Chapter Twenty-Four: Joining

  Seeing Xu Fei's resolute expression when speaking, Wu Hongtian's eyes turned red and he exclaimed loudly:

  "If Chiang and Zhang had half of Xu's magnanimity, our great Northeastern land would not have been occupied by the devils."

  "Haha! Wu Xiong's praise is misplaced. Although I don't agree with the actions of those two, everything has its cause and effect. That Jiang person wants to single-handedly hold up the entire Chinese situation, but below him are many warlords and factions, his abilities are not enough to accomplish anything, it's all just a helpless struggle. As for why he let Zhang Shaojie avoid battle and escape, perhaps only those two know. Zhang Shaojie values personal gain too much, if he could put the overall situation of the country first and resolutely disobey orders to fight against the Japanese army, then would he be considered a patriot in the hearts of the people or a traitor to the National Government?" Xu Fei replied with a calm smile.

  As for the two of them, there is nothing good to say about their merits and demerits. One was a leader with an autocratic heart, while the other was a young marshal who had to swallow his anger and retreat in defeat at the hands of his father's killer.

  A crucial point is that Xu Fei's resentment towards Zhang Shao was even greater than his resentment towards Chiang, which was that he left the Fushun Arsenal and its massive arsenal of weapons for the Japanese when he retreated with the Northeastern Army, an act of treachery!

  The Shenyang Arsenal of the Northeast Army was one of China's most advanced and largest military enterprises at that time. The establishment of this factory had concentrated the efforts of two generations of Zhang Zuolin and his son Zhang Xueliang. In April 1922, after Zhang Zuolin's defeat in the First Zhili-Fengtian War, he decided to expand the military industry and improve equipment for his troops. Following Zhang Xueliang's suggestion, the original Shenyang Arsenal was renamed the Northeast China Arsenal.

  The Arsenal in Shenyang's East Gate Outer Area was re-planned, with three factories for guns, shells and cannons established. The Danish merchant company Winther undertook the construction and dispatched technician Kridtner to guide the installation on site. On the west side of the warehouse, a platform was built and rails were laid, allowing trains to enter the factory directly.

  After that, from 1926 to 1928, it was expanded again, with the addition of a rifle factory and a light machine gun factory, with more than 8,000 machines. Due to the successive directors Yang Yutian, Han Lichun, Zang Yidi, etc., who used people properly, the factory developed rapidly and became the largest ordnance factory in the country at that time. Before the September 18th Incident, it was already able to mass-produce Type 17 light machine guns and Type 13 heavy machine guns (both of which were imitations of Japanese machine guns).

  Unfortunately, General Zhang's head was pinched by the door. Not to mention not fighting with the national enemy, when retreating and abandoning tens of millions of Northeastern people, he even donated the entire arsenal and stockpiled weapons and ammunition to the little devils.

  After the devils obtained enough weapons and equipment to form nearly ten divisions, as well as this advanced arsenal, the Kwantung Army's military strength would be repeatedly enhanced. Therefore, it can be said that these two people played a not-so-glorious role in the middle of China being trampled by the Japanese army.

  Although later, one of them promoted the formal anti-war campaign for the second time, and the other led millions of troops and devils to fight on the front line with a bad reputation, without these two people, this anti-war would not have formed at all, so Xu Fei would not have any recognition of the so-called achievements of the two people later.

  Xu Fei finished speaking calmly, but Wu Hongtian's mood was still not calm. As a native Northeasterner, seeing his hometown occupied by the Japanese army and his own flesh and blood brothers enslaved, the boiling hot blood in his heart compelled a true soldier to fight on the battlefield with the enemy, he could only choose to assassinate those excellent talents among the devils everywhere.

  "Captain Xu, I want to join your anti-Japanese squad!" Wu Hongtian said, staring at Xue Fei with his eyes fixed on him.

  From Xu Fei's words, he could hear that Xu Fei's determination to wipe out the devils was not much less than his own, and after so long a period of assassination, he understood that it was impossible for an individual's power to shake the Japanese army's rule in Northeast China.

