War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1967: Driving the Japanese away is the best explanation.
On the morning of their triumphant return, Wei Ran and Wen Laoga, each carrying heavy spoils, ran side by side back home, chatting about their respective hometowns.

During their casual conversations along the way, Wei Ran unexpectedly learned that Wen Laoga had actually been a mortar gunner back in Fengtian.

He had no way of knowing how many Japanese soldiers the other man had tested himself against, or how many dangers he had encountered, in order to transform from a mortar gunner into a crack shot.

But in Wenlaoga's calm recollection, this man no longer had a home; his wife and children had all died at the hands of the Japanese.

Wen Laoga didn't mention the torment his family had suffered, but he did tell Wei Ran that the wine gourd and the string of five-emperor coins that his son had worn were the only mementos his wife and children had left him.

Amidst this agonizing chatter, the group arrived at a position on the Great Wall atop a mountain.

"Company commander, let him come with me. I need an assistant."

Wen Laoga seemed to be quite familiar with the officer who had delivered ammunition to him during the previous night raid. He offered him a cigarette and started negotiating with a smile.

"You follow Wen Laoga"

The company commander took a puff of his cigarette, looked at Wei Ran, and pointed to Wen Laoga beside him, "Listen to his command."

"Yes! I will definitely follow Wen Laoga's orders!" Wei Ran immediately straightened his back and made his promise.

"This young man is energetic!"

The company commander patted Wei Ran on the shoulder and turned to walk away.

"The Japanese will be here soon."

As Wen Laoga spoke, he led Wei Ran to climb the Great Wall with the team. They first handed over the spoils they had brought back for distribution, and then found a spot next to the watchtower and sat down by the crenellations.

Almost simultaneously, cooks brought up food in carrying poles.

“This is my brother-in-law. Everyone calls him Coal Blackie. He used to be a miner in a coal mine.”

As Wen Laoga spoke, he introduced "Brother Wei" again, while the coal miner warmly gave each of them a hot cornbread and a piece of pickled vegetable.

Looking around, Coal Blackie pulled another egg wrapped in rag from his pocket and handed it to Wen Laoga, whispering, "You two eat this secretly, but don't let anyone see you."

After saying that, Coal Blackie carried his shoulder pole and walked a few steps away. Wen Laoga also handed the eggs to Wei Ran.

"You keep it."

Wei Ran declined the other party's offer. In this era, such an inconspicuous boiled egg could be spent like money.

"Whoever is hungry can eat."

As Wen Laoga spoke, he stuffed the boiled egg wrapped in a rag into his pocket, then took a bite of the steaming hot pancake and a bite of the pickled radish.

In just a short while, several other cooks had brought over cornmeal porridge that wasn't very thick and boxes of hand grenades.

Leaning against the cool crenellations of the Great Wall to avoid the biting wind, Wei Ran wolfed down his breakfast. Then, he carefully got up and stood on one side of the crenellations, looking at the snow-covered land inside and outside the Great Wall.

For a moment, he inexplicably wondered if, long ago, soldiers had stood on this very city wall to resist the southward-bound invaders.

Dispelling the countless possibilities of speculation, Wei Ran glanced at the direction from which the enemy might attack, then sat down again, opened the ammunition box at his waist, took out the not-so-large glass bottle, unscrewed it, and looked at it.

He recognized at a glance that the glass bottle contained medicinal spores.

There was a time when, on the Long March, these mushroom spores were their only medicine.

Without a doubt, at this moment, on this battlefield, these medicinal spores are probably the only medicine he has that can be used to treat external injuries.

With a helpless sigh, I tightened the cap and put it back in the ammunition box, leaving a space for it.

Taking a cleaning rod from the butt of his Japanese cavalry rifle, Wei Ran carefully cleaned the barrel during the brief time before the battle began.

Looking at Wen Laoga next to him, he was already curled up with his head on the kettle and had begun to doze off.

Wei Ran leaned the cleaned rifle against one side, looked around, and crouched down to walk to the other side of the corner against the watchtower. He began to try to take things out of the metal notebook.

Such is the surprise. This time, he not only successfully retrieved items such as the anti-Japanese broadsword and Mauser bayonet, but also found the spoils that Gaolianggan had given him earlier—the Leica D-type camera—in the camera case he had successfully retrieved!
Although he still couldn't get the horse saddlebag containing the grenade launcher out, Wei Ran was already extremely satisfied.

Because this camera case not only contains the camera, but also a lot of film that it can use.

He hurriedly took out the camera, which was in a hard leather protective case, and stuffed it into his pocket. Wei Ran then took out a few rolls of film and put them in his pocket before packing up his camera case.

"beep--!"

Almost simultaneously, he also heard the piercing whistles and heart-wrenching shouts from the nearby watchtower, "Enemy attack—! Enemy attack—! The Japanese devils are coming! The Japanese devils are coming!"

