Chapter 3: The Call to Resistance (Part 2)

  "Hao Ran, my younger brother, I'm asking you to do me a favor today. I hope you'll help your older brother out of our fraternal bond. There will be a generous reward afterwards." As he spoke, several stacks of crisp banknotes were placed in front of Cheng Jiaji. It seemed that the favor Chang Jing was asking Cheng Jiaji to do was not a small one, or else Chang Jing wouldn't have been willing to spend such a large sum of money.

  It seems that Cheng Jiaji and this deputy have a good relationship, after a few words in the house, Chang Jing directly stated his intention to invite Cheng Jiaji and bribed him. In his opinion, with Cheng Jiaji's character, there is no reason not to agree to this matter. However, this time Cheng Liu's reaction was beyond Chang Jing's expectations.

  After hearing his own words, this typical playboy who was only interested in money and women suddenly became indifferent to the stacks of cash on the table, sitting in a chair with a vacant expression as if lost in thought. This made Chang Jing, who had thought he already knew the military officer's character like the back of his hand, feel a sudden inexplicable sense of unease. For the first time, Chang Jing couldn't guess Cheng Jiaji's reaction and was at a loss for what to do, while Cheng Jiaji remained deep in thought, and for a moment, the small room was silent.

  Chang Jing didn't know that it was this matter that he had invited Cheng Jiaqi to discuss tonight, which would fundamentally change the course of Cheng's fate. More than a hundred years later, the circumstances of this secret meeting between Chang and Cheng, which was not well-known at the time, were carefully studied by scholars who made a career out of "making something out of nothing". Several people even received awards for their research on this topic. In reality, at the time, it was just an ordinary private meeting between two military officials to curry favor and exchange bribes, and had no connection to heroic stories like the "Meeting of the Two Heroes" that were full of romantic color. However, later scholars would not investigate the unsavory details between the two famous men, but instead only sang praises for this great event from a positive perspective.

  Cheng Jiaji's mood at this time was much more complicated than that of a confused Chang Jing. Since childhood, Cheng Jiaji had been dreaming of being a general and his fervor for leading the army to victory was beyond Chang Jing's imagination. Of course, here refers to the reborn Cheng Jiaji with Chu Yuan's soul in charge, as opposed to the original Sixth Master Cheng who would not have thought that going into battle and fighting the Japanese face-to-face was a good thing.

  Here is the translation:

  Originally, Cheng Jiaji had no resistance to his childhood dream of leading thousands of troops and dominating the battlefield. How could he resist fighting against the Japanese devils that he had always hated? At this moment, in the 21st century's space-time, Cheng Jiaji, who was never brave, felt a surge of heroic spirit in his heart. Thinking about having the opportunity to lead troops onto the battlefield and slaughter the Japanese, Cheng Jiaji's blood boiled with excitement, and his previously wavering mind became determined. Since he had arrived in this space-time, he couldn't ignore the suffering that his motherland was enduring. Although his abilities were limited, as long as he did his best, he would have no regrets towards his disaster-stricken motherland or the Yellow Emperor's bloodline flowing through his veins! Thinking of this, Cheng Jiaji felt an unknown yet incredibly powerful force filling him from head to toe. In his heart, he was determined that no matter what, he had to grasp control of this troop in his own hands, only then could he make his life more meaningful and valuable. Even if he ultimately died on the battlefield fighting against the Japanese, it would be more meaningful than living in a world where people only cared about money. As for what happened next, he wouldn't think about it yet; after all, fighting against the Japanese on the battlefield was always a good thing for the nation.

  Many years later, in his own mansion in the semi-mountainous area of Xinkou, the capital of Sichuan Province, when he was dying and looking back on the past, he still remembered the situation at that time. At that time, he was so excited, and the idea of fighting to the death with the Japanese was unstoppable. Was he really the timid and fearful self who had been used to a life of ease? Cheng Jiaqi, who had never thought of an answer to this question, could only attribute everything to his own beating Chinese heart!

  Chang Jing told Cheng Qian that there were only two things, one was that the Military Commission had issued an order three days ago to transfer a whole army from the Third War Zone to join the Fifth War Zone. At present, the Japanese army is pressing in on the Tianjin-Pukou Railway, and Shandong Province Chairman Han Fuju is not fighting hard enough, so the Japanese army has been approaching Jinan, the provincial capital of Shandong. If Jinan falls, the Japanese army can advance to Xuzhou, but at present, the Fifth War Zone lacks sufficient troops and faces the threat of being attacked by the Japanese army from two sides, making Xuzhou a critical situation. If Xuzhou falls, the Japanese army will have opened up the two north-south lines, advancing to threaten Wuhan's three towns, and retreating to secure their occupied territory, which would have an extremely negative impact on the national resistance situation. This is a matter of great importance, so the highest commander can only hastily transfer troops from various war zones.

  The Third War Zone is also facing the Japanese army's fierce offensive, and it is difficult to withdraw elite troops from there. However, the Chairman's order must be carried out, so a new army can only be formed, which is mainly composed of the temporary 66th division and some local troops. As a result, Xia Weimin, the brother-in-law of Cheng Jiashi, will naturally become the commander of the army.

  It seems that Cheng Jiaji's selection for the doomed division has put the bigwigs at the Third War Zone headquarters in a difficult position. With Xuzhou on the brink of danger, any troops sent there would be unlikely to return, so who would want to send their precious sons to certain death? Fortunately, among the Third War Zone's combat units were several ragtag divisions that had recently been upgraded from local security forces. Some clever staff officer came up with a brilliant plan: take these newly upgraded Zhejiang provincial troops and cobble them together into a single division. First, they had enough manpower to form a division; second, by removing these local snakes, the central government's control over the region would be greatly strengthened; third, it wouldn't affect the war zone's actual combat capabilities at all - after all, these troops were never counted as part of the war zone's fighting strength in the first place, so losing them wouldn't be a loss.

  This plan can be said to have achieved three things with one move and won the recognition of the commanders of the war zone.

  According to Chang Jing's previous statement, the commander of this super miscellaneous army has been predetermined by Xia Weimin. As the largest force in this war zone, the 66th Division will naturally be the main force of this newly formed suicidal army. Eliminating the largest local faction in southern Zhejiang is naturally what the central government would like to see happen.

  Chang Jing only mentioned some official situations. The details behind this are guessed by Cheng Jiaji, who is very familiar with the inner workings of the National Army after watching many films and TV shows. In fact, his guess is also close to the truth.