The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 375 Immediate Counterattack? (Two-in-One Chapter)

"Brothers! If you trust me, Old Ma, go and rest now; treat and bandage your wounds, eat some dry rations, and then get a good night's sleep."

"Once you've rested and are fully rested, I'll lead you on a night raid; we'll retake the position just as we lost it during the day."

Facing his seventy-odd men who were staring expectantly at him, Old Ma solemnly made his promise.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Xiao Henan adjusted his half-damaged glasses and then solemnly made the same promise:

“That’s right! When has our Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment ever suffered such a loss? Tonight we’ll fight back and avenge this humiliation.”

It was only because Old Ma and Little Henan solemnly stated the above points that they were able to say them.

The premise is that after they hurriedly retreated into the main position, the surviving brothers, including some wounded, suddenly stopped and all looked towards the small hill on the left flank.

Their faces were filled with intense anger and resentment.

Clearly, they are extremely resentful about losing ground.

What a coincidence! Both Xiao Henan and Lao Ma were extremely unwilling to accept the loss of the position they had held for several days, during which countless of their brothers had died.

In what seemed like an instant agreement, the two men made a promise to launch a night raid and recapture the position.

Faced with the assurances of the two officers, the remaining brothers remained silent, but their eyes immediately lit up.

Under such circumstances, they finally took action.

A second lieutenant from the main position began to walk towards the reverse slope position.

Once there, they would quickly have the medics bandage and treat their wounds, eat some dry rations, and then get a good night's sleep.

To prepare for the midnight raid, we must do everything possible...

What happened to Old Ma and his group was naturally seen by Bill Eulton and Andre, two foreigners, who were not far away.

Because he didn't understand Chinese, Bill Eulton asked the translator beside him with a gentlemanly curiosity:
“Shen, what did they just say? They seemed very excited; no! After they finished speaking, those soldiers all had a kind of sacred air about them, it was really amazing.”

"They were just saying that they should take a good rest so they can launch another night attack tonight and retake the lost positions."

Upon hearing this, the translator Shen, whom he was referring to, spoke calmly.

But a fleeting hint of intense emotion flashed across his eyes.

After hearing the translator's explanation, Bill Eulton, this foreigner from Uncle Sam's house, muttered in disbelief:
"Oh my god, are they crazy, or is the world crazy?"
They were bombarded by aircraft and heavy artillery, and their troop strength and weapons were far inferior to those of their opponents.

The fact that they were able to hold out for so many days is already a remarkable military feat; I think even the most demanding commander wouldn't ask them to do more, and would personally award them medals.

However, their battle should have been completely over by now.

Instead of thinking about taking a good rest and having a drink to survive, they were thinking about launching a counterattack. This...this is absolutely insane..."

While Bill Eulton muttered something under his breath with an expression as if he had seen a ghost, those around him didn't say anything, but their thoughts were equally fascinating.

Andrei, the Russian observer, had a rather strange accent in his Chinese, but he could understand the conversations between Old Ma and Little Henan without a translator.

Having understood their conversation, he was deeply moved.

He thought to himself, "Although I don't want to admit it, it's a pity! Even the Russian army has a special organizational structure called 'Commissioner'."

But our soldiers were still not as brave as the soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

What kind of magic could have enabled these people, who were just farmers and small-scale craftsmen not long ago, to unleash such amazing fighting courage?

For the sake of the great Russian nation, we must understand this point.

This is the most important reason I came here to watch the game.

The so-called translator Shen is actually one of the four future top agents of the Military Intelligence Bureau, and Shen Zui is the one who has just been brought into Dai's sights.

It should be noted that this was before Bill Yulton, Andrei, and others departed from Shuangqing by plane.

Boss Dai hurriedly met with Shen Zui for the first time, and after giving him some encouragement, he assigned him some tasks, the most important of which were three.

Firstly, to prevent these foreign devils from secretly engaging in trade with Hu Biao and his group.

Even if they reach a trade agreement, the Nationalist government cannot be left out, and the Nationalist government must take the lion's share of the benefits; incidentally, given the size of the military consortium, it must also get a share of the profits.

Secondly, a secret investigation was launched into whether Hu Biao and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment had any collusion with our Party, and to what extent such collusion had occurred.

Most importantly, sufficient evidence must be collected and obtained.

Thirdly, conduct a secret investigation into Annie, the former Kuomintang agent planted by Hu Biao's side, to see if she has now completely defected.

Before arriving, Shen Zui was on high alert.

We must seize this rare opportunity, complete the task brilliantly, and thus gain Boss Dai's appreciation, which will lead to a meteoric rise in our careers.

As for how much trouble Hu Biao and his comrades, as well as the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, will cause, all I can say is I'm sorry.

However, after arriving at Gaofeng Pass, his resolve began to waver after only three days.

