Chapter 15: The Bloodthirsty Young Man

  The battle began in calmness and ended in fierce flames, but the night was torn apart by the firelight that should have belonged to its serenity.

  From the black-clad men's surprise attack on the sentry post into the official stockade to the end of the battle, it took less than ten minutes.

  In these few minutes, Dong Li Mao was reborn, and he really experienced a life-and-death battle in which he personally participated. This time it was different from the experience of being bombed by enemy planes in the hospital, when not only did he have no weapons to resist with his hands, but even if he had any, there would be no way to resist.

  But tonight was different, although at first Dong Li Mao was frightened by the sound of gunfire and death, he threw away his fear for a Dai girl who looked exactly like the woman he liked, not only did he kill people, but also involuntarily took on the responsibility of being a company commander, in a crucial moment, cleverly and bravely eliminated the enemy who fought to the death.

  This has to be said that it is a transformation for Dong Limao, if this were to happen before crossing over, let alone killing people, even seeing dead people would make him cry for his parents. After all, he was an only child who had been spoiled by the better life of modern times. But just tonight, in the battle of blood and fire, he involuntarily entered into the role of Tai Gongye.

  "Zhu, line up and count the number of people! Second, be on high alert! Heavy machine gun, take your brothers to clean up the battlefield, as long as anyone is still breathing, give them a shot! Hu San, go to the backyard and ask Miss Li to come to the front yard, her people, only she knows best..." Dong Limao gave orders calmly.

  Zhu Yongsheng shouted out each person's name, and those whose names were called responded loudly: "Alive!"

  Wang Jiagui climbed up the banyan tree, holding his anti-aircraft rifle, taking on the task of sentry duty.

  Zhang Dali and his brothers checked one by one the black-clad men who had fallen to see if they were still breathing, and gathered up the weapons beside them.

  "Everyone is present, no one is missing!" After Zhu Yongsheng finished calling out everyone's name, he walked over to Dong Limao, who was leaning against a palm tree, to report.

  "It was a close call tonight, if it weren't for the heavy machine gun on the thatched cottage, we would have all been done for!" Dong Limao felt very tired at this time and leaned his head against the tree trunk.

  Once the tense nerves relaxed, people would feel tired, let alone Dong Li Mao, who was participating in real gunfire for the first time. The intense gun battle just now had put his whole body and mind into the fight, and only when everything was over did he feel his limbs go soft.

  "It was my fault for being too careless and not arranging for someone to be on guard. I wanted the brothers to get a good sleep, as they hadn't closed their eyes since coming down from the Donggua front line..." Zhu Yongsheng pulled out a cigarette from his pocket and lit one up, handing it to Dong Li Mao, as if conducting self-criticism.

  "I really shouldn't have drunk so much wine." Dong Li Mao didn't let Zhu Yong Sheng continue, interrupting him. He glanced at the cigarette Zhu Yong Sheng handed over and took it, although he wasn't a smoker. At this moment, he wanted to take a few puffs, so he accepted it and casually asked: "Did I smoke before my injury?"

  "Whoa! He's still smoking heavily, one after another, as if he has a vendetta against cigarettes." Zhu Yongsheng replied, lit a cigarette for Dong Limao, and then lit one for himself. Taking a deep drag, he continued: "It seems that Lianzhang has even forgotten about his own smoking habit. No wonder, someone who's been in a coma for five days is bound to forget some things. To be honest, before tonight, I had my doubts whether you were really our 9th Company Commander, but from the moment you crashed the jeep into the bamboo building, I truly believed that Commander had forgotten about his past due to his injuries and coma."

  "Oh, is that so? So what I've shown before tonight doesn't resemble the old battalion commander you used to know?" Dong Limao took a sip and asked with a cough.

  "Haha......it makes sense, especially the tone you used when giving a lecture to your brothers, it's not like the old you. But I liked that sentence you said to your brothers." Zhu Yongsheng replied with a smile.

