Writer 1978: I Need to Give the Literary World a Lesson

Chapter 298 Capture a Lieutenant

A bright moon hung high in the sky above the high ground, and in the distance, the outline of a continuous mountain range stretched out, its peaks overlapping. The steel helmets of the soldiers beside them gleamed menacingly in the moonlight.

The third squad leader had someone call the hilltops on both sides through the company headquarters to inquire about any unusual situations.

After a while, the soldier returned and told the squad leader that everything was normal on both sides.

"Damn it, my heart keeps pounding!"

"Squad leader, could it be that you're overthinking it?"

"Bullshit! My ears are like rabbit ears; they'll stand up at the slightest sound!" The squad leader's finger was tightly gripping the trigger, not daring to relax for a moment.

"Squad leader, it's time for the shift change!"

"Go and call all those bastards out for me. Also, tell the comrades to hold on a little longer, don't change shifts yet, and strengthen the defense of the position."

"Yes!"

As the soldiers walked away, the third squad leader plucked a blade of grass and put it in his mouth. A unique chirping sound reached the ears of the surrounding soldiers.

Figures moved about on the position, but the soldiers who were supposed to go back to rest, after firing a feint, hunched over and returned to the trenches.

The platoon leader, who was changing shifts, asked in a low voice, "Are you sure?"

"Who can be sure about something like this!" The squad leader had just finished speaking when the sound of branches breaking came from the woods not far away, followed by the sound of our soldiers firing their guns.

In an instant, the surrounding soldiers began firing downwards towards the position from which the gunfire had just occurred. To avoid prematurely revealing their firepower, they did not open fire simultaneously.

Normally, if it's a surprise attack by special agents, once they're exposed, the enemy will quickly retreat after a brief firefight. But this time, that didn't happen; the sound of mortars echoed from the woods.

Immediately afterwards, explosions began to occur on the position. The platoon leader and the squad leader immediately realized that this was a large-scale attack, and at their command, bullets were fired down the hillside.

At night, as long as they fired a gun, they could determine each other's positions by the flash of the bullet leaving the barrel.

"Platoon leader, these wolf cubs are trying to take over our hill!" the third squad leader said with a laugh and a curse.

I was tense and wide-eyed when I couldn't spot the enemy, but I wasn't nervous anymore once the enemy showed up.

As soon as the squad leader finished speaking, the attack below intensified, with machine gun bullets pounding the positions so fiercely that the soldiers couldn't even lift their heads.

Inside the tunnel, the soldiers were already awake. Company Commander Zhao and Political Instructor Liang had the soldiers check their equipment and then shouted, "Comrades, drive away the wolf cubs before you go to sleep!"

As he spoke, the soldiers grabbed their guns and rushed out of the tunnel. Company Commander Zhao said to the soldiers of the guard company, "Comrades of the guard company, judging from the gunfire, there are quite a few enemy soldiers coming. We only have one reinforced platoon here. Please help us!"

The squad leader of the guard platoon left two men behind to protect Liu Yimin and the other two, while the rest of them went to the front lines.

Liu Yimin and his two companions, armed with guns, stood guard at the entrance of the tunnel alongside the guards. Li Jun and Wang Yan, who had long been involved in the revolution, were used to this kind of scene. They thought Liu Yimin might be nervous, so they shielded him in the middle.

Liu Yimin wanted to go out, but considering that he was not alone and that the guards had to protect him, he was afraid that if he dragged the guards down, he would die a thousand deaths.

The artillery fire on the position grew louder and louder; what was initially a counter-attack had now turned into a positional battle. Company Commander Zhao estimated that at least a battalion was involved in the attack.

Not only were they attacked, but the positions of the second and third platoons were also tied up and unable to provide support.

Upon receiving news of the enemy attack, the forward command immediately ordered artillery units to provide support. In an instant, the entire valley turned into a sea of ​​fire, and shells landed in the river, blasting the water several meters high.

Because it was night, the forward command was afraid of an ambush and could not send troops to provide support. Troops would not arrive until dawn.

In other words, they had to hold out until dawn!

Then, one by one, the wounded soldiers were carried into the tunnel, and the medics quickly performed simple bandaging and hemostasis.

The wounded soldier was carried to the entrance of the tunnel, and Liu Yimin and two others took turns carrying him inside. Painful groans filled the entire tunnel.

Minor injuries can be treated on the front lines, but more serious ones are completely beyond our control; we can only wait until dawn to transport them down.

"Writer Liu, I feel like I can't go on!" the soldier said breathlessly, holding Liu Yimin's hand.

"I was actually thinking of asking you to write a letter to my mother for me!"

The medic glanced at you and said, "Don't talk. It's not going to kill you. I'll send you down tomorrow!"

