War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1976 Three Incense

Gasping for breath, Wei Ran and Gao Lianggan managed to climb to the top of the mountain before the Japanese soldiers could get around the bend.

How many bullets do you have left?

Wei Ran asked while adjusting the range of the grenade launcher.

"44 shots"

Gao Lianggan answered breathlessly. Although he was about the same height as Wei Ran, his physical strength was far inferior to his. The frantic climb to the top of the mountain had left him completely out of breath.

"Don't rush to fire, help me load the shells."

As Wei Ran spoke, he made some estimations about the area below the mountain.

After firing four shells, he only had 20 high-explosive shells left in his satchel.

A moment later, he called to Gaolianggan to take a few steps back and hide on the other side of the ridge, only revealing his eyes to spy on the Japanese soldiers at the elbow bend below the mountain.

At this point, the Japanese soldiers had forced the Mongol and Moss traitors to take the lead and continue advancing.

Because of the attack, the Japanese officers who were originally on horseback dismounted and mingled with the Japanese soldiers, even handing their swords to the Japanese soldiers who were treated like livestock.

These Japanese soldiers were far more difficult to deal with than the later Japanese soldiers, and even more so than the Japanese soldiers in movies and TV dramas.

Wei Ran gave himself a fairly objective assessment, but at the same time, he didn't hesitate to put a burst-explosive grenade into the cannon barrel and aim at the Japanese soldiers below the mountain from a height of less than 5 degrees, almost parallel to the mountain road.

"Tom!"

The moment the first grenade was fired, Gaolianggan, who was already prepared, inserted the second one.

This time, however, Wei Ran did not rush to press the firing lever. Instead, he waited until the first grenade hit the mountainside not far from the mountain road before slightly moving the grenade he was holding and pressing the firing lever again.

"Tom!"

After the second grenade was fired, Gao Lianggan immediately loaded the third grenade, and Wei Ran immediately pressed down the firing lever again to fire it.

After firing three grenades in a row, Wei Ran immediately told the sorghum stalks to move laterally along the ridgeline, narrowly dodging the grenades thrown by the Japanese soldiers.

"That's good. We should have set up a position here in the first place."

Gao Lianggan looked at the grenades being thrown haphazardly from behind and said with great amusement.

"no"

Wei Ran shook his head, "The Japanese haven't climbed up yet. There are so many of them, and this ridgeline is so long."

Once they climb up, even if there are positions here, we won't be able to hold them.

"Ugh!"

Sorghum Stalk angrily slapped a rock, "What do we do next?"

"Wait"

Wei Ran, who was still running along the ridgeline, said, "The Japanese won't send a plane for the two of us. At most, they'll send men up the mountain to chase us. When they cross the ridgeline, you should shoot them and make them fall to the foot of the mountain on this side."

"That's it!"

Gao Lianggan immediately understood Wei Ran's plan; to put it bluntly, it was just to attract the Japanese soldiers' attention.

Having barely run a hundred meters, Wei Ran set up a grenade launcher again. After inserting a shell into a sorghum stalk, he ignored the Japanese soldiers climbing the mountain under the cover of machine gun fire and fired another grenade towards the winding mountain road.

"boom!"

When the grenade exploded in the middle of the mountain road and took away a circle of Japanese corpses, the advancing Japanese troops had to stop again.

"go!"

Wei Ran, however, did not linger in battle. Carrying his grenade launcher, he continued to advance along the ridgeline and sorghum stalks to create distance.

"boom!"

As Wei Ran raised the grenade launcher once again, Gao Lianggan also half-squatted down, raised his cavalry rifle with only four bullets left, and pulled the trigger at the first Japanese soldier who had crossed the ridgeline.

After that shot, the Japanese soldier who had just rushed to the top of the mountain and hadn't even had a chance to raise his gun clutched his chest and rolled down the mountainside like a ball.

"Tom!"

At this moment, Wei Ran also fired a second grenade, still aimed at the mountain road at the foot of the other side of the mountain.

"boom!"

As another grenade was fired, Gaolianggan pulled the trigger and fired a second bullet, sending the second Japanese soldier tumbling down.

"go!"

Wei Ran called out and urged Gao Lianggan to run with him along the ridgeline again.

But as Wei Ran just explained, as more and more Japanese soldiers climbed up the ridge, the number of bullets hitting them also increased.

