The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 469 The Critical Moment Has Arrived
Upon receiving Hu Biao's order, a cold glint flashed in Huang Adi's eyes, and an indescribable excitement immediately appeared on his face.

He glanced quickly at the six Japanese soldiers who had been shot and fallen to the ground but were not immediately killed, then pulled a multi-functional military knife from his thigh and threw it in front of a puppet soldier.

Then, pointing to a Japanese officer who was clutching a wound in his chest and was on the verge of death, he said:

"Go stab him now, but don't stab his hands or legs, aim for vital spots; hurry up! I'll count to three, and if you don't do it by then, I'll shoot you first, one—"

That's right! Hu Biao and his group used this ancient method of persuading the puppet troops.

Having taken the lives of Japanese soldiers, these puppet troops probably wouldn't betray them halfway through and ruin their operation to infiltrate the pillbox.

However, in the eyes of ordinary puppet troops, even ordinary Japanese soldiers were people they could never offend, let alone Japanese officers.

For a moment, the puppet soldier who was singled out waved his hands wildly, and his face was so anxious that he almost cried.

But he didn't dare bend down to pick up a multi-functional dagger that was right at his feet.

After counting to three, Huang Adi saw that the puppet soldier still hadn't made a move; he quickly drew his pistol from his waist, pulled the trigger, and shot him in the face, killing him on the spot.

Well! Huang A-di could actually understand why the puppet troops didn't dare to take action.

However, given the current time constraints, there's no time to worry about that.

Then Huang Adi brandished his gun, pointing it at the next puppet soldier, and without any further explanation, simply uttered the word "one".

Considering his previous actions, the implications are self-evident.

The second puppet army that Huang Adi is now pointing to is actually Wu Anguo.

The death of the previous puppet soldier shattered his last hope; driven by the instinct for survival, he gritted his teeth, bent down, and picked up the dagger.

He strode forward and plunged the knife deep into the chest of the Japanese officer.

The Japanese officer, who was already on the verge of death, kicked his legs and died instantly after being stabbed again.

After stabbing him, Wu Anguo thought about the terrifying consequences of the Japanese retaliation and collapsed to the ground.

Soon after, a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes. He knew that he had to cooperate with these people to take down the Mendunshan stronghold and wipe out all the Japanese soldiers. Only then would he and his family have a chance to survive.

Huang Adi was completely unaware of Wu Anguo's psychological changes.

Seeing that Wu Anguo had made his move, he ignored him and moved his gun towards the next puppet soldier, coldly uttering the word "one" again, his eyes filled with increasingly frenzied killing intent.

Seeing this, Hu Biao couldn't help but sigh silently.

Unfortunately, even this level of killing couldn't vent the anger that Huang Adi was holding in.

With a sigh, he pulled out a wooden-handled grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it toward an open space on his right. A loud explosion soon followed.

The other ATs, Lao San, thugs, and others did the same, firing a few shots every now and then.

Or perhaps, a grenade or a hand grenade was thrown.

They weren't wasting ammunition; they were creating the illusion that fighting was still going on in the village to avoid arousing suspicion among the Japanese soldiers in the stronghold.

Everyone has been working incredibly hard to ensure the smooth execution of this action plan...

In a very short time afterward, perhaps because of Wu Anguo's leadership, every single one of the remaining puppet soldiers stabbed a Japanese soldier.

After killing the remaining five wounded Japanese soldiers, he could consider it a pledge of allegiance.

Then, Hu Biao and the other men got busy, peeling off military uniforms that fit their own bodies from the corpses of the Japanese soldiers and puppet troops.

As he put the clothes on, he addressed Wu Anguo and the other surviving puppet soldiers:
"Listen up, everyone! Follow us to the stronghold later, and shout loudly as you run: The Eighth Route Army is coming! The main force of the Eighth Route Army is coming!"

Once we successfully infiltrate and capture the Japanese stronghold, we'll give each of you a large sum of money.

Besides the Japanese military scrip, there were also British pounds and US dollars from the foreign devils. With such a sum of money, no matter where you and your family flee, you will be able to survive.”

This explanation successfully dispelled the last vestige of hesitation in the hearts of Wu Anguo and the other puppet troops.

