The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 8 Arrival
...After experiencing the Japanese air raid, several new recruits in the replacement company could not eat anything that night. At first, everyone thought they were scared or nauseous.

No one cared too much about it. Being a soldier and fighting a war is not something that needs to be so pretentious.

But starting from the second day, they began to fall ill one after another, and within two or three days they vomited blood and died one after another; only then did we realize that their internal organs had been damaged by the shock.

...Excerpt from Hu Biao's diary collection "Hu Shuo"...

Before falling asleep, Gao Yi thought of something and suddenly added:
"Don't panic, everyone. Once the team arrives in the Magic City, I have a great idea that will allow us to be assigned to logistics departments, such as the kitchen staff or those feeding livestock.

These places are somewhat safer, and they also provide more opportunities to escape."

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao and the other four immediately became excited. Zhou Kun even asked, "Old Gao, you are really capable. What ideas do you have? Tell us first."

"Don't worry, you'll know when the time comes." Gao Yi said mysteriously...

Early the next morning, Hu Biao and his men had just woken up from the extinguished fire when they received bad news: there were only 66 people left in the third supplementary company of the Su Province Security Corps.

Six sixes is a very auspicious number, but Hu Biao would rather not have this auspiciousness.

Because last night, five seriously injured soldiers did not survive. When we checked on them in the morning, we found that they were already dead.

In fact, this situation is normal, because the third supply company does not have any medicines at all, and the surrounding villagers have already run away.

It would be impossible to find a local doctor in the countryside in a short period of time.

The only treatment Hu Biao and his team could provide for the wounded was to disinfect their wounds with saline solution and then bandage them with cloth strips.

Even the strips of cloth used for bandaging were hastily torn from clothes, with no time to boil them in boiling water, dry them in the sun, or perform the simplest disinfection.

The injured person has to bear all the symptoms such as wound inflammation and fever on his own, and whether he can survive depends on God's will.

After sighing silently, everyone worked together again to create six more small graves on a piece of open space next to the peach forest. These graves did not even have tombstones, but only some simple marks.

In the following time, everyone supported or carried the wounded on simple stretchers, and the reinforcement company set out again.

I don’t know if it was the air raid yesterday that completely exhausted all the bad luck of the Third Replacement Company.

In any case, in the next two days, Hu Biao and his men never encountered any Japanese planes again.

Seeing that the reporting location specified in the order was getting closer and closer, everyone's hearts, which had been tense along the way, gradually relaxed.

Of course, during this process, we did encounter some heart-wrenching things, quite a few.

The most heartbreaking thing is that we didn't encounter any Japanese planes again, but the reinforcement company continued to suffer casualties.

Six more seriously wounded soldiers who were being carried during the march could not bear the weight and died one after another.

The key point is that if the seriously injured soldiers couldn't bear it, everyone would have been mentally prepared; but a new recruit who had no injuries on his body might have successfully recovered.

In the previous second, he looked full of energy, his face was a little rosy, and his eyes were full of anticipation.

He shouted loudly to his fellow villager next to him: “Several years ago, I heard from the teacher in the village who had been to the Magic City.

The Magic City is a very prosperous place. The houses there are taller than the mountains, and the women are as beautiful as those in New Year pictures. After we arrived in the Magic City and drove away the Japanese invaders.

I will definitely…"

Before the recruit could finish talking about driving away the Japanese, he had to do something.

He suddenly stopped walking, still talking excitedly, and bent over to cough violently. Like an old tractor, he coughed a series of loud coughs, and then instinctively opened his hand that was covering his mouth.

I immediately noticed a large black bloodstain on the palm of my hand.

Before he could say anything, the coughing in his mouth stopped very briefly and then continued again, and the situation seemed even more serious.

Every time he coughed, he would spit out a mouthful of black blood, as if he was going to spit out all the blood.

It can be seen that this new recruit, with some light hair still remaining on the corners of his mouth, does not want to die at all.

Even though he couldn't utter a complete sentence due to coughing, he still opened his eyes wide and looked at everyone, his eyes full of pleading.

He begged the people who gathered around him, asking whoever could save him to do so.

But how to save him, what methods are there to save him? After meeting his gaze, everyone unconsciously turned their heads away in a huge sense of guilt, not daring to look him in the eye.

Just like that, the new recruit first bent over and vomited blood.

After vomiting for a while, he seemed to have no strength to stand and could only kneel on the ground and vomit blood; then, he curled up on the ground and vomited blood until he was completely out of breath.

Such a tragic and horrifying scene made many soldiers of the Third Supplementary Company, even the platoon leader and the few remaining veterans, turn pale. They were all frightened.

The main reason is that these people may not be afraid of death.

However, such a strange way of death filled those who still believed in ghosts and gods with an inexplicable fear, and the morale of the Third Replacement Company dropped at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Seeing this, Hu Biao instinctively wanted to do something and not let this situation continue.

Unfortunately, in the modern dimension, to put it bluntly, he is just a casual worker, and for a moment he really doesn't know what to do.

He could only use his eyes to signal Gao Yi and a few others, asking them to think of a solution.

Especially Wang Peng, who he seriously suspected should be a retired veteran of the PLA. Hu Biao kept signaling with his eyes, hoping that he would come up with a solution quickly.

Under such circumstances, Wang Peng hesitated for a moment, but still suppressed his next action, fearing that it would expose the fact that he was actually a veteran.

He squatted down like he was taking a big dump, holding his head with both hands.

At the same time, he did not forget to explain loudly to everyone: "This matter is actually not that terrible, everyone does not need to be afraid.

This brother's internal organs were injured by a bomb dropped by a Japanese plane yesterday.

That's why they died in such a strange way. It's not because the Japanese soldiers knew any evil tricks. They all have one head and two hands, and they will die if they are hit by a bullet or stabbed with a bayonet.

As for what to do if you encounter Japanese plane bombing or artillery fire in the future? Remember, just squat like I did and you'll be fine.

Be careful! When you hold your head, cover your ears as well to avoid being deafened."

"He's squatting so professionally. I said Wang Peng must be a PLA veteran. I was right." After silently remembering Wang Peng's explanation, Hu Biao thought to himself...

Finally, on the evening of August 8, 24.

The supplementary company entered Nanxiang Town outside the Magic City, which was also the front-line command center of the Nationalist Army during the Battle of Shanghai, and was also the place they had to arrive at before the 26th according to the military order.

(End of this chapter)