The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 581 What are they doing here? (Combined Chapter)

At 11:03 p.m., Hu Biao was squatting in the shade of a large tree.

Through the telescope lens, one could see the Japanese soldiers who had already begun to camp on the spot; and the numerous sentry posts, patrols, and defensive firing points the Japanese had set up around the camp.

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh, his face showing a regretful expression that suggested he hadn't had enough.

The transmigrators around him, including Chen Tang, Lao Ma, and Huang Yizhi, all wore almost the same expression.

The reason for this is that, although they felt somewhat helpless, they had to admit one thing:
With the Japanese troops halting their advance and adopting a defensive posture resembling a tortoise shell, tonight's large-scale night raid against them must come to an end.

Rather than suffering heavy losses in a direct assault, it's better to give up now; find a place to eat something, get a good night's sleep, and then take the opportunity to continue tormenting the Japanese when they set off tomorrow.

He let out a big yawn with an "Ah!"

Hu Biao instructed Hu Yong: "Send a telegram back and have Chief of Staff An contact the friendly forces and tell them to stop the large-scale night raid."

Let the brothers get a good rest and recharge their energy so they can take on the Japanese devils again early tomorrow morning.

Of course! Not everyone will completely stop moving around tonight.

We still need to assign a few hundred brothers to fire sniper and artillery shots from a distance at the Japanese encampment; we don't need to achieve any significant results, just keep them from sleeping soundly.

After making these arrangements, Hu Biao and his men found an empty village, ate some dry rations, and then lay down on some straw and fell asleep.

My sleep quality is absolutely fantastic; there's no such thing as insomnia at all...

At the same time, Hu Biao and the others were already soundly asleep.

In the Japanese front-line command post in Yueyang, the lights were on, and the Japanese staff officers were extremely busy. A gloomy atmosphere permeated the air.

The root cause of this atmosphere is that the Japanese army's retreat today was extremely difficult.

Actually, all things considered, the Japanese soldiers were quite lucky.

Although it started raining after nightfall, it was just a light drizzle that stopped after a little over an hour.

The road surface was a little slippery after being wet by the drizzle, but it did not cause too much of a problem for the Japanese troops' march.

But the Japanese soldiers' luck was only that good.

Because the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment and the 74th Army, along with some friendly forces, took advantage of the cover of night to force the Japanese planes to withdraw, and thus intensified their night raids.

Along their marching route, which stretched for dozens of miles, small-scale battles broke out everywhere.

Sniper rifles, artillery fire, and rockets relentlessly rained down on the Japanese marching troops.

Each time, the casualties inflicted on the Japanese were not large, ranging from a dozen or so to just one or two, but they successfully slowed down the Japanese marching speed.

The order for them to command the evacuating troops to travel overnight and evacuate to a safe location as soon as possible became a joke.

On the one hand, the Japanese soldiers, who had been traveling all day, were exhausted by nightfall.

His face was numb, and he marched like a walking corpse; when viewed from afar, Hu Biao and the other transmigrators from the modern world had a strong sense of déjà vu, as if they were watching a zombie movie.

On the other hand, although the casualties suffered by the Japanese were not large each time they were attacked, the number of night raids was simply too many.

According to the latest statistical report received by the Japanese front-line command in Yueyang City,

During today's evacuation operation, a total of 976 men were killed in the attack, which is almost the number of an infantry battalion.

How many battalions could their entire army possibly have?

However, what troubled these Japanese soldiers the most was the 1572 wounded.

These more than a thousand wounded soldiers not only required the Japanese to expend more manpower to care for them.

The key issue was that the agonizing screams they made reached the ears of the other Japanese soldiers, further demoralizing their already low morale.

This is also the main reason why they abandoned their original plan to travel overnight and instead had the withdrawing troops camp on the spot.

Sure enough, after they set up camp, the Nationalist army's attacks immediately ceased.

