The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 201 Suggestions and Requests

After receiving the task, Commander Zhang immediately left the division headquarters and started to lead all the troops, police, security forces and a small number of civilian laborers in the city that night.

On the four walls of Teng County, people began to prepare defensive fortifications.

The engineering platoon where Hu Biao and others were located naturally also joined in.

Specifically, the group was assigned to the southern city wall of Teng County; compared with the city walls in the other three directions, the height of the southern city wall was obviously lower and the bricks and stones were older.

The Japanese had used airplanes to conduct reconnaissance on Teng County many times before, and they must have discovered this point early on. This direction will definitely be the focus of their attack in the future.

After carrying two loads of sandbags onto the city wall, Hu Biao stopped.

It was not because he was tired or wanted to slack off, but with his rich combat experience, he could see at a glance that the defensive fortifications built on the city wall with sandbags and battlements were not built correctly.

Even this method of defense on the city wall has long been outdated.

If you think about it, you will understand that when the defenders fired from the top of the city wall, they did have some advantages in vision; but the Japanese's shooting skills were much better than theirs, and they could not gain any advantage in the exchange of fire.

The more crucial point is that they were no match for the Japs in terms of firepower.

Faced with the bombing of Japanese planes and artillery, this ancient way of defending the city by holding on to the city walls would only result in more casualties for the defenders.

On the contrary, after letting the Japanese into the city, their firepower advantage became useless.

On the contrary, the defenders were able to achieve better results in street fighting by virtue of their familiarity with the terrain and some advance arrangements.

But Hu Biao also had an idea in his mind. Such a tactic of letting the Japanese into the city to fight street battles sounded extremely dangerous and crazy in that era.

Even if he said it now, it would be useless and no one would listen to him.

Therefore, the only thing that can be done now is to find a way to strengthen the fortifications on the city wall to prevent the defenders from being too vulnerable to the Japanese air raids and bombings.

Thinking of this, Hu Biao shouted at the top of his voice:
"One Ear, Two Fatty, the two of you, come here quickly."

As soon as the voice fell, Chen Tang, who used to be an engineer in the PLA, and Huang Yizi, who is now a construction site budgeter, the two time travelers who are best at civil construction in the team, ran up to Hu Biao.

Hu Biao pointed out to them the flaws in the fortifications currently being built by the defenders.

Chen Tang and Huang Yizi began to think about how to deal with the Japs and their planes under the current limited environment.

As the old saying goes, it is easy for those who cannot do it. Soon Chen Tang came up with an idea:

"It's easy. Teng County is right on the Tianjin-Shanghai Railway, and there's already a train station in the city. We just need to tear down and cut off the rails. They and the sleepers will make excellent construction materials.

It must be very effective for building air-raid shelters on city walls and reinforcing firepower points.

I guess as long as they are not directly hit by large-caliber aerial bombs and artillery shells, the Japanese mountain artillery and mortars will not be able to hit them at all."

After hearing this, Hu Biao's eyes immediately lit up; without wasting any time, he took Chen Tang and Huang Yizi and walked towards their young platoon leader Nanfeng.

He planned to convince his immediate superior first, and then go to Captain Wang to discuss the removal of the tracks and sleepers.

It must be said that although their platoon leader looks like a rookie who knows nothing about military affairs, his temperament and character are quite good.

He had clearly never done any work, but now he was like a soldier, carrying heavy sandbags back and forth.

Although he would stop to rest from time to time, and his whole body was squeezed like a shrimp, such an action was quite rare.

After helping him lift the sandbags into place, I simply said a few words about the benefits of building fortifications along the railway tracks. Nanfeng, who was definitely an intellectual in that era, understood it immediately.

Immediately, he led the three of them to the north city wall and found Captain Zhang who was inspecting the scene.

However, subsequent developments were somewhat different from what they expected...

"Dismantling the railway to build fortifications? No, absolutely not!" After listening to Chen Tang's introduction, Captain Zhang refused without hesitation, and his reasons were quite sufficient.

“Not to mention our army’s future reinforcements and supplies, which will also have to be transported via rail.

China is such a big country, and we only have a few kilometers of railways. Every one of them is of great importance, and we cannot just destroy them at will."

After hearing the second half of the sentence, Hu Biao and others finally reacted.

Now the total railway mileage has reached 16.2 kilometers, and there are even 4.8 kilometers of modern high-speed railways.

