Chapter 1: I Became a Soldier

  "Are you feeling better? Drink some porridge quickly." I opened my eyes dazedly, and a big aunt wearing a coarse cotton-padded jacket said as she helped me sit up straight, putting a bowl of thin porridge in front of me.

  "Where am I? Am I not on the execution ground, already shot dead?" My thoughts had just begun to unfold when the hunger pangs in my stomach instantly suppressed everything. I took a bowl of thin porridge and started eating with my head down, slurping away.

  "Haha, look at this kid, so hungry, eat slowly, why gobble like a pig eating slop? There's plenty of porridge in the kitchen. Haha, look at how hungry this kid is." Auntie smiled and walked out, then came back with another bowl.

  Two bowls of thin porridge down the hatch, although just barely filling a low spot, but finally having energy to think. The first scene that appeared in my mind was the feeling of death.

  On the execution ground, with a black hood over my head, I was panting rapidly inside, and the violent gasps made my chest heave violently. The entire hood was being pulled in and out with each breath. Fear of death enveloped my whole body, instantly draining all my strength. "Wait! Wait! I want to see my parents one more time!" I shouted loudly, unaware that tears had streamed down my face. "There's a photo in the lining of my wallet!"

  A prison guard removed my hood, I couldn't wait to see the light, but the blood-red sunset pierced my eyes, making me squint. I looked at the photos of my parents, and my heartbeat seemed to calm down a bit. "Thank you!" I said, swallowing hard. The hood was put back on my head again, and everything fell into darkness once more. Perhaps humans are born with a fear of darkness; the little courage I had just mustered up was crushed by the darkness again. "I'm only 26, I don't want to die!!" Bang! A sudden sharp pain, and almost simultaneously, consciousness left my brain...

  "Uggghhh..." I shook my head and let out the fear that had been building up in my chest. This feeling was really unbearable. As an 80s-born, after being discharged from the army, I lived a ordinary life as a commoner. I couldn't afford to buy a house or a car, get married, have kids, or even get sick. My parents ran a small business but were constantly harassed by law enforcement. Every day, they would curse the injustice of society and the corrupt officials.

  One time, while driving to deliver goods, I got into an accident. A high-ranking official's son had been playing parkour and jumped off a two-story building, landing right in front of my truck. He was hit by my vehicle and died on the spot. It should have been just a traffic accident, but somehow I ended up being sentenced to death! My appeal was also rejected.

  I'm not stupid, I knew it was that corrupt official who had rigged the whole thing. Damn it, corrupt officials!

  Prolonged hunger had left my legs weak, I leaned against the wall and walked out of the thatched cottage. The dazzling sunlight made my eyes unable to open, slowly, the green tiles and bricks house came into view.

  Dozens of robust men wrapped in cotton clothes stood in the yard, and an old man nearly 60 years old stood on a high platform in front of the yard. Next to him was a beautiful girl, estimated to be his daughter. The old man looked like he was already nearly 60 years old, but he shouted hoarsely: "My children, you may not be my biological sons, but I have raised you as my own. Today, the Japanese pirates humiliated our China, killed my brothers, and insulted my sisters. How can we live in hiding? The rise and fall of a country is the responsibility of every individual. Today, I will send you to join the army, to kill the Japanese bandits. Is anyone afraid? Is there anyone who wants to be a coward?" The old man turned his back and shouted: "I'll count to three, one, two, three." None of the 50 or so people moved. The old man took two deep breaths and continued shouting: "Good! It was not in vain that I taught you all these years. Bring wine!"

  I plopped my butt down on the stairs: "Anti-Japanese, Wokou? I'm telling you, filming a movie? Doesn't seem like it, no director, camera, or crew, and there's no way they could get a shot that long... unless... I've crossed over?"

