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

After the press conference, the reporters left indignantly, then rushed to write their front-page headlines so they could be published first thing the next morning.

Meanwhile, Commander Shang hosted a banquet for Long Fei at the army group headquarters.

During the meeting, Commander Shang made a decision in his heart.

Although Long Fei instructed him to surrender as a cover to stay out of the situation and avoid being implicated or retaliated against.

However, he knew the character of the Nationalist government leaders well and knew that he would be resented by them afterward.

Perhaps the Nationalist government leaders couldn't openly deal with him, but using some underhanded tactics was perfectly acceptable.

Therefore, Commander Shang was somewhat disappointed with the Nationalist government and suddenly had the idea of ​​resigning.

However, he couldn't simply abandon the 32nd Army, which he had built from scratch; he had to find a better way out for them.

"Commander Long, I raise a toast to you for stepping forward and saving countless lives."

After the two toasted, Commander Shang spoke frankly.

"Commander of the Dragon Legion, to be honest, I am really disheartened at this moment. Rather than end up in a miserable state, I would rather retire voluntarily."

"However, the 32nd Army was built up by my own hard work. They fought the Japanese without hesitation. Now that they have surrendered to you, I think it would be better to go with the flow..."

Long Fei had already guessed what Commander Shang was going to say next, and interrupted him.

“Commander Shang, you have already defied the Nationalist government’s wishes, and now you want to hand over the 32nd Army to me. I’m worried…”

Commander Shang waved his hand and said, "There's nothing to worry about. The 32nd Army has already surrendered to the Dragon Flame Legion, so it's normal for them to be taken away by you."

"Besides, if the leaders of the National Government want to blame me, they can just dismiss me from my post. I'm happy to be free of official duties."

After resolving the issue of the breach at Huayuankou, Long Fei was about to head to Shanxi.

There are over 100,000 Japanese soldiers stationed throughout Shanxi. For Long Fei, the key is to eliminate the Japanese soldiers in Shanxi as soon as possible.

Then continue to expand into Shandong and advance into the Northeast, the more troops you have under your command, the better.

“Alright, since Commander Shang is so decisive, then I, Long Fei, will not refuse. I will take over your 32nd Army.”

When Commander Shang saw that Long Fei had agreed, he hurriedly poured him some wine, then picked up his glass and said excitedly.

"Commander Long, I am very confident in entrusting the 32nd Army to you. I hope that under your command, they will become an iron-blooded lion in the War of Resistance."

"Commander Shang, please rest assured, the 32nd Army will be a part of my Dragon Flame Legion from now on. From the moment my Dragon Flame Legion was established, it swore to exterminate the Japanese invaders. We will become the nightmare of the little devils."

"Good... well said, that's bold and spirited, hahaha, we'd drink three glasses for that."

The next day, Commander Shang will convene a meeting of officers of the 32nd Legion and above to announce the decision to have the entire army join the Dragon Flame Legion.

Commander Shang invited Long Fei to attend this meeting to avoid him having to travel back and forth early in the morning.

So after the meal, Long Fei stayed at the accommodation arranged for him by Commander Shang to rest.

Xu Peng was worried about Long Fei's safety, so he ordered Xie Qiang to deploy a battalion of soldiers from the 1st Special Operations Division to guard Long Fei's residence.

Gan Honglie and Xin Jiang volunteered to guard outside Long Fei's house.

After arriving at his room, Long Fei was wide awake, so he lay down on the bed and closed his eyes to think.

After arriving in Shanxi, he considered how to annihilate the hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers within the territory with minimal losses.

Soon, Long Fei had a complete idea and plan. By then, it was already past 1 a.m.

Just as Long Fei was about to take a good nap, Gan Honglie suddenly knocked on the door and came in.

"The corps commander, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 51st Division of the National Revolutionary Army, and Xue Boling, commander of the First Army Corps, request an audience."

Actually, if it were someone else, Gan Honglie would have simply waved Zhou Cang away and refused to see Guan Yu.

Don't you even look at the time? Is this the time to receive guests?

However, Gan Honglie knew that Wang Yaowu and Long Fei had a close relationship, and since Wang Yaowu had brought the commander of the First Army Corps with him, he could only go in to report.

Upon hearing this, Long Fei hurriedly stood up: "Hehe, Commander Wang's visit so late at night must be important. Please invite them in."

Upon seeing this, Gan Honglie immediately turned around and went out to invite Wang Yaowu and Xue Boling in.

"Greetings, Commander of the Dragon Legion. It's been a long time."

Wang Yaowu seemed excited when he saw Long Fei and hurriedly greeted him warmly.

"Commander Wang, I didn't expect to run into you here."

"Commander Long, let me introduce you. My 51st Division is now under the command of the First Army Corps. This is our Corps Commander, Xue Boling."

"Commander, this is Long Fei, the commander of the Dragon Flame Legion whom I told you about."

Long Fei looked at Xue Boling, who was also carefully examining him.

"Commander Xue, hello."

Seeing that Long Fei was neither humble nor arrogant, Xue Boling immediately responded.

"Commander of the Dragon Legion, I have long admired your name; it is renowned far and wide."

"Hehe, you're too kind. Please have a seat."

At this moment, Xin Jiang, being very sensible, brewed a pot of tea and brought it in.

As Long Fei poured tea for the two of them, he casually asked a question.

"Commander Xue, Division Commander Wang, is there something important that you two have come to visit so late at night?"

Wang Yaowu glanced at Commander Xue and hurriedly explained.

"Commander Long, it's like this: not long ago, Commander Xue led the First Army Corps in the Battle of Lanfeng against the Japanese Doihara Division."

"Originally, our 150,000 troops could have completely surrounded and annihilated the Doihara Division. Unexpectedly, the 27th Army and the 8th Army were so incompetent that they caused our mission to fail."

"After the defeat in the battle, our First Army Corps was ordered to withdraw to Wuhan to participate in the defense of the city."

"But today Commander Xue received a telegram from Commander Shang saying that the Doihara Division has been completely annihilated by your Longyan Legion, and you have also recaptured Shangqiu and Lanfeng."

"Commander Xue also learned that you were in Zhengzhou, so he rushed over without stopping, wanting to get to know you and have a good chat with you."

"Commander Xue knew that we knew each other from the Battle of Nanjing, so he asked me to accompany you."

Long Fei nodded, took out cigarettes and offered them to the two of them, then smiled.

"I see. I wonder what Commander Xue would like to talk to me about?"

Xue Boling then spoke up, "Commander Long, I am a defeated general and cannot speak of my bravery. I came here specifically to ask you what tactics or strategies you used to so cleanly and decisively eliminate the Doihara Division?"

Long Fei looked at Xue Boling and said disdainfully, "Leaving aside how my Longyan Legion won, if your National Army could have ensured that orders were obeyed without question, the Battle of Lanfeng would not have failed."

"After learning of the defeat in the Battle of Lanfeng, the leaders of the Nationalist government denounced it as a laughing stock for all time."

Xue Boling strongly agreed with Long Fei's insightful eight-character summary.

"Commander Long summarized it well. I ordered all units to fight to the death and not to retreat, but the 27th Army and the 8th Army actually retreated without authorization."

"The encirclement I painstakingly built was easily broken by the Japanese, and all my efforts were in vain."