On the morning of December 10th, the whistle sounded outside the dock of Nanjing, and a huge cruise ship slowly entered the port under the guidance of a small boat. The white paint made the cruise ship look very imposing. The people standing on the ship were all soldiers in green uniforms. Seeing the familiar scenery of their hometown, many people couldn't help but stand on the ship and shout at the people who came to the dock to welcome them.
Colonel Shi Qian was as excited as the other commanders. He couldn't help but take off his military cap and wave it at the dock. Unlike most Nanjing residents, his father, Shi Dakai, arrived in Nanjing as a defeated and surrendered general. But ever since Shi Qian could remember, he had grown up in this city. Nanjing was his hometown. He was born and raised there. As a soldier who had just participated in a cruel and long war, returning to his hometown made his entire body and mind lively.
However, Colonel Shi's joy did not last long. In fact, he knew that no one at home would come to welcome him. His older brothers and sisters had grown up viewing the Liberation Army as their enemy, and even now they had not been able to change their minds. It seemed asking too much to expect them to come and cheer for the conquerors of North America. His 59-year-old father, Shi Dakai, was not so narrow-minded. His words to Shi Qian were, "Since you've eaten his food, you should work hard for him." However, after Shi Dakai became a surrendered general, he didn't like to show his face in public. He lived a low-key and wealthy life.
Thinking of this, Colonel Shi Qian missed his Native American wife. Some time ago, his wife said that her family had joined a farming cooperative in the Great Plains and rented a large piece of land. Due to the lack of manpower, they hoped that Shi Qian could return to the farm to be a leader after his retirement. Shi Qian didn't hate farming, but he wanted to be able to farm on a farm near Nanjing. The plains in North America were big enough, but too barren. That kind of rough style really couldn't compare to Jiangnan.
The soldiers who came to receive the ship held the hands of their relatives and friends, smiling and hugging each other. Colonel Shi Qian dragged his luggage and quietly walked through the joyous crowd to the exit. After leaving the station, Colonel Shi Qian couldn't help but frown. In his memory, Nanjing in December was full of traffic and was extremely crowded. Even if His Majesty Vézé had ordered the road to be so wide, it would still be filled to the brim.
It couldn't be said that the streets were empty now, but the liveliness was far from what it used to be. Of course, buses, which were convenient and cheap public transportation, were still crowded. Sitting in the car. Shi Qian saw something. The number of bicycles on the street didn't decrease, and there were probably more buses. The number of cars on the streets had decreased significantly. The flyovers that had been constructed a few years ago had been completed, and the speed of the buses had greatly increased.
The people on the bus were very enthusiastic towards their comrades from the army. Some of them even offered their seats to the commanders and soldiers. The commander immediately rejected everyone's goodwill with the reason that discipline did not allow it. When the people asked about the war in North America, everyone shook their heads and did not answer. Shi Qian could completely understand everyone's attitude. After leaving the battlefield, he looked forward to leaving those tragic days behind forever. Just like how Shi Qian did not want to recall the battle to clear out Texas.
Shi Qian had never thought that he would have to advance and fight at the same time every day for ten days. The craziness that the Texans displayed at the last moment shocked Shi Qian for ten days. The Japanese were in charge of killing and burying. The Texans, on the other hand, hung the Indians and Negroes they had killed in eye-catching places and hung eye-catching signs. He was afraid that the Liberation Army would not be able to see it. In the final siege of Austin, the Texans publicly shot the last of their Negroes outside the city. At this point in the war, Shi Qian did not have the slightest idea other than trying to forget.
Fortunately, the bus speed increased, and he did not spend much time with the citizens. When he got off the bus at the entrance of his father's community, Shi Qian felt a lot more relaxed. Walking in the community, Shi Qian also felt a little deserted. There were not many people in this community to begin with, and now there were not many people. Of course, this might also have something to do with the fact that it was not rush hour and people did not want to go out in the winter. However, the lively community in his memory had its doors closed, and when he connected it with the deserted feeling on the streets, Shi Qian felt that something was wrong.
When he rang the doorbell on his father's door, Shi Qian suddenly wondered if his father was also not at home. However, the worst did not happen. The door opened not long after, and Shi Dakai, whose hair was already gray, appeared at the door. When he saw his youngest son in military uniform, Shi Dakai's face instantly showed a smile. This smile made Shi Qian feel warm in his heart. He could not help but drop the package and hold his father's hand. "Dad, I'm back!"
"It's good that you're back! It's good that you're back! "Shi Dakai said with a smile. Then, he shouted to his wife, who had heard the noise, "Baby, you're back!"
The egg noodles that his mother made still tasted the way he remembered it. Shi Qian was also really hungry, so when he buried his head in the noodles, he did not see his mother wiping the tears of joy from the corner of her eyes. After eating, the family talked about what happened when they parted. In response to his mother's question, Shi Qian only replied, "I'm fine, aren't I?"