"Wow!"

In an instant, all the soldiers grabbed their weapons, and Wei Ran also immediately raised his camera and took out the lens. After a quick adjustment, he first took a picture of Wen Laoga, and then pressed the shutter on the soldiers on guard along the winding Great Wall.

Crouching low, Wei Ran returned to the edge of the battlements. He first peeked outside the battlements and then saw a massive swarm of Japanese soldiers pouring out like locusts and maggots.

"boom!"

Just as Wei Ran pressed the shutter button to take a picture of them, the roar of artillery fire came from behind the Japanese soldiers.

Before he could put his camera away, the sound of artillery fire reached his ears one after another, and shells slammed into the city wall not far from Wei Ran and his group.

Amidst the continuous tremors and the terrifying whistling sounds brought about by the flying fragments of the Great Wall bricks, the newly emerged Japanese soldiers began their charge.

At that very moment, in the watchtower not far from Wei Ran, the mountain gun that the soldiers had carried back, along with some other mountain guns in the distance, began their counterattack.

But the monotonous shelling didn't last long before it attracted Japanese artillery fire, and Wei Ran, Wen Laoga, and some soldiers around them had no choice but to cover their heads and hide in the distance.

Soon, the artillery pieces fell silent, and the Japanese soldiers were almost within range of the rifles.

But the shelling did not stop. The Japanese soldiers in charge of the artillery seemed to be preparing to blast a breach with their cannons and began to concentrate their fire on a section of the road not far from Wei Ran.

"Hide well! Don't show your face!"

The officer, who seemed to be particularly familiar with Wen Laoga, shouted through a tin megaphone, "Let the Japanese get closer before you fire! Listen to my commands! Listen to my commands! Don't waste bullets!"

As he shouted repeatedly, the shelling finally stopped when the Japanese soldiers were close enough to the city wall and the breach created by the shells.

"Grenade!"

Before the company commander finished speaking, Wei Ran and Wen Laoga, who were already prepared, along with the other soldiers around them, threw out a series of grenades.

With a deafening roar, the screams of the invaders echoed at the foot of the Great Wall, just as they had hundreds of years before.

After throwing two grenades in succession, Wei Ran and Wen Laoga simultaneously pulled out their Mauser pistols, turned around, squatted down by the firing port of the Great Wall, and pulled the triggers outwards.

"boom!"

Before Wei Ran could even empty a magazine, he heard the distinctive sound of grenades streaking through the air from the grenade launcher, followed by an explosion.

Almost simultaneously once again, Wei Ran and Wen Laoga each tucked their Mauser pistols into their waistbands. The former grabbed a rifle that was already loaded with bullets, while the latter picked up a blood-stained Golden Hook Rifle from the hand of a seriously wounded soldier next to him.

"boom!"

Wei Ran and Wen Laoga flashed to the top of the barricade one after the other and pulled the trigger towards the Japanese grenade launcher team several hundred meters away.

Amidst the almost overlapping gunfire, several Japanese grenade launcher teams lined up a few hundred meters away saw two Japanese soldiers, one shot in the chest and the other in the neck, fall to the ground as they were preparing to load their second grenades into the launchers.

"Good marksmanship!"

As Wen Laoga squatted down, he loaded new bullets into his gun and loudly praised Wei Ran, saying that the shot that hit his neck was from Wei Ran.

"Just guessing!"

Wei Ran responded loudly as well, saying that he had really just guessed, as the distance between them was already more than 300 meters, and that he was able to hit the target with a single shot was purely by luck.

"As long as you guess right!"

As Wen Laoga spoke, he and Wei Ran once again darted to the edge of the barricade, aimed at the grenade launcher squads, and pulled the trigger again.

In another near-overlapping barrage of gunfire, Wei Ran missed hitting a member of the grenade launcher team this time, but he did hit a Japanese soldier holding a grenade launcher.

As the grenade launched from the grenade launcher struck the charging Japanese soldiers, Wen Laoga, who had just hit another grenade launcher gunner, leaned against the wall and asked, "Was this just a lucky guess?"

"That was just a complete guess!"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, their grenade launchers began firing grenades at the other side. At the same time, even more grenades seemed to have eyes, hitting the city wall and even crashing into the observation windows of the watchtowers.

"Win several more times!"

As Wen Laoga spoke, he turned around again, rested his gun on the edge of the barricade, and once again pulled the trigger at the same time as Wei Ran.

This time, Wei Ran hit a grenade launcher, but the subsequent machine gun fire also covered the area where the two of them were.

"Quick, change positions! The Japanese cannons are definitely going to come crashing down!"

