The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 9 Shelter
...After every major war, many troops suffered heavy casualties, and some even lost their units.

Many of the surviving soldiers either became decadent as if they had lost their souls, or turned into old soldiers who were greedy for life and afraid of death, and even dogs would despise them.

But it doesn't mean that these people have become complete waste.

As long as they are led by a decent commander, or as long as they understand the significance of their fight, they can still burst out with amazing fighting courage after returning to the battlefield.

This damn war always turns people into ghosts, and then from ghosts back into humans, constantly switching between humans and ghosts. Who the hell can tell...

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

Even in this era, the Magic City has not yet developed into a megacity ranked among the top ten in the world like in the modern dimension.

Nanxiang Town is still a suburb of Shanghai.

But even so, after Hu Biao and others walked into the town, they could still see that this ancient town was far more prosperous than the towns they passed along the way.

The streets and alleys are paved with old bluestone slabs.

There are numerous shops on both sides of the road; these shops have traditional signs, and many walls are decorated with large modern posters.

For example: Stancom hair oil, Fairy brand cigarettes, Asia kerosene, the latest movies and many other categories.

I imagine that in normal years, this place would be extremely lively and prosperous, with shop assistants shouting their wares loudly and countless pedestrians walking on the street.

The most beautiful scenery is the young women of Shanghai with fashionable perms and cheongsams walking among them.

In particular, Hu Biao accidentally saw a special advertising poster; it was special because the content promoted on it was the Paramount Ballroom, the current high-end entertainment venue in Shanghai.

In addition to the ballroom being placed in a modern dimension, the renderings are also quite high-end.

There is also a picture of a woman with big wavy hair, some foreign horse style between her eyebrows, and wearing an embroidered cheongsam; there is also a string of advertising slogans on the side:

The moon is bright and the stars are sparse, the lights are like silk; where can I rest? The tall building is cold and lonely; I dare not dream of traveling around, as this is not a place of refuge in heaven or on earth.

Miss Annie, the most beautiful lady in the dance hall of Shanghai, looks forward to your visit at the Paramount Ballroom.

Even if Hu Biao looked at her from a modern perspective, the popular dancer named Annie made his eyes light up and he felt extremely amazed.

I was thinking about what would happen if I really escaped into the concession and made my first pot of gold.

When the time comes, I will definitely go to the Paramount Ballroom and dance with this woman named Annie all night long. I feel quite excited when I think about the wonderfulness of it.

Unfortunately, Hu Biao's excitement soon subsided completely.

Because he found that all the shops in the town were closed, and there were hardly any ordinary people around, let alone any young women from the Magic City.

Instead, there were National Army soldiers everywhere, wearing various styles of uniforms, with confused or nervous expressions.

This instantly sobered Hu Biao up. This was a war zone where he could die at any moment, so he should prioritize his own survival...

After asking many people in the town, the remaining people of the Third Supplementary Company finally found the location of the National Army's Songhu Front Command.

They were stopped just one or two hundred meters away from the front-line command post.

A barricade made of sandbags and barbed wire was built on the narrow street.

There was only a squad of guards behind the barricade, but they were obviously the elite troops of the Central Army of the National Army.

He wore a rare M35 helmet on his head, held a brand new Zhongzheng rifle in his hand, and used a Type heavy machine gun as his firing point. He was very well equipped.

Therefore, although they are few in number, their momentum is extremely strong.

A squad leader, who was only a sergeant, shouted at everyone fiercely: "Stop! What are you doing? Don't you know where this is? How dare you come here?"

As he spoke, the machine gunner beside him pulled the bolt with a "click", making a gesture that if anyone dared to force their way in, he would open fire.

Maybe it was because the journey here, especially the last two or three days, was too difficult when I think back.

