The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 360 Victory Belongs to My Cousin (Part 1) (Combined Chapter)

As Mina had predicted, what happened in the time that followed was exactly what occurred.

From the north of Gaofeng Pass, villagers continued to arrive one after another; these Guangxi folks brought all sorts of tools and even dry food.

Upon arrival, they didn't waste any time and immediately started working.

By evening, excluding the personnel of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, the number of adult villagers on the position alone reached over a thousand.

With so many villagers helping, the construction efficiency naturally increased dramatically.

The hills at Gaofeng Pass were originally covered with lush trees, but soon after, any trees that were even slightly larger were cut down.

After the branches and leaves were removed, the thick trunks of these trees, still covered with bark, were just right to support and reinforce the position.

In addition, with the swinging of numerous shovels and hoes, and the swaying of carrying poles and baskets, trenches were rapidly taking shape.

Almost every hour, the scene on the huge hilltop showed some obvious changes.

In short, the actual construction progress on the hilltop is much faster than Hu Biao and his team had anticipated.

Seeing this situation, Hu Biao called over the warehouse manager, who was now in charge of the construction and had graduated from Harbin Institute of Technology with a degree in civil engineering, to discuss the matter.

With a determined effort, they made a decision that they would be incredibly grateful for in the period that followed: to raise the construction standards of the defense line.

For example, the planned trench depth of 1.3 meters could be increased to 2 meters.

The standard for artillery shelters on the position has been upgraded from being able to withstand 75mm shells to being able to withstand 105mm shells.

As for further improvement to achieve even higher intensity?

There's no way to do that; it's simply impossible to achieve this with just logs for support.

In addition, more machine gun emplacements will be added, and these machine gun emplacements will be converted into bunkers; more reverse firing emplacements, anti-aircraft positions, reverse slope bunker positions, and other fortifications will be added.

If all of the above ideas are realized, then the fortifications at Gaofeng Pass will reach the standard of the kind of civil engineering fortifications built by our army during the Korean War, and will naturally have stronger defensive capabilities.

For the current time traveler team, apart from the tight schedule and heavy workload, there are no problems at all.

In order to make these preparations before the arrival of the Japanese invaders, both new and old members of the time-traveling team worked with great enthusiasm...

Around 7 p.m., it finally got completely dark in the southern Guangxi region; the temperature dropped from the warm and comfortable 20 degrees Celsius during the day to a slightly cool 12 or 13 degrees Celsius.

Even so, the third brother, a novice, didn't feel cold at all; on the contrary, he felt inexplicably hot from the inside out.

The main reason was that Hu Biao thought that a group of fellow Guangxi people had spontaneously come to help, and even worked through the night with torches.

We can't really let them get hungry and eat the boiled sweet potatoes and corn cobs they brought with them, can we?
So Hu Biao made a bold decision: provide meals, and make sure everyone eats well and comfortably.

So, Lao San, whose profession in the modern world was originally a rural chef, took on this rather arduous task for his career.

The task was quite challenging, mainly because there were too many people dining.

Today, the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment has more than 900 members; mainly due to the addition of Zhou Yaozu, and many men from the villages have also joined spontaneously.

We absolutely must thank the bigwigs like Li Bai of the Guangxi clique for their previous tactic of hiding troops among the people.

Hu Biao inquired and found that among the more than 900 men in the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, only a little over 300 were deserters.

However, the remaining 600 or so men all knew how to fire a gun and had some basic military knowledge.

With the group of about nine hundred men, plus the villagers who arrived one after another, and the children who came with them, the number of people dining might reach two or three thousand.

This number breaks the record for the largest number of diners that Lao San has ever achieved in his work of hosting large-scale rural banquets.

After receiving the task from Hu Biao, he immediately directed a dozen or so men to slaughter five large fat pigs, as well as many chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry.

In addition, there were dozens of women who helped with cooking. Under the arrangement of the third brother, they were responsible for various tasks such as washing vegetables, chopping vegetables, starting the fire, and cooking.

Even some of the dishes cooked in large pots were stir-fried by some of the better women among them.

The question is, did the third brother just talk the talk but not walk the walk throughout this whole process?

Of course not. Although he is not a local chef, thanks to the development of modern information, he knows the importance of 'taro with braised pork' to every local.

Unfortunately, the third brother had also studied this dish and knew how to make it, so he planned to hire a few assistants and personally prepare the dish.

The guy brandished a cleaver and first cut the pork belly into cubes before putting them into the pot to boil.

When the meat is almost cooked, take it out, poke holes in the skin with a skewer, apply some marinade, and marinate for 10 minutes before deep-frying.

Poking holes in the meat not only allows the marinade to penetrate better, but also removes excess oil from the fatty parts, making it less greasy to eat.

