The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 650 Finally Got It (Two-in-One Chapter)

It was 8:07 a.m. on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

In a courtyard in Kaoshantun, the roof and windows have been repaired and people can live there again.

The snowstorm that had raged for almost two days stopped at this point, so you could see from a great distance that the yard looked quite ordinary.

This refers to a Spring Festival couplet written on a wooden board and red paint instead of red paper and ink at the main entrance.

First line: Spring returns to the earth, bringing prosperity to all things.

The second line reads: Blessings fill the world and shine upon every household.

Horizontal scroll: All things shine.

In the courtyard, under the eaves of the mud-brick house, hung two lanterns made of red cloth; a large "福" (good fortune) character was painted upside down in red on the door, and some paper-cut window decorations were pasted on the windows.

Smoke, a symbol of warmth, billowed from the chimney, and the air was filled with the aroma of stewed potatoes and meat.

All of the above details indicate that Hu Biao and his family, who live there, had a very good Spring Festival recently.

That was indeed the case. In order to boost everyone's morale, Hu Biao and Annie did a lot of work.

Zanana led a group of people to hunt in the vicinity and search for mountain products to enrich their food supply for the time being.

In addition to cleaning the house thoroughly, everyone also washed their hair, took showers, and did laundry, making sure everything was spotless inside and out, so they could welcome the New Year in a clean and refreshing manner.

They also used some alternative methods, such as decorating with Spring Festival couplets, the character "福" (good fortune), lanterns, and paper-cut window decorations, to add to the festive atmosphere.

After all that work, what was the actual result? It was passable, I'd say.

Currently, there are 32 Transcenders and 11 KL Warriors resting in Kaoshantun, for a total of 43 people.

The number of KL's warriors has increased so much, of course, it's those who were originally by General Zhao's side, and now they have come to Kaoshantun with Annie and the others.

After several days of good food and drink and a comfortable New Year, everyone's morale has indeed recovered considerably.

However, everyone's mood and morale were still somewhat low.

Faced with this situation, Hu Biao didn't have a good solution either. After all, General Zhao's death was a huge blow to everyone, and it wasn't something that could be completely recovered from simply by eating and drinking well for a few days.

Only by sacrificing the lives of the Japanese can we truly heal the pain and frustration in everyone's hearts.

However, what he didn't expect was that such an opportunity would come so quickly...

After having just eaten a meal of roe deer meat dumplings with cornbread, Old K and the other electronics enthusiasts, including Cross, worked hard and finally completed a new toy:

This gave a telegraph machine the function of a radio.

Every day was just eating and sleeping, and after a few days everyone was bored to death. Now that they had such a new toy, they naturally urged Old K and the others to try it out and see if they could receive any radio programs to listen to.

Old K didn't delay in response to everyone's requests and immediately started adjusting the frequency.

Two or three minutes later, the static from the small speaker turned into a female voice with a slightly strange Mandarin accent:

"Fellow countrymen of China, this is the Beijing News Broadcasting Station. We are now bringing you a special news report."

Commander Umezu Mijiro of the Imperial Kwantung Army Headquarters decided to hold a ceremony to celebrate the killing of several important members of Hu Biao's gang, as well as General Zhao, the big bandit leader of KL.

A grand victory celebration will be held on March 1, 1944 (the Lantern Festival) to demonstrate the invincible bravery and strength of the Imperial Kwantung Army soldiers.

Furthermore, over the next week, several corpses from Hu Biao's gang, along with General Zhao's head, will be publicly displayed.

"These corpses and heads will be destroyed immediately after the exhibition ends..."

A conspiracy? No, that's not it! Umezu Mijiro's victory celebration was nothing short of a blatant conspiracy to lure everyone to Changchun City and into a trap.

From today onwards, the Japanese have laid countless ambushes in Changchun, just waiting for everyone to walk right into their trap.

This is the first thought that arose in everyone's mind after listening to the above broadcast.