Liu Yimin lit a cigarette, gently put it in the soldier's mouth, and said with a smile, "When you're better, I'll help you write it!"

Due to the suppression of artillery fire, the enemy's attack gradually became ineffective. After repelling the last charge of the treacherous wolf, the gunfire in the valley began to decrease, and slowly only sporadic gunfire could be heard.

Instructor Liang said to Liu Yimin, "The enemy has retreated!"

Liu Yimin and his two companions began to emerge from the tunnel. The battlefield was riddled with shell craters and smoke, and the smell of explosives and blood assaulted their nostrils and throats. Thick smoke and flickering firelight rose from the valley below.

Along with the sound of flowing water came the groans of the wounded soldiers that the ungrateful wretch hadn't taken with him.

However, since the enemy situation was unclear, they did not go down and let them groan.

Suddenly, the sound of grenades exploding rang out from the flank of the trench, followed by the soldiers' shrill cries: "The third squad leader is wounded! The third squad leader is wounded! Where is that damn medic?!"

Upon hearing this, Company Commander Zhao quickly shouted, "Medic!"

Then Liu Yimin ran over with Company Commander Zhao. By the time he reached the Third Squad Leader, his arm had already been blown apart.

Blood gushed from his chest like a spring. Company Commander Zhao picked up the third squad leader and desperately tried to cover the wound with his own towel.

After the medic ran over and looked at the situation, he plopped down on the ground without saying a word.

"Damn it, you better hurry up and save him!" Someone grabbed the medic by the collar and pulled him up from the ground.

The medic remained silent, and was eventually pushed aside by the soldier: "Damn it, you can't treat serious wounds, and you can't even treat minor ones!"

The squad leader stretched out his only remaining hand, pointed at the medic, and said, "It's not his fault!"

He glanced around the crowd and spotted Liu Yimin. With all his might, he pulled the blood-stained letter from his pocket, forcing a weak smile: "Liu..."

"I'm here, I'm here!"

"Writer Liu, please...please help me, just one more copy, just one more! My parents can't see blood!"

The third squad leader's voice was so weak it was almost inaudible.

Finally, forcing himself to stay awake, he added a sentence to the letter, suggesting that his wife remarry.

Liu Yimin wiped away his tears, his face a mixture of blood and tears, and grasped the third squad leader's hand, saying, "I'll copy it, I'll copy it, I'll copy it right away!"

"My name is Xu Houhougen. It's a good name, but unfortunately, I can't 'thick' it."

The third squad leader waved his hand, signaling the soldiers to disperse. Pointing to the moon in the sky, he said, "The moon is so round today, back home..." A chorus of sobs erupted on the battlefield. The third squad leader finally closed his eyes and lay in Company Commander Zhao's arms, his face fixed on the full moon in the sky.

When the ingrates retreated, some of them fell behind and couldn't get back. So, in a desperate move, they threw grenades at the feet of the third squad leader, who was preparing to repair the position.

Company Commander Zhao, fighting back tears, said, "Three men per group, search for the remaining enemy!"

After the soldiers searched the area, several more small skirmishes broke out, but fortunately no one was injured this time.

As dawn broke, two platoons of soldiers were sent from the foot of the mountain to reinforce the mountain. After the military supply team delivered ammunition and supplies, they began to transport the wounded.

The seriously wounded were transported down by helicopter, while the lightly wounded were carried down by the crowd.

Under the blazing sun, Liu Yimin, Xizi, and their instructor Liang Xin walked on the front line. Liang Xin told Liu Yimin about himself, who was a worker-peasant-soldier college student from a peasant family. He joined the army after graduation because of the war.

After three months of pre-battle training, he arrived at the battlefield. Several of his classmates who enlisted with him had already sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.

"The forward command has decided to launch a strike to capture the high ground ahead. Our position is too isolated and easily attacked!" Liang Xin said, pointing to the high ground in the distance.

“Instructor Liang, I want to stay in your company!” Xizi said from the side.

Instructor Liang looked at Xizi and asked, "Why?"

I want to fight!

"I can't control you, there's a huge gap between us!"

In the afternoon, a battle mobilization began on the high ground. In case something happened to Liu Yimin and Wang Yan, they were asked to follow the military work team down the high ground.

Xizi ultimately did not stay on the position and retreated with them.

When they passed a stream on the way, the soldiers of the military production team stopped, carried the bodies of the fallen soldiers to the stream, and began to wash them.

Liu Yimin recorded the whole scene. Suddenly, Xizi said, "Why does it feel like there are people upstream?"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately became alert. The soldiers from the military production team and the guard platoon looked at the river, made a few hand gestures, and began to feel their way upstream.

