Rise From Eight Hundred

“He is honest and dutiful. Even if someone provokes him, he just laughs it off. Everyone just calls him Wang Laoshi. Over time, no one even remembers his real name, Wang Dashi.

Wang Laoshi is not a new recruit. He has been in the army for a whole year. To be more precise, he is a refugee soldier recruited by our Four Lines Regiment in Xuzhou.

Back then, many of them joined the army for only one reason, to prevent their relatives from starving to death. Wang Laoshi was no exception.

Wang Laoshi participated in almost all the battles since the establishment of our Four Lines Regiment. In Bihe, he was taken to the battlefield as a new recruit with good performance in training. He threw a total of 3 grenades, which was lower than the average level of new recruits participating in the war. He was also scared to wet his pants. After the war, he was rated as one of the new recruits who should not be incorporated into the front-line combat troops.

In our Four Lines Regiment, the new recruits who can enter the front-line troops must be the best among the new recruits. The best, with both military literacy and courage.

Obviously, Wang Laoshi, who received this evaluation, did not meet this standard. He was assigned to the baggage battalion and became a baggage soldier. Many recruits were also tempered by the flames of war and became veterans here, so that they were no longer afraid of the cruel battlefield and went to the front line.

The same is true for Wang Laoshi. In the first battle of our regiment entering Taihang Mountain, he was a baggage soldier and did not directly participate in the battle, but he was the baggage soldier who transported the most supplies in the baggage platoon.

Although Wang Laoshi never told anyone about his thoughts, I think that at that time, he should have regretted his performance in the first battle of joining the army, and he was silently trying to prove himself.

But he still did not enter the front-line troops and was still a baggage soldier. Until the September Battle of Jindong, facing the siege of tens of thousands of Japanese troops, the baggage soldiers of our regiment were also forced to pick up guns and go to the front line.

That battle In the battle, Wang Laoshi did not wet his pants again, but he was injured. He was hit in the arm by a bullet from a Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun, and his arm bone was broken, exposing the bone stump. In order to avoid infection of the wound, the military doctor had to perform an amputation operation on him.

Wang Laoshi became a disabled person. Not only did he not have the opportunity to join the front-line troops he longed for, but he could not even be a baggage soldier anymore. According to the regulations of our regiment, he had to retire.

Wang Laoshi became a veteran, but the word "disabled" was added in front of him, but he could go home.

His wife and children were still waiting for him at home in the town. With the 100-yuan serious injury pension issued, he could restart his life.

If nothing unexpected happens, he can do some small business to continue to support his family and be a good husband and a good father.

But, the Japanese New Year's Day offensive is coming!

The newly established defense camp is filled with a large number of recruits and militiamen , veterans are urgently needed! With almost all the main forces of the regiment leaving, the garrison defense battalion is the last barrier of Dakouzidong Town.

Wang Laoshi, who had just returned home for a few days, reentered the barracks. This time, he was no longer a baggage soldier forced to go to the battlefield, but one of the five veterans in the infantry squad with 10 recruits, serving as a corporal.

The rank of corporal was still his original rank before he retired due to injury. If it weren't for the lost arm, Wang Laoshi would still be just a private first class. Even in the defense battalion lacking veterans, he would still be the most ordinary one.

The infantry squad where Wang Laoshi was located was responsible for a machine gun bunker 9 kilometers away from Dakouzidong Town. The facilities there were already complete enough, with permanent machine gun fortifications that could defend against frontal bombardment of 92 infantry guns and 75 mountain guns, as well as trenches for protecting high ground and traffic trenches for retreating to a safe area.

If nothing unexpected happened, even if the Japanese army besieged with 100 people or even an infantry squadron, this bunker marked 0059 could repel them.

But an accident happened!

In order to escape, the 132nd Infantry Regiment, which was alone and deep in the depths, called for Japanese planes to bomb, and a heavy bomb fell less than 20 meters from the side of Wang Laoshi's fortification.

The fortification did not collapse, but everyone should have seen the power of a 500-pound bomb. Not to mention 20 meters, even if it was 50 meters or 100 meters, even with the protection of trenches, people in it might be shocked to death.

