Chapter Fifteen: Endurance

  The knife is already at our throat, how much longer can we endure?

  "Assembly!"

  I was woken up by a loud shout, and in a daze I thought I was still in the school dormitory. It wasn't until I opened my eyes to see the rifle leaning against the headboard that I suddenly realized we were in Beiping, fighting the Japanese! So I jumped up, grabbed the rifle, and rushed out...

  "Get out!"

  "Get out!"

  ……

  I hadn't run a few steps before I was stopped by several soldiers under my command. I looked at them in confusion: "Aren't you supposed to be gathering outside? Why are you stopping me?"

  "Look over there..." Chen Dalie explained: "That's the gathering of troops from the 38th Division, it's not us!"

  "Ah!" Upon hearing this, I finally relaxed and plopped myself down on the bed beside me.

  "Where are they going?" asked a monkey beside him.

  "Who am I supposed to ask?" I glared at the monkey, isn't he just asking for a scolding? I had just woken up and wasn't clear about the situation, and only just realized it was already evening.

  "They might have gone to fight the devils!" someone guessed.

  "It can't be!" The old squad leader looked out the window into the darkness, shaking his head and saying: "The city wall is only a ten or twenty minute walk from here, if we're going to fight the devils... then there's no need to bring quilts along!"

  "So they are..."

  "Retreat?" The two words slipped out of my mouth involuntarily.

  I knew all along that Twenty-Nine would retreat tonight, but what I find strange is... why didn't they take us with them!

  "Are you saying...?" The warriors heard and became even more puzzled: "Are you saying we're going to retreat?"

  "It's not just a retreat!" Chen Dali's face turned very ugly, he almost gritted his teeth and said: "The superior is going to agree to the conditions of the little Japanese, to negotiate with the little Japanese..."

  "What? How can this be!" Chen Dali's words had barely fallen when the military camp erupted into chaos.

  "How can our superior do such a thing? And agree to such humiliating terms that betray our country!"

  "No way! We resolutely refuse to negotiate with those little Japanese!"

  "Let's go! We'll reason with the boss!"

  ……

  "Come back!" I called out to the warriors who were about to go find Shang Feng to reason with him, "You don't even understand the situation and you're going to reason with him? What are you going to reason about?"

  Actually, I'm very clear that they didn't guess wrong, it's just that I don't want them to make more trouble. On the other hand, I'm also thinking if we'll be next after the 38th division withdraws... The soldiers don't want to retreat, but I hope we can retreat as soon as possible! After a whole day of fighting and killing, it feels like I've had a nightmare!

  "Exactly!" The old squad leader also advised on the side: "I'm telling you! You're just too impulsive, the superiors have their own considerations, we soldiers just follow orders and take care of ourselves, look at you guys..."

  The warriors, after being told by me and the old squad leader, seemed to think it was reasonable, so they all fell silent and sat back. However, even though they were like this, they still couldn't calm down, either pacing anxiously in the military camp or fiddling with their own rifles!

  Student soldiers are student soldiers after all! Although they are also soldiers now and have fought battles, the education they received makes them unable to get rid of the essence of "students", that is, they can think independently and face their superiors' orders with a mentality of "the rise and fall of the world, one man has responsibility".

  This can be said to be good news, and it can also be said to be bad news.

  It's a good thing, with this mentality they will have a stronger sense of responsibility and responsibility, and on the battlefield they will also perform more bravely, even sacrificing themselves to save others.

  It's a bad thing... That is, they will get used to doubting the orders of their superiors and sometimes even argue with them! If it were in peacetime, it would be fine, but on the battlefield where every second counts, it would undoubtedly be fatal!

  "Attention! Left turn! Forward march..."

  With the sound of neat footsteps, the warriors of the 38th Division walked out of the military camp one by one, and in a short while, the originally crowded military camp became quiet and empty.

  "It's our turn to withdraw now!" I thought when the last batch of troops walked out of the military camp, but no matter how long I waited on the left and right, I still didn't wait for the order from my superiors. A vague premonition climbed onto my forehead...

  I remember that when Song Zheyuan withdrew the 29th Army from Beiping, he left four regiments to negotiate with the Japanese together with Zhang Zizhong. Our military training regiment shouldn't be one of them!

  It's better for us to leave anyway! Our military training team is a basically untrained army, and leaving us in Beiping won't make any difference, will it?

  But thinking about it again, I think it's very likely that anyone who stays in Beiping will be in a precarious situation. If the Japanese have negotiation sincerity, then it's fine, but if they don't...then these four regiments, including Zhang Zizhong, are sheep entering the tiger's mouth. In fact, this is indeed what happened: of the four regiments left behind by Song Zheyuan in Beiping, only one regiment managed to break out, while the others either fell into ambush during the breakout or surrendered to the Japanese. Even Zhang Zizhong himself escaped through an American missionary acquaintance (at that time Japan had not yet declared war on the US and was still cautious around Americans).