Facing the impolite questioning of these elite Central Army soldiers, the platoon leader of the Supplementary Company, who currently held the highest rank of second lieutenant, seemed to have used up all his strength and shouted in a hoarse voice:
"The Third Supplementary Company of the Su Province Security Corps was ordered to arrive. There should have been 132 people, but only 57 actually arrived. All those who did not arrive died in the Japanese air raid, and there were subsequent injuries and illnesses. No one escaped." God knows what the reason was?
When the platoon leader shouted this, Hu Biao and the other five people, who had been exhausted due to the long journey and low morale, became more relaxed.

It was as if I was suddenly electrocuted, and my whole body shuddered.

Then, one by one, they tried their best to straighten their chests and stomachs, stand up straight, and try to stand in the most standard military posture possible.

In fact, it was not just Hu Biao and the other five who did this. All the rest of the people in the supplementary company, including the wounded who needed help, tried their best to stand up straight.

Even the several seriously injured soldiers who were being carried sat up straight from the simple stretchers.

Why did they do this? It was definitely not just because they, the rookies, did not want to be looked down upon by the elite of the Central Army.

In other words, it doesn’t matter if you look down on them, but those brothers who died on the road cannot be looked down upon in any way by the other side.

Fortunately, at this moment, the Sixth Supplementary Company, whose number of personnel had been reduced by more than half, successfully demonstrated its iron-blooded temperament and successfully impressed the other side.

The sergeant squad leader's face turned serious, and he gave a standard military salute with a snap.

The other soldiers also saluted solemnly; they were indeed from the elite German-equipped division, but they were also soldiers of this troubled country.

Then, the sergeant's face became kind and he said:

"Brothers, you have worked hard on the journey. You can rest for a while on the side of the road. Just don't block the road. I will go and help you report."

After hearing this, everyone sat down under the eaves on the roadside.

No one asked them to do anything, but even when they were sitting, they stood up straight. It was because of this! This face was earned by those dead brothers, and they couldn't let it fall to the ground...

******
After waiting for about twenty minutes, a staff officer with the rank of second lieutenant appeared.

He took the remnants of the Third Replacement Company and began to move back and forth on the outskirts of Nanxiang Town.

The wounded were first sent to a field hospital. The field hospital was not large, but the number of wounded was quite astonishing. Their wails and cries could be heard from far away, and all the doctors and nurses were extremely busy.

This made Hu Biao and his men, who had just arrived at the Battle of Shanghai, feel even more deeply the cruelty of this bloody battlefield.

Seeing that the hospital was so busy, Hu Biao and his friends didn't stay long.

A platoon leader came out and completed the registration of the wounded with a nurse whose eyes were full of fatigue and whose voice was hoarse.
Everyone followed the second lieutenant's footsteps and came to a temporary military camp outside the town.

That’s right! After sending away the wounded, there are now 48 people left in the Third Replacement Company.

The so-called temporary military camp was actually a large yard with some leaks everywhere, where as many as one or two hundred people had already lived.

The military uniforms of these people looked different, but they were all quite tattered; many of them didn't even have guns, and even their feet were bare.

They gathered in twos and threes, their faces filled with confusion and numbness.

They had almost no reaction to the arrival of the remaining personnel to reinforce the Sixth Company, like a group of soulless walking corpses.

And around the temporary military camp, there is about a squad of elite Central Army guards.

Judging from the direction of their current defense, it would be more accurate to say that they are guarding this temporary military camp and preventing the people inside from running around.

After seeing all the above situations, the middle-aged greasy man Gao Yi felt a pang in his heart and felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

Because at this moment, he had already vaguely reacted in his heart:

This temporary military camp should be a place like a shelter for defeated soldiers; each group of three or two soldiers represents a completely crippled army.

The corresponding situation is that ten or even a hundred times more people than these defeated soldiers have died in this battlefield that is like a meat grinder.

When Gao Yi thought of this, he felt very uncomfortable.

"Damn little Japs." After spitting out a mouthful of saliva, he thought...

(End of this chapter)