On the railway from Shanhai Pass to Beiping, a passenger train was running, on which General Wang Yizhe, dressed in civilian clothes, his deputy officer and three guards were seated.

  Since the September 18th Incident, Northeastern Army officers and soldiers had to carry out the superior's non-resistance order, and could only use their flesh and blood to resist the Japanese bullets and shells, after suffering heavy losses, the commander of the Seventh Brigade, Wang Yizhe, had to abandon the Beidaying officers and men and flee to Beiping to report to Zhang Xueliang.

  In the September 18 Incident, Zhao Zhenfan, who had repeatedly requested to fire the first shot, did not receive approval. On the morning of the 19th, he was forced to lead the Seventh Brigade in a humiliating retreat from Beidaying Camp due to the non-resistance order.

  Looking at the flames rising to the sky behind Fengtian City, Zhao Zhenfan wailed and cried: "Great General, Young General, I, Zhao Zhenfan, am unworthy of you! The Northeast Army's decades-long foundation was destroyed by my own hands!" After speaking, he shed scalding tears onto the black soil beneath his feet.

  Under Zhang Xueliang's orders, Zhao Zhenfan had to lead the remnants of the 7th Brigade to Beiping to join Wang Yizhe.

  The troops marched south, but the Japanese invaders did not let go of the defeated Northeast Army. Along the way, heavy artillery pursued and attacked the defeated Chinese troops, and large numbers of brave soldiers fell on this black land, their hot blood staining the dark earth red.

  The defeated army retreated southward, with fewer and fewer people, apart from those killed by the Japanese devils, it was clear that some had deserted!

  Wang Yizhe was absent, and Zhao Zhenfan, the chief of staff of the 7th Brigade, flew into a rage: "The country is in danger, and yet there are people who dare to be deserters!"

  Shortly afterwards, the guard company brought back sixteen deserters, led by a big, burly man.

  These "deserters" knelt on the ground, and Zhao Zhenfan walked up with a heavy face. He took a look at the tall man in front of him and asked with a pained expression: "What kind of people are our parents?"

  The man replied: "It's the common people."

  "Who are our brothers, sisters and relatives?"

  The Hanzi and the crowd of fleeing soldiers replied in unison: "It's the common people."

  Zhao Zhenfan asked: "Where did our clothes come from?"

  Everyone replied: "It comes from the common people."

  Zhao Zhenfan asked again: "Where does the grain we eat come from?"

  All the officers and soldiers replied in unison: "It came from the ordinary people."

  Zhao Zhenfan asked: "What were we originally?"

  Everyone replied: "Also ordinary people."

  Finally, Zhao Zhenfan asked: "We have such a relationship with the common people, how should we treat the common people?"

  Everyone present responded in unison and loudly: "We should love them, help them, protect them!"

  "Good!" Zhao Zhenfan looked at the fleeing soldiers with a pained expression, "But now, when the country is in trouble, you have become deserters! How can you explain this to the ordinary people? Answer me! You've disappointed me too much!" After finishing speaking, he turned his head away.

  That fellow struggled to get up, but was held down by two guards. He shouted loudly: "Sir! We are not deserters! Let us go! We want to go back and fight the devils! Sir, can you bear to see our parents, brothers, sisters, wives and daughters fall into the hands of the Japanese invaders and be ravaged by them? We want to go back and fight the devils!"

  The captain of the guard whispered in Zhao's ear: "What shall we do with these deserters? Shall we kill them?"

  "No!" Zhao Zhenfan turned his head around, with tears in his eyes. "They are not deserters! They are all good men!"

  Almost all the officers and soldiers knelt on the ground: "Your Excellency, the devils are burning, killing and looting on our land, we want to go back and fight the devils!"

  Zhao Zhenfan was already choked with sobs, he could hardly control himself, kneeling on the ground and wailing: "Brothers, I Zhao Zhenfan am just like you, a hot-blooded man! Unfortunately, I'm a soldier, I have to obey my superiors' orders! Brothers! I Zhao Zhenfan owe you an apology!"

  All the officers and soldiers were crying together, someone shouted: "Commander, let's go back to fight against the devils!"

  "Sir, the devils are slaughtering our relatives and humiliating our wives and daughters. Let us go back to fight against the devils!"

  Zhao Zhenfan waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet. Then he stood up and looked around at the crowd, saying: "Brothers, as a soldier, we can't protect our fellow villagers and elders, can't protect our homeland from being ravaged by the enemy, my heart is more painful than yours! But I am a soldier, I cannot disobey orders from above! Today, my mission is to safely escort you back inside the pass!"