  The aunt who had just delivered food to me happened to pass by, and I grabbed her arm and asked, "Auntie, what year is it now?" "Hehe, young man, you must be starving, it's the 25th year of the Republic." The aunt held a basin of clothes to be washed and replied to my ignorant question while walking. Hearing this, I felt a mix of emotions, including a hint of joy at having narrowly escaped death, as well as many worries about my parents and uncertainty about my future. I knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times with a loud "thud thud thud". These three kowtows contained my attachment to and helplessness towards my past life. This sudden noise also caught the attention of the old man speaking on stage, and following his gaze, more than 50 people in the schoolyard turned their heads to look at me.

  The old man gazed at me, walked unsteadily to my front, helped me up and said: "A boy has gold under his knees. Now the country is in trouble, a good boy should fight on the battlefield, kill the enemy and report to the country, are you willing?"

  Looking at the old man's scorching gaze, I dazedly nodded.

  October 1, 1937, the Guangxi Army held a grand military parade and officially went out of Guangxi to fight. At this time, the Battle of Shanghai had already entered a comprehensive defensive phase for the National Revolutionary Army, and the situation was urgent!

  In the midst of a crowd, I dazedly entered the military camp. It wasn't until I realized which army I had joined and what battle I was about to fight that I scolded myself in my heart for being impulsive: "Liu Lang, you fool! You're so reckless! Didn't you even consider where you are, which army you've joined, and what war you're fighting? If you get killed by a single enemy soldier without even getting to kill one, it would be a waste of this transmigration!"

  As I walked on the marching road, I was still shaking my head in depression. Born under the red flag and growing up in the spring breeze, I unexpectedly joined the National Army, which was a miscellaneous army - the Guangxi Army. This was a famous army in that historical period, one of the strongest combat units in the Nationalist Party's military, and also one of the units with the largest number of troops deployed. The battlefield I was about to enter was the internationally renowned Battle of Shanghai. 700,000 troops were involved in the battle, with over 300,000 casualties. Listening to veteran soldiers who participated in the war, when the Japanese artillery fired, the entire position would shake, and legs, arms, and intestines would be scattered all over the ground. The entire trench was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood. In the first round of shelling, eight out of ten soldiers urinated in their pants, crying out for their parents, and those who tried to escape were immediately shot dead by the military police behind them. There had never been such a brutal war.

  "Old ghost, how did you come back again? I knew it, your old lady and daughter-in-law are even more ruthless than the men, they must have coaxed you back. If the army were to recruit female soldiers, I reckon your mother and sister-in-law would both have to go to the battlefield." A big soldier said with a chuckle, this guy's robustness exceeded my understanding of Chinese people, nearly 1.9 meters tall, with a sturdy physique, from behind you would definitely think he was European, it's hard to imagine looking at this giant in front of me. Can Chinese people also develop muscles like this? In this era of national famine, can such a bodybuilder-like guy still be found?

  "Get going, get going! Help me carry the gun, no more nonsense!" The old soldier turned around and threw a rifle to the big soldier behind him.

  "Brother Zhang, can we really take on those little Japanese devils in a straight-up fight?" a nearby soldier asked.

  "Nonsense, are we going to fight guerrilla warfare like the Red Bandits? What was that saying again, 'guerrilla, guerrilla, roaming but not striking', hit and run, bringing disaster to the common people. A bunch of wastrels, all they know is how to run! Think back to when our ancestors were being chased and beaten by them, if it weren't for the orders from above, we would have wiped out the Red Army long ago." The big guy next to me, carrying a Czech-style machine gun, was still speaking casually. Although his words were somewhat exaggerated, they weren't entirely false, during the encirclement of the Red Army, the Guangxi Army did indeed fight bravely.

  "Zhùzi Gē, I heard that those little Japanese are quite formidable. They've never lost a battle before. They're not even afraid of bullets; bullets can't kill them."

  "Shut up, that's because they haven't met our Guangxi troops, if they had, they would have rolled back home long ago. Haha~~~" Zhu Zi chuckled twice and turned his head to shout again: "Right or not?"

