War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1965 Another Night Battle, Wen Laoga
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Amidst what could hardly be called a coordinated barrage of fire, shells rained down on the distant Japanese positions.

Amidst the cannon fire, the members of the Big Sword Squad also removed the tarpaulins from the captured supply wagons, revealing the cannonballs and a small amount of supplies inside.

"Quick! Drive the vehicle to the artillery! The rest of you, collect weapons and ammunition!"

Amidst the chaotic artillery fire, the officer who had been directing the battle issued a new order. He also personally placed the captured artillery scope at the edge of the position, observing the impact points of the enemy's shells in the distance, and occasionally reminding everyone to adjust their firing angles.

Amidst the lively and festive cannon fire, the surviving members of the Big Sword Squad quickly gathered all the spoils they could and were worth taking, carried away their wounded comrades, and hid the bodies of their fallen comrades.

"Destroy the artillery!" the commander shouted, his heart aching.

"Fire another shot! Hurry up!"

Wei Ran's urging had barely begun when Guo Xiuqi had already loaded a shell into the breech.

"Boom!" Wei Ran fired the shell almost at the same time the opponent straightened up.

Without daring to delay any longer, the group gathered the few remaining cannons together, piled up the unfired shells around them, and smothered a bomb.

"I'll do it," Wei Ran said to Guo Xiuqi after the others had run far away.

You'd better run faster!

Guo Xiuqi gave a worried instruction, but didn't go far, just looking at the cannons with a pained expression.

"We'll have even better cannons in the future, and airplanes too," Wei Ran said, already lighting the fuse of the explosive charge.

"When will that be?"

As Guo Xiuqi ran alongside Wei Ran, he sighed, "It'll be too late if we're too late."

"How can it be too late?" Wei Ran asked almost subconsciously.

"How could it be too late?"

Guo Xiuqi followed Wei Ran as they climbed over the trenches of this position. "If we had to wait a hundred or two hundred years to get those, those damned Japanese devils would have already wiped out our country and our race!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran was taken aback. He belatedly realized that these people were not like him, who had absolute confidence in winning this long war.

"That's not enough."

"boom!"

Before Wei Ran could finish speaking, the explosive charge in the distance exploded, successfully detonating the pile of shells and also destroying the gun mounts and barrels of the artillery.

"What did you just say?!" Guo Xiuqi shouted as shattered cannon parts flew everywhere.

"I said, it's useless. Fuck!"

Amidst Wei Ran's unwilling curses, the white light struck again, engulfing everything in front of him, including Guo Xiuqi and the surviving members of the Big Sword Team in the distance.

As he waited patiently, the white light gradually faded, and he was once again the first to feel the biting cold and hear the howling wind.

As everything in his field of vision gradually became clearer, Wei Ran subconsciously let out a sigh of relief. It was another dark night, and he was standing in line again.

By the light of the distant campfire, he looked at the things he carried.

This time it's a little different from before—this time there's no big sword.

Except for the lack of a large sword, everything else is there.

Besides a Mauser 712 shuttle with the same model as the metal notebook but definitely not the same one, he also had three wooden-handled grenades hanging on each side of his waist in carrying bags.

The rest of the equipment included a water bottle with an animal skin cover and a Japanese ammunition box, and a Japanese Type 44 cavalry rifle was also slung over his shoulder.

"Beep—Beep beep!"

Just as he was about to try to take something out of the metal notebook, an officer blew a whistle.

"Run forward! Destination: the crossroads!"

The officer, who spoke with a Henan accent, loosened the whistle hanging around his neck and issued the order directly.

A three-way intersection?
Wei Ran, who had started running, was momentarily stunned, and then guessed the upcoming battle based on the place name.

In the early morning of March 16, 1933, the night before the Battle of Luowenyu, Qi Guangyuan, the commander of the Zunhua city defense, led a team to launch a night raid on the vanguard of the Japanese army at Sanchakou.

It should be.
Wei Ran tightened his grip on the gun strap through his hand and started running after the soldiers in front of him.

While running, he was also trying to find out if there were any familiar faces around him.

Unfortunately, until the campfire used for lighting disappeared into the darkness behind him, until all that was left to illuminate him was the snow on the ground, he still didn't see Guo Xiuqi, Gao Lianggan, or anyone else he had seen before.

