Chapter 8 War and Peace

"Why are you here?" This is the first sentence I said when I saw Lin Xue.

When I said this, I regretted it. Girls are all petty! People come from all over to see me, and not only are I not overjoyed, but I also asked why you are here... I remember that the same thing happened in modern times, but my girlfriend fought with me for three days and three nights, and that screamed so miserable!

Sure enough, Lin Xue's steps quickly slowed down, her eyes glared at me fiercely, and the excitement on her face faded away, turning into a frost.

I cried out inwardly, no good! I didn’t expect that although the times are different, women’s faces are the same, which means that they change at will!

Fortunately, this is in a "public situation". According to the domestic rules of young men and women in love, we should pay attention to the influence and pretend not to know each other. So Lin Xue did not show anything except sulking in her stomach. And she had to pretend that nothing had happened and saluted me in grievance. But that expression, with gritting teeth and wide eyes, she wanted to swallow me alive. It made me shudder even if I saw it...

"Captain Cui, you are here!"

"We thought you couldn't come today!"

"Yes! Comrades have been waiting for you all night, and they watched it go to bed after dawn, but they didn't expect you to come again!"

Before I could react from Lin Xue's deep hatred, the soldiers coaxed me to the point of talking and said it. Li Pinghe, Liu Shunyi, Hu Biao, Li Guoqiang... and my guards Xu Yongwei and Zhang Mingxue all came. Everyone held their hands and shoulders enthusiastically, and I happened to talk to the comrades and avoided Lin Xue's murderous gaze.

But after walking a few steps, I saw a few familiar and unfamiliar faces, and I couldn't help but be stunned. I said it was familiar because I must have seen them somewhere; I said it was strange because I felt that they were a little different from other soldiers, and they did not have that kind of intimate comrade-in-arms relationship.

This kind of relationship on the battlefield is very strange. Only after fighting one or two battles together, even if the enemy is originally a friend, it will become as close as a brother. Because the feeling of living and dying together can make people not mind any barriers, so there will naturally be deep feelings between each other.

After thinking for a long time, I couldn't remember their names. I couldn't help but scratch my head and looked at Li Pinghe beside me in confusion.

Li Pinghe laughed: "You are still a noble person who forgets things. You have forgotten your old classmates so quickly? You only remember Lin Xue alone!"

"Um!" I couldn't help but blush when I heard this. I soon remembered that they were students from the Senior School, and they were the ones in my dormitory. Although I didn't separate from them for a long time, I didn't stay in the Senior School for a long time. In addition, I had fought fiercely on Shangganling for more than a month, and I forgot them all.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but glance at Lin Xue in the crowd. Her face looked a little better at this time, and she seemed to laugh. This girl just likes to care about it. She knows that I forgot about others and only remembers her, and now she is secretly happy again.

"Reported by Jiang Changshun, the 9th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 538th Regiment!"

"Reported by Chen Gesheng, the platoon leader of the 9th Company,!"

"Reported by Wang Changsheng, the 2nd platoon leader of the 9th company!"

"Reported by Zhang Jianjun, the 3rd platoon leader of the 9th Company!"

Seeing that I couldn't call out their names, the soldiers hurriedly walked up to salute me and reported their names.

After they said this, I quickly remembered that Jiang Changshun was the city soldier who always opposed me when he was in the Inner School. Unexpectedly, he became a company commander under my command. Zhen Gesheng and Zhang Jianjun... I remember that he was a country soldier in the Inner School. The guy Wang Changsheng picked up the books when he returned to the dormitory.

"Captain Cui! Go and meet Commander Pang first!" Just as I was thinking, Li Pinghe reminded from the side: "Teacher Pang was waiting for you last night! I just fell asleep shortly after I even told the guards that you must wake him up when you come!"

"Then don't wake the commander!" I replied, "Let him rest for a while, and I will see him when he wakes up!"

But it seemed too late, because a correspondent ran to me and saluted me, "Teacher Commander, please go to the division headquarters immediately!"

Li Pinghe smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Let's go! I'll go with you!" As he said that, he put his shoulder on my shoulder and walked towards the division headquarters.

The division headquarters is a slightly larger tunnel, maps, tables, and radio soldiers are no different from before. If you want to say anything different, it is that the table is no longer made of shell boxes, and the table is also spread out in two brand new newspapers, which makes people feel a little clean.

Commander Pang may have just gotten up now, looking sleepy, with a cotton coat on his shoulder, and a lit cigarette on his mouth before he could finish it. As soon as he saw me walking into the entrance of the tunnel, his originally listless face immediately shined.

