War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 406 Dagu Retreat Plan
"Don't be so depressed, cheer up and do some work!"

Yu Minghao was standing on the training ground and shouting, but today the soldiers of the 217th Regiment did not carry out routine training. Instead, they were using discarded gun barrels, iron bars and other things from the factory to weld with welding guns on the training ground.

They were welding a compound fence, not the Dagu Factory compound, but a compound fence on the training ground outside the Dagu Factory.

This was also the purpose of Mr. Cao's visit yesterday. To be precise, he came to ask Xu Chaoyang for help.

"Mr. Cao, please help me solve my doubts. I also want to do my part for the country when the war comes."

Didn't Xu Chaoyang pretend to be confused with Cao Kun yesterday, knowing the truth in his heart? Cao Kun stood up with his walking stick and told him seriously: "A few years ago, when I was still in good health, the Japanese invited me to the Haiguang Temple Garrison Army Headquarters. I still remember clearly how many buildings there were and what the situation was like..."

The old man walked to Xu Chaoyang's desk, picked up a pen and started drawing for him, explaining as he drew: "This is the outer wall of the garrison headquarters. Inside is a large courtyard with two small buildings, a row of bungalows, and a tiled house."

"The compound is usually used for training Japanese soldiers... Captain Xu, you are a soldier, and you know how to defend this place once a war breaks out, so I won't say much. If... I mean if, if Captain Xu really leads his men to fight the Japanese again, and we can't enter Tianjin at the moment, we must at least know the terrain of the compound."

On July 1937, 7, the Japanese bombed Nankai University. The president then discussed with Peking University and Tsinghua University about the establishment of Southwest Associated University. During the war of resistance against Japanese aggression, the people of Tianjin braved the hail of bullets to deliver food to the student soldiers. All public and private cars transported ammunition to the front line. With Nankai as their base, they promoted anti-Japanese sentiment and rescued the wounded, which was a great show of close relationship between the army and the people!
Then why are the people of Tianjin like this?
There should be several reasons. First, in 1937, when the anti-Japanese movement was united, everyone's anti-Japanese sentiment reached its peak. Second, the Northern Bureau, which was established at No. 21, Sandeli, Yingkou Road, Heping District, played a crucial role.

In the spring of 1936, the Northern Bureau was established, but Xu Chaoyang has never met the mysterious leader. Even the people under his command who were sent from his hometown have never told him any news about the Northern Bureau.

Otherwise, do you think Xu Chaoyang, whose surname is "Hong", can be so free when no one is watching? Wouldn't he be allowed to do so only after he is under someone's eyes and everything he does is seen by others?
For example, the establishment of trade unions in various places and the construction of schools in Dagu Factory were all done in public. Do you think that old leader tolerated any sand in his eyes?
"Hehe." Cao Kun was still a little embarrassed when he said this. He was quite old, so he lowered his head and said, "Chaoyang..." After calling him this, the relationship between the two of them instantly became much closer: "Our Xiaoqing, when the time comes, I will also ask him to contribute to the country and help deliver some things. If it's convenient for you..."

Boom.

Cao Kun gritted his teeth and said, "Help me kill him."

At that moment, Cao Kun's face was full of smiles, but only he understood the sadness in that smile.

Ugh……

Xu Chaoyang knew that this would happen. You, Cao Shaoshan, an adopted son, controlled the Cao family's property. How could they let you go? You thought that the old man was old and in poor health, and no one cared about him, right? I didn't expect that when he relied on his status to give the Wanmin Umbrella to Chief He to save Xu Chaoyang's life, he had always planned for this day, right?
Xu Chaoyang raised his head and responded in the office: "It's not a big deal."

What's the big deal if two people die in a war?

Once the July 7 Incident broke out and the entire battle began, Xu Chaoyang had only a short time to react. The information Cao Kun gave him in exchange for his adopted son's life was truly worth it.

