The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 47 Trading
...The soldiers sacrificed their lives for their country, and the loss of weapons and ammunition was inevitable. But they still needed bribes to replenish them. This was an unprecedented and bizarre phenomenon...

These words were spoken in 49 by Li Delin, the second-in-command of the Nationalist government and leader of the Guangxi clique, when Nanjing City fell. He was filled with mixed feelings.

To this I just want to say, what the hell were you doing so early?
No one can deny the contributions of the National Army in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; but if the Kuomintang's corrupt behavior, which was passed down from top to bottom, had been slightly better during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there would not have been the cost of 3500 million casualties.

But we still won in such a terrible environment, which makes the greatness of those who sacrificed even more apparent...

...Excerpt from Hu Biao's diary collection "Hu Shuo"...

After 12 o'clock that night, Hu Biao and Hu Shaowei became the new acting company commanders of the Sichuan Army, bringing a total of 109 men with them.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese air force was unable to move at night, the hot air balloons lost the opportunity to monitor the battlefield; they followed the main force of the 804th Regiment and began to move, all on foot.

Compared with the special forces company under Young Master Feng, the Sichuan Army's Third Company has about sixty fewer people.

No matter how bad the 67th Division was, it was still under the command of Chen Xiuci of the Civil Engineering Department. A division had a strength of to men.

In comparison, the Sichuan Army's 20th Army Division had only about 5000 people.

Although the 804th Regiment is a regiment, it only has two infantry battalions. In short, it has few soldiers and poor equipment.

It was somewhat coincidental that Hu Biao and his men met Staff Officer Liu and his men halfway through their transfer with the troops; Hu Biao was sitting on the side of the road with his hands covering his head, looking depressed, while the driver was repairing the car with two soldiers.

After asking, I found out that on the way back, the driver accidentally drove the car into a roadside ditch.

During this process, Staff Officer Liu, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, hit his head on an iron rod in the cab, breaking it immediately.

In response, Hu Biao just said a word of comfort and then continued walking.

After all, Hu Biao was no longer a member of the 67th Division. He had taken their car when he came here, and when they parted ways, hadn't Hu Biao also given each of them a Shazi cigarette?

The next day, a little after ten in the morning, in a small house at the headquarters of the 134th Temporary Division of the Sichuan Army.

"Director Sun, right? I'm Hu Biao from the third company of the first battalion of the 804th regiment. You can just call me Xiao Hu. Come, have a cigarette." Hu Biao nodded and bowed to a fat lieutenant colonel.

Behind him, AT and Huang A'di, who had followed him in, did not say anything nice, but their faces were full of flattering expressions.

Everyone smiled like Daqing's father-in-law, and they all felt disgusted in their hearts.

There's nothing we can do! It's because Hu Biao and the other two are asking for help now.

A little after seven this morning, Hu Biao and his companions, who had rested for two hours, got up even though they had not slept enough, because they had to take inventory of the third company's belongings.

After all, in this battlefield that is like a meat grinder, the only things they can trust and rely on are the weapons in their hands and the comrades around them.

After taking inventory, the seven of them felt very disappointed.

With the addition of Hu Biao and nine other people, the third company now has a total of 9 people.

But in terms of weapons, including Hu Biao's Browning M1900 pistol with only one spare magazine, the entire company had only 71 long and short guns.

The long guns are basically Sichuan-made Type 79 rifles, so forget about this inferior stuff.

There were only two Czech-style light machine guns, and no heavy machine guns at all.

It is said that the regiment headquarters does have a direct machine gun company, but it only has two old water-cooled Maxim heavy machine guns, neither of which are produced by the Jinling Arsenal. They are newer models of the Min 24 heavy machine gun.

The number of other bullets and grenades is not large, just enough for a slightly intense battle.

Moreover, among the few grenades available, some were locally made in Sichuan Province, with a variety of styles, and no one had any expectations about their power.

Hu Biao was almost crying with worry about the poor financial situation of the Third Company.

You have to know that their opponents on Yunzaobang are the elite troops of the Japanese devils; their artillery fire has an overwhelming advantage, and the sky has become their home ground.

In such a situation, what good can their firepower do?

What to do? Find a way to find the logistics officer.

The logistics officers of the National Army are not all corrupt and demand bribes, but most of them are not good people.

As long as the benefits are in place, they have amazing power and can get anything for you.

So Hu Biao and his men didn't even have lunch before they went to the division headquarters to look for someone. After asking around, they found Director Sun after almost giving out a pack of Shazi cigarettes. As for the remaining people, they had a more important mission:
Stay in the third company and teach the soldiers.

