Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei's War Journey

Chapter 83 Christmas on the Battlefield

"Damn it, it's snowing again!" Otto rubbed his hands together and exhaled a puff of white breath.

"I hate winter the most. At the blacksmith's shop, we could at least warm ourselves around the stove in winter. Here, they won't even let us light a decent campfire! Are they afraid the French will see us? Don't those Frenchmen feel cold at all?!"

Caesar gazed at the falling snowflakes, lost in thought: "In Italy, it rarely snows this heavily in winter. In Milan, at most, it only snows a little, and it doesn't even accumulate on the ground."

"My family lives in a small coastal town where it has never snowed, but when we were in the Andes Mountains, we ate snow every day." Lu Mingfei caught a snowflake in his hand and watched it melt. According to the time he had spent there, it had been half a year since he was in the Andes Mountains.

"Speaking of which, tomorrow is Christmas, isn't it?" Carl said from the side.

"Yes, tomorrow is Christmas. What kind of gifts will they give us?"

"Damn it, we're going to be stuck in the trenches for Christmas—"

"Christmas? Ha, do you think the French will refrain from shooting just because we're celebrating a holiday?"

Some of the soldiers around him were looking forward to it, while others were complaining. Christmas is very important to Westerners, equivalent to the Spring Festival, and is the most important festival of the year. If Lu Mingfei had to lie in the trench and freeze during the Spring Festival, he would also have to complain a few times.

"Alright, stop complaining. It's Christmas Eve today. I'll go to the company headquarters and see if they've prepared anything for us," Lu Mingfei said, then walked towards the company headquarters.

As he walked through a trench, he saw a huge rat with a finger in its mouth. Upon seeing the rat, Lu Mingfei immediately frowned.

Now that winter has arrived, the front lines have basically entered a temporary ceasefire, but small-scale skirmishes continue. There are still many French corpses lying in the death zone in front of them. They have no way to bury those corpses, and the French dare not come to collect them. In the end, these corpses become food for rats, which feed the rats until they are very fat.

"Damn rats." Even though they were enemy corpses, he still didn't want them to be eaten by rats. Just as he drew his gun to kill the rat, a yellow figure darted out from the other side of the trench and pounced on the rat.

"Laifu, well done," Lu Mingfei said with a smile, looking at the orange cat on the ground.

Although the previous plague was just a misunderstanding, the rats in the trenches were indeed a problem. Those rats would steal their precious food, and the lice on the rats could infect them with trench fever and typhus. So they tried to get a cat from a village specifically to catch the rats.

Later, Lu Mingfei named the orange cat Laifu, hoping that the cat could bring them good luck. Although the other people in the company did not understand why he chose this name, they were not as strong as him, so they finally decided on this name.

After the orange cat devoured the enormous rat in a few bites, it licked its blood-stained lips and paws, then walked leisurely to Lu Mingfei's feet, affectionately rubbed its head against his muddy boots, and purred contentedly.

"Good cat." Lu Mingfei squatted down and stroked the cat's head a couple of times. The orange cat's fur was shiny, obviously indicating that it was well-fed. Lu Mingfei took out a small piece of compressed biscuit from his pocket, broke it into pieces, and fed it to the cat.

"You're living a more comfortable life than any of us," he said in a low voice. The orange cat purred contentedly, circled his legs twice, and then disappeared into the shadows of the trench to continue its patrol.

Lu Mingfei straightened up and continued walking towards the company headquarters. The snow was falling even more heavily, and a thin layer of white began to accumulate on both sides of the trench. At the entrance of the semi-underground bunker where the company headquarters was located, two sentries hunched their shoulders. When they saw Lu Mingfei, they raised their hands in salute and did not dare to stop him at all.

It was much warmer inside the bunker than outside. Captain Henrik, wrapped in a thick military overcoat, frowned at a document, while charcoal burned in the tin stove next to him.

"Sergeant Hans? What's wrong? Is there a situation ahead?" Henrik looked up and immediately tensed up when he saw Lu Mingfei, afraid of hearing bad news.

"No, Captain. I came to ask about Christmas tomorrow—does the company have any plans or supplies?" Lu Mingfei asked, standing at attention.

"Oh, Christmas supplies." Captain Henrik breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Lu Mingfei's words. As long as there were no problems at the front lines, everything would be fine.

"The supplies have arrived and are in the air-raid shelter behind here. You and the soldiers can distribute them."

"It's already been delivered?" Lu Mingfei was somewhat surprised; this went more smoothly than expected.

Captain Henrik stood up and gestured for Lu Mingfei to follow: "The battalion headquarters was unusually efficient this time, probably because they know the importance of Christmas, which is crucial for the soldiers' morale."

Lu Mingfei followed Captain Henrik to the air-raid shelter at the back, which was filled with things. The most eye-catching thing was bundles of small Christmas trees made of fir branches.

In addition, there were neatly stacked supply boxes, bundles of sausages, smoked meat wrapped in oil paper, square cans of meat, and a lot more rye bread and biscuits than usual.

There were also carefully wrapped candies in paper, chocolates wrapped in tin foil, jars of jam in glass—and even several boxes of tobacco, as well as several more valuable boxes of brandy and rum with labels.

"This—" Lu Mingfei sighed softly. As expected of the Western New Year, the treatment here is indeed several levels better than usual.

