"It's snowing! It's snowing! It's snowing heavily—"

"Everyone, get up and look at the snow!"

As soon as it was dawn, Yang Ling was woken up by the excited noise outside the courtyard, and when he heard the shouts outside that it was snowing, he got up and walked to the window in a thick military coat.

With a creak of the window opening, a blast of cold air soaked in bone marrow poured into the room, making Yang Ling shiver and hurriedly tighten his collar.

Yang Ling looked at it, overnight, the entire courtyard was already covered in silver, covered with a thick layer of snow, and the heaven and earth seemed to be covered with a layer of white edelweiss quilt, white and boundless.

Hearing the shouts outside, the doors of the side rooms next to them were opened one after another, and the staff officers who lived in the same courtyard as Yang Ling walked into the courtyard one after another, wrapped in thick clothes.

"It's snowing."

Looking at the snowflakes that were still falling one after another and the white land outside the door, although the staff officers shivered from the cold, they still couldn't suppress the excitement in their hearts.

"This is a good snow, the bigger the better, Ruixue is a good year, and the harvest next year will definitely be bad." Staff officer Lei Xiong was also a child of a peasant family, and when he saw the heavy snow, a smile appeared on his face.

"It's a pity, after so many years of fighting, I've almost forgotten how to take care of the crops." Intelligence staff officer Liu Sheng was also emotional.

Lei Xiong said with a smile: "I said Lao Liu, don't sigh, I think this little devil is a grasshopper after the autumn, and he can't jump for a few days, and when the time comes, you can go back to your hometown to serve the crops." ”

"That being said, most of our China is occupied by little devils, and I don't know when this battle will be a head."

"It's fast, it's fast, how fierce the little devil was three years ago, all the way to our German mechanics are difficult to resist, but now, the devil's combat effectiveness is not as good as before, we can all annihilate a brigade, I also heard that many of the main forces on our frontal battlefield have become Soviet mechanics, but there are little devils who suffer." The other staff officer leaned over and spoke.

"That's right, didn't the little devil clamor for the destruction of our China in three months three years ago, but now, three years have passed, and the little devil can't do anything about us."

Compared with the haze that hung over the heads of the military and civilians of the whole country in the early days of the war, now with the continuation of the war and the bloody struggle of the Chinese army, the argument of protracted war has suppressed the theory of surrender of the country.

Although it is still not clear when the little devils will be able to drive the little devils out of China to end the war, now the Chinese military and civilians have adapted to the war and are no longer as pessimistic and desperate as they were at the beginning of the war.

While the staff officers stood under the eaves and pulled their hands into their sleeves to talk about the situation, in the snow not far away, the excited brothers could not wait to jump up and down.

The Northern Jiangsu Corps gathered many stragglers who were scattered to Jiangsu from the Battle of Xuzhou, and these stragglers included officers and soldiers from the coastal areas of Guangdong, and more officers and soldiers from Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and other places.

Because at that time, most of the troops under the command of General Li Zongren of the Fifth War Zone were from local areas, and it was by relying on these so-called local miscellaneous troops that they fought a great victory in Taierzhuang and annihilated more than 10,000 elite troops of the devils.

However, in the later stage of the Battle of Xuzhou, the devils also launched a crazy revenge, drawing the main force in China at that time, in an attempt to encircle and annihilate 600,000 Chinese troops in the Taierzhuang area.

However, the commander of the theater, General Li Zongren, also sensed the danger in time and took the initiative to command the troops to launch a major retreat, while Yang Ling's 74th Army and other Central Army troops at that time galloped thousands of miles away, and the Lanfeng Battle in the Lanfeng area was to cover the retreat of the Taierzhuang troops who had been exhausted from fighting for half a month.

Because at that time, Yang Ling and his Central Army units had been training in Huangpo and other places in Hubei for several months, and they had re-replenished their weapons and equipment and soldiers.

Therefore, in the Lanfeng operation, not only did he complete the task of covering the retreat of the main force of Taierzhuang, but also almost annihilated the Tufei Yuan Division that was rushing into the lone army and tried to cut off the retreat of the defenders of Taierzhuang.

The troops fought very bravely and tenaciously on the battlefield in Xuzhou, but the devils also sent a large number of elite troops to encircle and pursue, and in the later stage, most of the troops who served as the covering task were killed by the whole regiment and the whole battalion, and finally the new 8th Division blew up the Yellow River, which stopped the devils.

However, many of the units that were responsible for the post-break interdiction mission at that time were flooded, and some were scattered and dispersed behind enemy lines, and then successively absorbed by guerrilla forces in various places.

Many of these officers and men from the south were in the north for the first time, and many of them saw such a heavy snow for the first time.

Those commanders at all levels, who were usually dignified, were no exception, and at the moment they were happy like children, jumping and jumping, and the camps at the head of the world were full of excited officers and soldiers.

The brothers chased and played in the snow, building snowmen, and having snowball fights, while the brothers from the north, who had seen the snow all year round, looked curiously at the brothers who had been together day and night.

They did not expect that the brothers from the south would have such a side, they were all amazed, they felt that the snow was so cold, and they did not understand why the brothers from the south were so happy that their hands were red from the cold.

"It's really not like that, where is there still a little bit of a soldier's appearance, don't be surprised by Chief Yang, I'll go and call them back."

Wu Changqing, the commander of the second battalion, walked over from a distance, and saw Yang Ling also standing under the eaves watching the brothers playing in the snow, worried that Yang Ling, who had always been strict in governing the army, would be displeased, so he hurriedly spoke.

"Old Wu, the brothers have a rare time to relax and be happy, so let them make trouble." Yang Ling hurriedly opened his mouth to stop the battalion commander Wu Changqing.

Although Yang Ling is more strict with the brothers on weekdays, he also hopes to train them into a strong army that makes the devils fearful.

But Yang Ling also knows that whether it is being a person or doing things, it must be relaxed, if you keep tensing your nerves, something will happen sooner or later.

"These guys are so energetic, see if I don't double down on them when I go back."

Seeing that Yang Ling didn't mean to be angry, Wu Changqing also looked at the brothers who were rolling in the snow and throwing snowballs and laughed and scolded.

"Old Wu, do you have anything to do with coming to me early in the morning?" Yang Ling invited the battalion commander Wu Changqing into the house.

While standing outside, the orderly had already brought a pot of charcoal into the house, and the blazing charcoal fire made the room warm and dispelled the cold.

Wu Changqing sat down and put his frozen red hand on top of the hot brazier and said: "On the way to my patrol, I saw that the livestock of several villagers froze to death, and the villagers were in a depressed mood, so I came to ask for instructions, can our troops buy these frozen livestock......

The people's families were not wealthy, and their livestock were almost a large part of their property, and now they were frozen to death by a sudden heavy snowfall, and they must be sad in their hearts.

After Yang Ling heard Wu Changqing's words, he pondered for a moment and then nodded and said: "Your proposal is very good, our troops and the local fathers and villagers are on the same front, if the villagers can't survive this winter, then we won't have anything to eat next year." ”

"In this way, you notify Quartermaster Sun to handle this matter, and you must buy frozen livestock at the market price, and you must not deliberately lower the price, and you must ensure fair trade." Yang Ling instructed.

Yang Ling attaches great importance to the relationship between the military and the people, after all, fighting in the occupied areas, only by being closely linked with the local people and getting their support can their troops have food to eat and be able to win the battle.

Only when the army and the people unite together to tide over the difficulties can they survive this harsh winter, defeat the invading forces of the Japanese Empire, and gain independence and freedom.