The content is about how to dig zigzag trenches when building fortifications, and not to build them in straight lines, otherwise the Japanese planes will dive and strafe, killing a lot of people at once.

How to reinforce the top of the anti-artillery hole, what to do when the Japanese release poison gas, and how to deal with the Japanese tanks, etc.

These are all very practical things for the Sichuan Army soldiers who are somewhat unfamiliar with the current modern warfare model...

******
Director Sun took the Shazi cigarette disguised as Laodao brand and asked Hu Biao to light it and took a puff. His eyes suddenly lit up. After Hu Biao cleverly stuffed the whole pack of cigarettes into his hand, he spoke:
"Oh! It turns out to be Captain Hu who just transferred from the 67th Division. I wonder what you want to do in my little temple?
Don’t look at me as the one in charge of the division’s logistics, but our Sichuan Army is poor; the division’s logistics reserves are so poor that even if a rat runs in, it will run away crying.”

Seeing this guy crying poor as soon as he opened his mouth, Hu Biao knew that there was no way he could get any equipment and supplies from here by flattering him.

Immediately, he gave up the idea of ​​pretending to be a grandson and decided to talk about interests directly.

After straightening his back, he took out two items from his trouser pocket, one was a pearl and the other was a glass bottle with the label torn off.

He said bluntly: "Director Sun, I want to do some business with you. I have some pearls and penicillin, and I want to use your channels to sell them.

You may not be familiar with penicillin, which is an antibiotic that is more effective and safer than sulfa.

You don't need to understand other principles, nor do you need to inquire about specific technologies and product sources; as long as you know how many injections to give, you don't have to worry about the wounded's wounds becoming inflamed or infected, or having a high fever that won't go away, and you just need to be able to survive more easily.

As for the profits, how about a 20/80 split? These are just some samples, you can use them to explore the market first."

After hearing what Hu Biao said, Director Sun, who was originally quite annoyed with Hu Biao's dog-faced and quick-witted behavior, immediately brightened his eyes.

Hu Biao was not surprised at all by such a scene.

Because my country has a long tradition of wearing pearl jewelry, this thing was not cheap at all before the advent of artificial breeding technology.

The so-called penicillin is just another name for penicillin.

However, the content of penicillin in this small bottle is as high as 200 units; in Hu Biao's memory, when penicillin was first used for injection, the effect of using 5 units was excellent.

So don’t underestimate this small bottle, it is equivalent to 40 injections.

Nowadays, in the black market in Shanghai, the price of a sulfa pill is very high. So, a shot of penicillin and a small yellow croaker shouldn’t be expensive, right?
So, although Hu Biao only planned to sell all 100 pearls, two boxes, a total of 20 bottles, and 800 injections of penicillin, they were still worth a lot of money.

Even so, Hu Biao was still a little dissatisfied.

He was dissatisfied that the other cephalosporins were missing, and the key point was that the artificial diamonds were not brought over either.

You know, in 47, the bald principal's wife lost a diamond ring that someone gave her, but it was worth 8 US dollars.

The artificial diamonds brought by Hu Biao may be slightly inferior in size and quality, but they should still be worth a lot.

What I never expected was that Director Sun didn't even glance at the priceless pearls. He grabbed the vial of penicillin tightly and asked:
"This stuff is better than sulfa. You're not kidding me, are you? How much can you get?"

Hu Biao: "Don't worry about how I got it. You'll know if it's genuine if you find someone to use it. Just ask Director Sun if he's interested in collaborating."

"Of course I'm willing to cooperate, but I need to establish a lot of connections, so a 50-50 split is about right." Director Sun said, rolling his eyes.

Unable to find a better way, Hu Biao took a step back:
"At most, 40, you take and I take . My penicillin is the latest technology. This bottle can be used for injections, and the effect is very good.

But we don't need money, just exchange it for the corresponding weapons, ammunition, and supplies; if that doesn't work, I'll go find the quartermasters of other friendly forces."

Maybe he thought that he could make some money from weapons, ammunition and supplies.

Director Sun's smile became even more cordial. "Well, I'll have to rely on you, Brother Hu, from now on. Have you eaten yet, Brother Hu? I'll go get you some food and wine so we can have a drink."

"No need. I'll come and bother you again when I have time." Hu Biao said.

Logically speaking, since an agreement has finally been reached, Hu Biao and the others should be happy.

But there is an indescribable sadness in my heart. At such a difficult time for China, the National Army, which is the main force, has a group of parasites like Director Sun.

If they don't lose this world, that would be completely unjust...

(End of this chapter)