[Crossing] Beacon Fire Dragon Line

〖It is the skylark who announces the dawn, not the nightingale

Behold, my love, the malicious morning light has laced the broken clouds in the east, and the sparks of the night have been extinguished

The joyous day has gently set foot on the misty mountain top.

--"Romeo and Juliet"〗

"Missing?"

"Yes." Greta's eyes dimmed, "Two years ago, my father was in charge of managing a machinery manufacturing workshop, where he protected 200 Jews. On the surface, it was to force them to work, but in fact, it was to prevent them from being sent to work. To a concentration camp. One day he went to work in the workshop as usual and never came back. I heard rumors that he was captured by the Gestapo, but no one saw him, and no one knew where he was sent. He Just like that, he disappeared. The last time he wrote a letter came back from Romania a year ago. The letter said that he encountered some things and could not go home temporarily, and told us not to worry. After that, there was no more news. "

Disappeared in war-torn times, the ending is almost self-evident.

"I'm sorry." Sheng Rui didn't know what to say.

Greta smiled: "It's nothing, I have already prepared for the worst mentally. In other words, I have already accepted it as a fact that my father will never come back. —— Of course I don't want to say that Father has something to do, but sometimes, the sooner you face the reality, the better it is for you to continue living. Relying on false illusions, you may be able to support it for a while, but there will be a day when you will be unsustainable. At that time, life will be It can only be destroyed, and there is no possibility of recovery.”

Sheng Rui didn't speak.He remembered a line from a movie called "Aspirin": "People always like to use 'if' to outline some unwarranted miracles, but most of the 'if' are unrealizable, but a buffer from hope to despair. zone."

"Sorry, I'm talking about something heavy." Greta shook her head, "After my father disappeared, my mother fell ill. Our family's financial source is almost entirely supported by Hans, who sends us money every month. Come back. In fact, he didn’t have to do this. At the beginning, we agreed that although we were husband and wife in name, we would not interfere with each other. When the war is over, the relationship will be terminated. He can completely ignore us, but he has helped us so much Busy.—By the way," she seemed to think of something suddenly, "when my father managed the workshop, Hans also helped a lot, secretly picking up some people who were going to be sent to concentration camps. If you Some of them can be reached—”

Sheng Rui understood what she meant.In case Qi Han is tried in the future, it will be of great benefit if someone proves that he has protected the Jews.West Germany is now under the jurisdiction of the US military, and it is related to the Jews. Sheng Rui's US military status is much easier to use than Greta's German status.

"I understand. Please tell me the address of that workshop, and I will inquire about it."

Greta took a piece of paper, wrote down an address and handed it to Sheng Rui.She sincerely apologized: "I'm sorry, I really want to do something for Hans, but I really don't have the ability. I really hope that he can have a good ending."

"He will, Greta." Sheng Rui said in a sworn tone, "He will."

After bidding farewell to Greta, Sheng Rui found a person in charge of a Jewish aid organization after several rounds.After all, he was a former president with strong social activities and knew how to deal with all kinds of people and organizations.

It didn't take long before he got a reply: Several people had been contacted.They wrote a letter of explanation, expressing their willingness to testify in court if necessary in the future.

Sheng Rui read those materials one by one, and he was relieved a lot.

However, there was one more thing that worried him.

The biggest accusation that Qi Han may face is the smuggling of Italian cultural relics.Although the artifacts were returned to Italy after the war, the crime cannot hide its past.

Coincidentally, at this time, the long-lost cultural relic officer Captain Monumanz found him.

The Allied forces are going to send a batch of Italian cultural relics discovered in Germany back to the Vatican, but the number of cultural relic officers is too small. In fact, there are only a handful of them working, so they plan to call everyone who can touch the top. , There are many people to create momentum, which shows the importance the Allied Army attaches to the protection of cultural relics.

Faced with this opportunity to return to Italy, Sheng Rui hesitated for a while.

It was already April, and seeing the agreed date approaching, he absolutely didn't want to make trouble at such a critical moment.But he is also very clear that if Qi Han can be exempted from being charged with smuggling cultural relics, this is a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity.

