Chapter Thirty-One: Retreat

  So, the Japanese army is not as strong as it seems, and the Chinese team is not as weak as imagined. Many times, the ones who defeat the Chinese team are actually the Chinese people themselves!

  It was only later that I found out that this Eight Trigrams Beard was actually Wang Xiding, the former deputy commander of the 38th Division.

  It is said that this Wang Xieding has no culture, but he was a veteran who participated in the Northern Expedition and the Central Plains War. He is an iron-blooded general who relied on his own hands to kill all the way to the position of deputy division commander.

  So I somewhat understand why he looks down on us student soldiers, a person who rose to power through brute force and murder, how can he understand the importance of strategy for an army.

  It seems that there are still many people like Wang Xideng in this era. Isn't this an era of warlords fighting each other? Today it's the Zhili-Anhui War, tomorrow it's the Zhili-Fengtian War, and then there's the Central Plains War... Those warlord leaders are like bandits, fighting each other back and forth, and in their eyes, what matters is how many men you have, how many guns you have, and how many cannons you have... Everything else is just nonsense!

  "Gentlemen!" Just as the atmosphere was slightly awkward due to Wang Xizhong's arrogance, Zhang Zizhong stood up: "The current situation, our army has already broken out of Beiping, but the crisis still exists. This time, I have summoned you all... is to discuss how our army should shake off the entanglement of the Japanese army and reunite with the main force!"

  "Your Excellency!" Wang Xidi hastily said: "What's there to discuss? The main force is in Baoding, of course we should head towards Baoding! This place is only over a hundred kilometers away from Baoding. As long as we send out a fast horse to notify the commander-in-chief to come and meet us, our two armies can probably join forces within a day. What can those little Japanese devils do to us then?"

  Several other officers also nodded, and I have to admit that Wang Xidian's words are indeed reasonable. Beijing is about 150 kilometers away from Baoding. The speed of the troops' rapid march is generally around 7-8 kilometers per hour, so in a dozen hours or so, they can cover a distance of over 100 kilometers.

  I fully believe that the troops can keep up this speed, even though they are not in good shape and have civilians with them. The reason is simple - we are running for our lives, if we slow down, there's a high possibility of being killed by the Japanese guns, who wouldn't use all their strength to run? If someone else informs the two main troops from Baoding to come and meet us, I'm afraid that within ten hours, we can join forces with the main army.

  However, I have some concerns about this approach, but considering that the officers present are all several ranks higher than me, so I don't speak easily.

  Finally, Zhang Zizhong spoke up, and after a moment of silence, he asked me: "Fang Paichang, what do you think?"

  I had actually expected Zhang Zizhong to ask this, otherwise why would he have specifically called me to attend this meeting? However, the other officers were somewhat surprised, they found it hard to imagine that their superior Zhang Zizhong would ask for a platoon leader's opinion. Especially that deputy commander Wang Xiding... no, perhaps it's more suitable to call him brigade commander, his eyes first flashed with a hint of jealousy, then a smile appeared on his face, as if he didn't take me seriously at all! Perhaps in his eyes, we student soldiers will always be just armchair strategists!

  "Your Excellency!" I ignored him and continued to speak to the map, "I think... our army taking the road to Baoding is not advisable!"

  "Tell me, what's wrong with that?" Zhang Zizhong seemed to have a lot of confidence in me.

  "It should be around 1 o'clock in the morning now... hmm..." I trailed off, stunned, because I suddenly remembered that people in this era probably still used the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches to tell time.

  The educator took out his pocket watch and said, "It's now one o'clock in the morning!"

  "Hmm!" I nodded and continued: "Even if we only need five watches to meet with the friendly army, but within two watches the sky will brighten up. At that time, how can our large team hide from the Japanese military's aerial reconnaissance? The Japanese can infer our destination based on our marching direction, and then they will dispatch planes to harass us while setting up ambushes along our route. By the time we reach Baoding to meet with General Zhang, I'm afraid it will be a bloody defeat!"

  Zhang Zizhong and the officers all nodded in agreement. In fact, I think they were also very clear about these things, but they just felt that this was an unavoidable matter.

  As expected, Wang Xiding soon spoke to me with disdain: "In a war, who doesn't die? The little devils have airplanes, what can we do? Can't just stay in one place and not move!"

  "If it were just casualties, that would be fine!" I continued: "What I'm more worried about... is that the Japanese army will send out a large force to surround and intercept us. At that time, our troops may not even have a few people left to reach Baoding!"

  "Just like the Japanese army ambushed the military training corps on Nanyuan Road!" The Director of Education added a sentence in time.

  "Hmm!" Zhang Zizhong nodded, his eyebrows furrowed together.

  "Education is worrying too much!" Wang Xizhi said carelessly: "I think... the little devils are not familiar with the terrain, their troops are mostly scattered in Beiping and Tianjin, it's hard for them to implement large-scale encirclement on our army in a short time. Even if there is... at most when we encounter the little devils, let our 39th brigade deal with them!"

