The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 530 Just Like Young Students (Part 1) (Combined Chapter)

...The longer the time traveled, the more battles were fought.

I can't remember how many brothers joined the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment and fought the Japanese alongside me, the regimental commander.

However, I can still remember that their reasons for joining were varied, and the number of people who truly understood national righteousness from the beginning and joined the army to protect their homeland was actually not very large.

They joined for reasons that were either out of necessity or even ridiculous.

Some do it to have enough to eat, some for the sake of brotherhood, some for revenge, and some based on the ancient idea of ​​'learning martial arts and literature to sell to the emperor's family'.

But whatever the reason, it doesn't affect their growth in battle and their understanding of what they are fighting for.

The premise is that they didn't die in the first battle without understanding anything...

...Excerpt from Hu Biao's diary collection "Hu Shuo"...

As Hu Biao and his entourage mounted their horses amidst loud cheers and headed towards Xinning County, at the same time that a legendary story was about to begin.

However, the location will be changed to another dimension, which is the modern dimension 84 years later.

Due to the huge difference in the flow of time between the two planes, it is only 3:36 AM in the modern plane, a few seconds after Hu Biao and the others began their journey.

Location: The study of an apartment in the Shanshui Haoting residential complex in Xinning County.

After stopping his typing, Wu Wen glanced at the time on his phone and finally couldn't help but mutter a complaint:
"Damn it! I've been working on this since 8 p.m., and it's finally finished now."

Perhaps it was because he had been working in front of the computer for too long.

For a moment, Wu Wen felt that in addition to being extremely tired, he also had sore eyes, an itchy and sore throat, and his middle-aged back was about to break.

I just feel uncomfortable all over, and I wish I could lie in bed and sleep until the sun is high in the sky.

Unfortunately, he only took off his glasses and rubbed his bloodshot eyes, then stood up, did a few stretching exercises, and sat back down in front of the computer.

He lit a cigarette to refresh himself and began checking his work on the computer.

There's no way around it! This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan. Commemorating and celebrating every 10 years is a Chinese tradition, and due to some special reasons, this year's commemoration and celebration are particularly grand.

At that time, the country will hold some grand celebrations in the capital, which will not be detailed here.

Even in Xinning, a small county town with eighteen counties, there will be visits and condolences to veterans of the War of Resistance Against Japan, symposiums held by various sectors of society, a cultural performance, and increased publicity in the media.

As the director of the county broadcasting center, Wu Wen naturally had to undertake important tasks in this regard.

Just a couple of days ago, he received an important task from his superiors: to lead a team to conduct a thorough interview with a centenarian veteran of the War of Resistance Against Japan and produce a compelling program.

Then, the program must be submitted tomorrow morning. Not only will the leaders need to review it personally, but it is said that several bigwigs in the county will also take a look and review it in advance.

There's a reason why so many leaders are taking such a serious approach to a simple interview program.

This veteran was one of those who fought alongside Commander Hu in the famous Second Battle of C City.

In the years that followed, he fought many more fierce battles against the Japanese invaders. He joined the Communist Party of China early on during the war between the two parties and fought in the north and south to establish a new country.

They even crossed the Yalu River and participated in that great war that founded the nation.

After the war, he declined the government's job offer and returned to his hometown to become an ordinary farmer.

Therefore, his own life story alone is a legend.

Not to mention, the regimental commander Hu who led him from Xinning City to the battlefield, and his comrades, are an even bigger legend.

This is of great significance to this remote little county.

Fortunately, after two consecutive days of intense work, Wu Wen has now managed to produce a preliminary edit of this special interview program.

Now it's time to hand over the lead and do a final check to see if there are any remaining problems.

In the time that followed, Wu Wen pressed the left mouse button.

On the computer screen, an elderly man with age spots on his face sat in a recliner, guided by a reporter at the scene.

She slowly recounted everything she had experienced in the autumn of 1941.

This memory must be the most beautiful and important memory of his life, deeply engraved in the old man's mind, and he has never forgotten it even after more than eighty years.

