Chapter 3: The Madman

  Yang Lie looked at the incoming National Army officer and said with a proud face: "Which part are you from? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

  Looking at this person wearing a horse jacket and still wearing a calabaza hat on his head, Diqin's disgust immediately rose.

  What he hated most was the Qing Dynasty, a dynasty that made China fall behind for hundreds of years. The history of the Qing Dynasty is the history of China's humiliation and backwardness, which is almost indescribable in modern times.

  With his rebellious youth ideology, Zhai Qin couldn't have a good impression of such people. Before he could even speak, Zhai Qin had already labeled this person as a traitor. His mother's generation was already in the Republic era, but he was still wearing Qing dynasty clothes, that must be a traitor.

  Of course, Diqin, who has never experienced war, has no intuitive impression of it. The term "anti-Japanese" is just a term and an idea in Diqin's mind.

  Of course, traitors are the ones who should be shot. According to online forums and angry youth ideology, traitors are more hated than devils. Devils are external enemies, whatever they do can be understood, but traitors are betrayers, they are sellouts, they are unforgivable sinners.

  With a preconceived notion, Zhai Qin's tone was also very arrogant: "Your surname is Yang, right? Which part of us do you think you can control?"

  Yang Lie had never heard such a response before and didn't know how to react at the time. Zhai Qin still had to deal with the devils and didn't have time to waste here, so he said directly: "Prepare a meal for us immediately, make it quick."

  Yang Lie was furious, a small captain regiment commander, dared to speak to him like that. The National Army retreating backwards, even a division commander, would give face as long as they heard their own name. Maybe this person's rank is too low, doesn't know the famous Yang Lie in Nanjing area.

  He said haughtily: "The Yang's house is not a place for you to come, let your superior speak."

  Dai Qin has already regarded Yang Lie as a traitor, forgetting that he is not a traitor yet. His eyes widened: "Don't give you face and don't want face. Still looking for a superior officer, can't you see that I am the superior officer? Be quick about it, or else I'll turn against you."

  Yang Lie was also infuriated, the army is arrogant, is domineering, but also depends on who. Is this a place where you can be reckless? He said viciously: "I think you don't want to be the platoon leader anymore, do you know who I am?"

  This arrogant tone immediately touched Diqin's reverse scales. Later, because of this sentence, he beat the person into the hospital. The person who was beaten indeed had a backstage, and his father was the chairman of the city's pillar enterprise, someone that even the municipal leaders had to give face to.

  In the end, they didn't even want money, but instead detained Qiao Qin for 15 days. This is what made Qiao Qin most angry, because that person should have been sentenced according to the law, but in the end it became Qiao Qin who was fighting and injuring people.

  This matter has become a heartache for Diqin, and hearing such words again today. This is not a peaceful era, this is facing the attack of the devils, it's hard to say that one will die on the battlefield in a moment. The crossing made Diqin's heart change, making him anxious and a bit hysterical.

  After all, Zhai Qin still can't adapt to this identity and the current environment in a short period of time. He faces huge changes and needs to find a place to vent.

  He severely scolded Zhang Meng and his men, leading the soldiers to find food, all because of Di Qian's fear of death, and his lack of confidence in war. But he himself did not admit it, just like a person who knew he was going to die, making a final desperate attempt.

  Zhai Qin didn't know, didn't understand and didn't want to admit it. With an anxious mood, Zhai Qin simply had no scruples at all.

  Yang Lie's words touched his heartache, and he jumped up: "Surnamed Yang, I said I might die on the battlefield tomorrow, what does it have to do with you? Get ready immediately, if you dare say a word, I'll wipe out your whole family. Traitor!"

  Yang Lie was stunned at that moment. Is this person crazy? Was he scared out of his wits by the Japanese? He had seen the terrified look on the retreating National Army soldiers.

  Seeing Diqin's ferocious eyes, I was really scared. These soldiers are indeed so, sometimes they can't see tomorrow's sun, what else don't they dare to do?

  Seeing the fear in Yang Lie's eyes, Di Qincheng felt a sense of schadenfreude. This coward is really something, he gets scared just by my anger, if he saw the enemy's bayonet, he would definitely be the first to surrender. The Nanking massacre of 300,000 people might still be happening at this time.

  When he thought of this, Zhai Qin's heart felt a little painful, but he had no choice. Should he lead his hundred or so men to kill their way back to Nanjing? Zhai Qin suddenly had the urge to kill people.

  He pulled out a gun from his waist and pointed it at Yang Lie's head, with a fierce and violent glare in his eyes: "Speak, one word, is it life or death?"

  Yang Lie was certainly no iron warrior. Looking at the fierce gaze of Di Qian, his legs softened and he knelt down: "Want to live, Commander spare my life, I'll prepare immediately."

  Dai Qin said coldly: "Cheap bones. Hurry up."

  Wang Biao is not Zhang Meng, he was assigned to Zhai Qin's company for a short time, and only knew that the company commander was timid and afraid of death. He also saw the company commander's panicked appearance during the retreat, but this time the company commander's performance made him a little scared. It seems that this is a madman, and it's better not to provoke him in the future.

  Yang Lie was really scared, he felt death was right in front of him, this fierce guy would absolutely shoot himself.

  The Yang family's people were all called up, and everything that could be made into food was taken out. Yang Lie feared that if he really provoked this crazy old man, his own power would not work even if it was great.

  The Yang family was a big household, nothing was lacking, and preparing meals for over 100 people was no problem, but it still took more than two hours of busy work. This was winter, the New Year's festival was approaching, and naturally, a big household like theirs had prepared many things for the celebration, and in order to save face, they dared not be sloppy.

