War of Resistance: Glory of the Beasts

Chapter 623 Disaster Victims
It’s not 1942 now, but Xu Chaoyang still saw the victims!

When the huge crowds of disaster victims appeared in Shiling Pass in groups, Xu Chaoyang was completely stunned!
……

1938, summer.

The exploration team of Maozi's mining company arrived. Within a week of arriving in Xin County, they had identified the Xinzhou Coal Mine from the deep soil layers they had dug out. They are now determining the excavation direction and the content of the Xinzhou Coal Mine.

At this time, the thermal power plant machinery that Xu Chaoyang purchased from the Russians through Yan'an had also arrived. This cost him enough money to spend the second batch of 5 million US dollars he brought back from America. Even so, he still owed the Russians 1.27 million.

Logically speaking, Xu Chaoyang should have been in Xin County watching the installation of the thermal power plant units at this time, but he never expected that the military intelligence at Shiling Pass was pulled over from Xin County. When he climbed up the tower of Shiling Pass, he saw the victims everywhere...

Those are the victims of the disaster!
Not the actors with fat cheeks in movies and TV dramas!

This time, what Xu Chaoyang saw was...

They put clothes on their bodies carelessly, no longer caring whether they are wearing them or not, and their bodies are all earthy;

Their skin is loose and drooping on their bones, and there is no fat on their bodies to hold the skin.

They have messy beards all over their faces, their hair is long but sticks out like a bird's nest, there are weeds and visible dust in their hair, and their hair is gray;
The man was staring at Shiling Pass, and the woman was only wearing a pair of open-toed shoes with only a thin piece of cloth hanging on the instep of her feet.

In this group of half-naked people, the men have lost their desires and don’t even want to get close to women… They are hungry…

"kneel!"

Xu Chaoyang couldn't tell who shouted this, but the number of victims, which was impossible to tell with the naked eye, was kneeling all the way along the road from Taiyuan to Shiling Pass, and the end was as far as the eye could see.

"Master Jun!"

"We are disaster victims from Henan. Taiyuan refused to take us in. They fired machine guns at us and wouldn't let us get close. We wanted to go through Shiling Pass. They said there is a shelter for disaster victims in Xi'an. Is that right?"

The thick Henan accent came out of the mouth of an old man with a cane. Xu Chaoyang stood at Shiling Pass and watched the old man cough continuously after he said this, as if he had exhausted all his strength.

The victims did not make any noise or trouble but just stayed there quietly. They no longer had the energy to speak. When people are really hungry, they are willing to open their mouths only when they see food. At other times, they are too lazy to even open their mouths!
Xu Chaoyang was silent.

He has food, and Xin County still has food!
But that was the military rations of the 217th and Sichuan Armies, and was the food used to feed the people of Xinzhou and the victims from Chahar who had fled the war. If these victims were taken in, Xinzhou would probably not be able to survive even a week and would immediately become a disaster area.

Can you blame Yan Laoxizi for not taking in these disaster victims?
Shanxi had just experienced a large-scale melee involving hundreds of thousands of troops, and the entire Shanxi province had been emptied of its financial resources. It was difficult for Shanxi to even maintain order in Taiyuan, so how could it take in the victims?

But...how could Xu Chaoyang take them in?
He saw with his own eyes the disaster victims living at Shiling Pass holding a wooden stick without any bark in their mouths, tossing it back and forth in their mouths, and finally spitting out the broken pieces of the stick!

That's not betel nut!

If it weren't for the fact that the wood residue was so hard to swallow, Xu Chaoyang felt that these disaster victims could make the entire Shanxi province barren...

"Chaoyang, what's going on? Why are we in a state of combat readiness?"

Inside Shiling Pass, in the direction of Xin County, Yang Jingyu and Deng Xihou came on horseback with their guards, but when they entered the newly rebuilt Shiling Pass tower, they were stunned the moment they rushed up.

"We must not let them in!"

Deng Xihou said this with absolute certainty!

In his mind, these disaster victims were like time bombs. Once they entered Xinzhou, no one could control them. At that time, whether you gave them food or not would be a big deal...

Xu Chaoyang didn't say anything.

Yang Jingyu didn't say anything either.

At the foot of Shiling Pass, the old man seemed to have gathered enough strength and shouted loudly again: "Hit or miss?"

A gust of summer wind blew past, and the stone ridge was closed, without any answering sound.

"I'll go back and report to Yan'an right away." Yang Jingyu knew the situation was urgent. This kind of thing could only be reported to Yan'an and wait for instructions. After all, the current situation had them caught between morality and their own safety. If they deviated in any direction, they would be faced with endless troubles.