During the Republic of China era, every railway was a treasure and would never be destroyed unless it was absolutely necessary. It was not until 40 that our Party began large-scale railway destruction during the Hundred Regiments Campaign in order to disrupt the transportation of the Japanese in enemy-occupied areas.

During the 47 years of the war between the two parties, the great man issued a strict order that the railways controlled by the Kuomintang should not be destroyed; he would rather suffer some losses than do so, just to leave some assets for the country.

Therefore, Captain Wang instinctively believed that these railways were more important than the lives of their Sichuan Army soldiers.

Although Hu Biao and his team had thought through the above logic, the idea that railways were more important than human lives was really frustrating.

The key point is that they cannot say it clearly. Teng County cannot be defended anyway, and leaving the railway behind will only benefit the Japanese.

First, it would undermine the morale of the defenders, and second, they might be dragged out and shot for "confusing the army."

Fortunately, Captain Zhang hesitated for a moment, but still accepted some of their suggestions and said:
"Although we can't demolish the railway, the suggestion of building air-raid shelters and strengthening fortifications on the city walls is a good one. You can demolish some of the uninhabited houses near the city walls and use the beams and bricks to build new structures.

I will also arrange for people to do the same for the other walls."

"Yes." Hu Biao and others still felt helpless, but they also accepted the order.

Before leaving, Captain Zhang added, after thinking of something, "Hu Yitong, right? I wonder where you got so many sophisticated and rare weapons when you were defeated."

But it doesn’t matter, just use it to fight the Japanese.

The southern wall is a bit low and thin, and the Japanese will likely attack from there tomorrow. After your engineering platoon finishes repairing the fortifications tonight, stay there to reinforce the firepower."

Faced with such an order, Hu Biao and the other three veterans remained calm, but Nanfeng, the rookie platoon leader, was so excited that his eyes turned red.

Without a doubt, this was probably his first time actually participating in a battle...

******
That night, Hu Biao and his team worked until one o'clock in the middle of the night before they completed the fortifications on the south city wall to a level that they were barely satisfied with.

Except for the three girls who were treated well by everyone and did not have to carry sandbags, wood and other materials.

The other 12 gentleman time travelers were all exhausted.

Seeing this, Hu Biao took out a handful of chocolate bars and gave one to each person, then he gave instructions: “Everyone, replenish some energy and go to bed early.

Cherish the present moment, for tonight is the last peaceful time."

As soon as the voice fell, Lao Yu raised his hand and said:

"Old Hu, I want to take advantage of the fact that Teng County hasn't been bombed to pieces yet and quickly go around the city to take some photos. It will only take two or three hours. I won't run away."

"Go! Don't get close to the city gates or people will misunderstand that you are planning to escape, otherwise they will really shoot." After hearing this, Hu Biao easily agreed.

So under the exceptionally bright moonlight tonight, Lao Yu set out with his camera.

Hu Biao, who had just eaten a chocolate bar with boiled water, felt that he and Annie had just fallen asleep, leaning against a sandbag, when they heard the young platoon leader's scolding:

"Nan Ze, you are crazy. Why are you peeping at me while I'm taking a shower..."

Ten minutes later, Mr. Nan Ze could no longer hold back under the perverted looks from Hu Biao and his men, especially the two girls, Annie and Zanana.

He clasped his hands together and bowed to everyone.

He smiled bitterly and told the truth: "Everyone, I'm really not the kind of person you think. I'm a real man and I have three children at home.

I have always suspected that Platoon Leader Nanfeng is my grandfather. Not only do they have the same name, but my grandfather also participated in the Battle of Xuzhou with the rank of second lieutenant.

He was stabbed by a Japanese soldier on the pole and almost died.

I just took a peek, but I wanted to confirm it was him because he has a birthmark on his body."

"What birthmark? Where is it? Did you see it?" Mr. Nan Ze had just finished speaking when Annie couldn't wait to ask, with a gossipy expression on her face.

After bowing again, Mr. Nan Ze replied:
"I won't go into the other details, but there really is a birthmark. So please help look after the old man after the fight tomorrow. On behalf of our entire family, I thank you all. I'll treat everyone to a drink when we return to the modern plane."

After hearing this, everyone remembered the problem of time paradox and the serious consequences that would be caused if the old man died in battle.

For a moment, I felt really sorry for Mr. Nan Ze who had encountered such a terrible thing. I felt so sad...

(End of this chapter)