Chapter 24: Settling Scores (Part 1)

  Shanghai Western Suburbs, a certain riverside low embankment.

  This riverside area was filled with reeds, and although it was already the depths of winter and most of the reeds had withered and died, this large expanse of reed marsh could still easily hide several hundred people.

  The remaining soldiers of the Baoshan camp are hiding here at this moment, and Liu Tiezhu's guard squad has also followed up.

  Cao Xinglong approached Yue Weihan with a crouching waist and asked, "Commander, why aren't you leaving? This place is not far from Zhaobei, the little devils' pursuing troops may catch up at any time."

  "We can't go on." Yue Weihan shook his head, "It's almost dawn, and the little devil's planes will be here soon. Further ahead is all open terrain with no cover, not even a forest. We won't be able to evade the enemy's reconnaissance planes, and once our position is exposed, their bombers will arrive quickly, followed by their infantry. That would be a dead end!"

  Cao Xinglong frowned and said: "But hiding here is not a solution either. What if the Japanese infantry catches up?"

  Yue Weihan snorted, "Those little devils aren't the heavenly dogs under Erlang's throne, their noses aren't that keen. Besides, there are as many reed marshes in Shanghai's western suburbs as there are hairs on a cow, they won't be able to find our hiding spot before nightfall."

  Before he had finished speaking, Squad Leader Liu Tiezhu walked over with his waist bent and said: "Battalion Commander, Captain Liu invites you to go over."

  "Director Liu?" Yue Weihan didn't react immediately, furrowing his brow and saying, "What Director Liu?"

  "Uh..." Liu Tiejun hastily scratched his head and explained, "It's your confidential secretary, Lieutenant Commander Liu Xin."

  "Who?" Yu Weihan frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

  "I don't know." Liu Tiejun shook his head and said, "He just told me to let you pass, saying it's an urgent matter."

  "Tell the brothers to be on high alert." Yue Weihan instructed Cao Xinglong, and then followed Liu Tiezhu to the depths of the reed marsh. There, they saw that Liu Xin had already set up the radio station, which was now crackling with static. When he saw Yue Weihan, Liu Xin immediately put down his earpiece and exclaimed excitedly: "Battalion commander, we've made contact with the war zone headquarters!"

  Yue Weihan's face suddenly changed, and he rushed up to pull out the power cord of the radio. He then shouted loudly: "What are you doing? You big-breasted but brainless dead girl, are you looking for death?! Who told you to turn on the radio? Don't you know that the radio waves will summon the little devils?! Are you trying to get our brothers killed or what?!"

  "Me, me..." Liu Xin's beautiful eyes suddenly turned red, with a look of being on the verge of tears.

  "Alright, alright." Yue Weihan was most afraid of women crying, and hastily asked with a bitter face, "How long has the radio station been open?"

  Liu Xin did not dare to conceal the truth, and said: "It's been more than ten minutes since the start of the operation. I first contacted the division headquarters, but couldn't get in touch with them. Just as I was about to contact the Group Army Headquarters, I received a radio signal from the War Zone Command."

  "Ten or so minutes?" Yue Weihan sighed, "Alas, it's all over. That's enough time for the little devils to capture our signal."

  Liu Xin said with a hint of grievance: "Commander, I'm sorry, it's not intentional on my part. I just wanted to report the true situation of our battalion to the division headquarters and ask them to send troops to support us as soon as possible..."

  "It's alright, this matter can't be blamed on you." Yue Weihan said with a bitter smile, "Just now my attitude was bad, I shouldn't have scolded you."

  After that, Yue Weihan said to Liu Tiezhu: "Go and let Cao Xinglong, Chi Chengfeng and Niu Dageng come see me immediately."

  "Yes." Liu Tiezhu led the way and soon the three battalion commanders came to Yue Weihan's side, hiding and dodging.

  Yue Weihan suddenly stood up, and his whole person quickly regained calmness. He said loudly: "Dalong Dagen, Lao Chi, our whereabouts have been exposed for at least 80% to 90%. In half an hour at most, the little devil's infantry will catch up with us. Therefore, we can't continue hiding here. We must leave immediately."

  "But the camp..." Cao Xinglong hastily said, "You just mentioned it too, the enemy's plane..."

  "We can't afford to worry about that anymore." Yue Weihan said coldly, "The enemy's planes are indeed troublesome, but as long as we split up and act separately, their threat will be greatly reduced, and the casualties of our brothers will also be minimized! But if we stay here with a lucky mentality, once the little devils' infantry catches up, we'll all be annihilated."

  As he spoke, Yue Weihan pointed westward to a distant mountain peak that was faintly visible and said: "Do you see that mountain?"

  "His grandma, that mountain is quite far," said Chi Chengfeng. "I estimate we'll have to walk until nightfall before we can possibly get there."

  "Alright, now each of you take your respective squads, I'll take the guard platoon, and we'll split up to act separately. If we encounter enemy planes, we'll have to divide our troops again. We absolutely cannot let the little devils figure out our true intentions. Tell the brothers that for now, there's only one task: run! Run with all your might! After nightfall, we'll regroup at the foot of that mountain up ahead."

  "Yes." Cao Xinglong and the other two responded in unison, then turned around and left.

  …………

  Yu Weihan's caution ultimately saved Bao Shan Camp from disaster!

  It turns out that the wiretapping vehicle is not a standard equipment of the Japanese army. However, in order to thoroughly investigate the origin of those oxygen tanks at Baoshan Camp last time, the Japanese Tokko and the National Government's Intelligence Bureau had an unprecedented brutal secret war in various concessions in Shanghai. To deal with the intelligence agents of the National Government's Intelligence Bureau, the Tokko specially brought two wiretapping vehicles from Japan.