  Xu Fei smiled and did not directly respond to Wu Hongtian's request, although he urgently needed to increase his manpower. If he were to recruit people indiscriminately, perhaps his small mountain stronghold would collapse in no time.

  Seeing Xu Fei didn't respond, Wu Hongtian stood straight in front of Xu Fei and said loudly:

  "Captain Xu! I, Wu Hongtian, was once a soldier. Although I deserted the Northeast Army, it was because I didn't want to let our great rivers and mountains be occupied by foreigners. As long as Captain Xu's troops are united in resisting Japan, I, Wu Hongtian, won't bat an eyelid even if I have to climb a mountain of knives or descend into a sea of fire! Moreover, I studied at the Japanese Army University, so I've always had a deep understanding of the enemy's tactics. If Captain Xu is willing to accept me, I, Wu Hongtian, will unhesitatingly help train a truly formidable army for you!"

  "Oh...... you also studied in Japan and learned army combat......" Xu Fei looked at this seemingly rough Northeastern man in astonishment.

  For training troops, he originally thought that Chen Cigang, who had returned from studying in Germany, was enough, but during the training, he found that Chen Cigang's military skills were too numerous and complicated.

  At first, he was mainly engaged in mountain warfare in Germany, which was a bit like the training method of special forces in later generations, and it was not very suitable for ordinary soldiers. In just over 20 days, Xu Fei's exchange of 10,000 rounds of ammunition almost made him train to exhaustion.

  The way the Japanese Army University is completely different from Germany's. Japan, which has extremely poor resources, trains its soldiers with unparalleled strictness and has a much lower rate of bullet waste. If Wu Hongtian were to train the main force, and Chen Cigang, who is familiar with mountain warfare, were to train Xu Fei's special forces, perhaps the chances of Laoganzi's rebellion succeeding would be greatly increased!!

  "You say you're going to train the army? Is it exactly the same as the Japanese army? If so, our equipment won't keep up and we'll be no match for the devils, will we?"

  In a brief moment, Xu Fei had already thought it over in his mind, but as for Wu Hongtian's true abilities, he felt that they still needed to be tested.

  Wu Hongtian immediately replied, "The Japanese army is extremely strict and serious in training regular troops due to their lack of resources. In order to save every bullet, they use a spirit that is several times more diligent than ordinary people. I have great respect for these enemies, but their shortcomings are also very obvious. That is, after the victory of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan as a whole became arrogant and complacent. As long as our military skills are not inferior to theirs and we have a suitable combat strategy, I am still very confident that we can defeat an equal number of enemies."

  "Alright! You follow me first, we'll make arrangements after we get back to the mountain stronghold!" Xu Fei said with a faint smile.

  "Yes!"

  When Wu Hong heard that Xu Fei had accepted his surrender, he immediately stood up straight like a spear and stood beside Xu Fei. When Xu Fei walked out of the gate, he followed two steps behind him.

  "Dong! Dong! Dong... fellow villagers! Today, our anti-Japanese squad will hold a public trial for the traitor and running dog, Liu Mao Cai, the town head of Gushan Town. We hope everyone will come to the town entrance to participate in the public trial!"

  On the main street of Gushan Town, several members of the Extermination Group from Qingyun Stockade were spiritedly beating a copper gong and shouting loudly.

  This followed the big Xu family and had weapons, not to mention that this shake of the body suddenly became not a beard going down the mountain to rob, this extermination of Japan squad sounded like it made everyone feel both mighty and also let everyone feel a thread of real intimacy.

  Who in this society is willing to be a bandit? If it weren't for the local tyrants and evil gentry forcing people, there wouldn't be bandits' dens all over the mountains!

  Today, the bandits of Qingyun Village have transformed into a heroic armed force resisting foreign tribes! Even though they haven't yet received formal recognition from the people, everyone's cheers and shouts sound exceptionally loud and majestic!

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