Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 223 Becoming a Civil Engineering Expert

Er Gouzi finally got his bowl of meat. Under his flattering gaze, the cook gave him half a spoonful of oily soup. He drank it down in one gulp and felt refreshed all over his body - it was so damn delicious!
There were only a few small pieces of fat and lean meat in Er Gouzi's bowl, which were stewed very soft and greasy, exuding an attractive luster, which made him drool;

He did not eat the meat first, but forced himself to eat the vermicelli first, taking a bite of vermicelli and a bite of steamed bun. As long as the meat was still there, the vermicelli could taste the meaty aroma.

When the vermicelli was almost finished and the bowl was full of meat, Er Gouzi couldn't wait to pick up a piece and put it in his mouth, his mouth full of oil.

Tears came out as he chewed. At this moment, he remembered the scene of his family eating meat during the Chinese New Year. There were also a few pieces of fat meat hidden in a large bowl of radishes. His parents were reluctant to eat them. They only ate the radishes and left the meat for him and his sister...

Er Gouzi thought of the evil things the devils had done in Jinling City, and secretly made up his mind that he would never let the devils attack his hometown.

Not to mention eating meat, it would be good enough to be able to save my life. Even if it means risking my own life, I would never let the Japanese harm my parents and sister.

Er Gouzi almost finished the meat in the bowl with tears in his eyes. He couldn't even taste the meat at the end. He wanted to kill those damn Japanese devils more than ever.

"Are you all full? Get to work!"

Yue Paopi's voice rang in Er Gouzi's ears again, but it was not so annoying this time. If he wanted to live a peaceful life, he had to practice fighting the devils.

Having fought with the Japanese several times in the battlefield, he actually knew that these rat holes could save lives when being bombed.

After eating and drinking, he felt full of energy, picked up the shovel and started digging. Digging earthworks is hard work and also a technical job. In this regard, the veterans of the 88th Division have much more experience;
These people are the backbone of the entire company. Under their leadership, the trenches of the third company are constantly extending and expanding.

First there was a single soldier pit, then two single soldier pits were connected into a section, and then sections were connected to form a trench;
A platoon would dig one trench, and then turn to digging a longitudinal communication trench. The method was the same, and the same segmentation method was used, with one person responsible for a section, and finally connecting them into a line.

After digging the three outer lines, they then dug the three middle lines, and finally the three inner lines. When all of them are connected together, they form a standard circular fortification, crisscrossing and interconnected.

After that, they dug anti-artillery holes, cat-ear holes, machine gun firing positions, command posts, etc. The entire defensive fortification was gradually completed, and it got dark before they knew it.

On the second day, the entire company organized attack and defense training in platoons. The first platoon was responsible for defense, while the second and third platoons were responsible for offense. The main defense drilled the offensive tactics of the squad and platoon. The "three-three system" was the first point of the training.
Team coordination, firepower deployment, tactical advance (low, medium and high posture crawling), infantry and artillery coordination, etc.

The training also did not stop at night, with night marches, infiltrations, team coordination, position defense, etc. The subjects of the training almost covered all the subjects of positional warfare;
Anti-artillery, anti-aircraft bombing, anti-poison gas, biological and chemical attacks, battlefield first aid, etc.

This training opportunity is very rare. These tens of thousands of elite veterans are the cornerstone of Yue Qianli's future long-term resistance.
In fact, after the end of the Battle of Xuzhou, the veterans of various units were basically exhausted and their combat effectiveness declined significantly. The Central Army, which had more than 40,000 veterans like the Guerrilla Column, was absolutely unique.

As long as he can keep these 4 veterans under control, he will have a certain say in the National Government, and it will be no problem for him to become a military leader like Tang Enbo.

The contents of the training were all formulated by Yue Qianli himself and were very close to actual combat. They were given one meal of meat every week and three dry meals a day. The half-month training cost a huge amount of money, and only rich people like Yue Qianli could afford it.

In order to win over Yue Qianli, during the guerrilla column's training in Wuhu, General Chen, who had great connections, sent them three months' worth of food supplies, 3 Soviet-made machine guns, 300 artillery pieces, 80 rifles, and a large amount of ammunition.

