Chapter 32: Rescue of Comfort Women

  Zhang Mingyu was directing the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, when Wang Tienan rode a horse carrying a traitorous translator and rushed to Zhang Mingyu's side. Wang Tienan kicked the translator off the horse, and the translator fell to the ground, crying out in pain.

  Zhang Mingyu asked: "Who is this old Wang? Why does he look so unpleasant to me? He looks like a thief with those beady eyes!"

  Wang Tiehan had not yet replied, when the traitorous translator hastily said: "You are General Zhang, aren't you? I have long admired your great name, that fellow's reputation is like thunder in my ears, just like the endless Yangtze River..."

  "Alright, alright! Stop feeding me nonsense! I'm not buying it! You'd better answer my questions honestly, or else you're done for!"

  After listening to Zhang Mingyu's words, the traitorous interpreter was so frightened that he immediately stopped his nonsense and nodded hastily: "Don't worry, sir. I will tell the truth and answer all your questions!"

  "What's your name? What do you do? Give me a straight answer or I'll kill you!" Zhang Mingyu asked sternly.

  The traitor translator was scared by Zhang Mingyu's sinister words and couldn't speak, Wang Tiehan looked at him hesitantly and slapped him: "Damn it!" Then he said to Zhang Mingyu: "This man is a traitor, he was caught by our cavalry regiment when the devils broke through, he said he had important information to report, so I brought him here."

  Zhang Mingyu, after listening, brought the cigarette butt in his hand close to the traitorous translator who was lying on the ground and said: "Hurry up and tell me, what's your name, where do you work for the devils, doing what? If you have any important information, spit it out quickly, otherwise I'll make you meet your maker!"

  The traitor translator was so frightened that he immediately spoke clearly: "My name is Li Hong, I am from the Imperial Army..."

  "Damn it! What Imperial Army, they're devils!" Wang Tien-han slapped the traitor Li Hung and cursed.

  "That's right! It's a devil, I'm a small person who serves as an interpreter for the devils. A while ago, I and Kyūjū Tarō went to a place where there were only women."

  "Wait a minute, you said that with Jingjiu Tarou, all of them are women, what does it mean? Explain clearly!" Zhang Mingyu said.

  "Yes, yes, it's clear. Jingjiu Tarō is the one who was just beheaded by this officer. He's the captain of this devilish troop. Last time he took me to a small mountain village, where all the ordinary people had been driven out and it had become a stronghold for the devils. But inside, it wasn't an arsenal or a granary, but rather a place where the devils had gathered young women from all over, a veritable hell on earth! Every day, each woman would be subjected to the humiliation of so many devils! The devils call that place a 'comfort station'." Hanjian Li Hong finished speaking in one breath.

  "Although I am a low-ranking official and have been serving the Japanese, I have never done anything to betray the people. It was all because of circumstances that I had no choice but to serve the Japanese. Please, sir, do not kill me, and from now on, I will never help the Japanese again."

  After listening to Li Hong, Wang Tienan's eyes were already red with rage, and he cursed: "The damned little devil is inhuman! He's worse than a pig or dog!"

  "Master, let's save those poor women!" Wang Tiehan begged Zhang Mingyu.

  Zhang Mingyu said: "People will definitely be rescued, but they can't go to so many people. Assemble the troops immediately." Wang Tiehan stood up straight and replied: "Yes"

  Soon Zhang Biao and Lai San, Ma Liqun, Zhang Haisheng and others arrived. Zhang Mingyu briefly explained the situation of Hanjian Li Hong to everyone.

  Zhang Biao listened to the first and said: "The little devil is not human. Master, you might as well take the brothers to destroy those beastly bastards and rescue our female comrades!"

  "Right! Master, just give the order! Brothers, let's charge into the fray and not bat an eyelid even if we're going to knife mountain and fire sea!" Lai San also chimed in.

  Zhang Mingyu raised his hands to signal everyone to be quiet, and said: "I've thought about it. We attacked Cao Jizhen and Wang Yaozhen and annihilated the Jingjiu Brigade. The devils will know about this by tomorrow at the latest, so they'll definitely make preparations. Therefore, I've decided that I'll personally lead the special troops and a small blocking detachment to rescue those women. Zhang Biao, Lai San, you take the troops back to Xuzhou."

  "Master, I won't return to Xuzhou. I also want to go with you to rescue those women!" Zhang Biao hastily said after hearing that Zhang Mingyu told him to lead the troops back to Xuzhou.

  Lai San also said: "I'll go with you! I won't return to Xuzhou either!" A group of people were arguing somewhere.

  "Shut up, all of you! What are you making a fuss about? Don't you even listen to my orders? Look at the state you're in! This time we're operating deep behind enemy lines, and if too many people go, it'll only give us away. Do you understand?" Zhang Mingyu bellowed loudly.

  Seeing Zhang Mingyu get angry, Lai San and Zhang Biao immediately shut up. Zhang Mingyu looked at the crowd and said, "Is there anything else to say?"

  "Is the reporter present? No!" The crowd replied.

  "Carry out the order!" Zhang Mingyu said impatiently.

  "Yes!...Yes!"

  Finally, Zhang Biao, Lai San and Wang Tiehan led the main force back to Xuzhou, while Zhang Mingyu took Tie Niu, Li Gang's special soldiers and Zhang Haisheng's sniper team to the mountain village mentioned by Li Hong to rescue the comfort women.

  There were a large number of devils' military uniforms in the warehouse of Cao Jizhen, which was just used by Zhang Mingyu and others. The remaining captured weapons, equipment, guns, ammunition and military supplies were all taken back to Xuzhou by Zhang Biao, Lai San and others.

  Looking at the devils' military uniform on his body, Iron Bull felt uncomfortable and said to Zhang Mingyu: "Master, can we not wear this devil's skin? It feels like wearing a big turd, it's so uncomfortable!"

  "We can't wear our uniforms, this time we're going to the occupied territory, it's full of devils everywhere, if we don't wear their military uniforms, let alone rescue people, we don't even know if we can return safely." Zhang Mingyu said.

  Soon, fifty special soldiers and more than thirty snipers led by Zhang Mingyu were guided by the traitor Li Hong to walk towards their destination.

  At this time, Chiang Kai-shek had returned to Wuhan. Due to Zhang Mingyu's independent division, with the special privileges given by Principal Chiang, mobilizing troops did not require reporting to anyone, and even Principal Chiang could be said to have sufficient power over life and death in this army. Even the war zone commander couldn't make any adjustments to Zhang Mingyu's independent division. Of course, Principal Chiang's orders still had to be obeyed!

  At this time, after the Japanese army occupied Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chuzhou and Jinan, due to insufficient troops, the General Headquarters once advocated not expanding the combat area for the time being, concentrating its forces to "sweep away" the Chinese-led anti-Japanese guerrilla forces, consolidating the occupied areas, so as to further expand the war later. However, this proposal was strongly opposed by the Japanese army in China with the support of the General Headquarters Army Department, who believed that they must make a two-pronged attack, on the one hand, actively "sweeping away" the anti-Japanese guerrilla forces within the occupied areas and establishing puppet regimes; on the other hand, continuing to advance towards the front line of the occupied areas, eliminating the main force of the Chinese army concentrated in Xuzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou and other places, supporting a national puppet regime, so as to quickly conquer China and end the war of aggression. After debate, the General Headquarters approved the opinions of the Japanese army in China and the Army Department, and began to adjust the deployment and combat sequence of the Japanese army in China from the beginning of 1938, so as to meet the needs of both maintaining its occupied areas and continuing to expand the war.