The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 529 What's so special about this? (Bonus chapter for Old Yang, the book lover)

The wonderful and leisurely time was much shorter than Hu Biao and the others had anticipated.

Around 11:20 p.m., Hu Biao and the others were dancing enthusiastically, but they were far from having had enough.

Suddenly, Chen Tang caught a glimpse of something and was instantly jolted awake. He could no longer care about dancing hand in hand with a pretty Dong girl.

He opened his mouth wide and shouted, "You damn bastard! There's a direction at 9 o'clock."

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao and the others quickly looked towards the 9 o'clock direction, where they saw a long fire dragon approaching through the fog, which had thinned somewhat compared to the evening.

I wonder how many people carrying torches it took to create such a commotion.

That direction was also the direction leading into the mountains.

Even knowing that the nearest Japanese troops were at least hundreds of kilometers away, Hu Biao dared not be careless in the slightest.

He shouted, "Everyone, return to the village immediately, close the gates, and prepare for battle!"

After shouting, he was about to rush into the village to get the weapon when he inadvertently saw Annie beside him, whose face was full of inexplicable disappointment.

It was obvious that this girl was having a rare moment of joy, and the fact that her happiness was interrupted before she could fully enjoy it made her quite unhappy.

Seeing this, Hu Biao whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear, "When we go back to our hometown in the modern world for the holidays, I'll take you to Langshan."

Not only is it a World Heritage Site, but the scenery is even better, and it also has bonfire parties.

“Mmm!” Annie nodded vigorously in agreement.

Annie then rushed into the cabin, grabbed a submachine gun, and hid at the entrance of the village. Her eyes were filled with an indescribable murderous intent, indicating that the landlady was still quite annoyed.

Unfortunately, Anne's anger ultimately failed to be vented.

Not long after, the crowd carrying torches appeared outside the village gate.

There were about thirty of them, mostly dressed in loose-fitting black uniforms and straw sandals. They carried an old Hanyang rifle on their backs, clearly not Japanese soldiers.

Indeed, that was the case. The group stopped about thirty meters away from the village.

The man leading the group, carrying a Mauser pistol, arrived at the village entrance alone and suddenly knelt down on the ground with a 'DUANG'.

He shouted, "Jiang Tao, the commander of the Xinning Security Regiment, greets Hu Biao and Hu Daddy."

After shouting, he kowtowed to the village with a series of loud bangs; his forehead slammed heavily onto the stone slab on the ground, quickly turning red without any damage.

Under such circumstances, it would be strange if Anne were able to fire the gun.

The girl was even feeling quite smug at that moment:

I once heard that when a senior leader of our Party returned to his hometown, the head of the local security regiment not only dared not arrest anyone, but instead went to his door to kowtow and pay his respects.

Now even our own pig's trotters are receiving the same treatment.

What's this called? Isn't this a case of our ancestors taking credit for everything, and our own men finally making something of themselves?

Hu Biao, of course, had no idea what Annie was thinking. Seeing that the other party was being so polite, he quickly told someone to open the gate and went forward to help Jiang Tao up from the ground.

He said politely, "Commander Jiang, there's no need for such formalities. We are both soldiers, so we can address each other by our rank from now on."

"By the way! Don't be so reckless next time. Kowtowing before even meeting the person is absurd. What if it's someone else using my name to swindle people? Wouldn't that make you a laughingstock?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tao spoke confidently:

"Hu's post, no! Commander Hu is overthinking it."

Now you are a great hero and pride of Xinning. Any foolish thief who dares to impersonate you will be skinned alive by the people of the whole county.

Furthermore! The villager who went to the city to find someone from Peiziyuan said that the person who came was someone who had killed two vicious tigers with his bare hands in the forest; such a heroic figure, where in the world could there be anyone other than Commander Hu?

Therefore, after Magistrate Hou had inquired and clarified the matter, he had no doubts whatsoever and immediately sent me to escort the Commander and other officers to the county seat for rest.

After hearing the above explanation, Hu Biao could roughly guess what had happened.

