Chapter 6: The Great Wall Ballad (Part One)

  Soon, Shi Liangcai couldn't afford to worry anymore. The independent regiment brothers responsible for patrolling the surroundings sent back a warning message that in a village about five miles west of them, a large group of Japanese devils had appeared.

  "What are the devils doing in such a remote place?" He furrowed his brow and asked Liu Huazi, commander of the 31st Independent Regiment, in a low voice.

  "Found you! In the enemy's words, it's a mop-up operation!" Liu Hezi smiled and showed a few points of admiration. "The day after you left, intelligence arrived from Beiping. That night, the little devils lost nearly thirty large cannons! And a very large frontline gasoline depot was also ignited by you. The little devils have been in a tight spot with gasoline supplies these past few days, and even their planes and tanks aren't moving around as frequently as before!"

  "It was the gasoline depot that Old Ji led the three battalions of the Special Task Force to do!" Shi Liangcai smiled wryly, but his heart couldn't be lifted no matter what. From a local perspective, the results of the Special Task Force were brilliant. But looking at the overall situation, the Central Army had lost miserably. The 29th Army was retreating, the 26th Route Army was retreating, and even the Central 52nd and 53rd Armies, which were said to be better equipped than the Japanese devils, were also retreating in large strides. It had only been a month since they officially started fighting the Japanese devils, and yet Beiping, Tianjin, and half of Hebei had already been lost. At this rate of retreat, it wouldn't take two years for everyone to be driven back to the Pacific Ocean!

  "Let's take a different route, try not to run into the little devils! The military department has given orders that if they can intercept you, they must bring you back alive!" Liu said with a bitter smile, looking up at the gloomy sky.

  Most of the troops have withdrawn, and there are only about a hundred people left around me. Not even enough to fill the gaps between the enemy's teeth. He didn't dare think that he could create any miracles! Everything is focused on preserving his own strength, and he will evade the enemy as far as possible.

  With this attitude, Liu led more than 100 brothers to take the mountain path as much as possible, hiding during the day and moving at night. They would rather move slowly than risk being discovered by the devils. Thanks to the surprise attack by the special operations team a few days ago, the devils' planes were rarely seen. Even when they did move, they focused on searching for the main force of the central regiment, and didn't want to get entangled with a hundred or so "杂鱼" (insignificant people). So the group walked relatively smoothly, only encountering two small scouting teams of devils, and successfully returned to the actual control area of the central regiment.

  Those two devilish scouting parties had only a dozen or so people, Liu Hezi led the big guys to casually surround and swallow them. Among them, there was even an instance where they captured four little devils alive, which could be considered a miracle since the start of the war. Unfortunately, Liu Hezi was not interested in escorting prisoners at all, he just glanced at the devils' faces and ordered his brothers to bury them alive.

  "When dealing with humans, you have to use human methods. When dealing with beasts, you must use the methods of beasts. If you insist on treating beasts as humans and they bite back, it only proves your own foolishness!" Liu Huazi, commander of the 31st Independent Regiment, explained with a look of distaste on his face.

  As the battalion commander, he didn't need to care about a new recruit's law. But this time, the special operations team's achievement was too great, and it was said that even the central government was shocked. The 26th Route Army had always had the tradition of promoting cadres from the special operations team. Today's new recruits might become platoon leaders or company commanders after going back. After fighting a few more battles, relying on his cleverness and cultural knowledge, he could easily climb to lieutenant colonel or colonel under the eyes of old regimental commander Sun Lianzhong.

  His judgment was very reliable, the team was still more than ten miles away from the military department, and the commander of the 27th Division, Feng Anbang, had already been entrusted by Sun Lianzhong to lead a group of high-ranking and mid-level generals of the 26th Route Army, as well as journalists and comfort team members who came from Nanjing, to welcome them. He specifically requested to meet with the triumphant return of the Special Service Corps brothers.

  Unfortunately, Zhang Songling was really unlucky and before he could even finish listening to Feng Changguan's words of comfort, his legs went soft. Li Yingchang, the chief physician of the medical battalion who had come with Feng Anbang to welcome the special task force, rushed forward to check on him upon seeing this. Only then did they discover that several pieces of shrapnel wounds on his body had become infected and were oozing pus. The flesh around the wound was curled outwards like a carp's mouth, and one could vaguely see small maggots wriggling inside.

  "Wow!" Two beautiful female journalists from Nanjing, bent down together and vomited violently! Several officials sent by the central government to boost morale at the front line also had their lips tightly pursed, with their intestines churning up to their throats.

  "Save him, hurry up and save him! Take him to the officer's ward, no matter what it takes, I want him back!" Feng Anbang immediately became anxious, not bothering to let the triumphant hero give the 26th Army a boost in front of the people in the central area, he shouted loudly.

  Several military department staff took off their coats and personally lifted up Zhang Songling, this new recruit who was much shorter than them. Just as they started to take a step forward, Shi Liangcai fell down on the other side. The head of the medical battalion, Li, rushed over to check on him and had just untied the bandage when he smelled a strong odor of rotting flesh.

