Military orders were as immovable as mountains. If they told you to go, you had to go whether you wanted to or not.
If they didn’t let you go, then wanting to go was useless.
Sholokhov left with Samir, leaving behind the walkie-talkie and the radio set, as well as Gao Fei and Grasky.
The atmosphere was somewhat heavy. Gao Fei took over Samir’s work, swinging the shovel and starting to dig, while Grasky set up his gun and watched for movement in the enemy position opposite them, glancing up at the sky from time to time.
Gao Fei worked for a long time in one breath. He had dug out almost half of the collapsed section of trench.
“Take a rest. Don’t wear yourself out too much.”
Gao Fei stopped what he was doing. He panted a few times, put down the shovel, turned to Grasky, and said, “They’ll be all right, won’t they?”
“Hard to say. The assault team’s casualty rate is pretty high, but not that high. Basically, at least one should make it back. Two making it back would be normal too. Of course, none coming back would also be normal.”
Grasky said a whole load of complete nonsense. He took out a cigarette and handed it to Gao Fei. “Usually we don’t make friends with recruits, because they die before you’ve known them long. But I think you’re a little different from other recruits.”
Of course he was different. Gao Fei had very high emotional intelligence. If he were the same as those Russians whose brains didn’t know how to take a turn, how the hell would he get by?
Gao Fei took the cigarette, pulled out the lighter Sholokhov had given him, lit Grasky’s cigarette, and said in a low voice, “You and Sholokhov are both good people. It’s my luck to have met you. Samir is actually pretty good too.”
“Mm. If he survives this time, he’ll be considered a veteran.”
Grasky blew a smoke ring and said calmly, “Depends on his luck. The fighting has been getting fiercer these past few days. It all comes down to luck. The two of us staying behind doesn’t necessarily mean we’re safe either, because the enemy might launch an attack first.”
Gao Fei said in astonishment, “But didn’t their large-scale offensive just fail? Can they launch another attack so quickly?”
“Oh, a large-scale offensive is one thing, small-scale fighting is another. Tanks charge during the day, special forces raid at night. They don’t affect each other.”
Gao Fei’s mouth fell open in shock.
Grasky continued with the same calm expression, “We’re short on night-vision devices. The enemy is even shorter on heavy equipment now. We have fewer and fewer drones, and the enemy has fewer and fewer shells. How should I put it? The enemy likes fighting at night more now, and we prefer daytime.”
“I understand!”
“So if it’s just the two of us tonight, it’s actually quite dangerous too. Mm, of course, compared to the assault team’s mission, it’s still relatively better.”
Scratching his head, Grasky said helplessly, “In short… it depends on luck. If your luck is good, you survive, and the few of us can keep fighting in the same trench. If your luck is bad, you die and someone else replaces you. That’s how it is. It’s actually very simple. There’s nothing especially complicated about it. Don’t be nervous. It’s just work, nothing special.”
He wanted to comfort Gao Fei, but was afraid Gao Fei would relax too much, so after a couple of words of consolation he hurriedly added a warning. But after warning him, he was afraid Gao Fei would get scared.
Grasky had already done his best, but he really wasn’t suited to ideological work.
What could Gao Fei say? He could only nod and say, “All right. I hope they’ll be fine. So how long have you been fighting?”
“I’ve been here two months. Sholokhov and I met about a month ago. After I partnered up with him, quite a few people around us have been replaced. Just on this position alone, three have died and five have been wounded. Mm, Sholokhov and I have had decent luck. I hope you and Samir have good luck too.”
Gao Fei didn’t know what to say. He could only answer with silence.
Grasky didn’t know what to say either. After thinking for a moment, he said with a serious expression, “If Sholokhov doesn’t come back and I die too, then you’ll be the leader of this combat group. Here, these are the coordinate points of our forward positions. Also, you need to know the walkie-talkie’s communication frequency. These are things a group leader must know.”
Gao Fei said helplessly, “I don’t speak Russian. I wouldn’t understand any orders being issued.”
“Uh, that’s a problem. I forgot about that. This won’t do. You have to learn Russian. I’ll teach you Russian now. We’ll start with the most basic combat terms and commands.”
Quite naturally, Grasky began teaching Gao Fei some basic sentences.
After they had repelled one enemy attack in the morning, the battlefield became much quieter. Although the sound of gunfire and artillery never stopped, it was sparse.
The two of them chatted and studied at the same time, so time passed a little faster. At noon, Gao Fei ate two pieces of compressed biscuit and drank some water from a plastic canister. Gao Fei only thought it didn’t taste good, but he didn’t detect any particularly strange flavor.
After that, he dug at the collapsed trench for a while, rested when he got tired, and learned Russian in passing. This made time seem to pass a little faster. Before he knew it, the sun had begun to tilt westward.
Gao Fei tried hard not to think about Samir and Sholokhov. He had also mentally prepared himself never to see the two of them again.
He didn’t know how to describe that feeling. The more deliberately he tried to avoid thinking about someone, the more he tried not to care about someone, the more he cared.