The guy Yang Sangui sent to the county town to find someone was also a chatterbox; he probably started bragging about his appearance as soon as he entered the town, and now everyone in the county town probably knows about it, right? He even took all the credit for the tiger-hunting victory for himself.

I originally wanted to explain that I couldn't handle the two tigers by myself; it was my companions who helped, especially Zanana, the strong woman, who single-handedly killed one of them.

Suddenly, a more important matter occurred to him, and without bothering to explain, he hastily asked:
"Have you reported my return to my hometown to Baoqing and the provincial capital?"

This was because they were worried that if County Magistrate Hou and others had already reported it, wouldn't their plan to secretly deploy a force in Xinning and then strike the Japanese at a crucial moment be ruined before it even began?
Fortunately, Jiang Tao replied, "We would like to, but there's no way to."

The county used to have a radio station that connected to Baoqing and the provincial capital, but it broke down these past few days, and nobody knows how to fix it. We were just about to send it to Baoqing to see if it could be repaired.

Hearing this explanation, Hu Biao was relieved of his worries.

After pondering for a moment, he said, "It's too late now, and there's still a thick fog in the mountains. Why don't we all squeeze together in the village, rest for the night, and then leave early tomorrow morning?"

As for the other party calling him Commander Hu, he didn't take it too seriously.

Just kidding! Although his military rank was only that of a lieutenant colonel in the infantry, if you really think about his position, he was the person in charge of the guerrilla area in northwestern Shanxi.

Theoretically speaking, compared to war zone commanders like Xue Boling, he was only one rank lower.

Being addressed as "commander" is quite reasonable, isn't it?

Jiang Tao pondered Hu Biao's suggestion for a few seconds before agreeing.

******
Although they were supposed to rest in the village for one night and set off again early the next morning.

In reality, almost none of the time travelers slept all night; they gathered around the fire pit and chatted with Jiang Tao, the leader of the security regiment.

There are two reasons for this.

On the one hand, Jiang Tao's ability to become the head of the security regiment naturally indicates that he is a local bigwig in Xinning and is extremely familiar with the situation in the county.

During their conversation with him, Hu Biao and his group learned about the real situation in Xinning in 1941.

Questions included whether there was a power supply, processing machinery, what other forces were there besides the security forces, and whether the Nationalist army was stationed there.

If we want to acquire weapons and ammunition, what methods and channels are available?

In short, their conversation with Jiang Tao gave them a clearer outline of their next course of action.

On the other hand, despite his burly appearance, Jiang Tao is quite eloquent.

Especially when addressing other time travelers besides Hu Biao, they would immediately use titles like "Commander" or "Division Commander";

With an expression of adoration, he inquired about the major battles the group had participated in at Shanghai, Taierzhuang, northwestern Shanxi, and southern Guangxi, constantly expressing his amazement.

Such a fanboy-like behavior naturally made these country bumpkins secretly very happy.

They chatted until dawn, and after having some eggs with sweet rice wine for breakfast, they set off.

After walking along the winding mountain road for an hour, we finally emerged from the continuous mountain range and arrived at a hilly area called Yong'an Village.

Speaking of which! Hu Biao has a high school classmate from this village in the modern world.

More than eighty years later, Hu Biao naturally could not see that classmate.

But seeing that at least several hundred people had been waiting there early on, it seemed that the entire village had come; upon seeing Hu Biao and his group, these people immediately brought forward eggs, steamed buns, peaches and other food, offering them to them as if they were free.

At the same time, they called him by various titles such as "Commander Hu," "Uncle Hu," and "Commander Hu."

Several more people appeared leading horses, inviting Commander Hu and his officers to mount their horses.

Although these horses are small in stature and are not proper warhorses, but rather just pack horses of the Yunnan breed, each one has been carefully groomed and there is no smell of horse manure.

More importantly, Hu Biao was deeply moved by the sentiments of his hometown folks.

Looking at Jiang Tao beside him, this guy said with great emotion:
"My fellow countrymen are too kind; although I have killed many Japanese devils over the years, to be honest, I have only done what Chinese sons and daughters should do, and I am ashamed to accept such praise."

"This is nothing; the scene in the county is much bigger," Jiang Tao said.

(End of this chapter)