Chapter 14 Tai'erzhuang "Three-day Tour" Ticket (Part 1)

  Cheng Jiaji immediately raised objections to the arrangement of Sun Lianzhong.

  "General Sun, the subordinate thinks that the most dangerous situation at present is still in Zhuangzi. If the Japanese take down Zhuangzi, our army will have to retreat completely. The 30th division has been fighting for over ten days and must have suffered heavy casualties by now. As for my brigade, we just arrived and are a fresh force, so it's reasonable that we should be deployed in the main battlefield." Cheng Jiaji knew that Sun Lianzhong was mainly worried about the combat effectiveness of this brigade, fearing that it would not hold up and cause a complete collapse.

  If possible, Cheng Jiayin would also like to be as far away from the main battlefield of this grand scene as possible. However, in his view, the current situation of the Second Army Group is already on its last breath. If they follow Sun Lianzhong's intention and throw the crippled brigade of the 30th Division into Zhuangzi, it may not have much effect either.

  "The journey is long, so what should we do now."

  Sun Lianzhong looked at this freshly baked anti-war hero and said, to be honest, if the program department can join the battlefield of Taierzhuang, he is seeking it. It's just that the village is a real meat grinder. In the past ten days, he has already filled six regiments in this village, but no matter how many troops enter, they are basically wiped out by the next day.

  "Director Sun, our troops can immediately cross the canal pontoon bridge in batches and rush into Zhuangzi. As soon as we enter Zhuangzi, we will launch an attack on the Japanese army. As long as we can recover part of Zhuangzi, we will stick to it and defend it with the 31st Division."

  "How many troops will you commit?" Sun Lianzhong was afraid that Cheng Jiaji would rush an entire division into the village in one breath. If that were the case, the Japanese would only need a barrage of heavy artillery to cripple the 100th Independent Brigade. But if fewer troops were committed to the village, Sun Lianzhong feared it would have little effect.

  "Director Sun, our department plans to strengthen a battalion with two regiments and enter the village for battle. Another regiment will be deployed on the right flank of Tairi to constrain the enemy army. Other troops are waiting for orders to prepare for batch-by-batch attacks." Cheng Jiaji knew that adding oil to the fire was never a clever tactic, but in this situation, it's the only way to prevent the Japanese planes and artillery from suddenly bursting in.

  "Alright then. From now on, your unit can start preparing. Can you engage in combat an hour later?"

  Sun Lianzhong hesitated for a moment, then agreed to the other party's proposal. This was probably the most stable solution at present. Although he still had no confidence in the combat effectiveness of the 100th Independent Brigade in his heart, there was only one way to treat a dead horse as if it were alive. If he really withdrew the brigade from the 30th Division from both wings, he wasn't sure whether the exhausted troops could hold on in Zhuangzi. Moreover, even if the 100th Independent Brigade couldn't withstand a battle and lost its position on the flank, the already tense situation would still collapse. Anyway, it was all a gamble, so why not take a bigger risk? As long as they could hold on for two more days, he believed that the 20th Army Corps would be able to move step by step to Tai'erzhuang.

  "Yes, the vanguard should advance to Tai'erzhuang within an hour." After giving a somewhat unstandard military salute, Cheng Jiaji turned around and went to arrange his troops.

  Half an hour later, Independent Division 100 launched a surprise attack on the enemy's position.

  The two battalions of the 199th Regiment, with a thousand officers and men, have formed an attack formation on the battlefield. The regiment commander Yu Juncai will personally lead the troops to cross the pontoon bridge into Tairizhuang to support the 31st Division in Zhuangzi.

  "Report, the 199th Regiment's 1st Battalion's 3rd Company has arrived with a total of 982 people, all present and accounted for. Please proceed with the training speech." The officer on duty had a loud voice, in an assembly of over a thousand people, everyone could hear his voice clearly.

  "Comrades, I have nothing to say. The Japanese have already occupied more than half of Taierzhuang. If we can't hold out in the village, everyone will be finished. It's still the same principle: advance and you'll be rewarded, retreat and you'll be killed. Don't worry about your families if you die, as long as there is one person left from the 100th Traveler, your families won't be bullied or go hungry!"

  If it were an ordinary officer saying these things, they would be nothing but empty words. But the new and old officers of the 100th Regiment all know that this officer is a man of his word. The families of the officers and soldiers who died in battle at Dawangzhuang last time all received double compensation, and the disabled brothers were also well taken care of. Those who survived not only got full pay but almost everyone was promoted. A few lucky ones even found wives through connections in Xuzhou. It can be said that they achieved three good things: promotion, wealth, and marriage.

  Let those old soldiers who have just defected from other troops be so jealous that their eyes are about to spout fire.

  Cheng Jiaji finished speaking and silently swept his gaze over his troops.

  The team's composition is still too miscellaneous. Cheng Jiaji secretly sighed in his heart.

  He saw all sorts of expressions on the faces of these soldiers who were about to go into a bloody battle.

  The ones who didn't care were the old soldiers who rolled out of the piles of dead bodies from Dàwáng Zhuāng during the first dispatch of troops. In their eyes, there was no battlefield more brutal than Dàwáng Zhuāng.

  Some of the old soldiers who had just transferred from other troops were a little excited. In their minds, there was only that reward promised by Cheng Jiaji before the battle. For them, it was not about fighting against the devils, but about getting more practical benefits for themselves.

  All that was left were the new recruits with complex expressions of fear and tension about the battlefield, mixed with a little curiosity.

  "Rise and sing." Along with the voice of Zhi Xingguan, the military formation echoed with the first independent hundredth travel song set by Cheng Jiaji.

  "...you needn't ask, a man has his own way of doing things."

  A boy should be stern and unyielding when he grows up.

  Things and benevolence cannot both exist at the same time.

  A man's affair is in the arena of battle, with a heart like a bear and eyes like a wolf.

  If born as a man, then kill him, don't teach a male body with a female heart.

  Men have always been fearless of death, and even in defeat, they smile as they pass on their legacy.

  A hundred battlefields, a hundred arenas, everywhere I wish to be with the green wild grass.

  One day, I will kill my way up Mount Suribachi, and slaughter all the Japanese invaders, clearing my mind.

  In this majestic and sonorous singing voice, troops marched towards the distant battlefield.

  At this moment when the morale of the army was high, Cheng Jiaji called Yu Juncai to one side and said in a low voice: "Remember to secretly select several deputy platoon leaders from each company, using the name of contacting follow-up troops, leave them on the south bank of the canal and don't cross the floating bridge. In the future, when rebuilding, it's good to have some foundation. You don't need to go up in the morning, let Deputy Regimental Commander Xing go. In the afternoon, you will lead new troops to go up again...