Chapter 26 Reinforcements
The French continued to attack Lu Mingfei and his men, but each attack by the French could only reoccupy the front trenches, which would probably be recaptured by Lu Mingfei and his men in a few hours.
Soldiers from both sides continued to engage in a seesaw battle on this front, with soldiers constantly falling down, dyeing every inch of land red. There was a corpse on almost every meter of land between the trenches of both sides.
Lu Mingfei and his men dragged back the bodies of the soldiers that were closer, and threw them into a bomb crater nearby for burial. They were powerless to do anything about the bodies that were farther away, and could only wait for the French or their own artillery fire to bury them.
The corpses began to rot, maggots grew on them, and their stomachs swelled up. The gases produced by the decay in their bodies continued to be discharged from them, like burping or farting.
When the wind blew, the gases would drift towards the trenches of Lu Mingfei and his men. This mixture of chloroform and rotting corpses was a hundred times more smelly than poison gas. The smell made them feel nauseous and they kept wanting to vomit, and they couldn't even eat.
Once, a wounded soldier fell far away from Lu Mingfei's trench. It was very risky to bring him back. At first they thought that the wounded soldier would soon be killed by the French, but they were wrong. The wounded soldier lay there wailing for two days.
The soldier must have injured his spine or pelvis, because they didn't see anyone moving there, and his wailing became hoarseer and more miserable.
At first he kept shouting for help, and then, perhaps because of a fever, he began to talk nonsense, as if he was talking to his wife and children. His voice became weaker and weaker, but those words were still so clear that they could be heard in the trenches of Lu Mingfei and his men.
Later on, he couldn't make any sound and could only sob. When everyone thought he was going to die, the miserable sobbing continued all night long.
Finally, Lu Mingfei couldn't stand the shrill sound any more, so he drove his Kamaitachi to look for the wounded soldier. The sound was so terrible that it almost tortured them crazy. When Lu Mingfei felt the faint heartbeat, the French artillery bombardment started again, and the faint heartbeat was soon buried in the artillery fire.
From then on, whenever there was a soldier who fell on the battlefield and was not dead, Lu Mingfei and his men would find a way to rescue him. They didn't want to hear that kind of voice again. That voice always lingered in their minds, sometimes waking them up suddenly even when they were asleep.
But there was good news. There were finally no more rats in the trenches. All the rats ran to the area between Lu Mingfei's trench and the French trench, and all the rats there grew fatter.
Of course Lu Mingfei and the others knew what the rats were eating, so they shot the rats whenever they had time. They didn't want to be eaten by rats after they died.
"Our reinforcements should arrive tomorrow."
The shelling continued. Lu Mingfei and his companions could do nothing but lie in the trench and chat. They had begun to adapt to the endless shelling and the deafening explosions.
"What can a bunch of new recruits do? They will only hold us back." Paul said disdainfully. They are now considered veterans. The new recruits here have died long ago and only the veterans can survive.
"I heard that it was Himmelstoss who led the team. He trained other recruits in the rear just like he trained us, but he didn't expect that one of the recruits was the son of the Minister of the Interior. He was sent directly to the front line." Krop said. He had just heard this news not long ago.
"Himmelstoss is coming to the front line. Hahahaha. That postman is going to have a hard time." Paul laughed out loud when he heard Kropp's words.
"I'm going to shoot him from behind." It was Garden who spoke. He was still upset about what Himmelstoss had done to him before.
"Forget it, Garden. You'll be doomed if others find out. As long as he doesn't come to provoke us, don't worry about him. The artillery fire on the battlefield will teach him a lesson for us." Lu Mingfei said.
He no longer hated Himmelstoss as much as he did before. If Himmelstoss had not tortured them like that during the boot camp, they would have probably gone crazy not long after arriving at the front.
The next day, Himmelstoss arrived at the front line as expected, followed by a group of young soldiers who obviously did not realize what they were about to face.
They looked around with smiles on their faces and curiosity. When Lu Mingfei and his companions saw those vigorous soldiers, they felt that they had grown old. Although they were about the same age, Lu Mingfei and his companions felt that their souls had long been rotten, like those of old men.
Himmelstoss came to the outside of Lu Mingfei and his men's shelter and looked inside.
"You are Garden, Paul, Hans, you are all here." He immediately recognized Lu Mingfei and the others. After all, they had left a deep impression on him before.
Lu Mingfei and the others ignored Himmelstoss and continued playing cards.
"Is this how you respond when your superior speaks to you?!" Himmelstoss was furious when he saw that he was being ignored.
"Himmelstoss, have you ever been to the front before?"
Kropp heard Himmelstoss's roar and threw down the cards in his hand.
"This has nothing to do with you. The commander is questioning you now. Stand still and salute."
Paul and Garden laughed out loud when they heard Himmelstoss's words.
"Shut up, you bunch of pigs. You are disrespectful to your superiors! I'm going to put you in solitary confinement!" Hearing Paul and Garden's laughter, Himmelstoss became even angrier, and the two waxed mustaches at the corners of his mouth were trembling.
"See those clouds outside?" Kropp pointed to the white gas rising in the distance outside the trench.
"That's the smoke from the anti-aircraft guns that were aimed at us yesterday. Five of our men died and three are now in hospital with serious injuries.
"Do we have to put our heels together, spread our toes apart, salute you, and ask if we can run forward before attacking? Do we have to ask you if we can die when the shells are coming?"
Himmelstoss was so angry that he was shaking all over, but he turned around and left without saying anything. He was probably going to tell tales again.
"Hahahaha!!!" Lu Mingfei and the others all burst into laughter when they saw Himmelstoss leaving in embarrassment.
Himmelstoss really went to report to the company commander, but the company commander not only ignored Himmelstoss's report, but scolded Himmelstoss, hoping that Himmelstoss would not bring the arrogance of the recruit training camp to the front line.
Sorry, there is only one chapter today. Friends who are familiar with me know that I have to work twelve hours a day, all year round. My coding speed is also relatively slow. It takes about four and a half hours to write 4,000 words. It is a bit overloaded to work and update every day. I originally changed jobs at the beginning of the year, but later I was cheated and had to come back to continue this work. I have a habit of sleeping for half an hour before writing, so that my brain can be more awake and I won’t fall into a deep sleep. But sometimes I am too tired, and when I wake up, it’s dawn, and I don’t have enough time to code one chapter. If there is only one chapter that day, don’t be too surprised, it’s because my body has reached its limit and there is nothing I can do. I try to update twice a day.
Finally, I would like to thank Luohong Fengye for the 200 points, and Yak JOKER for the monthly ticket.
I hope that friends who like to read this book can go to the last page of the chapter every day. The performance of this book is really too poor, even not as good as the previous one, but I will still finish it to make up for my regret.
(End of this chapter)