"And these too." Henrik walked to another pile of items, where various packages, sacks, and bundles of letters were stacked.

"Letters and packages from soldiers' homes, letters of condolence, greeting cards, hand-knitted socks and scarves from women's associations, the Red Cross, and children from schools in the rear —"

As he spoke, he bent down and rummaged through a box marked with a special symbol, quickly pulling out several flat metal boxes.

"This is the most important part," Henrik said, handing the metal box to Lu Mingfei with a slightly solemn expression.

"His Majesty's Christmas gifts are for non-commissioned officers and outstanding soldiers. You and the other non-commissioned officers can share them."

Lu Mingfei took the box. The lid was clearly embossed with a profile portrait of Kaiser Wilhelm II, with cursive lettering below.

A gift from His Majesty the Emperor to the warriors at the front – Christmas 1915.

He opened one, revealing a neatly arranged row of fine cigars, exuding a rich tobacco aroma.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty," Lu Mingfei said calmly, placing the cigar box aside. His tone revealed little excitement; expecting him to be grateful to the so-called emperor over a pack of cigarettes was simply a pipe dream.

Henrik glanced at him, leaned closer, and shoved a long, rectangular bottle wrapped in thick cloth into Lu Mingfei's hand, lowering his voice to say, "This—was given to me privately by the battalion headquarters. It's real champagne, very high quality. Consider it an extra reward for your platoon's hard work these past few days. But be careful not to let the other platoons know; this is the only bottle I have."

Lu Mingfei weighed the rather heavy bottle in his hand; he could feel the coldness of the glass even through the cloth. He nodded: "Understood, thank you, Captain."

Henrik seemed finally relieved and patted Lu Mingfei on the sturdy shoulder: "Go, distribute the food so that everyone—at least tonight—can have a slightly better time. But drink in moderation and don't cause any trouble."

"Understood." Lu Mingfei nodded and began calling the soldiers outside to come in and move supplies.

When Lu Mingfei led several soldiers from the third platoon back to the defense zone, carrying, hugging, and dragging boxes of supplies of various sizes and that bundle of emerald green fir branches, the commotion caused far exceeded expectations.

Especially those small Christmas trees simply tied with fir branches and adorned with a few pieces of tinfoil, though rudimentary, their green hue stood out starkly against the gray and muddy trenches, making them all the more precious.

"My God! It's a Christmas tree! Real green!" Carl was the first to exclaim. He almost rushed to the bundle of fir branches, his hands trembling as he gently stroked the vibrant needles, his eyes instantly welling up with tears.

"Look! So much meat! Sausages! And canned goods!" Otto's voice was the loudest. He picked up a heavy bundle of sausages, sniffing the long-lost aroma of fat and smoked meat, his Adam's apple bobbing violently.

"Sugar! Chocolate! Jam! My God—and alcohol?!" Several veterans gathered around, their eyes fixed on the boxes of liquor with foreign labels, swallowing hard.

The supplies from the rear were carefully passed around and read. The letters were written in children's childish handwriting, and the greeting cards had crooked Christmas trees drawn on them. The soldiers also received simple knitwear made by the Women's Association, as well as some socks and scarves.

These acts of kindness from strangers in the rear carried the distant scent of peaceful life. Many tough men who were usually ruthless and foul-mouthed showed indescribable tenderness and complex emotions in their eyes as they held these insignificant little things.

What was even more touching were the letters and packages from home. When they received letters with their own names on them or packages from their hometowns, many soldiers' eyes immediately welled up with tears. Some even squatted down in the mud and snow, their shoulders shaking, and began to sob softly.

The thin letter paper, a few snacks from home, or a pair of thick socks sewn by mother all carry a heavy weight of longing and concern.

Lu Mingfei immediately organized Otto and several reliable soldiers to begin distributing other supplies in an orderly manner. Food was distributed fairly according to the number of people. He kept a box of the emperor's cigars for himself and Caesar, and gave the rest to Otto and several other wounded veterans.

The soldiers carefully planted small fir branches in the trenches, turning them into a green line. Some fir branches were even decorated with empty shell casings, colorful strips of cloth, or even candy wrappers.

The atmosphere in the trenches subtly changed because of the generous Christmas gifts; complaints decreased, and whispers were filled with a warm anticipation.

The soldiers huddled together, sharing food, passing around greeting cards, whispering about Christmas customs from their hometowns, and some even began playing off-key "Silent Night" on their harmonicas.

Lu Mingfei and Caesar leaned against the trench, watching the soldiers talk. They felt a little out of place because neither of them had received any letters or packages from their families, since their families were not in this time and space.

The words of encouragement that came in the letters and greeting cards from the rear were not for them. They were not fighting for the country; they were fighting to survive. They were, after all, just passing through.

"Come on, have some champagne, the one you've been craving." Lu Mingfei pulled out the bottle of premium champagne that Captain Henrik had given him.

"Aren't we going to give them any?" Caesar asked, looking at the bottle of champagne with some surprise.

"Let's have a little first, and then we can share the rest. Consider it a little selfish of mine," Lu Mingfei said with a smile, then opened the champagne and poured a glass for himself and Caesar.

"To our friendship, and I hope we can both get back alive," Lu Mingfei said, raising his glass.

"To our friendship—we will definitely make it back alive."

The two clinked glasses.

>