Clinging to the sorghum stalk that had narrowly escaped being hit by a bullet, Wei Ran took cover behind a jagged rock, retreated a short distance, and then set up the grenade launcher again, saying, "This is our last chance, sorghum stalk. Should I bomb the Japanese soldiers on the mountaintop, or the ones on the other side of the mountain path?"

"It's on a mountain road, do you even need to ask?"

Without a second thought, Gao Lianggan said that there were only two bullets left in the gun in his hand.

"Then let's go to the other side," Wei Ran said, slightly moving the cannon muzzle and pressing the trigger.

"Tom!"

"boom!"

After the grenade was fired, Wei Ran listened intently for a moment, then slightly moved the cannon muzzle. With the help of the sorghum stalks, he ignored the approaching Japanese soldiers and fired shell after shell toward the mountain road on the other side.

"boom!"

Just then, a gunshot rang out from the foot of the mountain, echoing repeatedly through the valley.

It was with this gunshot that a cloud of blood burst from the thigh of the Japanese soldier closest to them, who then screamed and rolled down the mountainside.

"boom!"

The second gunshot that followed was completely different from the grenade that Wei Ran fired at the other side of the mountain road.

"boom!"

When the grenade exploded on the other side of the mountain, Wei Ran and Gao Lianggan seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding with the people sniping the Japanese at the foot of the mountain.

Before Wei Ran could even load the next grenade into the cannon barrel and fire, a series of dense gunshots echoed repeatedly from the foot of the mountain!
As if struck by a sudden inspiration, Wei Ran immediately moved the muzzle of the grenade launcher toward the target and quickly turned the range adjustment wheel.

"Tom!"

Wei Ran fired a burst grenade at the Japanese soldiers who were right next to him, using the boulder that served as cover.

With the continuous "sweeping" fire from the foot of the mountain, the Japanese soldiers who had just crossed the ridge retreated to the other side.

Knowing he couldn't stay any longer, Wei Ran fired another grenade towards the ridge, then slung the slightly hot grenade over his shoulder, grabbed his saddlebag and the sorghum stalks that had just run out of ammunition, and ran as fast as he could towards the foot of the mountain.

However, the hillside was too steep, and they couldn't run more than a few steps before their legs gave way.

Just then, the Japanese soldiers on the mountaintop behind them either pulled the trigger or threw grenades at them.

"Pfft!"

Completely out of control, Wei Ran finally lost his footing and tumbled down the mountainside, just like the sorghum stalks.

At this point, all he could do was retrieve all the grenades from his saddlebag and the grenade launcher from his hand before they were thrown out of his bag. In this relentless tumbling, the distance between Wei Ran and the sorghum stalks grew ever wider, while the Japanese soldiers overhead seemed to have assumed they were dead from gunshot wounds and did not charge down.

Finally, feeling like his whole body was about to fall apart, Wei Ran spun around in the air for a moment and then crashed into a patch of thick, remaining snow at the bottom of the ravine.

Before losing consciousness, he saw a child who was only about ten years old, a donkey with baskets on both sides next to him, and a string of firecrackers swinging beside the baskets.

I also saw a man holding a Type 38 rifle and loading it with bullets.

It's them!
It's Zhao Shouxian and Wen Laoga!

What are they doing here?!

Before Wei Ran could figure out the problem, he saw the sorghum stalks rolling down as well, and then everything went black and he lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying on a cart.

Beside him lay sorghum stalks, which he could even feel. Between the two of them, there seemed to be several guns hidden.

With great effort, I turned my head to look at the front of the vehicle. All I could see was a donkey's black and white rump and a steaming donkey dung ball squeezed out of its rump.

He also saw Wen Laoga holding a pipe and Zhao Shouxian holding a whip.

Although it was only their backs, the two side-opening twenty-shot guns crossed at Wen Laoga's waist and the three-shot box gun at Zhao Shouxian's waist made him absolutely certain that he could not have mistaken them for someone else.

"Now."

Wei Ran asked in a hoarse voice, "How is the situation now?"

"you're awake?"

Wen Laoga was the first to react, turning around in surprise to look at Wei Ran.

"Where is this...where is this?"

Wei Ran asked again, "What day is it?"

They're fleeing south.

Wen Laoga sighed, "Grain Rain is just a few days away. You two are lucky. Although you didn't break any bones, you did hit your heads. I never thought one of you would wake up."

"Xixi Peak Pass".

Sorghum Stalks also woke up at this moment, and asked weakly, "Was Xifengkou defended?

