The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 556 A Successful Start (Bonus Chapter for "The Song of the Vanishing Sword") (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

At the same time, while Annie was firing and shouting with various weapons, on a hill some distance from the village...

At this moment, Old Ma and Little Henan, each riding a warhorse, both put down their binoculars.

After letting out a series of exclamations of surprise, Old Ma couldn't help but mutter to himself:
"Good heavens! Judging from this, the landlady has watched the TV series 'My Chief and My Regiment' quite a bit. She has completely mastered the tricks that Yu Xiaoqing used to deceive the Sichuan Army."

After hearing this, Xiao Henan didn't say anything, but nodded his head so hard it flew off, expressing his complete agreement.

Behind the two men were a total of 270 or 280 cavalrymen.

This is a newly rebuilt cavalry battalion, replenished with captured Japanese horses and some soldiers from the regiment with basic riding skills.

They were all on horseback, one hand holding the reins and the other on the hilt of their swords.

As soon as Anne and the others in a village send a signal, they can rush out like a tidal wave; in a very short time, they can surround the small village and leave no way out, so that none of the defeated soldiers can escape.

That being said! Regardless of what choices these defeated soldiers in the village make, they will ultimately all join the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

Anne and Mina's current actions, and the fact that the cavalry battalion has not yet been mobilized, are simply to encourage them to join voluntarily; after all, deserters who join voluntarily possess a stronger fighting spirit.

But if they refused, the cavalry would charge up and surround them; they were even prepared to kill a few troublemakers to establish their authority.

In short: even if we have to tie them up, we'll tie them up and send them to the trenches to fight the Japanese.

There's no other way! Under the current circumstances, they can't talk about humane issues; human lives, including their own, are just consumables on the battlefield.

As Anne said, if anyone has to die, it should be the soldiers first.

Fortunately, judging from the current situation on the ground, Xiao Henan and Lao Ma, these cavalry units on standby, should not have to rush in and become the villains.

Because with Anne's voice, those soldiers who were originally like stray dogs came to life.

Their eyes gradually brightened, and their backs straightened unconsciously. They seemed to have suddenly become different, no longer soulless walking corpses.

The astonishing transformation that led to this rout of the defeated soldiers is actually not that complicated.

Take Liu Yanming, for example. He wasn't particularly afraid of death; in such terrible times, people were worse off than dogs. But he was afraid of being sold off and dying a meaningless death, like a lump of rotten flesh.

If it were really like what Chief of Staff Anne said, with officers and soldiers fighting the Japanese together, I wouldn't mind losing this worthless life.

Thinking about all of the above, this man, who had been in the army for five years and whose footsteps had traversed almost half of China, felt an inexplicable heat rising throughout his body.

It's like blood suddenly bursting into flames for no reason...

*****
After a series of actions, Annie shut her mouth, put her hands behind her back on the rock that was more than half a person tall, and waited for the defeated soldiers to make a decision.

By this point, she actually had enough confidence in the addition of these defeated soldiers.

Because she could clearly sense an indescribable yet incredibly clear and intense change in these defeated soldiers.

To her surprise, the first person to express his willingness to join was not a lieutenant, who was only twenty steps away from her, and whose face was flushed as he stewed an old hen.

Suddenly, a clear female voice rang out:

"Chief of Staff An, I am willing to join the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment and fight the Japanese with you."

Following the sound, I saw a woman in her thirties, leading seven or eight people behind her, striding towards me from the darkness a hundred meters away.

As Annie got closer, she was even more surprised to find that the woman was a sergeant.

She carried a large sword on her back, the red silk on the hilt fluttering in the night wind, and with her straight posture, she looked indescribably heroic and dashing.

Anne immediately became interested and asked, "Sergeant, state your name and your original unit number."

Upon hearing this, the female soldier immediately replied loudly: "Reporting to the commander, my name is Yin Jinhua, formerly a sergeant squad leader in the pistol company of the 547th Regiment of the 92nd Division of the 99th Army; now I am requesting to join the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment with my entire squad of eight men."

After hearing the above information, even though Annie had traveled through time and met many important historical figures, she still felt a sense of relief.

Qiu Qingquan, who was extremely affectionate, called her "sister-in-law" so warmly. Although he kept a straight face, he was incredibly excited inside.

No other reason than that! The woman before us, or Grandma Yin Jinhua, is a living legend in the modern world.

She was from Luohe, Central China. She learned martial arts from her grandfather from a young age. After she grew up, she fought several men bare-handed, and none of them were a match for her.

Because of the Japanese bombing, all 42 members of her family tragically perished.

Driven by a desire to avenge his family, he joined the army to fight the Japanese invaders, dedicating the best years of his life to the battlefield defending his country.

In early 42, on the Liuyang battlefield, she killed seven Japanese soldiers in a bayonet charge, which is considered the highest single-day bayonet kill record for a female soldier during World War II.

After the war ended, she followed her husband, who was also a veteran of the war, back to their hometown to live a life of hiding and lying in wait.

When he was 82 years old, he was hospitalized due to health problems. Doctors discovered that he had a lot of gunshot and knife wounds and reported it to the police, which made those around him aware of his legendary experience.

Even before Annie's time travel, Grandma Yin Jinhua, who was already over 110 years old, was still in good health.

It must be a blessing I received for protecting my country back then...

After a while, Annie finally suppressed her excitement, straightened her back, and solemnly saluted the honeysuckle, saying:

"Welcome to the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment. The Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment will be proud of you."

Then he glanced at the people behind her, and since he didn't know if her future husband was among them, he made the arrangements as follows:
"Almost all of my guards were killed when we ambushed the Japanese 68th Regiment last time."

Therefore, from the very beginning, you and your original men will be immediately incorporated into my guard company, and you will initially serve as an acting platoon leader.

Faced with Annie's offer of assistance, Yin Jinhua readily agreed.

Because of her leadership, in the following period of time, every single one of the defeated soldiers present, a total of 314 people, joined the Subei Regiment.

This was Annie and Mina's first recruitment effort, and it was a great success.

However, even after these 300 or so people were put into the battlefield, it wasn't enough for two hours of fighting; it was still far from sufficient.

Therefore, Annie and the others didn't even have time to eat a stew with these people. Ten people and a large cart were left behind from their original entourage.

After instructing them to wait until the new recruits finished eating, he immediately led them to the battlefield in Guantang Village overnight to report.

Anne, Mina, Old Ma, and Little Henan led their cavalry battalion on another expedition.

According to their plan, they would continuously incorporate all the defeated soldiers they encountered along the way, until they reached Xiangtan City, the temporary location of the 9th War Zone Command.

Once there, Anne would personally meet with Xue Boling, the war zone commander.

First, urge him to make sure that other friendly forces take immediate action.

Secondly, we need to get a good batch of equipment from Xue Boling. We can forget about rifles; they already have plenty of them after annihilating a Japanese regiment.

The main weapons are submachine guns and light and heavy machine guns, along with ammunition, grenades, cannons, and anti-aircraft guns—the more of these we can get, the better.

So not long after, in another small village a few miles away.

Annie's clear voice rang out once again: "My surname is An, and my name is Annie. You may not know me..."

(End of this chapter)