Chapter Sixteen: The Treasure Sword Leaves Its Scabbard

  Kaifeng Railway Station, the front half of the newly arrived train was filled with steel rails, sleepers, sandbags and other materials on flatcars. Behind the flatcars were several passenger cars and freight cars. At the end, a self-propelled crane car was attached. Li Zhenyuan got off the train, followed by Geng Zhongyue. Railway workers carrying various tools also got off the train to stretch their limbs. The station master of Kaifeng Railway Station hastily greeted Li Zhenyuan: "Director Li, hello!" Li Zhenyuan nodded: "Hello."

  "This is Colonel Chen and Deputy Colonel Xu of the 4th Security Regiment of the Kaifeng Garrison Command."

  Chen and Xu stood at attention and saluted: "Hello, Director Li!" The Kaifeng stationmaster looked at Li Zhenyuan, who nodded and smiled, and felt very surprised in his heart.

  Geng Zhongyue pulled Xu Liang's hand: "Brother, we meet again, how are you? Are you okay?"

  "Alright, alright! And you, brother? Who would have thought we'd be fighting side by side on the battlefield?"

  "Running into you people to cover for me, I'd say I'm pretty lucky."

  Many workers recognized Zhang Lin with a holster gun, whispering to each other, pointing and nodding, the tense atmosphere relaxed a lot.

  Outside Lanfeng City, gunfire and explosions accompanied by thick smoke and fierce flames spread across the sky.

  Guo Yongqing was furious on the phone at the command center: "What? You've been beaten back again?! What are you eating?! Didn't I give you all the artillery under my direct command?! The enemy's firepower is strong?! Can't you concentrate your firepower to attack their firepower points?! Make whole companies and battalions launch a concentrated charge! Have you done that?! There must be a disciplinary squad behind them! Too many casualties?! Idiot, wait! I'll come to your command post right away! It's getting dark, the enemy planes won't come, we must seize the opportunity and retake Lanfeng in one go!"

  Front-line position, 82nd Division Commander Li Liangrong personally gave silver dollars to the officers' dare-to-die corps...

  Kaifeng Railway Station, already in the second half of the night, Lanfeng has been lost for more than 24 hours.

  A convoy of cars drove up to the station, with soldiers jumping off a truck and lining up on guard. General Cheng Qian, Commander-in-Chief of the First War Zone, stepped out of the second car, his face stern as he walked into the station.

  "Commander Cheng has arrived!"

  Li Zhenyuan, Chen Hao and others who were waiting in the station master's room hurried over to greet him. Cheng Qian nodded at Li Zhenyuan and said to the two young officers who saluted him: "Go and take a look at your troops."

  The train inside the station has been reorganized, with the locomotive placed in the middle of the train, pushing a dozen flatcars ahead, and the materials on the cars have also been rearranged. Each car has become a mobile bunker made up of rails, sleepers, and sandbags. Light and heavy machine guns and mortars are deployed in an orderly manner. Behind the locomotive are passenger cars and freight cars carrying soldiers and workers. Except for the brothers of the machine gun squad who remain on the train to stand guard, all the other officers, men, and workers are standing beside their respective cars, lined up to receive a sudden inspection by the commander-in-chief of the war zone.

  Cheng Qian secretly praised them: Such a newly formed team, with a variety of weapons, including light and heavy machine guns, mortars, and rare German-style submachine guns and Type 79 rifles, as well as some old-fashioned miscellaneous rifles, and even some who only held long spears or carried large knives on their backs. The formation was neat and tidy, the officers and soldiers were full of energy and morale.

  Cheng Qian walked up to a soldier carrying a large knife and asked: "Why are you only carrying a knife?"

  The soldier patted the hand grenade at his waist: "Report to the superior officer, I still have a hand grenade!"

  "Where is your gun?"

  "Haven't gotten it back from the devils yet!"

  "Huh?"

  "We've been saying all along, as long as we fight a battle, we'll charge up and chop off the devils' heads, and those Japanese-made Type 92 heavy machine guns will be obediently handed over!"

  "How long have you been a soldier?" "Two months." "Haven't been in battle yet, right?" "No." "Are you afraid?" "Reporting to the officer, I've stopped runaway horses at home and killed mad dogs. These days I train every day, but no one has given me a gun to practice with. My hands are itching, I want to try my knife on some real devils."

  "Good job!" Cheng Qian's originally gloomy face slowly revealed a smile, "What's your name?" "Liu Fen Zhan!" "Who's your company commander?" "Li Wei Ming!"

