The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 302 Sense of Urgency (Two-in-One Chapter)

On October 8th, around 10 PM.

In the western part of Pingdi County, there is a place called Zhao Family Village.

Looking up at the exceptionally bright full moon overhead, Van Gogh, the battalion commander of the special operations battalion of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, raised the earthen bowl he was holding.

Facing the large, dark crowd in front of him, he spoke with great emotion:

"Brothers, today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for families to reunite."

Since everyone is fighting the Japanese and can't go home, I, as the battalion commander, would like to offer you all a toast here, firstly to express my gratitude.

Secondly, it allows everyone to get together and have some fun, thus relieving their homesickness.

The necessary security forces have been arranged by the deputy battalion commander and me, so everyone doesn't need to worry about safety. Enjoy your meal and drinks.

After saying that, he downed the wine in the bowl in one gulp.

Seeing this, Old Ma led the two hundred or so soldiers in a warm round of applause; after the applause, they greeted each other and began to enjoy a rare Mid-Autumn Festival feast.

They used captured Japanese beef cans, along with cabbage, tofu, and other ingredients to make a big stew, along with white flour steamed buns and village-brewed rice wine.

That's right! Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival of the 27th year of the Republic of China.

Thinking about the saying that one misses their loved ones even more during festivals, Van Gogh and Old Ma had a brief private discussion this morning.

So they decided to have a big dinner party with the brothers of the Independent Battalion tonight, since they certainly had the means to do so.

As the old saying goes: "Everyone has their own way of killing a pig, from its rear end to its buttocks."

In contrast to the First Battalion led by Zanana and Xiao Henan, which mainly targeted the mines where Japanese merchants were recruited, the Second Battalion led by Lao Yu and the warehouse manager specialized in attacking the Japanese transport lines.

Mr. Nanze and the three battalions of Moyu kept targeting bandits.

Now that all three battalions have developed quite well, the independent battalion led by Van Gogh and Old Ma is not far behind.

The problem is that these guys don't know anything about their allies.

Today, the Independent Battalion has grown to a total strength of 523 men, comprising three companies, a guard platoon, and several battalion-level units, making it a fully-staffed battalion.

Nearly 80% of the personnel were armed, including a Maxim heavy machine gun.

In addition, a guerrilla detachment of about 30 people was formed, which was actually a combination of our party's county brigade and district squad.

However, the fact that the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment joined our Party needed to be kept secret, and we couldn't use the names of county brigade and district squad to avoid giving people any bad ideas.

Of course! Even at dinner, Van Gogh and Old Ma did not let their guard down.

Tonight, the sentries and all the personnel of the Second Company will have a more sumptuous meal, but they cannot drink alcohol, lest they be caught off guard by the Japanese and be doomed.

Because of the proper security arrangements, Lao Ma got a little drunk tonight.

There was no way around it! As the deputy battalion commander of the independent battalion, his soldiers had been coming up to toast him ever since the banquet began, and his alcohol tolerance was rather low.

Even if you only drink a small sip each time, it adds up to a considerable amount; before long, the alcohol kicks in, and you start to feel quite dizzy.

Fortunately, even so, he was still in a pretty good mood.

Holding a wine bowl, he started wandering around the gathering, constantly talking to people about heartfelt things, and then taking another sip.

As he wandered around, his eyes lit up when he saw a young man who also seemed drunk, sitting on a long bench in a daze.

He immediately strode forward, plopped down next to the other person, and put his arm around their shoulder.

He said enthusiastically, "Little Ma! Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!"

It's rare for us two fellow villagers to have some free time, so we came over for a smoke of a cigarette we made ourselves, and then had a good chat; let me tell you, this cigarette might have an unpleasant name, but the taste is actually quite good.”

Old Ma's statement above was not wrong; when the troops were divided and came to the western part of Pingding County.

Xiao Ma, a fellow Hui Muslim from the same hometown, joined them because he knew some traditional Chinese medicine and took on the role of a military doctor in the independent battalion.

Old Ma was naturally quite happy to be assigned to the same class as someone from his hometown.

He even thought to himself that if he had the time, he would ask the other party what his hometown in Shandong Province was like in 1938.

Unfortunately, although the idea was good, we never had time to really talk about it.

