Chapter Ten: Compilation

  When the more than 100 people arrived at Qin Wei's secret base with the captured Japanese military weapons, Yang Dong's eyes widened immediately. Because he heard that Qin Wei was quite arrogant, and when he saw that his subordinates, including Qin Wei, had only a total of 7 people, this kid was lying again.

  Whatever they say must be returned to the Central Army, and they clamor that they are the Central Army, they are the main faction, how they are.

  However, when he saw Chen Da-kui, dressed in ordinary clothes and with a cold face, accurately hitting an unexpected magpie at 400 meters, Yang Dong very wisely shut his own mouth.

  He knew that his kung fu skills were effective at close range, and he could take down 10 Chen Daqis, but when the other side opened fire from 50 meters away, even 10 of him wouldn't be a match for one of their guns.

  After Yang Dong's disturbance, several old soldiers from the Sichuan army also had the intention to leave, but facing Qin Wei, who was considered their lifesaver, the men didn't know how to bring it up.

  During this time, Qin Wei paid great attention to stockpiling food and various living supplies. He had eliminated a small team of devils and found a lot of dollars, gold, and French currency on their bodies. Except for the gold, Qin Wei exchanged the dollars and French currency for grain reserves, otherwise, it would be difficult to deal with the sudden increase of over 100 mouths.

  Watching the soldiers and civilians devouring their food, Qin Wei smiled faintly, continuing to plan in his heart how to subdue these people and make them go with him to fight against the devils.

  First and foremost, the ones that need to be taken care of are those several Sichuan troops led by Ma Hong. Looking at their tattered military uniforms, Qin Wei felt a surge of acid in his heart. It was already December, but these Chinese soldiers from Sichuan were only wearing thin cotton jackets, with some even still wearing straw sandals on their feet. This made Qin Wei feel extremely uncomfortable.

  Thinking of this, he turned his head and asked Ma Lian: "Brother, why are some people still wearing straw sandals? Don't you know that it's now the tenth lunar month, which is a life-threatening time?"

  "Hey, what can we do? When we left Sichuan, we were just wearing straw sandals. After arriving in Shanxi, we became the unloved and uncared for ones. The Military Affairs Department and the Second War Zone all pushed us away, saying that supplies are tight and they haven't given us any replenishments. To be honest, sometimes when we were with the Japanese, we could still get a full meal, but in our own troops, we often went hungry. Who made us Sichuan soldiers? No choice, huh?" Ma Hong's words, laced with a Sichuan accent, made Qin Wei feel a pang of sadness in his heart. Later on, Qin Wei would learn that among the 3 million soldiers who left Sichuan, one-fifth of them shed their blood on the battlefield. They used their simple equipment to fight against the Japanese army, which was armed to the teeth. They were using their own chests and hot blood to resist the invaders for their country and nation. Qin Wei's heart burned with a fiery passion at this thought.

  "Hmm, you wait a bit, I'll go find something for you." Saying that, he got up and came to the front of a wooden house, pushed open the door and started rummaging around.

  It has to be said that Da Kui and the others were of peasant origin, after annihilating the original mountain guerrilla team, these people stripped dozens of little devils clean, coats, cotton shoes were all loaded onto carts and brought back, later they were transported to Chenjia Slope, then slowly transported to 'Yi Xian Tian'.

  And this wooden house was their warehouse.

  Qin Wei rummaged around for a while, found several pairs of Japanese army's sheepskin boots, and directly threw them in front of Ma Hong and the others, saying: "Let my brothers try them out, it's freezing cold outside and not having insulated shoes is deadly."

  Ma Hong looked at the cotton shoes on the ground, raised his head and looked at Qin Wei with gratitude, but didn't say any words of gratitude. He just nodded heavily and picked up the cotton shoes from the ground to distribute them to the soldiers who were still wearing straw sandals.

  Those soldiers who got cotton shoes all looked at Qin Wei with gratitude on their faces.

  After everyone finished eating, Qin Wei arranged for everyone to find a place to rest. The wooden house was not enough, so he arranged for everyone to enter the mountain cave to find a sheltered spot. Then, they used wooden sticks to start a fire to dispel the cold and damp air, allowing everyone to have a good rest.

