Soon after hitting the road, Peng Tao's spirit was disturbed.

One squad is the avant-garde, and the other squad is the defender. However, what turned his attention from his heart to the outside world was the small red and white flags that appeared on both sides of the path. At the beginning of the road, the slope was gentle, and the moonlight shone faintly on the small flags, the white flags were gray and white, and the red flags were gray and brown, but each flag was finally distinct. He knew what the little flags signed, and he didn't feel too much of a strange feeling in his heart. Further up he entered the dense woods, the forest was dark, and the slope was so steep that he could not see the road clearly, nor could he see the small flag on the side of the road, and his heart suddenly became nervous!

"Two pillars, no flashlight? Take out the flashlight and light the way! Despite the fact that someone was walking in front, he stood still and shouted loudly.

At the moment he still has no doubt that he is heroic. The fear that had just risen in his heart was temporary and had nothing to do with heroism!

Liu Erzhu, who followed him, took out a large flashlight with four batteries from his satchel, pushed it on, and handed it to him brightly. Peng Tao used it to shine forward, found small flags among the grass and tree trunks again, tried to calm down, and stepped upward.

The forest is getting denser and the light is getting darker. The path twisted and wenged in the grass. Peng Tao thought that he was no longer afraid, but the panic that had risen in his heart did not disappear. In the depths of the dark forest, wherever the beam of his flashlight shines, a small white flag marking the boundary of death will suddenly be found in the grass! They flashed and disappeared before his eyes, giving him the feeling that they had been waiting for him on this road for a long time, and if he was not careful, he would be blown to pieces by them!

In less than an hour, Peng Tao experienced the physical exhaustion that every soldier has to go through when climbing a mountain. Except for a little food in the morning, he didn't eat a grain of rice for a day, and he couldn't support it when he continued to go up, sweating profusely, panting in his mouth, and his brain began to be dizzy, and he had a feeling of prostration that he had never felt before, and this night march finally became a very simple chore in his heart. Fortunately, the woods were finished, and the procession came to the mountain: a section of the road in the middle of the waist where the slope was gentle, the trees were sparse, and the moonlight and the small red and white flags had become clear again. Looking up, the mountain beam of No. 1 Ridge was still high, and Peng Tao actually had a desperate and angry thought in his heart: It's still early to get to the mountain beam! Look where I've been tonight! If I can't get to the 634 heights, I'll be killed by a mine!

In this state of shame and annoyance, and not very clear, he was also confused as to how he had embarked on such a path tonight! Am I not a battlefield commander who is confident, determined, and has first-class military qualities, and who is determined to become a famous commander in the future? Didn't I already lead a regiment to a major victory on the front line of the No. 1 Ridge? How did I get to such a dead end? As a soldier, Peng Tao still doesn't think that he is afraid of death, as long as he can die in a great war. But today he is going to die on such a nameless path to the battlefield, no one needs him to die like this, he has no value in dying like this, it can only be regarded as a misfortune!

"Erzhu, do you have dry food? Give me a pack! He realized that he had collapsed, stood still, and said loudly to Liu Erzhu.

Liu Erzhu took out a packet of compressed dry food from his satchel, peeled off the plastic paper and handed it to him. Peng Tao took a big bite and gradually cleared his mind.

At this moment he heard several muffled noises in succession from the mountains to the south. He understood that this was the night duty of the Soviet army, and after half an hour of silence, a new round of fire began, but he did not quickly understand what the subsequent whistle of "ho ho" was getting louder and louder.

"Lying down ——!" The guard platoon commander who walked in front shouted at the top of his voice. The people marching in a column fell to the ground. Peng Tao remembered that something was going to happen, but he couldn't get down quickly, it was a small gray-white flag on the side of the road in front of him that had just caught his eye and hindered him—if he pounced desperately, he would have pressed on that flag! It's too late to think about lying down! A man swooped down on him from behind, and he heard a shell fall and explode not far away! After a deafening roar, a huge wave of qi simultaneously knocked him and the person behind him to the ground! Peng Tao fainted, and immediately woke up again!

Stones and mud from the shells rained down on his head, face, and the ground around him; The man was still pressed against his back, his head hanging crookedly on the right side of his neck. A warm liquid that had woken him up from his fainting was still splashing! Peng Tao opened his eyes and immediately saw Liu Erzhu's two wide, godless eyes on his right shoulder. The hot, viscous liquid squirted out of a black hole in the back of his head!

"Two Pillars ——!" Peng Tao screamed heartbreakingly, his voice became hoarse, and he only felt one thing in his body and mind: Liu Erzhu was dead!

A few more shells landed nearby and exploded, and the fighters lying on the path in front and behind did not immediately rush to his aid. The fire crackled and burned around him, and Peng Tao trembled and lay on the spot, his soul experienced the most terrifying moment in his life!