On July 7, which was the fifth day after the outbreak of the July 12 Incident, the devils quickly sent 3.5 reinforcements to Tianjin. These 3.5 troops landed at Dagu Port and were stationed in the so-called "Devils' Compound". After Tianjin was occupied, all Chinese passing through had to bow to the devils. Any negligence would result in them being dragged into the compound and shot!

But can Xu Chaoyang take his soldiers to the downstairs of the garrison headquarters and conduct a so-called "exercise" like the Japanese bullying us?

he can not.

Then he could only conduct offensive tactical drills based on the information provided by Mr. Cao, because it was impossible for the Japanese to get out of Haiguang Temple before the reinforcements arrived. They bombed Nankai University on July 7, and the reinforcements arrived on July 29.

……

On the training ground, Xu Chaoyang watched his men welding together fences with old iron pipes bit by bit to serve as the fence of the Haiguang Temple garrison headquarters. He also watched his men using wooden boards to build a house frame that was almost the same size as the Haiguang Temple headquarters. Now Xu Chaoyang had only one thing to do, and that was to pull out the nail of Haiguang Temple after the July 7 Incident, when both sides knew that the war was about to break out!
The garrison headquarters has a total of eight squadrons, and all the Japanese troops in Tianjin number as many as 8,000!

They are scattered all over Haiguang Temple and along the Haihe River. It is almost impossible for a single regiment to win this battle.

Xu Chaoyang could be thankful for the fact that the only unit stationed in Tianjin was the 29th Division of the 38th Army. This unit had been fighting the Japanese for many years. After the war broke out, it raided the Dongjuzi Airport without fear and destroyed more than a dozen enemy planes.

Think about it, there was only one dirt runway in Dongjuzi, and the Japanese parked more than a dozen planes. What did they want to do?
“Just eat this?”

On the training ground, when everyone was busy, Chang Zhan was sweating profusely, holding a large pancake in one hand and a strip of pickled vegetables in the other. There was a large teacup at his feet, and he was chewing with big mouthfuls, his cheeks bulging.

"Isn't the construction going on? The people in the kitchen have gone up to work. Why are you still picking on them? Just enjoy the big pancake."

As Chang Zhan was talking, he took another bite of the pickled vegetables. The pickled radish made a "crunch, crunch" sound in his mouth.

The good thing about Xu Chaoyang's subordinates is that they are not picky about food and drink. In Inner Mongolia, they ate fried rice with him; on the Great Wall, they ate steamed buns together. Anyway, as long as they can be full, they will even drink corn porridge.

"How are these new recruits recruited from Tianjin?" Xu Chaoyang didn't say much. Many things were understood in his mind. He knew how much suffering his subordinates had suffered and how many people had died, so he didn't need to talk about it all the time.

"I've never seen blood, so who knows?"

Chang Zhan pointed to the construction site with his hand holding a dried radish: "But that guy is good. His name is Lu Haiquan. When he conquered Tong County, almost all his men were killed. He was so angry with this guy that he climbed up the city wall, pulled away Liu Gen'er's machine gun, rushed forward and ripped open the stomachs of two security guards, then sat on the ground and cried."

"That's right. After I came back, I gave him some new soldiers. This kid is like a poor guy who found a piece of cow dung. He wants to hold it in his hands, for fear that he will lose it and have nothing to start a fire at night..."

Hahahahahaha!

Xu Chaoyang was so happy that he sat down on the slope next to Chang Zhan without caring about the newness or oldness of his military uniform. He remembered the time two years ago when he had no one under his control. Wasn't he the same at that time?

"Old Chang, do you remember when we first came out of the Northeast and entered Inner Mongolia? We were so poor that we had to sell our underpants, right?" "Why not?" Chang Zhan said immediately, "Back then, you gave a gift to the guy named Wang from the 9th Brigade, and you took away the watches that we had stolen from the Japanese. Haozi was still talking to me about it a few days ago."

This time Xu Chaoyang didn't laugh. Instead, he sighed as he looked at the men who were becoming strangers to him. "Yeah, now when I think about it, it seems like it happened yesterday."

