After a fierce battle, the militia finally returned to Liantai County.
Gao Hongming, who was sitting in the jeep, felt very heavy when he saw the gazes of the people from Liantai who spontaneously came out to greet him.
More than ten days ago, when the militia group set out, it was still full of more than 2,800 people, but now nearly 300 lives have been left in Qixia Pass forever, and most of these people are descendants of Liantai.
He was suddenly afraid to see the sad expressions and eyes of the villagers who had lost their loved ones.
The car stopped outside the city wall of the county town, and a middle-aged man wearing a Chinese tunic suit walked over.
This man's name is Jia Youdao, and he is the county magistrate of Liantai County.
In this age of widespread malnutrition, County Magistrate Jia is wide and fat, with a big round face that smiles like Maitreya Buddha, as if he can say good luck and fortune at any time. This shows that this guy is scrupulous about his daily life.
There are no shortage of benefits.
However, Jia Youdao, who has always been smiling, was uncharacteristically solemn today.
Gao Hongming stopped the car and walked to Jia Youdao.
"County Magistrate Jia, did you receive the letter I sent to you yesterday?"
"I received it, Captain Gao."
Jia Youdao nodded with a heavy expression, "After receiving your letter yesterday, I had people start building coffins overnight. Due to the lack of wood, many wealthy gentry in the county also spontaneously scraped together a lot.
But somehow the news got known to the folks in the county, and many old people donated the materials they had prepared for themselves without paying for it. We couldn't stop them. Look at this..."
Gao Hongming sighed: "Well, let's register the names and addresses of these people first. After a while, I will find a way to give them some compensation. In short, we must not let the villagers suffer. The most important thing now is the people who will die in the battle."
Brother, rest in peace."
"Young Master Gao, don't worry. You and the brothers have worked hard. Go back and rest first. Just leave these matters to the county. Make sure they are handled properly and without any mistakes." Jia Youdao patted his chest.
It has to be banged.
"Okay, I'll leave this to you." After many days of driving and the fierce battle at Qixia Pass, Gao Hongming was exhausted physically and mentally. Now he just wanted to go home, take a bath and sleep, and after a few more words
He was escorted back home by Dabao and the security team.
When Gao Hongming returned home, as soon as he entered the door, he saw Qin Xiulian, who was wearing a light blue cheongsam and had an outstanding figure. Accompanied by Ziying, she stood at the door and looked at him with a smile, but her beautiful eyes were slightly red for some reason.
.
The moment Gao Hongming stepped onto the threshold, she couldn't help but threw herself at him and hugged him tightly.
Embracing the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar fragrance, and feeling the weak and boneless body in his arms, Gao Hongming suddenly realized that he was not alone in this era. There were people here who were worthy of caring about him and who cared about him.
Peace.
"Okay Xiulian, I haven't showered for several days and I'm very dirty. If you have anything to say, please wait until I finish showering."
These days, not only Gao Hongming, but also all the officers and soldiers of the militia have been struggling in mud and water for several days.
The smell of blood, sweat and various other smells were mixed together. The smell was not ordinary, but Qin Xiulian didn't notice it as she hugged him tightly.
"Yes!" Qin Xiulian nodded in his arms and hugged his arm harder, as if she was afraid that Gao Hongming would slip away if she let go.
Gao Hongming took a shower, had a meal, and slept again before he recovered.
Located in the outskirts of Liantai County, there is a valley five miles away from Xiaocao Village. Outside the valley, there is a large area of over a hundred acres of saline-alkali land. Because no farmers can grow it, it has always been deserted.
The owner of this saline-alkali land is the Gao family. This time, Gao Hongming specially transformed this saline-alkali land into the Martyrs' Shrine for the purpose of burying those martyrs who died on the anti-Japanese battlefield.
The cemetery is semicircular in shape, and the cemetery stretches undulatingly. Gao Hongming asked people to plant many pine trees around it. However, because the Martyrs' Shrine was just built, there are almost no tombstones here.
But today, many people came to this usually deserted cemetery. Not only all the officers and soldiers of the militia were present, but also the merchants, gentry and nearby people from the county came to see the children of their hometowns.
One journey.
Before dawn, the common people spontaneously lined up in two rows at the entrance of the cemetery. Everyone looked solemn, with some crying mixed in between.
At nine-thirty in the morning, a long motorcade drove in from outside and stopped at the entrance of the cemetery.
The soldiers on the truck got out one after another. They all put on brand-new military uniforms and wore steel helmets on their heads. The officers put on big-brimmed hats. Because the weather was still relatively cold, everyone also wore them.
Knee-length military coat.
At the command of the officers, the soldiers also lined up neatly outside the cemetery.
Gao Hongming, Wu Chengfeng, Xiao Zhankui and other officers also got out of the car and stood on both sides of the road.
After another ten minutes, another convoy came and slowly drove to the cemetery and stopped.
The car doors opened, and four soldiers jumped out of each car.
The soldiers got out of the car and worked together to lift the coffin out of the car.
Seeing the coffin being carried out of the car, the star officer on duty shouted loudly, "Salute!"
"Wow..."
Gao Hongming, the officers and more than 2,000 soldiers all raised their hands and gave a solemn military salute to Pao Ze who died in the battle.
A drizzle of rain fell in the sky, as if weeping for these heroes who died in the battle.
Just as the soldiers were carrying the coffin off the truck, several cars drove over from a distance with a roar, and then stopped at the entrance of the cemetery. More than a dozen officers got out of the cars.
The leading officer looked around and walked straight towards Gao Hongming.
Gao Hongming took a look and saw that the leader turned out to be Sun Chu.
He couldn't help being surprised, "Sir, why are you here..."
Sun Chu walked over and said solemnly: "Brother Gao, I'm late."
Gao Hongming shook his head, "Sir Sun, we'll talk about it later. Please allow me to send these brothers away first."
"It should, it should!"
Of course Sun Chu understood the priorities of the matter.
"boom!"
A burst of gunshots rang out in the cemetery.
"Put your gun away..."
"Prepare... let go!"
"boom……"
"Prepare...let..."
Under the command of the officer, the twelve soldiers divided into two rows and fired their guns into the sky. They were using this method to bid farewell to their former comrades.
“Du…du…du, du…du, du…”
When the gunfire ended, the bugler picked up the bugle and blew the lights-out horn. The low lights-out horn sound was particularly solemn. At this time, the soldiers standing on both sides of the tomb slowly loosened the ropes and put the coffin into the cemetery.
As the coffin was covered with loess, heart-wrenching cries resounded from the crowd.
Sun Chu and the officers who came with him looked at this scene, with a look of shame on their faces involuntarily.