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

Next, Long Fei ordered the Third Regiment Commander to drive the Japanese trucks to load the supplies and then transport them directly to Commander Qin's base.

Then, Long Fei ordered Xie Qiang to hang all the Japanese corpses on the city wall as a show of force against the Japanese.

After finishing his work, Long Fei led his troops, along with Commander Qin and the others, away from Licheng and headed to the base of Qin Lai's detachment near Yangqu Mountain.

Before leaving, Xie Qiang was somewhat unwilling and asked.

"Commander, the Japanese 66th Regiment in Liaoyang Town only has a total of more than 3,000 soldiers. Now we have wiped out half of them. Why don't we take advantage of this opportunity to take Liaoyang Town?"

Long Fei glanced at Xie Qiang and patiently began to explain.

"Our Special Operations Regiment only has a little over a thousand soldiers, so dealing with the more than a thousand Japanese soldiers in Liaoyang Town is no problem."

"However, don't forget that the Japanese 114th Division is stationed in Heshun County. They can reach Liaoyang Town in less than an hour."

"Our primary task upon entering Shanxi is to establish a base and then train our troops."

"Once everything is ready, we will wipe out all the Japanese devils in Shanxi, so there is no need to rush."

“If it weren’t for the fact that Giethoorn was ravaged by the Japanese and you volunteered to fight, I really wouldn’t want to confront the Japanese right away.”

This last sentence left Xie Qiang somewhat confused.

"Commander, I understand what you mean by establishing a base and training troops, but I don't quite understand why you say you don't want to fight the Japanese right away?"

Long Fei sighed softly and continued, "We only had a few hundred or a few thousand people before, so of course we could fight however we wanted."

"But now we have more than 100,000 troops, and it's not appropriate to continue with this haphazard approach."

"In the future, we will be fighting the Japanese in large-scale battles. Large-scale battles require overall planning, with priorities, main tasks, and follow-up actions."

"For the Japanese, taking Liaoyang Town could expand their occupied territory, but for us, it's currently like a chicken rib—not very strategically significant."

"As an occupying force, the Japanese could only build their sphere of influence by focusing on major cities and supplementing them with surrounding counties and towns."

"Don't you understand now? If we're going to fight, we need to strike straight at the heart of the enemy's territory and take down the core cities they occupy. That way, their sphere of influence will naturally be divided and isolated, and they'll easily collapse."

Now Xie Qiang fully understood Long Fei's thoughts and gave an awkward smile.

"Commander, now that you mention it, I understand. But I still have a question. You made Monk your bodyguard. That's like stealing someone from Li Yunlong."

Long Fei retorted irritably, "Steal your head my foot! According to the plot of 'Bright Sword,' after the Battle of Cangyun Ridge in February 1940, the monk escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp and was rescued by Zhao Gang on the way, and then became Li Yunlong's bodyguard."

"It's only June 1938, there's still more than a year to go. We haven't even finished writing the first stroke of the character 'eight' yet, what's the rush?"

Xie Qiang chuckled twice and continued playfully, "That's true. By the way, Commander, shouldn't we also find a time to wipe out Black Cloud Stronghold?"

"Absolutely. Ma Liu and the second-in-command, Shan Maozi, must be killed to prevent future troubles."

Seeing Long Fei's serious expression, Xie Qiang couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Haha, this is fun, Legion Commander. Give me this mission when the time comes, and I'll tear these two bastards to pieces."

Seeing the two chatting and laughing, Wei Dayong curiously walked over and asked them a question.

"Commander, what are you saying to Division Commander Xie that's so funny?"

Xie Qiang immediately stopped smiling and deliberately put on a stern face.

"I'm talking to you, you monk who only knows how to eat meat all day long. I gave you five cans of food, and you ate them all in one go."

Wei Dayong's face flushed red instantly, and he responded in a low voice, embarrassed.

"Commander Xie, I haven't eaten meat for more than half a year. The food the Japanese gave us was worse than pig slop. My stomach has been completely dry."

Long Fei pretended to kick Xie Qiang in the butt: "I'm your bodyguard, what's wrong with eating a few cans of food? I didn't say anything, what are you babbling about? Get him a few more cans right now."

Xie Qiang certainly didn't care about the canned food; he was just teasing the monk.

So he hurriedly ordered his subordinates to bring five more cans of food and handed them to the monk.

Long Fei then took out a complete set of military uniforms from the system warehouse, based on the monk's physique.

Also brought out was a Thompson submachine gun, an M1911 pistol, and some bullets.

“Monk, if you’re going to be my bodyguard, you have to look the part. Put on this uniform, and these two guns are yours.”

The monk, upon seeing the handsome military uniform and the firearms he had never seen before, immediately began to grin foolishly.

"Hehehe, Commander, really?"

The monk laughed as he put down the can of food, then quickly snatched the uniform and gun from Long Fei's hand and scurried away to the side.

A moment later, a handsome, tall, and imposing major stood in front of Long Fei and Xie Qiang.

Xie Qiang couldn't help but praise, "Monk, you look so handsome in this uniform! Tsk tsk, Corps Commander, I was a sergeant before, and after becoming your bodyguard, I was promoted directly to major. That's like riding a rocket..."

When the monk heard that he had been promoted to major, he turned his head to look at his shoulder insignia, then at the pistol at his waist and the submachine gun slung across his shoulder, and proudly raised his head, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Xie Qiang, stop spouting nonsense. Is it too much to ask that the corps commander's bodyguard has the rank of major?"

Xie Qiang waved his hands repeatedly and joked, "It's not excessive, it's not excessive. Even if you gave him a colonel, I wouldn't have any objections."

Long Fei added, "By the way, Xie Qiang, you will be in charge of training Monk. You must train him to be one of the top soldiers in the entire army."

"Yes, Commander, don't worry."

Around 11 p.m. that night, everyone finally arrived at the base of the Qinlai Detachment.

The camp was just outside Yangqu Mountain. Commander Qin told Long Fei that it was too late today, so everyone should rest first. He would send someone to take Long Fei to the 772nd Regiment's camp tomorrow.

Just as Commander Qin was instructing Political Commissar Lai to vacate rooms so that Long Fei's group of over a thousand people could stay overnight.

They saw that Long Fei's side was already setting up tents.

The next morning, Long Fei got up early and prepared all the gifts for Commander Qin and his group.

This batch of gifts included weapons and ammunition sufficient to arm tens of thousands of troops, as well as a large quantity of food, medicine, radios, and 500,000 silver dollars.

Long Fei knew that the Nationalist government had not been paying the Eighth Route Army's wages for a long time, so they were short of both supplies and money.

After Long Fei asked Xie Qiang to invite Commander Qin and Political Commissar Lai over.

The two of them stood there stunned, speechless for a long time because they were too moved to speak.

"Commander of the Dragon Legion, this is truly an immense gift to us."

"For us, this is like sending charcoal in snowy weather; we really don't know how to express our gratitude..."