When the question was asked, the look of surprise on Wen Laoga's face disappeared, replaced by a serious expression of depression. Meanwhile, Zhao Shouxian, sitting on the other side, had tears streaming down his face, which was also starting to tighten.

"Did you hold Xifengkou?" Gaolianggan asked weakly again.

"We couldn't hold on."

Wen Laoga said guiltily, "Xifengkou has been lost. The 29th Army... the 29th Army failed to hold Xifengkou. The Japanese... the Japanese are about to enter the pass."

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Gao Lianggan pounded the cart floor with his fists, his eyes wide open, the bloodshot veins staining the whites of his eyes red, and even pink tears of blood flowing from the corners of his eyes.

"You can still see Xifengkou from the watchtower on that mountain ahead."

Wen Laoga said, "If you two are able to move, and if you're willing, then go take a look. After that... sigh!"

"Go, go take a look!"

Gao Lianggan struggled to sit up, but only managed to sit up halfway before uncontrollably collapsing to the side of the car and starting to vomit.

Wei Ran sighed. "It's a concussion."

“I’ll go,” Wei Ran said. “I’ll take a look for you.”

"Take this, take this."

Gao Lianggan reached into his coat and rummaged around, finally pulling out the Icanta and handing it to Wei Ran, saying, "Take a picture of it."

"You are not"

“He returned it to me,” Gao Lianggan said, waving his hand.

“My uncle has difficulty walking, let me take you up,” Zhao Shouxian said.

"Okay, then take me up there and have a look."

As Wei Ran spoke, he tried to sit up. Seeing that his body had no adverse effects other than hunger, he got out of the car, grabbed his camera, and followed Zhao Shouxian, who had pulled out his Mauser pistol, along the winding path to the top of the mountain.

"That's Xifengkou over there."

Zhao Shouxian pointed to the distant mountains with the three-box weapon in his hand, which still seemed a bit too big for him.

"How did you get here?" Wei Ran asked a question that had nothing to do with the distant pass.

“My uncle injured his leg, and my parents are gone. He originally planned to take me to the Northeast to find the Anti-Japanese United Army and fight the Japanese together.”

Zhao Shouxian sighed, "We were heading north when we ran into you in the ravine."

The Japanese soldiers chased us for several days, and we had no choice but to run south. The day before yesterday, we heard from other refugees that Xifengkou had fallen, so we dared not stop.

"Let me take a picture of you later."

Wei Ran withdrew his gaze, quickened his pace slightly, and followed Zhao Shouxian up the mountaintop, entering the long-abandoned watchtower.

Right next to the watchtower, Wei Ran used a sorghum stalk to take a picture of Zhao Shouxian with his camera, using the distant Xifengkou as a backdrop.

Then, using the overgrown watchtower as a backdrop, he took a photo in the direction of Xifengkou in the distance.

"Take this to your Uncle Gao."

Wei Ran handed the camera he had put away to Zhao Shouxian, saying, "I'll just have a smoke here and then go down."

"Then be careful, don't fall again."

Zhao Shouxian, who seemed to have matured a lot in just a few days, gave a word of advice out of concern before carrying the precious camera down the mountain.

"Ugh"

Wei Ran shook his head, walked into the watchtower, and successfully retrieved the large telescope.

By setting it up and aiming it at Xifengkou in the distance, Wei Ran could even see the hemorrhoid flag hanging on the nearest watchtower, and vaguely make out the Japanese soldiers standing guard with guns under the flag.

Unfortunately, they were too far apart. All he could do was take out his Leica camera, bring the lens to the eyepiece of the telescope, and try to press the shutter button on something in the distance.

As for whether or not a shot can be taken, and whether it can be taken clearly, at this moment, it all depends on fate.

"This fire is going to eventually reach the Great Wall. I wonder if the girl Guo Guanggun likes will survive this disaster."

As Wei Ran muttered to himself, he took out a cigarette case, pulled out three cigarettes, lit them, and tucked them into the crack between the bricks.

These three sticks of incense are for those like Fu Wenyao, and for the folk doctor Brother Zhao, and are the only tribute to those compatriots whose bodies were not even buried in time.

Without wasting much time, he aimed his binoculars at the lone donkey cart down the mountain and observed it for a while. Then he brought the camera lens to the eyepiece again and pressed the shutter on the bewildered and helpless soldiers on the cart—in the intense white light.

"I don't know how many more battles you will have to fight, or who will survive in the end."

Wei Ran muttered wearily, letting the white light engulf the people below the mountain, and letting it engulf him as well.

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