Episode 5: The Eighth Martial Arts Competition, Passionate Burial of the Chariot

  Sakura looked at Dongdong, who was getting angry, and explained hastily: "Dongdong, don't think too much, the Japanese government has been searching for missing persons during the war all these years. It's just to let them return home, fall leaves return to their roots... The tank soldier in this 122 tank is a famous young painter from Japan back then, his son is now a member of the Japanese parliament, and his grandson is a secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan stationed abroad. All these years, his family has never given up searching for him in China. If it's confirmed to be the 122 tank, the Japanese government and his family will pay a lot of money to redeem the remains and the tank."

  Secretary Jiao said on the side, "From a humanitarian perspective, returning the remains should not be a problem. However, the tank is evidence of Japan's invasion of China back then, whether to return it or not requires further discussion."

  Zhan Dongdong hadn't finished speaking, and immediately continued: "Secretary Jiao, I'm straightforward and speak my mind. Regarding your statement that 'the war chariot is evidence of the Japanese government's invasion of China', I have two different opinions. Firstly, I've always opposed this kind of 'evidence' talk. Wherever you look, there are mass graves, Japanese bombs, and wartime maps... Those who publicize these discoveries as if they're treasures are actually quite pitiful. We don't need to find evidence to prove anything, nor do we need the Japanese to acknowledge or not acknowledge it. The fact that Japanese people stepped onto Chinese soil and killed countless Chinese is an ironclad fact, a universally acknowledged fact - what more evidence do we need to prove it?! It's like being beaten up and still needing proof of being beaten! What kind of thinking is that?! If the war chariot is evidence, it can only be a testament to the Chinese people's resistance against invasion, a memento of our fight against the invaders! And it's something that no amount of money can buy back!" Zhan Dongdong said this and nodded at Secretary Jiao: "Sorry, Secretary Jiao, I'm just talking about this phenomenon and my point of view."

  "Furthermore, people always say that it was the Japanese government and militarism that invaded China back then. I think that at that time, it wasn't just the responsibility of those few Japanese war criminals, but rather the responsibility of the entire Japanese nation and the imperial family. Look, even artists came to participate in the war effort, as well as writers, teachers, doctors, students... and women voluntarily became comfort women. Almost everyone was mobilized, taking pride in participating in the holy war, with the entire island's population dreaming of migrating to the mainland to live a happy life, dreaming of occupying others' homes to ensure their own nation's survival. On this issue, the Japanese nation has not reflected on its mistakes, which is unacceptable to the Chinese nation. This is also why the Chinese government can remain rational while anti-Japanese sentiment among the people remains high."

  Dong Dong took another look at the excavation site of the workers, turned around and said to Sakura, whose face was a bit pale: "Sorry Sakura, I'm a person who doesn't take things personally, but we Chinese understand Japanese family affection. However, we don't want Japan to glorify those robbers who did evil in other people's homes as national heroes and bring them back to be worshipped in shrines. Please also make your friends understand that our generation of Chinese will not let others bully us or come to plunder, burn and kill at will."

  "So," said Dongdong to Secretary Jiao, "I suggest we continue digging. Xiangzi is also here and we will treat the dead with kindness."

  Finally, Captain Nie made a move, and it was clear that the old soldier had combat experience and coordinated tacitly. As soon as Captain Nie saw the tank stop in front of the pit without moving, he pondered for a moment and ordered the heavy machine gun to cease fire, letting the light machine gun squad, which had just escaped back, provide cover. Then, they pretended to lift the heavy machine guns towards the two horse-drawn vehicles. The tank apparently also observed this, stopped in front of the two pits, and the hatch of the leading tank opened. A tank officer looked through binoculars for a while, then pointed forward and shouted loudly: "Don't let them escape - avenge our comrades!" It seemed they hadn't forgotten the four tanks that were destroyed by the heavy machine gun a few days ago.

  Six tanks roared forward, and to Zhang Biao's surprise, the four facing the ditch didn't care about the slope and simply crushed the ditch. The two facing the opening were motionless, firing their cannons. At this time, only Zhang Biao was exposing his head, observing, and shouting at his comrades who were hiding behind cover, holding heavy machine guns: "Don't move yet, the two toads in front of the pit haven't moved yet! Ha, okay, they've moved...!" In everyone's bated breath, two dull explosions were heard, and the two tanks in front of the opening were hit, disappearing from view. One of them was the command tank. The four tanks in front didn't seem to notice the disappearance of their two companions and continued to charge forward.

  Zhang Biao shouted loudly, "Fire! First strangle the enemy's neck!" Six heavy machine guns suddenly emerged from their hiding places and were mounted on the repaired fortifications. They immediately spat out flames one after another. The two tanks at the front were each enveloped by three tongues of flame from the heavy machine guns. After advancing more than 50 meters, the turret "fell asleep" and couldn't move anymore with a loud creaking sound.

  At this time, Zhan Biao discovered that the third and fourth tanks were turning their turrets to search for the two missing tanks. Obviously unable to find their companions, they turned around and headed towards the position of the trapped tank. Seeing the buttocks exposed by these two tanks in their panic, Zhan Biao quickly gave the order: "Everyone shoot at the buttocks!" The six heavy machine guns abandoned the tanks in front of them and again fired three at a time at the rear oil tank positions of the third and fourth bean tanks. In just a few seconds, these two bean tanks exploded one after another, engulfed by huge flames that swallowed their shadows, with one still wandering around like a headless fly before coming to a stop.

