Chapter 6: Anti-air Guns

The jeep was rumbled all the way, and Wang Jinshan kept smoking, one after another, without saying anything, and the carriage was filled with an unbearable awkward atmosphere.

To be honest, what I fear most is this kind of atmosphere, and I am also good at breaking it. Am I a reporter? If this is the case, I would have found some relaxed topics to talk about, or I would have found some jokes to relax. But this time the situation left me helpless, because the root cause this time was Wang Jinshan, the commander of the Corps. His heart was the defeat of the 60th Army... Smart people would shut up at this time, and of course I was not stupid either.

"Stop!" Wang Jinshan screamed in a muffled voice.

With a "squeak!", the jeep stopped at a fork in the road. No one knew why we had to park here. The driver, the guard and me were all confused, but they didn't dare to ask too much. They all sat in the car in fear and watched Wang Jinshan smoking one by one.

"Little Devil!" After a while, Wang Jinshan said in a muffled voice: "Do you know whether the 60th Army depends on you!"

"What?" Hearing this, I couldn't help but look at Wang Jinshan with some confusion. At best, I was just a commander of the 180th Division. How could I say that the entire 60th Army looked at me?

"Get out of the car!" Wang Jinshan didn't say anything else, and suddenly threw the cigarette butt under his feet: "Although this is not that easy, you must do it for me well, otherwise I will fight to you!"

"Yes!" I didn't dare to hesitate, so I immediately picked up my equipment and jumped out of the jeep according to his order. But after jumping out of the car, I found that there was nothing here except a simple air-resistant wooden shed a hundred meters away.

"Commander!" Seeing this, I couldn't help but plucked up my courage and asked in confusion: "There is nothing! I... where can I find the troops?"

"Here!" Wang Jinshan smiled bitterly and pointed to the air defense wooden shed not far away and said: "From here to the Yalu River, there are all people from the 60th Army. Let's find them by yourself!"

As he said that, a jeep roared, a piece of dust spread out, leaving me alone looking at the air-proof wooden shed in a daze.

"Comrade!" I walked into the wooden shed half-believingly and greeted the soldiers inside: "Are you from the 60th Army?"

"Yes! So are you!" The three soldiers sitting inside lazily made a seat for me: "Come on! Sitting inside..."

"Which part of you are all?" I put the equipment on the ground and sat on the weeds, and I asked the question I was most concerned about, but their answers surprised me again.

"I'm from the 179th Division, and the two of them are from the 181st Division!" One of the untidy soldiers yawned and replied: "There are two from the 180th Division. They have gone out to fetch water and haven't come back yet!"

"What?" I was stunned when I heard this: "You, aren't you from the same army?"

The warrior's answer may not be in the ears of outsiders, but I have been in the army for a few months. I couldn't help but wonder when I heard this. It would be possible for warriors from different squads and platoons to stay together, and soldiers from different divisions to stay together...

"Tsk, what's so strange about this!" A soldier with thick eyebrows and big eyes wiping the rifle in his hand, replied: "You are new to love! You don't know anything..."

"Comrade!" I asked with a puzzled understanding: "You are not from the same army. What if you fight a war? Isn't that mess?"

This principle is actually very simple. Once a war breaks out, the tasks of each division cannot be exactly the same. If the soldiers from different divisions are mixed together, there is no way to command the battle.

"War?" Unexpectedly, my words attracted laughter from the soldiers. The soldier who was rubbing his gun bounced the rifle in his hand with his fingers, making it make a clanging sound and said, "There is no need to fight now! If I don't wipe my gun, it will rust tomorrow!"

"No need to fight?" I couldn't understand even more. None of the volunteer soldiers came from guns and cannons. It's still early to the end of the Korean War, so why don't there be war?

"Comrade, do you really don't know or pretend to be confused?" A soldier who was sleeping in the hay sat up impatiently: "Do you know what it means to fire an anti-aircraft gun? When the enemy plane came, we fired a few shots into the sky and notified the nearby comrades to pay attention to air strikes. This is our mission! Can this also be called war?"

"What? Our 60th Army members do this?" I was surprised to hear this.

"That's not?" The soldier who was rubbing the gun muttered pitifully: "I used to be! When the enemy's plane came, I gritted my teeth. Now I still hope that the enemy's plane will come soon. If it comes, we can get a few shots! But now, I haven't seen a plane in two days! Alas..."