Since arriving here, he has been working like a spinning top to rapidly develop and expand the independent battalion.

I don't even get six hours of sleep a day, so how can I find time to chat with Xiao Ma?

So when Lao Ma saw Xiao Ma tonight, his homesickness welled up uncontrollably, leading to the action described above.

As for the cigarettes, the Independent Battalion picked up some "Flying Tiger" brand cigarettes a couple of days ago when they went to the Zhangjiayu Arsenal to collect some weapons and ammunition.

This is the first-generation product recently developed by Zhangjiayu Cigarette Factory.

The packaging was a bit lacking; it was just a cardboard box with "Flying Tiger" written on it.

Thanks to Chaozi, who had been making cigarettes himself in the modern world, he had a wealth of experience in making cigarettes.

The tobacco processing technology in modern times is far more advanced than that of the Republic of China era, resulting in a better-tasting tobacco.

Fortunately, the wizard had a master's degree in chemical engineering and actually knew about this field. Compared to the experts in the modern world, he was definitely a novice, but in 1938, his technology was absolutely overwhelming.

Anyway, when Lao Ma smoked it, he felt that it tasted much better than cigarettes like Lao Dao.

It seems there will be no shortage of customers in the future, which will open up an important source of revenue for the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment...

While smoking, the two men, who were completely intoxicated, started talking about their hometowns; as they talked, they got to some key points.

Xiao Ma: "Deputy Battalion Commander, no! Brother Ma, my hometown is XX Village, XX District, Shandong Province. Where are you from?"

Upon hearing this, Old Ma's eyes lit up, and he tightened his grip on Little Ma's shoulder, saying with delight, "My hometown is XX Village, XX District, Shandong Province, and there's a hundred-year-old locust tree in front of my house."

Xiao Ma: "There is also a big locust tree in front of my house, but it is only about twenty years old. My dad planted it when I was born."

"What's your dad's name? Let me see if I know him..."

When he was halfway through saying that sentence, Old Ma was instantly sobered up.

Because he clearly remembered that his late grandfather was a traditional Chinese medicine doctor who had joined the Hui Muslim Brigade and fought against the Japanese invaders with the Communist Party.

He had always worked in logistics and had never participated in combat, let alone killed any Japanese soldiers.

Even now, in my old age, I still feel immense regret because of this one thing.

And considering Xiao Ma's situation, doesn't this make sense? So this fellow villager whom he had always regarded as a younger brother was actually his own grandfather.

I got really drunk just now and kept saying that I would take care of him from now on and that he should call me Brother Ma.

This is terrible!

The saying goes, "concern leads to confusion." Even though she knew that the old man was a military doctor in the Independent Battalion and there was basically no risk involved, she still worried.

But the thought of the huge consequences of being killed by a stray bullet terrified Old Ma.

For a moment, he didn't know what to say, so he made an excuse and hurriedly said goodbye to his old man, telling Van Gogh what had happened.

"Damn! What a coincidence."

Last time in Taierzhuang, Mr. Nanze also ran into his father. This kind of nagging never seems to end, is it?

Upon hearing this, Van Gogh, who was also drunk, was somewhat sobered up; after thinking of something, he uttered this remark with a headache.

However, after thinking about it carefully, what happened to Mr. Nanze and Mr. Ma was not such an outrageous situation.

And this is just the beginning; the time-traveling team will only encounter more in the future.

The reason is simple: in this 14-year War of Resistance against Japan, in order to fight against the Japanese invaders who had a comprehensive advantage in weapons, equipment and tactics.

More than 14 million troops were mobilized across China. After 1400 years of fighting, more than 3500 million soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded, including about 2100 million deaths.

Countless other people have had their lives severely impacted.

It can be said that everyone in the modern world has ancestors involved in this war.

Hu Biao, that damned bastard, didn't he often talk about how his grandfather, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time, was captured by the Japanese during the Hunan-Guangxi Campaign.

If he hadn't escaped halfway through, there might not even be a story about him.

After a moment of silence, Van Gogh could only comfort the novice, Old Ma, with these words: "Don't worry too much! The old man is a military doctor. Even if we fight the Japanese, he'll be in a relatively safe rear area. Nothing will happen to him."

Old Ma nodded instinctively, but he still couldn't shake off his worries.