Caught off guard, the two veterans and three recruits in the bunker and the two veterans and four recruits in the trenches on the surface of the infantry squad were all killed. Only Corporal Wang Laoshi, who took three recruits to move ammunition deeper into the bunker, survived.

Corporal Wang Laoshi became the only one with the highest rank in the infantry squad.

The Four-Line Regiment stipulated that if the war damage exceeded 70%, it could be evacuated after reporting and approval by the superiors!

Wang Laoshi had every reason to fire a signal flare and ask his platoon leader to evacuate. The traffic trench behind the bunker remained intact until after the war.

But Wang Laoshi didn't, because the bunker he was in guarded the flanks of our other two large bunkers. Once the Japanese army captured this place, they might put infantry guns on the high ground and bombard the flanks of our other two positions, forcing the firepower in the trenches on the high ground to weaken, and the Japanese engineers could more easily climb up the mountain to carry out artificial blasting of the bunker.

And if the two bunkers like front teeth were broken, the Japanese 132nd Infantry Regiment would have a larger space for activities and might break through the pocket formation set up by our defense battalion.

Although it was demonstrated after the war that the Japanese army, which had been surrounded by heavy sieges, was unable to break out of the firepower area of ​​our dense bunkers after continuous blood loss, as a soldier, that was something Wang Laoshi could not have predicted.

At that time, he only knew that the platoon leader had told them to defend Fortification No. 0059 to the death, and even if it was conquered, they had to make the Japanese army bleed there.

It is the duty of soldiers to obey orders. As the only sergeant who survived fortification No. 0059, Wang Laoshi was determined to defend to the end.

The new recruits became machine gunners, and the veterans became observers and ammunition handlers. The old Maxim heavy machine gun became the sharpest arrow in their hands.

In order to conquer this bunker, the Japanese army used two infantry squadrons to attack in turns, which far exceeded the load of one infantry squad that could resist the attack of 200 Japanese soldiers.

However, relying on this impregnable bunker fortification, the four soldiers miraculously held on for an entire afternoon. The bottom of their high ground was covered with khaki corpses.

The battle lasted until dusk. As two soldiers fighting in the surface trenches with submachine guns and rifles were seriously injured and one died, the combat power of Fortification No. 0059 was also close to being exhausted.

The Japanese engineers were able to sneak under fortification No. 0059, planted a large number of explosives, and the solid fortification was blown open.

The two soldiers who were forced to hide in the blast trench almost lost their last chance to evacuate if they were unwilling to abandon their seriously wounded comrades.

"Put the yam eggs on your back and retreat, I will cut off your rear!" Wang Laoshi issued his last military order as the supreme commander of the fortification.

No one cuts off the queen, and all three of them die.

This is Wang Laoshi's decision as a veteran.

The recruit didn't want to leave, but he had to leave, not only because of the order, but also because of his comrades who were seriously injured and unconscious.

The sound of rapid firing from submachine guns resounded through the mouth of the traffic trench. It was the last resistance of the one-armed veteran to his comrades.

Tears burst into the recruit's eyes. He knew that it was the last magazine of a submachine gun with 400 rounds of ammunition.

The recruit, who had already carried his seriously injured comrade on his back and ran 60 meters through the traffic trench to escape the danger area, looked back at his sergeant brother. The last scene he saw was that his honest brother, with his chest full of blood, was lying in the traffic trench, trying to save himself with great difficulty. A cigarette.

He stared at the sky, moved his lips and murmured something that only those closest to him could understand. Then, with a smile on his face, he calmly lit the fuse under him with the cigarette butt he had just smoked.

That was a 30-kilogram explosive package stored in Fortification No. 0059, which was used to destroy the bunker fortifications when evacuation was necessary.

But Sergeant Honest left it to himself and the dozen or so Japanese infantrymen who surrounded him. "

Along with Tantai Mingyue's story, the venue was quiet, except for a soldier wearing a blood-stained corporal rank who tried his best to hold back the sobs.

This is an ordinary soldier. From joining the army to retiring, even if he tries his best, he is still an unknown person in the Four Lines Group, which is full of talents and heroes.

