The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 897 Departure
All the departments and companies resounded the slogan of "strike while the iron is hot" and actively participated in preparations for another battle, with everyone striving to make new contributions in the battle.

The director of the political department of the 340th Regiment suffered from appendicitis and was sent to the military field hospital for surgery. He should have stayed in the rear to rest, but he thought that this minor illness was nothing and should not delay the battle, so he was determined not to stay in the hospital. Finally, he got approval from his leaders and moved forward with the troops on a stretcher.

The cadres' desire to fight had a great impact on the soldiers.

Before leaving, Xia Yuan went to visit Zhou Mao. He was recuperating well in the hospital. The hospital had sufficient supplies and the wounded had all the nutrition they needed.

"Platoon leader, are you ready to leave?" Looking at Xia Yuan's posture, Zhou Mao vaguely guessed something.

"Well, if you rest well in the hospital and heal your injuries, you will have done a great job." Xia Yuan calmed him down, gave him some instructions, and then left with his men.

Zhou Mao looked at Xia Yuan's back, his eyes filled with tears.

The mountains are high and steep, covered with snow.

The mountain trails are even less populated.

Most of the soldiers in the third company had just rushed to the front line from the country. Due to the heavy casualties among the front-line combat troops, the army urgently supplemented some of the troops transferred to the rear. As for those troops with more than half of their casualties, they were still continuing to advance towards the 38th parallel.

Many of the soldiers were from the south. It was their first time seeing such a snowy scene and they were so shocked that they were speechless.

The Korean fellow who led the way pointed in a direction and talked for a while. Zhao the translator said, "Go straight in this direction and you will reach the 38th parallel. However, there are many forks on this road, so you should just follow it."

When each unit first entered the Korean War, it was accompanied by translators. Later, when the troops came into contact with the enemy, the translators on the front line were gradually transferred back to the divisions or armies.

As a result, translator Zhao was transferred back to the division and later to the army. They thought that with the end of the second battle, they would have a rest for a while, but they did not expect that the third battle would come right after the second one.

Not long after they arrived at the military headquarters, they received the news that they were setting off with the reinforcement company.

Translator Zhao met Xia Yuan at the previous commendation meeting and was sad for a long time when he learned that the Third Company was almost wiped out. After receiving the news that he was accompanying the troops in the attack, he planned to continue with the Third Company.

Xia Yuan agreed and set off with a North Korean guide.

He came all the way from the Yalu River to the military headquarters to attend a commendation meeting and then to recruit soldiers. It only took three days. The whole of North Korea had entered deep winter, the climate was extremely cold, and heavy snow was falling from the sky.

A thin layer of snow fell on the muzzles of the guns on the soldiers' backs, and some soldiers from the south were shivering with cold.

The climate in the south is humid and cold, and it should be colder, but because of water and soil issues, people feel cold when they go from the south to the north, and vice versa.

It is normal for people to be afraid of cold.

The snow on the ground made a creaking sound when I stepped on it. From time to time, the roar of fighter planes could be heard from the distant sky, and the buzzing sound floated through the valley.

"The American devils' fighter planes. Some time ago, when I was in the army, I kept hearing about the American devils' planes flying by. It seemed that when they first entered North Korea, the American devils' fighter planes were not so rampant." Translator Zhao was an old acquaintance of Xia Yuan. They had experienced life and death together.

"Air supremacy is in the hands of the enemy. There's nothing we can do." Xia Yuan shook his head and signaled everyone to keep moving forward.

In order not to give the enemy a chance to breathe, they must speed up and reach the front line.

At this moment, the 12th Army took a brief rest in Kaesong and Samsoli areas, and planned to set out from the local area on December 12, braving the severe cold and treading on the snow, and marching a long distance to the th parallel.

In order to find out the enemy's situation, the army formed a reconnaissance detachment with the army's reconnaissance company and the reconnaissance companies of each division and took the lead.

The army also called the 114th Division and asked them to form an advance group with the 342nd Regiment's artillery company and reconnaissance company, with Deputy Division Commander Song Hongwen as the head and Shiba Chuanruo from the Army's Political Propaganda Department as the temporary secretary.
Shibachuan Ruo, sitting in the jeep, rushed to the 114th Division and further conveyed the instructions of the army commander: if encountering a small number of enemies, act according to the situation, annihilate part of the enemy, find out the situation, and if encountering a small number of enemies, annihilate all of them. After the advance regiment was ready, it set out for the 38th parallel three days ahead of the main force.

As the year drew to a close, the Korean Wave swept across the Korean Peninsula and the weather suddenly became extremely cold.