Qi Han had indeed been in charge of transporting many cultural relics and ancient books in Italy, but there was a lot of flexibility in this: Germany’s removal of Italian cultural relics was not entirely for plunder, and part of the actions were protective transfers.

"Transfer" and "smuggling" are different words, but their natures are completely different.With flexibility comes room to move and maneuver.

Sheng Rui knows very well that it is far more difficult to reverse a case after it has been qualified than to intervene before it is qualified.As soon as the war is over, all parties will immediately start to settle accounts after the fall, and many things will become unclear. It cannot be completely ruled out that the existence of "whoever is caught will take the blame".In case Qi Han was charged with too serious a crime and was arrested and imprisoned for more than 20 or [-] years, would Sheng Rui be allowed to live?

If you take advantage of the present, when everything has not yet settled, and use your identity as an "allied cultural relics protection worker" to do some things in place, it will be of great benefit to dredging in the future.

Sheng Rui calculated the time.If it's fast, you can come back in two or three days, and you can't miss a big deal.

Finally he made a decision: go back to Italy.

The company granted him a five-day vacation.Now there is basically no fighting on the western front, and what the 84th Division does every day is to patrol along the banks of the Elbe River.

But there is a small problem: Sheng Rui became a full-time member halfway, so he only has field uniforms, not regular uniforms.This trip to Italy is part of a show. It is not for a war, let alone the Vatican. It is inappropriate to wear a field uniform.

The big stick is very generous: "The person who goes out of my platoon must be more handsome than the others. - Hal, lend him yours!"

Harold: "..."

Under normal circumstances, the boat-shaped hat, which is a flat fedora with no brim, is worn with the uniform of the US military.But whenever they are on vacation or traveling privately, many soldiers still choose to wear big-brimmed hats, and the reason is just one word: handsome.

Since the big stick instructed to be more handsome than everyone else, Harold contributed his big-brimmed hat.

Sheng Rui has a beautiful appearance, and now he has a sexy figure. Naturally, Yushu Linfeng looks good when he wears straight casual clothes.Harold couldn't help but admire while helping him fasten his armed belt and put on his badge: "Ray, you really should be an officer, you have that style."

Sheng Rui's mind slipped in another direction unknowingly.

He once attended a friend's wedding and accompanied the groom to pick up the bride.The poor bridegroom endured a lot of tossing, carrying sacks and pouring pepper water, before he was able to carry his lover out of the boudoir and put him on a float.

At this moment, he has a feeling that he is going to pick up the bride.

Can't help but feel full of anticipation.

After walking so far, finally, we are about to see the result.

As long as he can bring that person by his side, no matter how much hardship it takes, he will not hesitate.

In Umbria, Italy, several U.S. military Willys jeeps were driving among the green mountains.

Speaking of the rhythm of the liberation of Italy by the US military, there is a certain degree of strangeness.

In July [-], U.S. troops landed from Sicily, the southernmost island of Italy.It was Italy, but it was actually the Germans who came out to fight.The two sides fought each other for a year. By August [-], the U.S. Army had reached Florence in central Italy, and most of the German troops had escaped.

When the German army ran, the cute Italy couldn't hit the high point of the US military, so the wayward US military left Italy and joined the Soviet Union to attack Germany.For a full half a year, Italy was divided between the north and the south, and no one cared about it, so it had to fight and suffer, and there were repeated civil wars.

By April, the Soviet Union's position as a general offensive had been established. It ravaged Germany and pointed its sword at Berlin, making it clear that no other offensive would continue to get involved.

The U.S. military reluctantly wandered along the Elbe River. When it was the closest, the leading troops including the 84th Division were only a few kilometers away from Berlin, but they could only watch helplessly instead of driving straight in.It was only then that I suddenly remembered that there was another little shou named Italy who had only attacked halfway and left it hanging there.So the U.S. military ran back and continued to attack. It took more than 4 days to liberate the whole of Italy, and April 25 has since become Italy's Independence Day.