So much so that when she tells the story on screen now, she does so with the familiarity of a treasure.

To put it bluntly, there are even some trivial matters.

But as he spoke, the centenarian's somewhat hunched body straightened, his back and chest became ramrod straight, and his cloudy eyes shone with a bright light.

The sounds he was making now echoed in Wu Wen's ears on this quiet night, unconsciously dragging his thoughts into that era of constant war...

*****
My name is Jiang Jinqiao, and I was only a few days old when I turned sixteen.

I was sound asleep in bed that day when suddenly someone knocked on the window, and then my cousin, who is two years older than me, faintly sounded outside the window:
"Qiao Yazi, Qiao Yazi! Get up quickly, or it will be too late."

I woke up with a start, slipped my feet into straw sandals, and, shirtless, grabbed a homemade gun hanging on the wall, shouting:

"The people from Liu Family Village are here to steal water again, aren't they? We must kill a few of them today and teach them a lesson they won't forget."

Young comrade, don't be surprised! In the past, rice could only be planted once a year, and there were no chemical fertilizers or pesticides, so the yield per mu was only about 300 jin.

Even in years with favorable weather, there's barely enough to eat.

Unfortunately, starting in the autumn of 1930, the weather became strange, and it barely rained for almost a year.

The harvest from one mu of rice was less than 200 jin. At that time, they relied on planting some sweet potatoes and pumpkins in the fields to make up for the food shortage for their family.

Even though these coarse grains are relatively drought-resistant, they still need watering to survive.

But there's only a little water in the pond. If the Liu family from Liujiazhai digs it up and diverts the water through a ditch, then the Jiang family from Yangxi won't have enough.

The two sides had already fought several times over that little bit of water. Although no one was killed, the two villages were already bloodthirsty and there was no telling when someone might die.

Before I could even take my homemade gun out the door, my cousin's voice rang out again:

"Qiao Yazi, don't worry! It's not the Liu family who came to steal the water. It's Hu Biao and Hu Tuanzuo who came back. They were the first to show up at Peizi Garden yesterday, and they killed two big worms by themselves."

(People in Xinning call tigers "old worms")

I heard that County Magistrate Hou sent Jiang Dabangzi from the security regiment overnight to invite people, and they are going to enter the city this morning.

If we're late today, we Jiang family members might not get a chance.

Upon hearing this, I disregarded everything else, grabbed a jacket and draped it over my shoulders, went to the kitchen, opened the water tank lid, drank a large ladle of cold water, and hurriedly left.

When I arrived at the village entrance with my cousin, I found that there were already about twenty people waiting there.

They are all members of the Jiang family. The oldest and most senior member is Jiang Keming, who is 32 years old this year. The youngest member is not me, but my distant cousin Jiang Jinrong, who is only a little over 15 years old.

When he saw that my cousin and I had arrived, Jiang Keming, who was of the same generation as my grandfather, called out "Let's go".

They led us along a dew-covered path, taking a shortcut towards the county town.

There was no daylight at this time, only the starlight illuminating our way, and the morning temperature was a bit chilly; no one spoke as we walked, only the sound of each other's breathing reached our ears.

But in each of our hearts, there is a tremendous burning passion.

The reason is simple: for us Jiang family members, Hu Biao is not only a great hero from Xinning, a person we can be proud of when we talk about him, but also represents an opportunity.

According to the legends surrounding Commander Hu, whenever he appeared in a new place, he would recruit soldiers and train them to fight the Japanese and win a major victory.

His brothers, who followed him, were also promoted and made a fortune.

Even though Commander Hu would always sneak away after each battle.

The brothers who fought alongside him rarely had the opportunity to become high-ranking officials like those from Pingding County, who were now battalion commanders, regimental commanders, or even division commanders in the Jin-Northwest guerrilla area.

After Commander Hu left, other military units, even the Central Army, offered high salaries to recruit him, starting as a deputy platoon leader. So, we Jiang family members all joined Commander Hu's forces to gain a better social standing and rise above others.

