The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 567 Nowhere to Start? (Two-in-One Chapter)

Time: 1:21 AM on October 1, 10.

Location: C. On a small hill in the southern suburbs of Shacheng that has no name on the map.

Taking advantage of the already bright moonlight tonight, Hu Biao raised his binoculars and surveyed the city that wasn't too far away.

During this process, his facial expressions and inner emotions were quite complex.

As the capital of Hunan Province, Hu Biao had naturally visited this city several times in the modern world, but this C Sand City in front of him was completely unfamiliar.

The Shacheng he remembered was the famous tourist city that became popular online after 84.

It's a magical place that only comes alive and gradually becomes lively at night.

Even in the dead of night, the city is still bustling with people, as if no one needs to sleep; the air is filled with the aroma of chili peppers and milk tea, a truly vibrant and lively atmosphere.

Now? That tall mountain a few kilometers away should be Fulong Mountain, the highest mountain in C Sand City.

The building above must be the famous Tianxin Pavilion, right?

Looking back now, all that can be seen are ruins.

The Wenxi Fire of 1938 destroyed more than 90% of the buildings in the city, bringing a devastating disaster to this ancient city with a history of 2500 years.

Three years later, in another year of war and chaos, the city naturally had not yet recovered.

After the Japanese invaders arrived, almost all the people in the city fled.

Now, under Hu Biao's telescope, all he sees is a scene of utter desolation and ruin, a far cry from the prosperity he remembered.

C Shacheng has become like this, and as a native of Hunan Province, his feelings are naturally extremely complicated.

Such a terrible mood was broken when the bodyguard captain, Hu Yong, suddenly reported from behind in a low voice: "Reporting to Grandpa Sixteen and Grandma Sixteen, and all officers, the 74th Army has arrived."

Not to mention how much Hu Biao would emphasize and reprimand, or even kick him, on a daily basis.

Hu Yong, his nominal grand-grandson, always insisted on being called "Sixteenth Grandfather," preferring to use this more intimate term.

Upon hearing Hu Yong's report, Hu Biao knew that the important matters were about to begin.

I quickly took a deep breath and calmed myself down.

Then, he called to the group of transmigrators observing the battlefield around him, and they retreated from the hilltop covered with dense bushes to meet the allied forces who would fight alongside them that night.

As they walked, Hu Biao and the other time travelers who were participating in tonight's operation all had somewhat solemn expressions.

So, Hu Biao and his men set off from Guantang around 5 p.m.

In order to conceal their tracks along the way, they not only took a long detour, but also tried to travel through some remote wilderness areas, which caused them to waste a lot of time.

However, only half an hour ago did they rush to the location where the two sides agreed to meet as stated in the telegram.

As a result, the 74th Army, which was closer to the rendezvous point and should have arrived long ago, was nowhere to be seen.

I contacted the 74th Army by radio, but they said the troops had already set off.

It was unclear what had happened at the 74th Army's side that caused such a delay, casting a shadow over Hu Biao and his men's hearts.

However, the reason that made Hu Biao and the other time travelers feel so bad was...

It was only after arriving at the location and conducting reconnaissance that they discovered the situation of the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment was different from the intelligence provided by the 9th War Zone.

If the operation were carried out according to the original battle plan, not only would the casualties on our side be terrifying, but we would also fail to achieve the intended results.

All of these factors combined make it strange that Hu Biao and his group could be happy...

A few minutes later, Hu Biao and the others saw the troops dispatched by the 74th Army to participate in tonight's operation.

Under the moonlight, about two thousand soldiers were seen hiding in the shadows of the trees or the bushes along the roadside.

So many people gathered together, yet they made not a sound, and they looked around warily, appearing to be a very elite group.

Hu Biao and his group were not surprised at all by this.

According to the operational plan, they needed to maintain secrecy before taking action against the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment in order to increase their chances of success.

Therefore, the number of troops that can be mobilized cannot be too large. Only 1500 people from the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment and 2,000 people from the 74th Army can be mobilized, for a total of 3500 people from both sides.

