The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 648 Unwillingness (Two Chapters Combined)

At 2:47 a.m., on a small earthen slope about a kilometer away in the southwest direction of the Wutonghe branch office.

Although the blizzard was less severe than last night, the visibility was only about twenty meters.

He lay prone on a piece of sheepskin, his hands inside his clothes, tightly embracing Mina's most attractive feature, silently thinking:

"The weather is so bad today, General Zhao and the others probably won't be coming again."

That's right! According to the plan Annie had devised, Mina was assigned to this position to lie in wait for General Zhao and his men to appear.

They had only been lying in wait for a short while when the wind and snow intensified.

Before long, a layer of snow covered Mina, who was lying there, which camouflaged her better, but it was still very cold.

This is also the main reason why Mina reached into her clothes and touched her conscience.

It's definitely not about doing anything lewd; it's just that your hands will freeze like chicken claws after a while. If a battle suddenly breaks out, you might not even be able to pull the trigger.

Similarly, the other members of the special team were doing similar things at this moment.

If there's any difference, it's that the AT, Super, and 803, among others, keep their right hand, which pulls the trigger, in their crotch or on their buttocks.

Although there might be a slight smell on their fingers when they take their hands out, those are some of the warmest parts of their bodies, ensuring their necessary fighting ability.

While Mina endured the biting cold, she silently waited for General Zhao and the others to appear.

Suddenly, I heard several gunshots, followed by a pause of a second or two, then several more shots, and then the gunfire stopped completely.

The gunshots came from due north. Judging from the sound, the distance shouldn't be far, maybe only two or three hundred meters at most.

Mina immediately leaped up from the ground.

He ran with his long legs, taking long strides, towards the direction from which the gunshots came.

During this process, Mina's face turned deathly pale; this was not only because the poor girl had been freezing cold.

The more crucial reason was a strange intuition that arose in her heart:

Oh no! General Zhao is in trouble.

Although they arrived here more than two hours earlier than the time when General Zhao's accident occurred in history, and they lay in ambush around the place where he originally died, preparing to be the first to warn him.

Unexpectedly, something still happened.

Before General Zhao could appear, the terrifying gunshot rang out.

For some reason, the two traitors, Liu Deshan and Zhang Qingyu, took action against General Zhao before the opportunity arose.

Just thinking about all these possibilities filled Mina with immense anger, resentment, and helplessness; now she could only hope that General Zhao was merely injured and that there was a chance of him being saved.

With that thought in mind, Mina rushed over without hesitation.

And after the gunshots rang out, Mina wasn't the only one who reacted this way.

Every member of the special team felt a jolt of fear upon hearing the gunshots, realizing that something was wrong.

They leaped from their hiding places and rushed toward the direction of the gunfire at top speed.

Even the other KL soldiers under General Zhao's command, as well as the Japanese soldiers and their accomplices who had laid an ambush around the Wutong River branch, all got up and started moving after the gunfire.

The scene, which had been unusually calm, suddenly became chaotic.

This caused Anne and the others a lot of frustrating trouble later on...

Soon after, Mina had sprinted a distance of 150 to 160 meters.

At that moment, out of the corner of her eye, she could vaguely see a figure on her right, who was also running towards her. From the figure, she could tell that it must be her cousin Annie.

Annie was lying in ambush in the northeast direction of the outpost, and she and Mina were the two closest to the sound of gunfire.

Therefore, Mina was not at all surprised that Annie would be here; after gesturing from afar, the two women walked forward side by side.

After advancing another hundred meters or so, they could see two figures lying on the ground, one dead and the other crouching, about ten meters apart, on the ground not far away.

The snow around the two men was stained with blood, clearly indicating they had been shot.

After trudging through the thick snow to the two figures and recognizing them by the moonlight, the two women breathed a sigh of relief.

After one of the people lying face down was turned over, Annie was overjoyed to find that the person was still breathing and might be able to survive after some emergency resuscitation.

More importantly, Annie had seen General Zhao's photo in the modern world and knew that it wasn't him, but probably a bodyguard or someone else.

The other person had been shot in the forehead and is now long dead; he was not General Zhao himself either.

Seeing that the man, who appeared to be a guard, was still relatively conscious but injured and unable to move, Anne quickly said:

"Comrade, we are on the same side. Where did General Zhao go?"

While Annie was speaking, Mina even took out her military officer's ID card from her coat pocket and flashed it in front of the man.

Perhaps it was because they finally saw reinforcements coming from inside the pass, or perhaps it was the last straw they had to break.

The man's eyes lit up, and he said hurriedly:
"Quick! Go save General Zhao! Liu Deshan and Zhang Qingyu are traitors. They shot at me and General Zhao from behind and wounded us."

Liu Deshan was killed by General Zhao's desperate counterattack, but Zhang Qingyu was unharmed and escaped with the seriously wounded General Zhao.

I beg you, you must rescue General Zhao. If you can kill that traitor Zhang Qingyu, that would be even better…

Having managed to say this much, the guard, for some unknown reason, suddenly became extremely angry, his head lolled to the side, and he fainted.

