War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1889 Reporting Numbers
"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Just as the Japanese grenades exploded, experienced sentries heard a distinctive whistling sound mixed in with the grenades. It was the distinctive porcelain bottle whistling sound of the poison gas shells fired by the Japanese 90mm mortars!

But the sentry did not dodge, neither the explosion of the grenade nor the impending poison gas shell. Instead, he stood rooted to the spot, vigorously and rapidly pounding the hanging shell casings with his bayonet—those were specifically used to warn of poison gas shells!
"Poison gas! It's poison gas! Wet towels! Cover your mouth and nose! Cover your skin with mud! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Cheng Guanyin reacted quickly, scrambling to his feet. He ripped off the canvas covering his head, soaked it in the mud, and draped it over Chen Shun's body, all the while loudly issuing warnings and reminders.

"Spray alkaline water! Spray alkaline water quickly!"

As the poisonous smoke filled the chaotic trenches, coughs and screams gradually spread around the commander.

In fact, no orders were needed at all. Numerous soldiers rushed to the waterlogged bunkers, using various tools to scoop out buckets of dirty water and began spraying and pouring it over themselves.

Is there alkaline water in there?

Wei Ran took the bucket of water that Cheng Guanyin brought up and poured it on Chen Shun while asking a question.

"We're worried about the epidemic! We spread a lot of quicklime a few days ago!"

"Jump down!"

Seeing that another poison gas bomb was coming, Wei Ran simply pushed the two of them into the sewage in the bunker. He also tore off the canvas on Chen Shun's body, held his breath, picked up two bayonets and nailed them to the wooden planks on both sides of the bunker entrance.

However, he knew clearly that lime water might be able to prevent red agents, which are mainly composed of diphenylcyanarsine, but it could not prevent mustard gas at all.

Even this short delay caused his eyes to start watering uncontrollably from the irritating gas, forcing him to squat down.

"Jump down quickly!" Cheng Guanyin and Chen Shun urged anxiously as they soaked in the quicklime water.

"puff"

With tears streaming down his face and unable to see anything clearly, Wei Ran lost his footing and fell into the sewage.

Hold your breath and follow me!

After Cheng Guanyin shouted, he and Chen Shun led Wei Ran underwater and began swimming to deeper waters.

In those few meters, with his eyes closed, Wei Ran felt as if he had bumped into something soft.

Before he could guess what he had bumped into, Cheng Guanyin had already pulled him up to the surface.

"Are you alright?" Cheng Guanyin asked Wei Ran anxiously.

"fine"

As Wei Ran responded, he almost vomited; he smelled a strong stench of corpses.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Guanyin breathed a slight sigh of relief, and then, after some fumbling, found a lighter and managed to strike it with difficulty.

Fortunately, although it was a bit blurry, Wei Ran wasn't blind and could barely see his surroundings.

At that moment, less than half a meter away from him, floated a corpse that had grown to the size of a giant, and on top of the corpse, there were two rats, one large and one small.

At this moment, the foul-smelling water surface was less than half a meter above the thick logs overhead.

"Turn off the lighter," Wei Ran said. "It will consume oxygen."

“We won’t be here long before we have to leave,” Cheng Guanyin said. “The Japanese will probably attack soon.”

"Mustard gas, also known as the yellow agent used by the Japanese," Wei Ran reminded him. "These alkaline solutions can't prevent those yellow agents."

"Even if we can't prevent it, we'll have to go out later anyway."

Cheng Guanyin said, "I should have died in Shipai long ago. It's already a huge bonus that I can die here."

"I was originally a conscripted laborer delivering ammunition in Zhangjiashan."

In the darkness, Chen Shun tried his best to speak in Mandarin that Cheng Guanyin could understand, "Last month, I helped carry a lot of wounded soldiers down from that position. Some were blinded by the poison gas, and others had their whole bodies rotting."

After a brief pause, Chen Shun said, "I was scared back then and ran away, but this time I'm not running away. I'm determined to die here."

Let's wait a bit.

Wei Ran also said in the darkness, "If the gas from the isotopes drifts into this stinking water, we'll probably die before we get out."

After these words were spoken, the already despairing cramped space became even more desperate. All they could hear were faint screams, coughs, and the soft sounds of rats gnawing on corpses coming from outside.

