Chapter 14: Where Are Your Guns! Where Is Your Dignity?

The veterinarian saw Meng Fanle silent, and began to tend to the pigeon he had retrieved.

"I tell you, this pigeon is a good thing, a great tonic."

"I tell you, that officer just now was amazing, one shot per pigeon. Look, the pigeon's heads are all gone. His aim was precise, a fast shooter—bang bang bang—just four shots, and four pigeons fell down."

The veterinarian plucked the pigeon's feathers, and everyone stared at the pigeon in his hands.

"We won't eat today; tomorrow we'll stew this pigeon into a pot of soup for us," the veterinarian thought today was too lavish; previously they only had boiled cabbage and pumpkin, now there was both meat and vegetables.

Meng Fanle, who had been sitting silently beside the veterinarian for a long time, finally spoke, "Veterinarian, eat it, perhaps you won't get to eat again later."

The veterinarian was startled; from north to south, one was a Xi'an person, the other a Beiping person.

The veterinarian understood, and Meng Fanle understood as well.

Confused Dragon understood, but with a reluctance to truly understand.

"Alright, in a bit I'll cook soup for everyone, good fellow, today we're having a big meat feast." The veterinarian also said with a burst of bravado.

"Unfortunately, there's no salt left."

"Later we'll ask the camp commander for some," Meng Fanle said.

The veterinarian paused again; Meng Fanle had changed. What had happened, Meng Fanle didn't say, and the veterinarian didn't ask.

He treated everyone as his own children; in truth he knew his son faced a grim fate, yet he still held a small lingering affection in his heart.

Yao Ma came up, "Got it, just now I saw on that cart a lot of seasonings."

"Yao Ma, do you think there will be pork stewed with vermicelli tomorrow?" Dou Bing asked curiously.

Everyone looked forward to having pork stewed with vermicelli tomorrow, but such a good thing is hard to come by.

"Which one, who knows," Yao Ma said.

Everyone reminisced about the pork, cabbage, and vermicelli they ate at noon; that flavor they'd remember for a lifetime.

After the meal, especially when full, everyone chatted, basked in the sun; such peaceful days were truly comfortable.

In the middle of conversation, Jiang Anguo entered with Xiao Si.

He opened a room door—good grief—the sour, stinky smell inside, plus the odor of dirty socks, practically drove him away.

"Camp commander, perhaps we should go back to Tengchong," Xiao Si couldn't stand that smell.

Not to mention Jiang Anguo had just two days ago fallen asleep on a Serta mattress in the afterlife, and now had to sleep in a place like this.

"What nonsense are you spouting? As an officer, one naturally shares hardships with one's soldiers," Jiang Anguo said loudly.

His voice seemed intended for every soldier of Chanda to hear.

Xiao Si, hearing the Young Master say that, said no more.

Jiang Anguo truly didn't want to live in such conditions; mainly there was no way out, everyone was watching, he couldn't just leave on his own.

Look at Yu Xiaoqing, who talked a lot and then disappeared; obviously, he also doesn't want to linger here.

In Yu Xiaoqing's eyes, these people were merely cannon fodder, used to draw fire.

"Xiao Si, let's clear this place out," Jiang Anguo said.

No matter how hard it gets, at least there must be a place to sleep by night.

"Alright, camp commander," Xiao Si, who had fled from Xuzhou, had endured hardship and slept on the streets, was accustomed to it.

The courtyard actually still had many empty rooms; everyone liked to crowd together, except Confused Dragon, who stayed solitary.

Living together generated heat; it was a bit smelly, but the night was warm.

Beds and the like weren't even considered; everyone just gathered straw, spread it, and could sleep; there were no blankets, they covered themselves with straw, lit a fire in winter, and that was enough.

But the interior was truly chaotic; the temperature in Yunnan Province at the end of February was tolerable during the day, yet the night remained somewhat chaotic.

The windows leaked terribly; no wonder few people remained inside.

As for rats, haha, if you ask about insects there might be some, but these broken soldiers had already eaten everything edible; the rats were all meat, albeit a bit lean.

"Sir, let me help you," the veterinarian was the first to stand up and go into the house to assist Jiang Anguo.

"Thanks," Jiang Anguo replied with a brief greeting.

He immediately leveraged his advantage, "Anyone who can move, come help remove all the useless stuff here; after all I'm your camp commander, later I'll treat you to plain rice porridge."

Upon hearing that, everyone noted they'd have something to eat at night; in the past, if a meal was that good, they'd skip dinner, and eating only once a day was common.

Yao Ma, Not Spicy, She Pigu, Kang Ya, Dou Bing, and Li Wula also sprang into action; about twenty people in the courtyard who could move came to help.

Confused Dragon only glanced, then lay down again.

In a short while, they cleared a spot suitable for sleeping.

"Alright, that's it; from now on this is my command post," Jiang Anguo said.

Even though there was nothing left, even the straw had been completely removed.

"Sir, can we really have plain porridge?" Not Spicy's eager face was full of anticipation.

Jiang Anguo stood before everyone, looking at their puzzled eyes, "What? When did I ever deceive you? Here, look at what's in this bag."

Jiang Anguo tossed out a bag taken from his backpack; the bag contained ten jin of rice. In fact he had spent 1 point to purchase fifty jin of rice, and the system kindly divided it into ten bags, each holding ten jin, and this was one such bag.

Not Spicy caught the tossed rice; when the sack opened, the bright white grains gleamed—he had never seen rice so white. These days, food was scarce; even a bite of coarse grain was a blessing, and this was genuine fine grain.

Seeing that everyone's gaze was not on him, Jiang Anguo shouted, "It's already four o'clock in the afternoon; let's boil this rice with water. Tonight everyone will have porridge. After all I'm your camp commander; I can't let you starve."

Sure enough, everyone looked at Jiang Anguo again, "Sir, if we follow you, can we have food?"

Many looked at Jiang Anguo with skeptical eyes.

"What's your name?" Jiang Anguo asked.

"Sir, I'm Zhang Sheng, 184th Division, Second Lieutenant, Platoon Leader."

"Will there be food if you follow me? That's a good question. I can only say it's still too early for you to follow me; my 200th Division demands elite troops. Are you elite? Look at whether you have the bearing to sit or stand. When you become elite, then we can discuss this."

After Jiang Anguo finished speaking, only Not Spicy puffed out his chest; the Vz24 Rifle slung on his back was unfamiliar to Jiang Anguo, as it had been identified by the system, which can scan; it was a rifle made by Germans in the Czech Republic.

He pointed at Not Spicy, "You, tell him why your rifle is still on you, why only you have a gun."

"Chief, the people are there, the gun is there," Bu La laughed as he said.

Jiang Anguo stepped forward, patted Bu La's shoulder, "Very good, look at this: twenty-something people, and only this one gun. Where did your guns go? In the Japanese's hands? Say it loudly to me."

"Where are your guns! Where is your dignity!"

"If you can't speak, you have no right to negotiate terms with me; get lost, and when it's time to eat later, remember to call me." Jiang Anguo drove everyone out.