Therefore, although Italy is currently only half a liberated area, there is actually no serious fighting.

Driving to the vicinity of Terni, the rushing Mamore Waterfall appeared among the vegetation.From this angle, you can see the whole picture of the waterfall, showing a white pearl color under the sun.

Their guide was a fat middle-aged man.Seeing that Sheng Rui had been looking at the waterfall thoughtfully, he fulfilled his duty as a tour guide and introduced emotionally: "What you are seeing now is the largest man-made waterfall in Europe. However, although it is man-made , but we Italians are romantic by nature and have created a touching legend for it."

Once upon a time, there was a goddess named Nora who fell in love with a handsome young shepherd named Velinor.However, Hera did not allow them to combine and turned Nora into a river, which is now the Nora River.

Heartbroken, Velinor jumped off the cliff and fell into the arms of the Nora Valley in order to follow his lover.He also became a river, the Velino.And where he jumped off the cliff, it became the Marmore Falls.

"Because this waterfall is the combination of the goddess Nora and Velinor, it has divine power. If a mortal jumps from the waterfall, he can gain eternal life. And if a couple jumps together—" the guide paused pretending to be mysterious After a while, he continued: "We will love each other forever."

Perhaps seeing Sheng Rui's expression was too serious, the guide immediately showed a cute and sly Italian smile, and blinked: "Oh, of course, this is just a legend full of romantic imagination, I would not recommend young people to dance Waterfall. But people always like this kind of story, right? Romeo and Juliet type of love that is not allowed.” He switched to Italian with a proverb: “Ifrutti proibitisonoipiùdolci. (Forbidden fruit is the sweetest. )”

Back in Rome, Sheng Rui was filled with emotion.

Calculating the time, it has only been more than six months since he left in September last year, but it seems that he has already reincarnated for a year.

In the Vatican, things are going pretty well.

After finishing what he could do, he immediately prepared to return.Before leaving, he took a moment to visit the Pantheon.

Father Padreio looked at Sheng Rui who appeared in front of him again in disbelief.Although he has been officially enlisted in the army for a short time, Sheng Rui has shown the upright and tough temperament of a soldier, which is completely different from his appearance when he was helplessly living on the street.

When he left Rome, he left a letter for the priest to forward to Qi Han, in case Qi Han came back to look for him one day but was in vain.

He asked for the letter back.Now, he can hand it over to him.

After recounting the past for a while, Sheng Rui got up to say goodbye.He would love to stay here a little longer, but now is not the time.

"This war will end soon," he said to the priest, "in the future, I will come back to see you often." And I will bring my "daughter-in-law".

"That's great. You're always welcome here, boy."

When walking out of the main hall, a ray of sunlight came in from the "Eye of the Sky", illuminating the alcove on the wall.Sheng Rui stopped and turned around, looking up at the light beam from the universe.

Ray from Heaven.

He couldn't help asking himself, could he really be the light of his salvation?

Father Padreio stood at the entrance of the Pantheon, watching the Willys jeep disappear.

Neither he nor Sheng Rui thought that this would be the last time they would meet.

The five-day vacation passed, and Sheng Rui did not return to the company to sell the vacation.

A few days later, his name was listed as MIA (missing in action) by the 84th Division.

His last message was on his way to Bologna, and there has been no news since.

The author has something to say: starting from the next chapter, the president will suffer some crimes>w<But dear friends, you must believe that this article is HE, HE, HE~~~~ (Important words are said three times ^w^)

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Captain Gerhard Winkelmann was based on a Wehrmacht sergeant named Gerhard Kurzbach. There is a brief introduction from the Internet:

Gerhard Kurzbach (born 1915 in Posen; ? August 1944 in Romania) was a sergeant of the German Wehrmachtin World War II.

格哈德·库兹巴赫（1915年生于波森，1944年8月失踪于罗马尼亚）是二战时期德国国防军中士。因他在纳粹暴政中拯救犹太人的义举，2012年11月28日被色列大屠杀纪念馆追授为“万国义士”。