As for the rumors, it is true that Commander Hu is good at fighting, but every battle he fights is a fierce one, and his brothers have to face death nine times out of ten, with not many surviving.
What's there to be afraid of? As the old saying goes, "When a person dies, their eggs face the sky; if they don't die, they'll live for ten thousand years."

Besides, we are relatives of Jiang Zhongyuan, a veteran of the Hunan Army, and are all descendants of the Hunan Army.

Jiang Zhongyuan led several thousand young men from Xinning to form the Xiang Army, killed the two kings who were the first to rebel against the Fa. In just two years, he was promoted nine ranks.

If he hadn't died so young, his future achievements might have been even greater than Zeng Guofan's.

Even so, among the thousands of men under his command, a large number of high-ranking officials and generals emerged from Xinning during his later years.

For example, Liu Kunyi was an important official of the imperial court and the commander of the Xiang Army in its later stages.

Liu Changyou successively served as the governor of Guangxi Province and Guangdong Province, and the governor-general of Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhili and Yunnan-Guizhou.

Jiang Zhongji and Jiang Zhongjun were the younger brothers of Jiang Zhongyuan. Through their accumulated merits, they successively served as prefects, circuit intendants, and provincial governors.

Zhai Guoyan served as the Guangdong Provincial Naval and Land Commander.

Besides these, there were more than twenty people in Xinning who were originally just scholars or farmers, but by risking their lives, they managed to gain a better social standing, promotion, and wealth.

He fought for a life of wealth and honor that would last for many years to come for his descendants.

If they were willing to risk everything back then, what is there for us, who are so poor that we only have a life left and can't even get enough to eat, to give up?
Seeing this scene, looking at the centenarian on the screen, with that resolute, all-or-nothing expression, Wu Wen couldn't help but think of this:
Having mastered both literary and martial arts, they were sold to the emperor.

Such an idea, which has been passed down for over a thousand years, has truly influenced generations of this nation...

******
After a moment of silence, Jiang Jinqiao, the old man, continued his story:
Back then, Xinning County was not large and was surrounded by an old city wall; Hu Tuanzuo and his group entered the city from Peiziyuan, so they naturally entered through the old North Gate.

Perhaps because of that big ladle of cold water, I had to relieve myself twice on the roadside because of stomach pain.

Jiang Keming and the others were too lazy to wait for me, so they said they would go and reserve a spot for me first, and then left with their men.

When I arrived outside the North Gate, it was only a short time before dawn. It was supposed to be another two or three hours before Commander Hu and his men arrived, but there was a huge crowd of people in front of me, probably numbering in the tens of thousands.

I craned my neck and looked around, but I couldn't see any of the twenty-odd people from our Jiang family anywhere.

Instead, I noticed some details: there were many young men and men in the crowd, probably young people from several surrounding villages who came today.

They glanced every now and then in the direction where Hu Tuanzuo was said to appear, their eyes filled with eagerness.

When I saw their eyes, my heart skipped a beat; because I could tell that these people had the same purpose as me.

They all came to pledge allegiance to Commander Hu, hoping to secure a future for themselves.

At the time, I didn't know how many people Commander Hu planned to recruit, but even if he wanted to recruit a reinforced regiment, there would be many more people on site, and the competition would be fierce.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a good solution at the moment.

They could only find an empty spot in the crowd on the roadside and patiently wait for Commander Hu and his group to appear.

As time went by, Hu Tuanzuo and his group still hadn't appeared, but more and more people were waiting by the roadside; everyone was pushing and shoving each other, making it incredibly crowded.

With the sun getting increasingly hot and the morning having already drunk a large ladle of cold water, my stomach is now growling with hunger.

Of course, the key concern is that there are too many competitors, and that Commander Hu might not want him.

Anyway, at that time I was very irritable and extremely annoyed.

Suddenly, someone bumped into him hard from behind, and he immediately lost his temper, turning his head and cursing, "What are you doing, you motherfucker?"

