[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

〖Dreary November,

The days are getting darker,

The wind plucks the leaves off,

I am on a trip to Germany.

——"Germany, a Winter's Fairy Tale"〗

The U.S. military has three treasures: being rich, self-willed, and eating well.

Throughout World War II, the food standard of the U.S. military was the highest among all participating countries, much better than that of the German army.However, wayward American soldiers don't buy it. There is a joke that anyone who praises the delicious food will be arrested and beaten, because it must be a German spy.

During the recruit training period, Sheng Rui didn't have to worry about food at all.Because he is not a formal soldier, the training task is not heavy.

However, he did not regard himself as a "temporary worker", and set out to formulate a strict physical training plan for himself, with the goal of developing excellent waist, abdomen and limb muscles.This is not for others, but for your own life.The battlefield is not a place for leisurely sightseeing.

Because of his creamy appearance, Sheng Rui is often regarded as a libertine with no temperament.But he knows better than anyone how amazing the results can be if a person makes up his mind to rigorous self-discipline.

When he was in business school, in order to practice his ability to respond to English numbers, he read the huge random numbers generated by Excel in front of the computer every day, and at the same time performed mixed calculations in his mind.Later, in business negotiations, no matter how much data bombarded by the opponent in a short period of time, he could not take advantage of his loopholes at all, and in the end he could only do nothing.

Now he's going to train his body the way he trains his brain.No coach, no equipment, no creatine, just your own willpower.

Based on his previous fitness experience, he made a detailed stage planning table down to the minute, and strictly checked the number of action groups completed on the day like keeping an account.

In the first few days, he had to use all his strength to accomplish the goals he set, and the unbearable muscle soreness made him so frustrated that he wanted to give up.At that time, he was thinking about Qi Han.He has seen that guy's abs before, and if one day they "candidly face each other" in the future, he doesn't want to be compared physically.

Over time, his body slowly accepted this new set of laws and began to spontaneously evolve in the direction he wanted.He can clearly see this evolution: the arm that once couldn't even do a few push-ups has a raised triceps, and finally he can do one-armed pull-ups, which he had never dreamed of before. .This means that if he is hanging on the edge of a cliff, he can pull himself up with just one hand.

Two months later, with strong arms and six-pack abs, Sheng Rui came to the Netherlands to report to the 84th "Log Splitter" Infantry Division of the US Army.

In November, the 84th Infantry Division went to Germany.

Sheng Rui was half lying in the carriage, feeling the bumps of the car body.

After reporting for duty for a week, he still hasn't made any friends.Most of the people in this company have known each other since they were in the boot camp in the United States. He is like a transfer student who came in suddenly, and he is a foreigner. No one will take him to play.

Since there was no one to talk to, he idly flipped through the "Army Academy List," a thin publication given out to recruits.This is the only thing he can read now besides the few newspapers that are about to be torn apart.The cover depicts a beaming private soldier in Army uniform, a boat cap, and a book in his hand, with the words: "What do you want to learn?

"Want to be a better soldier?

"Want to get promoted?

"Want to attend officer training?

"Want to find a good job?

"Want to continue your education?

"The Army helps you! Correspondence courses are provided for all recruits, and you can choose from more than 700 courses!"

This tone reminded him of some advertisements in his era, which added a bit of intimacy.He turned over, took out a cigarette between his lips, and lit it with a lighter.He is now addicted to smoking, because many times he doesn't know what to do if he doesn't pass the time in this way.

There is smoke all around, some people are playing poker, some people are chatting.If you ignore military uniforms and guns, it looks a lot like a group of college students on a graduation trip.

This is a bit different from the war years he imagined.Even with the flames of war, amidst the playing cards and puffing cigarettes, life goes on.

"Fuck, fuck!" With a loud voice, a flaxen-haired head popped out from beside Sheng Rui, "I'm not playing anymore, you bird people!"

"Hal, don't be a coward and can't afford to lose! I know you still have half a package of Changhong hidden, do you want to win it back?" Someone in the crowd said.

The flaxen head groaned and ignored the challenge.

There is always a category of people in the crowd who act as a "social hub" and have a good relationship with many people.This sergeant named Harold Adams is such a character.Getting to know one person like this is equivalent to getting to know a lot of people.Sheng Rui had already identified Harold as his first public relations target, and had been secretly observing him waiting for an opportunity.

Harold has a heavy Philadelphia accent, such as always saying the [o:] sound long and full, or saying "these" instead of "dese".If you let him say "these buns", he will say "these buns~~~~~paper".

Sheng Rui, who has lived in the University of Pennsylvania for many years, is very familiar with this accent, and decided to use it as a breakthrough to get close to him.

After the others started the game again, Sheng Rui leaned slightly from the bunk: "Sergeant, do you know where we are now?"

"Er—I think it's almost the border."

"Thank you." Sheng Rui handed over a cigarette, "From your accent, you seem to be from Philadelphia?"

"Wow! Can you hear that?" Harold's eyes lit up immediately.People who travel far away for a long time are usually very sensitive to everything in their hometown.He had been away from home for almost two years, and he had no fellow countrymen around him. Most of the soldiers in the 84th Division came from Illinois, Kentucky and Indiana, and very few people from Pennsylvania.Unexpectedly, today I suddenly heard the name of my hometown from a foreigner, and I couldn't help being overjoyed.