What if, after capturing the stronghold, they are allowed to continue fighting the Japanese alongside Hu Biao and others, but they are still worried about their families being retaliated against by the Japanese?
Now that they heard they would be paid, and in the form of hard currency—foreign money—they had no more doubts and readily agreed.

Finally, after changing into a puppet army uniform that didn't fit him at all, Hu Biao first reached out and smeared some blood from the corpse onto his face.

This way, the puppet troops in the stronghold wouldn't be able to recognize his unfamiliar face immediately when they got close.

Then he lowered his submachine gun, cocked a Hanyang rifle, fired a shot into the air, and then grabbed Annie's arm, shouting:
"Let's go, the second phase of the operation begins."

After shouting, he pulled Annie towards the Japanese stronghold outside the village, occasionally turning back to fire a shot randomly.

Fang Youcai and his men, who were hiding deep in the village, kept firing into the air and shouting, "Chase after them! Don't let these Japanese devils and yellow-skinned dogs get away!"

With such cooperation, the two sides created the illusion that the Eighth Route Army was attacking.

As for why Hu Biao was holding Annie's hand during the retreat, it wasn't at this moment that he was holding hands and feeding everyone a mouthful of dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection).

Instead, they were worried that the Japanese would think a large number of Eighth Route Army soldiers were coming and would close the gates in advance, blocking these remnants of the army outside.

Don't think it's impossible. Given the nature of the Japanese, it's not surprising that they would do something like this, even if there were disguised Japanese soldiers among the routed troops.

On the contrary, if we bring along a few "pretty girls", the Japanese might be reluctant to leave and won't close the pillbox gate in advance, so this detail is very important.

Does all of the above arrangements mean that the second phase of the operation is a sure thing?

You're overthinking it! Who can guarantee anything? All we can do is try our best and leave the rest to fate.

******
"Lord Kobayashi, something terrible has happened! The Eighth Route Army has attacked, with at least a main regiment of troops. There are so many people, the village is full of them."

As they ran, Xinhuo, the only one among them disguised as a Japanese soldier, shouted loudly in Japanese.

It wasn't that others didn't want to disguise themselves as Japanese soldiers, but rather that they simply didn't have the necessary conditions.

Including that Japanese officer, the height of all the Japanese soldiers who were killed was basically between 1.5 and 1.5 meters.

After their uniforms were changed, the condition of their shirts was somewhat better.

It's just that the pants are a bit tight and small, but they've managed to make them look like capri pants, which is a really obvious mistake.

So the only tall Japanese soldier, a private first class who was estimated to be over 1.65 meters tall, was given his uniform to Xinhuo, a novice.

Who told him that among all the male transmigrators, he spoke Japanese the best?

And so, he and Hu Biao and others, along with Wu Anguo and a dozen or so puppet soldiers, ran towards Mendun Mountain, shouting at the top of their lungs.

Every now and then they would turn back and exchange fire with Fang Youcai, the veteran, Shiwu, and others who were faintly visible at the village entrance.

Xin Huo's expression and tone were full of tension and panic, and in reality, that was exactly what he was feeling.

Although he didn't have much military experience, he knew that, for better camouflage, the veterans hadn't brought any submachine guns or MG34 general-purpose machine guns.

He simply concealed a short-handled shotgun under his military uniform.

Shotguns are powerful enough in close combat, but they become ineffective at slightly longer distances; if the Japanese soldiers had noticed something was wrong and closed the gates early on, they could have been riddled with bullets.

So as he fled towards the pillbox, he was in a complete panic.

They were afraid that they might give themselves away somewhere and be discovered by the Japanese in advance.

Fortunately, the Japanese soldiers did not seem to notice anything unusual. Apart from a large number of personnel taking their positions behind the firing ports, some were waving at them, signaling them to run faster, and they did not close the gate.

After a frantic run during the performance, the group reached a spot between two mountains.

The group of about thirty people split into two groups and ran towards the two hilltops.

There was no other way! They had to take down the Japanese cannons on both hilltops at the same time, otherwise, even if they took down one, there would still be Japanese cannons on the other hill, and this operation would be a half-baked effort.

Finally, as the gate of the pillbox drew ever closer, the most crucial moment of the operation arrived...

(End of this chapter)