While greeting us, he laughed and said, "I will tell you good news first. My 12th Army had successfully restored the 537.7 Heights a few days ago, and resisted the revolving attacks of several puppet troops. He firmly grasped the 537.7 Heights in his hands to stabilize the battle situation!"

"Really!" I couldn't help but be overjoyed when I heard this. Although I had known for a long time that this would definitely end, I was still sincerely happy when I heard it with my own ears.

"I'll tell you guys!" Commander Pang smiled and said, "You've gone out and made a lot of attention again!"

"Teacher Pang is joking!" I felt a little embarrassed when Commander Pang praised this.

"Hey! This time it's not a joke!" Commander Pang held my hand and said, "This time, even our corps commander praised you by name. Look! I'm still keeping the telegram, just waiting for you to see!"

As he said that, Commander Pang took a telegram from the table and handed it to me. I took it and saw it. It read: "Cui Wei, the commander of the 538th Regiment, fought bravely in the Battle of Shangganling, with proper command, and led the troops to smash the enemy's attacks many times, exerted the style of my volunteer army soldier, and made outstanding contributions to the Korean War. I hereby commend it!"

To be honest, I don’t know how many times there have been such praises in modern times. This is really a praise that is so ordinary that it cannot be more ordinary. But this time, I feel heavy when I hold this telegram in my hand. Because I know that this seemingly ordinary praise is exchanged for the blood of the warriors, and the lives of those heroes...

"Eight years!" Commander Pang sighed: "I have been with Commander Wang for eight years, and I have never seen anyone praise him like this? You kid is the first one! Give us the face of the 180th division commander!"

After Master Pang said this, my heart felt sore for no reason, and tears came out. At this moment, what I thought of was the suffering I suffered on Shangganling, the lost comrades on Shangganling, and the several life and deaths that were like nightmares...

Commander Pang patted my shoulder speechlessly, and handed me a cup of hot tea.

After drinking a few sips of tea, I covered up my embarrassment just now, and after calming down my mood, I couldn't help but look up and asked, "Teacher Pang, I saw the students from the Bus School outside just now. Why are they also in our army?"

"What superiors mean is to let them train!" Commander Pang nodded and said, "The real battlefield is the best school! We must be prepared for long-term combat. They are the new force of our army and the capital for long-term combat! In addition, we are not enough troops, so we have all organized them into a company and take them to the battlefield to practice when necessary!"

Listening to Commander Pang's words, I understood that the Battle of Shangganling launched by the US military turned the negotiations into a cake painted on the wall, so the senior executives of the Volunteer Army would also think that the war would be extended infinitely. So they were prepared for long-term combat, consciously letting new recruits from the country go to the front line to participate in the battle, so that the war would temper them into veterans, so that our army would not have a bad relationship with veterans in future combat.

I, who are from the modern times, of course, know that this situation will not happen, because I know that in seven or eight months, the Korean War will end successfully with the cheers of the people of the whole country. But as us in the war, it makes sense to make this plan well.

So, it should not be just my troops now. I think all the new troops entering North Korea have installed some new recruits as training targets. But... why is my troops Jiang Changshun and others?

"You don't know!" Commander Pang's next words solved my doubts: "Your classmates, I found out that you were the commander of our army and were going to squeeze into our army to be your soldier! I originally said that such things were not allowed. The superiors had arrangements from their superiors, but unexpectedly, they would not hesitate to use their relationship, and the result was...haha..."

Although Commander Pang did not continue to say it, I also know what he meant. The students in the high school were hidden and crouching. Many of them were either children of high-ranking officials or second-generation reds. It would not be too easy for them to use their connections to squeeze into my troops.

It just made me a leader of the regiment. When I think of this, I couldn't help but scream. This is a big burden! If you don't bring them out some grades, you will be criticized again. If you want to bring out some grades, you should all be from the leader! These guys are all from the background, such as Lin Xue's father and the principal of Bu School. If their children have any problems on this battlefield, then I, the leader of the regiment...

"Come on, take a look!" When I was frowning, Commander Pang handed me a newspaper. Unlike the Seoul Morning Post I saw in the past, this time I unexpectedly found that what I got was a copy of the "New York Times" in full English.

"Look at that one, I'll read this one!" Commander Pang raised a stack of paper in his hand, as if it was the translation of the New York Times in my hand, and said with a smile: "I know you know how to understand American, so I won't show you the translation! What's the name of an article? "Eisenhower's Campaign Speech", I don't know where those American language are strange, so you can look for it yourself..."

I flipped through the newspaper and quickly found the big title. Following the title, the general idea was that Eisenhower publicly agreed to his voters that the first task facing the new government was to end the Korean War as soon as possible and decently... To complete this work, we need to go to North Korea in person. If we are successfully elected as president, he is willing to go to North Korea in person. Only in this way can we know how to serve American citizens is the best - whether to carry out war or achieve peace!

