Chapter 47: Shocking Anhui Province

  Daybreak, Quanjiao County town once again returned to the hands of Chinese people. The residents who were kept awake by the sound of gunfire that lasted throughout last night began to quietly open their doors, and some even ventured out onto the streets.

  They were amazed to find that there were no devils on the streets, but instead soldiers in green uniforms patrolling. The city gates and various places in the city were already plastered with notices, and curious crowds gathered around, asking literate gentlemen to read them out loud.

  China's "Divine Eagle" Anti-Japanese Special Operations Team Announces to All People of Anhui:

  Japan, a tiny dwarf country, dares to offend the heavenly authority of China, occupying our land, killing our compatriots, looting our property, and humiliating our sisters. Wherever they go, villages mourn and households lament. What Japan has done on Chinese soil is even worse than what beasts do.

  Now I am the Chinese "Divine Eagle" anti-Japanese special operations team, unwilling to be a slave of the Japanese invaders under their iron hooves, rising in indignation and exerting all my strength to kill the enemy.

  Last night, our army successfully recovered the whole of Pingxiang County, killing 387 enemies. And again, we annihilated the Japanese reinforcements of 500 people. We specially ask the elders of Pingxiang to rest assured and cooperate with our army to maintain the security order of the county town and restore production.

  Moreover, our army has strict discipline and will never disturb the civilians.

  China's "Divine Eagle" Anti-Japanese Special Operations Team

  April 19, 1938

  The notices on the streets and alleys quickly caused a sensation among the residents of Quzhou County, with people rushing to tell each other.

  "The Divine Eagle" news of the recovery of Guangfu County spread quickly, especially from 1937 to 1938, when the Japanese army was at its most brutal. Being able to recover the county seat from the enemy's hands was a sensational event that shook the entire nation at that time.

  The National Government in Wuhan would not let go of this opportunity, the news of the great victory at Taierzhuang had already caused a sensation throughout the country and the world, now with the recovery of the county seat behind enemy lines, it was a double joy, all major newspapers reported on it. Some reporters even wanted to run to "Shenying" for an exclusive interview.

  At this moment, "Shenying" had already moved its camp to Quanjiao. Xia Xiande followed Chen Jifan's orders and let the villagers come to the county town to transport nearly 10,000 kilograms of grain. After that, Xia Xiande led his more than 700 men to join "Shenying". Chen Jifan was overjoyed at the joining of Xia Xiande's troops. Because these people had fought against the devils and had a warrior spirit, and they also had deep hatred for the devils, their morale was high.

  Chen Jifan decided to fill the new recruits into the lower ranks of each company first, and then discussed with Zhong Dingcheng to decide to establish the 5th Company with Xia Xiande as the company commander. Chen Jifan did not want to make himself a regiment or division commander in this chaotic time, it's better to keep a low profile.

  The training of the five links was still in charge of Zhong Dingcheng, and training soldiers was Old Zhong's strong point. The captured weapons were also prioritized to equip the five links, and the enemy's Type 38 rifle was particularly suitable for new recruits.

  In his spare time, Chen Jifan called Xia Xiande to the barracks to carefully ask about the situation in Quanjiao County. Quanjiao was not comparable to Chuzhou, and Chuzhou was either devils or "Shenying"'s territory. And just as Shenying was preparing to attack Quanjiao, they encountered an anti-Japanese armed force. What other forces were there in Quanjiao? Chen Jifan urgently wanted to figure it out.

  Xia Xiande is indeed a veteran of Quanjiao, and he can talk about the situation in Quanjiao like counting his family treasures. Currently, the largest armed force in Quanjiao is the two Nationalist government security regiments stationed in Guhe Town, with Zhao Fengmao as the commander of the security forces. However, this regiment has a poor reputation among the local people. Next is the Northeast Drifting Anti-Japanese Vanguard Regiment in Xiao Jicun, with 200 soldiers. There is also a regiment called the National Government's Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Army, led by Tian Guoyan, with two battalions, and this regiment seems to have some combat effectiveness.

  Chen Jifan's head was bursting, there were many people and horses operating behind the enemy lines, it was really true that hearing a hundred times is not as good as seeing once. In the past, in that era, he only knew that there were Communist guerrillas behind the enemy lines, but he didn't know that there were so many kinds of anti-Japanese armed forces.