  Just then, the two tanks in front of them charged into view. The heavy machine guns' firepower weakened for two reasons: one was that the tanks were too close and there wasn't enough time to adjust the angle; the other was fear of accidentally injuring their own people. Almost all six heavy machine guns stopped firing. One tank directly pressed towards Peng Xuefei's heavy machine gun, and although Peng Xuefei and his deputy gunner and ammunition handler dodged in time, the heavy machine gun was knocked over.

  The two tanks charged through the machine gun position and immediately turned back, rushing towards the machine guns to crush them. Zhan Biao and Peng Xuefei quickly ordered everyone to scatter, and they played a game of "eagle catching chickens" with the tanks. The agile comrades occasionally pulled this one and protected that one. This situation was very dangerous, fortunately, the tank's turret could not rotate, and the tank could only observe and fire clumsily from the front.

  While adjusting the heavy machine gun to both sides, Cheng Yi appeared with a flamethrower on his back. This 93-style flamethrower was developed and produced by Japan in 1933, weighing 25 kg, with 14 liters of fuel, a range of 28 meters, and a spraying time of 12 seconds. The Japanese army had used it in the Battle of Shanghai, making the National Army unable to defend against it. Clever and curious Cheng Yi always wanted to let the Japanese taste the bitterness of their own weapons.

  Cheng Yi led his assistant to agilely stick to the side of the tank and run, always within three or four meters. It was clear that they were not too familiar with the operation, and after messing around for half a day, they still hadn't managed to get any fire out. At this time, the two tanks seemed to sense their own danger, and the two tanks stopped moving, monitoring each other's surroundings and firing shots to provide protection for each other. However, it was already too late, and instead allowed Cheng Yi to sneak behind one of the tanks and operate at ease, finally managing to get the flamethrower to spit out fire, with a 5-second burst that instantly turned the rear of the tank into a fireball. Desperate cries for help came from inside the tank, followed by it quickly turning around and rushing towards the small river. The cunning Japanese soldiers were trying to use the river water to extinguish the flames, but just as they reached the river, the fuel tank exploded, sending splashing water columns in all directions.

  The last tank seemed to have given up all hope, knowing that if it turned back it would be shot in the rear. It suddenly charged towards a small bridge not far away, perhaps this was a way out. But a burst of heavy machine gun fire immediately followed it, targeting its fuel tank position. Then another one, and then two more... And also Nie's squad fired two shots from the front, finally the tank exploded at the head of the bridge.

  More than 20 comrades cheered on the heavy machine gun position, and more than 40 soldiers from the rifle squad across the river also shouted and ran over the bridge. Nie, the platoon leader, ordered Dai's light machine gun squad and one of his own squads to remain in place, monitoring the battlefield. This was not because this squad was unable to move quickly, but rather a matter of military common sense - they had to maintain vigilance and calm on the battlefield at all times.

  In the cheers of everyone, Zhan Biao and Peng Xuefei walked step by step towards the pit with their pistols, San De and Cheng Yi rushed forward first, and everyone followed them to surround the pit... Ah, it's strange, why haven't any devils climbed out of the pit yet?

  Three De one probe head laughed and put away the pistol. Everyone followed the probe head to take a look and understood that the tanks were all sideways in the pit, and the cannon cover was stuck on the wall of the cave and couldn't be opened. The tracks turned futilely, and the cannon barrel on the turret also turned futilely trying to turn over the three-ton body. Cheng Yi squeezed over, aimed at the tank in the pit, and sprayed out a three-second flame, and the Japanese soldiers inside wailed and cried out. When preparing to spray fire at the second tank in the pit, he was held back by Zhan Biao next to him: "This tank is No. 122, give it a complete corpse."

  At this time, a plainclothes warrior riding a donkey rushed back to report that there were large numbers of Japanese troops rushing over in front, and six tanks.

  The car is on the road. Zhang Biao raised his head and looked at the dust rising in the distance, shouting loudly to everyone: "Hurry up and bury the toad! Do it!" The soldiers who had been trapped in the pit for a long time didn't quite understand what was going on, but after a moment of silence, there was a burst of cheers. Everyone had already heard about the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in Nanjing and Wuhan, where they collectively buried our troops and civilians alive. Today, this is a case of using their own methods to punish them.

  The warriors once again wielded their shovels like rain, burying and cursing as they went: "Let the little Japanese toad kill our old people, bury it! Revenge!", "Let the ghost's broken tank go down into the ground!", San De heard the desperate cries of the Japanese soldiers in the tank and retorted: "Too late, ghosts. You didn't think there would be a day like today when you were showing off your military might and killing Chinese people!" Peng Xuefei did not stop them, although the New Fourth Army did not kill prisoners, but now it was unclear whether the soldiers in the tank had surrendered or not. Moreover, Peng Xuefei was busy burying two martyred warriors at the time.

  After a while of human sea tactics, the two pitfalls were flattened again. At the same time, another useless empty pit was also filled up. Cheng Yi urged everyone to continue raising and repairing it to its original height as a water ditch, explaining that it was for leveling after rain, so as not to be discovered by people.

  When everyone was bandaging the 7 wounded and lifting the heavy machine guns, including the two crushed ones, onto the horse cart to prepare for retreat across the river, a mounted sentry rushed over on horseback, saying that in this direction, there were also two companies of devils and six tanks surrounding them. It turned out that the cunning Songshan had deployed troops on both sides to attack from front and back. Zhan Biao and Peng Xuefei exchanged a smile, and Peng Xuefei gave the order: "Retreat according to the third plan!"