Chapter Seventy: Invincible in All Directions

  Zhang Xiangwu walked in with a smile and said, "Young master, look who I brought!" As he spoke, Zhang Xiangwu stepped aside to reveal Xiao Yajie walking in behind him. She said, "Lieyang, didn't expect me to come back, did you?"

  Seeing Xiang Ya Jie, Zhang Lie Yang suddenly flared up and said: "Who told you to come! Don't you know that we're about to go into battle?" Hearing Zhang Lie Yang's words, Xiang Ya Jie burst into tears. Then she sobbed and said: "I was thinking of you! I heard from Xiang Wu and the others that they were going to send something here for you, so I came along with them! Who would have thought that as soon as I arrived, you'd scold me!"

  Zhang Lieyang calmed down his excited emotions, waved goodbye to Zhang Xiangwu and the others, and walked gently in front of Xiao Yajie, hugging her and saying: "I'm not worried about your safety! In a few days, we might be fighting against the Japanese with real swords and guns. What if you have an accident? How can I bear it?"

  Xiao Yajie, who had long stopped crying, lay quietly in Zhang Lieyang's arms and said: "I know I was wrong! Others are worried about you too!" As she spoke, Xiao Yajie looked up at Zhang Lieyang and said: "Lieyang, Hai Lan's father said that if we go to war with the Japanese, they can occupy Shanghai at most, but it's impossible for them to occupy Nanjing, so he refused to move!"

  Upon hearing Xiao Yajie's words, Zhang Lieyang sighed and said: "Let's talk about it later! So what's the situation with our three families?"

  "We've all moved out, now in Ningbo only three families' agents are left behind, the rest have all relocated to Chongqing!" Xiao Yajie said seriously.

  Zhang Lieyang, who had completely calmed down, looked at Xiao Yajie in his arms and couldn't help but lower his head to kiss her lips. After a round of kissing, Xiao Yajie panted heavily and said: "Lieyang, they are still waiting for us outside." Upon hearing Xiao Yajie's words, Zhang Lieyang smiled and said: "Yajie, we'll talk about it tonight! You're mine, you can't escape today!" After thinking for a moment, Zhang Lieyang continued: "After the battle here is over, I will definitely hold a three-day wedding feast to marry you!"

  When Zhang Lieyang finished speaking, Xiao Yajie excitedly rushed up and kissed him. After a while, Zhang Lieyang and Xiao Yajie walked out of the office hand in hand, saw Fang Bisheng still waiting outside, and smiled at Fang Bisheng: "Bisheng, new weapons are here! I'll give them all to your team, if your team fights like a steamed bun during battles, then you'll see how I'll pierce through you!" Zhang Lieyang continued to say to Zhang Wu: "Wu, have someone drive the car and deliver the weapons to Team Leader Fang's team!"

  After they left, Zhang Lieyang said to the communication soldier beside him: "You help me call Captain Liu of the 717th Regiment!"

  "Yes!" The communication soldier turned and left.

  After a while, the 717th regiment commander Liu Sihai came to Zhang Lieyang's front and saluted: "Report to the superior officer, the 717th regiment commander Liu Sihai reports!" Zhang Lieyang returned the salute and said: "You little devil has always complained about the poor equipment! Now I'll fulfill your wish, just now the top allocated a batch of Soviet-made Mosin-Nagant rifles, I'll equip them all to your regiment. If you can't fight well with new weapons..." Before Zhang Lieyang finished speaking, Liu Sihai interrupted: "If we can't fight well, then don't bother the commander, I know what to do!" He turned around and left.

  Liu Sihai had just left, and Vice-Commander Li Mutian and Chief of Staff Liu Fengming walked up to Zhang Lieyang's side. Seeing his two comrades, Zhang Lieyang smiled and introduced: "This is my wife, Miss Xiao Yajie!" Then Zhang Lieyang pointed at them and introduced to Xiao Yajie: "This is my Vice-Commander Li Mutian, this is my Chief of Staff Liu Fengming!"

  After they got to know each other, Deputy Commander Li Mùtiān said to Zhang Lièyáng: "You gave the new equipment to the 187th Regiment and the 717th Regiment, aren't you afraid that the other two regiments will have opinions?"

  "What's your opinion? This is also a reward for meritorious service! From now on, any troops in my army that can fight will have the privilege of being equipped with new weapons and replenished with personnel first!" Zhang Lieyang said seriously.

  After a while, the adjutant ran over and said: "Report to the commander, the military commander's urgent telegram!" Zhang Lieyang took the telegram and glanced at it before handing it over to the deputy commander.