The second thought that followed was: This is troublesome!
Since it was an open conspiracy, then just as the Japanese were certain, they would definitely go to Changchun City; because they would never sit idly by and watch General Zhao and the bodies of their comrades be displayed in a desecrated manner by the Japanese, and then destroyed afterwards.

However, the Northeast region is quite special; hardly any of the locals have heard of them, so it's impossible to gather a team together.

However, the advantages that time travelers like Hu Biao possess, such as advanced technology, tactics, and understanding of historical figures and events, can only be fully utilized if they have a team of people under their command.

Otherwise, it would be like when they encountered Grass and the old soldier, constantly trapped in hiding and being hunted down.

Therefore, even if all 43 of them died, they would still be able to achieve their goal when they went to Changchun City and faced the well-prepared Japanese soldiers.

It is likely that Jiang Lixin considered all of the above.

That is, the injured bodyguard next to General Zhao, after exchanging a secret glance with Xie Laoyan, had reached a consensus.

Struggling to get up from the kang (a heated brick bed), he solemnly addressed Hu Biao and the others:

"Commander Hu and all officers, although we were unable to save General Zhao this time, we at KL will definitely appreciate your favor."

If you ever need our help in the future, as long as there is one survivor in our KL Anti-Japanese Alliance, we will not let you down.

However, this trip to Changchun City is almost always a matter of life and death; you are all highly capable people, you cannot die in such a place.

So this trip to Changchun can be done by just the few of us.

If we could kill that traitor Zhang Qingyu, and retrieve General Zhao's head and the bodies of several brothers, that would be the best outcome.

Even if we can't, we'll have a clear conscience. Perhaps we'll even make our way to the underworld faster and catch up with General Zhao and the others, so we can all go together in a lively way.

After speaking, he led the other 10 KL soldiers and gave Hu Biao and the others a standard military salute.

Then, with Xie Laoyan's help, he actually seemed ready to get out of bed and leave immediately.

Seeing this, Hu Biao immediately shouted:

"Stop! If we're going to Changchun, we'll all go together. We're all born of the same parents, so how can you say whose life is more important than anyone else's?"

Besides, since the day our Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment was founded, we have never had the idea of ​​letting others risk their lives to save our brothers.

So there's no need to say more. Let's all pack our things and set off together. Even if we die in Changchun, just like you said, Brother Jiang, it'll be fun to walk the road to the underworld together."

Seeing that Hu Biao was speaking with unwavering resolve, the members of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment realized that further persuasion would be futile, so Jiang Lixin and the other KL soldiers didn't say anything more.

He then gave a solemn military salute to express his gratitude.

After a quick pack, they left Kaoshantun once again.

As they left, Annie and the other girls kept turning back to look at the houses they had decorated themselves, appearing quite reluctant to leave.

Because they knew that this trip to Changchun City might be a one-way trip, at least during this journey, they would not be able to return here...

******
It should be noted that the area where Hu Biao and his group are currently located is nearly 600 kilometers away from Changchun City if you travel along the highway in the modern world.

If you take a detour through the forest, it will be safe, but the journey will be more than a thousand kilometers.

With a marching speed of only 40 kilometers a day, trudging through thick snow in the old forest, this method of travel was immediately ruled out.

Even if we manage to get there on time, everyone will be exhausted and won't have the energy to cause trouble in Changchun.

So Hu Biao and the others reached a consensus without any hesitation: to hitch a ride on the train.

The specific route is as follows: first, along the northern section of the China Railway D, from Jiamusi to Harbin; then, from Shuangcheng, Fuyu (Taolaizhao Station), Dehui and other stations, to reach the destination, Changchun.

It's unclear whether the Japanese side was particularly confident in their plan to wipe out Hu Biao and his entire gang in Changchun.

Anyway, the whole process of climbing over the train was quite smooth for Hu Biao and his men, except for the fact that they were freezing in the open-air carriages loaded with coal and wood.

Of course, a smooth journey doesn't mean there weren't any noteworthy events.

Instead, some things happened that greatly surprised Hu Biao and his team, and even significantly increased their chances of success...