It was only then that the two women noticed that he had a wound on his back that was bleeding profusely, and the injury looked quite serious.

Seeing this scene, Annie was about to tell Mina to treat the guard's wound immediately, so that he wouldn't bleed like this.

But at that very moment, she suddenly sensed a huge crisis approaching.

As he lay down, he suddenly pulled Mina down to the ground; just as her face touched the snow, several bullets flew over her head.

If Annie had reacted even slightly slower, she might already be injured.

What's even more frustrating for the two women is only just beginning.

As they looked up to retaliate, they saw several soldiers dressed clearly as KL fighters, who were firing at them with rifles.

It seems that once they reached this position, General Zhao and his men began to divide their forces, preparing to encircle the outpost.

In this situation, the two traitors, Liu Deshan and Zhang Qingyu, found an opportunity to make their move; and the KL soldiers who had split up heard the commotion and rushed over, but they regarded the two women as their opponents.

They couldn't very well open fire and kill these KL comrades, could they?
Unfortunately, this guard had to faint at such an inopportune time, without even being able to explain it to the two of them.

Before they could even explain, the two women rolled on the ground in a sorry state, barely escaping being hit by the bullets of the three KL soldiers.

Fortunately, AT arrived just then and opened fire with his submachine gun.

The useless bullets didn't directly kill or injure any of the KL warriors, but they did send some snow flying around their feet, proving that AT could have easily taken them down, but they held back.

Within seconds, an entire magazine was emptied before AT finally shouted:
"Don't misunderstand, we're all on the same side."

Seeing the three KL warriors stop firing their rifles at AT's shouts, Annie quickly got up from the snow, about to shout out again:
“You consumptive, save this brother. Mina and I are going to chase after that traitor Zhang Qingyu. He just ran away with the wounded General Zhao.”

As a result, on this small battlefield tonight, although the scale of the battle was not large, there were a great many unexpected events and troubles.

Annie, who had just gotten up, had to awkwardly lie down again and roll around on the snow.

From a direction slightly to the left, suddenly another dozen or so Japanese soldiers and black-skinned dogs rushed out and opened fire on them again.

Anne had no reservations about not firing at these people.

He raised his submachine gun and unleashed a burst of bullets; Mina and AT joined the battle, and 803, panting, also arrived and opened fire with his submachine gun. Caught in a pincer attack, they quickly wiped out all the men.

However, the two unexpected incidents still delayed Annie's chase by more than a minute.

After shouting the order, "Quack doctor, you stay here to save people and explain. The rest of you, come with me to chase after Zhang Qingyu," she and Mina, AT, and the other two immediately set off.

Following the footprints on the ground and the traces left by dragging bodies, they continued their pursuit forward.

After chasing for about fifty or sixty meters, they found a small bag on the ground; presumably thrown down by General Zhao, AT quickly picked it up.

After chasing for about a mile, the three of them suddenly stopped.

Because just a few meters in front of them was a headless corpse with tattered cotton clothes.

Overwhelmed with grief, Annie knelt before the corpse, AT punched the trunk of a pine tree in front of him, and Mina burst into tears.

Such a strong reaction was because they knew it was General Zhao's corpse.

That traitor Zhang Qingyu must have found it too cumbersome to carry General Zhao's body while fleeing, so he simply cut off General Zhao's head as a token to claim his reward from the Japanese.

After sitting slumped on the ground for more than ten seconds, Annie suddenly leaped up and continued chasing after a series of footprints.

This is a determination to kill that traitor Zhang Qingyu, even if it means chasing him to the ends of the earth, and to snatch back General Zhao's head.

Unfortunately, after chasing for another three or four hundred meters, they came to a frozen surface of the Wutong River.

The footprints that were barely discernible before had completely disappeared; for a moment, she couldn't even tell which direction that traitor Zhang Qingyu had fled in, so how could she possibly chase after him?
Standing by the river, Anne first picked up her submachine gun and fired a burst of bullets into the air.

Then, drawing his energy into his dantian, he transformed all the anger and resentment in his heart into a roaring vow:

“Zhang Qingyu, you traitorous dog, listen up! My name is Annie, and I am the Chief of Staff of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment. I swear to the spirits of my ancestors in heaven.”

No matter where you flee to, or which dog hole you hide in, I will drag you out and burn you alive to avenge General Zhao.

The solemn vow carried far and wide in the howling wind.

Then another voice rang out: "And me, my name is AT, Lieutenant Colonel, Regimental Commander, Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment..."

******
Four hours later, at 7:13 a.m., in the KL secret camp that was made up of a cave.

After a good night's rest, Hu Biao and the others started their breakfast this morning: a soup made with wild boar offal.

Because it was Hu Biao's cooking, he also added a lot of pepper and other seasonings that Lao San had deliberately brought with him when he was causing trouble in Jiamusi.

In the chilly morning air, a bowl of hot pork offal soup would be an absolute delight.