  Looking at Yang Lie who was standing by with a frightened expression, Zhai Qin calmed down a bit. He didn't know what had happened to himself either, he just understood that the battlefield was where people went to die. He didn't want to die, but could he help it? Without any mental preparation whatsoever, he had somehow ended up here in an instant.

  Forget it, I've already died once, what's the big deal. A person dies and is hung up for a day, if not dead then forever. Killing one is enough to break even, killing two earns an extra one, how can I say that I also resisted Japan once.

  Yang Lie didn't know what the company commander was thinking with a gloomy face over there. Looking at his wife standing not far away, he whispered a few words to her in the past. After a while, this lady brought over a tray with a few rolls of things on it.

  Yang Lie put down the tray on the table and said: "Boss, this is 500 silver dollars, for brothers to buy tea and drink."

  Dai Qin snapped back to reality, a glimmer of light flashing in his eyes as he recalled the TV drama he had watched. During battles, officers would often give out cigarettes to soldiers, but many of them didn't want them.

  They don't even care about their lives, sacrificing for the war of resistance. What are a few oceans? He said coldly: "My brothers and I are fighting against Japan, we can give up our lives, what's money worth? Can it buy back a life?"

  Diqin said this very calmly, in Yang Lie's opinion, it was too little. Gnashing his teeth, he quickly took out another 500. Diqin was still reeling from the life and death situation and had no concept of these things, just a thousand yuan.

  Wang Biao beside him knew what a thousand taels of silver meant. Seeing Lian Chang's indifferent expression, he couldn't help but admire him. It was said that Lian Chang was the young master of a wealthy family, and it seemed that his family had a lot of money, not even batting an eye at a thousand taels of silver. He really feared that Diao Qin wouldn't want to, yet didn't dare say so.

  Dai Qin turned his head and saw Wang Biao's greedy and fervent eyes, and said to Yang Lie: "Consider yourself sensible, it's best to retreat to the rear as soon as possible. If I find out you've surrendered to the devils, I'll chase you to the ends of the earth and kill you."

  Yang Lie let out a sigh of relief, it seemed that money could indeed calm the gods, and this madman had finally been placated. As for Zhai Qin's warning, he didn't take it seriously. It was just a single sentence after all.

  Dai Qin drank a pot of tea, and the food was finally ready. More than 40 people carried or backed them, and even prepared several unicycles to transport these things back to the camp.

  When the soldiers saw this food, they shouted "Long live the company commander!" and immediately started eating and drinking. This was something that couldn't be eaten normally, Zhai Qin felt like he had entered a pigsty, and heard the sound of slurping. A soldier said while eating: "Damn it, eating this meal is worth dying tomorrow, let's eat until we're stuffed to death."

  Diqin's heart skipped a beat, he was also very hungry, and he took a big bite of the flatbread. They say that southerners eat rice but not noodles, this bread is actually quite good. Diqin didn't want to kill himself, nor did he want to die, what he said earlier about fighting was that one shouldn't always think about dying.

  But how can we make the devils die? I have never commanded a battle, only commanded others to work. While eating, I racked my brains thinking of the combat methods I had seen before.

  Those are all movies, and I don't know if they're accurate or not. However, every time I see a military consultant in the opening and ending credits, it seems like they're not making things up.

  At that time, it was just a spectacle, and there were no detailed plans. Moreover, it was a film, not a military textbook, so it couldn't be very detailed. Zhai Qin suddenly saw those empty hand grenade boxes, which Zhang Meng had distributed the grenades and bullets to the soldiers according to his own orders.

  Dai Qin suddenly had an idea and immediately waved his hand to call over Zhang Meng, Wang Biao and two other squad leaders, saying: "How far can you usually throw a grenade?"

  Zhang Meng said dazedly: "It's different, the stronger one is thrown farther. Probably tens of meters, the closest is only five or six meters away."

  Dai Qin glared at him and said: "Don't you know how to use rice to measure? What's the meaning of 'dozens of zhang'? How far is that?"

  Zhang Meng sighed helplessly. Everyone said so. Zhu Hou on the side said, "The farthest can be 60-70 meters, and the closest is over 40 meters."

  Dai Qin nodded and said: "How many square meters is the explosive power of a hand grenade?"

  This time Zhang Meng didn't say a word, he found that this awakened Lian Chang had changed, as if he was dissatisfied with whatever he did.

  Li Le said, "We use a replica of the German P24 hand grenade, with an explosive range of over 20 square meters. If it were made in Germany, it would reach 30 meters. The Japanese hand grenades have a range of less than 20 meters."

  Dai Qin nodded and said: "Not bad, very skilled."

  Li Le scratched his head and smiled: "It's just a hobby, knowing a little more."

  Dí Qín said: "Zhāng Měng, select fifty men with great arm strength who can throw to a distance of over 50 meters."

  Zhang Meng wanted to ask why, but he didn't dare to ask. Zhai Qin shouted: "Stop eating, everyone! Get up and test your strength. If you can throw it more than 50 meters away, I'll treat you to a big feast; if not, no dinner for you!"

  These soldiers also didn't know what had happened to their company commander, they never paid attention to these things before. The devils were just four or five li away in front of them, testing hand grenades at midnight. But hearing that there was a big ocean reward, they were all very excited. How much was their monthly military pay? French currency was worthless, converted to the big ocean it was only two big oceans, this time it was one big ocean.

  Zhang Meng and others did not know what Di Qian was going to do, but they dared not disobey, and their faces changed.

  Time really wasn't long, more than 100 people tested it once, the result surprised Zhai Qin, Quan Lian actually had more than 70 people reaching over 50 meters, and more than 20 people were beyond 60 meters.

  Dí Qín said: "Zhang Mengpi's is the farthest, these people you command, concentrate all the hand grenades for you. Finish eating immediately, and take action in half an hour, I'll tell you about the route on the way."