I don't know if that's true, but I feel a tremendous sense of urgency...

******
An hour later, at Deyue Tower in Taiyuan City.

Deyuelou Restaurant, which is usually quite busy, is even busier tonight on the Mid-Autumn Festival; even now, almost every table is full of customers.

The shouts and laughter of people playing drinking games carried far into the night.

On this very night, when Deyuelou was bustling with business, none of the customers could see the legendary, exceptionally beautiful widowed proprietress.

Only when a shout of "Here it comes! The Nine-Turned Intestines are here!" was heard did a waiter put down the dish in his hand.

He was then grabbed by a man who looked drunk, who asked him:
"Hey waiter, where's your boss's wife tonight? I heard she's famous for her huge capacity for alcohol, and I was planning to have a couple of drinks with her tonight."

"I'm sorry! Our boss's wife wasn't feeling well today and went home to rest early; how about I have Manager Mo come over and have a drink with you?"

Upon hearing this, the waiter offered this explanation.

Manager Mo was a withered old man, and no man would be interested in drinking with him, so he immediately rejected the suggestion.

What he didn't know was that the landlady he was thinking about wasn't resting at all.

Instead, the person was in a courtyard that resembled a safe house, with AT and Qiu Kuiyong on lookout, while he was hiding in a room sending an important telegram.

The telegram was sent to Boss Dai of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and its contents were:

According to intelligence they obtained by chance, tonight, under orders from the Japanese headquarters, a massive force of three divisions has begun boarding ships in several locations.

Under the protection and leadership of Admiral Koichi Shiozawa, Commander-in-Chief of the 5th Fleet of the Navy, they will launch a surprise attack on Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province.

The fact that Anne couldn't even attend to her business at Deyuelou and secretly sent a telegram from here was because this intelligence was just too important.

After the fall of Qingdao, Shanghai, and other places, Guangzhou has become one of the most important ports in China.

If the city falls, its economic lifeline to the outside world will be completely severed, and it will have a staggering impact on the Battle of Wuhan, which is currently at a critical stage.

The above information was not something they obtained by chance, but rather information that actually happened in history.

Because three days later, in the dead of night, more than 7 Japanese soldiers and 2.7 horses successfully landed at Daya Bay.

After that, they advanced with unstoppable momentum, capturing Danshui, Huizhou, Boluo, and Zengcheng in succession.

By the 21st, they had reached the outskirts of Guangzhou. Yu Hanmou's 12th Army Group was defeated by the Japanese army in just 10 days, and he ordered the defending troops to retreat.

Ultimately, Guangzhou fell on the afternoon of the 21st, the Yuehan Railway was cut off, and Wuhan was no longer worth defending with heavy troops.

This brought the major battle, which had lasted for many days and involved huge amounts of manpower and energy on both sides, to a complete end on the 27th when Wuhan fell.

Therefore, even knowing such a crucial piece of history, the mysterious entity that traversed them would absolutely not allow any changes to occur.

After discussing it with Annie, Hu Biao decided to risk sending a telegram to Boss Dai of the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Given the mysterious background they've cultivated in front of Boss Dai after several time travels, they might actually convince the bald principal of this information.

This allows us to make some preparations in advance and bring about some positive changes.

And so, AT, who was hiding in the shadows of the yard on guard duty, waited anxiously for more than an hour before hearing the sound of the door behind him opening.

He immediately asked Anne a question without hesitation:
"So, what did Boss Dai say?"

Facing AT's expectant gaze, Annie shook her head with a wry smile: "Don't even mention it! I've been busy for an hour, and I still haven't been able to contact even Boss Dai's communications department, let alone send them any intelligence."

Just this statement alone filled AT with immense disappointment, convinced that the mysterious place would never allow them to change history.

The reason is simple: even if today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is impossible for the Military Intelligence Bureau's communications department to be unattended.

Therefore, there is no possibility that an hour could pass without being able to make contact; the only possibility is that the signal was interfered with by that mysterious entity.

Therefore, even if you went to the people at the Military Intelligence Bureau's Taiyuan station and asked them to send the intelligence back, you would probably get the same result.

After shaking his head in frustration, AT asked again, "Do those damn bastards know about this situation? What are their plans?"

