Chapter 6: The Great Wall Ballad (Part 5)

  It's strange to say, but the brothers who were shaking and trembling earlier, under the stimulation of a few gangster words, suddenly became spirited. No one wanted to admit that their legs were weak, nor did they want to be misunderstood as having done something shameful last night. And when Captain Liao Wen Hua promised that after winning this battle, he would take the ten brothers who performed best on the battlefield to the best brothel in Taiyuan City for a feast, everyone's legs suddenly grew wings. No one carefully thought about whether Liao Wen Hua could afford to pay for his own night of debauchery with his meager salary.

  Looking at the new and old soldiers with a sly smile, Zhang Songling suddenly discovered that he was not very qualified as a deputy company commander. He could never do it like Liao Wenhua, joking with his brothers without any scruples? And the brothers' attitude towards him was never as close to Liao Wenhua's. Although in most cases, the brothers looked at this deputy company commander with respect, that respect was from subordinate to superior, small soldier to hero, ordinary people's respect for scholars, always separated by an invisible glass wall, forever unable to truly call each other brothers.

  This made him feel like he was being left out of the whole Second Company, just like a lion watching a pack of wolves on its own territory. This feeling made him extremely uncomfortable in his heart, and even began to doubt whether he should go back and tell Lao Gou that he would rather be his deputy officer instead of continuing as this possibly unwelcome deputy company commander.

  With his head hung low in thought, a faint humming noise suddenly came from the side of his ear. It was the Little Devil's plane! Zhang Songling's heart suddenly tightened, and he turned around, calling out to all his brothers in a low voice, "Disperse, find a stone to hide behind, don't run, and don't fire randomly!"

  "Take cover, take cover!" The old soldiers in the squad reacted quickly, pulling the new recruits to find shelter. In the bare mountainside, it was hard to find so many suitable hiding spots at once. Just as everyone was frantically searching, a loud suona horn sounded from the front left direction of Niangzi Pass. Like a dragon's roar and a tiger's howl, it instantly echoed through all the valleys.

  "Rat-a-tat, tat-a-tat, rat-a-tat..." "Rat-a-tat, tat-a-tat, rat-a-tat..." "Rat-a-tat, tat-a-tat, rat-a-tat..." The front of the Niangzi Pass was to the right, and from a distant place on the flank, countless bugles also sounded at the same time. Accompanied by that rustic melody, countless machine guns and rifles emerged from their hiding places, spewing out tens of thousands of tongues of fire. Immediately following, hundreds of people shouted in unison, "Charge! Kill the little devils!", then, the shouting voices of tens of thousands of people overwhelmed the roar of engines, the howling of machine guns, and the high-pitched bugle sounds, becoming the only melody between heaven and earth.

  The brothers of the 17th Division are counterattacking! The 3rd Army has also joined in! Further away, there is even the 27th Army! It's clear that facing each other head-on during the day, everyone is no match for the little devils. But they still charge forward without hesitation!

  The sudden full-scale counterattack quickly disrupted the enemy commander's judgment. The attention of the enemy pilots was also completely attracted by the fierce battle in front of Niangzi Pass. Soon, the planes in the sky turned around and flew directly to the 17th Division. The alarm covering the special operations team was quickly lifted, and the enemy planes didn't care about this side anymore. Everyone didn't have to worry about being bombed, nor did they have to worry that this action would be detected by the enemy. However, there was no celebratory color on anyone's face. Everyone turned around, stood up, and looked towards the direction of the most intense shouting and killing sounds. Although it was impossible to see any figures at this distance, the brothers stood quietly, using their eyes to give a heroic sendoff to the departing warriors.

  The brother on the other side took the initiative to launch a surprise attack in order to cover everyone. Lao Gou didn't remind anyone, and Zhang Songling didn't explain it to his brothers either. But all the members of the special task force understood this tacitly. Soon, they will withdraw their gaze from afar, reorganize their troops, and march forward.

  This time, there's no need for Shi Liangcai's heroic stories and Lao Gou's erotic speeches. Everyone's time is bought with someone else's life, and every minute of delay means countless brothers falling under the devils' guns. In the face of each departing life, no one dares to speak lightly of fatigue.

  Four mountain peaks, a sixty-mile winding path, and before noon, the brothers had measured it all with their feet. In a small grove of trees in a valley between mountains less than five miles from the target, Old Gou stopped the team again, "Take cover, rest on the spot, and recover your strength. After dark, we'll go deal with those little devils!"