  "Wait a minute, Xia Lianchang, doesn't the Communist Party have its own guerrilla force?" Chen Jifan was somewhat curious, with so many teams and yet no Communist Party guerrilla team.

  "There is no All-Pepper here, but I heard that other counties have it. I heard the New Fourth Army is quite capable of fighting and has a good relationship with the common people."

  It's better without the New Fourth Army troops. Chen Jifan thought to himself. He already had a bold plan in mind, which was to unify all the armed forces within Quanjiao County, at least not opposing the "Divine Eagle", because Quanjiao was too close to the devils and located at the strategic point between Nanjing and Hefei, the devils would eventually come. If the devils came with one or two divisions under the cover of planes and artillery, it would be useless even if he had ten times more men. Chen Jifan had always been "disdainful in strategy, cautious in tactics" towards the devils. The armed forces within Quanjiao County must be unified, otherwise the troops would have no strategic depth, and when the time came, they wouldn't even be able to stand firm in Quanjiao, let alone retreat back to Chuzhou.

  "There's another question, what's the deal with this 'Northeast Drifting Anti-Japanese Advancement Column'? This isn't even Northeast China, how can they have a name like that?" Chen Jifan continued to ask.

  "Captain, I'm not quite sure about this either. All I've heard is that this troop retreated from the Northeast to the interior of the pass, but why they came to Quanbuo, I don't know. However, I have a lot of respect for them, leaving their hometown and still thinking about fighting against the devils, it's not easy."

  "Alright, that's it. Xia Lianchang, after you go back, urge the brothers to intensify their training. On the battlefield, there is no room for error, if you want to survive and avenge against the devils, you must train with your life on the line." Chen Jifan instructed before leaving.

  "Ah! Don't worry, Captain. I'll lead the brothers in rigorous training and absolutely won't let 'Divine Eagle' lose face." Xia Xiande solemnly gave a newly learned military salute.

  Chen Jifang's personality is not showy, which may be due to his many years of leading troops in the special forces. In the past, whenever he saw military fans praising foreign special forces online, he generally just smiled and let it go. If it weren't for the need for secrecy, Chen Jifang really wanted to lead his troops to show off their skills. If there were a real war, his soldiers would absolutely be the enemy's nightmare.

  But although he was not showy, the "Eagle God" incident had already caused widespread attention in the whole Anhui province and even in various counties of Wan. Although the Japanese army occupied the county towns of Ningguo, Wuwei, and He County, due to the limited number of Japanese troops, the main force was still focused on fighting with the National Army at the front line, so the vast areas outside these county towns quickly appeared armed anti-Japanese forces and various anti-Japanese mobilization committees.

  For the "Divine Eagle" of the Japanese invaders, there are praises, supports, admirations, precautions, and even hostility, anyway, various forces are complex and intertwined.

  Of course, for the National Government, out of consideration to buy people's hearts, the first reaction to the Divine Eagle was to recruit them, and the best way to recruit them was with money and guns. Last time they failed to recruit, the Anhui Provincial Party Department was furious and scolded them for being ungrateful, while the Third War Zone didn't take it seriously and thought that not accepting the recruitment would save them 50,000 yuan. But now this ungrateful army had easily taken down the county town and eliminated 700-800 Japanese devils. Neither the Third War Zone nor Anhui Province dared to underestimate them again, plus Chiang Kai-shek's constant urging. They had no choice but to send someone to reestablish contact with the "Divine Eagle".

  After a round of reporting and instructions, the National Army this time did not hold back and decided to offer 100,000 silver dollars, 100 Hanyang Type 88 rifles, 10 Czech-style light machine guns, and 500,000 rounds of various ammunition as the price, plus the designation "National Revolutionary Army Anhui-Zhejiang Anti-Japanese Independent Brigade".

  But the attitude of the Guhe Town Security Team, which belongs to the same KMT system, is different. This unit has not been established for anti-Japanese purposes since its establishment. Anti-Japanese? Joke! So many national army elites have been defeated, and their own two small security teams are not enough to fill the teeth of the Japanese army. Moreover, the task given by the superior is not to fight against the little Japan, but to stare at the Communist Party in Quanjiao and Chaohu areas, and not allow them to take advantage of the anti-Japanese movement to develop their forces.