"But, Old Chang."

Xu Chaoyang pointed and said, "We are almost there. We need to carefully study how to fight this battle. Our firepower is much stronger than that of the Japanese now. We can't lose face."

"Is there going to be another war?"

Chang Zhan turned around and looked at Xu Chaoyang: "Didn't we just defeat Tong County? Why are we fighting again?"

Chang Zhan was a little annoyed. He had fought his way out of the Northeast, and it had only been a few years since he settled down in Tianjin? How good had his life been in those years?
"Why, you can't bear to leave your little widow?"

Xu Chaoyang knew that while the 217th Regiment was desperately trying to find a wife, Chang Zhan, who was quiet, also found a young widow whose husband had died in the local area, and the two of them lived a happy life. Once, Xu Chaoyang was riding on the bus home from Dagu Shipyard and saw the young couple strolling by the water. They were shoulder to shoulder, and Chang Zhan was holding two pairs of shoes with his hands behind his back, wading in the water like this, and no one spoke.

Xu Chaoyang looked at the ripples caused by wading on the water's edge and couldn't bear to disturb them.

Later, Xu Chaoyang asked someone and found out that the young widow was 31 years old this year. Her husband had died in an internal struggle within the Zhili clan, and it had been ten years since his death. He was also a soldier. She had been single ever since then, and it seemed that many matchmakers had come to her house, but she had never come up with a matchmaker.

But after these two got together, Chang Zhan neither held a banquet nor accepted any gifts, nor did he tell anyone. However, this was almost a secret known to everyone in the military camp. The key point was that they did not avoid people when they went out for a walk.

"Then why don't you do anything?" Xu Chaoyang said complainingly, as if his good friend in his era got married without informing him.

Chang Zhan tilted his head and replied, "Why do you care about me?"

This tiger guy just loves to talk in a provocative way. He has been like this since he was in the Northeast.

But then he will explain the reason to you. Xu Chaoyang is used to it: "How can we do it? Here, you go to the Pingjin line to take the train today, and go to Tongxian to attack the city tomorrow. She is already a widow. If I die one day..."

"Hold it back!" Xu Chaoyang suddenly turned his head: "Don't you know that I am taboo about this?"

"You can be as taboo as you want." Chang Zhan was amused when he heard Xu Chaoyang's scolding. He shook his head up and down and said, "I've given you my life, and you still won't let me speak?"

"I'll tell you!"

This Chang Zhan is different from the tigers played by Liu Gen'er and Qu Yong. He is just stupid and will confront you in a daze. He has no tricks.

"It's hard for men to live these days, let alone women."

"Hey, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me, but I have to use a foreign kidney shirt even when I do things at night."

"I'm afraid something will happen to me that day... You said she's already a widow, and if I die after following me, wouldn't that make me a jinx? What should I do in the future?"

"We know what happened to us. This is the fate of soldiers who fight in wars. What about them? Who did they offend? It's not worth it to sacrifice my whole life just to make you happy."

Chang Zhan didn't know what "affection" and "love" were. Even after arriving in Tianjin, a place with a broad horizon, he didn't want to understand what those things meant. He just described the matter in the most obscene way, as if only by saying this could he be like a man and have heroic spirit.

People in Northeast China were like that at that time. The less seriously you took such things, the more manly you appeared in the eyes of others.

In Xu Chaoyang's era, even women are not taken seriously...

"In a few days, when I ask the railway bureau for wagons, I'll ask for a few more carriages to carry people. You can help us get married, and those who are not married but have someone at home like you, we can all count them."

Chang Zhan immediately asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Send all the people away to the northwest."

Chang Zhan finally understood: "I heard from Haozi that your family is in the northwest, right?"

"What do you think?"

"I thought you were hiding them all so you could use them against us."

"What!" Xu Chaoyang looked at Chang Zhan and cursed, "Fuck you!"

However, after being scolded, Chang Zhan just laughed there foolishly. This bastard can make trouble about anything!

(End of this chapter)