  Finally, after more than a hundred people had settled in, the sky had darkened, and after going through all sorts of torture and mental pressure from being captured and arrested, everyone quickly fell into their dreams, which was probably the most restful sleep they'd had during this period.

  When everyone else had fallen asleep, Qin Wei sat alone by the bonfire, lost in thought.

  Outside the first line of defense, Qin Wei had already arranged for sentries to be posted. This was no longer like the time when there were only a few people; with such a large number of people, it was necessary to set up sentry posts outside, or else something bad might really happen.

  Just as Qin Wei was thinking silently, the deputy commander of the Sichuan army, Ma Hong, somehow appeared beside him and slowly sat down next to the bonfire, silently staring at the burning flames.

  Qin Wei glanced at Ma Hong, smiled and threw a piece of wood into the bonfire, then said in a low voice: "Vice Captain Ma, when are you planning to leave?"

  Ma Hongtou said without turning his head: "I thought you were going to recruit us few people."

  "Haha, to be honest, fighting the devils there is all the same, no need to go back to your old unit. You should know that your unit's current situation isn't very optimistic. Our great leader will definitely not let the already-outside Sichuan army return, and Yan Xishan of the Second War Zone is notoriously stingy in Shanxi. Under his command, if you're not from Shanxi, you won't get any benefits. The Eighth Route Army is no better than yours. If you go to be a traitor or a running dog, you might be able to eat hot food, but can you do that kind of thing? So in my opinion, you guys fighting the devils there are all the same." Qin Wei analyzed the situation for Ma Hong.

  "I've known these things all along, I've been wearing this uniform since 1927, but every year it's the same thing - fighting against our own people. Today we fight him, tomorrow we fight another, and then we fight the Red Army, and after that, we fight the Central Army. If I weren't thinking about my family back home being able to eat, I would have quit being a soldier long ago. But now it's wartime, and as a Chinese man, you can't just sit around doing nothing.

  When we left Sichuan, our fellow villagers surrounded us, cheering us on - it was truly moving. The old folks said that the only time they'd seen such enthusiasm from the people was when we overthrew the Qing dynasty. Usually, whenever soldiers came by, everyone would hide and avoid them, afraid of getting caught up in trouble.

  But now that it's wartime, we're all fighting for our country, and thinking about how the people treated us back then... I'm ashamed to show my face. I remember when I left for battle, my mother told me: 'Son, go fight those Japanese devils, don't bring shame to our Chinese people. If you do something shameful, I won't recognize you as my son.'

  But after we left Sichuan, we became like stepchildren - hungry and cold all the time. We endured it all, but who would have thought that our own Sichuan army would be reduced to such a state? We were hoping to fight against those Japanese devils in Shanxi, even if it meant dying. Our unit was considered one of the best, but then we got defeated by just one small enemy squad... our commander died, three platoon leaders died, and over 100 brothers were lost. How can I go back and explain this to our superiors? How can I tell them that our entire unit was scattered by just one small Japanese squad?"

  At this time, after listening to Ma Hong's words, Qin Wei also understood Ma Hong's mood at this moment. He was full of passion and eager to fight against the little devils, but as soon as they clashed, he was defeated. What kind of thing is this?

  Here is the translation:

  "Thinking of this, Qin Wei pondered for a moment and organized his words, saying in a soft voice: 'Vice Commander Ma Lian, to be honest, your military achievements are really nothing. If during the Battle of Xinkou, the Central Army and our Shanxi Army were defeated by the Japanese devils, losing our helmets and armor, and even Taiyuan was lost, what would that mean? The Japanese army is already stuck in the mud in Shanxi. Although they occupy major cities and transportation hubs, the vast mountainous areas and countryside are still under our control. As long as we persist in resisting the Japanese, the devils will be at a loss for what to do with us. Look at how the Eighth Route Army is making trouble behind enemy lines - sometimes we really should learn from them. Vice Commander Ma Lian, if you think I'm still useful, stay and work with me. I, Qin Wei, may not have other talents, but when it comes to fighting devils, I absolutely won't hold back. I've seen through the Japanese devils - if we can't defeat them, our Chinese people will never be able to live a good life."