  Actually, this Liu Zhan originally was called Liu Shit Egg, after joining the army Xu Liang gave him a new name.

  In the commander's room, Cheng Qian, who had regained some confidence, personally assigned tasks to the two security team officers who had surprised him: "The 28th Army's counterattack on Lanfeng is progressing slowly, and the situation of the trapped troops in the eastern line of the 5th War Zone is critical. I have ordered our troops in western Shandong to launch a fierce attack on the enemy's flank. Your team must take over the attacking troops of the 28th Army before 8 am and strive to capture Lanfeng Railway Station and Neihuangji Railway Station by 12 pm, then cover the railway workers to repair the railway. Currently, one of the 28th Army's attacking regiments has lost its combat effectiveness, and another regiment that took over the attack has also suffered more than half casualties. The enemy troops in the station area are estimated to have suffered significant casualties as well, but they are still fighting desperately. This battle is crucial, so we must be determined to die, treat Lanfeng Station as our own grave, and if we don't succeed, we'll become martyrs!"

  "Don't worry, sir, we'll turn it into a graveyard for those devils!"

  "Alright, after success, all meritorious soldiers will be heavily rewarded! What other requests do you have?"

  "Reporting officer, can we get some additional weapons and ammunition?"

  "Time is pressing, so I'll have my bodyguards hand over half of their equipment and ammunition to you for now. You can set off immediately after that, and I'll get the logistics department to figure out a way to urgently resupply you afterwards. Anything else?"

  "After dawn, enemy planes may come to bomb, in order to cover the workers to repair the road smoothly, can we return the anti-aircraft machine guns that were withdrawn from the former air defense headquarters?"

  "First take away the anti-aircraft machine guns stationed at Kaifeng Railway Station, and I'll let them bring over the ones defending the provincial government to make up for it! Any other questions?" "No!"

  "I order you to depart by train in 10 minutes, the railway aspect will be led by Deputy Director Geng, and all military and civilian personnel participating in the action will be commanded by Colonel Chen!"

  "Yes!"

  Two high-speed machine guns were quickly loaded onto the train. The officers of the whole regiment were summoned to receive the task of capturing Lanfeng and Neihuang Railway Station, Xu Liang made a one-minute pre-war mobilization, then divided the work, decided that Chen Hao would personally lead the artillery company, Xu Liang would personally lead the direct unit, after arriving at the front line to observe the situation and then formulate an attack plan. 5 minutes later, everything was ready, all aboard, the direct unit, artillery company and two battalions of the first battalion on the flat car in front of the locomotive, the rest of the troops sat in the carriage and roof behind the locomotive.

  Cheng Qian led all the entourage to see off the departing generals on the platform. Under the dazzling spotlight of the locomotive, Chen Hao and Xu Liang stood on the flat car, facing the platform, standing at attention and saluting. Cheng Qian waved his hand and gave the order: "Depart!" The train head let out a long whistle, spewing out large clusters of steam, slowly starting up, and at this time, in the sky that was not visible with stars and moon, a fine rain suddenly drifted away.

  The train slowly moving forward, the lead singer's voice came: "Get up! Prepare to get up!" Immediately, more than 700 officers and soldiers sang in unison "The March of the Volunteers" echoed through the night sky, drowning out the sound of the train and the wind and rain. "Rise! People who do not want to be slaves, let us build our new Great Wall with our flesh and blood..." The train accelerated in the midst of the passionate singing, rushing eastward on the Henan Eastern Plain on a stormy night, charging towards Lanfeng 40 kilometers away.

  Cheng Qian stood on the platform, watching as the train disappeared into the distance. Originally, he had decided to let the reserve troops of the 4th Guard Regiment attack Lanfeng Station as a last resort in a desperate situation: after all, the best-equipped main force of the National Army, two regiments that had been attacking for over 20 hours, had suffered heavy casualties and failed to capture it. It seemed pointless to replace them with a locally-formed security regiment that had just been established. But when he saw these two young officers full of spirit, after inspecting their troops, he suddenly felt a glimmer of hope in his heart. Listening to the stirring songs, watching the train disappear into the distance, this expectation and hope grew stronger and stronger. "What's going on with this unit? Is it special? Are there any other units like this in my war zone?" He suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to distribute the silver coins he had brought for the troops. "How could this be?" Even the commander-in-chief of the war zone found it strange.