Afraid that his mother would continue asking, Shi Qian took out two envelopes and handed them to his father and mother. There was quite a lot of money in them. They did not spend much money during the war, and the war allowance was quite a lot. When Shi Qian saw the number on the bankbook, he immediately prepared two thick stacks of money as a gift for his parents.
The gift worked. Shi Qian's mother was immediately led in another direction by such a life-like method. The matter of whether Shi Qian had risked his life on the battlefield was temporarily put aside. After talking for a while, Shi Dakai asked Shi Qian to go with him to the study. Shi Qian's mother never dared to stop Shi Dakai's orders, so she watched the father and son enter the study.
After sitting down in the study, Shi Dakai asked, "How did you take down Texas?"
Seeing that Shi Qian was so surprised that he could not speak, Shi Dakai said casually, "It's not like I don't have old friends in the army. Also, the news said that we took down Texas and completed control of the Great Plains of America. I just want to ask how you guys fought. "
His father, Shi Dakai, was once a hero in Shi Qian's heart. The Battle of Hukou was a classic of Shi Dakai's command. He had forced Ceng Guofan to jump into the water and almost succeeded in committing suicide. After entering military school, Shi Qian slowly understood that his father, Shi Dakai, was really not good in the face of the Liberation Army. It was not that he was not good in one aspect, but that he was not good in all aspects. Even if a medieval army picked up a gun, they would not be a match for a modern army. However, Shi Qian still respected his father very much.
Seeing that his father was still concerned about the military, he told Shi Dakai about the motorized infantry tactics. Shi Dakai only listened quietly about relying on trucks to carry out mobility, but he did not express any opinion. It was not until he heard about the siege of Texas and how the Liberation Army had surrounded hundreds of thousands of Americans in Austin, the capital of Texas, that Shi Dakai asked, "It only took you two days to take down Austin?"
"Yes," Shi Qian replied.
"How did you do it?" There was some heat in Shi Dakai's voice.
"We used a new type of rocket launcher." Shi Qian was not excited. Thinking back to the Battle of Austin was a kind of pain for him. 200,000 troops had laid a dense barbed wire around the perimeter of Austin, encircling the city that was considered old in North America.
The artillery in the city had also tried to block the Liberation Army outside the city. In order to complete the barbed wire blockade, the Liberation Army had also paid a price. At dawn the next day, the artillery began to pour fire into the city. The fierce artillery fire caused the entire city to be filled with smoke. Around nine in the morning, the artillery stopped firing and the attacking troops set off. Shi Qian did not need to personally lead the charge, but he still followed his habit of approaching the nearest position to observe.
Then, he understood how powerful the modern defense system was. Even if it was swept by artillery fire, it would still be able to withstand it. Even after being swept by artillery fire, many shooting holes suddenly appeared on the seemingly broken periphery of the Americans. From a distance, those black holes looked like small sesame seeds, but the very arranged shooting points still caused the attacking troops to be hit by fire from the front, left, and right. The soldiers still fought tenaciously in the face of such a predicament. Shi Qian, who was observing the battle, could not help but tear up. He had been promoted quickly because of the intensity of the war. Even though he had become a colonel, Shi Qian's heart was still that of a battalion commander who ran on the front lines. Just by looking at it, he empathized with the plight of his comrades on the front lines.
The attack failed in the end. What made Shi Qian feel the most pain was that the troops who tried to reinforce were killed by the enemy's artillery fire. When the troops suffered heavy losses and had to retreat, they were still intercepted by the enemy's firepower. If the enemy had not been stingy with the use of artillery shells, the casualties of the troops would have been even greater.
Even so, a battalion of troops had lost nearly a hundred people in less than two hours of battle, and more than two hundred were injured. Shi Qian was fuming with anger. Of course, this anger was not directed at the troops who fought bloody battles, but at his own incompetence.
Just as the troops were summarizing the problems and preparing to adopt a targeted new combat model, the headquarters that besieged Austin ordered the troops to pause the attack. After some time, the commanders of the attacking forces from all four directions held a meeting. Only then did Shi Qian know that each of the attacking troops had suffered heavy losses. Shi Qian stood up at the meeting and said to the commander, "Commander, please give us a chance to participate in the attack. After sacrificing so many comrades, if we don't have a chance to avenge them in the end, I will die with regret! "
As soon as Shi Qian's voice fell, the commanders of the other troops stood up and made the same request to the commander. The setback in the attack did not make these young commanders, who had grown up in the war, retreat in the slightest. Instead, it stimulated these people to fight to the end.
"Get ready for the next step. We are going to use more artillery to solve the problem, "the commander said lightly.
"We don't have that many shells! Are we going to be besieged for a long time? "Shi Qian disagreed. He hoped to organize a second attack to seize the credit as soon as possible. He had already decided in his heart that he would lead the second team to attack.
"Obey my orders and get ready to continue fighting," the commander ordered.
After the attack ended that day, the troops would bombard Austin every once in a while. Other than that, there was no other attack. In Shi Qian's position, other troops began to set up a strange guide rail. The next day, at around eight o 'clock in the morning, a large number of thick rockets were sent to him. Although Shi Qian's desire for revenge was boiling, he was still frightened when he saw the rockets. As a soldier, he understood the purpose of the relatively short and thick rockets at a glance.