Heavy snow covered the 3,000-mile land of North Korea.

The 38th parallel was covered in snow. The mountains, trees, grass, fields, roads, huts and ruins were all wrapped in ice and snow.

In the sunlight, the earth was sparkling with silver light, making it impossible to open one's eyes. Only the gurgling rivers and streams were inlaid with transparent ice, flashing green light, appearing even clearer and brighter.

On this clear and pure day, the land north of the 38th parallel returned to the hands of the Korean people, and the Korean people and the Chinese People's Volunteers happily walked on the snow towards the 38th parallel.

After the second battle, the 112th Division seized a lot of coffee. The soldiers complained that the coffee was bitter and unpalatable. When Yang Dayi saw the dazzling snow, he was worried about having nothing to use as a road sign, so he said:

"If it doesn't taste good, use it as a road sign."

The silver road is printed with brown, which makes it very clear at a glance.

Maybe if Americans see this, they will say that they are country bumpkins, using coffee to make a road sign is too extravagant. But we should really thank the Americans for putting it to good use.

The road after the snow was very difficult to walk on. Even for the third company that had just been reinforced from the rear, their shoes were soaked and stuck to their feet with coldness as they walked along.

In order to prevent the soldiers' feet from freezing, Xia Yuan called on the newly formed D branch to use blankets to make socks and make a few more pairs of socks for everyone to wear.

He also asked the soldiers to use some mud and smear it on the bags under their eyes and the tip of their noses. In this way, when looking at the vast expanse of white, they would not be easily susceptible to snow blindness. Some soldiers from the south had never seen snow and were easily susceptible to snow blindness.

The further we went, the more enemy planes we detected, and we could encounter them almost four or five times a day.

They walked and hid, and finally arrived near Tokugawa. Tokugawa was in tatters after the Great War. There was only one military logistics company left in Tokugawa. This place was also a place for storing supplies. The supplies seized from the front line were stored in the mountains around Tokugawa.

"Hello, comrades."

Passing through Tokugawa, Xia Yuan led the third company in for simple supplies.

Comrades from the logistics department came to visit the third company. Nowadays, all the troops have gone to the front line to fight, and few troops pass through Tokugawa. If they do pass by, it is enemy planes that fly over and bomb Tokugawa.

After the bombing by the American devils and the previous war, Tokugawa was basically reduced to ruins. The captured supplies were placed in the mountains and fields around Tokugawa and transported to the rear bit by bit.

After exchanging pleasantries with the logistics comrades, I replenished some food before leaving, rested for a while, and then set off again.

At this time, the troops on the front line were advancing towards the 38th parallel. Due to the poor living conditions in the company and the continuous fighting, they had no access to oil and vegetables for a long time. Many soldiers had contracted night blindness and fell many times during the march at night.

Gao Dezheng, known as the 'old model', can be said to be the oldest soldier. He is a cook in the second battalion of the 57th regiment. He is ten years older than Lao Liu and is years old. In the blink of an eye, he will be sixty years old.

On weekdays, he was very responsible in his work, never wasted a grain of food, and always lived his life as if it were revolution. Therefore, his comrades affectionately called him "Old Model". If the United States had not launched the Korean War of Aggression, he would have returned home to enjoy a peaceful life after the founding of New China.

When he heard that the war had reached the Yalu River, he insisted on continuing to serve and went to the Korean battlefield with the troops to win glory for his country.

Gao Dezheng never admitted to getting old. He always carried the luggage and never fell behind.

Now, marching at night was very difficult for him. His eyes were blurry due to his old age and he suffered from night blindness, so he could not see the road clearly. So he held on to the corners of other people's clothes, carried the load and continued to move forward with the team.

When we arrived at the camp, we put down our burdens and started looking for firewood, making a fire and cooking, as if we had never known fatigue or exhaustion.

Under his leadership, the young soldiers became more energetic.

There was constant laughter and singing on the march. Some troops even set up propaganda teams. They used cans as musical instruments, made their own huqin, and even beat the enemy's helmets as instruments. They wrote and performed various propaganda lyrics, as well as some embarrassments made by the American devils, which made the soldiers laugh.

Enemy reconnaissance planes were more frequent than in the past, bombing and strafing north of the "38th Parallel" all day long, attempting to create a no-man's land north of the 38th Parallel to consolidate their lifeline.

The towns through which the volunteers passed were almost turned into scorched earth, and their names could only be found on maps.