  After finishing speaking, his eyes stared directly at Ma Hong, but Ma Hong remained silent for a long time and still didn't speak, which made Qin Wei's heart inevitably surge with a thread of anxiety.

  "Director Qin, can you carry water on both ends of a pole? There are people from the Shanxi Provincial Army among them." Ma Hong finally expressed his concerns.

  Qin Wei immediately guaranteed: "In the future, if you feel that I am unfair in any way, you can take your brother and leave immediately. Qin Wei will not have a single complaint."

  Ma Hong nodded silently and got up to return to his own group of friends, lowering his voice to whisper something.

  As he watched Ma Hong leave, Qin Wei let out a long sigh of relief. He knew that as long as he handled Ma Hong properly, the several Sichuan troops would not be a problem.

  Those thirty or so Shanxi-Suiyuan troops were no longer a problem, the highest ranking one was a senior sergeant named Lei Ya Fu. It's said that this kid's most impressive skill is hand grenade throwing, within 70 meters there's no chance of missing, although this was said by Lei Ya Fu himself, but looking at his appearance it didn't seem like he was bragging at all.

  These people looked at Qin Wei's Jinwei military uniform, just like seeing a relative, and added that Qin Wei had saved the lives of these little ones, who dared to have any opinions.

  The Central Army, however, was fixated on Yang Dong alone, constantly clamoring for him to return to the Central Army. First, he was intimidated by Chen Daogui's gun, and then after seeing Qin Wei also show off his quick-draw pistol skills, he shrank back and didn't dare make a peep.

  Good guy, two pistols fired alternately, single-handedly reloaded the magazine, 25 meters within gunshot, targets fell, it's simply a monster, whoever provoked him is not looking for death.

  After seeing the situation clearly, Yang Dong obediently shut his mouth, and Qin Wei also promised that in the future, as long as he encountered Yang Dong's old unit, as long as Yang Dong himself was willing, he could go back, which made Yang Dong feel at ease staying with Qin Wei.

  In the end, it was just these civilians. Except for a dozen or so families who lived nearby and strongly demanded to return home, others from farther away were directly kept behind by Qin Wei. Moreover, the roads back home were all infested with devils, which made these civilians have no choice but to stay here and become soldiers.

  Immediately, Qin Wei reorganized everyone into a single company, with Qin Wei as the company commander, Ma Hong as the deputy company commander, Guo Kun as the leader of the first squad, Lei Yaofu as the leader of the second squad, and Chen Anping as the leader of the third squad. The platoon leaders of each squad were elected by the soldiers themselves.

  A dozen or so veterans were selected from the Shanxi and Sichuan armies, forming a grenade launcher squad with three grenade launchers as the current firepower support for the troops.

  There was also a guard class, with very few people, only Chen Da-kui, Chen Da-yong, Chen Da-ming and a few others who came out of Chenjia Slope with Qin Wei. These few people were all insiders, the only outsider being Yang Dong this kid.

  At first, he was assigned to a lower unit, but he insisted on being a squad leader, and if not, he wouldn't go. In the end, Qin Wei had no choice but to arrange for him to join the guard battalion instead.

  It was called a guard class, but in fact it was a experimental force organized by Qin Wei according to the formation of special forces in later generations. Qin Wei wanted to see how much energy such a weakened version of the special forces had.

  The armament was still quite good, with each soldier having a submachine gun and a rifle, two light machine guns per squad, plus a Type 38 or '65 rifle for each man.

  Such armaments, although not comparable to the firepower of a Japanese army division, were far superior to those of domestic troops at the regimental level, let alone the Sichuan Army and the Eighth Route Army.

  After the troops were reorganized, they embarked on intense training. Qin Wei began to train these 1930s soldiers and militiamen according to the training model and standards of the People's Liberation Army in later generations.

  The empty land within 'One Line Sky' was opened up by everyone and became a training ground, where a team of over 100 people began their arduous training in the valley.

  Another ten days have passed, and there are only a few more days until 1938. Qin Wei and the others also encountered a new problem.

  On that day, Qin Wei was writing the training plan for the next phase when Ma Hong, who had been temporarily assigned to manage logistics, walked into Qin Wei's small wooden hut with a worried look on his face.