  Just as Liu Xin opened the radio to contact Shang Feng, these two communication reconnaissance vehicles almost simultaneously intercepted the signal. The Japanese special agents of the Tokko were not to be underestimated either. By piecing together various clues, they quickly came to the conclusion that this radio signal was sent by the Baoshan Regiment, which had broken out of the warehouse, and then rapidly informed the Japanese Central China Area Army Headquarters and the 9th Division about the approximate location of the Baoshan Regiment.

  The headquarters of the Japanese Central China Area Army and the 9th Division quickly responded.

  Regarding the Zhina Baoshan Camp, which has repeatedly caused the Imperial Japanese Army to lose face, General Matsui Isamu and Lieutenant General Yoshida Kiyoshi can be said to have hated them to the bone. Immediately, they ordered the direct aviation unit of the army to dispatch two reconnaissance planes to fly to the general location determined by the Special High School for low-altitude reconnaissance. At the same time, they ordered two bomber squadrons to assemble and wait for orders, ready to take off and bomb at any time.

  The newly appointed commander of the 36th Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Nakagawa Hiroshi, also ordered the 1st, 3rd and 5th Infantry Battalions under his command to quickly move towards the location marked by the Special High Police and advance at full speed. Nakagawa Hiroshi was well aware that the Chinese troops stationed in Baoshan were now a thorn in the side of the Imperial Japanese Army, and if he could annihilate them this time, he would surely gain recognition from Generals Yoshijirō Umezu and Isamu Yokoyama, and promotion would be just around the corner.

  …………

  Nanjing, Headquarters of the Shanghai-Nanjing War Zone.

  Deputy Commander-in-Chief Gu Zhu Tong rushed into the telegraph office, asking eagerly: "Bao Shan Camp, has Bao Shan Camp really made contact?"

  "Director-General, we've indeed made contact." The head of the telecommunications department hastily came forward.

  "Hurry and take me there." Gu Zhu said urgently, "I want to meet with the Baoshan camp, and have a direct conversation with Yue Weihan, quickly."

  As soon as the words fell, a reporter came to the front of the telecommunications director and Gu Zhu with a dark face, saying: "Director, contact with Baoshan Camp has been interrupted again."

  "What's going on?" Gu Zhuang was furious, "What happened?"

  "The signal was cut off over there." The operator replied with his head down, "We called dozens of times again, but the other side didn't respond at all. It seems that something went wrong over there."

  "Is there a problem?" Gu Zhu's expression changed slightly as he asked, "What problem?"

  "Director, could it be that the little devils are catching up again? Baoshan Camp had to interrupt contact in order to relocate."

  "Keep calling me." Gu Zhu said in a low voice, "Until we get through again!"

  …………

  Shanghai Western District

  The Bao Shan camp had just divided its troops, and a loud humming noise came from the eastern horizon. Two enemy reconnaissance planes flew out of the clouds, circling in the sky twice. One of them suddenly dived straight towards the guard platoon led by Yue Weihan. The judgment of this enemy reconnaissance plane was quite good.

  As the enemy planes approached rapidly, the huge roar of the plane engines almost pierced everyone's eardrums.

  Without waiting for Yue Weihan and Liu Tiejun's orders, the soldiers of the guard platoon had already instinctively dropped to the ground.

  Yue Weihan's face turned iron-green with rage, and he kicked one of the old soldiers' high-propped buttocks, shouting: "Get up, damn it! Get up! This is just a reconnaissance plane for the devils, not a bomber!"

  "Bang bang bang......"

  Before the words were finished, a burst of machine gun bullets had already poured down from the devil's reconnaissance plane. Yue Weihan, standing on the ground, was fine, but the old soldier who was lying at his feet was hit by a bullet instead. The crimson blood suddenly gushed out from the back of his heart. Two old soldiers rushed up in one step and carried the wounded soldier away.

  Yue Weihan took two steps forward, reached out and touched the old soldier's crotch, then coldly said: "It's over, can't be saved."

  Those two old soldiers didn't say a word, and the soldier who was shot turned around and left immediately. It's not that they were heartless, but they also didn't want to leave behind their comrade's corpse. Even an idiot knows that living people are more important than dead ones. If they had to pay with even more precious lives of brothers just for a corpse, this kind of losing deal was something nobody wanted to do.

  Liu Xin hastily said beside Yue Weihan: "General, he's not dead yet."

  "I know he's not dead!" Yue Weihan said coldly, "But his bowel movements have stopped, and the person is beyond saving."

  At this time, Liu Tiezhu panted and rushed over, saying: "Barracks, the devils' planes have come again."

  Yue Weihan looked up and saw the enemy reconnaissance plane diving down again. He cursed in his heart and ordered Liu Tiezhu: "Tell the brothers, three people in a group, separate and break through, gather at the designated assembly point before nightfall!"

  "Yes." Liu Tiezhu immediately accepted the order and left. Yue Weihan turned his head to Liu Xin, as well as two new recruits who helped Liu Xin carry the radio and hand-cranked generator, "All of you follow closely, don't fall behind."

  "Oh no." As soon as Yue Weihan's voice fell, Liu Xin suddenly let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground.

  "Get up." Yue Weihan didn't hesitate, and with one swift motion, he pulled Liu Xin to her feet. But before he could let go, Liu Xin's slender body swayed and she collapsed back onto the ground. She then made a painful face and said: "Officer, I've sprained my foot."

  "Trouble! Women are nothing but trouble!" Yue Weihan panted heavily, suddenly bending down and hoisting Liu Xin onto his shoulder like a sack of rice. He even managed to slap her plump buttocks with a loud "smack", before turning around and bellowing at the two new recruits, "What are you standing there for? Waiting for death? Move!"