Unfortunately, none of the Japanese soldiers in the frontline command post could be happy about this outcome; because with the troops starting to set up camp, their marching distance for the day had come to a standstill.

21.5 kilometers.

At first glance, such marching efficiency doesn't seem too bad.

But don't forget, eight or nine kilometers of that road were almost completely undamaged; after clearing that section, the Japanese soldiers worked until 11 p.m., and had only advanced thirteen or fourteen kilometers.

This slow pace almost drove the Japanese to despair...

The next day, October 2nd, at 7:10 AM, the Japanese air force appeared again.

Under such circumstances, after resting for most of the night, the Japanese retreating army, whose rest had not been very effective, set off again due to the constant sniping and artillery fire.

Ten minutes later, the Nationalist army's harassment operation also began.

At 6:30 p.m., as darkness was approaching, the retreating Japanese air force units began to withdraw, and the retreating Japanese army stopped and began to set up camp.

After a full day of marching, they covered a total of 12.3 kilometers.

On this day, apart from the Japanese retreating army becoming increasingly exhausted in terms of physical strength, morale, and spirit, and suffering more than a thousand casualties, there was not much else worth mentioning.

Nothing happened that night, but when the Japanese began their retreat on the third day, the situation suddenly became incredibly interesting.

At 0:21 a.m., Commander Xue led the 9th War Zone command back to C Sand City.

Eight hours earlier, the city had been successfully reclaimed by the 74th Army without any fighting taking place.

It was from this time that many people who heard the news began to return to their homes.

Reconstruction began on homes that had been almost completely destroyed in the war.

At 1:17 a.m., near Jinggang Town in the Xiangjiang River basin, dozens of cannons suddenly opened fire from hidden locations on both banks.

These cannons were all 75mm or larger cannons that Commander Xue of the 9th War Zone had mobilized from surrounding units.

The objective of mobilizing them was to cut off all possibilities for the Japanese naval forces to pass through the Xiangjiang River, to help the retreating troops resupply ammunition, and to transport the wounded.

Under intense artillery fire, the Japanese 105th Water Transport Unit suffered heavy casualties.

The main reason is that although they have a powerful navy, they are unable to enter the Xiangjiang River; the so-called 105th Transport Unit is nothing more than a few small gunboats and motorized boats with a steel and wood composite structure.

After an artillery barrage, the 105th Transport Regiment was almost completely destroyed.

Only two of their gunboats managed to escape; all the other ships were sunk.

At this point, the last supply line that could provide limited life support to the retreating Japanese 11th Army was completely cut off.

Starting at 5:30 a.m., a series of explosions rang out in the camp of the retreating Japanese troops.

However, this was not the time when Hu Biao and his men had begun their final battle against the Japanese.

Instead, after receiving a supply fleet that also suffered a devastating blow, Korechika Anami made a painful decision:

No more road construction! Destroy and abandon all heavy equipment, and begin the evacuation with everyone lightly equipped.

So those explosions were just noises caused by the Japanese destroying all their cannons and trucks.

In addition, some large carts and combat supplies such as gasoline and fodder were also burned by the Japanese; from a distance, the Japanese camp was ablaze with fire.

It was a little after 6 a.m., before the sky had fully brightened.

Hu Biao and his group of time travelers were each holding a large bowl, slurping up brown rice soaked in boiled vegetable soup.

Suddenly, Hu Yong, Hu Biao's personal guard captain, rushed to the front of the group.

After saluting Hu Biao, he hurriedly reported: "Grandpa Sixteen, Grandma Sixteen just sent a telegram, asking you to take all the officers back to Guantang Village to meet them. Then everyone go to C Shacheng. Commander Xue will be holding an emergency combat meeting this afternoon."

After hearing this, Hu Biao had not said anything.

Chen Tang, AT, Wizard, Zanana, Old Ma, Little Henan, Huang Adi, Huang Yizhi, Old Yu, Cross, Bao Gongtou, Old Che, Ji Shouxing, Zhixiang, Dali and other transmigrators all frowned with suppressed apprehension.

