Chapter 10: The Retreat of the Traveling Department

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  In the courtyard of the big house, Jiang Yulan was busy with a group of medical soldiers from the Seventh Division, carrying the wounded Northeastern Army soldiers into the combat room temporarily used as a treatment room, then taking off their blood-stained outer garments and carefully cleaning their wounds.

  Some wounded people's wounds had already stuck together with dry blood-soaked clothes, and it was very hard to take them off. They also had to be careful not to touch the wounded person's wound. Jiang Yulan did this very carefully, busily sweating profusely, without even having time to wipe her sweat.

  Cheng Tianlei stepped inside from the doorway and immediately spotted Jiang Yulan, who was wearing a blue cotton dress. He was taken aback for a moment before bellowing, "Who let this woman in?"

  The thunder-like roar made all the medical soldiers who were busy treating the wounded inside the house stop their work, lift their heads and look at this man who had just rushed in from outside! Even some of the wounded were momentarily stunned by his shout and forgot their pain, no longer groaning.

  Jiang Yulan was also startled by this shout, she put down the silk cloth in her hand, then stood up, looking at Cheng Tianlei with some embarrassment, not knowing what to say, "I... I am..."

  "What are you doing, this is war, understand?" Cheng Tianlei took a step forward and grabbed Jiang Yulan's wrist, pulling her away, muttering, "War is men's business, what are you, a woman, getting mixed up in?"

  "Let go!"

  After the initial panic, Jiang Yulan, who was naturally hot-tempered, came to her senses. She shook off Cheng Tianlei's hand and glared at him fiercely, "What's wrong with me? I didn't steal or rob. My family was all killed by the devils. Can't I follow you to fight against the devils?"

  "Get out, get out, you yellow-haired girl! Your waist is not even as thick as my arm, and yet you're fighting the devils. I think you're just causing trouble by following us around. Hurry up and go home, don't cause any more trouble here!" He had always looked down on those women in his heart, thinking that when they encountered something, all they could do was cry and whine, so he came over again and grabbed Jiang Yulan's arm.

  What's wrong?!

  Jiang Yulan's eyebrows were raised, her arm stretched out and she grabbed Cheng Tianlei's arm, then with a twist of her body, using the strength of her shoulders, back and waist together, she sent him flying over her shoulder. She had been helping her father in his blacksmith work since she was young, so she naturally had great physical strength, plus she had learned some martial arts, making ordinary strong young men no match for her.

  Cheng Tianlei didn't expect that this unassuming girl would have such skills, and as a result, he was thrown to the ground by Jiang Yulan with a shoulder throw, landing with a thud.

  Jiang Yulan loosened her arms, patted herself twice and put her hands on her hips, lowering her head to look at him, "I'm asking you, big guy, are women as useless as you said?"

  "Uh!"

  Everyone in the room was shocked, each stretching their necks like a statue without any reaction! They couldn't believe that their captain had been knocked to the ground by a woman in one swift motion, and what's more, it was done with such precision and ease!

  "Hehehe!"

  A carp jumped up from the ground, shook off the dust on its clothes with a loud clap of thunder, and actually smiled. He looked at Jiang Yulan and said, "I didn't expect it, you little girl still have two tricks up your sleeve. Alright, since that's the case, stay here and help out in the sanitation team!"

  "Cut it out, who wants to follow you anyway? I'm following Captain Luo Xiang!" Jiang Yulan muttered in discontent, seemingly not buying what the large and defeated battalion commander was selling. Just then, she saw Luo Xiang and Duan Ying walking through the door, and excitedly called out, "Captain Luo!"

  Luo Xiang and Duan Ying had just directed the last part of the Northeast Army to withdraw from the camp gate into the courtyard, when they heard that Cheng Tianlei was in the health department, so they rushed over!

  Unfortunately, they came a bit late, or else they would have seen a wonderful show!

  Luo Xiang heard Jiang Yulan's shout and immediately saw the girl in blue, only then did he remember meeting her in the village before.

  I didn't expect her to follow us all the way to Beidaying Camp. Along the way, we were busy fighting the devils and didn't even notice she was also in our ranks.

  "Jiang Yulan, you've come too? This is a battlefield, and there will be a big fight soon. If not, I'll send someone to escort you out from the back wall of the courtyard. You should find a place to hide first, and then go home after it's over!"

  Jiang Yulan shook her head, with tears in her eyes. "My parents are dead, I have no relatives, I'll just follow you to fight the devils, I won't go anywhere else!"

  "Where are you going?" Luo Xiang thought for a moment, feeling that sending her away was not safe either. In this chaotic and war-torn place, a young girl alone on the outside would be even more in danger. It's better to stay at Beida Camp instead. Anyway, the fighting here won't last too long. "Alright, you can stay for now, follow the medical team and act together. We'll talk about it after the battle is over!"

  "Alright, I know, Brother Luo!" Jiang Yulan wiped away her tears, nodded, and then turned around to continue tending to the wounded.

  Luo Xiang and Duan Ying, along with Cheng Tianlei, walked out of the health department and stood in the courtyard of the travel agency, looking around at the soldiers setting up defensive fortifications.

  The Travel Department is a large courtyard with a length and width of over 100 meters, surrounded by houses on all sides. The front is the tall Travel Department combat room, which is a concrete building that can withstand the Japanese army's grenade launchers and howitzer shells without any problem! The surrounding houses are also very solid.

  At the gate of the Travel Department's compound, soldiers blocked half of the entrance with bags filled with mud, leaving only a gap of about two meters wide. Then they set up several zigzag defensive fortifications behind it and connected them with trenches and foxholes. If the devils charged in from the opening, they would immediately be exposed to the multi-layered firepower network of the fortifications, making it almost impossible to break through!

  On both sides of the high wall, equally dense defensive fortifications were also laid out. The fortifications on all three sides were connected by communication trenches. More than 100 machine guns scoured from the North Camp were dispersed and arranged on the defensive fortifications on all three sides. If the devils wanted to climb in, they would only be met with a storm of bullets like a hurricane.

  On the roof of the combat hall of the Ministry of National Defense, a more than one-foot-thick concrete protective wall was originally built for use as cover. Now all of them have played their role, and more than a dozen light and heavy machine guns are mounted on top, with bullets piled up like small hills. This place overlooks the entire courtyard, and even part of the area outside the courtyard is fully visible, making it an excellent vantage point for firepower.

  If combined with several snipers from Luo Xiang's Tiger Tooth Special Warfare Battalion, it would be a nightmare for the enemy's heavy firepower and commanders.

  Under the arrangement of Luo Xiang and Duan Ying, Cheng Tianlei, nearly eight hundred people transformed the courtyard into an iron barrel, a veritable death zone. If the Japanese army had not known the inside story and rashly rushed in, what awaited them would be instant death.

  After carefully inspecting the deployment of the defensive fortifications, Duan Ying said to Luo Xiao with satisfaction, "Hmmm, the warriors have done a great job. The defensive fortifications are basically flawless everywhere. I reckon the devils can only flatten the entire Travel Department Courtyard with artillery if they want to take it down!"

  …………