As Tantai Mingyue said, even if he was promoted to corporal, it was only a consolation prize after his serious injury and amputation.

Ordinary is the most realistic description of his military career.

But it was such an ordinary sergeant who showed his most brilliant glory in his last battle.

This is an extraordinary thing among the ordinary, and it’s okay to be awarded special military merit!

"You must be curious to know what this honest and ordinary corporal shouted at the last moment of his life. Was it a slogan to protect the home and the country, or was it anger against the Japanese!

No, neither!

What he shouted was: Sister, I'm sorry, I didn't take you to watch the fireworks in this life! If there is another life, I will buy it for you every year and set it off with you every year. Seriously, I won’t lie to you, let this big firework bear witness for me! "

Tantai Mingyue's voice was very soft, but the last words that the honest sergeant left in this world were like a sharp arrow piercing the hearts of all the heroes present.

This ordinary and honest man, at the last moment of his life, still remembered his wife's biggest dream. He once tried hard to realize it, but now, because of the hatred of the country and the family, he can only use his own flesh and blood to turn into fireworks in the sky. , make a promise: I'm sorry, next life!

Cruel to the point of heartbreaking, yet romantic and tender to the bone!

‘What a fool, what a fool, I am Madman Wang, I can’t cry! ’ Wang Xiaoqiang was roaring crazily in his heart, but in fact, this man who had been shot and knocked unconscious for several days without shedding a tear on the long evacuation road was desperately rubbing his already red eyes.

The ancients said: "A ruthless person may not be a true hero. Who says a pity for a son is not a husband!" ’ That’s probably what I’m talking about!

She was the person he missed most in the last moment of his life!

In the end, it was the only remaining recruit from Fortification No. 0059 who took the stage wearing the rank of corporal that once belonged to Wang Laoshi and received the special Tiger Head Medal on his behalf.

That was the only thing left by Wang Laoshi. Before lighting the fuse, he pulled off the rank badge and held it in his mouth.

These two blood-soaked collar badges were eventually collected by the Chinese Military Museum.

And 60 years later, an old woman who was invited to Pingbeicheng to watch the 50th National Day military parade looked up at the fireworks in the sky with tears in her eyes.

"Daddy, are you back?"

. . . . . . . .

As Tantai Mingyue told stories one after another, the ordinary yet heroic images of the six grand merit winners were clearly engraved in the minds of everyone present.

But in the end, only two people were able to go on stage to receive the award themselves.

They are Long Yan, who has been promoted to Army Lieutenant, and Pang Zilong, who has been promoted to Army Corporal and transferred to a mountain infantry company.

In the exact words of Commander Liu, who personally awarded these two military medals: "I hope you two will become the two dragons in my Chinese Army and make new achievements!"

Yes, it is fair that one of the three lieutenant generals and division commanders who came to attend the Four Elements Regiment's merit ceremony awarded military medals to two special merit recipients.

After the awards were given, the entire army stood up again to salute the comrades on the stage. It was a tribute to the heroes. The entire venue was solemn and silent for a full minute.

Whether generals or soldiers, they stood straight in the cold wind, with neat military postures!

Looking at those dark faces that looked like cast iron, Tan Tai Ming Jing seemed to really understand what a soldier was at that moment.

The excitement of controlling firearms and feeling bullets ejected from the barrels and the heroic pride of wearing military uniforms in imagination, in front of these, seemed so childish and ridiculous.

But the frustration after self-denial did not dispel the blood surging in the boy's chest.

"I will be one of you, and one day I will have that military medal, whether I go up to receive it myself or someone else takes my place, believe me, Sergeant Xia Dayu!" Tan Tai Ming Jing looked at Xia Dayu beside him very seriously.

"Oh, then before you put on the recruit training uniform, you have to convince Mrs. Tan Tai and your father, and perhaps Captain Tan Tai!" Xia Dayu answered him very objectively.

"I'm an adult now, and I have to make my own decisions about my life!" Tan Tai Mingjing's fair face showed a rare firmness.

Tan Tai Mingjing and Tan Tai Mingyue were born of the same mother, but in terms of appearance, Tan Tai Mingyue is more like his father Tan Tai Yunshu, with heroic spirit in his eyebrows, while Tan Tai Mingjing is more like Tan Tai's wife, with a delicate appearance.