  Qin Wei heard the footsteps, looked up and saw Ma Hong's worried face, slightly stunned, then said: "Old Ma, what's wrong? You look so troubled, is there something on your mind?"

  "Captain, I took a look at our food supplies today and they're not much anymore. You know how intense the training is for us soldiers every day, it's extremely exhausting. If we can't keep up with the food supply, something bad will happen." Ma Hong spoke of a very severe reality.

  Qin Wei furrowed his brow upon hearing this, and the pencil in his hand lightly tapped on the surface of the desk in front of him. He said softly, "Is it really that expensive? I've stored nearly 10,000 kilograms of grain in the mountain valley, as well as some other things. How can they be used up so quickly?"

  "Yes, captain, you should know that there are more than a hundred big and small guys here. Each one of them can't eat less than half a kilogram or eight taels for one meal, and this doesn't even include side dishes. Add to that some other meat dishes, what a wonderful surprise."

  "So how much money is left in our account now?" Qin Wei wanted to know how much he had left.

  "The little yellow fish still has 4 roots, this thing hasn't moved, the ocean still has 6 pieces, and the legal tender is gone. You say that thing depreciates quickly, all exchanged for things, the devil's military ticket can't be used at all, the common people don't recognize it, and the yen are all spent. On paper, there are only these things left." Ma Hong was still very familiar with this mess of his own.

  "Oh, so that means we're out of money now." Upon hearing this, Qin Wei stood up from his chair, furrowed his brow and began pacing around the room.

  After thinking for a while, Qin Wei seemed to have made up his mind and turned to Ma Hong and said: "Old Ma, what do you think will happen if we fight now?"

  Ma Hong was also shocked, and said anxiously: "Captain, you must think carefully. In our team, there are only about 40 or 50 old soldiers who have seen blood, while the others are all civilians who have just been trained for a dozen days. These people are not yet ready to go into battle."

  "Yes, I know what you're saying, but our biggest crisis right now is that if we don't think of a way out, we'll really starve to death. We can't find our superiors, and there's no supply, so we have to rely on ourselves. It's absolutely impossible for us to go loot the ordinary people, so we can only set our sights on the little devils. Take a look." Qin Wei spread out a captured map of the little devils' territory on the table, pointing at several locations and saying: "This is General Ridge, and below it is the highway. I recently had Chen Youde investigate thoroughly, and every day there are convoys of vehicles passing through here to deliver supplies to the devils in Changshui Town - food, clothing, ammunition, medicine, everything. And Changshui Town has a supply depot for the devils in southeastern Shanxi Province, with things piled up like mountains inside. There's also a large quantity of materials stockpiled there for the devils' 40th Brigade to attack the Changzhi area. In Changshui Town, there's an entire battalion of devils, along with artillery and cavalry - they can't move, but we can't even touch their transport convoys? According to Chen Youde's investigation, the most troops the devils have guarding their convoys is just a small squad. Our current strength is twice theirs, and our firepower is also much stronger than the enemy's. Why can't we do it? We can plan carefully and complete the battle in an hour, sweep the battlefield in half an hour, and then we'll be like dragons returning to the ocean, tigers entering the deep mountains - no one will be able to catch us."

  Ma Hong crouched over the map, studying it carefully for half a day. As an old soldier who had fought for ten years, the adventurous spirit still flowed in his blood. After deliberating for a long time, Ma Hong slammed his fist on the table and shouted: "Alright, let's take a look at the map! On one side of General Ridge is a cliff, and on the other side is a steep precipice. With this terrain, if we blow up the front and rear vehicles of the little devils' convoy, they'll have nowhere to retreat. Plus, with our firepower, we can make it impossible for them to come or go. This deal is done!"

  The two of them exchanged a glance and burst out laughing at the same time. Ma Hong stood up with a "whoosh" and walked outside while saying, "I'm going to inform the officers to come to a meeting to discuss the specific details of the battle plan. Tomorrow I'll go to the scene to survey the terrain. This time we must give those little devils a good beating, let them know that people from Sichuan are not easy to mess with, especially us Sichuanese, we're not to be trifled with." The last sentence in Sichuan dialect made Qin Wei laugh out loud.