The questions above AT weren't actually clarified, but Annie was able to understand them.

What AT was really worried about was that Wuhan would fall in 19 days, which meant that the Japanese would have more mobile troops.

The Japanese First Army, representing Shanxi Province, was now able to launch an attack on the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

The actual attack period, at most, is a little over a month.

So here comes the real question: With only a little over two months of development underway, could Hu Biao and his men withstand the Japanese army's frenzied attacks?

Their base in Pingding County was only slightly better than what they had been here. How much destruction would it suffer after World War I?

"They know! They just sent a telegram to Pingding County, but they can't come up with a specific response so quickly."

Anne replied helplessly, her tone full of unspoken worry.

After hesitating for a moment, he told AT about an idea that had just come to mind: "We've always been communicating by radio, so the situation at the base isn't always as intuitive as it used to be."

In a couple of days, a batch of machines and raw materials will be sent to Pingding County, and I plan to go and take a look.

It's only about 200 kilometers away anyway. Even including the time spent at the base, I should be back in a week at most; but everything here will depend on you managing it.”

“It’s alright! Go ahead.” AT agreed without any hesitation.

Unexpectedly, Annie made another request that surprised him: "Then in the next couple of days, see if you can buy about ten big fat pigs, preferably with fat that's three fingers thick."

After all, as the chief of staff, it's rare for me to make that trip, so I should bring back some good stuff to treat the men in the regiment.

"You should try to buy it along the way, otherwise it's too far to carry it all the way," AT suggested, with a wry smile.

At the same time, in Zhangjiayu, Pingding County.

Like a gust of wind, Mina rushed into Hu Biao's cave. Just as she was about to say "brother-in-law," she saw Zhao Zheng was also there.

He immediately suppressed the address that was about to come out, stood at attention, saluted, and then said breathlessly:
"Reporting to Regiment Commander Hu, Deputy Chief of Staff Zhao, and Chief of Staff An, an urgent telegram from Taiyuan."

After receiving the telegram, Hu Biao did not immediately begin reading it. Instead, while holding a kettle and preparing to pour water for Mina, he muttered to himself:

"Don't worry! The sky won't fall. Have some water first."

Mina refused Hu Biao's offer: "Don't pour me water, I want to drink something else."

As he spoke, he picked up the vinegar bottle on the table, opened the cap, and gulped down at least half of the remaining vinegar in one go.

After finishing the drink, he showed a very satisfied expression, which left Hu Biao and Zhao Zheng dumbfounded.

It was only after seeing the expressions on their faces that Mina realized she had lost her composure. Overwhelmed with embarrassment, she said, "I have something to do," and hurriedly left.

Well! Before she transmigrated, Mina wasn't nearly as jealous as she used to be.

This is because the water in Pingding County is quite hard and has a distinctly bitter taste.

In addition, although life at the regimental headquarters has been slightly better recently, it only means that we don't have to go hungry and we eat sweet potatoes every meal. We often go for several days without seeing any meat.

Such a life would be disastrous for a foodie girl who lives a privileged life in the modern world.

I just feel like my mouth has no taste, and I want to eat something with meat or fish, or if all else fails, I'll drink something refreshing.

However, in such a large place as Zhangjiayu, there wasn't even a single tea leaf to be found, let alone any other beverages; so Mina set her sights on vinegar, a sour food.

At first, I wasn't used to it, but after a while, I found it quite satisfying to gulp it down in one go.

Feeling incredibly embarrassed, Mina returned to the cave dwelling she shared with Xiao Cui.

It turned out that her companion was also sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) in a daze, looking utterly dejected. She couldn't help but ask, "Sister! What's wrong?"

Xiao Cui replied, "I just went to the kitchen and asked someone to weigh me. I found that I've lost 13 pounds in just over a month."

"Isn't this a good thing? In the modern world, it's impossible to lose weight even if you want to," Mina asked疑惑地问道.

Xiao Cui was about to cry: "But I've lost all my fierceness now."

Seeing her friend on the verge of tears, Mina thought of her own earlier embarrassment, and only one thought occupied her mind:
Oh no! I'm going to Taiyuan to stay with my cousin, I'm going to eat and drink like royalty, I'm going to date that handsome guy from the Republican era...

(End of this chapter)