War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1881: Defending Shipai
After the rustling sound of turning pages stopped, the metal feather pen drew the picture again on the pale yellow paper - two men with swords on their backs sitting on a big rock.

But this time, the man without a box gun on his waist seemed to be wearing an extra apron.

As Wei Ran waited quietly, the metal feather pen wrote lines of blood-red words:
Act One

Role: Cook Wei Ran

Return mission: Kill at least 10 enemies with cold weapons and defend the Shipai Fortress.

Defend Shipai to the death? !
Wei Ran widened his eyes and felt a chill running from his tailbone all the way to the top of his head. He had won the jackpot!

Just as he subconsciously held his breath, a white light came towards him. In this white light, he also saw the only three props this time: the Mauser bayonet, the anti-Japanese broadsword, and the Robert camera bag, that was all.

Before the white light completely dissipated, he heard the harsh sound of stone and metal rubbing against each other next to his ear.

Amid the grinding sounds, he also heard a man with a loud voice sighing in a strong Hunan dialect, "The three greatest hardships in life in Dugang are fishing, forging iron, and grinding tofu. I don't have any of them left out in my house.

My father rowed a boat on the Xiangjiang River all his life, and my grandfather started learning blacksmithing from a master at the age of 14.

When I was 12, I followed you into the tofu shop and worked on the mill. I ground my hump so hard that it bulged. I really suffered a lot from you!"

Just when Wei Ran smelled the dry tobacco, a man with a Sichuan accent said in an equally loud voice, "You've filled your balls with bitter water, and you don't have a single bubble of good fortune! You're just unlucky, I see you've worn yourself out, and you haven't even produced a single pile of good shit!"

After listening to all these words, Wei Ran finally saw everything around him clearly.

At this time, he was hiding in a trench with two other soldiers. Each of them held a stone in his hand to sharpen the anti-Japanese swords in his hand.

Naturally, the one he held in his hand was the one provided in the metal book.

After a quick look, he found that he had no other weapons on him. He was even worse than the soldier in the distance who at least had a German helmet on his head.

However, he and the two men beside him each had an apron made of thin canvas around their waists. The apron was not very clean, but it had a deep enough pocket on the chest.

Next to the three people, there were a few wooden barrels with some brown rice porridge left in them. Although there was not much porridge left, one could still vaguely see the small stones on the bottom and some bran suspended in it. Of course, there were also some almost cooked wild vegetables, grass roots and leaves.

Finally looking at the two men, Wei Ran raised his eyebrows. The one closest to him had a polished anti-Japanese sword in his hand that was almost exactly the same as the one that sent him to this time and space.

The reason why I say "almost" is not because it has no rolled blade or notches, but because at the widest part of the blade of this broadsword, the three words engraved are not "Cheng Guanyin", but "Cheng Bingquan".

So, this is Cheng Guanyin's younger brother?

Wei Ran couldn't help but take another look at the other person. He looked to be about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Although he was not very tall, his muscular body could not be covered by the tattered and thin military uniform.

While he was lost in thought, the other party continued to sharpen the sword in his hand and said in dialect, "I am unlucky and miserable, but my elder brother is very hardworking. The family supported him to study in a foreign school for five years.

Now I am working as a switchboard operator for my superiors with a diagonal leather belt. When I pull the wire, there is a clattering sound!"

"That's incredible! Which unit does your elder brother hold a high position in? He must be a popular figure in the division headquarters!" The Sichuan man asked enviously across from Cheng Bingquan.

However, after asking this question, Cheng Bingquan fell into silence, and even the action of sharpening his sword stopped.

"It shouldn't be." The Sichuan man obviously guessed something.

"Also here, the thirty-three groupers." Cheng Bingquan pointed behind him and said.

"Hey! Who isn't a poor unfortunate person?"

The Sichuan man sighed, took a deep puff of the pipe in the corner of his mouth, and began to sharpen the sword in his hand more diligently.

"Did your father make this big knife for you?" asked Wei Ran, who had been listening.

"My grandfather beat it out, so my two brothers will each get one."

Cheng Bingquan said, leaning the big knife in his hand against the edge of the trench, then he reached into his bosom and took out a photo and said, "At the beginning of spring, my elder brother asked the officer with the slanting belt to take a photo for us!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed with regret in his heart. The photo in the other person's hand was the one drawn with the feather pen.

"Can I take a picture of you too?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out the Robert camera from his arms under the cover of his apron.

"Where are you from?"

"What's your name? I mean your full name. What's your full name?"

Wei Ran leaned against the wall on the other side of the trench and asked the Sichuan man who was about to ask something.

The soldier looked to be about the same age as Cheng Bingquan, with a thin build, and there seemed to be some red peppers in the apron pocket around his waist.

"What a Plague Cow"

The Sichuan soldier almost subconsciously answered with a name that was not very nice, but it conformed to the rule that "a humble name is easy to keep".

In his answers, he even subconsciously tried to eliminate the accent from his hometown.

Wei Ran could see that He Wenniu seemed a little nervous - nervous about the camera.

"Never taken pictures before?" Wei Ran asked curiously while winding up the camera.

