that their Northeast Army had more than 40,000 people in Jinzhou.
As for how many Japanese troops there were, Company Commander Hu Biao had heard from his superiors during a meeting that there were more than 40,000 Japanese troops.
Shang Zhen listened to Hou Kanshan and others discussing in low voices in front, and thought to himself that the 40,000 troops of the Northeast Army were comparable to the Japanese army, but they might be able to defeat the Japanese because the Japanese not only had puppet troops, but also airplanes, artillery and tanks.
At this time, Shang Zhen did not know that the Northeast Army was not the strongest in the Chinese army, but it had the best weapons and equipment.
The country was weak, not only the people were weak but also the army. Even in the years of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that followed, which army dared to fight the Japanese army in a 1:1 ratio?
While Shang Zhen was thinking, he saw the company commander Hu Biao, who was walking in front, suddenly turned around and glared at him. Just as he did so, Hou Kanshan, whose voice was gradually getting louder, quickly shut his mouth.
It was obvious that the company commander Hu Biao was in a bad mood, and Hou Kanshan's words made Hu Biao upset.
Everyone continued to move forward. After a while, Hou Kanshan slowly slowed down his pace and came closer to Shang Zhen again.
After all, they were brothers who had fought side by side. Shang Zhen ignored Hou Kanshan and continued walking forward. But at this time, Hou Kanshan whispered, "Okay, Ma Gan'er is pretty good. He even got a fancy machine gun!"
Now Shang Zhen, like Ma Erhuzi beside him, also has a mechanical device on his shoulder.
Ma Erhuzi's submachine gun was picked up from his fallen brother, but Shang Zhen's was not. Shang Zhen's was seized from the puppet army.
Shang Zhen glanced at Hou Kanshan and saw envy in Hou Kanshan's expression.
He just tightened the strap of the flower machine gun and didn't say anything.
"Please give me this machine!" Hou Kanshan said with a lewd look on his face.
Shang Zhen shook his head without even thinking.
If these words were spoken by the company commander Hu Biao, the platoon leader Wang Laomao, or his brother Li Fushun, Shang Zhen would certainly listen, but as Hou Kanshan, he couldn't!
"Do you know how to use this gun? Do you know how far it can shoot? It would be a waste of time to give it to you!" Hou Kanshan said earnestly.
Shang Zhen glanced at the company commander Hu Biao who was still walking in front of him with his head down, but still did not respond.
"Why don't you lend it to me first?" Hou Kanshan actually reached out to take the mechanism on Shang Zhen's shoulder.
"Get out of here!" Ma Erhuzi, who was walking side by side with Shang Zhen, cursed.
"It's none of your business!" Hou Kanshan said to Ma Erhuzi.
At this time, Shang Zhen glanced at the company commander Hu Biao in front of him and saw that he had turned back again.
So he suddenly said, "Everyone is in a bad mood. Hou Kanshan, why are you being so disruptive?!"
Just after Shang Zhen finished speaking, Hu Biao's voice came over: "Everyone rest tonight, Monkey Boy will be on duty!"
"Ah?" Hou Kanshan's face suddenly grew long, but he didn't dare to bother Shang Zhen anymore. He just thought to himself that he had thought Ma Gan'er was an honest guy, but he didn't expect that he had such a mind and actually tricked him!
Shang Zhen took advantage of Hu Biao's previous disdain for Hou Kanshan and added fuel to the fire!
Hou Kanshan left, and Ma Erhuzi secretly gave Shang Zhen a thumbs up.
Shang Zhen's expression remained unchanged, but he still held his rifle in one hand and tightly held the strap of the submachine gun with the other.