Sheng Rui nodded: "I went to Philadelphia a few years ago and lived on 34th Street." He also said street as shtreet with a Philadelphia accent.He intentionally blurred the length of his stay in Philadelphia, as if he had only been there briefly for sightseeing, so that Harold would not be surprised if he could not tell the details of Philadelphia in this era.

Facts have proved that the trick of climbing fellow villagers works everywhere.The two chatted a lot from the Independence Hall, the Eagles to the cheesesteak sandwich. When the convoy arrived in Geilenkirchen, a small town on the German border, they had successfully developed into a good gay relationship shoulder to shoulder.

I don't know whether to call it luck or misfortune, Sheng Rui caught up with a not-so-small battle when he first came out of the rough.The British 30th Corps and the American 84th Infantry Division launched a joint attack on Geilenkirchen called Operation Clipper.

However, in view of the unjustifiable temporary worker status of "cultural relic soldier", Sheng Rui didn't have to participate in actual combat, but only ran errands behind others and passed on rumors, and he actually became an orderly soldier.

On November 23, the Allied forces occupied Geilenkirchen and "Operation Clipper" ended. The 84th Division returned to the command of the US military and was about to leave this place and continue to march northward.

It stands to reason that when withdrawing from one place, the originally erected telephone lines should be recycled and continue to be used in the next place.

But the rich and willful U.S. military was not happy about such trouble, and waved their sleeves without taking a single wire.

Although they are not taken away, it is not acceptable to let them stay there as they are. If they fall into the hands of the German army, the enemy will be cheapened in vain.

The task of cutting the telephone line was given to the platoon to which Sheng Rui belonged—or "hanged"—in other words.

Early in the morning, the platoon leader nicknamed "Big Stick" brought his three squads plus one "temporary worker", and forty people came to the Ulm River in the northeast suburb of Geilenkirchen.

The signal soldier first removed the telephone repeater erected at a high place.This big guy was meant to be taken away and continued to be used, and he wasn't self-willed to this point.

As soon as he was done, the others climbed up the tree, grabbed the thread cutters, and clicked.

It didn't take too long, and the phone lines within several kilometers were snapped.Forty people assembled and prepared to return to camp.

It was at this time that the commotion arose.

The people walking in the front stopped suddenly, chaos spread like a tide, and many people were shouting something.Sheng Rui heard a word he least wanted to hear: "Sniper!!"

German snipers are a nightmare.The invisible enemy is the most terrifying, because there is no way to avoid it.Just hearing these three syllables, Sheng Rui felt that he had been targeted, and a bullet from nowhere would penetrate his head in the next second.

He was obviously not alone in feeling this way.Around him, some recruits immediately fell down in panic.This is the most common mistake inexperienced people make when encountering snipers, making themselves a living target for snipers.A few veterans wanted to pull them up, but because of the heavy rain the day before yesterday, the ground was muddy, and they slipped and tugged.

"Damn, get up! Take cover!" A roar of a big stick came from the noise.He picked up the lying recruits one by one and kicked them into the bushes by the roadside.

Sheng Rui hid behind a tree, carefully inspecting the surrounding ground.He once heard that some snipers would dig a hole in the ground, lay some camouflage on it, leaving only a crack, and shoot and kill nearby people without anyone noticing.

After waiting for a long time, there was no movement.

"Is there really a sniper? Don't some rookie's gun go off?" Harold muttered in a low voice.

No one answered his words.The air was stagnant, like the calm before the storm.

Suddenly, there was a signal mortar fire, followed by a torrential rain of bullets on the ground near them, splashing mud and water.Judging from the intensity of the gunfire, there seemed to be hundreds of people on the other side.

"Fuck, fuck!" Harold yelled, "We're not dealing with a sniper, we're dealing with a fucking company!"

Only the big stick remained calm, and ordered the messenger: "Vance! Call the battalion immediately—"

His voice suddenly stopped.Everyone's eyes fell on the ground at the same time: the EE-99 telephone repeater that had just been removed was squatting innocently at their feet.

Germany, Brandenburg, Berlin.

Qi Han stood next to a Mercedes truck, holding a registration book, taking the last inventory of supplies before packing them into boxes.

In a dreary November, the wind plucks the leaves from the trees.The last batch of fallen leaves fluttered away from the branches, flapping the brim of the military cap, drawing broken lines like butterflies in front of his eyes.The gloomy clouds in the sky blocked the sun, and the first snow of this winter was brewing.

"Hey! Hans, your phone number!" The Master Chief leaned out from the door of the camp office with a cigarette in his mouth and shouted at him, while blinking mysteriously: "My wife."

Qi Han walked into the room and picked up the microphone that was on the table.

"Greta?"

"Hans, I'm in Berlin, can you come out? I have a letter from you."

"Letter? To me?"

"Well, it was sent from Rome half a year ago, and it just arrived. I happened to be in Berlin on business, so I brought it to you. The sender's name is Ray, do you know him?"