  "That's right, yes, haha." A murmur of noise came from the army.

  At 1.78 meters tall, I walked alongside the pillar and was clearly a big shot, although I wasn't weak either, but standing in front of this muscular man, I was obviously an undernourished bean sprout. Looking at the Czech-style machine gun on the pillar's shoulder, I estimated that this guy should be a machine gunner.

  "Stop the nonsense, speed up! Prepare to enter Hengyang." The command came from the front of the troops, and everyone started running, instantly kicking up clouds of dust. Many old soldiers clearly knew that they were once again rushing towards death, but compared to the civil wars they had participated in before, they felt a sense of glory, having become numb to war.

  Hengyang Street

  "What's going on ahead? Why have we slowed down?" shouted Zhu Zi.

  "It seems like ordinary people have come out to support the army."

  "After all these years of fighting, this is the first time we've encountered ordinary people welcoming us." The surrounding soldiers whispered.

  "Zhu zi ge, what's written on the big red cloth all over the street?" The little soldier looked at the crowds of people welcoming the troops and felt especially happy, giggling foolishly.

  "Who's Laozi?" The pillar still carried that machine gun and walked for a while before his breathing adjusted.

  "I wish the brave sons of Guangxi to hold on to their determination to defeat the Japanese pirates and never return. The people of Hengyang will resolutely be the backbone of the Guangxi army." I said, looking ahead. Although it was in traditional characters, I could still read it out loud. Although I haven't been in this era for long, I can still feel the love that people have for soldiers who defend their homes and country. This feeling is like having someone push you from behind, making your chest stick out an inch further.

  "Hey! Old devil, we've got a show-off here," said the pillar next to me with a pat on the old devil in front.

  "Hey kid, your accent doesn't sound like ours from Guangxi." Old Ghost turned his head to the side and said to me.

  "Yes, I'm an orphan, wandering around." I said casually, looking ahead, my mind still pondering whether to go to the battlefield of Shanghai or not, after all, I knew clearly in my heart that this was a battle that would inevitably be lost.

  "How can you join our Gui army?" Lao Gui continued to ask in a casual tone.

  I glanced up at the old devil, and out of the corner of my eye I saw that the pillar and several Guangxi soldiers around us who could hear our conversation were all staring at me. In my heart, I cursed: "You think I'm willing to join your broken Guangxi army? No weapons, no equipment, even if it's a national army, it's still a legitimate one, but this is just a miscellaneous army." Although I thought so in my heart, on the surface I maintained a dignified expression and said: "Who doesn't know that the Guangxi army is as fierce as a tiger and as cruel as a wolf? A good man joins the army, of course, he should come to the Guangxi army." The phrase "as fierce as a tiger" was indeed praise for them, but "as cruel as a wolf" did contain a hint of my own emotions. After all, I had been in the military before, and in my heart, I still leaned towards our own army. This Guangxi army, after all, had deep grievances with the Red Army, and during the encirclement period, it was this unit that fought fiercely.

  "Haha, well said." Zhu Zi patted me on the shoulder, startling me and making my whole body lean towards him. "You're just a bit skinny, but once you're on the battlefield, if you dare to lose face for our Guangxi army, I'll beat you into a sieve." Zhu Zi sneered, swinging his machine gun in his hand.

  "Haha!" I sneered and glanced at the pillar, looking up at the sky and saying: "A big mule or a big horse is valuable, but what's the use of being a big person?"

  "Looking for death!"

  "Alright, let the people of Hengyang see a joke. If you have the ability, go practice with the devils, don't be arrogant in your own nest!" The old devil's one sentence suppressed Zhu Zi.

  After a few days of getting to know them, I basically figured it out. In their combat squad, Lao Gui is the big boss, Zhu Zi is the second-in-command, and that Squad Leader Si Xi is actually just a figurehead.