Sword: Heart of Iron

Chapter 193 Field Hospital

Chapter 193 Field Hospital
"Huayuankou Dam Burst"

Wang Feng murmured, his brows almost twisted together.

"What a tragedy!" He stretched his muscles and memories of his past life emerged in his mind.

I remember when I was in college, the guy who berthed above me was from Henan.

It was very hot at night and several roommates couldn't sleep. They were chatting in the dark. I don't know what topic they started with, but in the end they talked about the difficult years of the 14-year War of Resistance against Japan.

The boys' dormitory after lights out, those who understand will understand.
When the Huayuankou dike breach was mentioned.

The roommate from Henan gnashed his teeth and from the tone of his voice, it seemed that he wanted to eat Chiang Kai-shek alive.

According to him.

At the very beginning, on June 6, Chang Kaishen signed the order to dig the dike, called Cheng Qian, and ordered Shang Zhen, commander-in-chief of the 3th Army, to be responsible for this task.

It is planned to release water at 4 o'clock on the night of the 12th.

The location is in Zhaokou, Zhongmou County, east of Zhengzhou.

The dike here had burst during the Qing Dynasty, and based on historical experience, it was predicted that the flood would flow into the sea along the Huai River, just covering the Japanese army's marching area.

Once the order was issued, Shang Zhen executed it immediately. At noon on June 6, two regiments of the 4th Division of the 20th Army, totaling more than 56 people, were busy on the embankment.

The soldiers knew that their superiors were pushing them hard, so they did not dare to slack off when working. They also heard that the plan was to drown the Japanese.

The movements are more agile.

Even though we couldn't defeat the Japanese on the battlefield, we could still carry soil and dig sand. We were all farmers, so how could we be afraid of the Japanese?
But God did not fulfill people's wishes.

Maybe because the dike had burst once before, the soil in the Zhaokou area was extremely poor, mostly quicksand, which collapsed as soon as it was dug, making it impossible to dig a drainage tunnel.

A brigade of soldiers worked all day, but there was no progress in the dike digging project.

The next day, the division's engineering battalion was transferred over.

Thousands of people worked for two whole days, until June 6, but they were unable to dig the Yellow River embankment.

At this time, the Japanese army attacked.

Just when Chiang Kai-shek was in a state of panic and at a loss, Jiang Zaizhen, the commander of the new 8th Division stationed in Jingshui Town, Huayuankou, volunteered and advocated digging a dike at Huayuankou.

Wang Feng still remembers that when he talked about this, his roommate from Henan Province suddenly started cursing:

"There is not a single good person named Jiang in the Nationalist Army!"

It is still fresh in his memory.

The plan proposed by Jiang Zaizhen was to try to blast through the levee from the slope.

After receiving the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek immediately agreed to the plan, offered a reward of 2000 yuan, and ordered the troops to break the dike and release the water as soon as possible.

The evening of July 6.

There were crowds of people and torches on the Huayuankou embankment.

In order to speed up the progress and gain the first credit, a new commander of the 8th Division who was carrying out the mission secretly recruited hundreds of civilian workers from nearby areas.

When the common people who rushed over saw that the army was going to break the dike and release the water, they were immediately furious.

How can this work!

If the Huayuankou dike is dug, what will happen to the people living nearby?
The Japanese did not necessarily have to kill people when they attacked, but the National Army actually wanted to directly cut off the lives of the people.

For a moment, everyone threw away the tools in their hands and started quarreling with the soldiers. Some were even so angry that they pushed and shoved the gendarmes who had arrived. The scene was in chaos for a while.

When the division commander Jiang Zaizhen heard the news and rushed over, he was immediately furious when he saw this scene.

Directly define the migrant workers present.

"What is the crime for sabotaging national defense construction?"

The military police next to him immediately understood what he meant, picked up his submachine gun and fired at the migrant workers on the levee.

"Da da da--!"

The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Gunshots echoed across the embankment. The black muzzles of the guns spewed flames. The migrant workers on the embankment fell down in groups like wheat and rolled down the slope.

The scene finally became quiet.

Jiang Zaizhen ordered the troops to continue construction. In order to prevent the matter from getting out of hand, he dispatched another regiment and set up a cordon within a radius of ten miles.

The people were strictly prohibited from approaching.

At this point, the roommate from Henan sat up, wishing he could bite his back teeth to pieces.

"The damn national army is nothing but a piece of shit!"

The people who stopped the dike from being dug probably never thought in their lifetime that one day they would not die under the bayonets of the Japanese, but would be slaughtered by their own people instead.

Without any resistance, dike excavation progressed rapidly.

6 month 9 day.

The breach was basically formed. In order to ensure that there would be no accidents, Jiang Zaizhen called in four flat-fire cannons to bombard the dam.

Nearly 60 rounds were fired.

"How generous!" Wang Feng was amazed when he thought of this.

Having fought all the way from Datong to here, he can understand the nature of his friendly forces.

