Espionage: I became sworn brothers with Zheng Yaoxian at the beginning, and became the Seventh Broth

Chapter 590 Sights and Sounds in the Mountain City

The time spent with loved ones was easy and joyful.

Before we knew it, half a month had quietly passed.

During the past two weeks, Ye Shaohong and Yu Manli spent their time either at home with the elderly or going out for leisurely strolls.

Gradually, they adapted to life in Sichuan.

Especially the spicy hot pot.

Their first, albeit brief, attempt was enough to completely captivate them both.

Eventually, it even reached the point where they couldn't live without spicy food.

Ye's parents were not surprised by this result.

When they first came to Sichuan, they also went through this stage and had a deep understanding of the magical allure of spicy hot pot.

Only the old man, perhaps due to his advanced age, still prefers to eat light meals even after coming to Sichuan.

However, he was quite fascinated by the face-changing performances in Sichuan.

Having lived in the mountain city for more than half a year, the old man has made some friends, and they often gather together in groups of three or five.

Drinking tea, chatting, and watching a play.

He was able to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

The slow pace of life makes it easy for people to relax. In just over ten days, Ye Shaohong's irritable and angry mood gradually calmed down.

this day.

Ye Shaohong was strolling around the mountain city with Yu Manli when a seven or eight-year-old child ran over from a distance with a newspaper in his hand.

"Extra! Extra!" "Latest news on the Battle of Shanghai: Faced with the Japanese army's frenzied counterattack, the National Revolutionary Army has no choice but to withdraw from the city..."

The newsboy's childish shouts, though soft in tone, instantly silenced the noisy street.

Sichuan troops also participated in the Battle of Shanghai.

In the streets and alleys, there were children who left their homes and traveled thousands of miles to the battlefield.

The oath sworn by the word "death"—to keep warm during wartime and to wrap one's body in death—still echoes in our ears.

Now, upon hearing news of the battle at the front, the hearts of the people in the mountain city immediately jumped.

"Hey kid, give me a newspaper."

It's unclear who spoke first, but the child who was running quickly with a newspaper in hand immediately stopped and ran towards the sound.

"Give me one too." "Me too!"

Then came a continuous stream of shouts.

Ye Shaohong and Yu Manli also heard the newsboy's shouts and saw the passersby's words and actions. They looked at each other and walked over at the same time.

He took out a silver dollar from his pocket and handed it over. The newsboy immediately handed the newspaper he was holding to Ye Shaohong.

After receiving the newspaper, Ye Shaohong immediately opened it.

Then his eyebrows twitched.

"The situation is more serious than we anticipated."

"After more than two months of arduous resistance, facing the Japanese devils' continuous reinforcements and the elite forces of the army, navy and air force working together, the local advantages that the National Army had gained in the early stages have been reversed..."

Ye Shaohong had actually anticipated this outcome.

After all, this is the trend of the future.

Although he is a time traveler who has come to this unfamiliar world, he is trying his best to change the future, but how much can he change by himself?

The flapping wings of a butterfly are ultimately too weak in the face of the tides of history.

Don’t say anything else.

Let's just talk about the comparison between the Chinese and Japanese armies in this era.

In the early stages of the War of Resistance against Japan, when the Battle of Shanghai had just begun, a small Japanese squad was equipped with two grenade launchers and four Type 11 light machine guns.

And what about the Nationalist government?

Even the Chiang Kai-shek's elite German-equipped divisions didn't have a single grenade launcher at the platoon level. Well-equipped units might be able to get a machine gun.

This is still the most elite military unit in the country.

There are only six such divisions throughout the entire country.

In other local warlord armies, some division-level units might not even have a single grenade launcher, and light and heavy machine guns were even rarer.

The training level of ordinary soldiers was nowhere near that of the elite Japanese divisions.

According to later records.

In the early stages of the War of Resistance against Japan, the ordinary soldiers of the Japanese army were all junior high school graduates. Each of them could use military maps independently and formulate simple military plans.

The Japanese soldiers of this period were incredibly skilled with guns.

It is said that in their top-tier divisions, every soldier is basically a sharpshooter, with a headshot probability of over 70% within 200 meters.

How does one develop such marksmanship?

They were all trained with real guns and live ammunition.

But what about our domestic situation?

When the Sichuan Army swore an oath to march out of the mountains, each soldier had less than three bullets on average.

These three bullets are meant to be used to kill the enemy on the battlefield.

They haven't received much practical training at all.

With such an army, what chance of victory could they possibly have against the elite veterans of the Japanese army who had fought to the death against Tsarist Russia on the Shanghai battlefield?

In the Battle of Shanghai, the casualty ratio between our army and the Japanese army was 5:1.

The blood and tears behind this number cannot be fully understood by simply watching movies or TV series.

Those were all won by our ancestors, who, undaunted by death, gritted their teeth and fought against the enemy's land, sea, and air bombardment.

Even more tragically, many people in later generations simply looked at the casualty ratio of the Battle of Shanghai and began to pontificate and spout nonsense.

They talked about bureaucratic corruption and soldiers' decadence...

But do they really understand history?

If possible, who would be willing to trade the lives of five soldiers for the life of one enemy?

There's nothing we can do about it.

Agricultural countries are inherently at a huge disadvantage when facing aggressive wars from industrialized countries.

not to mention…….

Behind the industrialized nation of Japan stands the shameless country of the United States. While the Japanese are invading Chinese territory, the United States is brazenly exporting war resources to Japan: oil, rubber, bronze, steel...

At the beginning of the War of Resistance against Japan, more than half of the Japanese's overseas resource imports came from exports from the United States.

The Japanese had ample logistical support.

But we have nothing.

Under these circumstances, it was already quite remarkable that we were able to maintain an absolute advantage in the early stages of the Battle of Shanghai and subsequently thwart the Japanese strategic plan to conquer China in three months.

These are achievements created by the sons and daughters of China with their blood, will, and life-or-death struggles, gritting their teeth and risking their lives.

Recalling these past memories, and combining them with the facts that Ye Shaohong witnessed during his time travel, he realized that...

Looking at the newspaper, with its dark lettering depicting the rout at the front, Ye Shaohong couldn't bring himself to say a harsh word. He couldn't bear to, nor could he, blame the soldiers at the front.

At this moment, all he felt was endless sorrow and grief. Ye Shaohong knew it.

This rout will worsen over time, and perhaps in a few days or ten days, he will receive the devastating news of the complete defeat in the Battle of Shanghai.

"Manly, let's go home!"