  Song Zheyuan was also very clear about this in his heart, so based on his idea of "preserving strength", he would naturally not leave his elite troops to die in Beiping, and it naturally fell to our military training division...

  Thinking of this, I couldn't sit still anymore, and suddenly stood up and asked: "Where is Commander Xu?"

  "Barracks No. 15!" The old squad leader seemed to be unable to sit still either, stood up and said: "Not far from here, I'll take you there!"

  "Uh-huh!" I nodded and followed Old Squad Leader out after giving a brief order to the warriors.

  It wasn't until I walked out of the barracks that I realized there was no need for Old Squad Leader to lead the way, because Colonel Xu's barracks were already packed with people, and it seemed like everyone was going to ask about the situation just like me...

  I squeezed into the crowd and saw that Xu Lianchang was also full of helplessness, it was clear that he didn't know anything either! However, this trip wasn't completely fruitless, from my soldiers' conversations I found out: The division commander had already convened a meeting with all the battalion commanders and education officers of the military training group, as for what the meeting was about... nobody knew!

  "The battalion commander is back!"

  "The principal is back!"

  ……

  As a burst of excitement, the warriors rushed up with a whoosh, and it was ridiculous that I still didn't know what "Education Chief" was at this time. Later, I found out that it was actually the title for the chief instructor in the military training team! As the team leader, Tong Lin Ge had already sacrificed himself, so the one who could take charge of this team was the Education Chief.

  "Brothers!" The instructor was a man in his thirties, not very old, but the scar on his face showed that he wasn't a rookie like us on the battlefield...

  "Comrades!" The political commissar raised his hand and waited for the soldiers to quiet down before continuing, "Don't panic, comrades. The higher-ups have their arrangements. All cadres at the regimental level and above are having a meeting in the conference room!"

  "Director of Education!" A regimental commander chimed in: "Many battalion commanders have sacrificed themselves at Nanyuan, and there hasn't been time to appoint...".

  "Then... let's call all the department heads, anyway the conference room is big enough!" The Minister of Education frowned.

  The officers of the military training team suffered such heavy casualties for a reason. In the military training team, all the officers were not only veterans but also experienced veterans. They were our instructors before the war and naturally they would be at the forefront during the battle... Of course, except for me!

  The conference room was indeed large enough, as the education director said, and nearly a hundred officers of all sizes from the military training team were accommodated in it without feeling crowded. Perhaps this conference room itself was prepared for a company to hold meetings inside, so tables, chairs, amplifiers and other equipment were all available.

  "Comrades!" After the warriors were seated, the education director said to us: "I will briefly explain the current situation. In fact, comrades have already seen that the 29th Army has largely withdrawn from Beiping, and the military seat, the mayor of Beiping, and others have also retreated to Baoding..."

  The meeting room was in an uproar as soon as the words were spoken. Then someone at the back shouted, "What's the point of us staying here then?"

  "Is Gunza going to negotiate with the Japanese?"

  ……

  The education minister's face was stern and he didn't speak, waiting for the noise below to gradually subside before continuing: "When General Zhang left, he decided to leave Zhang Zizhong as acting chairman of the Hebei-Chahar Political Council and mayor of Beiping. He also ordered our military training group and the 39th brigade's four regiments to stay in Beiping to assist Chairman Zhang in maintaining order! This meeting... apart from conveying orders from above, I also hope that everyone will unite as one, work together to maintain order in Beiping, and ensure that Chairman Zhang can have normal dealings with the Japanese!"

  Unlike the last time, this time all the warriors were stunned, and the entire conference room was silent... I slumped back in my seat, cursing him silently, it's really like I imagined, Song Zheyuan abandoned our military training team to die in Beiping!

  "Brothers, I know you don't want to see this situation and don't want to carry out this task. Nor do I! Rather than waiting for death, it's better to fight the devils with real swords! If we die at the hands of the little Japanese, it will be shameful and perhaps the people will curse us as traitors for eternity. But brothers... our shoulders bear not only our own fate, but also the survival of the 29th Army and the safety of the people of Beiping! So, let's endure first and foremost, otherwise it will affect the overall situation and ruin the big plan of our superiors. Do you understand?"

  At the words, I couldn't help but shake my head secretly. These are all good soldiers! However, they were ruined by the high-ranking military officers with deeply rooted warlord thinking under the pretext of beautification!

  The fall of the three northeastern provinces is like this, and it's still like this now. The knife is already at our throat, how much longer do we have to endure?