But they also knew clearly that going out at this time was pointless; they couldn't save anyone and would only increase casualties.

As we waited, time ticked by, second by second.

Complete darkness can deprive humans of their perception of time, and even deprive Wei Ran of the strong stench of corpses that was right next to him.

"beep--!"

Just as the three of them were contemplating whether to say something to distract themselves, a faint, not particularly loud or sharp, whistle could be heard from outside.

Without any discussion, the three of them dived down almost simultaneously, pushed aside the bodies that appeared to be submerged in the water, and swam toward the entrance to the bunker.

"crash"

Amidst the foul-smelling splashes, the three emerged one after the other from the quicklime water that had been soaking the corpses.

"Don't move, don't open your eyes," Wei Ran reminded him promptly. "Don't do anything."

At his prompting, Cheng Guanyin and Chen Shun subconsciously stopped wiping their faces and even held their breath.

Wei Ran, who also had his eyes closed, took out the British army water bottle from the metal notebook, unscrewed it, and poured some water on his eyes for a simple rinse.

I tried to open my eyes slightly to take a look, and then carefully took a breath.

Seeing that his body had no reaction, he breathed a sigh of relief and then carefully helped Cheng Guanyin and Chen Shun rinse their eyes and the skin around them.

"Hold your breath when you rush out, and open your eyes only when I tell you to."

Without much delay, Wei Ran took out his anti-Japanese broadsword and carefully peeled off the dangerous piece of canvas.

"Get out of the way of that canvas"

Wei Ran hurriedly called out, then held his breath and was the first to leap over the canvas, running out through the slightly oily mud.

He knew perfectly well that the slight sheen of oil might be the smell of slag, but he had no choice, and neither did anyone else still alive on this front.

Before rushing out of the trench, he hurriedly raised his Robert camera with a wide-angle lens and repeatedly pressed the shutter, pointing at the trench, at the corpse that had choked him, at the soldiers with red marks on their faces who were already groping for their broadswords, and even at the sentry who had fallen to the ground.

But all of this is short-lived, and even futile.

It was already broad daylight, but he wasn't even sure if those moments he'd taken without fine-tuning the lens would turn out well in the print, even though his father seemed to have never disappointed him in this regard.

As he put away his camera, Wei Ran had already climbed over the breastwork of the trench. He then shoved the grenade launcher he had taken out into the mud, ignoring the burning sensation all over his body and the tears that were beginning to well up in his eyes.

After only a quick glance at the situation in the distance, Wei Ran stuffed the only mustard gas blast in his saddlebag into the grenade launcher and pulled the trigger.

"Tom!"

Almost the instant the gas bomb was launched, Wei Ran, tears streaming down his face, pulled out the only Louis gas bomb he had left from his saddlebag.

"Tom!"

After the retaliatory poison gas bomb flew over, Wei Ran immediately put away the grenade launcher and the three remaining instant-explosive grenades in his saddlebag.

Before he could even climb back into the trench, he frantically began to take off his clothes and saw large and small red spots growing on his hands and around his waist.

And it was in that short time that the firefight began.

But the gunfire in this toxic trench was unusually sparse, so much so that he could count that, even including Chen Shun who had already picked up a gun, there were less than ten people!
At that moment, laborers appeared, each holding a wet towel or even a rag to cover their mouth.

They held broken bowls or ladles in their hands, which contained a paste made of blackish-gray plant ash and water.

On their backs, each carried a bamboo basket, filled entirely with pre-prepared wood ash.

Before Wei Ran could react, a bowl of wood ash paste had already been spilled on his wrist, then on his waist and face.

Immediately afterward, a dusty, damp towel appeared on his hands, which were covered in red spots, and he instinctively covered his mouth and nose.

In the lens of his camera, which he couldn't help but raise, more laborers, their bodies draped in a thin layer of tung oil cloth, entered the trenches, picked up their weapons, which had just been sprinkled with wood ash paste, and joined the battle.

Suddenly, the gunfire in the trench became more intense again.

"boom!"

The mud splattered from the exploding grenade smeared onto the face of a laborer, who also let out a scream.

Looking once more at the red spots on his hand covered in ashes, Wei Ran picked up a Type 24 rifle with one hand, cocked the bolt, loaded a bullet, rested it on the trench, aimed at the approaching Japanese soldiers, and pulled the trigger.