Then I saw a man behind me, dressed in the style of a Yao ethnic minority, with a blue cloth wrapped around his head and a short ox-horn knife at his waist. He was about eighteen or nineteen years old.

After I cursed at him, he immediately retorted with a curse: "Your mother's ass."

Young man, you should know that Huangjin and Malin townships in Xinning have always been settlements of the Yao ethnic group, with a population of tens of thousands.

But they probably don't know that during the Republic of China era, they were no longer an uncivilized minority group like the Miao.

The relationship between the Khmer and us Han Chinese was never as good as it is now.

They never allow us Han Chinese to hunt in their mountains; there aren't many cases of people being killed between the two sides, but there are far too many minor conflicts and fights between them.

It just so happened that the Yao man and I were both young and hot-blooded at the time, and after exchanging a few insults, we started fighting on the spot.

Seeing this, the people around quickly made way, not only without trying to stop the fight, but also cheering loudly.

Fortunately, after a short while, a young man wearing glasses and a faded school uniform stepped forward and pulled us both away from each other.

He advised, "We are all Chinese compatriots. Why not let this matter go for my sake, Xu Heming's sake?"

The young man spoke politely, but during the previous fight, I took a punch to the cheek from that Yao man, and my teeth were bleeding. I wasn't going to listen to this Xu Heming's advice.

In a fit of rage, she was even prepared to kick him away and continue fighting with the Yao man.

At that moment, a voice shouted, "Hu Biao, Uncle Hu is here!"

Upon hearing this, the Yao man and I glared at each other, meaning we'd talk later; then we both glared at Xu Heming before tiptoeing to look down the road.

There were no newspapers in Yangxi Township, so that was the first time I saw Hu Biao and Hu Tuanzuo.

What do you mean? He wasn't the fierce general with a nine-foot-tall stature, thick waist, a face like the bottom of a pot, eyes like his age, and a thick beard as rumored.

Instead, she had a fair complexion and rather delicate features.

In today's terms, he was a very handsome guy.

However, although Commander Hu has a handsome appearance, he is by no means a pretty boy.

First, he was perched high on a large horse, smiling and waving at the crowd; yet he exuded a strange murderous aura that made people dare not underestimate him.

Secondly, behind them, four people were carrying a large worm on wooden poles.

Even with the combined efforts of four people, it looked particularly strenuous to lift them, which shows how big those two old worms were; they were two or three times larger than the old worms that others occasionally killed.

Yet, there wasn't a single bullet hole or wound from arrows or swords on them; only their skulls were sunken.

The scene is set against the backdrop of two old insects that, even after their deaths, still exude a powerful aura.

Combining these two accounts, both of which claim that Commander Hu killed them all with his bare hands, no one would still think of him as a pretty boy...

After saying this, Jiang Jinqiao fell into a long silence.

Thinking that he was caught up in the reporter's recollection of seeing Hu's reunion for the first time, they chose to wait silently.

But what he didn't know was that the person who made Jiang Jinqiao fall into memories wasn't Hu Biao, but rather that there were three women in the group behind Commander Hu.

The woman who was slightly behind by half a horse's length must be Annie, Hu Biao's unmarried wife and the chief of staff of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

Not only were Annie's features exquisite, but her crisp military uniform added to her heroic air, truly befitting a legendary figure like Mulan or Mu Guiying.

Further back, there were two women, one in front of the other.

The former is clearly Hu's sister-in-law, Mina.

Mina was exceptionally beautiful, with a graceful figure on horseback. Her eyes sparkled as she looked around with great interest, making her the perfect sister-in-law.

However, the one who truly captivated the 16-year-old boy at the time was Zanana.

Looking at Zanana, Jiang Jinqiao became completely mesmerized, his mind filled with only words he had once considered incredibly beautiful:
She has a beautiful face and excellent complexion; it's a source of pride to take her out.

A woman with a thick waist and big hips is likely to give birth to sons; having ten or eight sons would be a piece of cake for her.

With arms and legs as thick as pillars, when doing farm work or carrying manure, one of them could probably do the work of a whole group of the village's older women...

(End of this chapter)