Since he already knew they weren't on the same battlefield, Wei Ran wasn't disappointed.

Not only was he not disappointed, he was even full of anticipation for the upcoming battle.

While pondering how many more Japanese soldiers he could kill, Wei Ran took off one glove and reached into the ammunition box at his waist.

However, when he touched the ammunition inside, his heart sank.

The ammunition box was quite large, and it seemed to contain a lot of items, but there were only two packs of bullets, totaling no more than ten rounds.

What are the other things?
Wei Ran squeezed the two packs of precious bullets in his hand, then took out the other items from the box.

However, when he saw these things, he shook his head helplessly. There were only two items in there.

A cornbread wrapped in white cotton cloth, with a large red date at the top, and a small piece of pickled radish almost completely stuffed into the hole of the cornbread.

In addition, the outer layer of cloth was also the reason why he couldn't figure out what it was.

The other item was a glass bottle, but it didn't contain pills or liquid.

Because of the darkness, he didn't know what was inside, and since the team was running forward through the valley with uneven steps, he didn't dare to open the door to satisfy his curiosity.

After putting everything except the bullets back into the ammunition box and fastening it, Wei Ran began to think about the connection between the different battlefields between these few flashes of white light—the connection between the old camera that sent him into this period of history.

Before he could figure it out, after a forced march of about an hour, they finally arrived at a slope beside a winding mountain road, where they each found something to hold onto and prepared for the journey.

Wiping the light sweat from his forehead, Wei Ran loosened his collar to let the wind carry away the excess heat and moisture, while also assessing the battlefield.

They were less than a hundred meters from the road below the mountain, within the range of rifle fire and also within the effective killing range of Mauser pistols.

Leaning against the large tree where he was hiding, Wei Ran gently pulled the bolt, put his fingers inside, felt around, and pressed it.

Pushing the bolt back up halfway, Wei Ran adjusted the sights in the dark, then checked the Mauser pistol at his waist, the Mauser pistol in the metal notebook, and even the spare magazine.

"Attention everyone"

In the darkness, the man, who appeared to be Commander Qi and spoke with a Henan accent, gave the order: "When the Japanese arrive, the pistol squad, save your bullets. Everyone, throw grenades at them and give those bastards a good blast."

"Yes!"

The group responded in hushed tones, and each of them took out a hand grenade and placed it beside them.

"Hey man, have something warm to eat."

Just as Wei Ran was about to try to take out the broadsword, a soldier who had just run over knelt down next to him, took something out of his pocket and handed it to him, then asked in a low voice with a thick Northeastern accent, "Do you have anything to eat? Have a bite."

"Yes, how long has it been since you last ate?" Wei Ran asked, first taking out a steamed bun from his ammunition box and handing it to the other person before accepting the food from him.

This gourd was smaller than a mineral water bottle from later generations. Its shape was not symmetrical, but it was wrapped in a soft rabbit skin that still had the warmth of the other person's body, and it was also decorated with a string of five emperor coins.

"It's been a day."

The soldier took a bite of his cornbread and said in a low voice, "We've been running after the Japanese all day."

"How is the situation now?"

As Wei Ran spoke, he uncorked the gourd, took a small sip of the spicy liquor, and handed it to the other person.

"It's coming soon"

The soldier wolfed down his food while muttering, "They'll be there in about two more pipes' worth of time. They're Japanese cavalry, probably a company, and a lot of traitors mixed in."

"We'll have to give that damn thing a good thrashing when the time comes," another soldier whispered eagerly.

"Shut up!"

Behind them, an officer shouted, and the other soldiers who were about to speak immediately shut their mouths.

Just as the "scout" next to Wei Ran who had finished his cornbread in a few bites said, in less than half an hour, a cavalry unit came from a distance.

Seeing this, everyone immediately grabbed hand grenades, wrapped the fuse around their fingers, and prepared to fire.

Under their watchful eyes, the cavalry drew closer and closer, and everyone saw the supplies and provisions following behind.

"beat!"

With a roar, the prepared crowd swung their arms and threw out grenades one after another.

In a series of explosions that spread outwards, the mountain road was thrown into chaos, with dogs and horses overturned, especially some mule carts, which were startled by the explosions and began to run around wildly, causing considerable confusion for the Japanese soldiers.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, some soldiers who had been arranged in advance hid behind cover in the distance and threw out kerosene-filled sheepskin water bags that had been set ablaze.