The artillery of the Liberation Army had a maximum caliber of 150,150 shells, which was not enough to break through the solid defensive wall. Although it was not powerful enough, the shells were not light. The rockets in front of him were loaded with dozens of kilograms of explosives, which was far more than the 150-kilogram artillery. This alone was enough to cause a major damage to the defensive system. This thing was somewhat similar to the traditional mortar. Both did not pursue a range, but a more powerful launching ability.
At around ten o 'clock in the morning, the artillery began. The rockets with stabilizer fins and tail fins flew out along the slide, drawing a beautiful arc as they flew to the target less than a kilometer away. Most of the rockets flew into Austin, and a few landed outside the city. The deafening sound and the strong shock wave made Shi Qian's legs go weak. Some of the soldiers who could not withstand the shock even vomited. Even though it was not as bad as the soldiers, Shi Qian felt dizzy and a dull pain in his head.
The artillery stopped after an hour, and Shi Qian's troops immediately received orders to attack again. Because of the discomfort, Shi Qian no longer had the boiling killing intent he had in the beginning. To his surprise, when the troops approached, the defenders in the city did not fight back. Through the binoculars, he could see that the enemy's firing ports had been blocked by the large number of explosives carried by the rockets, and some bunkers had even been blown up.
When the troops broke into the city, only a few enemies tried to fight back, and such weak resistance was quickly crushed. Shi Qian climbed to the top of Austin's broken city wall and looked inside. He sucked in a breath of cold air. The city had completely turned into ruins, and only the pitiful ruins proved that there had once been buildings here. After the dense rocket barrage had cleaned the city, everything that remained was proof that it had been hit by the violent explosion. Nothing could survive here.
After taking a few steps forward, Shi Qian saw a building that was still somewhat intact. In other words, the masonry building seemed to be quite tall before it was cut in half, and three and a half of the four walls were in ruins. When Shi Qian passed by, he felt that there were dirty red and black things everywhere, like rags. They looked like old thick cobwebs.
Shi Qian glanced at it casually and saw a large piece of this thing suddenly fall from the wall. It was still the same thing, but there were some white things in it. When he looked closely, Shi Qian suddenly realized that it was a human bone. The people in the building had been blown to pieces by the violent shelling, and their bodies were plastered to the wall like sticky mud. Some of them were still plastered layer by layer.
Although he had long been used to the battlefield, Shi Qian could not help but bend over and retch due to the impact of the shock wave from the bombardment.
When he returned home, Shi Qian still felt waves of discomfort in his stomach when he recalled the dilapidated building. Shi Dakai had only heard from his son that the troops had used a powerful rocket barrage to launch a saturated attack on the enemy's fortified city. Seeing his son's adverse reaction, Shi Dakai frowned slightly.
"Father, there were not many people left in the city, and we easily occupied it." Shi Qian concluded the description of the battle.
Shi Dakai's eyebrows twitched slightly. His handsome face was full of gloominess when he was deep in thought. After a while, Shi Dakai asked, "Can you really rely on artillery to wipe out a city with hundreds of thousands of people?"
"The city is not big," Shi Qian explained.
"You said that hundreds of thousands of people ran into the city," Shi Dakai pressed.
At the mention of these hundreds of thousands of people, Shi Qian's expression became very ugly. He did not want to care about where those hundreds of thousands of people had gone. Thinking that they had probably been turned into those red and black rags, Shi Qian felt even more discomfort in his stomach.
Then he heard his father say in a tone of disbelief, "Can you really rely on artillery to blow everyone up? I don't believe it. How much gunpowder would it take?! "
Shi Dakai spoke seriously, and Shi Qian could not stand it anymore. His body was uncomfortable, and he refused to recall the past. Shi Qian frowned deeply. For the first time, he said to his father in a tone of extreme disgust, "Father, that's enough! Let's not talk about this anymore! "
Shi Dakai was very surprised to be treated like this by his son. He asked, "Why?"
"Because enough is enough! I don't want to talk about it anymore! " The disgust in Shi Qian's voice grew even stronger. On the ship back home, none of the soldiers mentioned a word about the war. Everyone just did their best to look forward to a bright future, and outline a happy retirement life. With such mutual help, Shi Qian had finally managed to bury the memories of the battlefield in his heart. But now, Shi Dakai had pulled these things out of the darkness and placed them in a bright place for Shi Qian to remember again. Apart from a strong sense of disgust, Shi Qian had no other emotions.
"You dare talk to your father like this just because you're a colonel in the army?" Shi Dakai asked in a low voice. From his voice and expression, Shi Qian could see that he was very dissatisfied and angry.
Comparing this kind of anger to the things in his memories, Shi Qian realized that he did not want to explain at all. He stood up without a word, turned around, and left Shi Dakai's study. Some things could not be explained. Everything Shi Qian had experienced was not a visual memory. It was as if it had been branded into Shi Qian's body. Just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable all over.
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