Oftentimes, plans could never keep up with changes.
Zhang Heng waited until the gunshots were far away before he reached the initial point of the firefight. He did his best to reduce the risk, but he did not expect an accident to happen. The first batch of Soviet soldiers returned much earlier than expected.
It was pointless to complain and regret at this time. Zhang Heng could only lower his body and run in the opposite direction.
As soon as he moved, he was immediately spotted by the Soviet soldiers.
At this time, one had to praise the Soviet logistics department. During the Winter War, the Soviet soldiers' uniforms were mainly khaki. In the vast expanse of snow, it was as dazzling as a beetle in the ground. It was hard not to get shot, and the high casualty rate of the Soviet army was not unrelated to this.
Zhang Heng did not need to look back to know that the Soviet soldiers were loading their guns. Fortunately, his long-distance running training came in handy. After a burst of speed, he managed to put some distance between himself and the soldiers. With the trees in the forest as a barrier, even though he could hear the gunshots, the bullets were far from his body.
Zhang Heng did not dare to let his guard down. He sprinted all the way until his stamina was about to run out. He only stopped and held onto a fir tree, panting.
He knew that he should be safe for the time being. In comparison, the Soviet soldiers were carrying a lot more weight than he was, and they had just chased after a wave of enemies. They would not be able to catch up to him anytime soon.
Taking advantage of this time, Zhang Heng opened the rucksack and checked the results of his adventure. From top to bottom, there were personal hygiene products, spare foot wrappings, cutlery, and combat rations. The foot wrappings were a special equipment of the Soviet army. They could keep one warm and reduce wear and tear on one's feet. As for the combat rations, it was mainly black bread, sausages made of unknown meat, and a small packet of black tea.
Other than that, Zhang Heng also found two boxes of canned beef and a lighter. These two things, especially the latter, were quite rare in the Soviet Union, where light industry was relatively backward. Zhang Heng recalled the two corpses and found that there was a certain difference in their clothing.
The other dead Soviet soldier did not seem to have a red star on his sleeve. It seemed that the owner of the rucksack was most likely an officer.
Unfortunately, on the battlefield, bullets were indiscriminate. In other words, the higher the officer, the more likely he was to become the enemy's first target. That unlucky fellow's face was hit by at least three or four bullets, and he couldn't be any more dead.
Zhang Heng tried to avoid looking at the bloody face when he was stripping it. In any case, he was quite satisfied with his harvest this time. At least, he solved the most urgent problem of keeping warm and replenishing his supplies.
After that, he checked the gun in his hand. China's gun control was extremely strict. Except for some special professions, most people had only seen the corresponding props in movies. Zhang Heng was no exception. He didn't know the name of the gun, but he could vaguely tell that it was a revolver. There were seven bullet slots in the cylinder, and since it had been fired twice, there were only five bullets left.
Only then did Zhang Heng realize that he was in too much of a hurry just now. He was so focused on his gun that he forgot to pick up the bullets on his belt.
However, five shots were better than nothing.
Unfortunately, the movie only showed the protagonist loading the gun and pulling the trigger. The structure of a real gun was much more complicated. After fiddling with it for a while, Zhang Heng still had no idea how to remove the two empty shells. He had no choice but to keep the gun close to his body.
He opened the iron kettle and drank a few mouthfuls of water, recovering some of his strength.
Worried that the Soviet soldiers were still chasing after him, Zhang Heng did not stop and continued to trudge deeper into the forest. It was only when night fell that he was sure that he was out of danger.
Visibility was poor at night, and the Soviet soldiers were unfamiliar with the forest. They also had to worry about the Finnish guerrillas, so it was impossible for them to continue their search.
So, Zhang Heng also stopped in his tracks and decided to eat something first to recuperate.
He opened his rucksack and took out a piece of black bread.
This kind of bread originated in Germany and later spread to Eastern Europe and Russia. It was not really black, but the color was darker. Do not underestimate this thing. During World War II, the staple food of the German and Soviet armies was black bread. According to records, this thing saved at least 400,000 Soviet lives and maintained the combat power of nearly 10 million troops. Of course, the taste was another matter.
Zhang Heng cut a slice with the knife in his rucksack and tasted it. It tasted sour and salty, and the texture was very rough. It was as hard as the rumors said, and it was a little hard to swallow. Fortunately, he had experienced a period of scarcity on the deserted island. If he did not consider the dangers of war, the current environment was much better than the first time he started out.
The only problem was that he couldn't start a fire. It wasn't a technical problem. Even without the lighter in his rucksack, Zhang Heng could still start a fire. However, the fire was too conspicuous in the dark. After all, he was too unfamiliar with the forest. He knew nothing about the distribution of the Soviet army and the Finnish guerrillas.
Zhang Heng didn't know where the enemy would come from, and he didn't even know if he was getting closer or further away from the battlefield. At this point, he fully realized how cruel reality was and how difficult it was for a person to survive in this war.
The only thing that comforted him was the Shadow Moment in his arms. The three-minute shadow state was his trump card to save his life. Unfortunately, he only had two chances, and he didn't plan to use it unless it was absolutely necessary.
He found a place that could shelter him from the wind, wrapped himself in his military coat, and lay down. Unfortunately, he was woken up three times by the cold. The winter of 1939 was probably one of the top ten colder winters in Finnish history. It was a tough test for anyone to survive without a campfire.
If it weren't for the Soviet sheepskin uniform, Zhang Heng suspected that he wouldn't even survive the night.
With great difficulty, he endured until the sun rose the next day. Ignoring the danger, he picked up some branches from the surroundings and lit a small fire with a lighter to warm up his almost numb hands and feet. There was originally half a pot of water left in the kettle, but after one night, it had completely frozen into a lump of ice.
So Zhang Heng tossed the kettle to the fire and roasted an unknown sausage from his backpack.
Ten minutes later, Zhang Heng reluctantly got up and put out the fire with snow. At the same time, he picked up the sausage on the rack and took a bite. Perhaps it was because of the black bread, the sausage didn't taste as bad as he imagined. It wasn't the usual pork, beef, or mutton, but it was still edible.
While eating bread and sausages, Zhang Heng thought about his next step. Unfortunately, even after breakfast, he hadn't come up with a good solution to his current situation.
PS: According to the comments, everyone is interested in the machine gun from yesterday. It's a 7.62mm Degtyarov DP28 light machine gun, designed in 1926 and equipped with the Soviet Army in 1928. It was used in the Winter War.
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