Arc of Gunfire

Wang Zhong rode a white horse and was stunned for a moment when he walked to the road leading to the fertilizer factory.

Because in his memory, this was an alleyway that could only accommodate one car. If a car and a three-wheeler came facing each other, it would have to be blocked.

The road is now very spacious, because the walls on the roadside have been blown to pieces, and the houses behind the walls have also collapsed in half and are in tatters.

Wang Zhong looked back at Gregory, who was helping him carry the flag: "Is it here?"

Gregory: "Yes, just go straight."

Wang Zhong took a few steps forward, turned a corner, and saw the burned-out Ploson tank. A skitarii was collecting the weapons and ammunition from the dead Ploson soldiers next to the tank.

Next to the Skitarii was a mule cart piled high with ammunition and weapons.

Among a pile of Proson's bolt-action rifles, Wang Zhong saw several Tokarev semi-automatic rifles.

As if he had the ability to sense, Busifaras walked directly to the mule cart so that Wang Zhong could pick up the gun.

The gun was scabbed with blood. Wang Zhong pulled the gun open and found that it was almost unusable because of the blood. The gun would jam if not cleaned thoroughly.

The bayonet of the gun was so clean that the owner may have been killed before he could use it.

At this time, the skitarii collecting equipment said: "General, the young man holding this gun has been carried away, and all our young men have been carried away."

Wang Zhong: "Where was it carried?"

"The warehouse over there was originally used to store fertilizers that were to be transported away. Now it has become a huge morgue, a huge morgue!" The Skitarii probably didn't have much education, so they could only repeat the adjective "huge".

Wang Zhong put the gun on the mule cart and said to Gregory: "Let's go and have a look."

After saying that, he lightly kicked Bucephalas in the stomach.

The horse took a light step, as if not wanting to break the silence that enveloped the battlefield.

The stack area is not far away, just past the wreckage of seven Prosen tanks.

It is said to be a stack, but it is actually just a piece of flat land with weeds on it. It seems more accurate to call it grass, which as always highlights the informal nature of the people of the Ant Empire.

Now the grass was covered with corpses in khaki uniforms.

Several old women were pushing a cart and covering the young people with black cloth.

The leader was a nun, who was singing a requiem while shaking the bell in her hand.

The soldiers of the 31st Guards Regiment were gathered next to the warehouse, watching Mammy bid farewell to their comrades. Perhaps because of the heat, they hid in the shadows of the tall building of the chemical plant next door.

The light of the setting sun passed over the dilapidated building and fell on the empty stack, coating everything with a red light.

The silhouette of the shadow is like the border between two worlds, the living looking at the dead.

Only the Requiem echoes in the lonely scene.

Wang Zhong closed his eyes and recalled those young faces. The enemy came so quickly that he had not yet been able to match everyone's faces with their names.

But that didn't stop him from sending them on their last journey.

Wang Zhong dismounted, glanced at the flag held by Gregory, then took out his notebook and pencil and walked into the sunset, into the realm of the dead.

He came to the first corpse in the lower right corner of the stack, read the young man's name aloud, and then wrote it down in his notebook with a pencil.

In this way, he slowly walked past everyone, read everyone's name, and wrote it down in his notebook.

The soldiers of the 31st Regiment stood up and looked at him silently.

Wang Zhong didn't know how many people he read. He only knew that his pencil ran out of writing several times and he had to stop and sharpen it with his pocket knife before continuing to write.

When the aunt saw what he was doing, she silently asked the aunts to temporarily stop covering the house with black cloth, and the singing of the requiem was also temporarily stopped.

The voices of the living echo in this area dominated by death.

Wang Zhong suddenly stopped, looked at the corpse in front of him, and read his name with a heavy heart: "Alexey Balfionovich. May you be reunited with the girl in heaven."

Grandma made a triangle on her chest and whispered: "Amen."

Wang Zhong continued recording names until the shadow of the fertilizer plant completely engulfed the stack.

He stood on the edge of the shadow and turned around just in time to see the bloody sunset.

I don't know since when, all the surviving soldiers of the 31st Regiment have been standing on the edge of the stack, looking at Wang Zhong and their general.

Grigory stood among them, holding the flag.

Wang Zhong walked towards the soldiers.

Perhaps the scene was too solemn and no one broke the silence with passwords.

Wang Zhong walked all the way to everyone: "I promised to remember all of your names. But I haven't had time to do it yet."

The young soldiers pursed their lips and looked at Wang Zhong.

Wang Zhongyang raised the notebook in his hand: "In this notebook, everyone who died today is recorded. There will definitely be many more people in this notebook in the future.

"One day in the future, when I become the commander of a group army or even a front army, the number of deaths will be so great that it will be difficult to record it in a notebook.

"But I promise, I will remember every drop of blood shed to win. Look at this flag!"

Wang Zhong made a gesture to Gregory.

The sergeant major stepped forward five steps to where everyone could see the flag in his hand.

Wang Zhong: "This flag was taken out by a veteran. His name is Reznov. He has sacrificed his life to rescue me in trouble. Many, many people have sacrificed their lives to save me, and their blood is spattered here." on the flag.

"I carry this flag to remember the civilians who sacrificed their lives to save me.

“Now, I decided to use dye to dye this flag completely red, so that it will represent all the soldiers who died today.

"It will represent every warrior who has sacrificed his life to protect our country since the war began!

