Chapter 1: Reborn in Beida Camp

  In the early morning, in the military camps of Fengtian City and Beidaying, smoke was rising from the kitchens, and the voices of the soldiers on the drill grounds were like thunder. Zhang Xinghan stood in his military uniform on the open ground in front of the camp, watching the officers and men who were doing their morning exercises, with a mixture of emotions in his heart.

  Just half a month ago, Zhang Xinghan fell to his death in an accidental fall during a military exercise in the wilderness. When Zhang Xinghan came to, he found himself lying in a barracks within a military camp.

  He, who was a Chinese A-level special forces soldier in his previous life, is not unfamiliar with the military camp. However, the scene before him and the barracks he used to be in are vastly different, without smooth lime walls or bright light bulbs.

  The whole camp was somewhat dimly lit, with several small yellow light bulbs emitting a weak glow, and the bluish-gray stone floor looked exceptionally cold.

  After communicating with the people around him, Zhang Xinghan learned that his current identity is the commander of the 3rd battalion of the 620th regiment of the 7th independent brigade of the Northeast Army, and it turned out that in that accident, he had fallen into a mountain stream and died unexpectedly, but came to September 1931 (the 20th year of the Republic) in the Northeast, becoming a commander of the Northeast Army.

  Standing on the playground, Zhang Xinghan couldn't calm down for a long time. For half a month, Zhang Xinghan had been uneasy, and the day he arrived was September 1st, 1931. Counting with his fingers, half a month had already passed, and that day of national shame that countless Chinese sons and daughters could not forget, September 18th, was about to arrive.

  However, within the entire Beidaying camp, there was not a single hint of tension or preparation for battle. It wasn't that the officers and soldiers of the 7th Brigade were unaware of the Japanese army's intentions, but rather because Zhang Zuolin, the actual commander-in-chief of the Northeastern Army, had repeatedly ordered that if the Japanese army attacked, the Beidaying camp would store their guns and ammunition and avoid conflict, leaving it to the higher authorities to negotiate.

  This order was naturally given by the famous General Chiang Kai-shek.

  Zhang Xinghan was filled with disdain for this non-resistance order, which seemed extremely foolish in hindsight. The non-resistance order led to the well-equipped Northeastern Army of 300,000 being chased out of the four northeastern provinces by the Japanese Kwantung Army without firing a single shot. As a result, 30 million compatriots became slaves of a lost nation, and over 1 million square kilometers of land fell into enemy hands.

  This is a humiliation, the greatest shame for the entire Chinese nation. The 300,000 elite Northeastern Army did not fire a single shot and lost one-ninth of the country's territory, causing tens of millions of compatriots to be in a state of deep water and scorching fire, at the mercy of others.

  However, Zhang Xinghan was powerless to change it at this time, because he was only a regimental commander of the Northeast Army and had no power to change the high-level decision-making of the entire Northeast Army.

  But there is one thing that Zhang Xinghan can do, which is to intensify the training of the three battalion officers and soldiers. When 9/18 really comes, he will lead the three battalion officers and soldiers to defend the North Camp with blood and protect Shenyang City! This is a responsibility that should be fulfilled as a soldier. Protect home and country! Even if I die nine times, I have no regrets!

  ……

  "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

  "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

  The three battalions on the playground were practicing bayonet drills, and the loud shouts of the soldiers echoed throughout the entire Beida Camp. Zhang Xinghan also woke up from his contemplation just now.

  Although General Zhang had given the order of "no resistance", most of the Northeastern Army soldiers were already fed up with the atrocities committed by the Japanese army, so all officers and men were training without any slack, waiting for the general to lead them in a decisive battle against the enemy.

  The officers and men of the Northeast Army did not know that once the war started, their absolute leader, the spiritual leader of the Northeast Army, General Zhang, was stubbornly executing Chiang Kai-shek's appeasement policy of "first internal pacification", which led to hundreds of thousands of Northeast Army officers and soldiers retreating into the pass without firing a shot.

  Thirty million people were displaced and trampled under the iron hooves of Japanese invaders, and from then on they were in a desperate situation for fourteen years as slaves of a lost nation.

  Little did they know that the retreat of the Northeast Army would leave the national gate wide open, causing countless civilians inside and outside the pass to suffer from war devastation, with innumerable families broken and people dead or displaced.

  If the officers and men of the Northeast Army knew the outcome, I think that as long as they were still men, with their testicles intact, they would never be willing to see their hometowns, parents, and relatives all fall into enemy hands, becoming despicable slaves of a lost country! Zhang Xinghan thought to himself.

  In half a month's time, although not much, Zhang Xinghan still taught all the skills he learned in his previous life in the troops to the officers and soldiers of the third battalion, hoping that they could learn more enemy-killing skills and kill more Japanese invaders in the next battle.

  The officers and men of the three battalions, although they clearly did not understand the new training methods taught by the battalion commander, it's no wonder that after more than 60 years, how could they know that this training method was summarized from countless actual battles. Even the German army, which had the strongest combat effectiveness in World War II, couldn't match it.

  Fortunately, Zhang Xinghan still had a high prestige in the hearts of all officers and soldiers in the three battalions. Although they didn't understand, they were also training hard under Zhang Xinghan's guidance.

  At this time, a tall and straight military officer wearing a colonel's uniform walked over with his head held high and his chest out, followed by a guard.

  Hearing the footsteps behind him, Zhang Xinghan turned around and stood up straight, saying: "Commander!" The person who came was Wang Tien-han, the colonel and commander of the 620th Regiment of the Northeast Army's Independent Seventh Brigade.

  "Hmm!" Wang Tiehan solemnly returned a salute and said: "Xing Han, you're doing well!"