After frying, put the pork cubes in cold water to chill; this will make the pork skin more elastic.

Next, peel the taro, cut it into thick slices, and deep-fry it. Cut the pork belly into thick slices the same width as the taro, and place them in a steaming bowl with one slice of pork and one slice of taro, and drizzle with some seasoning.

Finally, steam it in a large pot for about 40 minutes.

When the third brother and his men cooked, there was naturally no special kitchen to speak of; they simply piled up a few stones on one side of the position to make a large stove, and laid a few wooden planks on it to make a cutting board.

So when they were cooking, the enticing aroma, especially the aroma of steamed taro with braised pork, spread across the mountain peaks of Gaofeng Pass.

The aroma seemed to energize the villagers who had been working through the night.

Among them were even some teenagers who came with their parents, and they didn't sit idle during the process, helping out with whatever they could.

The only thing that showed was that they were still children, as they occasionally swallowed their saliva.

This scene, witnessed by the third brother, caused the novice, who was experiencing time travel for the first time, to be momentarily stunned, and he inexplicably thought to himself:

If the scene before us wasn't about rushing to repair fortifications before fighting the invaders, but instead was like in later generations where everyone worked together to build reservoirs, roads, ponds, and other infrastructure for people's livelihoods, how wonderful that would be.

Sure enough! Only a Japanese soldier who's completely dead is a good Japanese soldier...

At nine o'clock in the evening, a meal that, in the modern world, is at most a village banquet.

But in this day and age, such a lavish meal is rare and has long been eaten.

Perhaps to express their gratitude for the lavish hospitality of Commander Hu, the villagers, after finishing their meal, had no concept of rest and immediately got busy again.

Under such circumstances, the two rookies, the guard and the thug, did not participate. Instead, they walked around the position with their hands in their pockets and four brothers.

Of course, it wasn't that these two were shamelessly slacking off; they had a more important task:

The guards, using their professional skills as criminal investigators, were secretly observing the villagers to see if any Japanese soldiers had infiltrated.

Once discovered, it will be time for this thug to showcase his MMA athlete skills.

Even if the thugs couldn't take down the infiltrated Japanese soldiers in a short time due to their lack of battlefield experience, it didn't matter, because the four brothers who were always hanging behind them each had a pistol hidden on their person.

Unfortunately, it seemed the Japanese only sent the same dozen or so men they had sent before. The guard and his henchman wandered around for a long time, until after 10 p.m., but they didn't find any suspicious people in the crowd.

Fortunately, at this moment, a commotion broke out on the southern edge of the position.
The two rushed over and found that it was Lao Yu and Uncle Bo, who had returned with a group of brothers.

Old Yu's left eye was swollen shut by someone, and now it's as black as a panda's, but he doesn't seem to care at all. Instead, he's carrying a bag like it's a treasure.

Once they entered the position, they put down the bag and opened the tied opening; the next second, a Japanese soldier, bound hand and foot and gagged, appeared before them.

The guard's eyes lit up immediately; he knew he had another chance to work...

******
Around 2:30 a.m., Hu Biao, Hei Xing, AT, and a group of more than a dozen transmigrators were walking on the battlefield with extremely careful movements.

They worked until 2 a.m., then intensified their efforts and standards, and only then were they able to complete a little over 30% of the task.

But people aren't machines. The villagers, who had already been busy all day, were exhausted by this time and needed to rest.

What to do? In order to save precious time, the villagers had no intention of going home to sleep; they simply wrapped themselves in their clothes, lay down on the battlefield, and fell asleep immediately.

I plan to sleep for a few hours, and then get up as soon as it gets light to continue working.

So much so that when Hu Biao and his men looked around, there were people everywhere, densely packed together; everyone who was asleep had a furrowed brow, clearly looking exhausted.

That is why Hu Biao and his men were extremely careful as they moved.

They were afraid that the noise they made would wake them up and affect their already precious rest time.

Even though Hu Biao and his group remained silent and exchanged no glances during this process, they all shared the same sentiment, deeply moved:
If we say that the victory of our Party in the Huaihai Campaign, one of the three major campaigns that followed, was a military miracle achieved by 543 million civilian laborers who supported the front and pushed wheelbarrows.

So if their Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment can ultimately hold Gaofeng Pass, thus bringing about some positive changes to the otherwise disastrous Battle of Guinan.

It's not that these time travelers are so amazing, but that these Guangxi folks dug it out with a hoe and a shovel.

These people are the greatest contributors to this battle.

As they walked carefully, Hu Biao suddenly stopped; because they had unknowingly arrived at the reverse slope position.

Amidst a chorus of loud snores, an old ox lay there leisurely grazing.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yaozu, the boy who was only a teenager, was curled up asleep next to the cow's belly.