  "I think what Travosa said makes sense!" A military officer agreed, "The Japanese army wants to assemble a large army within four hours and set up an ambush ahead of our army... unless they leave now, it's impossible to make it in time..."

  Zhang Zizhong snorted and interrupted the officer, saying: "The Japanese can set off now, don't forget that they have Pan Yuanguang and others providing them with intelligence!"

  Zhang Zizhong said this and everyone fell silent. I've heard of Pan Yuanguang, the reason why the 29th Army was defeated so quickly and thoroughly in Beiping is largely because Pan Yuanguang's deployment of troops was sold to the Japanese. What's more... The Japanese army was able to lay an ambush on the route of the military training team's retreat with such accuracy, completely because this traitor told the enemy the route of the military training team's retreat.

  So, the Japanese army is not as strong as it seems, and the Chinese team is not as weak as imagined. Many times, the ones who defeat the Chinese team are actually the Chinese people themselves!

  Why was Pan Yugui able to get in touch with so many high-level secrets of the 29th Army? He was originally the head of the Political Affairs Office of the 29th Army and also a good friend of Song Zheyuan, which directly led to Song Zheyuan's orders being transmitted to the Japanese before they even reached the front line! As a result, when the Japanese entered Beiping, Pan Yugui gained power and immediately became the head of the puppet police bureau in the occupied area, and openly became the spokesperson for the Japanese to negotiate with Zhang Zizhong.

  Zhang Zizhong has been fed up with this guy's temper for the past few days, so whenever he thinks of him, his teeth are clenched in anger.

  "With Pan Yugui, this traitor around, the Japanese army doesn't have an excuse for being unfamiliar with the terrain!" Zhang Zizhong said sternly: "He has been serving in our army for many years and is deeply familiar with our deployments and combat habits in various places. It's entirely possible that he can infer our marching route and prepare ambushes in advance, so... I think Captain Fang's words are reasonable, we cannot retreat to Baoding!"

  "Then..." The education chief asked somewhat awkwardly: "Where are we withdrawing to again?"

  All the officers were silent for a moment, and the two places closest to Beiping were Tianjin and Baoding. Tianjin was also surrounded by the Japanese army, just like Beiping. If Baoding couldn't go either, then there really was nowhere to go!

  It's available in faraway places too, but on the road, walking for two or three days... The Japanese can catch up with us even if we're marching on foot.

  "Your Excellency!" The Education Chief said with some worry: "Today, our army defeated the Japanese and broke through their encirclement in one battle, but this will also make the little devils furious. They will certainly view this as a great humiliation and vow to wipe out our army completely. Therefore, for now, I think there is only one way to take the road to Baoding and fight a quick decisive battle..."

  The officers fell silent again, and the education chief's words were reasonable. Since the Japanese invasion of China, it can be said that they have never suffered a defeat, but now we are both ambushing and breaking through, not to mention letting the 20th Division of the Japanese army lose soldiers and generals, and still being able to break through in an organized manner... If this time we can also let us escape safely, then the 20th Division, this trump card unit, can be said to have lost all face!

  It seems that this also proves from another aspect that the Japanese army will set up an ambush on our way to Baoding, but what can we do? We still have only one place to go...

  No! There's still one more place to go!

  "After some thought, I pointed at the map and said: 'Why don't we retreat to Tianjin?'"

  "Hmph!" Wang Xiding sneered: "The surroundings of Tianjin are full of little devils, and it's hard to protect ourselves. Are we going to throw ourselves into the net by retreating to Tianjin?"

  "Withdrawing to Tianjin is not advisable!" Zhang Zizhong also shook his head and said: "The Japanese army is short of troops because they have to divide their forces, if our army withdraws to Tianjin, the Japanese army can concentrate its forces to surround our army or attack Tianjin..."

  "If...," I interrupted Zhang Zizhong's words, "if we can make the little Japanese wait in ambush for us on the road to Baoding, while our army has already changed direction and is heading straight to Tianjin?"

  At these words, everyone was taken aback for a moment. Zhang Zitong's eyes lit up: "What Commander Fang means is..."

  I didn't say a word, I just pointed with my finger on the map towards Baoding, then suddenly turned and went straight to Tianjin...

  "Good!" Zhang Zizhong's face quickly revealed a smile: "After all, Fang Pailong has a way out. This move not only can help our army successfully break through the siege, but also may lift the siege of Tianjin at the same time. It can be said that one stone kills two birds!"

  "Not..." The Education Chief laughed and said: "Maybe it's still possible to infuriate Pīn Tōng Mào to the point of harakiri, so it should be said that one move achieves three gains!"

  Katō Tada? Hearing this unfamiliar and strange name, I was stunned for a while, only to find out later that he was originally the commander of the 20th Division of the Japanese army!