The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 547 Absolutely No Originality (Two-in-One Chapter)

That's right! Hashimoto Kumagoro, the commander of the 68th Infantry Regiment of the Japanese Army, had already developed some suspicions about that small village.

It wasn't that Hashimoto Kumagou discovered the explosives that Hu Biao and his men had planted beforehand, or the people they had hidden in the village.

For him, the main issue was that everything that happened tonight and what he encountered was simply too abnormal.

To be honest, their infiltration operation tonight was detected in advance by the 74th Army, which then laid an ambush and caught them off guard.

While Hashimoto Kumagou would be furious about such an outcome, he wouldn't dwell on it.

Yet, this was a unit whose soldiers wore straw hats and whose individual skills clearly indicated they were greenhorns; however, they possessed a powerful weapon similar to the Russian Katyusha rocket launcher.

This is a crazy tactic that any commander who has attended military academy for even two days would never use.

Furthermore, Hashimoto Kumagou felt a strange familiarity with this unique command and combat style, as if he had heard of it somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it. However, he also felt increasingly wary of it.

All of these factors combined gave him an instinctive feeling that the village was in danger.

Although the DIY rocket bombardment began, just as the Japanese army was marching to a nearby company of more than 300 soldiers, they saw that things were not going well and all hid in the village.

They then used the village buildings as cover to construct some firing positions and a defensive line, which was arguably the most suitable area for the Japanese soldiers to hold on to in the entire battlefield.

Even in the current frenzied close combat, the opponent is wielding various long swords, relying on their numerical advantage, and employing a fighting style that is almost a matter of life for life.

If this trend continues, their 68th Regiment will be in danger of being completely annihilated.

Despite several suggestions from his staff, Hashimoto Kumagou began to waver; he still did not issue the order for the entire army to take turns providing cover and retreating towards the small village for regrouping.

After all, following a series of battles, their 68th Regiment still had 1,300 to 1,400 men remaining.

This Japanese colonel had not yet reached the point of utter despair.

Under normal circumstances, Hashimoto Kumagou would only lead the last group of people into the village as a last resort when there were only four or five hundred people left and the entire army was about to be wiped out.

That also means that if the war continues like this, Hu Biao and his men may win, but they will suffer many casualties.

Unless something else happens at this time that severely damages Hashimoto Kumagou's psychological defenses, it won't change his mind.

Fortunately, the blow came quickly...

At the same time, when the medical personnel in 803 went all out, wielding a long knife, and began to fight the Japanese to the death.

The situation in Dali is, to say the least, worse than ever before.

He collapsed to the ground, breathing rapidly, his chest aching as if it were about to explode, his stomach churning violently, and he felt extremely nauseous.

Large beads of cold sweat kept pouring out, and his entire underwear was soaked.

In addition, the person's emotions were filled with negative physical reactions such as anger, sadness, and guilt.

To put it bluntly, all of these terrible reactions are actually the hallmark symptoms of a severe attack of his gun phobia.

To be more specific, they already knew about Dali, this newcomer, and Hu Biao and his team, who had a severe fear of guns, did not deliberately make things difficult for him during this battle.

Let him and the civilian laborers who accompanied the army hide on the reverse slope of the hill and wait.

There's no need to participate in the battle directly; all you need to do is help clean up the battlefield afterward.

What was the result? They had no experience in this area and completely underestimated the severity of gun phobia, which could be triggered by certain factors.

Anyway, when the DIY rocket streaked across the sky and fell towards the Japanese soldiers...

Upon seeing this, the laborers around him couldn't help but cheer and jump for joy, while Dali felt extremely uncomfortable all over his body.

Those terrible, nightmarish memories from my childhood surfaced uncontrollably.

Then came the roar of light and heavy machine guns firing, the whole army charged at the Japanese, and the word 'Kill' was shouted before the bayonet charge.

After these reports reached his ears, Dali's symptoms worsened and became more severe.

This continued until he saw a man in his thirties standing up not far away, holding a carrying pole and shouting:

"Let's go help fight the Japanese."

Even though he was feeling extremely unwell, Dali still shouted at the man, "Stop! Chen Liang, are you out of your mind? What will happen to your family if you die?"

Along the way, Dali was responsible for assisting Mina with logistics, and he gradually became familiar with these laborers.

As he gradually became more familiar with everyone, he learned more about the laborers.

Despite being shorter and thinner than modern people, and suffering from obvious malnutrition, these people could carry loads of 120 to 130 pounds with great agility and keep up with the marching speed of the army.

This miraculous scene was not due to any mysterious power within them.

They are all just ordinary people, one by one.

If there is anything to say, it is the sense of responsibility that Chinese men have for supporting their families, which makes them display amazing endurance and resilience.

Like the man named Chen Liang who spoke just now.

After getting to know him over the past few days, Dali learned that he had a total of nine children, even though three of them had died young due to illness, he still had four sons and two daughters.

The oldest is less than ten years old, and the youngest is only six months old.