Originally, Hu Biao planned to take this teenager with him as a servant, as a way of taking care of him.

However, considering that it seems that in all his time travels, very few of his orderly soldiers survived, he was still alive.

So it was directly incorporated into the logistics unit, and its main job was to feed this old ox.

After all, even if they were greedy, they couldn't bear to slaughter and eat the yellow ox that represented an old woman's fervent resistance against the Japanese invasion.

"If this were in the modern world, this kid would probably only be in the second year of junior high school."

While silently muttering to himself, Hu Biao took off his coat and draped it over Zhou Yaozu's shoulders...

The next day, at 9:07 a.m. on the 25th, after quickly glancing at a list in her hand, Mina said to the visitor with some disdain:

"You want to replace 8000 doses of penicillin at once? You don't have enough of this stuff."

Upon hearing this, Yu Hanyong's face immediately showed a fawning expression.

Twenty minutes ago, this major, who had sworn to stay as far away from Commander Hu as possible and never see him again, came to Gaofeng Pass again.

Accompanied by a middle-aged man in a long robe, and escorted by a platoon of fully armed guards, they arrived in two trucks loaded with equipment and supplies to do business.

Then Mina greeted him and took full charge of the transaction.

The reason it wasn't Annie was because the Chief of Staff of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, An, was currently in seclusion.

To be more specific, a preliminary battle plan was formulated based on relevant historical materials of the Battle of Guinan and intelligence extracted from the mouths of two Japanese prisoners of war.

Then, a group of time travelers will discuss and refine this battle plan, since it's very important.

In fact, Yu Hanyong and the middle-aged man who called himself Lao Lei brought quite a lot of equipment and supplies in their two vehicles this time, including...

300 liters of gasoline and 600 kilograms of yellow explosives.

麦德森12.7毫米口径高射机枪一挺，配套的12.7毫米子弹600发；FN1924步枪120支，配套的7.92*57毫米毛瑟步枪弹7000发。

Two Hotchkiss M1922 light machine guns, with 900 rounds of uncommon 8mm ammunition.

These are clearly not wooden-handled grenades produced by a reputable manufacturer; there are 850 of them in total.

Although the anti-aircraft machine guns were made in Denmark, the rifles were made in Belgium, the light machine guns were French equipment, and the grenades were produced by the Guangxi Army, it was a complete hodgepodge.

The specific source must be the active-duty equipment of that second-line local unit of the Guangxi Army; although Lao Lei was dressed in civilian clothes, his quartermaster demeanor was impossible to conceal.

However, the weapons and equipment alone were enough to arm two companies of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, greatly alleviating the lack of equipment.

Even so, Mina still felt that the deal was a bit of a loss, since penicillin was far too valuable these days.

Faced with Mina's disdain, Yu Hanyong and Lao Lei exchanged a glance and secretly reached a consensus.

Old Lei opened a rattan box next to him, revealing the small yellow croakers, Yuan Shikai silver dollars, and legal tender inside; at the same time, Yu Hanyong said:
"Of course we know that we can't gather too much equipment and supplies in such a hurry."

Therefore, we have prepared five small yellow croakers, 620 silver dollars, and 7100 legal tender to make up for the shortfall.

After thinking for about ten seconds, Mina offered a different explanation:
"Here's what we'll do! The platoon of soldiers you've brought for protection is actually a bit too much for defense."

"Keep the weapons of one squad for self-defense, and leave all the rest of the weapons and ammunition; besides the 8000 doses of penicillin, I'll also give you 1000 sulfa pills, how about that?"

After hesitating for half a minute, Yu Hanyong gritted his teeth and agreed: "Deal."

That greedy look of his stood in stark irony against the sight of the local villagers, ten meters away, who had spontaneously come to help and were digging furiously in a trench.

After completing the transaction, Yu Hanyong and Lao Lei, with their substantial gains, couldn't wait to leave.

The amazing thing is that they weren't afraid of dying; instead, they planned to sell the medicine they had and then quickly procure more supplies so they could make a few more trips.

As they were leaving, Mina, after a sudden thought, asked, "Can you get your hands on a plane? Any model will do, as long as it can fly. Price is negotiable."

Upon hearing this, Lao Lei instinctively wanted to refuse.

But after a sudden inspiration, Yu Hanyong pulled Lao Lei aside and whispered for a while before giving a reply: "We can think of a way, but we can't guarantee success. Also, each plane will need at least 10,000 doses of penicillin."

"No problem! We have plenty of penicillin here, it's just a matter of whether you can take it."

Without even a moment's hesitation, Mina answered with the confidence and generosity of a wealthy woman...

(End of this chapter)