  "Which sentence?" Dong Li Mao asked.

  "You said, 'What I want to say to my brothers is that each of us is not alone on the road to the grave. Death is a matter of sooner or later, but as long as we are alive, we must do something earth-shaking. This sentence moved me and my brothers deeply, I understand what Captain means, you said it's about sharing life and death with your brothers, this point, all the brothers felt in the battle just now." Zhu Yongsheng said while smoking a cigarette.

  "Zhu Pailang, can you tell me, what was I like back then... that me?" Dong Li Mao really wanted to know how Taigong Wang spoke with his brothers under him.

  "Hmm... Before Lianzhang was injured, he rarely spoke, especially not with his comrades in a heartfelt way. He had very strict demands on his comrades, particularly during peacetime training. You often said 'More sweat in peacetime, less blood in wartime.' So the comrades followed you and developed their combat skills. Also, you never discussed things with others. However, one thing hasn't changed - when fighting, Commander Lianzhang always charged forward first." Zhu Yongsheng replied.

  "Oh, I see. I thought so. You guys look at my eyes and feel that something is off. It turns out that I've changed. Do you think this change is a good thing or a bad thing?" Dong Limao really wanted to know how Zhu Yongsheng and the others viewed him.

  "Of course it's a good thing! From now on, the brothers won't have to be afraid of Lian Zhang anymore. Maybe they'll even take the initiative to tell him their secrets." Zhu Yongsheng replied affirmatively without hesitation.

  Dong Li Mao patted Zhu Yong Sheng's shoulder: "Zhu Pai Zhang, thank you."

  "Commander Lian, you didn't used to call me like that." Zhu Yongsheng said with a mysterious smile.

  Dong Li Mao was taken aback and immediately asked: "Then what should I call you?"

  "Lao Zhu." Zhu Yongsheng replied, "The company commander never calls out our military ranks, but instead directly calls out names or nicknames. Since I'm older than the company commander, you all call me Lao Zhu."

  "Haha... Old Zhu, okay! It's more intimate to call you that. From now on, I'll still call you Old Zhu." Dong Li Mao threw away the half-smoked cigarette.

  Li Yuanyuan and Dao Lanxiang walked out of the backyard, followed by Hu San, who didn't see the black-clad man kicked by Dong Li Mao.

  "Commander Dong!" Li Yuanyuan quickly stepped forward: "These black-clad men are all Japanese military spies, they infiltrated the rear of our army, specializing in sabotage and assassination missions. It seems that you came to Guanzhai today with great fanfare, and were detected by the Japanese spy agency, which is why tonight's sneak attack occurred..."

  "Sister, the Japanese army will discover that there is espionage activity here sooner or later. Don't you think about it? Why did they only send a dozen or so people to launch a sneak attack? What does this imply? There can only be one explanation: the Japanese secret service believes that there are no troops here, only some spies without combat experience, so they don't need to send too many people. Otherwise, I'm afraid you and I would both die at their hands." Dong Li Mao retorted to Li Yuanyuan.

  Li Yuanyuan's beautiful eyes flashed twice, seemingly also agreeing with Dong Li Mao's judgment. She changed her tone and said: "Thanks to your people, otherwise, the old and young of Guanzhai village would have been hard to escape."

  "What about that man in black? Isn't he still alive? Why don't we go and interrogate him, maybe from his mouth, we can find out some information about the Japanese army's special agents and personnel list behind our military." Dong Li Mao reminded Li Yuanyuan.

  "I asked him, but he didn't say anything. He only said one sentence in Japanese: 'Tennoheika Banzai!' (Long live the Emperor!) and then killed himself by biting his tongue." Li Yuanyuan replied: "That's why I determined that they were Japanese spies who had infiltrated our army's rear lines."

  "You... understand Japanese?" Dong Li Mao asked with some surprise.

  (During Spring Festival, normal updates)