At 10 p.m. that night, Hu Biao and his group of 43 people were trudging through a forest outside Suihua City. Their decision not to travel by train demonstrates their necessary caution.

Although the Japanese soldiers did not conduct thorough inspections of the train carriages along the way today.

However, Suihua City is a relatively large train station. Every time the old-fashioned steam locomotives of the Japanese stopped here to refill water and coal, it would take a lot of time.

During this period, the Japanese soldiers at the station would conduct stricter inspections of the train carriages, and if you were unlucky, you might actually be discovered.

So when the train was still two or three kilometers away from the station, Hu Biao and his men jumped off the train.

The plan is to bypass the station and then take the next train to Harbin; this approach is certainly more troublesome, but it is safer and more necessary.

The group continued onward, and they saw that they were just one or two kilometers away from bypassing Suihua City. They then lay down by the roadside to wait for the train to come so they could find an opportunity to climb onto it.

Suddenly, Van Gogh and Huang Adi, who were acting as the vanguard, stopped abruptly.

With a raised hand, he made several hand gestures signaling everyone to stop immediately, take cover, and prepare for battle as someone approached.

Without the slightest hesitation, the people behind them immediately concealed themselves behind some large trees and snowdrifts, set up their weapons, and released the safety.

Although they are few in number, all the KL warriors have now changed their gear.

They were all equipped with light machine guns captured from the Japanese and puppet troops, as well as pistols and other weapons, which meant they were all automatic and semi-automatic weapons.

Once the fire starts, it can immediately unleash a light firepower density that is almost unimaginable on the Eastern battlefield at that time.

Even if a Japanese punitive force of about two hundred men, a company-sized unit, were sent, they would be instantly stunned and quickly defeated.

There was no battle before; it was merely a matter of concealing our tracks.

Now that the Japanese devils have delivered themselves to their deaths, the thought of wiping out another group of Japanese devils and puppet troops has made everyone's hearts burn with excitement.

Unfortunately, the battle never even started.

After waiting for seven or eight minutes, a group of forty or fifty people came from the front, but they were all dressed like ordinary people.

Judging from these body language and the fierce aura emanating from him, Xie Laoyan, who was lying next to Hu Biao at the time, quickly whispered in his ear:
"Don't make a move, they're a bunch of bearded men."

Hu Biao naturally understood Xie Laoyan's reason for not wanting to lay a hand on Hu Zi.

There's no other reason than that! Ever since the Japanese occupied the three northeastern provinces, they not only failed to make any effort to eliminate the numerous bandits and outlaws in the Northeast, but also showed no intention of protecting the territory and its people.

Instead, they offered generous terms to recruit these disgraced individuals.

For them, it doesn't matter how many evils these people committed in the past; what matters is that these people can become their henchmen and lackeys in order to control and dominate this land.

Thus, the former notorious bandit leaders transformed into black-skinned dogs.

However, not every bearded man was a spineless coward who served the Japanese without any moral compass.

Some of them participated in the anti-Japanese forces such as KL, fighting against the Japanese invaders and sacrificing their precious lives.

The other group, although they did not join KL in fighting the Japanese, still caused some trouble for the Japanese on a regular basis, which was much better than those traitors.

Based on the principle of 'uniting all forces that can be united,' there was no need to risk alerting the Japanese soldiers in Suihua by firing on these bandits.

It would be better to leave them alone and let them go.

I have to say! These days, people who can work as bearders are really skilled; they're quite vigilant.

Although Hu Biao and his men had laid an ambush well, a few seconds later, one of them had two Mauser pistols tucked into his waistband, clearly a man with a beard.

He immediately realized what was happening after seeing a series of footprints on the ground not far ahead.

With a 'whoosh,' he drew his two pistols from his waist, holding them diagonally to his left and right, ready to fire at any moment; and he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"I don't know which gang's comrade-in-arms he is, but I am the second-in-command of Black Bear Ridge."

Tonight we were originally going to raid the kilns in Erdaowanzi (attack the wealthy families), but if we have connections there, we should do it together, and then we can split the profits fifty-fifty.