  The deputy commander looked at the telegram and asked incredulously: "Commander, why are we being transferred to Beiping at such a critical moment?"

  "You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?!" Zhang Lieyang said, pulling Xiao Yajie back to the office. As soon as they entered the office, Zhang Lieyang picked up the phone on the desk and shouted: "Get me Commander Jun's office!" After the call was connected, Zhang Lieyang asked urgently: "Commander Jun, why did you transfer our division to Beiping at such a critical moment?!"

  "Xian nephew, I know that a big war is imminent. Your division and the 37th Division are both the elite of my 29th Army, and your division's combat effectiveness is even higher than that of the 37th Division. Therefore, I must have some considerations. However, you can rest assured that after the battle starts, I will naturally let you go to the battlefield."

  "But General!" "Stop arguing and execute the order." Zhang Lieyang helplessly hung up the phone.

  So, on the morning of July 3rd, Zhang Lieyang led his troops to leave Wanping City and defend Beiping City. On their way, he intentionally left Liu Sihai's 717th Regiment in Wanping City to defend against the Japanese army's attack. After arriving in Beiping, Zhang Lieyang reluctantly let Zhang Xiangwu take nine brothers to escort Xiao Yajie back, and instructed Zhang Xiangwu: "After you return, secretly send the two reinforced regiments that have been trained in the warehouse to Nanjing in batches. Distribute radios to companies and walkie-talkies to squads! If the garrison troops in Nanjing collapse, immediately order one reinforced regiment to defend Yuhuatai, and the other regiment to guard the Presidential Palace, Arsenal, and Safety Zone. Until we arrive!"

  "Alright, young master! What about all these extra weapons?" Zhang asked seriously.

  "Send a few trusted brothers, bring a company of men, and deliver the goods to Zhongtiao Mountain. Then find a place there that we can use as our base in the future!" Zhang Lieyang said, taking out another piece of paper: "This is the blueprint for the flamethrower that was found in the middle. Take it back, have someone make 600 of them and hide them in Nanjing! Also prepare more gasoline, magnesium powder, and phosphorus!"

  "Alright! Young master, don't worry!" With that, Zhang Xiangwu and Xiao Yajie left.

  In the days after Xiao Yajie left, Zhang Lieyang's mind kept recalling his father's articles about commanding the Lugou Bridge resistance and the Nanjing defense during World War II before he crossed over. He was constantly thinking of ways to minimize losses!

  Before long, July 7, 1937 arrived. This is a day that every Chinese cannot forget. On this day, the North China Military Command of the Japanese Army used the extremely poor excuse of losing soldiers during military exercises to request entry into Wanping City for inspection, and after being rejected by my Twenty-Ninth Army, they suddenly launched the long-planned Lugou Bridge Incident, and a full-scale Anti-Japanese War broke out.

  At the beginning of the war, Zhang Lieyang gave a decisive order: "The 187th Regiment assisted the 219th Regiment in defending Lugou Bridge and temporarily assigned one battalion of the division's direct artillery regiment, one company of rocket artillery regiment and one battalion of infantry artillery regiment to the unified command of the 187th Regiment!" After issuing the first combat order. Zhang Lieyang didn't care about the reaction of the military department, and immediately ordered the whole division to assemble urgently.

  After the troops gathered, Zhang Lieyang stood on the high platform and said with great enthusiasm: "Brothers of the newly formed Independent Thirteenth Division, the Japanese army has been bullying us for too long! Let's not mention the distant past, just talking about the recent September 18th Incident, the Japanese army bullied our military, occupied our three northeastern provinces, and enslaved our people in the northeast! As a result, tens of millions of civilians were displaced! Now the Japanese want to occupy our ancient capital city of Beiping again, can we agree to this? Should we let them show off their military power on our Chinese soil again? Brothers, what do you think we should do?!

  "Let's fight those little devils! Kill the damn thing!" The shouting voices from underground rose and fell in waves.

  "Right! We'd rather be Chinese ghosts than slaves to a lost country! Brothers, our entire army only needs iron and blood to fight the Japanese to the end, we will not compromise! I give you all a military order with just one word: 'Kill'!" Zhang Lieyang looked around at everyone and continued: "Whenever we encounter the Japanese army, we must kill them, no prisoners will be taken! Can everyone do that?"

  "We can do it! Kill, kill, kill......" The crowd below is outraged.

  "At the same time, I want the devils to know that our newly formed Independent Thirteenth Brigade is a sharp sword! Wherever its blade points, it will be invincible!" Zhang Lieyang shouted loudly.

  "Where the sword points, all are invincible... Where the sword points, all are invincible..." The soldiers below shouted with excitement and boiling blood.