Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

A white flag looked very strange on the battlefield, fluttering alone in the air. Every time it waved, it seemed to be telling the decision-makers' unyielding spirit, but they were helpless.

"Did the devil raise the white flag?"

Li Yunlong was the second to see the white flag. He put down his binoculars and spat, "Bah! What do these little Japs think I am? They fight when they want to, and don't fight when they don't want to."

"Lao Ding, Lao Kong, if you two accept the devil's surrender, then we can say we are old comrades in the future. I can't afford to lose face!"

Ding Wei thought a little too much and chose to ignore Li Yunlong's provocative words.

Kong Jie retorted, "Li Yunlong, you disgusting old man! I, Kong Jie, have been fighting the devils for so many years, when have I ever taken any prisoners?"

Huh? Confiscated prisoners?

Lin Qiang seemed to have heard something extraordinary.

Kong Jie was brought from the Independent Regiment to the New Second Regiment. Lin Qiang didn't believe that there was not a single prisoner in all these years. If what Kong Jie said was true, then he, Lin Qiang, would move from first to second.

"Something's wrong, something very wrong."

Ding Wei, who had been thinking for a long time, frowned and said to Lin Qiang and the other two, "It's unreasonable for the Japanese to surrender now, unless they are planning some tricks."

Everyone was silent because no one knew what tricks the Japs were going to play.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Qiang said, "But judging from the situation on the battlefield, the Japanese surrender this time is somewhat reasonable."

"First of all, up to now, the Japanese have suffered only one-sided losses. Many of our people have been injured, but not many have been killed. The biggest loss has been in ammunition."

"The Japanese reinforcements were blocked by various units and couldn't come to support us. I guess the Japanese also know this. Now they are surrounded by us. Surrender is the only way to survive. Otherwise, we will eat them up bit by bit."

Ding Wei had a new idea after hearing this. He said, "What Lin Qiang said makes sense, but I think we should not let our guard down."

"Let me first state my opinion. Based on our understanding of the Japanese, no matter how many Japanese we encounter, there has never been a Japanese commander who chooses to surrender before half of his troops have been killed or wounded."

"We can't rule out the possibility that the Japs are feigning surrender. As the saying goes, it's better to be safe than sorry."

In addition, Ding Wei also said: "Let me say one more thing. If the devils really intend to surrender, Lao Li, Lao Kong, our Eighth Route Army has military regulations that require us to treat prisoners well. You two must not act recklessly."

He turned to Lin Qiang and said, "I know your usual style, but this time is different. If the Japanese really surrender, there are too many of them. If we really do that, we will be no different from the executioners."

"Old Li, stop staring at me with those cow-egg eyes of yours. I'm doing this for your own good. Killing so many devils is painful, but the higher-ups won't let you off."

Neither Li Yunlong nor Kong Jie said anything. One of them was an old fox who often made mistakes. Although the brigade commander always covered him up, if he did this this time, it was estimated that even the staff at the headquarters would not be able to protect Li Yunlong.

Not to mention Kong Jie, who had finally made meritorious service while serving his sentence, but if he had turned around and made such a big mistake like Li Yunlong, the brigade commander would probably have been so angry that he would have rushed over and shot both of them overnight.

At this time, Lin Qiang suddenly said: "Captain Ding is right, we can't violate the rules."

"But, isn't it okay if I don't accept the devil's surrender?"

Ding Wei, who had just been feeling gratified by Lin Qiang's awakening, was stunned when he heard this: "What did you say? You don't accept surrender?"

"Yes."

Lin Qiang adopted an unprecedentedly tough attitude and said, "Captain Ding, Captain Kong, and Captain, you three are superior to me in both seniority and rank, but this battle started with my independent battalion. The decision on whether to accept our surrender rests with me. If you three disagree, then please do as you please."

"The soldiers in my independent battalion have big appetites, and I, Lin Qiang, have an even bigger appetite. I can eat the rice in this pot."

These words sounded harsh, but Lin Qiang believed that the three team leaders could understand what they meant.

After all, it was the Eighth Route Army's military regulations that restricted them, forcing them to accept the Japanese surrender and treat them preferentially.

Lin Qiang said this just to relieve them of any burden. To put it bluntly, he, Lin Qiang, would bear all the consequences.

If he does not accept the surrender, even if the matter is investigated in the future, it will be blamed on Lin Qiang and will have nothing to do with Li Yunlong and the other three.

After fighting the Japanese for so many years, whether it was Ding Wei, Kong Jie or Li Yunlong, their attitude towards the Japanese was always to kill them directly.

The three of them remained silent after hearing Lin Qiang's words. After a while, Ding Wei took the lead and said, "Now is not the time to discuss this. First, we need to confirm whether the Japanese really intend to surrender."

"Do you still need to confirm?"

Li Yunlong said: "I, Li Yunlong, can guarantee that this is definitely a false surrender!"

"If you want to know if it's true, why not just test it out?"

Ding Wei brought a few people to the position, which was the closest place to the Japanese.

He ordered the troops to cease fire, then took out a loudspeaker and shouted to the Japanese soldiers below: "Listen up, Japanese soldiers below, if you want to live, raise your hands above your head, walk out slowly, and put your guns on the ground!"

The white flag waving in the air stopped and seemed to be stuck in the ground.

After a few minutes, there was no movement at all. Just when a few people thought that the Japanese were pretending to surrender, they suddenly saw the Japanese soldiers coming out one after another according to Ding Wei's instructions.

Li Yunlong couldn't believe his eyes. He kept looking through the telescope and said, "This little devil, are you really going to surrender?"

Whenever Kong Jie had the chance, he would tell Li Yunlong, "Old Li, the Japs have really surrendered, why aren't you happy?"

In the next few minutes, more and more Japanese soldiers came out with their hands raised to surrender.

As more and more Japanese surrendered, they gradually approached the position of the New 1st Regiment.

"These little devils are moving too slowly. At this rate, it will take more time to accept their surrender than it will take to destroy them!"

This was already the third cigarette Li Yunlong had smoked, which was enough to show that he found it very difficult to accept the surrender of the Japanese.

The older generation had simple minds. They believed that only the dead Japanese soldiers could be called human corpses.

Lin Qiang had been paying close attention to the Japanese surrender troops. When he discovered that these Japanese soldiers had planned to move towards the position, he immediately felt that something was wrong.

But before he could confirm, he saw the Japanese soldiers closest to the position suddenly jump up and rush towards the position like crazy, shouting and yelling.

"Oh no, the Japs are really cheating!"