“Every one of us, when we see the red flag, will think of the sacrifices we have made and the price we have paid for victory!

“I think in this huge, all-encompassing war, in the chaos of the early stages of the war, many people will die without having time to leave their names.

"This red flag will represent each and every one of them! We will never forget!"

Wang Zhong stopped and looked at these faces that were as young as the deceased.

I don’t know who started shouting: “We will remember it!”

Others joined in shouting: "We remember!"

"We remember it!"

"We remember it!"

After the chorus ended, Wang Zhong continued: "If one day, I also fall, my blood-stained style will also be on this flag. Gregory! Go and dye the flag with a red background! "

Gregory started running, got on his horse, and disappeared in a flash.

After watching the flag disappear, Wang Zhong looked at the young people again: "Vasili! Is Vasily here? Or is he injured?"

Vasily: "Here! I have your precious walkie-talkie with me. It's not broken! Don't punish me!"

Wang Zhong: "Aren't you going to punish me, or do you just want to pick the shit?"

"I don't want to, I don't want to at all!"

Wang Zhong: "I heard that your father is a music professor?"

"Yes." Vasily looked a little unhappy. It seemed that there was a deep gap between him and his father.

Wang Zhong: "Then sing some songs suitable for this scene!"

"This... general, in this situation?"

Wang Zhong: "What's wrong? Can't you sing at this time?"

"But such a sad scene..."

"Yes, such a sad scene. But do the dead want us to cry? No, they want us to have the courage to kill the enemy as well as them! They want to repay the debt with blood!

"Sing! A powerful song!"

Vasily frowned: "This..."

"Didn't your father provide you with music education?" Wang Zhong asked doubtfully.

Next to him Filipov shouted: "Report!"

Wang Zhong: "Speak!"

"Educated, General! He is very good at music! He can also play the trumpet!"

Vasily gave his friend a sharp look.

Wang Zhong: "So, people who have received a good music education say that there are no songs suitable for this kind of scene?"

"At least I haven't learned it."

Wang Zhong thought it was a coincidence, I do know a song like this, but unfortunately I don't know how to write the lyrics in Ant language. I'm afraid singing it in Chinese won't confuse everyone.

But in this situation, he really wanted to sing this song because it was so suitable.

So he hummed, and found out that there was no translation, it was just Chinese.

Although the sound was very small, Vasily heard it - maybe because he had a musician father and a good ear.

"What song is this? I've never heard it before! I can't understand the lyrics, but I can feel the meaning when it comes to the melody!" Vasily asked curiously, "What on earth is this?"

Wang Zhong suddenly had an idea.

He asked: "Have you studied composition?"

"Uh... I haven't tried it, but my dad forces me to learn music theory all day long. You can give it a try."

At this time, Wang Zhong suddenly had an idea: singing cannot be translated, but I can recite it. Once I recite it, I will translate it, and then let Vasily worry about how to change the content into lyrics that can be sung.

So he said, "Look, put this to music and make it into a song!"

As he spoke, he turned his head and glanced at the pile full of corpses, and began to read:

Singing heroes in the wind and smoke

Surrounded by green mountains, listen carefully, listen carefully

Sound of thunder and golden drum on sunny days

The waves of the sea are in harmony

People's soldiers drive away tigers and leopards

Sacrifice one's life to preserve peace

Why is the battle flag so picturesque?

The hero's blood dyed her red

Why is spring always present in the earth?

The life of a hero blooms with flowers!

Filipov opened his mouth in an O shape: "Are you still a poet?"

Vasily took a notebook and wrote down the words, read them silently again, and then commented sharply: "The rhyme is a bit strange, and it needs to be changed. But it does have a sad but not sad temperament!"

Nonsense, this is one of the immortal treasures of my real motherland from another time and space!

Wang Zhong patted Vasily on the shoulder: "I order you to survive and change it. Then put it to music."

"I'll try my best." Vasily looked at the lyrics written on the notebook in his hand. "This word says that the hero's blood dyed her red... Did you think of this after seeing the flag?"

Sadly, no.

Wang Zhong was about to answer when the sound of an engine came from the sky.

He quickly switched to an overhead view and found that the enemy's reconnaissance plane was flying at high altitude.

This time Wang Zhong confirmed very carefully that this was indeed not a bomber carrying Fritz X radio-guided bombs.

Vasily also looked at the sky: "Damn enemy, where is our air force?"

As soon as he finished speaking, something in the sky reflected the light of the setting sun.

The MiG-3 in a two-plane formation appeared!

The enemy reconnaissance plane immediately sprayed intercepting fire, but the two MiG-3s still flexibly got into its six o'clock direction.

After a short burst of fire, the left engine of the Dow 215 reconnaissance plane caught fire, dragging thick smoke towards the ground.

The two MiGs followed as if to ensure the destruction of the enemy plane until the enemy plane crashed.

Then the two planes turned around and roared over the pile of corpses.

The tough pilot on the plane had clearly just shot down the enemy from several thousand meters in the air, but he did not close the glass hatch of the cockpit.

In Wang Zhong's impression, only Italian pilots like to open the cockpit cover so much, and the reason is "to feel the breath of the wind."

After the pilot saw what was below, he raised his right hand in salute.

Some of the soldiers exclaimed: "He has six downed stars! He is the ace of the Air Force!"

"Ula!"

Everyone cheered!

Only Vasily was still looking down at the poem Wang Zhong had just "written".