Wen Laoga and Wei Ran were clearly veterans of the same rank. As they shouted the warning, they each picked up a wooden box containing grenades and hid in the almost collapsed blockhouse.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Almost the instant that some of the soldiers around who had been alerted took cover, grenades rained down on this section of the city wall.

Just as the two of them attracted a lot of firepower due to their extremely accurate aim and luck, the other soldiers around them also opened fire with their rifles and pistols.

They either risked being shot while sniping at distant machine guns and grenade launchers, or used grenades to harass the Japanese soldiers, puppet troops, and even traitors from the Mongol and Tibetan ethnic groups who were about to reach the foot of the Great Wall.

"go there!"

Wei Ran and Wen Laoga made the same judgment again, and led several members of the Big Sword Team who had also taken refuge to rush towards the other side of the dilapidated blockhouse, where the city wall had been blown down by the Japanese artillery—the Japanese were getting closer and closer.

"Grenades! Does anyone have any grenades?!"

The young company commander, who was familiar with Wen Laoga, fired his gun while shouting.

"A grenade is coming!"

Wei Ran and Wen Laoga responded in unison once again.

Before they could even put down the wooden crates they were carrying, the surrounding soldiers grabbed one or two grenades each, lit them, and threw them at the collapsed city wall.

"Brothers! Draw your swords!"

The young company commander roared out the order, while simultaneously picking up a blood-stained broadsword from beside a corpse.

"kill!"

The surrounding soldiers roared as they took down the large swords from their shoulders, and Wen Laoga also picked up a large sword from beside a corpse.

Wei Ran barely recognized the corpse; it was Wen Laoga's brother-in-law, Coal Black.

"kill!"

Before the young company commander could finish speaking, his eyes were already bloodshot, and he charged out for the first time along the breach, wielding a large knife.

"kill!"

Amidst the increasingly loud roars, the surrounding soldiers charged out with their swords raised. Wen Laoga charged out, and Wei Ran, who took out an anti-Japanese broadsword from a metal notebook, also hurriedly pressed the shutter a few times with his camera before dropping his rifle, grabbing his broadsword, and charging out after them.

When the enemy and our forces clashed together and began a bloody hand-to-hand battle in the cold early spring snow, the Japanese machine guns, grenade launchers, and mountain guns stopped firing in this direction.

This is the significance of this close-quarters battle—trading lives for the integrity of the position.

"laugh!"

After slicing open the belly of one Japanese soldier, Wei Ran, along with Wen Laoga and the young company commander, charged toward the next Japanese soldier.

"Old man!"

As the company commander deflected a Japanese soldier's bayonet and charged forward, he shouted, "If I die, you'll be my company commander!"

"I'd rather die than be a company commander!"

As Wen Laoga spoke, he slashed open the neck of the Japanese soldier opposite him with a single stroke.

"Oh!"

At the same time, Wei Ran kicked and broke the shinbone of the Japanese soldier opposite him, and then chopped off the arm of the soldier who was holding the gun with a knife.

Wei Ran deliberately spared the Japanese soldier's life, letting him shout and provide accompaniment. He and Wen Laoga exchanged a glance, and the two nodded to each other as if they understood each other perfectly.

Next, Wei Ran, Wen Laoga, and even the young company commander who reacted a little later, all deliberately left some Japanese soldiers alive.

In their repeated battles, even when surrounded and forced to draw their guns, they tried their best to create as many wounded as possible who could make a loud enough scream.

"clang!"

After deflecting another bayonet thrust toward his chest, Wei Ran pushed his knife forward and, taking advantage of the Japanese soldier's attention being focused on avoiding the blade with his gun-wielding hand, kicked him in the groin.

This distorted scream sent chills down the spines of not only the surrounding Japanese soldiers, but also Wei Ran himself, Wen Laoga, and the company commander.

Of course, this did not stop Wen Laoga from using his knife to castrate the Japanese soldiers on the other side, nor did it stop the company commander from drawing his gun and pulling the trigger at the crotch of the two Japanese soldiers who couldn't take it anymore and raised their guns.

Amidst the increasingly agonizing screams of the Japanese soldiers around him, the company commander was the first to be wounded, his shoulder pierced by a Japanese bayonet, and the soldiers around him fell one after another.

"Grenades! Throw grenades at them and blow them to bits!"

The company commander shouted as he repeatedly pulled the trigger of his Mauser pistol.

Once he had run out of bullets, Wen Laoga immediately dropped his broadsword, drew two Mauser pistols from his waist, and took over firing.

Wei Ran didn't rush to draw his gun. Instead, he pushed aside a Japanese soldier whose knee he had kicked and broken, borrowed the Type 38 rifle with a bayonet attached from the soldier's hand, aimed at a machine gun that was providing suppressive fire on the pillbox, and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

With a sharp gunshot, the machine gunner's head snapped back and he fell to the ground.