Nothing more! Getting promoted and making money is a man's nature, so naturally he wants it.

But no matter what, he was a Chinese man who hated the Japanese invaders. He witnessed firsthand the brothers of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment fighting the Japanese to the death, and he was deeply moved.

Instinctively, I didn't want these comrades who sincerely risked everything to fight the Japanese to suffer some tragic consequences.

Even at this moment, a thought that drove him mad still lingered in his mind:

Screw Boss Dai! Screw promotions and wealth, screw missions; or count Shen as one of those night raiders tonight.

Ultimately, reason prevailed, and he forcefully suppressed a strong urge to volunteer and join the night raid team.

In short, Lao Ma and Xiao Henan's plan for a night raid has caused quite a bit of confusion among the various parties involved.

But soon they realized that they had underestimated Hu Biao and the ruthlessness of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment...

******
Xiao Henan and Lao Ma did not go with their brothers to rest on the reverse slope.

Instead, they went to the front line together.

The reason for this was that after the left flank hill was captured, the fighting on the other main positions and the right flank hill positions also ended at this point.

However, after seeing the planes overhead returning to their bases, Hu Biao and the others all had a strange intuition:

Although it's almost 4 PM now that we've captured the left flank hill, there are less than three hours until it gets completely dark.

However, this does not mean that the Japanese will be satisfied and completely stop attacking today.

Instead, they had some more ideas while they were still in the thick of things.

Therefore, their intuition was that the Japanese planes were returning to base one after another, and the gunfire on the battlefield had stopped. All of this was a sign that the Japanese were gathering strength and preparing to launch a more ferocious attack.

There's a good chance that tonight will see a night battle, something that hasn't happened in the past few days.

Based on the above assessment, the moment the Japanese stopped their attack, Hu Biao and his men rushed to the front line and began repairing the fortifications.

So, Xiao Henan and Lao Ma had two purposes for stepping forward at this moment.

On one hand, they wanted to help repair the fortifications and contribute their meager strength. On the other hand, and most importantly, they wanted to squeeze some support out of Hu Biao, whether they cried poverty, threw tantrums, or spat on him.

We need light machine guns, submachine guns, Mauser pistols and other automatic and semi-automatic weapons, as well as wooden-handled grenades and melon grenades—these are the poor man's cannons.

We need to add at least one hundred more men, and they must be well-equipped.

Otherwise, with their remaining seventy-odd brothers, even if they managed to recapture the lost positions, they wouldn't be able to stop the Japanese counterattack.

These two had a great plan, but unfortunately they couldn't speak up immediately once they got to the front lines.

It all started at that very moment when the thug, a young man whose eyes still held a hint of naivety and foolishness, asked Hu Biao a question that piqued the interest of both of them:
"Old Hu! How much longer are we going to hold out at Gaofeng Pass? When will this end?"

As he said this, everyone could clearly see that the young man had lost at least ten pounds compared to when he first transmigrated a week ago.

His overall mental state was extremely depressed.

There was nothing that could be done about it! During the day, he had to endure the Japanese soldiers' fierce attacks, one after another, under relentless bombing.

A slight mistake or bad luck during the process can lead to injury or death.

In the evenings, there were many things to do, such as repairing fortifications and replenishing troops and equipment; he was lucky to get four hours of sleep a whole day.

With such a high level of physical and mental exertion, who wouldn't lose weight?

Actually, compared to the other guys in the team, this guy who plays the thug is in a better situation.

Because men's beards reach their peak growth rate after the age of 30; therefore, Hu Biao and his men not only lost weight, but also became heavily unkempt, making them look even more listless.

Upon hearing about the thugs, Hu Biao's face showed a look of relief.

It wasn't that I was pleased with the question raised by the thug, but rather that this guy still remembered to call me "Old Hu," instead of calling himself "Deadbeat" like the other newbies.

Therefore, as he was rebuilding a collapsed trench with a shovel, his tone of voice softened somewhat:
"Don't worry! Just hold on for another three or four days at most, and the situation will improve significantly."

Even the bald-headed principal and that white-robed officer from the Guangxi Army won't continue to pretend they didn't see us; they'll proactively send people to contact us and offer some tangible benefits.

Upon hearing this, not only the novice transmigrators present, such as the henchmen, Old K, and Old Third, but also many other veterans clearly showed strong interest.

After Anne and her cousin worked together to pile a sandbag onto the trench, Anne finally asked:
"Mr. Hu, Mr. Nie, stop being so formal. Explain your reasons for reaching these conclusions."

In fact, Anne had made some similar judgments in her mind.

The question was still asked, simply because the person wanted to see how much their "big pig's trotter" had improved in strategic vision after a month of rest and study.

Hu Biao got cocky! Under Annie's persistent questioning, he actually lit a cigarette first.

He took a couple of puffs before answering:
"According to the information provided by Sickle, apart from Gaofeng Pass, the development of this battle is not much different from the historical situation."