"boom!"

The scout next to Wei Ran, whose name was still unknown, reacted quickly, pulled out his Mauser pistol, and pulled the trigger without even aiming.

The shot hit a water bag that had not yet hit the ground.

"boom!"

Although the shot was fired hastily, almost immediately after the first, its accuracy was equally frightening.

At the foot of the mountain, a Japanese soldier holding a flashlight fell to the ground. However, the flashlight did not go out; instead, it provided a reference point for the ambushers to aim.

Almost as soon as the two bullets landed, the water bag that had just been thrown also landed and immediately absorbed the impact of many bullets.

Suddenly, flames spread at the foot of the mountain.

At the same time, when Wei Ran only had one grenade left, he grabbed the cavalry rifle at hand, aimed at a Japanese soldier who was trying to pick up a flashlight, and pulled the trigger.

"Hey buddy, you go keep an eye on the Japanese machine gun."

The person next to Wei Ran suggested, "I'll keep an eye on that stun gun."

"My name is Wei Ran. What's your name?" Wei Ran asked as he turned his gun around.

"Wen Tieshan"

As the soldier next to me pulled the trigger, he said, "They all call me Old Man Wen!"

"boom!"

As the other party finished introducing himself, Wei Ran pulled the trigger, hitting a Japanese soldier who had just set up his light machine gun.

"boom!"

The second shot that followed hit the machine gun's assistant gunner.

Just as they were calling out names for the King of Hell, behind them, the few Czech-made machine guns on their side opened fire one after another, suppressing the enemy with extremely sparing bursts of fire.

It must be admitted that the Japanese were much harder to fight in those years than in the years that followed.

Even after such a sudden attack, the cavalry unit quickly recovered after a brief period of panic and immediately launched a fierce counterattack, using their warhorses and even the woodlands on the other side of the mountain road as cover.

Not only that, they also forced those traitors to launch an attack.

"boom!"

Wei Ran pulled the trigger at a warhorse. If he couldn't hit the Japanese soldier hiding behind the horse, could he at least kill such a big warhorse?
What kind of cavalry are they without horses? They'd be better off riding traitors!
With this simple idea in mind, Wei Ran's firing speed also increased significantly.

After firing all 15 rounds of his rifle without missing a shot, he immediately drew his Mauser pistol from his waist and, unusually, took out the wooden gun box that was tied to his Long March carrying pole and attached it to the grip to serve as a stock.

Do you have any bullets left?

Wen Laoga, standing next to Wei Ran, shook his Mauser pistol and asked, "Mine's out of seeds!"

"Take it!"

Wei Ran immediately handed the Mauser pistol he was holding to the other person, and then, using his body as cover, took out another gun from the metal notebook.

"I don't need the box!"

As Wen Laoga spoke, he had already opened the case and returned it to Wei Ran, then raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

"monster"

As Wei Ran muttered to himself, he attached the gun case that the other party had returned to the gun he had just taken out, and continued to fire at the machine gun emplacement on the other side, shot by shot.

He could tell that the old man next to him, Wen, was firing his gun entirely by feel, and his feel for it was exceptionally good.

"Your gun is good! Much better than my side-opening gun!" Old Wen muttered as he fired.

"If it works, you can have it!"

As Wei Ran spoke, based on his experience, he slightly raised the muzzle of his gun and pulled the trigger toward the machine gun that was already firing on the other side.

"Snapped!"

After that shot, the Type 96 pistol outside the firing range also fell silent.

"That won't do! I can't accept such a valuable item!" Wen Laoga said, already pulling the trigger again.

"Stop! Everyone take cover! Let the Japanese get close and then we'll shoot!"

Seeing that the two sides were about to reach a stalemate, Commander Qi issued a new order.

He had to issue such an order; they were indeed there to ambush them, but they didn't have much ammunition.

"Your shooting accuracy is really good."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already taken out a spare magazine with a capacity of 20 rounds and handed it to the other party.

"Trained by the Japanese soldiers"

Wen Laoga took the magazine and said, his tone devoid of pride or arrogance, only filled with a sorrow that could not see the light and an unspeakable resentment, "Go ahead and shoot. If you can kill one, that's one. We can't just follow the example of Zhang's Xiao Liuzi and lock up the gun without saying a word."