  "Take cover!" "Take cover!" Under the command of the lower-ranking officer, the brothers quickly found a suitable hiding place and lay down. No one dared to make any extra noise. When the sun set again, Lao Gou brought several battalion commanders and company commanders to push the brothers up one by one, "Eat, drink, check your guns and leg bindings..."

  The dry rations for lunch and dinner were prepared by the Special Operations Team itself. To avoid being detected by the Japanese in advance, Huang Jue-song took the risk of being blamed by his superiors and dispatched a company of soldiers to surround the entire frontline command center. Unrelated personnel were only allowed to enter, not exit. Liaison officers from other participating troops had no objections to this arrangement. The recent battles have been suspicious everywhere, making everyone suspect that there are Japanese moles in the command center. Although they did not have the power to catch the internal spies, they still bullied Huang Shaohong's subordinates when he was not around.

  After hastily eating dinner, Lao Gou led a dozen or so military backbone personnel to slowly infiltrate forward under the cover of dusk. When they crossed over the last small ridge full of miscellaneous trees, the walnut orchard was within arm's reach.

  It's not yet pitch dark, and it's not the best time to launch an attack. While waiting for nightfall, the officers began to observe the enemy's movements at close range with their binoculars.

  The little devils stationed in Walnut Garden apparently didn't hear any wind, and through the high-powered binoculars borrowed from Old Gou, Zhang Songling could clearly see the devils' sentries wandering around listlessly. Behind the sentries were dozens of temporary military tents set up. Many ammunition boxes that hadn't been delivered to the front line were piled up near the tents, stacked one on top of another, like countless small hills.

  Occasionally, small groups of Japanese soldiers would climb up the mountain road, walk to the vicinity of the tents, sit down to rest, drink water and recover their strength. The complex terrain had also exhausted the Japanese. One by one, they unbuttoned their collars, using their military caps as fans to desperately fan themselves on the back of their necks.

  From higher than the Walnut Garden, there were constantly civilians stumbling down. Most of them were Chinese people who had been forcibly taken away by the little devils, and a small number were Koreans. The latter had already been conquered by the little devils for more than 40 years and had long been accustomed to living as slaves. When they saw the resting devils, they immediately bowed their heads in salute. After straightening up, they quickly changed into an extremely evil face and swung the wooden sticks in their hands at the Chinese civilians.

  "Damn it, no wonder they're called Korean sticks! They're just asking to be beaten!" Second Lieutenant Liao Wenhua spat on the ground and cursed in a low voice. As the commander of the company, he also had a pair of binoculars issued to him, not as precise as Old Gou's, but still able to see the actions of the Koreans in the distance clearly.

  "Hey, hey, let me take a look too!" San Lian's deputy Zhao Dafeng squeezed forward, smiling flirtatiously as he stretched out his palm to Liao Wenhua. "I've seen the little devil before, but I've only heard people talk about the Korean stick. Let me open my eyes wide, open my eyes wide!"

  "Why not ask Commander Wu for it?!" Liao Wenhua muttered under his breath, but was very pleased that the other side came to him for borrowing things instead of Zhang Xiaopang. He handed over the binoculars and quickly added, "When we charge up later, don't show any mercy to those Korean sticks! Those sons of bitches are all Japanese-trained dogs, and they'll bite whoever they want!"

  There were also several backbone members of the second and third battalions nearby, who listened to Liao Wenhua's serious words and put away their smiles. They set up binoculars on a branch towards the walnut garden direction for a closer look, and soon they saw the devils and Korean servants clearly.

  "Those Korean sticks, aren't they about the same as us?" Zhao Dafeng was the first to finish observing, lying on the grass, whispering, "On the contrary, those little devils, each and every one of them has carrot legs, just looking at them tells you they're not our kind!"

  "Need you to tell me!" Liao Wenhua gave him a white eye, speaking in a low voice, "In Fangshan, a company of the 30th Division was ambushed by the enemy's logistics team and suffered losses at the hands of the Korean sticks. They looked like Chinese people, so they thought they were local villagers who had been captured to do labor. They were busy dealing with the little devils, but as a result, they were shot in the back by the Korean sticks! Dozens fell on the spot, almost wiping out the entire company!"