The family only has two acres of poor land, but there are so many mouths to feed, and the family is almost starving.

One reason I signed up to be a laborer for the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment was, of course, to support Commander Hu and to help the more than 5,000 people from Xinning Township in the Hunan Provincial Supplementary Regiment.

Another aspect, and the most important reason, is that Hu Biao and his team offered them good treatment.

The program includes room and board, three full meals a day, and a monthly allowance of 50 yuan in legal tender, 50 jin of brown rice, 2 jin of salt, and other supplies. Alternatively, these supplies can be converted into cash.

It may not seem like much, but it's equivalent to almost half a year's income for them at home.

That's why, during breaks, Dali often heard Chen Liang and the others smoking their pungent pipes, chatting happily despite their long day's work.

Even if a laborer only works for two or three months, he can still save a considerable amount of money.

When the time comes, it will be time to go home for the New Year. The flowers in the daughter's hair, the firecrackers in the son's hand, the new clothes that the daughter-in-law hasn't had for many years, and the food rations for the lean season after spring will all be ready at once.

Chinese people are not afraid of hardship and toil, but they are afraid of working hard with their own hands and not getting the reward they deserve.

Listening to these heartfelt discussions, Dali, a time traveler from the modern world, clearly understood the above statements and felt an even stronger sense of kinship with these ancestors from over eighty years ago.

What was the result? Chen Liang and the others were clearly just laborers, just waiting here for the battle to end so they could earn their wages.

Why fight the Japanese invaders? What if so many children die?
Facing the loud shout, Chen Liang answered without turning his head:
"Why think so much? If you don't fight the Japanese because of this, and I don't fight the Japanese because I'm worried about that, are we just going to watch the Japanese occupy this China?"
Do you want our sons and daughters to become second-class citizens and dogs for the Japanese devils in the future?
"What's there to be afraid of! Let's fight the Japanese!"

Chen Liang's steps were quick as he answered, and by the time he reached Dali's ears, his voice was very faint.

But it was as deafening as a great bell, making him shudder.

The physical discomfort caused by gun phobia has been largely suppressed.

After gritting his teeth, Dali actually managed to get up from the ground, picked up a one-handed blacksmith's hammer that someone had dropped, and followed Chen Liang and the others to the top of the hill from the reverse slope.

Then, from the top, they rushed towards the dirt road about a mile below, towards the battlefield where the two sides were fighting.

At first, Dali was unwell and his steps were a little unsteady as he charged forward, falling further and further behind Chen Liang and the others.

But when they reached the top of the hill, they looked at the hill opposite and behind them.

Seeing the thousands of laborers under his command, almost every single one of them, wielding carrying poles and hoes, charging towards the battlefield with loud roars, filled him with a surge of fervor that made him feel as if he were on fire.

In this intense heat, the chest pain and nausea he had been experiencing vanished instantly, and his fear of guns and cannons, which had plagued him for years, seemed to have miraculously disappeared under these circumstances.

At this moment, Dali felt no joy, because all he could think about was the battlefield a short distance away. He only wanted to kill those Japanese soldiers and didn't think about anything else.

With this simple thought in mind, he sprinted away.

Just as he had claimed to Hu Biao and the others, he was quite good at carrying heavy loads and long-distance running; before long, he gradually caught up with Chen Liang and the others ahead and rushed to the front of the group.

The only pity was that by the time he hurriedly took off his boots and jumped barefoot into the cold, muddy water...

The Japanese soldiers, who were originally engaged in hand-to-hand combat with their comrades, began to retreat while fighting, taking turns to cover each other, and began to gather in that small village.

So, Hashimoto Kumagou finally changed his mind and led a group of laborers over, seemingly only having time to clean up the battlefield.

Believe it or not, that's really the case.

Hashimoto Kumagou, who had already seen that his side was at a disadvantage and the entire regiment was in danger of annihilation, suddenly heard deafening battle cries coming from both the left and right directions.

Instinctively, he looked at the hills on both sides and felt utterly hopeless.

The main reason was that thousands of laborers were scattered on the hills on the left and right sides. Although the number was not large, the sudden commotion caused Hashimoto Kumagou to be paranoid.

For a moment, he thought that his opponent had several thousand more fresh troops who had rejoined the battlefield.

It can be said that once they arrived, they had no choice but to retreat to the small village and wait for other friendly forces to come to their rescue.

He immediately put aside his suspicions and shouted orders for everyone to take turns providing cover as they retreated towards the small village.

Colonel Hashimoto Kumago's order was shouted out by a group of guards around him and carried far away.

The scene that Hu Biao and his men had been most looking forward to since the start of the war finally unfolded at this moment.

Together with some officers who knew the details of the battle, they pretended to be desperately pursuing the enemy, but in reality, they were secretly signaling to their comrades to slow down.

And so, along with the wounded and about seven hundred Japanese soldiers, Hashimoto Kumagou fled into the village in a sorry state...

