The War of Resistance Against Japan: Special Operations Battalion Traverses Shanghai and Slaughters

Upon arriving at the dock, Long Fei immediately dispatched ten ferries.

They also arranged for manpower to divert some of the people gathered at the dock and transport them across the river in batches by ferry.

Although there is a pontoon bridge, using ferries together can greatly speed up the evacuation of the people.

For three whole days, Long Fei was on-site, directing the Special Operations Battalion and the New First Battalion, and everyone worked tirelessly without sleep.

Finally, all 500,000-plus residents of Nanjing were safely evacuated to the north bank of the Yangtze River.

Those still remaining in Nanjing today include not only the garrison troops, but also diplomats and foreign nationals from many countries.

Of course, there were also a very small number of people who genuinely did not want to leave their homes. They ignored advice, hid in various places, and secretly stayed behind.

Just as the last group of people were about to cross the pontoon bridge and board the ferry, Long Fei suddenly noticed that there was a group of people in the crowd who seemed suspicious.

Generally speaking, people travel in groups as family units.

This group of people, numbering about twelve or thirteen, were divided into groups of two or three, keeping a certain distance between them, and were mixed in with the crowd as they prepared to cross the river.

Long Fei immediately noticed something was wrong because these people were generally only in their twenties. They were looking around as they walked and exchanging glances with each other.

The key point is that everyone was empty-handed, and several of them were wearing clothes that clearly didn't fit.

Long Fei was certain that these people were not ordinary citizens preparing to flee.

"Xu Peng, do you see this group of people in the crowd? Detain them all; I need to check their identities."

Xu Peng followed Long Fei's gaze and quickly realized that something was wrong with this group of people.

So he nodded and told Xie Qiang to take a squad from the company and go with him to intercept them.

The group spotted Xu Peng and Xie Qiang, and quickly approached them with heavily armed special forces soldiers.

His expression immediately tensed up, but he could only pretend to be calm and continue walking forward as if nothing had happened.

After the team members surrounded the group, Xu Peng pointed at him and gave the order.

"You...you...all of you, come out."

Upon seeing this, one of the men smiled broadly and asked Xu Peng.

"Sir, what's wrong...?"

Xu Peng sneered: "What's wrong... You're just asking a question you already know the answer to."

Seeing that these people had no intention of stepping forward, the team members immediately raised their guns and pointed them at them, shouting a warning.

"Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me calling you to come out?"

Seeing that the other side was pointing guns at them, the group could only cautiously walk out from the crowd.

Long Fei then walked over and stood next to Xu Peng and Xie Qiang, asking them questions.

"Tell me, which unit are you from?"

The man who had just spoken started arguing with Long Fei again.

"Sir, we are ordinary citizens from the city, not soldiers."

Long Fei sneered and gave the order.

"Strip them of their clothes."

The special forces soldiers then quickly stripped off the outer garments of the group of men, one by one.

"You said you weren't soldiers, so why are you all wearing the coarse cloth shirts issued by the Nationalist Army underneath?"

Faced with the irrefutable facts, the group of people looked terrified and remained speechless.

Seeing that the group still refused to reveal their identities, Long Fei gave Xie Qiang an order.

“Drag these deserters to the riverbank and execute them.”

When the group heard that they were to be shot, their legs went weak with fear, and they all knelt on the ground, begging for mercy.

"Sir, spare our lives! Our brigade was wiped out by the Japanese at Guanghua Gate. Our brigade commander was also captured by the Japanese. Only a dozen or so of us from our regiment survived, and we had no choice but to escape back to the city."

Long Fei waved to Xie Qiang and the others, signaling them to stop, and then asked.

"Tell me which unit you belong to?"

"Sir, we are from the 260th Brigade of the 87th Division."

After hearing this, Long Fei smiled bitterly and said, "So you are Liu Qixiong's subordinates. Was your brigade commander really captured by the Japanese?"

The man nodded vigorously and affirmed, "That's right, it's true. I saw it with my own eyes. Our brigade commander's command post was hit by the Japanese grenade launcher. Our company originally planned to go to the rescue, but we found that the brigade commander and many people from the brigade headquarters had been captured by the Japanese."

After confirming that Liu Qixiong had been captured, Long Fei knew that he would soon surrender to the Japanese and become their accomplice, committing many heinous crimes.

Long Fei secretly vowed to find a way to get rid of this traitor.

“But you fled on your own and even tried to disguise yourselves as civilians to cross the river. According to the military law of the National Army, you could be shot on the spot.”

Unexpectedly, the man became calmer. He raised his head and said through gritted teeth.

"Since the superior has discovered it, we have nothing to say. If you want to execute us, then execute us."

Although Long Fei knew this group of people and had fought bloody battles with the Japanese before, they had now become deserters.

Just as Long Fei was about to order them all to be shot, he suddenly noticed that two men were kneeling on the ground, but their arms were bleeding profusely.

"Are you injured?"

When Long Fei asked them questions, the two wounded soldiers dared not hide anything and nodded to him.

"Sir, we were hit in the arm by shrapnel. The medic was already dead. We can only bandage it ourselves."

Long Fei felt a pang of sadness and turned to Xu Peng, asking him to immediately arrange for medics to come and examine and treat their wounds.

Long Fei lit a cigarette and stood aside, feeling conflicted.

As the medics treated the wounds of the two injured soldiers, Xu Peng walked up to Long Fei and asked in a low voice.

"Are we really going to execute them? Although these guys deserted, they did fight the Japanese to the death on the battlefield, and maybe even participated in the Battle of Shanghai. Can we spare their lives, or let them atone for their crimes through meritorious service?"

Long Fei nodded, stubbed out his cigarette, and then walked up to the group of people and asked again.

"You all get up first. Those who participated in the Battle of Shanghai, please raise your hands."

As a result, most of them raised their hands.

Long Fei made a decision at that moment: "Although you fought bloody battles against the Japanese for the country and the nation, it is a fact that you have now become deserters."

"As soldiers, we can die in battle, but we must never surrender or run away, because that would be a great disgrace and would also let down our fellow countrymen."

"I'm giving you two choices: one, be shot on the spot; two, atone for your sins by picking up a gun and continuing to fight the Japanese. Whoever kills three Japanese soldiers will be forgiven."

Long Fei's words reignited the fighting spirit of these people, and they immediately shouted.

"We choose option two: to atone for our sins and fight the Japanese devils to the bitter end to wash away our shame."

"Very well, now that you've made your decision, I hope you'll keep your word. Now go and rest over there."

Before long, the last group of people had all safely crossed the river.

Seeing that the once bustling dock had become deserted, Long Fei felt sorry for everyone who hadn't slept for three days, so he hurriedly told everyone to take a break.