Eisenhower is coming to the stage soon, and I quickly realize that.

Eisenhower is very smart. The Americans consumed a lot of manpower, material resources and the lives of many American soldiers on North Korea, a land that did not belong to them. The heavy military burden and huge casualties made it increasingly difficult for the American people to bear, especially because the US military was deeply trapped in North Korea, and its own country was facing strong pressure from the Soviet Union. Therefore, both civilians and the army strongly demanded the end of the Korean War.

It was at this time that Eisenhower proposed to "end the Korean War as soon as possible and decently", which allowed him to easily defeat other candidates and be elected as the 34th President of the United States.

"After reading this news, what do you think?" Commander Pang asked, knowing that I had finished reading it.

After thinking about it, I replied: "The Americans want to end the war as soon as possible!"

"That's right!" Commander Pang nodded and said, "But this Eisen and Will are, what he said is very intriguing! We just knew that he had been elected President of the United States, but he had not yet taken office! So his words are worth our study!"

I agree with Commander Pang's words. The reason why Eisenhower was elected was because his words were in line with the wishes of most American military and civilians. So now we seem to be able to understand the US military in a broad sense, and it can even be said that it will be the strategic goal of the entire United Nations army in the future.

But in fact, there is no need to analyze at all, because I know very clearly what will happen in the future, and can even go to various stages in detail.

Of course, I can't tell Teacher Pang this way. With this opportunity now, I just let me take advantage of the problem.

So I thought about it for a while and then talked: "It is certain that the US military wants to end the war as soon as possible, but how to end it, I think they have made two preparations here. This can be seen from the words in the news, such as 'decent end', what is 'decent end'? That is, they don't want to end it just like this, which will make them feel embarrassed. For example, the last sentence 'Is it a war or peace!'. This is actually very clear. Eisenhower will come to North Korea in person to inspect, and then decide whether to expand the war or end the war peacefully."

"You are right!" Commander Pang nodded in appreciation: "The superior's view is exactly the same as you, so we also decided to prepare for both ways. On the one hand, we actively prepare for war and resist the possible attacks of the US military. On the other hand, we also actively contact the US military and do not miss any opportunity for peace."

After taking a sip of water, Commander Pang asked again: "Do you think the Americans will choose war? Or will they choose peace!"

"War!" I replied without thinking.

"Why?" Seeing that I was so sure, Commander Pang couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

"Because..." I replied after thinking about it, "I have heard of Eisenhower. I know American, don't I? Sometimes I chat with American prisoners if I have nothing to do. I heard them talk about it. This guy turned out to be a soldier, and he was a commander-in-chief! As a soldier, he undoubtedly prefers to choose war."

Some of this is fake. Of course, I don’t know this from American prisoners, but from historical knowledge decades later.

"Yes!" Commander Pang nodded in agreement.

"Besides!" I continued: "When fighting or not fighting, it is not entirely decided by the Americans alone. The puppet army will also play a certain role in this. And the president of the puppet army, Seung-man, has always hoped to use the United Nations forces to unify the entire North Korea. This can be seen from his efforts to destroy the negotiations. With him in front of Eisenhower and blowing the wind around him, this American can't do it if he wants to fight!"

"It's reasonable!" He heard that Commander Pang fell into deep thought. It was obvious that the points I said just now were not expected by the superiors.

Actually, I know not only that. I even know that Eisenhower plans to use an atomic bomb in order to resolve the Korean War with force as soon as possible. Of course, I also know that this atomic bomb was not used until the end of the war. Because the US military considers that the result of doing so is likely to make the war bigger and bigger and even involve the United States.

Since I have not used it, there is no need for me to raise it, causing unnecessary panic in our army.

"It's reasonable, it's reasonable!" After pondering for a while, Commander Pang swayed the cigarette butt in his hand, stood up and said, "After you analyzed this, I also think that this war is still a balance of peace, and is tilted towards the war. No! I want to report these ideas to my superiors and let our troops actively prepare for war to deal with possible enemy attacks!"

"Captain Cui!" After pausing for a while, Commander Pang continued, "You go down and rest for a while. The war is not too tight now. Usually, you can take your soldiers to repair fortifications. When you have time, practice the new recruits and teach them how to fight!"

"Yes!" Li Ping and I stood up and saluted, then left the tunnel.

With a coaxing sound, I didn't expect that Hu Biao, Li Guoqiang and others had already been secretly hiding outside the tunnel. As soon as I walked out, I was suddenly lifted up by the few of them. Then, with the cheers, I was thrown into the air again and again by them.
Chapter completed!