War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1975 The Taoist Priest Who Is Not a Burden

In the biting cold wind, Wei Ran and Gao Lianggan carried the seriously wounded officer, running quickly along the mountain road still covered with snow.

"Can he survive?!"

He asked as he ran, carrying one end of the stretcher with sorghum stalks.

"Yes, he can definitely survive!"

Although Wei Ran, who was carrying the other end of the stretcher, spoke with certainty, he was actually shaking his head inwardly.

If that living father were willing to give him the medical kit, along with the gas lamp, penicillin, and blood plasma, he could probably save him with a 50-60% chance at most. But now…

Wei Ran couldn't help but look behind him. Now, it was very likely that not only the seriously wounded on the stretchers could not be saved, but also the position behind him.

But the wheels of history are beyond the reach of a tiny individual like him, less than a mantis. At this moment, he only thought about doing everything possible to save the officer on the stretcher.

As he and Gaolianggan ran at full speed, they finally carried the officer on a stretcher back to the small village that served as a field hospital.

However, just as they had taken the officer into the thatched hut that served as a first-aid room, a messenger rode up on horseback, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Retreat! Retreat! The field hospital must be evacuated immediately! Lengkou has fallen, evacuate the wounded immediately!"

How could it be a cold spot?! Was that position a cold spot?

Wei Ran was startled and, without thinking about how they ended up here, looked at the other person almost simultaneously with Gao Lianggan.

"Go and pick up Guo Guanggun and Wang Bingchu."

Wei Ran spoke first, "I'll guard this officer, wait a moment."

"Village entrance!"

"Let's look around and see if we can hitch a cart with livestock," said Gaolianggan.

“Okay!” Wei Ran said, and ran into the village.

Thanks to the sorghum stalk's reminder, they could indeed get a cart—he had an animal that could pull it!

After wandering around this small mountain village where the villagers had either fled or gone to war, Wei Ran finally spotted a wooden cart with wooden wheels in a courtyard where even the door panels had been removed.

You'd better step up.
While praying silently, Wei Ran successfully retrieved the biting black horse from the metal notebook.

What surprised him most was that the horse still had a saddlebag with a grenade launcher and a Type 44 cavalry rifle hanging on it. The only thing missing was the Xuefeng sword, which was supposed to be for him but had disappeared as if it had gone back on its word.

Although he was missing a cavalry saber, Wei Ran was not dissatisfied at all. He even happily pulled out the cart and put it on the man-eating horse.

"drive!"

Wei Ran gave the reins a gentle tug, and the biting black horse immediately started pulling the cart along—even though it wasn't a draft horse.

Almost as soon as he drove the car to the only crossroads in this small mountain village, Gaolianggan'er also came running over in a mule cart that appeared out of nowhere.

The mule cart carried not only Guo Guanggun and Wang Bingchu, but also several other wounded men with leg injuries.

"go!"

Wei Ran pulled hard on the reins, steer the carriage toward the emergency room where the officer was.

However, when he ran into the emergency room, he saw that the seriously injured, one-armed officer had actually woken up.

Not only did he wake up, but while the doctor was busy cleaning his wounds, he actually pulled out a Luger P08 pistol from the empty bullet belt and the gap between his body. It was almost like a label branded on him by the Northeast Army.

"Don't let me become a burden. I'll have failed the people of Northeast China."

The officer, who had been awakened by the pain due to the lack of anesthesia, calmly looked at Wei Ran, then pressed the muzzle of his gun against his chin and decisively pulled the trigger before the doctors could stop him!

"boom!"

After the piercing gunshot, the emergency room fell silent.

"All doctors"

Wei Ran rubbed his face vigorously. "All doctors, take all the medicines and medical equipment, load them into the car, and leave immediately."

"We can't leave!"

A doctor wearing glasses, who looked to be under thirty, said, "There are still wounded."

"If you die, no wounded will receive medical treatment."

As Wei Ran spoke, he had already walked to the door panel that served as a walkie-talkie. "Whether it's soldiers or civilians, even if ten or a hundred of us die now, it's still a win if we can exchange one of you for them."

"If you survive, you can not only save ten or a hundred soldiers or civilians, but you can also teach ten or a hundred people to save even more people."