As gunshots rang out one after another, more and more laborers took up arms.

Perhaps due to residual poison on the ground, the Japanese soldiers began to retreat before even reaching the edge of the anti-tank trenches after launching this attack.

"Count!"

From inside the trench, a hoarse voice issued the order.

"1!"

"twenty three"

"4!" Wei Ran shouted out his number.
“5,” Cheng Guanyin shouted, his voice already extremely hoarse.

"6"

Chen Shun also shouted—he was just a laborer, he didn't have to report his numbers.

"7!"

Further away, a soldier whose body was covered in red spots shouted loudly.

"8!"

A soldier some distance away, whose body was being smeared with plant ash, was also shouting loudly—he was the last one in this trench.

"9!"

Just then, a laborer who looked to be around 40 years old took over the task of reporting the number.

"10!"

Another young man, who looked to be about the same age as Chen Shun, shouted.

Moments later, the "platoon" in this trench had grown to 47 people.

"Hold the line!"

A hoarse voice in the distance issued a vague command.

After glancing at the enemy in the distance, Wei Ran raised his camera again and took pictures of the laborers who were busy repairing trenches, carrying away the wounded and corpses, and distributing tung oil cloth to the crowd.

Almost as soon as Wei Ran received a piece of tung oil cloth to drape over himself, the hanging shell casing was struck again with a terrifying whistling sound—it was struck by Cheng Guanyin!

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Amidst the rapid pounding, poison gas bombs rained down on the winding trench.

As the toxic smoke spread, violent coughing broke out one after another, but amidst the coughing, the roar of submachine guns could be heard in the distance.

The only two submachine guns fired from inside the toxic smoke outwards.

Immediately afterwards, with tears streaming down his face from the fumes, he dropped the wet towel in his hand, then took out the gas mask pack provided by the metal notebook, fumbled to find the H1 type oxygen tank fixed at the bottom, turned on the valve, and then found the breathing mask and pressed it onto his face.

Wei Ran took a deep breath of oxygen, then exhaled and took another large breath before turning off the oxygen cylinder and putting away his gas mask pack.

Following closely behind, Wei Ran, who could barely open his eyes, groped his way onto the trench, took out a grenade launcher, set it up, aimed it in the general direction, and then fired three grenades in succession.

Amidst the continuous explosions, Wei Ran put away the useless grenade launcher, took out the Mauser C96 pistol, and with his eyes still closed, pulled the trigger towards the distance.

After emptying all the bullets in his pistol and taking a few more breaths of oxygen, he finally took out his Robert camera again, using the trench layout to find his way, and repeatedly pressed the shutter to capture the battle scenes that he could no longer see.

Until the film ran out.

"It's your turn"

Wei Ran, still unable to open his eyes, exhaled the breath he had been holding in his chest, and a large anti-Japanese sword engraved with his name appeared in his hand.

He could no longer see them, but he could hear them; the Japanese were getting closer and closer.

"clang!"

Just as he was preparing for the final bayonet charge, his anti-Japanese broadsword was struck with a force far greater than he would have encountered in a bayonet fight.

The unexpected impact caused the broad back of the blade to slam into Wei Ran's chest. His vision went black, and he fell backward, losing consciousness just as Cheng Guanyin, who seemed to have suffered the same fate, not far away.

The only difference was that although the anti-Japanese broadsword in his hand had not been pierced by the bullet that had just been fired, it had quietly disappeared.

Cheng Guanyin's broadsword was already strapped to his hand, just like it had been on the stone tablet, so it didn't slip from his grasp. However, a bullet hole appeared right next to his name.

When Wei Ran woke up again, he felt a burning pain in his eyes and all over his body. Although he could hear gunshots and explosions, they were much farther away.

Fortunately, he wasn't blind, just a little blurry.

More serious than the eyes are the blisters, large and small, on the hands, waist, and legs, which are red spots caused by burns from the gas.

"What time is it now?!"

Just then, he heard a loud shout from beside him; it was Cheng Guanyin.

"Old Cheng, you're awake?" Just then, a woman said in a surprised tone in Mandarin.

Immediately afterward, he heard a little boy call out in a clear voice, "Dad!"