Upon hearing this, it should have been Hu Biao, the team leader, who responded.

However, Hu Biao didn't know much about the slang used by these bearded people, and he didn't understand much of what was said above, so he didn't know how to respond.

On the contrary, Annie in the modern world seems quite interested in these things and should be able to understand them.

(For ease of reading, these slang terms will not be inserted into the subsequent conversations with the bearded man.)
Therefore, Hu Biao gave Annie a look, and the girl immediately replied, "Second Master, don't be nervous, we're just passing by."

We weren't hiding to ambush you; we just thought it was a Japanese punitive expedition and were planning to pull off a heist. Tell the men to be careful their weapons don't go off accidentally, and we're leaving now.

After saying this, Anne called for everyone to stand up; after bowing to the bearded men from a distance as a form of greeting, she prepared to leave.

What else? They could just name them and expect these people to kneel and bow down.

Don't be ridiculous! Didn't Hu Biao and AT lose enough face in front of Xie Laoyan and the other KL warriors back then? Do they have to go through it again today?

Unexpectedly, after hearing Annie's voice for the first time, a small figure in the beard caught his eye.

When they could vaguely see Hu Biao and the others under the moonlight, they were so excited that their whole bodies trembled. They hurriedly walked up to the second-in-command and said a few words in a hurry.

After hearing about the tiny figure, the second-in-command was extremely excited.

He called out to Hu Biao and the others, who had already walked several dozen meters away, in a slightly hoarse voice: "May I ask if the heroes ahead are Commander Hu of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, and the other officers?"

"Huh! There are actually people in Northeast China who have heard of my name, Lao Hu."

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao was overjoyed, even excited, and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Even so, she didn't show any excitement. She simply stopped, stood up, and replied calmly:
"I am Hu Biao! I never imagined that my humble name would be known in the three northeastern provinces."

AT quickly chimed in: "That's right! You all have sharp eyes, I am Lieutenant Colonel AT of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment."

All I can say is that this time, these two finally managed to outwit the boss. After hearing Hu Biao and AT's answers, the second-in-command and the group of bearded men immediately bowed down in reverence.

He shouted, "Zhang Da'erduo, the second-in-command of Black Bear Ridge, greets Grandpa Hu Biao, as well as all the uncles and aunts."

Seeing this, Hu Biao and AT were overjoyed and quickly stepped forward to help the people up.

Only after seeing that small figure did I understand the reason.

It turned out that the small figure was Lu Dazhi, the boy who served as a servant when they attacked Mirong Village, which was under the jurisdiction of the Japanese settlers.

On that snowy night, the boy set fire to the tribe he belonged to and then set off alone.

Although he didn't find Hu Biao and his group, he stumbled upon them by sheer luck and, through sheer grit, managed to join the bandits of Black Bear Ridge.

It was through his account that this group of bandits learned of Hu Biao and his men's glorious achievements.

After hearing about Hu Biao and his group's deeds, Zhang Da'er and the others were quite amazed and became die-hard fans of Hu Biao and his group from that day on.

Now that we've encountered this situation, such a reaction is perfectly normal.

In the days that followed, they extended an extremely warm invitation to Hu Biao and the others to Black Bear Ridge, so that their leader could pay his respects and that everyone in Black Bear Ridge could properly show respect to Grandpa Hu and the others.

In addition, several hundred people from the group's tribes managed to escape separately that night.

Some of the unlucky ones were captured during the Japanese's massive manhunt for Hu Biao and his men that night, and were subsequently sent to various places to work as laborers.

Some of the lucky ones also managed to escape into the forest, and some even joined other bearded men.

In short, Hu Biao's name is now known not only to the bearded men of Black Bear Ridge, but also to a wider range of people, including Zhang Da Erduo.

After learning about the above situation, and considering the idea that they should treat the guests at Black Bear Ridge well, Hu Biao and Annie discussed it privately.

After consulting with Jiang Lixin, Xie Laoyan, and other KL soldiers, a new plan was finalized...

(End of this chapter)