These were all equipment from the Soviet Union, enough to arm a division. Yue Qianli also officially joined the Civil Engineering Department. Although he was only a regiment commander, no one in the National Government took him seriously.

Are you kidding? With 4 veterans of the Central Army, no one dares to look down on him even if he is just a company commander. The strength is there, otherwise General Chen would not have personally pulled the horse cage. What a great honor! In order to show his importance to the guerrilla column, General Chen took time out of his busy schedule to inspect the troops in Wuhu. Yue Qianli accompanied him with Monica. Naturally, there was some intention of pulling tiger skins;
General Chen mistakenly thought that Monica was Yue Qianli's lover, and looked up to him, smiling and saying to him:

"Qianli, if I remember correctly, you are exactly thirty years old this year. It's time for you to get married.

How about I be the master of ceremonies for you then?"

Yue Qianli knew that this was a test. Not everyone could be the witness. At least he had to be an elder. He immediately showed excitement and said:
"It is a great honor for me to have Commander Chen as my witness, but as long as the Japanese pirates are not defeated, I have no intention of starting a family.

Now I just want to drive the Japanese out of China under the leadership of the principal and Chief Chen. At least we have to stabilize the war situation before considering it."

General Chen was very satisfied with Yue Qianli's attitude. He nodded in appreciation and said:
"A revolutionary soldier should have this kind of patriotic sentiment that takes the world as his own responsibility. The little Japanese won't be able to jump around for long. I am waiting to be the master of ceremonies for you!

By the way, I haven’t met the captains of the guerrilla column yet. Please introduce them to me.”

This was too much. Even the deputy regiment commander wanted to coax him. But General Chen said it naturally, and Yue Qianli listened to it naturally. Even the accompanying personnel thought it was reasonable, as he was in charge of thousands of elite Central Army soldiers.

Yue Qianli saw that this was an attempt to coax someone in, so he accompanied him to the conference room to meet with officers above the rank of battalion commander. These people had been waiting for a long time. General Chen came here not just to visit him;

Several detachment leaders were also among the targets of General Chen's capture, and Yue Qianli was also completely unprepared and could be captured by him.

Zhu Chi, Gao Zhisong and others were all from Whampoa Military Academy. Chen Cixiu had been an artillery instructor at Whampoa Military Academy. The two sides were in a teacher-student relationship, so there was no barrier to communication.
Before this, Yue Qianli had already warned them in advance, telling them to just let go and not to be restrained just because he was there. It was good to have Chen Cixiu protecting them in the court, as he was very nice to the backbones of the civil engineering department.

General Chen was very familiar with these aspects and was good at maneuvering, and Zhu Chi and others were very cooperative, which made him very happy. Now he regarded the guerrilla column as his own direct line, with the same status as the 11th Division and the 18th Army.

Then Yue Qianli accompanied him to review the troops, and visited the attack and defense drills and daily training. Chen Cixiu nodded repeatedly and praised:
"Commander Yue is indeed a good general of the country, and the guerrilla column is worthy of being the first-class elite division of the national government. It is not unfair that Prince Asaka Naruhiko fell into your hands."

Here General Chen used the position of commander, which can be big or small, to avoid embarrassment to Yue Qianli.

Yue Qianli quickly said modestly:

"This is all thanks to Commander Chen's good command and the soldiers' dedication. The 11th Division and the 18th Army can do the same."

Chen Cixiu knew that Yue Qianli was just trying to flatter him, but he did not try to correct him. This represented an attitude that he would have a share in all the achievements of the guerrilla column in the future, and this was the most important thing.

Yue Qianli's attitude made him very satisfied, and it was worth his painstaking efforts to help Yue Qianli gain the actual control of the guerrilla column;

This time, we also secured the first batch of Soviet aid for the guerrilla column. It is normal for high investment to be rewarded with high returns.

When General Chen left, he also left behind a liaison group, headed by Lieutenant Colonel Pan Yingming. Yue Qianli gave him the important position of political director.

(End of this chapter)