Xia Yuan led the third company and advanced southward with the villagers. They clearly felt that the enemy aircraft reconnaissance was becoming more frequent. The guide pointed in the distance and told Zhao the translator about it.

Translator Zhao said, "Go in that direction and you'll reach the 38th parallel."

"Thank my fellow villagers for me."

"it is good."

After expressing his gratitude, the fellow villager excitedly shook Xia Yuan's hand. Zhao the translator translated on the side: "Don't thank me. This is what I should do. If anyone needs to thank you, it should be me. You came to our country, helped us fight, and sacrificed so many people. I just showed you the way."

The words of the fellow villager also aroused the fighting spirit of a group of soldiers who had just arrived in Korea, and they wished they could kill more American devils on the battlefield.

"We are all family!" Xia Yuan told him.

After seeing off the villagers, they camped in a ravine. Xia Yuan sent a combat team to find out the situation from the nearby residents. However, after they entered the village, they couldn't find it after searching for a long time. It turned out that a company of Li's puppet troops was stationed in the village during the day, and when they escaped in the evening, they arrested and massacred the Korean people here.

The village was littered with the bodies of ordinary North Koreans.

The soldiers were filled with rage at the sight of the old men, children, and young women. This scene reminded them of the former China, which had also suffered from the devastation of war.

Less than two hours after the bandits escaped, enemy planes came to bomb the village again. Some houses were still burning. Finally, they found an independent house on the edge of the village.

Xia Yuan went forward and knocked on the door, but it was closed tightly and there was a block from the inside. He knocked gently a few more times, but there was still no movement from inside.

Everyone was puzzled. Someone said to himself, "No one is there? Why is there someone inside?"

Xia Yuan said: "Perhaps they thought we were puppet soldiers, so they were scared and dared not speak out. The whole village was massacred by the puppet soldiers."

Some soldiers clenched their fists and said, "Damn puppet troops! When I get to the battlefield, I will kill as many enemies as possible to avenge the people of this village."

Zhao the translator stepped forward and said in Korean: "Fellow countrymen, we are the People's Volunteer Army. Don't be afraid. We came to Korea to drive out the enemy."

There was silence in the room for a long time. Then a white-haired old lady opened the door and asked the soldiers to go in and sleep. Besides the old lady, there was a little girl of five or six years old. There was nothing in the room, and the walls were bare.

Xia Yuan sighed, took out the American candy he had seized from his pocket, and squatted down. "This is candy. It's very sweet. Eat it."

The little girl was a little afraid of Xia Yuan and stood timidly behind the old lady.

The old lady sighed and told the volunteers, with Zhao the translator translating: "The enemy was still there yesterday and killed many people in the village. The girl's parents were killed by the enemy. They hid in the cellar behind the house and were lucky not to be discovered by the enemy."

"They are all miserable people." Xia Yuan stuffed the candy into the old lady's hand and stopped disturbing them. He spread the grass on the ground in the outer room and went to sleep.

Suddenly, the anti-aircraft sentry outside fired a gun, followed by enemy planes diving and strafing, and the buzzing sound echoed throughout the valley.

Several soldiers hurriedly helped the old lady pack up her things and hid on the hillside with the children. When everyone was hidden, enemy planes dropped bombs crazily in the village, then turned around, flew into the towering sky, and disappeared.

When everyone turned around, they saw that the detached house was on fire. The enemy did not even spare the last house.

The old lady looked at the destroyed house with tears in her eyes.

The soldiers hated the brutal beasts of American imperialism even more.

In a ravine near the 38th parallel, the scene is quite different.

This is a small red base established by the Second Corps of the People's Army behind enemy lines. This excellent armed force of the Korean people once fought in the Nakdong River at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula and liberated a large area of ​​Korean territory.

After the U.S. troops landed in Incheon, when they retreated to the area near the 38th parallel, the enemy had already crossed the 38th parallel, invaded Pyongyang, and advanced toward the Chongchon River and Yalu River.

Together with the masses here, they carried out guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines in the central region.

During the second battle, they destroyed roads and bridges behind enemy lines and cooperated with the main force in the front line. When the US and Lee's puppet troops retreated from the Cheongcheon River, they blocked them and taught the enemy a severe lesson.

Now they heard that the troops were coming, and that there was the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, which was really doubly gratifying, and they were all extremely happy.

They put up signs that read, 'Warmly welcome the Chinese People's Volunteer Army! '

They also mobilized the people to vacate their houses, boil water and cook meals to welcome the Chinese People's Volunteer Army.

Later, the volunteer army came here and joined forces with the People's Army. Although they were two countries, they were better than one family.