"Dead ...... Is this death? …… Liu Erzhu is dead, and he pounced to cover me! ......" He thought wildly for a moment, and when he heard another shell "hoc" falling, he immediately closed his eyes in despair. "Boom ——!" The shell landed in the woods on the left and exploded. His eyes widened again, and his interrupted thoughts came alive.

…… If Liu Erzhu hadn't pounced and blocked the shrapnel, I would have died!

The last thought was so real and terrifying, in just a moment, it changed many deep-rooted thoughts in his heart!

In the past, he thought that he was born heroic as a soldier and was not afraid of death, but now he understands that this is not the case, and he himself trembles with fear in the face of sudden death; In the past, he also said that he would sacrifice his life for the country on the battlefield, but in fact, he did not believe that a person like him, who was destined to do a great job, would really die like an ordinary soldier, but today he understands that this is not the case. No matter who you are, as long as you are on the battlefield, you will die at any time under the bullets and artillery fire of the Soviet army, and die on such a minefield path under your feet; In the past, he always regarded career and success as more important than his own and other people's lives, but now he suddenly realized that compared with the loss of life, other losses of people - fame, honor, and future - are nothing!

"Life is the most fundamental and precious thing that a person has, and everything else is attached to life. …… If you lose your life, you lose everything, you lose the whole world. ……”

The thoughts that poured out one after another seemed very clear and simple, but they were really things that he had not seriously thought about and did not understand before.

It was precisely because they were as simple and clear as common sense that his heart trembled deeply at this moment.

Another round of artillery fire from Soviet troops on night duty ended. The grass and trees that had been set ablaze by the shells were still burning in clumps on the hillsides on both sides of the path. The soldier lying on the road ran over, removed Liu Erzhu's body from him, and laid it flat on the other side of the path. Peng Tao was helped up by the guard platoon commander and sat next to Liu Erzhu. Under the indifferent moonlight, Liu Erzhu's originally burly body seemed to have become smaller, his head was very uncomfortable and crookedly pillowed on a stone, and there was a dark thing on the ground, and his childish face was like a layer of white paper, and his eyes were still wide open, but he was no longer angry and no longer felt!

"Two pillars! ——" Peng Tao's throat and eyes sounded hoarsely, and he cried bitterly.

The fear did not completely disappear, but the sorrow filled the heart. At the most terrifying moment, he didn't expect that he would cry, but now he can't care much about it. He not only cried for escaping from the clutches of death, but also cried bitterly for Liu Erzhu, who sacrificed in his place. He suddenly felt that from now on, his life was no longer his own, but the lives of Peng Tao and Liu Erzhu!

"Commander, what are we going to do?" When his emotions finally calmed down, the guard platoon commander asked.

Peng Tao didn't answer immediately. He sat there quietly, staring at a small piece of moonlit pavement in front of him, and many new ideas welled up in his mind. He already understood what had led him to the path of death traps beneath his feet. Vanity. Together with his ignorance of the exact meaning of war, of life and death. It was they who together caused Liu Erzhu's sacrifice and almost killed him!

But now it's just as dangerous to go back the way you came! They had already walked two-thirds of the way up the hill, and it was longer and more dangerous to go down than up. They could only continue to walk up to the No. 1 Ridge Mountain Beam!

"Send two people to send Brother Liu Erzhu down the mountain! The rest keep going! He stood up, glanced at the No. 1 ridge beam line above, said briefly to the guard platoon commander, and then took the lead in taking a step!

He can't help but go up! His vanity and ignorance had put the small party he was leading into a situation where they could not retreat, and in order to reduce the possibility of others being sacrificed, he would also lead them on their way up!

No, not exactly. For this night march, Liu Erzhu has already sacrificed his life. Even in order to make his sacrifice really worthwhile, he would take this small team to the No. 1 Ridge and to the 634 Heights!

The guard platoon commander did not arrange two soldiers, but four people, who were responsible for transporting Liu Erzhu's body to the bottom of the mountain, and then hurried to the front of the regiment commander, shouted, and the team moved upwards again!

"War. …… Yes, I used to think I understood it, but I didn't. And I went to the battlefield without understanding. …… War is not just about battle plans, orders, and battlefield discipline. War is not a history of war, a biography of famous generals, and a respected name for the victor. War is a realistic and concrete environment for soldiers who go to the battlefield. With every step you take, you risk losing your most precious thing – life. …… Human life is the easiest thing to be deprived of in war, but because of this, life should be redoubled in war. ”

"I have never been able to understand why Liu Zongsheng and the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment fought well all day, but they flinched at the last moment. …… I especially can't understand why Liu Zongsheng would rather go to court martial after the war than let his soldiers attack the 634 heights again. …… Now I understand a little bit. …… Liu Zongsheng knows how to cherish other people's lives, and this is exactly what I don't know at all. In the last war, I understood that he was a brave man, but unfortunately I didn't see through it, and his bravery at that time was out of cherishing the lives of soldiers. ……”