  "Who bandaged his wound!" Although he had never been on the battlefield, Captain Li's anger was like a fierce devil. "You might as well have shot him directly and spared him this lingering suffering!"

  "I, I, I washed it for him, washed the wound with white wine, washed it with white wine!" The independent regiment's medical soldier Xiao Zhao, who had already turned pale, lowered his head and confessed in a sobbing tone. "I, I only studied traditional Chinese medicine for a few days before, didn't, didn't treat external injuries before. It was, they insisted on me being the medic!"

  "We'll settle the score later!" Li Yinglong cursed, not bothering to find a medical soldier to trouble him, and went to check on Old Gou who was still unconscious. Fortunately, Old Gou's body was resilient, although he had been tormented by high fever and was still unconscious, his wound had not become infected. After ordering people to carry away Old Gou, he went to Hu Feng again, and at the wound on his back, he found a large amount of pus and blood.

  The welcome ceremony for the triumphant return of heroes was completely cancelled. The reporters and officials who had come to interview four members of a small team, in the news that the whole line would retreat, also left on their own initiative. Re-collect materials, prepare to show off at the next welcome ceremony. Anyway, dozens of people from the special operations team will be back soon, and it is said that the gasoline warehouse at the front line of the devils was blown up by Ji Shaowu, the commander of the special operations team, in person.

  Twenty-seventh Division Commander Feng Anbang personally escorted Old Gou and Zhang Songling to the medical camp, supervising the entire process of re-treating their wounds before leaving with red eyes. Before he left, he held Li's hand and repeatedly instructed him: be sure to send the four heroes to the high-ranking officer ward, assign a special person to accompany them for 24 hours. If any medication is needed, as long as it can be found on the market, send someone to buy it. Even if it can only be bought in Shanghai or Guangzhou, you can send a telegram to the military department and ask them to buy it and have it delivered by special plane from Nanjing.

  In fact, even if he didn't repeatedly instruct and entrust, Li Yingchang would still spare no expense to treat these four people. He had already completely abandoned his opium addiction, relying solely on the secret supply of the special operations team. And as for Commander Gou, he had an extraordinary relationship with Wu Jie, the head nurse under his command.

  Then, Zhang Songling vaguely enjoyed the treatment of a military officer again. This time it was not living in a large room with more than ten people, but in a suite, a special ward for officers above the regimental level to recover from injuries! Every day there is no shortage of meat, eggs and fresh vegetables, and occasionally you can even drink goat's milk to nourish your body.

  Under the careful care of Li Yingchang and Nurse Wu, it only took five days for his wounds to subside. Three days later, the stitches on the wound could be removed, although occasionally there was some itching, but when turning over, he no longer felt any pain. Shi Liangcai and Hu Fengshou had long since escaped danger and spent their days idly playing Go together. Among the four of them, Lao Gou was actually the last one to get out of bed and move around, his complexion was pale and scary, and when talking to everyone, he was also listless, only managing to utter a sentence per half day. Several times, Wu Jie deliberately told jokes to him, but to no avail. She got angry, slammed the plate on the stool, and walked away in frustration.

  During this time, Lao Ji also came several times. Seeing Lao Gou's decline into such a state, he tried every means to persuade him. But Lao Gou just smiled wryly and said in a low voice: "I understand all the reasons you mentioned. After all, I've been through so many tough battles, can't I still tell the difference between local and overall situations? My heart aches for our special troops brothers, over a thousand people, and in the end probably not even a third are left!"

  "Three battalions added together, only 327 are left. Your battalion has the most remaining, the other two battalions were completely annihilated!" Old Ji couldn't help but sigh when mentioning the losses of the special task force. To say that he didn't feel heartbroken would be self-deception. In these few years, he and Lao Gou had used all sorts of methods to make money, even resorting to selling second-hand military equipment and usury, just to personally create an elite troop. Who would have thought that this troop was defeated so badly in its first battle against the little devils?

  The two of them sat opposite each other, lost in their own thoughts, neither having the heart to say another word. After all these years as brothers, who saved whose life was only natural. Words of gratitude were unnecessary. As for other topics, especially those related to the war situation, bringing them up would be distressing, so it's better to pretend ignorance for now.

  Pretending to be deaf and dumb is the most useless tactic. Although Commander Ji didn't want to let Old Gou and others know about the development of the war situation, so as not to affect the recovery of the four people's injuries. Although the nurses were also instructed by Li Camp and Wu Sister to keep all military secrets from Old Gou and Zhang Songling, some things couldn't be covered up no matter what.

  In late August, three divisions of little devils under the command of Itagaki Seishirō launched an attack on the Pinghan line. Sun Lianzhong personally led all the troops of the 26th Route Army to defend the Liuli River to the death. The 27th Division repelled the devils' attacks several times, but unfortunately, the 30th Division had suffered heavy losses in the previous period and was able to hold on for more than ten days under the devils' artillery bombardment before the position was breached. On September 15, the devils smoothly captured Guan, forming a pincer attack against the 26th Route Army.