Now Gao Fei understood why Sholokhov and Grasky didn’t want to get to know newcomers. He had been here less than a day, and already he felt worried sick. For those who had spent a long time on this battlefield, facing partings by life and death every day—if they were like him, they wouldn’t be able to go on living.
But surprises liked to arrive suddenly when one least expected them. Just as Gao Fei couldn’t help thinking of Samir again, the walkie-talkie hanging on Grasky suddenly crackled to life.
A few urgent words came through the walkie-talkie, and then Grasky suddenly said with a face full of delight, “They’re coming back.”
“Huh? What?”
“The assault team has been disbanded. They’re coming back to reinforce the defense of the position.”
Overjoyed, Gao Fei said, “Really? That’s great. Has the plan been canceled?”
“No. Another unit must have taken over. New reinforcements probably arrived. But no matter what, at least today it has nothing to do with us anymore.”
Grasky was very happy too. He let out a breath and said with a smile, “Command notified us that members of the assault group are to return to their original positions. Be careful not to cause friendly fire. Just wait. They’ll be back soon.”
They really were back soon. Less than two minutes after he said that, Sholokhov’s shout rang out.
“Grasky!”
“It’s me. Come over.”
They didn’t use any password. Sholokhov and Grasky knew each other very well, so recognizing each other’s voices was enough.
Sholokhov walked in front. He jogged back in high spirits, and the moment he saw the two of them, he immediately said impatiently, “Haha, the Redemption Battalion is here! It’s the Redemption Battalion!”
Grasky was overjoyed when he heard that. Afraid Gao Fei didn’t know what the Redemption Battalion was, he hurriedly said to him, “Excellent. The Redemption Battalion is made up of serious criminals from prison. They do the most dangerous work. We’ll have it easier from now on. Before everyone in the Redemption Battalion is dead, nothing too dangerous will happen to us.”
Grasky deliberately emphasized the Redemption Battalion. Gao Fei knew about the Redemption Battalion.
Russia had Redemption Battalions, and some people also called them Penal Battalions, but strictly speaking, Redemption Battalions and Penal Battalions were two different things.
The difference was that Redemption Battalions were made up entirely of criminals, and serious criminals at that. The Wagner Group recruited serious criminals from prisons, and after these convicts served six months at the front, their criminal records would be wiped clean and they would receive a sum of money.
If they performed extremely well in battle, they might even be discharged on the spot after the battle.
As for Penal Battalions, they had existed since the era of Imperial Russia, and also existed during the Soviet period. They gathered soldiers who had made mistakes and sent them to the most dangerous places to carry out the most dangerous missions.
Sometimes, organized units would also be sent punitively to carry out extremely dangerous missions because they had committed some error. Calling such troops Penal Battalions was also acceptable.
But now, right here, the Redemption Battalion Grasky had specifically emphasized referred to the serious criminals the Wagner Group had brought in from prison. Their formation was called the Redemption Battalion.
The Redemption Battalion would not be deliberately sent to die, because the Wagner Group was currently extremely short on manpower. However, the Redemption Battalion would definitely carry out the most dangerous missions. First, they would fight as organized units, and after they were reduced to only a few men, those serious criminals from the Redemption Battalion would be assigned to front-line positions and continue doing the most dangerous work.
So the arrival of the Redemption Battalion meant ordinary mercenaries would die in far smaller numbers.
That was how Sholokhov and Samir had come back.
For the first time, Gao Fei felt those vicious, irredeemable serious criminals had become rather lovable.
Sholokhov walked straight up to Gao Fei, stretched out his right hand, and said in high spirits, “Give my things back!”
Gao Fei froze for a moment, but he immediately took out the cigarettes and lighter. After placing them in Sholokhov’s hand, he said very happily, “Here, they’re yours. Don’t give them to me again.”
Samir also had a delighted look on his face. He nodded at Gao Fei, and Gao Fei said impatiently, “I didn’t touch your things. I’ll give them all back to you.”
Sholokhov lit himself a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said with a look of comfort, “I was dying without this.”
Grasky returned the walkie-talkie to Sholokhov and said with a smile, “All your things are back to you. Mm, do you know how many people came?”
Sholokhov said proudly, “Over a thousand! And they came right to our stretch of the front.”
“What good luck.”
After Grasky sighed, his expression suddenly changed. He said to Gao Fei and Samir, “You two, if you run into people from the Redemption Battalion, don’t provoke them. Don’t get into conflict with them.”
Sholokhov’s expression also turned serious. He nodded and said, “We don’t know where the Redemption Battalion will launch their attack from, but they really might pass through here. If you actually run into them, don’t get into conflict with them. These people are desperadoes. Real desperadoes.”
They all served for half a year, but it was far harder for men of the Redemption Battalion to survive half a year than it was for mercenaries like Gao Fei and the others.
Gao Fei definitely would not take the initiative to provoke such desperadoes.
After giving Gao Fei and Samir a round of warnings, Sholokhov continued, “The Redemption Battalion coming here isn’t entirely a good thing for us. There will definitely be an operation tonight. After the Redemption Battalion takes the position, our position may have to move forward with them. So rest well now. Don’t stand here anymore. If you can sleep, sleep. If you can’t, then rest properly and wait for orders.”