  "Commander, you're overpraising me. As everyone knows, the enemy is now making a show of military exercises, but it's just a cover-up. In reality, they want to seize our four eastern provinces. As a soldier from these four provinces, I bear the heavy responsibility of defending my homeland against the enemy. It's only natural that I should intensify my training." Zhang Xinghan said calmly.

  "Xing Han, you're absolutely right! Intensify your training and in the future, make great contributions to the country and protect our hometown and family!" Wang Tiehan nodded.

  "Yes!" Zhang Xinghan stood up straight and replied with his eyes fixed ahead.

  At this time, the officers and soldiers had stopped their morning exercises and it was time to eat breakfast. At that time, the Northeastern Army's food and equipment were among the best in the local warlords, and they were not much worse than the Central Army.

  Zhang Xinghan turned around with a slap and said solemnly: "Everyone is present, dismissed!"

  The entire camp of over 700 officers and soldiers suddenly dispersed in an uproar. The training was so intense that they were sweating profusely, and it was time to eat. The Northeastern army's favorite dish was garlic and scallions, with the scallions dipped in sauce.

  At this time, the 7th Brigade had a total strength of over 10,000 people, with more than 8,000 combat personnel. It was divided into three infantry regiments, each regiment having three infantry battalions and one machine gun company, as well as a communications platoon. The brigade's directly subordinate units included communications, logistics, machine guns, automobiles, etc.

  Zhang Xinghan's three battalions had three infantry companies, one heavy machine gun platoon with three Maxim guns, one light artillery platoon with four 60mm mortars. The remaining companies each had an artillery squad, either one or two 60mm mortars, in addition to the three infantry squads.

  Such equipment was not common in the Northeast Army, and even among the National Revolutionary Army at that time, it could be considered one of the best, and would not lose much to the fully German-equipped Central Army.

  The Seventh Brigade was able to possess such firepower because it was the elite of the Northeast Army, the direct descendant of General Zhang's lineage, and roughly equivalent to Zhang Lingfu's 74th Division later on. It was Chiang Kai-shek's Imperial Guard.

  Although the 7th Brigade was not as well-equipped or manned as the later Imperial Guard's 74th Division, it was formed from Zhang Xueliang's personal bodyguard brigade and was considered by Generalissimo Zhang to be his most trusted and elite troops, the ace of aces.

  This was also the reason why General Zhang deployed the 7th Brigade in Beidaying, as it is well-known that Beidaying guards the gate of Fengtian City (Shenyang), and at that time, the largest arsenal in China, Shenyang Arsenal, was right behind them. Inside Beidaying, there were all sorts of weapons and ammunition, equipment galore; if war broke out suddenly, with just one order from Zhang Xueliang, the 7th Brigade could instantly open up the warehouses and expand its troops to one to three divisions.

  At this time, the city of Fengtian (Shenyang) had at least tens of thousands of troops and police, as well as a staggering number of retired military personnel. In the early years when Zhang's father and son were in power in Northeast China, the military strength once swelled to 400-500,000. Later, during the Central Plains War, Zhang Xueliang led the Northeast Army to change its allegiance and surrender to the Nanjing government. After the Nanjing government reorganized the Northeast Army, Zhang Xueliang also adopted the policy of "streamlining the military" and downsized by at least 100,000 troops. Among these retired officers and soldiers, except for a small part who returned home to farm, most entered cities like Shenyang as police or soldiers, or became workers in the Shenyang Arsenal.

  Therefore, once the war started, as long as Zhang Xueliang gave the order, the weapons and equipment accumulated in Shenyang would be enough to instantly expand into 20 divisions or brigades. Of course, all of this is just speculation; if Zhang Xueliang had really resisted with all his might, it would have been impossible for the mere 10,000-strong Kwantung Army to defeat Wang Yizhe's elite Seventh Brigade in a short period of time, let alone occupy the entire city of Shenyang within five hours, and even more impossible to almost completely capture the two provinces of Liaoning and Jilin within one week, occupying thousands of miles of territory.

  As long as he gave the order, the more than 200,000 Northeastern Army soldiers who were guarding the Northeast would be able to drive the Japanese Kwantung Army out of the three northeastern provinces within a week, and even annihilate it. The over one million strong army inside China could also rush back to provide support. At that time, if the Japanese Kwantung Army's attack was repelled, the anti-war faction in Japan would immediately gain the upper hand, and the humiliation brought to China by the September 18 Incident would not have occurred.

  It is highly likely that the subsequent July 7th Incident and the full-scale invasion of China by the Japanese military could have been avoided or delayed, as after the Japanese authorities had experienced the combat effectiveness and determination to resist of the Chinese army, they would not have had enough confidence to launch an invasion of China in a short period of time.

  Unfortunately, due to Nanjing Chiang's "non-resistance order", hundreds of thousands of Northeastern Army troops retreated into the pass without firing a shot. The 9/18 Incident resulted in staggering losses for Shenyang alone, including over 1 million rifles, more than 60,000 handguns and machine guns, over 200 heavy artillery and field artillery pieces, and over 200 aircraft stored by the Northeastern Aviation Administration, all of which fell into enemy hands.

  Apart from firearms equipment, there were countless bullets and shells. The entire production line of guns and artillery at the Shenyang Arsenal fell into enemy hands.

  In addition, after the Japanese army entered the city and looted everywhere, official statistics showed that Shenyang lost at least 1.8 billion overnight.

  PS: After a long dormancy, the autumn wind rises and leaves fall heavily, returning to military affairs. I hope to get the support of new and old readers, let us continue a passionate journey of resistance against Japan.

  This book inherits the anti-Japanese tiger's hot blood and the super Chinese empire's golden finger, but it won't open the golden finger too big like the empire, instead, it will strive for moderation and reasonableness, please look forward to it!!!