  Originally, Zhao Zhenfan wanted to say "We'll fight back, even if we die, we'll die in Fengtian!" But the words that reached his lips were swallowed back. He couldn't disobey his superior's orders, despite being a hot-blooded man himself. His heart was bleeding at the thought of not being able to protect the ordinary people who had raised him as a soldier defending his country!

  Several "deserters" knelt on the ground, and the guards who brought them back also knelt down. All officers and soldiers of the whole regiment knelt down.

  "We'll go back and fight the devils!" The shouts of all officers and soldiers grew louder and louder.

  "Brothers, we are soldiers and must obey the orders of our superiors! Please forgive me, Zhao Zhenfan cannot allow it!"

  "But, General, protecting the country and our homes is also our duty as soldiers! We can't just abandon our families and villagers!" The big Han who led the "deserters" said to Zhao Zhenfan with a face full of sadness and indignation.

  Since these people have become "deserters", let them go! Thinking of this, Zhao Zhenfan suddenly stood up and announced: "You sixteen people, violating military discipline, arbitrarily escaping from the team! Considering that you have been in my Seventh Army for many years, I can forgive you and not punish you with death! However, although the death penalty can be avoided, the living penalty cannot be escaped! You several, from today on, are removed from our Northeastern Army! Where do you want to go?

  That big Han still wanted to argue, but suddenly he thought that this was the Chief of Staff's pardon for himself, and he must have allowed himself to go and fight the devils! Thinking of this, he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhao Zhenfan: "Thank you, sir, for not killing me!"

  "Go away! Even if you're caught by the devils, it's better to die than to be a traitor! Otherwise, I, Zhao Zhenfan, will be the first to kill you!"

  Dahan knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying: "Master, I, Wang Zihao, will definitely not disappoint your expectations!"

  Zhao Zhenfan turned his head around, he didn't want the warriors to see the tears welling up in his eyes: "You still don't hurry and leave! If I change my mind it will be too late!"

  Sixteen good men were untied, they are about to leave the team, alone and thrown into the self-organized anti-Japanese Righteous and Brave Army. Maybe this team is still weak, maybe this team can be easily wiped out, but after all, it is also an unstoppable force of Chinese men rising up against Japan!

  Thus, Zhao Zhenfan led his troops southward, and the farther they went, the more "deserters" there were. As for these "deserters", General Zhao Zhenfan also deliberately turned a blind eye to them, letting them off under the pretext of "striking their names off the list".

  More and more warriors ran back on their own initiative.

  In real history, these scattered anti-Japanese forces would soon be annihilated by the Japanese army, and most of the soldiers who retreated would die heroically for their country. Only a small number later joined the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army led by the Communist Party.

  But now, with Li Bin's arrival, history is quietly changing.

  Li Bin and Hong Biao walked out of the forest, with Hong Biao carrying the directional machine gun that had been dismantled from the tank. Even during rest periods, he couldn't help but lovingly caress this machine gun.

  "What a great gun!" Hong Biao said, stroking the machine gun. "It's light in weight and fast in firing speed!"

  Of course! This gun, whether compared to the Maxim water-cooled heavy machine guns used by the Nationalist Army at that time or the Type 3 heavy machine guns used by the Japanese (the Japanese army had not yet equipped with the Type 92 heavy machine gun), has incomparable advantages! Not only is it light in weight, but also a metal chain-fed machine gun.

  The Maschinengewehr 08 was fed by a canvas belt, which tended to cause jams when no assistant gunner was available. The Japanese Type 3 heavy machine gun and Type 92 heavy machine gun were both fed from stripper clips, had slow rates of fire, and could not be fired continuously without an assistant gunner! However, this aircraft-mounted machine gun could fire continuously once attached to a metal ammunition belt, eliminating the need for an assistant gunner.

  It was 1931 at that time. It wasn't until later, when Germany introduced the MG 34 general-purpose machine gun, that a truly modern and advanced machine gun appeared in the world!

  The epoch-making machine gun brought by Li Bin will play a huge role in future wars. The caliber of this machine gun is 7.62mm, different from the 7.92mm machine gun used by the Nationalist Party at that time. This will also bring some trouble to Li Bin. Once the bullets he brought are exhausted, this machine gun can no longer play a role.