This means that the Japanese will eventually occupy Kunlun Pass the day after tomorrow, on December 4th.

A little later, the main force of the Fifth Army will successfully arrive outside Kunlun Pass, and the two sides will enter a stalemate before the decisive battle.

The Fifth Army, an elite unit of the National Revolutionary Army, still posed a considerable threat to the Japanese. In order to deal with the Fifth Army's subsequent attacks, the Japanese would definitely make some preparations in advance.

For example, troop strength will be more strained, and fewer Japanese troops will be sent to our direction.

We need to stockpile and store more fuel, bombs, and artillery shells; this will definitely reduce the intensity of the Japanese bombing and shelling.

As for the bald principal and the white-haired officer, why would they give us benefits?
These are all people who use people for their own purposes and then discard them for their own purposes; at that time, in order to achieve the goal of counterattacking Nanning and restoring overseas transport lines, the strategic importance of Gaofeng Pass will be particularly prominent.

They will naturally remember us, value us, and try to win us over.

So everyone can start thinking ahead now about what conditions to propose to these people that will give them a headache, but won't cause them to turn against you.

The premise is that the Japanese aren't stupid either; they can also analyze the above problems. Their attack will be exceptionally fierce over the next three or four days, if we can hold out.

To be honest, every point in Hu Biao's analysis above makes a lot of sense.

Not only did the other time travelers agree, but Annie was also very satisfied with her son's growth.

Although Hu Biao missed some other details in the above analysis, such as the fact that the two observers from Uncle Sam's and the Russians came to Gaofeng Pass with more than just the goal of watching the battle up close.

They also had other missions that happened to align with the interests of the North Jiangsu Independent Regiment, allowing for some transactions between the two sides.

But what can I say? No rush, let your own big pig's trotters take their time, they'll grow up completely eventually.

She even wanted to praise Hu Biao, but before Annie could utter a single word like "Boss Hu is awesome," Old Ma had already impatiently revealed his main purpose for coming to the front lines:

"Damn it! I think we absolutely cannot lose this left flank position like this."

To hold out for another three or four days, we must engage in repeated back-and-forth battles with the Japanese on every hilltop and position; therefore, I think it is very necessary to launch a night raid tonight and recapture the positions on the left flank hilltop.

Here, the blind man and I volunteered to lead a night raid.

As soon as the words fell, Little Henan chimed in:
"Damn it, One-Eyed is ugly, but he's right! Since the position was lost from the two of us, we'll take responsibility for taking it back."

At this point, the young man from Henan, who had initially looked resolute, suddenly changed his tone, and his expression became playful and mischievous:

"But as you know, the Japanese have finally captured a hill, so they are naturally unwilling to lose it again. Their defenses will be very tight."

So the remaining men in our force are not enough; you need to send us at least a reinforced company.

In addition, ten light machine guns, 30 submachine guns, and no less than 50 pistols should be added to form a large vanguard assault team.

"We also need a thousand grenades and hand grenades."

Xiao Henan naturally knew that even if the main position was emptied out, it was not certain that they could gather the above-mentioned weapons.

But wasn't he setting up an exorbitant price, intending for Hu Biao to haggle? If that damned bastard could agree to even half of his demands, he would actually be quite satisfied.

Unexpectedly, Hu Biao directly said:
"Night raid? Who said anything about a night raid? I have no intention of launching a night raid."

Faced with this rejection, Xiao Henan and Lao Ma's eyes instantly turned red, and they were about to start cursing on the spot, even having a strong urge to go up and fight with Hu Biao.

Fortunately, at this moment, Hu Biao said something:
"They say a gentleman takes revenge even after ten years, but I, Hu Biao, am a rough man who believes in taking revenge on the spot. So why wait until night? Let's prepare and launch a counterattack in half an hour to take back the position."

Wow! This statement elicited quite a few interesting expressions from many people.

Mina glanced at her brother-in-law, then at her cousin, and gave a sly smile.

Xiao Cui slowed down a bit and had the urge to drive.

Xiao Henan and Lao Ma looked at each other, unsure of what to say; naturally, they were eager to retake the lost positions from the Japanese.

However, neither of them were newbies on the battlefield.

They knew that without the cover of night, if they launched a direct attack under the cover of Japanese planes and artillery, even if the entire Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment was wiped out, they would still not be able to retake the position.

However, they also knew that Hu Biao, that damned scoundrel, couldn't possibly be unaware of such simple truths, and must have some related reliance on them.

Under such circumstances, they simply couldn't think of any other means that could achieve such an amazing effect.

I thoroughly enjoyed the two guys' incredibly expressive faces.

Hu Biao shouted, "Third brother, take One-Eyed Dragon and Blind Man to see the treasure you and Old Cucumber have created..."

(End of this chapter)