“I haven’t filmed much.”

When He Wenniu said this, he couldn't help but look at the camera in Wei Ran's hand with curiosity. It wasn't that he had never taken pictures before, he had never taken pictures at all. "Where did you get this camera?"

Cheng Bingquan asked curiously in a low voice. He also tried his best to use "Mandarin", but it was not standard. Fortunately, everyone could understand it.

"Picked up from the devils"

Wei Ran replied in a low voice. This was definitely the best explanation. "Come closer, both of you. I'll take a picture of you."

Hearing this, He Wenniu and Cheng Bingquan hurriedly leaned against each other, and as Wei Ran requested, they held their respective swords in their arms.

Almost at the moment when Wei Ran pressed the shutter, the roar of an airplane engine could be faintly heard from far away outside the trench!
"It's a Japanese plane!"

Almost at the same time when Cheng Bingquan uttered this exclamation, they also heard the roar of the aviation machine guns firing.

There was no need to be reminded at all. He Wenniu and Cheng Bingquan quickly pulled the wooden barrels beside them, closed the lids, and then huddled up close to the trench.

This is not fear, but the best way to defend against fighters from outside. This is enough to show that they are all qualified veterans.

Almost at the same time as the bullets from the fighter's aircraft machine guns began to hit the front line, the roar of machine gun fire in the air was also heard all around.

After this brief but costly exchange of fire, the sound of mortar firing was heard from the position behind Wei Ran, and the sound of mortar shells exploding was also heard in front of the trench.

Under the suppression of the artillery, the surrounding soldiers also raised their Zhongzheng rifles and loaded bullets in preparation.

However, neither these soldiers nor the machine guns in the distance opened fire.

Cautiously, he peered outside the trench, and wherever he looked, he saw the entire mountain and field filled with Japanese invaders like locusts.

"Don't look at it anymore," He Wenniu pulled Wei Ran, "Hurry up and squat, the Japanese will fire their cannons soon."

As if to confirm He Wenniu's prediction, as soon as he finished speaking, a series of grenades flew over from the rear of the attacking Japanese troops.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who had originally planned to take a few photos, only had time to quickly press the shutter, and then took advantage of He Wenniu's pulling him back into the trench.

"Boom boom boom——"

Amid a series of explosions, even though the soldiers in the trenches tried their best to hide their bodies, casualties were still inevitable.

"You guys, go pick up the grenades!"

At this moment, a soldier with a copper whistle around his neck called out to them.

"go!"

As Cheng Bingquan spoke, he had already put on the big knife, picked up two wooden barrels, and began to run wildly along the trench.

There was no order of priority. Wei Ran and He Wenniu each carried two porridge buckets, bent over and followed Cheng Bingquan.

The three men ran along the communication trench all the way to the field kitchen at the back and dropped the wooden barrel, then immediately ran to the location where the ammunition was stored. They each picked up a shoulder pole, hooked two rattan baskets full of grenades, and ran to the front line.

After a while, the soldiers in the trenches had already opened fire one after another under the command of the whistle, and the machine guns also began to roar and suppress.

Amidst the series of dense explosions, grenade after grenade hit the area around the firing machine gun.

Without giving the Japanese any chance to launch a second round of grenades, the machine gun positions immediately began to move.

At the same time, the machine guns in other positions that had not fired before began to pull the trigger to suppress the situation.

When the second wave of grenades hit the machine guns, they began to move their positions, and the previous group immediately began to suppress them.

These are the elite!

While Wei Ran was secretly guessing, he had already followed Cheng Bingquan and the other two, each carrying two large baskets of heavy grenades and began distributing them in the trenches at the forefront.

By the way, Wei Ran also took out the wound-up Robert camera again, and secretly pressed the shutter at the soldiers in the trenches from time to time.

"Grenade ready!"

Just when there were only two grenades left in the basket he was carrying, the front-line commander in the distance also issued an order.

Immediately, the soldiers in the trenches put down their rifles, picked up the grenades that had just been distributed and unscrewed the back covers. The machine guns, which were divided into two groups, also opened fire together to suppress the attack in response to this order.

Wei Ran and the other two also reacted quickly. They even threw off the carrying poles on their shoulders faster than the soldiers with rifles, grabbed the one or two remaining grenades in the basket and unscrewed the lid.

"Throw!"

Following the order, Wei Ran pulled the firing lines of the two grenades in his hands hard, and then in the swirling green smoke, he threw the two grenades out of the trench and towards the attacking invaders.

"Go on the bayonet!"

Before the grenades began to explode, or even before most of them hit the ground, the front-line commander in the distance issued a new order.

In fact, before this order reached their ears, the soldiers who had already thrown out the grenades had already pulled out their bayonets and mounted them on the muzzles of their guns, or like Cheng Bingquan and the other two, they took off the big swords that were carried on their shoulders with hemp ropes, and by the way, they also used the hemp ropes to wrap the handles of the swords and their hands.

"boom--!"

As if spurred on by the grenades exploding everywhere like firecrackers, the bloodiest hand-to-hand combat under Shipai Fortress began.