  So the commander of the security team, Zhao Fengyou, was very wary of this mysterious "Divine Eagle" unit and even suspected that it might be a trick played by the Communist Party. Although the whole of Anhui was now talking about cooperation between the Nationalists and Communists, the Communist Party had always been mysterious in its actions, so who knows what kind of plot they were hatching this time.

  Zhao Fengyou's efficiency suddenly became extremely high, and on the same day that the news of "Divine Eagle" conquering the county arrived, Zhao Fengyou ordered the security team to garrison in Wugang Town and Erlangkou Town, not far from the county. Anyway, Quzhou is my territory, you're just an outsider, how can you swallow me?

  The small town's northeast fleeing anti-Japanese vanguard was overjoyed, this group of simple northeastern Han people fled to Anhui, without rations or weapons and ammunition guarantees, everything had to be solved by themselves, the days were not generally difficult. The previous batch of New Fourth Army did send a representative to talk, the conditions offered were not harsh, except for sending a political commissar, everything else remained the same. The New Fourth Army was determined to resist Japan, from this point of view, following them was not wrong, but the equipment was too poor, after coming to Quanjiao, there was no notable achievement of the New Fourth Army, every day except for digging and ambushing small Japanese fish on the road, this was not what we northeastern guys did!

  At the time when the troops were in a dilemma, a fierce and powerful troop suddenly emerged from under their eyelids, and it was unknown what its origin was. It was even more ruthless than the regular army, and it instantly devoured nearly three regiments of Japanese devils. What concept is three regiments of Japanese devils? The Northeastern Army, who had been fighting from "9.18" to Rehe to Lugou Bridge, knew best in their hearts. It was said that they only had one battalion? These Northeastern Han men, who had always admired heroes the most, could no longer bear their curiosity and requested their superiors to contact the "Divine Eagle" to discuss cooperation in fighting against the Japanese devils. After all, with more friends like this, there would be more power for the anti-Japanese cause.

  The most embarrassing thing is the New Fourth Army. The Communist Party of China's Anhui Provincial Committee and Chuzhou Special Branch had actually been paying attention to this army for a long time, and in fact, all the civilian armed forces within Anhui Province were under their attention. On the one hand, the military achievements of this army are indeed embarrassing compared to others, and as part of the anti-Japanese forces, the New Fourth Army praised them highly; on the other hand, due to the great prestige of this army among the local people, the mass work in Chuzhou was in a very difficult state. The two comrades from the Special Branch had once tried to contact the leader of the "Divine Eagle" and found that they not only did not have any hostile intentions towards the party but also seemed to understand some of the party's guidelines and policies, and their military discipline looked like the "Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention". However, it was impossible to persuade them because the commander of the other side was not only proficient in military affairs but also had a high cultural level, and his analysis of the situation was even more profound than that of the old Bolsheviks within the party. Moreover, they were strong and victorious in battles against Japan, so how could these comrades talk to them?

  It doesn't matter if we don't talk about it, the Chuxian County thing can be done slowly. But this unit seems to not be afraid of devils, and from a long distance, they actually took down the county city guarded by multiple companies of devils in just one night. I heard that afterwards, they annihilated 500 devils who came to reinforce on the Chuxian highway, 500 devils! The Eighth Route Army's 115th Division used its entire force to annihilate more than 1,000 devils. If it were our side, not to mention guerrilla troops, even regular army would have to weigh their options carefully.

  In any case, we cannot give up the struggle for this road, but we cannot be over-hasty. The most urgent task now is to immediately contact the "Divine Eagle" of Quanjiao City and not let the Kuomintang take the lead. Also, mobilizing the masses in rural areas and establishing armed forces must be accelerated, and what happened in Chuzhou absolutely cannot happen again in Quanjiao!

  The whole Quzhou County is now talking about the topic of "Divine Eagle", and various intelligence personnel are also showing off their skills to mix into Quzhou through various channels, trying to collect the most authentic intelligence.

  And the neighboring counties are not calm either, the situation is similar to Quan Chao. The "Divine Eagle" butterfly is unknowingly affecting the course of history.

  As the highest commander of "Divine Eagle", and also as an Anhui native, he deeply knew that Quanjiao at the forefront would be attacked by devils again at any time. Now what he had to do was to quickly stabilize people's minds, train troops, accumulate supplies, and prepare for even more brutal battles!