At the same time, the soldiers overhead threw a round of grenades, suppressing the Japanese soldiers who were charging forward.

After the grenades exploded in the Japanese ranks, the Japanese soldiers who were charging toward the breach finally began to retreat.

Taking advantage of this rare moment, the soldiers who rushed down either carried their wounded but not dead comrades or picked up the weapons and ammunition from the Japanese soldiers, and before the Japanese machine guns on the other side could open fire, they climbed up the broken city wall that had been bombed.

After putting down the wounded soldiers he was carrying, Wei Ran quickly took out his camera and pressed the shutter button on the retreating Japanese soldiers. He then pressed the shutter button on the doorway of the damaged section of the Great Wall, where the company commander was directing everyone to move the wounded soldiers and supplies.

Just as he was about to press the shutter for the third time, the Japanese artillery began to roar, and shells once again slammed into the machine gun positions set up on the city wall.

Taking advantage of this brief opportunity, Wen Laoga, the company commander, and the other soldiers climbed up as well. Wei Ran picked up his rifle again, loaded it, held his breath, and pulled the trigger towards a Japanese soldier in the distance who seemed to have a command sword hanging at his waist and was looking around with binoculars.

"boom!"

Amidst the gunfire almost completely drowned out by the artillery fire, he could vaguely see the Japanese soldier holding binoculars fall to the ground, clutching his stomach and rolling around on the floor.

With a "click," a new bullet was loaded. Wei Ran simply lay down beside the bombed firing port, rested his rifle on the body of a soldier, aimed at the Japanese position in the distance, covered the selected target with the crosshairs, and then pulled the trigger again to steady himself.

"boom!"

Amidst the gunfire once again masked by artillery fire, a Japanese soldier who was running back, his rifle bayonet still adorned with a hemorrhoid flag, clutched his backside and collapsed, rolling on the ground in agony once more.

"My method of treating hemorrhoids is unparalleled."

Like a mental patient, Wei Ran muttered to himself with a maniacal laugh. At the same time, after loading another round, he used the sights to cover another Japanese soldier with a rag hanging from his bayonet and pulled the trigger again.

This time, Wei Ran missed slightly, and the bullet hit the opponent's thigh.

Seeing that the other man was still crawling forward while covering his leg with his hand, Wei Ran ignored him, reloaded his ammunition, and continued to search for Japanese soldiers who were worth eliminating first.

"boom!"

Just as he emptied his gun, several mountain gun shells struck the damaged section of the collapsed city wall not far away.

"Get up quickly!"

Wen Laoga pulled Wei Ran, who was loading bullets into a gun, to his feet and led him through the crumbling watchtower back to the position they had previously been in charge of.

Without any further communication, Wei Ran, as if possessed, eagerly chose a damaged firing port and lay down again.

He once again aimed his gun at the Japanese soldiers who had already run far enough away. He and Wen Laoga were neck and neck, and he pulled the trigger of his rifle again and again, sniping the Japanese soldiers who had created a safe distance and were hiding and waiting for the shelling to end so they could charge again.

Wei Ran and Wen Laoga weren't the only ones doing this; the soldiers around them were all seizing every opportunity to eliminate the enemy with their rifles.

Although there was always a risk of being killed by Japanese artillery shells while sniping from a high vantage point, the casualties were still less than those who rushed out to fight with bayonets.

"boom!"

Just as Wei Ran emptied his magazine again and temporarily switched to his camera to take pictures of the soldiers firing at him from both sides amidst the artillery fire, another shell struck the nearby pillbox.
Before the next shell could hit, the rickety blockhouse finally collapsed with a crash, killing many wounded and abandoned Japanese soldiers at the foot of the Great Wall, and also injuring soldiers around who couldn't dodge in time—including Wen Laoga's left arm.

"Is it broken?" Wei Ran immediately stuffed the camera into his clothes and asked loudly.

"No! Just a scrape!" Wen Laoga tried moving his left arm a bit.

He could indeed move his arm, but the spot where he was hit not only tore his cotton-padded coat, but blood was also slowly seeping out.

"come over"

Without a word, Wei Ran made the other person turn around, tore open the cotton-padded coat which had very little cotton, then took out the bottle of medicinal spores and sprinkled them on the other person's wound. Then he took the leg bindings off a corpse's leg and temporarily bound the wound.

"Can't die"

Old Wen nonchalantly rubbed the large bump on his head where he'd just been hit, muttering to himself as he loaded bullets into his Mauser pistol, "The coal miner's dead, how am I going to explain this to his son?"

"Driving the Japanese devils away is the best explanation."

As Wei Ran spoke, he picked up his gun again amidst the artillery fire, aimed at the Japanese soldiers who had failed to hide, and pulled the trigger again and again.