Liu Yimin, holding a gun, followed them.

After sneaking up quietly, they found several monkeys lying on the riverbank drinking water, holding the stolen compressed biscuits from our army. There were seven people in total, two of whom had injuries, but they were minor.

A man was on guard duty with a gun. The military work team and the guard platoon discussed the matter and decided to surround and shoot the man on guard duty first, and then capture the others.

They were just about to take the high ground in front of them, which would serve as a convenient target.

After a silent encirclement, they awaited only the order.

"Writer Liu, you guys?"

Liu Yimin said, "My marksmanship is alright, I'll just keep shooting from here, I'm not going down!"

"Alright!" The guards nodded, thinking there wouldn't be any problems.

A gunshot rang out, and the alert monkey was immediately killed. The rest of them took their guns and began to blindly return fire. The military workers shouted their surrender in Vietnamese.

Someone tried to surrender but was shot dead on the spot by a lieutenant.

Unable to capture any prisoners, they began firing. There was little cover on the riverbank, and they quickly took down the other three. Under the cover of the remaining two, Lieutenant Monkey ran towards the woods.

The three then broke through the encirclement separately.

Just then, Lieutenant Monkey ran towards Liu Yimin's side. Liu Yimin aimed at the lieutenant's arm and fired a shot, but missed. It wasn't until the third shot that the lieutenant's arm was hit, and the gun fell to the ground.

He didn't have time to pick up the gun, so he covered his arm and ran.

Another shot hit the leg, and Lieutenant Monkey fell to the ground. Liu Yimin rushed over in three strides, kicked away the hand that was reaching for the pistol, then threw the gun behind him and pressed his leg firmly against the man's chest.

They made it difficult for him to breathe, then restrained his hands. After the others arrived, they tied up Lieutenant Monkey and took him prisoner.

The captain of the military production team walked over and said with a smile, "Writer Liu, you're amazing! Your skills are incredible!"

Wang Yan and Li Jun said, "Our crew has been doing military training for months, almost as much as your pre-combat training. You don't know, Yimin used to fight wolves and save people when he was in Aba!"

Lieutenant Monkey refused to cooperate, so Liu Yimin fiercely stabbed the gun barrel into the bloody hole in the gun barrel, causing the other party to cry out in pain!

It only quieted down after being poked hard a few times.

The others pretended not to see it. Wang Yan and Li Jun's eyelids twitched. They wanted to say something about treating prisoners of war well, but thinking of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives last night, they ultimately remained silent.

Except for the lieutenant, all of them were killed. The soldiers dragged the bodies out of the river to prevent water pollution.

Only after the waste was rendered harmless could everyone set off again.

The guards escorted Liu Yimin and the other two back to the film crew. The film crew had now left the original Wenshan military camp and was closer to the front line.

The group was covered in blood, with Liu Yimin covered in the most.

Seeing the blood on Liu Yimin's body, Zhu Lin rushed over crying, touching him from head to toe with both hands: "Teacher Liu, are you hurt? Are you alright?"

"Stop touching it, everyone can see, it's not my blood!" Liu Yimin hugged Zhu Lin tightly.

The others wisely turned around, pretending they couldn't see anything.

"Everyone, turn around and march in step!" Li Jun said with a smile.

The guards chuckled and left with the actors from the film crew. Through the soldiers' accounts, everyone learned that Liu Yimin had captured a lieutenant nicknamed "Monkey."

Zhu Shimao exclaimed, "Comrade Liu Yimin is even more 'Tong Chuan' than I am in this role!"

"If I were here, I could take them all down in no time!" Feng Xiaogang said smugly.

"You're bragging so loudly, go tell Comrade Liu Yimin!" Chen Peisi retorted.

Back in the room, Zhu Lin had Liu Yimin take off his clothes and check them carefully. Only after confirming that there was no problem did Zhu Lin feel relieved enough to take the blood-stained clothes to wash.

Commander Wang, Regiment Commander Chen, and Political Commissar Lin all came to visit Liu Yimin, worried that he might have been frightened. They were relieved to see that he was alright.

"Comrade Liu Yimin, the real battlefield is this cruel. The forward command said that the lieutenant you captured was very useful, as he provided a lot of intelligence. The forward command wants to award you a merit!" Commander Wang said with a smile.

The following afternoon, good news arrived. A regiment of troops had been deployed and several enemy high grounds had been captured. The unnamed hill from yesterday was now safe, but open areas were still vulnerable to enemy shelling.

Wang Yan and Li Jun set up the filming location on the high ground they had just come down from, fearing that the actors would not be willing to go. Unexpectedly, as soon as Li Jun spoke up, not a single person objected.

(End of this chapter)