  "Damn it!" Zhao Daifeng cursed again, then furrowed his brow and asked, "But I was watching just now, the little devils didn't seem to care about them either! What did they do to that loyal name of Little Devil?"

  "When you're used to being a slave, that's what happens!" Liao Wenhua shrugged and replied casually, "It seems like their country was destroyed by the little devils during the Qing dynasty. Being ridden on the neck and having shit pulled every day, after a long time, they don't feel humiliated anymore!"

  He turned his head and glanced at Zhang Songling, who was silent beside him. Suddenly, he felt a little uneasy in his heart. "Right, Zhang? Wasn't the country of Goguryeo destroyed by those devils during the Qing dynasty? I don't remember it too clearly!"

  "Liao Lianchang is right, Korea was occupied by the little devils during the First Sino-Japanese War. The Qing dynasty even fought a naval battle with the little devils for Korea, but lost!" Zhang Songling nodded and explained carefully. "Specifically, it should be between 1894 to 1895, from then on, Koreans followed behind the little devils and started to harm us Chinese people together!"

  When it comes to historical knowledge, Liao Wenhua can only listen. The other special agents also put down their binoculars and slowly approached Zhang Songling, asking curiously, "So that's why they were so respectful to the little devils. Didn't they resist at all back then? They just let the little devils destroy their country?"

  This question, however, also stumped Zhang Songling. After thinking for a long time, apart from An Jung-geun, he really couldn't think of any other Koreans who had resisted. He could only shake his head and smile: "There should be people who have resisted, but there aren't many! The book didn't mention it, and I haven't heard about it either!"

  "How big is North Korea?" Wang Xuesong, a company commander of the Second Battalion, thought for a moment and asked in a low voice.

  "It's roughly the same size as the three northeastern provinces! At least it's equivalent to Liaoning plus Jilin!" Zhang Songling patiently responded to each question raised by everyone, recalling his middle school textbooks and extracurricular readings.

  For him, this is a rare opportunity to communicate with everyone. Must cherish it well. Otherwise, several colleagues might become like the brothers who were pulled into the same party by Liao culture, and he himself would unknowingly become passerby A.

  "What's with that little Japanese kid?!"

  "It's almost the same, maybe a bit smaller than North Korea!"

  "It's just that small!?" Several Lianzhangs were amazed at the narrowness of Japan, their eyes filled with confusion. "Japan is so small, it swallowed Korea and then swallowed our three eastern provinces. How are they so powerful?!"

  This question was beyond Zhang Songling's ability. After thinking for a long time, he hesitated and responded, "The Japanese learned from the Westerners early on, had their own factories, could build their own planes, tanks, and large ships. Our country was ruled by the Manchu rulers at that time, thought these were useless things, and refused to learn. So they were left behind by Japan!"

  "Will those little Japanese swallow us up? Just like they swallowed Korea?"

  "Really, can we win, Zhang? You're well-read, you tell us, can our country beat the Japanese?"

  "Can you beat him?" "Can you beat him?" "Can you beat him?" For a moment, Zhang Songling couldn't hear any other sound in his ears, back and forth, it was the same voice echoing.

  To be honest, Zhang Songlin himself was also very confused. Especially after seeing the recent performances of the World War II district officials in the past few days, this confusion deepened. But he didn't dare to express the confusion in his heart out loud. Lao Gou's captain was just observing the enemy situation not far away, and if he heard it, Zhang Songlin would definitely not escape a scolding!

  "Haha!" He dryly laughed, trying to evade the question. But he was looked at by several colleagues with a gaze that made his heart feel empty. The youngest lieutenant in the special operations team was him, and his colleagues rarely treated him like a half-grown child in their daily interactions. The reason why everyone respected him was not only because he had followed Old Guo and achieved great merits, but also because he was the most well-read person in the entire special operations team, "full of knowledge"!

  "Haha, haha... At this moment, escaping is not a solution to the problem. As the good brother of Lao Gou's team leader, Zhang Songling also cannot lose face for the latter. After laughing dryly several times, he finally had a good idea, pointing at himself and then at Liao Wenhua, Zhang Dafeng, and Wang Xuesong, smiling affirmatively: "Of course we can win! Back then, in the entire Korea, there were only a few people who resisted. But China, at least we have these people!"

  Note: There will be only one update today. Sorry.