There are a few shells in the warehouse, and I can't wait to sleep with them in bed at night.

It’s not that the soldiers don’t want to use it.

But the superiors don’t allow it to be used!
After all, it is still to preserve strength and strive for greater voice in the military.

Just like Han Fuqu.

In order to stabilize the military morale, Li Zongren told him that the war of resistance was a long-term, promising war and would surely be victorious.

Han Fuqu believed this.

I believe from the bottom of my heart that being a traitor is not right.

It’s a pity that his mind was too simple, and he actually came up with the idea that “as long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood.”

He felt that the troops of his two armies must not be consumed in a short period of time in the context of a long-term war of resistance, and must not fight to the death with the Japanese army. Preserving strength is the top priority.

This is just a microcosm of the current national army.

Wang Fenggan concluded that 80 percent of the Kuomintang officers had similar ideas to a greater or lesser extent.

In this way, the shells were saved by living frugally.

In the end, it was used on ordinary people.

It's ridiculous to say that.

After the Yellow River's dam was dug, a huge flood rushed out, strong winds howled, and turbid waves covered the sky. In an instant, the fertile Central Plains turned into a purgatory on earth.

Various types of furniture and swollen corpses were floating in the turbid yellow soup.

On the high ground above the water, the people were emaciated with hunger, and an atmosphere of despair hung in everyone's heart.

According to subsequent statistics, as many as 89 people were killed and 1200 million people were displaced.

Even more horrific than the Japanese massacre!
The most ridiculous thing is that the dike digging document was signed on the 3rd and the water was actually released on the 9th.

There was nearly a week in between.

The government remained silent and even shot and killed hundreds of the only people who knew about the incident.

Wang Feng took a deep breath.

"Zhaokou. Huayuankou."

There are simply too many places along the Yellow River where dikes can be dug, and with the limited military forces at hand, they simply cannot keep up with them all.

Wang Feng slowly walked to the table and picked up the phone: "Hello!"

"To the Ministry of Internal Affairs!"

After a busy tone, Sergei's voice came from the microphone.

"Dear Sir!"

Wang Feng: "Come to the headquarters as soon as possible!"

Upon hearing the other party's tone, Sergei immediately became serious: "Yes!"

Wang Feng hung up the phone and switched the view to the bird's-eye view.

The "red dot" was still hovering over the Yellow River, and he looked at its location.

It happens to be Zhaokou, Zhongmu County.

"Damn little devils!"

Wang Feng shuddered suddenly and immediately remembered the previous thought.

The Japanese army also wants to bomb the Yellow River!
This is a long-planned national war. Decades ago, Japan formulated a "continental policy" and launched a full-scale investigation of China.

The Yellow River burst its dike at Zhaokou in the Qing Dynasty, which was such a big event.

Wang Feng didn't believe that the Japanese didn't know.

Now the bombers are hovering over Zhaokou, and their intentions are so obvious.

Basically the same.

"why?"

Wang Feng frowned even more tightly.

Although the 14th Division suffered a major defeat, the number of troops that withdrew was less than 4,000.

But from the overall situation.

The Japanese army still has the advantage and conquering Zhengzhou is not a problem.

Wouldn't it be a waste of time to blow up the Yellow River now?

While thinking, Sergei walked in quickly and saluted Wang Feng:

"Sir!"

Wang Feng came back to his senses and asked: "How many radio stations does your Ministry of Internal Affairs currently have?"

Sergei answered without hesitation: "More than 60!"

Wang Feng: "What about the secret service agencies in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng?"

"How many?" Sergey was stunned, not understanding what was going on, but he still answered truthfully: "There are four in Zhengzhou and three in Kaifeng."

“They are all long wave stations!”

Wang Feng nodded and said, "Order the secret service agencies in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng to take turns collecting and deciphering the secret telegrams of the National Army."

"Also pay attention to the Internal Affairs and Communications Department that accompanies the army!"

Sergei nodded without hesitation: "Yes!"

Monitoring superiors' telegrams can be a big or small matter.

If someone interferes, he will at least be accused of disrespecting his superiors.

To put it in a more serious way, the charge of "false accusation" was brought.

But Wang Feng didn't care, and Sergei cared even less.

Of all the things he had done, wiretapping was the least of it.

If I really wanted to make a list, this trivial thing wouldn't even qualify as one of them.

Sergei: "Sir, the Japanese lieutenant general you asked me to monitor woke up half an hour ago. Do you want to go and check on him?"

Wang Feng raised his eyebrows: "Doihara Kenji?"

Sergey nodded.

Wang Feng stood up: "Where is he?"

Sergei: "Still in the field hospital, imprisoned in the same ward with the commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Imao."

Wang Feng looked down at the time. It was too early and there was no military affairs to deal with for the time being.

"Let's go and have a look!"

Sergei responded.

The two men walked out of the command post one after another.

The jeep was parked outside the door, and the motor vehicle soldiers were ready at any time.