As he spoke, Wei Ran pulled out the Leica camera from his pocket, hardened his heart, pulled out the lens, and pointed it at the officer who had committed suicide. "Hurry up and load it into the car. He didn't want to be a burden, so he committed suicide. Even if we get separated from him, you must do everything you can to survive, to save people, and to teach people how to save people."

"Move the medicines and medical equipment, load them onto the truck!" the doctor ordered through gritted teeth.

Immediately, the doctors and nurses around them began to take action.

I don't even know your name yet.

Wei Ran sighed regretfully and took two quick photos of the officer who was still holding a pistol.

Wei Ran gently took the Luger P08, removed the magazine, examined it, and then clipped it to his belt.

Immediately afterwards, he took the other man's blood-stained Nine Dragons Belt and put it on himself.

Finally, he reached into the arms of the light, almost weightless corpse and pulled out a small animal skin pouch, slightly larger than his palm.

Untie the drawstring of the animal skin bag, and inside, besides a sandbag made of six different colored fabrics on each side, there is a bag containing about a dozen galaha beans that have been played with until they have developed a patina.

Clearly, this item was either a cherished possession of the officer, or perhaps his only remaining thought of home.

"It's freezing cold, and I have nowhere to bury you."

Wei Ran helped the other person close their eyes. "So I'll take this thing with me. If you have a spirit in heaven, go and stay inside for a while. After we drive away the Japanese, I'll send you back to Northeast China."

As he spoke, Wei Ran stuffed the small bag of krill and sandbag into his arms, then picked up the mangled corpse, walked out of the thatched hut, found an abandoned house and placed it in the corner, then forcefully pushed down the broken stone wall to barely cover the corpse.

When he returned, the cart pulled by his biting horse was loaded with the few remaining medicines and medical equipment of the field hospital, as well as two wounded soldiers.

Meanwhile, the doctors and even the laborers carried the wounded in pairs on stretchers.

"set off!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he pulled on the reins and followed the mule cart pulled by the sorghum stalks in front.

As the group hurriedly left the small village, several donkey carts and mule carts carrying the wounded joined them.

"If we keep running like this, we'll be caught sooner or later if we don't get help."

"We have to stop the Japanese devils," Gao Lianggan said worriedly.

"How do you plan to stop them?" Wei Ran asked.

"Let's go first and see how it goes."

As Gaolianggan spoke, he was already looking up to survey the surrounding mountain slopes.

"Let us stay here and hold off the Japanese," said Guo Guanggun, who was crammed into a mule cart with the wounded. "We'd only be a burden if we followed, and we'd just be dragging you down."

"What a load of crap!"

Sorghum Stalks snapped irritably, "Stop causing trouble! Shut your mouths! Xiao Wang, you drive the cart!"

As he spoke, he tossed the reins to Wang Bingchu, "Brother Wei Ran, you should find someone to drive the carriage too."

"Do you know?"

Wei Ran asked a laborer carrying a wounded man. "Yes, I can drive the cart," the laborer quickly replied.

"give it to you"

As Wei Ran spoke, he handed the reins to the other man, then pulled out the Mauser pistol from his waist, which was empty of bullets, and handed it to a doctor, saying bluntly, "If he dares to yell at the horse to abandon you and run away, you should kill him."

"Young man, don't look down on people."

The man driving the cart said, "My parents, my wife, and my children are all dead. Why would I run away?"

Wei Ran simply patted the other man's shoulder, then patted the man-eating horse's neck, then took off the satchel containing the grenade launcher and held it in his hand, before handing the Type 44 cavalry rifle to Gao Lianggan.

"Where did you get such a fine horse?" Gao Lianggan took the rifle, pulled back the bolt, and glanced at it.

"Where did you get this mule cart from?"

While checking the contents of the satchel, Wei Ran asked, "There are still no poison gas bombs inside."

"The mule I got in exchange for my Mauser pistol from the messenger"

After explaining, Gaoliangganer reminded him, "If you want to perform monkey tricks, do it quickly, or you'll go crazy again later."

"You've reminded me."

As Wei Ran spoke, he carried his satchel in one hand, ran a few steps to the front of the group, and stood by the roadside, repeatedly pressing the shutter button to photograph the fleeing group.

Only after he had used up all the film in the camera did he put the sorghum stalks in his pocket and return to his old haunts.