"I said comrade, which unit are you from?" asked the soldier who had just woken up.

"I'm from the 180th Division..."

"Tsk!" Before I could finish my words, I caused boos from the three soldiers.

"I thought it was sacred!" The soldier who was rubbing the gun chuckled, "He also brought a gun with a small mirror. He looked very majestic. Unexpectedly, it was the 180th Division..."

"What's wrong with the 180th Division?" I couldn't help but get angry when I heard this: "The 180th Division has provoked you? They are all comrades from the same army. You should pay attention to the influence when you speak!"

"What's wrong? You asked us what's wrong?"

I was so angry that they were even more angry. After hearing what I said, they all stared at me. The soldier who had just woken up stared at me fiercely and said, "You are still pretending to be confused! If your 180th Division had not been defeated, would we do this? The comrades in other troops all ate rice, white noodles, and canned Americans' canned food and bread. What about us? They were all fucking sorghum and fried noodles, and my shit was so yellow!"

"This is nothing!" The warrior who was using the gun also agreed. He raised the rifle in his hand and said, "Your 180th Division was defeated. Our entire 60th Army suffered a lot. Do you know? You are not allowed to go to the battlefield. Do you know? All our 60th Army are here to fire air defense guns?"

"That's it!" The soldier who had been silent next to him couldn't help complaining: "Now, we don't know what the 60th Army is like! The battalion commander can't find the company commander, the company commander can't find the platoon commander, and even the regiment commander can't find his own soldiers. This... this is a coward! If you go back, why do you tell my mother, my wife, and my fellow villagers..."

"What?" I was stunned when I heard this. I never thought that the 180th Division's defeat would have such a wide range. Not only did they retreat and the commander of the army, but they also arranged the entire 60th Army to fire air defense guns in the rear.

Only then did I understand what Commander Wang Jinshan said, "From here to Yalu River, there are all people from the 60th Army." "This is not that easy", "The 60th Army depends on you!" What do these sentences mean?

Especially "The 60th Army depends on you!" This means telling me that our regiment is now the only regiment in the 60th Army that still has the chance to go to the battlefield. This is also a test for our 180th Division and even the entire 60th Army. If the regiment I brought over performed well, then the 60th Army may have a chance to participate in the war. If the performance is not good, the senior leaders or the boss will be disappointed again, then the 60th Army may have to fire air defense guns here until the end of the Korean War!

No wonder Commander Wang Jinshan would make such a harsh words to me, "You must do it well for me, otherwise I will fight you to the death!"

Originally, I thought that a commander threatened to fight with me as a soldier, was just a joke. But now it seems that what he said may be true! If I can't do it well, this "Ming Wang" may really fight to me!

"Captain Cui!"

At this time, the cry of a soldier behind me attracted my attention. Looking back, I saw two volunteer soldiers coming back with five and six kettles. Although I met, I guess they were the two soldiers of the 180th Division mentioned by these soldiers just now. I guess they should be because they "owed" the troops of other divisions, so they are now working as "coolers"!

"Captain Cui!" The two soldiers confirmed that it was me, so they ran all the way into the wooden shed. While distributing the kettle to other soldiers, they said to me enthusiastically: "It's really you! Captain Cui, I thought I had recognized the wrong person just now. I heard that you were taken away by the comrades from the Political Review Department. All of them were anxious about you! They also wrote a blood letter for you in collaboration! Just come out, just come out..."

"Thank you! Comrade..." I couldn't help but stand up and hug them tightly.

When I was in the Political Review Office, I remember that Li Pinghe received a blood letter from the soldiers of the 180th Division, as well as the military achievements listed by Political Commissar Wu for me. Although those did not work, they were no different from a hint of warmth in the cold winter. And I knew very well that under the circumstances at that time, they would take the risk of writing blood letters for me to express their innocence.

"Hey! I'll say this comrade!" The soldier who was using the gun heard it carefully, and couldn't help but come up and asked: "It's not bad if you enter the Political Review Office! How did you come out? Let's talk to us!"

"Yes, Battalion Commander Cui!" The two soldiers of the 180th Division also said excitedly: "Tell me! Is it because of the blood books we wrote?"

"That's not!" I shook my head and said, "It's because of the boss! It was the boss who protected me!"
Chapter completed!