******
Three minutes later, a Japanese captain reported to Hashimoto Kumagou:
"The wing commander's radio is being set up. In five minutes at most, we will be able to contact the division commander and request operational guidance."

So far, no ambushes have been found in the village.

Upon hearing this, Hashimoto Kumagou, who had hastily retreated to the village and now looked extremely disheveled, finally breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The main addition was a company that was already stationed in the village, so he now had nearly a thousand soldiers under his command.

With so many people protecting a small village, the military strength is already quite sufficient.

Currently, these subordinates have established a fairly solid defensive line using the buildings in the village, and they also have a sufficient supply of ammunition.

The opponents before them, wearing straw hats and surrounding the village, were fierce in their fighting style and will, but their marksmanship and tactical coordination were quite poor.

Therefore, he believed that with the strength at his disposal, he could hold out for a considerable period of time.

They might even be able to hold out until reinforcements arrive, allowing both sides to launch a coordinated attack from within and without, avenging all the previous defeats and humiliations.

It was in this state of mind that Hashimoto Kumagou felt a strong sense of familiarity with the command style before him, but he couldn't quite place whose commander it was, which made him increasingly curious.

Taking advantage of the moment when the fighting had temporarily stopped and the battlefield was relatively quiet.

He squatted at the village entrance, behind what should have been a 'dismounting stone', without even showing his head; he spoke Mandarin with a rather strange accent, but which was barely understandable to Chinese people.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Listen up, Chinese soldiers outside!"

I am Hashimoto Kumago, commander of the 68th Infantry Regiment of the Imperial Army; I admit that you executed a brilliant ambush tonight.

Your fighting spirit is in no way inferior to that of the Empire's warriors; therefore, may I ask which unit you belong to, and who your commander is?

The reason Hashimoto Kumagou was lying behind the big rock was naturally because he was worried about the snipers among the enemy.

They will shoot him dead while he is shouting.

In the previous battles, if it weren't for the presence of these snipers who continuously killed officers and veterans of their 68th Regiment, preventing them from forming a defensive line for so long...

Whether the opponent can get close enough to throw those staggering numbers of grenades remains to be seen.

While this guy was shouting, several sharpshooters among the Japanese soldiers were holding Type 38 rifles and looking around warily, ready to shoot and kill the enemy commander if he showed his face.

Unfortunately, the Japanese devils' little scheme not only failed, but an even bigger piece of bad news came instead.

A voice rang out in the darkness, its volume exceptionally loud:
“You little devils, remember this well! Today, the one who will wipe you out is the Hunan Provincial Supplementary Regiment of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment. I am their regimental commander, Hu Biao.”

Upon hearing the words "Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment" and "Hu Biao," Hashimoto Kumagou immediately realized what was going on.

No wonder! Apart from Hu Biao, who has no military academy training and is a complete country bumpkin, who else could use such reckless and crazy tactics?

But his men resolutely carried out the order and even inflicted a crushing defeat on them.

Then, a huge 'thump' hit him, and he realized that, given Hu Biao's past fighting style, this village was definitely a huge trap.

They hadn't had time to find it during their short search.

Immediately, Hashimoto Kumagou opened his mouth, wanting to issue an order for the entire army to immediately split up and break out, hoping that as many as possible could escape.

But by this point, it was all too late.

Because Hu Biao wanted to do a good deed and fulfill Hashimoto Kumagou's dying wish, he gave his name and unit number without further hesitation.

He whispered to Xiao Henan, who was not far behind him, "Blow the horn."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Henan once again took out a small trumpet from his waist, puffed out his cheeks, and blew the lights-out signal; this signal was naturally pre-arranged, to let the brothers lying in ambush in the village act immediately.

As for why it was the lights-out signal? Well, after it was blown, the Japanese soldiers immediately turned off all their lights, which makes perfect sense.

In short, when the bugle call once again broke the silence on the battlefield, the brothers hiding in various parts of the small village pulled on the ropes in their hands.

Then, one by one, they immediately squatted down in the pre-dug pits, covered their heads with their hands, and opened their mouths.

The next second, a scene resembling a volcanic eruption occurred simultaneously in multiple locations throughout the small village.

The numerous and violent explosions left the Japanese soldiers hiding there with almost no safe place, and they were all knocked to the ground.

Or perhaps, like a toy doll, it was thrown into the air by the shockwave of the explosion.

Among them, Hashimoto Kumagoro, the Japanese regimental commander, was one of those who were blown into the air.

Not far from the large rock where he was crouching, a five-kilogram black powder explosive charge was successfully detonated; the wild shockwave sent him flying seven or eight meters into the air in an instant.

After taking flight, he looked out of the village.

Thousands of people, shouting battle cries and brandishing gleaming longswords, charged into the village once more.

The scene was just like before, when they rushed out of the rice paddies towards them, who had been stunned by the grenade explosion.

"Baka Yaru! The same old tricks again, nothing new at all."

Hashimoto Kumagou couldn't help but utter these words, his tone filled with unspeakable resentment. These were also his only last words...

(End of this chapter)