A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 231: Deserter Shelter

Chen Xiaozui

Not long after, when Lu Cheng and Meng Fanle approached the girl, the girl hurried over and, after seeing Lu Cheng's military uniform, she was obviously familiar with the collar badge: "Hello, sir, have you heard of the Sichuan Army? Do you know where they are fighting now?"

Lu Cheng did not answer directly, but asked: "Girl, what is your name? Why do you want to know about the Sichuan Army?"

"My last name is Chen, my name is Xiaozui, my brother is the company commander of the Sichuan Army, and I haven't heard from him for a long time. I just want to know where they are now."

Meng Fanle, who was standing by, was about to say something when he heard this, but was stopped by Lu Cheng.

The Sichuan Army had been wiped out a month or two ago, leaving only a few scattered defeated soldiers who fled to various places.

"Miss, I'm sorry, we don't know where the Sichuan Army is now. But there are a lot of people coming to the south recently, so someone should know."

"Thank you, sir."

After the two men walked away, Meng Fanle finally spoke up: "Sir, the Sichuan Army was defeated long ago."

Lu Cheng nodded: "I know, but people always have to have something to think about when they are alive, right? Let's go to the shelter first."

After wandering around in the alleys of the small town and asking scattered defeated soldiers along the way, they finally found a shelter.

The residential houses on the two or three streets nearby were basically requisitioned and used as shelters to accommodate the defeated soldiers.

Walking on the street, you can see wounded and defeated soldiers leaning against the wall everywhere, wearing tattered clothes and looking listless. Some of them seem to be asleep, and some may be dead.

From time to time, some defeated soldiers would come over with stretchers to check, and when they found those who were dead, they would carry them directly to the wasteland outside and bury them.

There is a shortage of medicines and they will not distribute any medicines to these defeated soldiers.

Seeing the situation here, Meng Fanle gave up hope. He thought it was impossible to expect the shelter to heal his injured leg.

They came to a dilapidated courtyard, where some defeated soldiers were scattered in groups of three or four. When they saw Lu Cheng and Meng Fanle coming, they just looked up and ignored them.

All the defeated soldiers here have one thing in common: they seem to have lost their souls, doing nothing and just lying down.

When things were good for these defeated soldiers, they could get two meals a day, and when things were bad, they could only get one meal a day, which was not very nutritious, and it was good enough that they were not starving to death.

In this situation, who would be willing to move more and waste their energy?

The deserters who arrived here basically had no weapons. They had either discarded their weapons when they fled or exchanged them for food. Some deserters even pawned their uniforms, leaving only a pair of shorts and a vest.

Fortunately, it is still summer and the weather in western Yunnan is relatively hot, so the defeated soldiers will not be frozen to death even if they are shirtless.

The main structures of the houses here are built with wood and are divided into two floors. There are also some defeated soldiers upstairs, leaning on the railings of the second-floor porch to bask in the sun.

Some defeated soldiers saw Lu Cheng's military uniform and the major's collar insignia and were whispering about something.

"Hey, he's still a major."

"What happened to the major? Didn't he get defeated like us and escape here?"

"That's right, guess how long it will take for that gun on him to be pawned for food?"

"I've only been here for two weeks at most."

"I guess a week. Look at this young officer, he has delicate skin and tender flesh. He is obviously a rich kid who has never suffered hardship. He might not be able to stand being hungry for two days."

Lu Cheng ignored the discussions of these people and took Meng Fanle to a room inside.

At this moment, a thin and small defeated soldier, about 17 or 18 years old, suddenly squeezed out and shouted: "Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander, you are still alive."

Lu Cheng turned his head and looked, and after a brief recollection in his mind, he remembered who this person was.

Before, in the last battle, in order to cover the retreat of the remaining dozen soldiers, Lu Cheng took the initiative to stay behind to block the enemy, thus buying time for the dozen soldiers to escape.

The young soldier in front of him was one of the soldiers who escaped.

"Abao, why are you here? Where are the others?"

"Captain, I finally found you. We thought you had... We ran into another group of Japanese soldiers on our way to escape. Da Zhuang and Zhu Zi were killed, and the others all ran away. I am the only one who came here. Captain, are you okay? Are you injured?"

Lu Cheng raised his hand and patted the little soldier on the shoulder: "I'm fine."

When the defeated soldiers around heard the young soldier named Abao call Lu Cheng the battalion commander, the looks they gave him changed a lot.

A Bao's real name is Deng Zongbao. He is also from the Central Plains and is a fellow villager of Lu Cheng. He joined the army at the age of 16 and has been fighting for two years. He studied in a private school for a few years at home and can recognize some words. He used to be a messenger beside Lu Cheng, responsible for running errands.

Two days ago, A Bao fled here and heard other defeated soldiers talking about how incompetent their superiors were. A Bao told them many stories about Lu Cheng fighting bravely, leading the troops and taking the initiative to cover the retreat.

Since A Bao's words were a bit exaggerated, he only praised Lu Cheng as Zhao Zilong of Changshan in Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Yang Zaixing in The Complete Biography of Yue Fei, which made these defeated soldiers curious about Lu Cheng.

After all, an officer who can lead by example and take the initiative to cover the retreat of his soldiers is definitely a rare species in the memories of these defeated soldiers.

Just by looking at the admiring look in Abao's eyes and the way he cried with joy after seeing Lu Cheng, you can tell that what Abao said before was somewhat credible.

"Okay, stop crying. Fortunately, you are still alive, otherwise I would have to give the position of messenger to the guy next to me."

Hearing this, A Bao turned around and looked Meng up and down, saying, "Captain, he can't do it. His legs are lame. He definitely can't run as fast as me."

"Alright, alright, I'm still letting you be a messenger. Where's your gun?"

"Captain, I still have my gun. It's on the upper floor. You said so. The gun is still there. But I don't have many bullets left. Only five rounds are left."

"It's okay. Everything will be alright."

With this messenger, Battalion Commander Lu Cheng is at least not a lone commander anymore.

As for Meng Fanle, he can't be considered Lu Cheng's soldier at the moment.

"Sir, look at my legs, do you still care?"

"As long as you are willing to follow me, I promise to cure you."

"Okay then. I'll listen to you."

Lu Cheng knew that it would be difficult to subdue a veteran like Meng Fanle in a short period of time, but there was still some time before the plot began, so Lu Cheng was not in a hurry.

A skinny old man wearing a torn jacket and a torn military cap came over and looked at Meng Fanle: "What's wrong with you kid? Do you want me to check your injuries?"

The two defeated soldiers nearby saw the old man coming out and started to encourage him: "Veterinarian Hao, can you cure him? Don't kill him again."

Veterinarian Hao, the army doctor of the cannon fodder regiment, is also like an old father to the defeated soldiers of the cannon fodder regiment.

If squad leader Shi Jin in Soldiers Assault is the mother of the army, then veterinarian Hao is the well-deserved father of the army.

Of course, Veterinarian Hao’s medical skills were very limited, and without any medicine, he had basically never cured anyone.

In fact, every time Dr. Hao started wiping his sweat, it meant that a wounded soldier was about to die.

Despite this, Dr. Hao's kindness and compassion are absolutely worthy of a doctor's benevolence.

Just like what Dr. Hao said himself, it’s better to have something than nothing.

In the original drama, the death of Dr. Hao also drove the entire cannon fodder group completely crazy.

Meng was annoyed when he heard the others' teasing. He looked at the dirty veterinarian Hao and really didn't dare to let him treat his leg...