Chapter 53: The Situation Doesn't Look Good

  "Brothers, the situation has changed. The headquarters ordered our regiment to withdraw from the position immediately and retreat to the north bank. The situation is already very grim, everyone must be mentally prepared. Now we will divide the whole regiment into three squads, led by Captain Guo, Captain Dong, and Captain Li respectively. In case of emergency, we may have to disperse and break through..."

  "What about the several mortars we've set up? What are we going to do with them?" At this time, Wu Fayun stood out from the crowd and anxiously asked while looking at the several mortars beside him.

  "All heavy weapons have been abandoned... Old Guo quickly took stock of the number of people and prepared to set off. The devils may be coming soon, and if we delay, we might get stuck...". Guo Xinju heard the order and quickly divided the surrounding soldiers into three teams. They still had around 200 people left. In fact, the Japanese army facing them had not made any progress in their attack, and except for leaving two small teams behind, the rest had already been transferred to the Western front line two days ago. If it weren't for Lin Jiadong bringing all the seriously wounded back to the north shore when he left, Guo wouldn't have been able to abandon them, and they didn't have any heavy weapons except for a few captured mortars.

  "With a bow... ... ... ..." After confirming that all the troops had gathered, Zhang Dabao led everyone to the hill where the fallen soldiers were buried.

  "Let's go..." Zhang Damao wiped away his hot tears and slowly lowered the raised right hand, then waved it. Everyone looked at their brothers who were sleeping here with reluctance, slowly walking down to the foot of the mountain.

  "Zhang 'Misty' Dragon, you turtle grandson, your ears are stuffed with donkey hair! What are you still standing there for?" The squad led by Dong Dajun at the front had already gone far ahead, but Zhang 'Misty' Dragon was still standing in front of the tombstone of Northeast Soldier 'Big Mouth', lost in thought.

  "'Big mouth' you wait, if I don't die, in the future every year I will come to sing Northeastern Er Ren Zhuan for this stupid guy......" After finishing speaking, he glanced at Zhang Da Mao and carried his machine gun following the team walking down the mountain.

  "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Hurry up your pace! Uninjured brothers help the injured ones!" Zhang Damao shouted repeatedly as he waved a standard in his hand amidst the advancing troops.

  After running at a fast pace for more than two hours, they arrived at Yangjia'anzi in Yinhe Town, where the headquarters of the 232nd Regiment was located. At this time, the regimental headquarters had already withdrawn, and not even an old villager remained in the village. It was now possible to hear intermittent and scattered gunfire not far away, and Zhang Daman knew that this must be the Japanese army surrounding and annihilating the dispersed Chinese troops.

  "Damn it, they've arrived so quickly..." Zhang Damao cursed in his heart as he gazed in the direction of the gunfire, then ordered his troops to accelerate their advance towards Cao Nipu's mansion.

  "Commander, the troops are too exhausted, why don't we stop and rest for a while before continuing?" Guo Xin said, panting heavily as he ran to Zhang Damao's side.

  "Hold on a bit longer... Tell the brothers to speed up, we'll rest after catching up with the main force... The Japanese army behind us must have caught up by now..." Zhang Damao didn't stop, but said this while running and talking to Guo Xingju.

  "Alright, brothers, let's put in some effort... the regiment commander is waiting for us just ahead at Caojiazhuang Village! Let's hold on a bit longer..." Guo Xingju shouted loudly as he took over the rifle from a soldier with bandages on his hand and slung it over his shoulder. Upon hearing that the regiment commander was just ahead, the troops, who had clearly slowed down just moments before, suddenly quickened their pace once again.

  They soon arrived at the Dai Yin House, and looking at the exhausted team, Zhang Da Mao ordered them to stop and rest for 20 minutes on the spot, taking advantage of the time to eat dry rations and replenish their strength.

  "It seems that many of our troops have encountered the Japanese army... damn it...". At this time, the gunfire around them was getting denser and denser, as if there were gunshots everywhere. Zhang Daman took out a cigarette from his pocket, smoked two puffs, and handed it to Li Liansheng, saying.

  "Yes... listening to the gunfire... the devils should have arrived at Liu's pasture by now. Hopefully, there are no Japanese troops in front of us. Li Liansheng took two puffs and handed the cigarette back to Zhang Damao, continuing to curse: "Damn it! We're dying here for them, while those turtle eggs are probably already retreating to the north shore to watch the excitement."

  "I'm going to curse his ancestors... Two armies just ran away like this, even if they could hold on for another half day, we wouldn't have had to run so desperately... I'm exhausted to death..." At this time, Guo Xingju and Dong Dajun also arrived in front of the two.

  "If running for your life can save you, then hurry up and burn incense! " Zhang Damao said, looking at Guo Xinju as he handed him a cigarette.