While eating the pork offal soup, everyone seemed somewhat distracted; they were all looking at the crosshairs of the radio being operated on one side of the cave entrance.

Actually, starting at 3:30 last night, Old K and Uncle Bo set up an extended antenna and began calling Annie and the others.

This was to find out as soon as possible what was happening with Annie's special team.

They were watching these people closely, wondering if they had arrived at the destination in time and whether they had successfully rescued General Zhao.

However, it's unclear whether it was due to the harsh winter weather in Northeast China, the complex environment of the Lesser Khingan Mountains, or the fact that Annie and the others simply didn't turn on the camera.

Anyway, up until now, Old K has been replaced by Cross to operate the radio, and they still haven't been able to contact the special team.

As time went by, Hu Biao and his group, who had initially been quite calm, gradually became nervous and lost all interest in enjoying the pork offal soup.

After everyone casually drank a large bowl of pork offal soup, the situation finally began to change.

Suddenly, a cheer rang out from the crossroads: "I've made contact! I've made contact with the boss and the others!"

Everyone's spirits immediately lifted. Old K and Uncle Bo stepped forward to help copy and translate the telegram, while the others swarmed over, ready to read it while Uncle Bo translated.

Unexpectedly, Uncle Bo started cursing: "Get out! Get away from here, you're blocking the light and I can't see anything."

Everyone could only step back and wait patiently for the telegram to be translated.

About ten minutes later, Uncle Bo, with a livid face, handed a telegram to Hu Biao. Just by looking at his expression, everyone knew that things were not going well.

But after reading the contents of the telegrams, they realized that things were in such a bad state.

It must be admitted! The seven members of the special team had done their best, but it was still the same result: General Zhao was killed, and his head was cut off and taken away by that traitor Zhang Qingyu.

They thought about all the hardships and sacrifices they had endured the night before last in preparation for this operation.

For a moment, everyone felt utterly powerless, both physically and mentally, and thought with great frustration:
Does this mean that in a time-travel journey, as long as the history or historical figures are slightly important, their fates cannot be changed?

Xie Laoyan, Li Tongfu, and the other two KL warriors broke down in tears.

It's not just mourning General Zhao's sacrifice, but also mourning the countless leaders and generals who have sacrificed themselves in KL over the years.

With even more soldiers added to the ranks, they had already sacrificed too many lives, yet there was still no hope of driving out the Japanese invaders and reclaiming the black soil of Northeast China.

Those loud cries of anguish were, in fact, a lament for themselves.

Seeing these men, who hadn't cried while struggling to survive in the icy forests and fighting the Japanese invaders, now crying like this.

Hu Biao and the others felt extremely distressed.

At least ten minutes later, Hu Biao suddenly roared, breaking the gloomy atmosphere in the cave: "Cross, immediately send a message to the special team."

We ordered them to return to Kaoshantun immediately, where they would meet us, and then we would discuss other matters.

Then, he cursed at Xie Laoyan and the others who were still sobbing, "What are you crying for? Do you think you can cry General Zhao back to life?"

Wipe away your tears and cheer up.

Just as Anne said in the telegram, General Zhao cannot die in vain. No matter where that traitor Zhang Qingyu is hiding, he must be found and killed to avenge General Zhao.

Oh, and we must also retrieve General Zhao's head and give him a proper burial. A hero like him shouldn't die without a complete corpse.

“That’s right! That’s how it should be.” Frost, the newbie, chimed in loudly.

This already tall and thin novice has lost at least ten kilograms in such harsh conditions, where he only gets one full meal every few days.

Now it looks more like a thin, long hemp stalk...

On February 13, late at night, Hu Biao and his group finally arrived at the abandoned village of Kaoshantun, where they had rested for a while.

A few days later, the place became even more dilapidated.

It was obvious that the Japanese army came to this place while searching, although they did not find the bodies of the punitive expedition team that had long been covered by snow.

But they still set a fire, making the already dilapidated village even worse.

Fortunately, after Hu Biao and his team searched around, they found that the walls and kang beds of two houses were still usable.

So they hastily patched up the roof and windows, cleaned up the room, and found it more comfortable to live in than in shacks, shelters, or caves.

Even more wonderfully, after two or three days of frantic searching, the Japanese soldiers probably assumed that the Japanese had already escaped into the depths of the Lesser Khingan Mountains.

Faced with the vast, rugged mountains and the harsh environment, they abandoned their pursuit and search operations.

So they stayed in Kaosantun, which should be relatively safe.

Two days later, at 10 a.m. on February 15th, the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Horse, the seven members of the special team finally arrived at Kaoshantun after circling around the forest for a long time.

Also on this morning, General Zhao's head, Zhang Qingyu, that traitorous dog, Yu Tou's corpse, and Kuwata Teizo, that Japanese prisoner, were all taken.

Under the secret escort of a company of military police in Jiamusi, they arrived in Changchun and were taken to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, which triggered a series of subsequent events...

(End of this chapter)