Modern people, especially ordinary people, generally hate formalism.

What time is it? Is there anything more important than constantly harassing the retreating Japanese troops, causing them to bleed out until they can finally take action?

Even after Old Ma put down the basin, he continued to curse and shout:
"Hold a meeting? That's ridiculous."

Commander Xue just wanted to hold a combat meeting to discuss the details of the subsequent operations. Why not just send that deadbeat and the landlady there?

Why did you call us along? Don't you know the Japanese have already destroyed and abandoned their heavy equipment and are preparing to advance lightly?

We must intensify our harassment efforts to prevent them from making a quick withdrawal.

Back in the modern world, Lao Tzu hated this kind of formalism of holding meetings for no reason.

I never imagined that even after time-traveling, I couldn't escape these kinds of troubles; anyway, whoever wants to go can go, I'd rather stay here and snipe the Japanese than go."

As if Lao Ma had spoken his mind, the others also joined in the complaints.

It seems that this kind of formalistic approach had long filled these guys with resentment; however, Hu Yong only added one sentence, which brought about an amazing change in their attitude.

After thinking for a moment, Hu Biao's bodyguard captain lowered his voice and continued:
"Oh, right! Grandma Sixteen also mentioned in her telegram that Principal Bald will be flying over from Shuangqing to attend the operational meeting that Commander Xue is holding this afternoon."

It was the bald-headed principal who specified that in addition to Grandpa and Grandma Sixteen, all other officers must also attend.

I figured the bald principal was doing this not only to meet you in person, but also probably to praise you verbally and offer some benefits like promotions or financial rewards, right?

Speaking of which! Although Lao Ma and the others usually talk about the bald principal.

He kept using nicknames like "bald bastard," "transportation captain," "diary maniac," and "micro-management master," as if he were quite disdainful.

In reality? I did feel quite disdainful.

But no matter what, he is the current supreme commander of the National Government; just to meet him in person and use it as a bragging point later is enough for them to make a trip to C City.

Being praised by someone of such status and getting some benefits from him is something they would be quite happy to do.

Their mindset changed instantly.

The mission to harass the Japanese? We can totally hand it over to our men. After all, they'll be leaving sooner or later, and our men need some training to grow quickly.

What if the Japanese, who are already preparing to advance lightly, take the opportunity to escape today? There's nothing to worry about.

Although the Japanese soldiers had abandoned their heavy equipment, which would have made their march much faster, they had already been exhausted from the previous days and were all worn out.

Today, despite constant harassment, we could only march a maximum of about 30 kilometers before nightfall.

It would take at least three or four days to reach Yueyang City; after the meeting, we'd have plenty of time and energy to mess with the Japanese.

After changing their minds, these guys stopped eating brown rice altogether.

Just kidding! It's said that Commander Xue really admires this deadbeat guy, and they're even about to become sworn brothers. So, if he goes to C City with Hu Biao, won't he get a good meal and some good wine?
It tastes much better than boiled vegetables and brown rice.

After hastily arranging some follow-up harassment missions for their subordinates, they immediately set off, taking a side path back to the temporary regimental headquarters in Guantang Village.

After jogging all the way, they saw Annie, Mina, 803, and Xinhuo waiting for them to go to C City a little after 10 a.m.

Xin Huo recovered quite well; although several shrapnel fragments remained in his body, he had regained his mobility.

Then at this point, everyone immediately set off together to head to Shacheng.
Of course not! After fighting continuously for so many days, Hu Biao and his men were all covered in dust and dirt; it would be extremely embarrassing to leave in such a terrible state.

It took everyone fifteen minutes to wash up thoroughly with well water.

Then, he changed into a brand new military uniform and had his guards polish his boots until they were mirror-like.

Even the men among them ruined Hu Biao's bottle of 'Sidankang Hair Oil' so badly that mosquitoes could fall and break their legs if they tried to comb their hair.