"Yan Zhi? Huai Qian?!" Cheng Guanyin's exclamation was filled with barely suppressed joy.

Just then, Wei Ran's vision finally returned to normal as the stinging pain in his eyes abruptly disappeared. He was finally able to see Cheng Guanyin lying on a straw mat not far away, a woman wearing a nurse's apron next to him, and a little boy who looked no more than seven or eight years old next to the woman.

"It's us, it's us!"

The woman hugged Cheng Guanyin, and the couple also embraced the little boy.

With a silent sigh, Wei Ran looked around, took out his camera bag, quickly changed the film on his Robert camera, and then pressed the shutter to capture the unexpected reunion of the family of three.

He put away his camera and quickly looked around at himself and his surroundings.

This was a makeshift house, and the surrounding straw mats were covered with wounded soldiers.

Looking at myself again, I was only covered by a white sheet with yellow patches of tissue fluid seeping from my wound, except for my boxer shorts that had been pulled down to below my navel.

Cheng Guanyin was in a slightly better condition than himself. He didn't have as many blisters, and his eyes were just red from the smoke, but judging from his appearance, his eyesight should be fine.

Wei Ran glanced at the lunchbox, broadsword, and Mauser pistol beside the other person. Just as he was about to get up, he noticed that a soldier he seemed to recognize was being carried in while cursing.

"What's wrong?" Cheng Guanyin, who was still immersed in surprise, immediately asked.

"The Japanese devils have breached the city!"

The wounded soldier, his eyes already cloudy, roared in a hoarse voice, "Why did you bring me here! To make me go kill the Japanese devils!"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Guanyin and Wei Ran exchanged a glance, then looked at their wife and son, whom they had just reunited with.

"Old Cheng, go ahead."

Cheng Guanyin's wife, the woman who seemed to be named Yan Zhi, stood up as she spoke, "Don't worry about us."

"Huaiqian, take this."

As Cheng Guanyin spoke, he slung the bag containing the camera over his son's shoulder, saying, "Take good care of your mother, and also take good care of what's in this bag."

"Don't worry, Dad!" the little boy named Huaiqian replied crisply.

"Find a way to escape."

As Cheng Guanyin spoke, he untied the cloth strip from the hilt of his large sword, pulled out a gold bar wrapped in rags, and stuffed it into his wife's hand, saying in a low voice, "Go quickly, leave now."

“Okay, let’s go now.” Cheng Guanyin’s wife agreed with a smile.

"In the next life, let's be husband and wife again." Cheng Guanyin said, already standing up while leaning against the wall.

“Okay, let’s be husband and wife again in the next life, and the life after that.” Cheng Guanyin’s wife smiled even more brightly.

"Count!"

After Cheng Guanyin stood up, leaning against the wall, he let out a roar. He then tore off a piece of gauze from his body and first wrapped it around the hilt of his anti-Japanese broadsword, which had a bullet hole in it, before wrapping it around his blistered hands.

"1!" Wei Ran, who was the first to get up, responded.

"2!" Before another wounded soldier could even struggle to his feet, the relay had already begun.

At this moment, even Wei Ran didn't notice that Chen Shun, who was about to run in, stopped outside the door.

“This is a decisive battle,” Cheng Guanyin said. “Comrades, brothers, it’s either victory or death.”

"Victory or death!"

The wounded inside the dilapidated house responded in unison. Some picked up the broadswords or bayonets that had been brought with them, some drew their Mauser pistols, and some even picked up bricks with their blistered hands.

"Let's go! Let's kill the Japanese devils!" Cheng Guanyin said, already carrying a knife as he walked out of the dilapidated house.

"Kill!" The other wounded soldiers helped each other up, and some even hopped on one leg to follow.

"Huaiqian"

Cheng Guanyin's wife was already squatting down next to their son, pointing at Cheng Guanyin's back and saying, "Remember, remember, that's your father."

"Mother, I remember!" Cheng Huaiqian said loudly and clearly.

"Just remember that."

As Cheng Guanyin's wife spoke, she stood up, took their child, and walked away into the distance, never looking back again.

At this moment, Wei Ran, who was taking the last photo of the mother and child, did not notice that Chen Shun had already jumped out from behind the low wall where he was hiding and caught up with Cheng Guanyin's wife and child from afar.