Understanding the importance of tonight's "tooth extraction" operation, the 74th Army naturally selected its elite troops to participate.

The two thousand men in front of us are probably veterans selected from various units by the renowned Tiger Army; it is quite normal for them to perform like this.

However, they were still quite shocked, or rather, pleasantly surprised, when they saw the two leaders.

The two men leading the 74th Army tonight are both major generals. One of them, a man who appears to be the leader, is about forty-five years old and looks somewhat thin.

For a moment, Hu Biao and his men found the man unfamiliar and couldn't recognize him at all.

The other person was different; Hu Biao and the others recognized him at a glance.

This man was probably around forty years old, and remarkably tall at about 1.87 meters. His military bearing and posture were impeccable; coupled with his bright eyes, handsome and well-defined features, he possessed the dual air of a scholar and a military officer.
In the Republican era, when malnutrition generally resulted in short stature, this man would immediately catch the eye and prompt one to think: "He is truly a fine man."

Of course! No matter how heroic and handsome he is, can he compare to Hu Biao or Commander Hu?

What truly surprised Hu Biao and his group was that they had seen this face, which could be considered a celebrity face, more than once in the records of the modern world.

He is now the deputy commander of the 57th Division of the 74th Army, and in the future, he will be the commander of the reorganized 74th Division who was killed by our Party at Menglianggu.

Zhang Lingfu was deeply loved and valued by the bald principal and was known as a 'tiger general'.

Hu Biao and others declined to comment on this person's private life, his future decision to follow the bald-headed principal down a dark path, and his stubborn resistance against our Party and our army.

However, it cannot be denied that this person fought bravely and fearlessly on the anti-Japanese battlefield and made considerable contributions to the country and the people. To this day, he is still worthy of the respect of people like Hu Biao and even a sense of closeness.

As the two sides sized each other up, a major general from the 74th Army, who was clearly the leader, spoke first.

With a somewhat complicated look in his eyes, he snapped to attention and gave Hu Biao a standard military salute, saying at the same time, "Li Hanqing, commander of the 58th Division of the 74th Army, and Zhang Lingfu, deputy commander of the 57th Division, greet Commander Hu."

We, the entire 74th Army, have long admired Commander Hu's name and wish we could meet him.

This time, Lingfu and I had to fight for a long time to get the chance to bring people to participate in tonight's 'tooth extraction' operation.

Before we left, Wang Yaowu and Commander Wang repeatedly instructed us that there were two things we had to resolutely carry out after meeting Commander Hu.

First, we must express our gratitude to Regiment Commander Hu and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment for their righteous assistance.

If it weren't for you wiping out the Japanese 68th Infantry Regiment and covering our right flank, our 74th Army would have suffered an unprecedented loss at the hands of the Japanese.

If Commander Hu ever needs our help, even if it means going through fire and water, our 74th Army will not hesitate.

Secondly, tonight's "tooth extraction" operation will be entirely based on Commander Hu's ideas and opinions; you can simply give the orders on how to fight the Japanese.

If Hu Biao remembers correctly, in the original history, this Li Hanqing was also a hero.

He fought bravely in the Battle of Shanggao and made great contributions.

On September 27, the day after Hu Biao and his men ambushed the Japanese 68th Infantry Regiment, he was unfortunately shot and killed in the fierce battle with the Japanese.

Therefore, it is remarkable that such a respectable predecessor speaks so politely now.

Knowing Hu Biao's stubborn nature, he returned the salute and immediately launched into a string of pleasantries:
"Commander Li and Deputy Commander Zhang are too kind. In terms of military rank, I am just a lieutenant colonel and regimental commander of a Class B infantry regiment. I am not worthy of your salute."

Furthermore, tonight's "tooth extraction" operation is all for the purpose of fighting the Japanese, and it's hard to say who will be in charge.

As for what to do tonight, we can all discuss it together.

"By the way! Your troops only arrived at this time. Did something go wrong along the way? Were your whereabouts exposed to the Japanese?"