  Sun Lianzhong had to withdraw his troops, determined to hold on to Zhuozhou at all costs. After another two days of fighting, the 53rd and 52nd armies on the right flank successively abandoned their positions and retreated southward under the leadership of their commanders Wan Fulin and Guan Linzhen. As a result, the 26th Route Army was completely isolated, facing three enemy divisions alone.

  On September 18, the Japanese army gave up pursuing the 52nd and 53rd armies and launched a full-scale attack on Sun Lianzhong's 26th Route Army. That night, Chi Fengcheng's 31st Division was defeated by the enemy in the Nandaizhai mountain area, directly exposing the headquarters of the 26th Route Army to Japanese artillery fire. Sun Lianzhong had no choice but to issue a retreat order. He led the 27th Division, which still maintained its organizational integrity, and the 30th and 31st Divisions, which had already suffered more than half casualties, to withdraw to Handan.

  The military department has begun to withdraw, and the field hospital must follow. In a panic, Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling lifted up Lao Gou, following the medical team's doctors, nurses, and wounded soldiers, under the cover of the Special Task Force's remnants, retreating over mountains and ridges to the southwestern region of Hebei Province.

  Halfway through the retreat, Lao Gou refused to sit on the stretcher. He stumbled and staggered to find Colonel Ji, loudly proposing, "You must tell Old Camp Chief that the Special Operations Brigade must be rebuilt!"

  "I've already spoken to Old Camp Chief about it. He personally agreed with me too. But recently, we've been busy fighting and the military department hasn't had a chance to deal with this matter yet!" Regimental Commander Ji said loudly, patting Lao Gou's shoulder, his eyes red from a string of bad news.

  "Others are not willing to fight the Japanese devils to the death, but we two will lead people to fight them to the death. Otherwise, if we retreat like this, we'll have to get out of China!" Lao Gou seemed not to understand his words and continued shouting loudly. I can't control others, but at least I can control myself. This is one of his mottos as a human being, and it's also the most primitive driving force that supports him not to fall down.

  "Commander Ji nodded at this trusted subordinate, Zheng emphasized: 'As long as the Special Operations Team is rebuilt, I'll go forward with you. Let those little devils know that not all Chinese are like Wan Fulin! However, on one condition, you must quickly recover your body!'"

  "I'm fine, damn it!" Laozi replied, panting and holding onto a small tree for support. Seeing the skeptical look on Ji's face, he kicked the trunk of the tree hard and loudly guaranteed, "Give me one more day, tomorrow morning, I'll be good as new for you!"

  True to his word, the next morning he shaved off his beard, changed into new clothes and started exercising with a walking stick. Zhang Songling and others were afraid that he would exhaust himself and tried every means to trick him onto a stretcher for a rest. But Lao Gou always managed to see through their schemes and absolutely refused to fall for them.

  He walked for two more days with a nervous heart, and his face actually regained its rosy complexion. His voice also gradually gained momentum when speaking.

  "I'm going to see the old camp commander, I'm going to reason with him. Why not give me a complete team? I blew up the enemy's big gun, didn't I blow it wrong?" Er Langzi was furious, and no one could stop him. He had just caught up with the main force, and Lao Gou rushed straight to the command center. It's unknown whether he was afraid of him or really cherished this fierce general under his command. Sun Lianzhong, the commander-in-chief of the 26th Route Army, surprisingly didn't get angry, and immediately ordered that elite soldiers be transferred from the defeated 30th and 31st Divisions to rebuild the Special Task Force.

  Ji Shaowu, the original commander of the Special Task Force, was promoted to Commander of the 92nd Brigade due to his outstanding military achievements. Liu Hengde, the original commander of the 92nd Brigade, was transferred to the Military Department as a combat staff officer. The newly reorganized Special Task Force was led by Gou Yide, with Wang Tihan, Gong Ziqiang and Li Qingfeng serving as battalion commanders. The personnel below the battalion level were arranged by Gou Yide and the three battalion commanders at their discretion.

  Almost at the same time, the commendation order issued by the Nanjing government some time ago also arrived. Ji Shaowu was awarded the Fourth-Class Bao Ding Medal for his meritorious service in commanding troops to destroy Japanese artillery and frontline gasoline depots, and was directly promoted to Major General. Gu Youde was awarded the Fourth-Class Yun Wei Medal for his outstanding achievements in leading his troops to blow up Japanese artillery, defeating the Japanese rear guard unit, and rescuing a large number of trapped civilians from the Japanese, and was promoted to Colonel by skipping ranks. Along with Shi Liangcai, Hu Fengshou, and Zhang Songling, who also received attention from the central government, were each awarded the Sixth-Class Bao Ding Medal and promoted to different ranks such as Senior Captain, Captain, and Junior Captain respectively.

  Note: New author, new book, one of the Three Kingdoms unifying the world, needs attention. Please go and give it a click, if possible, just call it good.