But at this moment, Xia Dayu actually felt like he saw Tan Tai Mingyue.

A bad feeling came to his mind, as if this was constantly deviating from the direction arranged by Tang Tuanzuo.

Even if it was a Tang Dao, it couldn't calculate everything, such as his brother-in-law's plan for his future life.

. . . . . . . . . .

Next, all the officers and soldiers of the Four Lines Regiment who sat down again held their breath and waited for the commander standing on the stage to open the blind box.

What they were waiting for was collective military merit!

The Sihang Regiment has always been a collective higher than the individual. After awarding individual military merits, the highlight left at the end is the awarding of collective military merits.

Collective military merits are not as complicated as individual military merits. They are first, second and third class merits. For any group that is awarded merits, the military pay of all the people will increase by 10%, and there will be three days of vacation, even for the new recruits who are added to the unit.

But what the soldiers value more is that the group with the first class collective merit enjoys the priority right to equip new equipment.

In the past year, various new equipments have emerged in the regiment, from triangular bayonets to semi-automatic rifles to black star pistols and 60 mortars. It is about to enter the new year. It is rumored that the squad light machine gun MG39, which is even more powerful than the mid-arm MG34 machine gun, will be equipped in the front-line troops.

As a soldier, who doesn't want to be the first person to carry new equipment? That is the symbol of the ace.

However, the soldiers of the Four-line Regiment present knew better that in this battle, whether it was Zhongtiao Mountain or Taihang Mountain, all the units of the Four-line Regiment fought well, but relatively speaking, the Third and Fourth Battalions that moved to Wangwu Mountain and Jiulong Mountain successively repelled the crazy attacks of the Kunisaki Detachment and more than 20,000 Japanese troops, and their performance was obviously stronger.

"Brother Niu, do you think our reconnaissance company can get a collective second-class merit this time?" Lu Sanjiang, who had been appointed as the commander of the reconnaissance company, touched Niu Er beside him.

Niu Er was originally one of the candidates for the commander of the reconnaissance company, but Tang Dao knew that Niu Er was not interested in this. His goal was to become the strongest shooter in the entire regiment and the entire army. He could lead a group or even a platoon, but commanding a company was not what he wanted.

Therefore, Niu Er served as the deputy instructor of the reconnaissance company with the military position of the chief sniper coach of the entire regiment!

"I think it's difficult! This time our reconnaissance company is mainly focused on reconnaissance, and the task is not difficult. Based on my understanding of the commander of the regiment, the collective military merit is estimated to be more biased towards the front-line combat troops." Niu Er gave a calm analysis.

"Ah! I knew it would be like this, but I still feel a little unwilling!" Lu Sanjiang sighed fiercely.

"Our reconnaissance company did well this time. Five people won third-class military merits, and Hammer and Guaiguai even won second-class military merits! It's much better than many brother units. Look at the air defense company that basically didn't get any planes to attack. There are only a few third-class military merits, and no second-class military merits. Deputy Battalion Commander Tietou's face hasn't smiled for several days." Niu Er smiled and comforted the reconnaissance company commander who had just taken office.

Lu Sanjiang rolled his eyes at Niu Er. If you can't comfort people, don't comfort them. What's the matter with the entire reconnaissance company relying on a dog and a pig to support the facade?

Captain Lu was not objective enough. The reconnaissance company, formerly a special squadron, has won many officers and soldiers in the past six months. In terms of medals of all levels, it is not the first in the company-level units, but it can be ranked in the top three.

Not to mention the first-class war merit medals hanging on the chests of officers such as Niu Er, Hei Zi, Ming Xin, and Shen Lao Liu, even many sergeants have second-class and third-class war merit medals.

But for the competitive soldiers, how can they think that war merit is too little?

Sure enough, as Tang Dao unfolded the list he had in his hand, this collective military merit was basically concentrated on the front-line combat troops.

The four major infantry battalions and the security battalion all had platoon-level troops selected!