Most importantly, he is also from Henan...

Xu Chaoyang shook his head.

He was the military commander of the 217th Military Division. Even if the higher-ups came up with a solution after a meeting, how long would it take to raise food and grass? How long would it take to transport them? Yan'an was still living frugally, so how could they feed so many disaster victims?

"Chaoyang, you can't be kind. You must grit your teeth now. If you have any kind thoughts, even if it's just throwing a sack of food to the pass, the victims will be completely attached to you. If you want to drive them away at that time, you will have to shed blood!"

Li Wanchao is here.

He came with Deng Xihou and his men, but he climbed the city wall even slower, and only arrived now.

"Zhu Rong!" "Laoding!"

After the 67th Regiment took over the guard from the 386th Brigade, it has been stationed at Shiling Pass. This is because the New nd Regiment suffered heavy losses in Xinkou, and the recruits it has received so far are all new soldiers and are still in training.

"How much food do you have?"

"Boss, our 217th garrison troops are only given a week's worth of food."

"Prepare to give out half of it..."

bump!
Li Wanchao immediately grabbed Xu Chaoyang's arm and said, "Chaoyang, you are too soft-hearted!"

"Listen to me, open fire now, don't let the victims get close to Shiling Pass, drive them back to Taiyuan, this is the best strategy!"

The moment Xu Chaoyang turned his head, Li Wanchao said earnestly: "Otherwise, the entire Xinzhou will be dragged down by these people, and you will not be able to develop at all!"

Xu Chaoyang raised his hand and pushed the hand on his arm away: "I can't watch these disaster victims starve to death."

Of course he can't!
He could accept the distortion of Li Wanchao's starting point, but he could not accept the wrong direction caused by the distortion of the starting point.

However, Xu Chaoyang would never let the victims enter Xinzhou, at least not now.

"The one who just spoke, do you have the final say among this group of people?"

"Sir, we are all victims of the disaster. No one has the final say. We just follow the crowd."

"Come forward and speak!"

Zhu Rong immediately shouted alertly: "Be on guard!"

The soldiers drew their guns, but their brows were furrowed. After all, the people outside the Great Wall were not Japanese invaders, and they could not find a reason to shoot at ordinary civilians.

The old man stood up by holding the shoulder of the person next to him, and was pushed to the side by the man next to him, and he almost fell down.

He used a branch as thick as his forearm as a crutch, and covered the distance of thirty meters with such slow movements that it seemed as if he was crossing the end of the world.

"Old man, how many disaster victims are behind you?"

Of course Xu Chaoyang was not asking this group.

The old man looked up at Xu Chaoyang, but he couldn't even hold this action for long. He lowered his head again, leaning on the cuffs of the tree branch. The long strip of cloth frayed from his clothes swayed in the wind as he said, "We are the only group..."

At that second, the old man didn't dare to look up!

Xu Chaoyang knew he was lying!
If there were only this group of refugees, even if there were more than 10,000 of them, Taiyuan would be able to accommodate them, unless...

There are refugees everywhere in Shanxi!
Xuzhou was an enemy-occupied area, and Zhengzhou in Henan had just been occupied by the Japanese. It was impossible for them to go south. Although the Japanese were blocked by the flood at Huayuankou, they had to attack Wuhan. So where could these victims go?
Shandong had fallen, Central China had fallen, the Japanese had already penetrated the north and south, and they could not go to Wuhan. The closest places they could go to were Shanxi and Shaanxi.

But at this time, the old man in front of him said, "Just them." Wasn't this hoping that the "military master" would be moved with compassion?

Disaster victims, are they bad?
They just want to have a bite to eat.

"Old man, can you stabilize these victims?"

The old man raised his head reluctantly and said in a very firm tone: "As long as there is food, it's fine!"

Xu Chaoyang shook his head at this time: "No food!"

He was prepared to give out half of the 67th Regiment's rations, so the soldiers had to reduce the amount in the past few days, but they still said the word "no food".

"If you can stabilize these disaster victims, I will allow you to stay outside Shiling Pass. As for whether you will be allowed to pass through Xinzhou, this is not something I can decide. I have to report this to the higher-ups and wait for their approval."

"If you can't wait peacefully outside Shiling Pass, then you can only return the same way you came."

The old man grinned at this moment, but there was no tear in his eyes. His face was drooping due to hunger and he asked, "General, where can we go?"

He was heartbroken by Xu Chaoyang...

"That's none of my business!"

After Xu Chaoyang finished speaking, he turned and left, leaving only one sentence: "Zhu Rong, guard the pass tightly. Anyone who breaks through or seizes the pass will be killed without mercy!"

(End of this chapter)