"Did I really make a mistake in the command of the 3rd Battalion of the 5th Regiment today? …… yes, I just don't want to admit it. …… When Liu Zongsheng called for reinforcements from me, I could have asked the division commander or army commander for reinforcements, and then sent reinforcements to the 632 Heights area. If I had done that, 634 Heights might have been taken. …… What prevents me from doing so is my abominable vanity. I am afraid that the commander of the division will doubt my command ability because of this. My real mistake was this: when I threw the 5th Battalion of the 3rd Regiment into the 632 Heights area, it was like throwing a chess piece into the chessboard, and I no longer cared about its survival. ”

"I never thought it was hundreds of lives. I've always been reluctant to allow myself to be humiliated, and that's the biggest shame ever. …… I can't blame anyone else, today it was myself who beat myself. ......" Peng Tao took these new ideas and climbed step by step towards the No. 1 Ridge Mountain Liang. The defeat was once again affirmed by him from the bottom of his heart, but his resentment towards Liu Zongsheng was greatly alleviated. He didn't know if he would really reach Heights 634 tonight, but the new thoughts above it alone made his heart deep, empty, and broad. Peng Tao had a feeling: compared with the experience of today's night, his life in the past 34 years is worthless.

On this night, if someone looked down at the entire No. 1 Ridge battlefield from the air, they would find that in addition to the two small teams led by Liu Zongsheng and Peng Tao respectively, there was a third small team slowly marching from north to south.

At about 11 o'clock in the middle of the night, the six people who remained in the first trench were silent for a while, and Shang Yujun suddenly said: "Brothers, let's act!" ”

Zhang Zhongliang, who had been hiding behind Zhang Zhongming, smacked his throat and immediately stopped.

It was as if he had finally understood the fate of this small team at this time, and his always cowardly heart had become stronger. Shang Yujun led the team behind him towards the top of the high ground. He clearly thought that he was not doing this because of the intimidation of the Instructor, on the contrary, in the past few minutes, he had realized that he was very eager to launch another attack on the High Ground Peak!

He knew in advance the outcome of this new attack: the main peak of the 634 Heights was surrounded by cliffs, and the only way to go up was to take the path that the Soviet army had just walked. As long as the Soviets blocked the rift with a submachine gun, no one would be able to reach the summit. But there was another, more convincing idea in his head that pushed him to carry out this attack with no chance of victory: as long as he was alive and the main peak of 634 was still in Soviet hands, he should not stop the attack. Many people in the whole company—deputy company commander, 1st platoon commander, 2nd platoon commander, Lu Liwei, Gong Wenxuan, Li Yue, Qu Baoxiang, and so on—have done their last strength to take the 634 Heights, but he has not yet exhausted his last strength.

And he was so tired that after a day of bloody fighting, he was as eager for rest as he was for one last attack. But the sense of responsibility of a military man cannot let him rest. It reminded him that you only need to attack the main peak one more time to get the rest you crave so much.

Before setting off, their position was at the western end of the first trench, and after setting off, Shang Yujun naturally chose the following route: first turn west into the rain fissure ditch on the northwest side of the high ground that he had led three rows to walk through before dark, and then walk upward.

This is an extremely tired, silent team. People just move forward mechanically, without talking to each other, and no longer thinking about anything in their heads.

There is no attachment to life. There is no fear of death, no panic and no more pain. There are no memories of the past. There is no thinking. Yet there is still a passion in life. There is an idiom that says it? Death is like going home. Death is like home. You're naturally calm on the way home.

Exactly...... The moonlight has not yet melted into the night. Above the undulating ridgeline in the distance, a vast, pure, deep inky blue had just replaced the original chaotic darkness.

The top and bottom of the chasm were still black, and I couldn't see my fingers. They stumbled along, their faces and necks occasionally hitting the thick, hard, thorny branches of the cliffs, and here and there immediately ached with burning pain. However, the feeling of pain is also dulled. Life is not enough, and it is not enough to let the branches of a bush or the thatch leaves with the toothed edges tear through the skin again and again.

Windy. The wind was not strong and was blowing from the southwest. Once you crossed the ridge line on the northwest side of the highlands and entered the rift, you could hear the sound of grass and trees. A few steps higher, you'll be greeted with the coolness of the night breeze. The wind swept away the smoke and blood on the battlefield, bringing fresh and pure air, and blowing away the chaos in people's consciousness one by one...... "Where are we going?" Are we going to attack the Soviet troops on the main peak of the 634 heights? Why are we attacking them? Because wherever they go, they take hunger, terror, and death with them? ”

The long, thorny branches of an unknown shrub snapped into the eyes like whips, causing not a sharp pain but a pungent ache and rolling tears. Shang Yujun didn't think about stopping, but he stopped. Then, it was the same tiredness that permeated every cell in his body that gave him these new thoughts about the attack......

(To be continued)