Finally, after picking up the mirror and examining it with great satisfaction for a while, he mounted the large Japanese horse he had captured from the Japanese and headed towards C Sand City.

Oh, right! Zanana also rode a horse along with the others and set off.

However, as her personal strength improved, her weight and figure also increased, showing signs of developing again; now she is 195 cm tall and weighs over 120 kg.

Most importantly, she habitually carries her anti-tank rifle with her wherever she goes.

When she mounted the horse, the large Japanese horse was clearly unsteady on its feet; after riding it for several miles, it was covered in sweat and looked like it was about to collapse at any moment.

Seeing this, she had no choice but to dismount her warhorse and lead it to run alongside.

Fortunately, this girl had amazing stamina; once she started running alongside Hu Biao and the others, her speed didn't slow down at all...

******
Around 1 p.m., Hu Biao finally met Commander Xue; Wang Yaowu, Li Hanqing, and Zhang Lingfu from the 74th Army, Li Yutang and Fang Xianjue from the 10th Army, and others also met him.

Just as Annie and Mina described, Commander Xue had a great appreciation for dead bodies.

He personally greeted Hu Biao at the entrance of the command center, accompanied by Wang Yaowu, Li Yutang, and others. After meeting, he held Hu Biao's hand and exchanged pleasantries, as if they had endless things to talk about.

Where is the straightforward, impatient, and stubborn behavior he usually displays in front of others?

Unfortunately, Annie and her group were unable to witness the scene where the two chopped off a chicken's head, burned yellow paper, and became sworn brothers on the spot.

It wasn't that Commander Xue didn't have such an idea, but there was something more important:

The bald-headed principal's plane is about to arrive, and these senior officers of the 9th War Zone must personally go to the airport to greet it.

At 2:07 PM, at a field airfield called Dayuanzhou, located at the confluence of the Xiangjiang and Liuyang Rivers in the northern suburbs of C Shacheng.

Amid cheers of "We've arrived! We've arrived!", Hu Biao and his group spotted a Junkers JU52/3M transport plane, which, escorted by two fighter jets, began its slow descent.

It has to be said! Right now is the time when the Nationalist Air Force is at its weakest.

In the airspace not far north of C Shacheng, a large number of Japanese aircraft are still circling, providing air cover for the withdrawing troops.

If the Japanese discovered the plane carrying the bald principal, it would be extremely dangerous.

At such a moment, the bald principal actually dared to risk flying to C Sand City. Whether he came to put on a show or to genuinely guide the battle, he still deserves some respect from Hu Biao and others.

That's why, even before the plane had come to a complete stop, when Commander Xue called for Hu Biao and the others to come aboard, none of these modern time travelers refused.

Before long, Hu Biao and the others saw the location of the cabin door for the people they were to greet.

It's somewhat amazing that this is the first time Hu Biao and his companions have actually met such a person, despite having traveled through so many times.

How to describe it? This person is no different from the one in the photo, still wearing that signature sleeveless woolen cape.

What was truly surprising was that, apart from a few people from the Nationalist government and the entourage, the key figure was that the bald-headed principal's wife, Sister Song, was helped off the plane by a special person.

The peculiar figure, who appeared to be twenty-three years old, had an androgynous appearance that left Hu Biao and his companions dumbfounded.

To say this person is a man? Her figure and facial features are clearly those of a woman.

But if you were to call her a woman, she would have a slicked-back hairstyle like a man, with even more hair oil on it than Hu Biao had used; the details of her walk and speech were also quite masculine.

Based on Hu Biao and others' understanding of history, they could quickly guess the identity of the visitor:

Throughout the Republican era, who else could have dressed and possessed such a demeanor besides Miss Kong Er?

Then some bigger questions arise? The city of C is still at war.

It's understandable that the bald principal is here; after all, this battle has involved a huge amount of interference, so it's reasonable for him to come and offer guidance. But what are Sister Song and Miss Kong doing here...?

(End of this chapter)