Chapter 7: "Dance of Death" (Part 2)

  At that time, the small house in Dawangzhuang was originally the reception room of Cheng Jiasheng's mansion. The density of generals in the entire Fifth War Zone can be said to be the best. In this small house of no more than 30 square meters, there are not only four lieutenant generals but also two major generals, making people feel that China has too many generals.

  If Xu Zongdi is a stylish and somewhat Westernized new-style military man, then the commander of the Peng army beside him is another typical image. This Peng Bingxun, who is nearly sixty years old, not only has no military temperament but also looks like an old farmer, standing there, if he weren't wearing a military uniform with lieutenant general rank, nobody would associate such a rustic-looking person with a general who had been in the army for over forty years.

  Several senior officers of the Third Army and senior staff members of the Fifth War Zone who came with Xu Zuyi surrounded the two, and for a time, this room, which was originally a small landlord's study in the villa, was filled with high-ranking officials and generals. However, these five or six generals added up to only a few hundred men who could be directly commanded by them at present, including the guard company brought by Xu Zuyi and more than 100 miscellaneous personnel and more than 300 wounded soldiers under Peng Bingxun's command.

  If these generals could be worth a thousand or even a hundred men, then the burden on Cheng Ji's shoulders would be much lighter.

  Unfortunately, the lost general's soldiers are at least still a soldier, but the general who has lost his soldiers is not only no longer a true general, but can't even be a soldier.

  In the house, several lieutenant generals from the five war zones analyzed the battle situation of Dawangzhuang and Linqu, only to come up with one conclusion: as long as Cheng Jiaji's detachment could hold on until dawn, the 59th Army's reinforcements would arrive, and the entire battle situation would turn for the better; otherwise, it would completely collapse. Although these people followed Cheng's detachment to Linqu, to be honest, no one really understood how much actual combat effectiveness this seemingly brand-new team had.

  "General Yan, as the chief of staff of the war zone command, you've led them all the way north to this point. You must have a good understanding of their combat capabilities, right?" Zhao Xingcai, the chief of staff of the Peng Jun's army, asked on behalf of his superior, noticing that neither of the two high-ranking officers was speaking up. His question not only made Peng Bingxun's eyes light up but also caught the attention of several other senior staff officers from the war zone, who were all eager to hear Xu Zude's response. Normally, they wouldn't bother with a small regiment like Cheng Jiaji's, but at this moment, Cheng and his troops were unusually important to them. These generals, who usually only cared about divisions and above, were showing an extraordinary interest in everything related to Cheng Jiaji's regiment, a small unit with only a few thousand soldiers.

  "Cheng's detachment is still quite well-equipped, as you all saw. Their two infantry battalions can be considered semi-mechanized. As far as I know, most of the soldiers in this detachment are old comrades from Xia Weiwen's troops and brothers from various National Army units who got separated during the Battle of Nanjing. Their combat effectiveness is still quite good. Plus, the Japanese unit wouldn't have been able to sneak in here silently if they had a large number of people. Cheng's detachment should be able to hold out until dawn."

  To be honest, Xu Zuxi wasn't very clear about the combat effectiveness of Cheng Jiaji's detachment either, whether they could hold on until dawn. However, at this moment he had to comfort his colleagues, so he could only say that.

  The chief of staff in the war zone spoke naturally and there were still people who believed him, so when he said that, the worries of the generals in the room decreased a lot.

  On the other hand, Pang Bingxun, who had been silent all along, had another idea in his mind. It was only one day since Cheng Jiaji's troops arrived, and he had already sent someone to secretly investigate the details of Cheng Jiaji's detachment. The situation he grasped was far more detailed than Xu Zude, who had come with this troop all the way.

  It turns out that Pang Bingxun had indeed dealt with Xia Weimin during the Central Plains War. At that time, among the troops under the command of Pang Bingxun, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Second Route Army of the Anti-Chiang Coalition Forces, there were several other local military systems besides the Northwest Army, and Xia Weimin's division was among them. As for Xia Weimin, Pang Bingxun still had some understanding of him. This man came from a military academy and was also a fierce general, but in other aspects, he seemed to be somewhat weak, especially his fear of his wife, which had already become a deep-seated problem that could not be changed.

  He knew that this Cheng Jiaji was the only younger brother of Xia Weimin's family, the River East Lion, and at home he was a famous bully. In his mind, Cheng Jiaji was like a role of Wang Lao Hu. Xia Weimin put so many good guns and elite soldiers in Cheng's team, it was not to say that they were sent north to resist Japan as vanguards of the whole army, but rather to serve as a guard for this young master.

  Pang Bingxun thought that a team with no battle experience, despite being well-equipped and having good soldiers, would still find it difficult to withstand the Japanese army's attack. What's more, the Japanese army's attack tonight was extremely fierce, launching two attacks in less than an hour and a half. As a veteran soldier with 40 years of military service, Pang Bingxun could sense the Japanese army's determination from the density of their artillery fire. However, he had no confidence that Chen Jiaji's troops could hold off the seemingly crazed Japanese soldiers outside the village until the arrival of the 59th Army.

  Just as a group of generals were squeezed into a small room discussing the combat effectiveness of the Programme Brigade, Cheng Jiaji was on his way to the first truly meaningful men's dance party in his life.

  The battle at the front of Qianzhuang Village had reached a fever pitch, with the remnants of two Chinese regiments mixed together with the Japanese in a chaotic melee. From time to time, someone would fall on this dance floor playing the death waltz. Although the Chinese army suffered heavy casualties, perhaps it was Commander Cheng Jiaxi's bravery that inspired these soldiers, or perhaps it was the promise of a reward of 30 silver dollars for each soldier and double for officers if they could hold out until General Yu Juncai's reinforcements arrived. Maybe it was because those old soldiers who had retreated from Nanjing saw their sworn enemies and were filled with rage, or maybe it was because the Chinese army had many more automatic firearms than the Japanese. Whatever the reason, in this intense battle, although Commander Cheng's two regiments lost more than half of their men, no one fled the battlefield. The combat effectiveness they displayed at this time was rarely seen even among the elite troops of the Central Army.

  At this time, there was no other guard around Cheng Jiaji, only Ma Sanbao was always one step away from protecting his superior.

  Cheng Jiaji, who had already thrown away his empty pistol, was now holding a Japanese Type 38 rifle he had just picked up from the ground and was fighting alongside his squad leader Ma Sanbao against a Japanese soldier. Although they were two against one, the side with more people didn't have any advantage, and if it wasn't for Ma Sanbao occasionally taking care of Cheng Jiaji, who was already panting heavily, this Japanese soldier might have inadvertently changed the stalemate situation at the front line.

  Fencing is indeed a physically demanding activity, and for Cheng Jiaqi, who lacks intense training in this time and space or even in the 21st century, it's a kind of torture. However, there's also a benefit to this - when he returns to social gatherings, he discovers that his dancing skills have improved significantly without him realizing it. It seems that fencing, although a dangerous and exhausting sport, is not entirely without its benefits, at least in terms of improving one's dance skills. When you're dancing with death, every step counts, and if you make a mistake, you'll fall into the arms of death. In such situations, as long as you don't die, how can your dance skills not improve greatly? This is also why many military personnel from that era mastered dance techniques much faster than ordinary people - after all, they had a good foundation to begin with.

  Just when the Chinese troops at Zhangzhuangkou were about to collapse, Yu Juncai arrived with reinforcements at a critical moment.