Upon hearing this, Li Hanqing quickly replied:
"Commander Hu, there's no need to worry. On our way here, we mainly encountered a Japanese squad guarding a key intersection."

In order not to disturb them, we had to take a detour of several kilometers, which caused some delay.

Even when they encountered some civilians along the way, they left a few people to temporarily guard them until the next morning, ensuring their whereabouts were not exposed.

After hearing the explanation, Hu Biao finally understood why the 74th Army had arrived so late. At this point, he felt somewhat relieved.

Yes! It's just a slight reduction.

His biggest worry was facing the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment. The situation was so different from the intelligence that they were in a difficult position, like mice pulling a turtle, unable to make a move.

As for Li Hanqing and the rest of the 74th Army, especially Zhang Lingfu, who looked at him with a rather complicated expression, he didn't care at all.

The Tiger Legion, an elite force within the National Revolutionary Army, naturally possessed an air of arrogance.

They must be extremely grateful to themselves and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment for their righteous intervention, which saved them from a major defeat.

However, the reputation of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment has always surpassed that of their 74th Army.

And with the strong insistence of Principal Bald and Commander Xue, the 'tooth extraction' operation will take place tonight.

Even in this campaign, where almost all the leaders were lieutenant colonel Hu Biao, it's understandable that people feel somewhat convinced of the situation.

Especially given Zhang Lingfu's stubborn and self-willed nature, it's quite normal for him to be particularly resentful.

This kind of thing is actually easy to solve! Just show him your true skill and let him see the real difference, and he'll be convinced.

Qiu Qingquan, whom we encountered on the battlefield of Kunlun Pass, is a prime example of this...

******
That's right! Although Zhang Lingfu didn't say it outright and acted quite politely, he was indeed quite resentful of the infamous Hu Biao, the Tiger of Shanghai.

He naturally acknowledged all of Hu Biao's achievements, admitting they were quite impressive and brilliant.

However, he believes that he simply hasn't encountered the same situation and opportunities, nor has he had so many reliable partners; otherwise, he should have been able to do it too.

To use a modern internet slang term: Zhang Lingfu is no less capable than anyone else.

But soon he realized that the differences between people are sometimes greater than the differences between people and dogs.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries and polite words, Li Hanqing glanced at his watch and said again, "Commander Hu, it's getting late. Why don't we discuss how to proceed with the next battle to avoid missing any opportunities?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao and the others looked troubled.

He said, "The intelligence provided by the 9th War Zone is wrong. This battle won't be easy... Never mind! Come with me to that hilltop and you'll see what's going on."

Without mentioning what Hu Biao said, Li Hanqing's expression immediately became serious.

A hint of joy flashed in Zhang Lingfu's eyes.

It wasn't that he was gloating, but rather that he was thinking that if he came up with a good solution when Hu Biao was at a loss, wouldn't he immediately gain the upper hand?

Zhang Lingfu was also confident about this.

Today, he and Li Hanqing brought not only a group of the most elite veterans of the 74th Army.

The 74th Army is currently a Soviet-equipped force with excellent weaponry; compared to other units, it has more anti-armor weapons and methods.

This included Mosin-Nagant anti-tank rifles, anti-tank grenades, and M1930 (1-K) 37mm anti-tank guns, and some of all of these weapons were brought along on this trip.

In other words, the 37mm anti-tank gun was too heavy, so only four were carried.

Even so, it was still much better than the situation Hu Biao and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment had faced in the defensive battle a few days earlier, where they could only grab explosives and grenades and go up to blow up Japanese tanks.

After thinking about all this, Zhang Lingfu felt even more smug.

So much so that as he walked with Hu Biao and the others toward that small hill, he was in a rather good mood and looked toward the two women beside Hu Biao.

Then, they were immediately drawn to the view and stared intently at it.

There's no way around it! These days, it's hard to find a woman who can rival Annie and Mina in terms of looks and figure.

In such a vast country as China, with a population of 450 million, it is still possible to find them.