  "Hey, is the battalion commander really waiting for us in Caojia Village? With the Japanese army's mobility, I'm afraid they'll soon be blocking our way. The battalion commander shouldn't have stopped...". Dong Dajun, who had just grabbed a canteen and taken a sip of water, wiped his mouth with one hand while looking at Zhang Damang and asked

  "Do you think Guo Dama is stupider than you? Didn't you hear the order 'one who can run away is one'?! " Li Liansheng said with a look of disgust after snatching the cigarette that Guo Xingju had just lit and taking two big puffs.

  "It's also... his grandma's... really 'the soldiers are defeated and the mountain collapses'! At present, I don't know how many brothers are trapped on the south bank by the devils..." Dong Dajun knew that Li Liansheng was just worried and didn't mean to be at odds with him, so he didn't mind.

  "They've gone... They've gone... The little devils behind us must have also reached our backsides...". Zhang Damao gazed at Dong Dajun with a gloomy expression and gave the order in a low voice.

  "Bang, bang, bang, bang... Boom, boom, boom, boom..." Just then, the originally quiet front suddenly transmitted the sound of gunfire, and from time to time, it was mixed with the explosive sound of mortar shells. The gunfire was not far from them, at most 40 or 50 miles away.

  "Grandma's, , , , , little devils have indeed run to our front, , , , , quickly, , , , , all get up, , , , , quickly, , , , " Li Liansheng heard the gunfire and crawled up from the ground, shouting loudly at the troops.

  "I hope Guo Dama Zi and the others have broken out already...". Zhang Da Mao looked in the direction of the gunfire and thought to himself, knowing that the previous shots were definitely from other units of the 232nd Regiment who had withdrawn ahead of them and were fiercely battling the devils.

  "Ge Laozi, Di,,,,,, Gui Erzi,,,,,, Pao Si Laozi Le,,,,,, Hai Bu Ru Dai Zhe Er Rang Guizi Gan Si De Le" Wufa Yun sat up from the ground, shouting loudly.

  "You turtle grandson, just wait here for the devils to serve you...!!" Guo Xinju kicked Wu Fayun, who had already thrown away his gun, in anger and then ignored him, running forward.

  "Damn it!" Wu Fayun cursed in a low voice at Guo Xinju, who had already run several meters away, before getting up and following the team that had already set off.

  The gunfire was getting more and more intense, and very dense. Zhang Damao urged the soldiers beside him while anxiously thinking in his heart: "It seems that Guo Damazi has not broken through yet." Zhang Damao heard such dense gunfire, knowing that it was definitely not a small unit that was exchanging fire with the Japanese army, and in this direction, except for Guo Jizhou's regimental headquarters and the third battalion and second battalion stationed on their right side at Huangnipu, there couldn't be so many troops.

  "Brothers, add a bit more strength... the brothers in front have already exchanged fire with the devils, hurry up and charge out to break through the devils' encirclement together with the battalion, then we can smoothly return to the north shore... Add a bit more strength to your feet...

  Zhang Damao was very anxious at this time. He didn't know how many Japanese soldiers were blocking Guo Jinan's way, nor did he know if they could break through the devils' blockade. Moreover, before they broke through the devils' blockade, he didn't know if his own company could catch up. If they were late, his company would probably be surrounded by the devils.

  The other platoon leaders were all veteran soldiers who had fought for many years and knew this point, so they were all urging the soldiers to speed up their footsteps, which had slowed down."

  "The sound of gunfire seems to have thinned out a lot..." After rushing for another half hour, the sound of gunfire ahead had decreased significantly. Li Liansheng ran to Zhang Damao's side and said while running.

  "Yes, yes... Grandpa's... I don't know what the situation is like now..." Zhang Daman had also figured it out. At present, there were only three reasons why the gunfire had stopped: first, the Japanese troops were not numerous and had been defeated by Guo Jinan; second, they had broken through the Japanese army's blockade and escaped; third, which was what he dared not think about, the front-line troops had been defeated and dispersed by the Japanese army, and were now scattered and fleeing, or even completely annihilated. Except for the first situation, the other two situations were not good news for Zhang Daman and his 200 men.

  "If the troops in front have already been defeated by the Japanese army, and we go up now, when the Japanese army catches up with us, it will be a dead end." At this time, Dong Dajun also ran over. After listening to Dong Dajun's words, Zhang Damang stopped in his tracks, hands in his pockets.

  "Ah, what's the matter with you, Zhang Damao? It's about time...!" Li Liansheng knew that Zhang Damao was craving a smoke, an old habit of his. Whenever he encountered difficulties, he would think of taking a puff. In his anxiety, Li Liansheng snatched the cigarette from Zhang Damao's hand, lit one and stuffed it into Zhang's mouth.

  "Order the troops to slow down, Li Zi you bring a few physically strong ones to rush forward and check out the situation..." Zhang Da Meng said after spitting out a smoke ring.

  Before he could finish, Li Lian Sheng turned around and ran over, pulling Zhao Zhi Bang and two other physically strong soldiers out of the ranks to follow him as they quickly ran past.