The third battalion became the biggest winner among the four major infantry battalions. An infantry platoon that suffered 65% of casualties in the battle of Jiulong Mountain won the first-class collective merit and was awarded the title of Jiulong Mountain Sharp Knife Platoon; the 7th Company, which successively broke through two Japanese artillery positions and controlled the battlefield trend, won the second-class collective merit; and two other infantry squads won the third-class collective merit.

The reason why the third battalion is the winner among the four major infantry battalions is that, looking at the entire regiment, there are more powerful groups.

That was the Sichuan Army Recruit Corps that had been disbanded and incorporated into various units. The unit had two infantry platoons that won the first-class collective merit, and five squads and platoons that won the second and third-class merit.

What's even more amazing is that in order to commemorate a certain recruit company in this no longer existing recruit regiment, the Four Lines Regiment Recruit Training Camp will always retain an Iron Back Recruit Company. If you want to be trained in the Iron Back Recruit Company, you must rank in the top 150 in the three tests half a month after the training of the entire recruit camp.

That was the number of people in the recruit company when it was first established and set off for northern Sichuan.

This is a romance that only soldiers can understand!

Although the organization of these troops has been disbanded, the officers and soldiers who once belonged to the unit, regardless of their military rank, were rewarded with a Black Star pistol or a military dagger with their own names engraved on them. This is almost the same as the treatment of those who have won personal second-class military merit or above. Walking around the regiment is simply the biggest show-off.

However, many squad leaders with collective military merit would rather not have a salary increase and vacation, and want to exchange for this treatment. After research, the Four Lines Regiment Headquarters agreed.

The baggage battalion and the engineer company, for the first time in this collective military merit evaluation, surpassed the powerful arms such as scouts, artillery, and cavalry, which made Zhuang Shisan and Bai Sheng almost burst into tears.

After playing auxiliary for so long, they finally got a chance to raise their heads. Who dares to say that they are second-line soldiers?

Glory must be earned by oneself.

The communication company under Yang Xiaoshan's command is also good. The entire communication company was awarded the second-class collective merit. If they had not used the lives of 10 communication soldiers to ensure smooth communication, the casualties of the third and fourth battalions of Jiulongshan would have increased by at least 10%.

The medical company was not bad this time. The medical platoon where Zhuang Damei was located followed the second battalion. When the battle was the most intense, Zhuang Damei, as the squad leader, carried 13 wounded soldiers from the front-line trenches alone. The entire medical squad cared for more than 80 seriously injured soldiers and saved 70 of them during the entire campaign.

The medical squad won the first-class collective merit!

Mrs. Tan Tai, who was surrounded by a group of female nurses and went on stage, was so surprised that she couldn't speak for a long time. She didn't expect that these girls, who were younger than her daughter, could create such a miracle.

Saving the lives of 70 soldiers means saving the lives of 70 mothers!

At that moment, she seemed to understand her daughter's decision to stay here.

When the female nurses in white coats came on stage, the applause from the audience was particularly warm, and it lasted for two or three minutes.

I don't know if it was because they knew that they would fall into the hands of these girls sooner or later, and they hoped that they would be gentler? Or was it because of some male hormones.

Anyway, Lieutenant Long, whose hands were swollen from clapping, said: "I just think they are more beautiful than you and your rough subordinates. Why don't you let people appreciate their beauty!"

Lv Daliang, who was talking to him, was so angry that his nose was almost crooked.

"Don't worry, there will be next time if you miss it this time. I forgot what the commander often said: Don't waste time! We can't have only the three of us in the third squad anymore." Lao Suanpan comforted Potato and Yang Shoucheng who were jealous of others who got both individual and collective military merits.

"Yeah! Uncle, I know." Potato, who has been promoted to the rank of sergeant, nodded vigorously.

"Brother, sooner or later we will get the title of the first infantry squad back." Sergeant Yang Shoucheng, who is also one of the masters of the magical cook Pang Zilong, answered coolly with a blank expression, but the enthusiasm in his eyes when he looked at the merit awarding scene was like a dancing flame.

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PS: My daughter was sick today, so I took her to the hospital for an injection and came back late, so the update was a little later than usual. Here is a 6,000-word chapter!