"Go to the field hospital!" Sergei sat in the co-pilot seat, speaking fluent Chinese.

--------

Federal Provincial Garrison Army Field General Hospital.

As it is a general hospital, it covers a large area. Due to the war in the area around Lanfeng, almost all the people have fled.

Based on the principle of convenience.

Zhao Fangyuan personally instructed to designate a deserted but relatively intact village to serve as a temporary ward.

The medical soldiers were jogging with trays in their hands, and the yard was in a mess. Several wounded soldiers were hopping on crutches and chatting near the outer wall.

"Do you have cigarettes bro?"

"Have!"

A wounded soldier with his right arm tightly bandaged staggered and struggled to take out a box of "Victory" cigarettes from his pocket with his left hand.

"Come on, this is powerful!"

Several soldiers reached out their hands and took the half box of cigarettes.

"Fuck! Leave some for me!"

The wounded soldier who was smoking was stunned, squeezed the empty cigarette box, and couldn't help swearing.

He sighed. They were all brothers in the same army. He cursed them but didn't think too much about it. Then he took out a box of matches and gestured in front of everyone.

"Hey, do you want fire?"

A soldier with a wounded left leg raised the matchbox in his hand and said, "No need, brother. We have it here."

The wounded soldier who was smoking widened his eyes:

"You bring fire but no smoke! What a jerk!"

Everyone laughed.

"Have you seen this? There's a new nurse in our hospital. She's so long..."

When the men in the army get together, the topic naturally extends to some specific aspects.

The roar of the engine was heard, and a jeep stopped steadily at the door.

Wang Feng jumped out of the car and turned around to look around.

Several wounded soldiers at the foot of the wall saw who was coming and stood up quickly.

"Brother, give me a hand!"

Wang Feng noticed these people and walked up to them quickly: "What are you doing?"

The wounded soldiers immediately threw away their cigarette butts, stammered, and spoke one after another: "Sir!"

"A few of us."

Wang Feng sniffed and frowned: "Did you smoke?"

Sergei rushed over: "Sir, what happened?"

When the wounded soldier saw Sergei, he immediately shrank his neck and dared not look directly into the eyes of the two men.

Wang Feng: "Don't field hospitals ban smoking?"

Sergey scratched his head: "Normally, smoking is prohibited."

In theory, the field hospital is a no-smoking area, and the hospital director Lang Shaohua has repeatedly stressed that smoking is not allowed in the hospital.

But no way.

It's impossible to control it.

It was fine during the war, but when the wounded soldiers were brought in, they were screaming in pain and couldn't move.

But now the battle is over.

The lightly wounded soldier who was sent in first has almost recovered. He had been lying on the stretcher for so many days and could no longer bear it.

Soldiers with leg injuries, as long as they only have one leg, will get up and jump around a few times even without crutches.

It's okay for one or two people.

But with so many people, the field hospital has been in a state of long-term shortage of manpower, and it is impossible to arrange nurses to keep a close eye on it at all times.

Later on I didn’t care much about it, since it wouldn’t run far away anyway.

As for the smoking ban.

It is more like a piece of empty paper. There are too many people who are addicted to smoking. Smoking is very common in the army. In order to relieve the pressure on soldiers, the logistics station even distributes rations on a regular basis every day.

But the field hospital is guarded by internal security troops.

The wounded soldiers did not dare to smoke openly in the hospital. Most of them walked out of the yard, squatted under the wall, and gathered in groups of three or two.

When cigarettes were in short supply, it was common for four or five people to take turns smoking one.

The internal security guards basically turned a blind eye.

Wang Feng sighed.

He also understood the ins and outs of this. Whether it was the national army or foreign armies, distributing cigarettes during war had become a consensus.

This stuff is highly addictive.

But on the battlefield, the first priority is to survive.

It's the same principle as medical morphine.

Even the Eighth Route Army, which was extremely short of supplies, would distribute cigarettes to combat heroes as a reward.

In this regard, he shouldn't be too harsh.

"Are you all officers?" Wang Feng glanced at the shoulder straps of several people and couldn't help but joked.

Even though there was a cigarette factory in the rear, the production capacity was always relatively low. With a garrison of more than 100,000 people, it was impossible to distribute cigarettes to every soldier.

"Yes" the wounded soldiers lowered their heads.

Wang Feng pointed to the courtyard and said, "Go back. I won't pursue you this time. This won't happen again!"

"Thank you sir!"

The wounded soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and supported each other as they walked into the yard.

Wang Feng turned his head and glanced at Sergei: "Let's go and see our spoils!"

------

A special ward.

Two tall and burly soldiers were guarding the door. A doctor carrying a tray tried to go in, but was stopped when he took it.

"I'm going to go in and change the dressing."

The doctor spoke calmly, as if he had experienced this scene countless times.

The soldier shook his head:

"The commander will come over for inspection soon. Please wait for a moment."