However, it is absolutely impossible to find two women who, in addition to their looks and figures, also possess that confident aura of modern women.

Ironically, it was this very unique quality that attracted Zhang Lingfu.

Annie was one thing, but Zhang Lingfu, who knew she was Hu Biao's wife, only glanced at her with great appreciation, wondering why she was carrying three Japanese samurai swords on her back.

But after seeing Hu Biao's mistress, his eyes immediately became glued to her.

Upon inadvertently noticing this, Li Hanqing, who was sitting next to Zhang Lingfu, shook his head speechlessly; he didn't know what to say, but coughed lightly twice as a reminder.

After all, Zhang Lingfu was known for his womanizing ways and was already famous in their 74th Army, so it was not surprising at all.

After hearing the cough, Zhang Lingfu realized that it was inappropriate to stare at Hu Biao's sister-in-law like that at this moment.

He immediately prepared to take one last deep look at that moving figure before trying to calm himself down.

Everything else can wait until after the war is over.

Just then, Mina quickly turned around and glanced at him. Her radiant smile made Zhang Lingfu's heart flutter again...

Ten minutes later, Zhang Lingfu no longer cared about Mina's beauty and affection.

Because the actual difficulty of tonight's 'tooth extraction' operation far exceeded his initial expectations, he couldn't come up with any good solutions for the time being.

Even though his men brought a lot of anti-tank weapons.

On the left, at the 11 o'clock position, two kilometers away, on an open field, the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment had seventy-six light and medium tanks and over a hundred vehicles parked there.

This is consistent with the intelligence provided by the 9th War Zone.

Originally, after capturing C Sha City, this Japanese tank regiment planned to continue advancing along the Changtan Highway and cooperate with the Hayabuchi Detachment to capture Xiangtan City as well.

However, due to the dramatic changes in the war situation, this Japanese tank unit remained stationed here on standby.

Their original plan for the "tooth extraction" was to sneak up on the Japanese camp in the middle of the night and then launch an attack.

Even with such actions, they still have a very high probability of success.

After all, no matter how powerful the Japanese tanks were, they were just targets while the crews were still sleeping in their tents and the engines weren't running.

But it's tonight? I wonder if the Japanese will be withdrawing early tomorrow morning.

The reason why this Japanese tank regiment will serve as the vanguard of the entire army at that time is...
Even at this hour, the Japanese soldiers in the entire camp were still awake, busy packing supplies and maintaining tanks.

Including the guards, none of the more than a thousand people slept; they were all busy working.

Suddenly, a number of huge problems were placed before them.

Should we attack now? The busy Japanese soldiers will discover us immediately, and the battle will change, turning into a head-on clash between infantry and armored forces.

The casualties after a hard-fought battle were already terrifying.

The key question is whether or not we can wipe out the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment; that's hard to say.

To put it simply, if the Japanese tanks saw something was wrong, they would go all out and run away through the wilderness; even if they were slow, they would still be much faster than a person on foot.

Even if they were carrying explosives and anti-tank grenades, they still couldn't catch up with these guys.

Let's wait until the Japanese are finished with their work and go to sleep before we make our move.
Heaven knows if these Japanese devils have any intention of sleeping tonight; if they keep working until dawn and wait for the Japanese infantry to arrive and join them, wouldn't the situation be even worse?
"If Hu Biao had come a day earlier and carried out the 'tooth extraction' operation last night, that would have been great."

As time passed, Zhang Lingfu came up with several tactics, but found that they were completely ineffective. Frustrated, he couldn't help but complain.

However, he himself knew that such a complaint made no sense at all.

Because if the attack had been carried out last night, the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment could have been wiped out much more easily.

However, the other infantry units of the Japanese army have not been depleted to this extent in terms of personnel, morale, and ammunition.

The National Revolutionary Army still lacked sufficient confidence and strength to surround and annihilate the retreating Japanese troops.

So he only dared to complain silently in his heart, and didn't dare to say it out loud at all...

(End of this chapter)