Zhu Tian: Beginning to Cross the Changjin Lake

Chapter 5 The Seventh Company’s Stabilizing Force!
Yu Congrong, who was bragging to his comrades not far away, heard this and was afraid that Lei Gong would expose his scandal, so he shouted quickly: "Lei Gong! I didn't offend you!"

Lei Gong chuckled, stopped talking, and handed the pipe filled with tobacco to Li Guotao.

"Ahem~!"

Li Guotao took a sip and coughed twice due to choking.

"Is that tobacco? Could it be leaves that came from somewhere? That's too pungent."

Lei Gong snatched the pipe and said, "If you don't know how to smoke, don't waste my tobacco."

Li Guotao smiled and said, "The air in this carriage is not circulating. With so many of you smoking, the smoke smell is too strong."

"I was thinking, if I smoked, I probably wouldn't mind the fumes. This is called fighting poison with poison."

Lei Gong smiled and said, "Learn slowly, and you will get used to it after a while."

Li Guotao asked: "Thunder God, were you afraid when you first went to the battlefield?"

Lei Gong's body suddenly stiffened. It took him a while to bring the pipe to his lips and take a deep puff.

"If you crawled out of a pile of dead bodies and looked at the bodies of your loved ones, would you still be afraid?"

"That happened more than ten years ago. The Japanese raided the village and massacred the entire village. I was the only one who crawled out from the pile of dead bodies."

"I wasn't afraid at the time. I only felt hatred and anger. I only wanted to take revenge on the Japanese! So I joined the Eighth Route Army."

"At that time, I was about the same age as Wu Qianli is now. When I first went to the battlefield, I was braver than anyone else. I thought that if I could kill a little Japanese soldier, it would be revenge. Even if I died, I would be reunited with my family."

Even though more than ten years have passed since the incident, the grief and hatred in Lei Gong's heart are still beyond words.

Li Guotao could not help but curse: "The Japanese are so cruel and inhumane, they all deserve to die!"

"And those big-nosed foreigners are no good either!"

"Only when we subdue them and scare them away will they stop bullying us and we can live in peace."

Lei Gong smiled and nodded, saying, "That makes sense."

Lei Gong had the longest seniority in the Seventh Infiltration Company. He joined the Eighth Route Army before the Seventh Company was established. Later, when the Seventh Company was established, he became one of the first soldiers of the company, numbered 17. Since then, he has stayed in the Seventh Company.

The soldiers of the Seventh Company have been replaced batch after batch, but Lei Gong has remained as unshakable as Mount Tai and has become the stabilizer of the Seventh Company.

Lei Gong not only has the longest seniority, but is also the oldest, already in his early forties.

Most of the soldiers in the Seventh Company were as old as his sons, and he cared for the soldiers in the Seventh Company as if they were his sons.

That's why the soldiers affectionately call him Lei Dad, Lei Dad!
At this time Wu Wanli suddenly came over. This kid hadn't slept all night and I don't know where he got so much energy.

"Platoon leader, you have been in the army for so long, how come you are still a platoon leader? They say my eldest brother and second brother were both trained by you, and my second brother is now a company commander."

Thunder God hit Wu Wanli on the head in anger and cursed: "You little bastard, you know nothing!"

At this time, Yu Congrong came over with a smile and said, "You don't know this! With our Lei Gong's military exploits, if everything is normal, he should at least be the head of the regiment now."

"A few years ago, Lei Gong was the company commander of our Seventh Company, and he will be promoted to battalion commander soon."

"We just happened to catch the Japanese surrendering. We took over a Japanese stronghold, and dozens of Japanese soldiers all laid down their weapons and surrendered."

"The Thunder God was so angry that he killed them all, and that's why he kept killing them all."

“Go, go, go~!”

Lei Gong said unhappily, "You can be seen everywhere, right?"

Yu Congrong chuckled and said, "Our Lei Gong is a real man, a real hero. I think that although this is a violation of discipline, it is not shameful."

Seeing Lei Gong raising his pipe to hit someone, Yu Congrong was so scared that he ran away quickly.

Lei Gong took a puff of his pipe and spoke slowly: "I know those little devils. At least a few of them participated in the massacre in our village! I can recognize them even if they turned into ashes." "Back then, I was young and hot-tempered. I killed them all in a rage."

"It can be considered as revenge for all the men in the village!"

"If my son and daughter were still alive, they would be the same age as you."

When Lei Gong said this, he couldn't help but feel his old eyes turn red and his nose turn sour.

Li Guotao consoled him: "Thunder Lord, all the soldiers in our Seventh Company are your sons."

Lei Gong smiled with relief. Not being able to protect his children and relatives back then was the biggest regret in his life.

He has long regarded these soldiers of the Seventh Company as his own sons, and is doing his best to protect the safety of these children.

In fact, although I violated the discipline that time, I was punished.

However, in the past few years, his superiors have wanted to promote Lei Gong several times, but Lei Gong himself was unwilling to leave the Seventh Company. He insisted on staying in the Seventh Company, saying that he was old and opportunities should be left to young people, and was willing to be a platoon leader.

After a while, Meisheng suddenly came over.

Li Guotao said, "Instructor, you said before that you taught yourself English."

"Ok!"

Meisheng nodded.

Li Guotao continued, "We are about to go to the battlefield, you should teach us."

Meisheng smiled and said, "That's right. Anyway, we can't do anything on the train. We can take this opportunity to learn some simple English. It will definitely be useful on the battlefield."

Then Meisheng really called everyone over to learn English together.

"What should I learn first?"

Li Guotao said loudly: "Instructor, please teach us one sentence first."

"what?"

"Surf the gun and don't kill!"

"Yes, yes, yes! Just learning this one sentence is enough!" Others also shouted.

Meisheng thought about it, smiled and said, "Okay! Then I will teach you this sentence first."

"Surrender your weapons and you will not be killed! In English, it means..."

"Lay down your arms and we'll spare your lives!"

I have to say that Meisheng's self-taught English is not really standard and has a Shanghai accent, but it is still barely understandable.

As a time traveler, Li Guotao also learned English. Although his grades were not very good at that time, he still had some basic knowledge, so it was much easier to learn it.

But Yu Congrong had no foundation at all, and after hearing this, his head became twice as big.

"What is this? Just four words, surrender your weapons and you won't be killed? Is that such a long string? It sounds like a chicken crowing. That's how all those foreign devils talk!"

"Haha~!"

The soldiers couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Mei Sheng said unhappily, "Be serious, everyone. Study hard. It will be useful on the battlefield."

"Yes!"

Everyone immediately became quiet.

(End of this chapter)