"The cold-water position has fallen."

Gao Lianggan pointed to a direction behind him, "If the Japanese invade, they will definitely chase us from that direction, so if we plan to hold them off for a while, we need to choose a good location."

"If there were really good places, we would have dug trenches and been waiting for them long ago," Wei Ran sighed.

Let's go back.

Gao Lianggan pointed behind him, "That elbow bend was almost exactly like that."

"I'll listen to you," Wei Ran said indifferently.

"We might end up here today," Gaolianggan said in advance. "It seems our bet is off."

"Not always"

Wei Ran clutched the satchel slung over his shoulder tightly. He probably couldn't hold off ten thousand men single-handedly, but he was confident he could launch a sneak attack.

"he died?"

Sorghum Stalk abruptly changed the subject, "I saw his hunchback."

"Do you know him?" Wei Ran asked.

"Yes, of course I know him."

Gao Lianggan sighed, "He was incredibly accurate with the Japanese cannons! What a pity, what a pity."

“He committed suicide,” Wei Ran sighed.

"I know, I guessed it."

Gao Lianggan shook his head, saying with great regret, "His surname is Fu, and his name is Fu Wenyao. I heard he used to be a little Taoist priest, but later, I don't know how, he joined the Northeast Army and became an officer. He was really good at using the Japanese mountain guns. Sigh!"

Do you know where he's from?

“I only heard that he was a Taoist priest from Wuliang Temple,” Gaolianggan sighed. “I don’t know anything else.”

"So he's a Taoist priest."

Wei Ran sighed, then fell silent again.

Soon, the two, who had gone in the opposite direction from the fleeing crowd, returned the way they came and passed through the village again, finally stopping at a bend in the mountain road.

"This must be the place. Beautiful mountains and rivers."

As he spoke, Gao Lianggan loaded a bullet into his rifle with a "click".

"Where is Wuliang Temple?" Wei Ran asked as he took out the grenades and lined them up.

"Liaoyang, I think it's Liaoyang."

Gao Lianggan's tone was full of uncertainty, "I've never been there."

"We'll go check it out after we drive the Japanese away," Wei Ran said confidently.

"That'll be quite a fight. Once we drive them away, could we..."

Gao Lianggan stopped halfway through his rambling and instead pulled some wild grass to cover himself.

They didn't have to wait long. In the distance, the Japanese flag appeared on the horizon. The arrogant Japanese soldiers advanced along the mountain road, getting closer and closer to the two of them.

“I can get up now,” said the sorghum stalk.

"hold on"

Wei Ran said in a low voice, "At this time, they are still four or five hundred meters away from the Japanese soldiers."

"Wei Ran, take a picture of me," Gao Lianggan suddenly said.

"Now?"

"Now"

Gao Lianggan said calmly, "Hurry up, remember to take pictures of me and the Japanese soldiers in the distance."

"Row"

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out his camera, which he had switched to with new film halfway there, and took a few shots of the sorghum stalks and the Japanese troops in the distance from a chosen angle.

"Should we put it forward again?" Gao Lianggan put his almost frozen hands inside his neck to warm them up.

"That's about it, you can ride a horse now."

As Wei Ran spoke, he also prepared to aim the grenade launcher, saying, "After you fire one shot, come over and give me the shell."

"Can you hit the mark?"

After Gao Lianggan finished speaking, he held his breath and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

As the crisp sound of gunfire echoed repeatedly through the valley, a Japanese soldier on horseback in that column also fell off his horse.

"Tom!"

Almost simultaneously, Wei Ran fired the first grenade.

Before the grenade exploded, he and Gaolianggan each grabbed a grenade without even realizing it.

"Tom!"

Wei Ran had just fired the second shot when Gao Lianggan had already shoved the third shot into the cannon barrel.

By the time the third grenade was fired, the first one had just hit the Japanese marching column and exploded, but by then, the sorghum stalks had already stuffed the fourth one in.

"Stop fighting!" Wei Ran shouted, halting Gaolianggan's attack. "Retreat quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Gaolianggan immediately grabbed his gun with one hand and the satchel containing the shells with the other. He followed Wei Ran and ran a few steps, hiding in the Japanese soldiers' blind spot, and began to climb the mountain as fast as he could.