Lin Fan was gone!

The twenty-seven-year-old battalion commander of the Special Operations Battalion was gone!

As a master's student at the Nanjing Military Command Academy, he was on an emergency flood relief mission.

He led the entire battalion to the river embankment when the embankment suddenly collapsed. He was swept into the flood and never seen again!

…

…

September 3, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

A long-sealed file bag was placed in front of a group of old men.

Although these old men were of different heights and builds, they had one thing in common: each had a serious expression and sharp eyes.

The file bag they were passing to each other was sealed with the words: Never to be Declassified!

Destroy after seventy-five years!

There was more than one signature on the seal, with a total of five names.

A general with three stars on his shoulder asked, "Respected leaders! Please give instructions!"

This file bag had been protected with the highest level of security for more than seventy years, and now it had reached the destruction date written on it.

The old men looked at the signatures on the file seal. Each name was that of their old leader or superior!

Seeing these signatures, they seemed to see the figures of their old leaders appear before them again.

They could even imagine what they looked like when they discussed how to handle this file!

Although the people in this meeting room still didn't know what was in the file bag.

One of the old men stroked the thin file bag, his eyes gradually firming:

"Do as instructed!"

After saying that, he raised his right hand!

One by one, the old men's hands slowly rose.

Everyone present raised their right hand.

They represented an attitude: do everything as instructed!

Although these old men were also curious!

The general who had just requested instructions personally used a paper cutter to cut the file into thin strips less than one centimeter wide.

They were placed in an aluminum basin, and the paper strips were set on fire until they were all ashes.

Then, they carefully mashed the still elongated ashes into powder, poured a bag of soil into the ashes, and mixed them evenly.

Just now, when those paper strips were burning, some of the old men vaguely saw the name Lin Fan on the burning paper!

These two words immediately triggered associations in the old men's minds.

Lin Fan! A name known only within a small circle.

A war god who lived in legend!

Lin Fan popped his head out of the river: the river was gentle, the water clear, and the river was not wide, about fifty meters by visual estimation.

The moment Lin Fan's head emerged from the water, he immediately sensed something was wrong.

This river was unusual!

The left bank of the river was crowded with people, bustling with activity, and all kinds of worldly noises were present.

The right bank of the river was silent, deathly still.

Was this river a dividing line?

He didn't understand how he had suddenly gone from the Yangtze River in the middle of a devastating flood to this gentle, clear stream.

But as an excellent commander, Lin Fan only had one second to be stunned.

Pulling himself together, he immediately began to act, swimming towards the populated area on the left.

He moved his hands and feet, and had barely swam two meters towards the left bank.

Behind the barbed wire fence on the crowded bank, a team of soldiers with live ammunition suddenly rushed over.

They pointed the long guns in their hands at Lin Fan, who was still in the river, and shouted, "This is the British Concession, no one is allowed to approach!

If you come any closer, we will open fire!"

"What's going on?" Lin Fan's head was a little dizzy.

The military qualities developed through long-term training immediately reacted: continuing to go ashore? Very dangerous!

The soldiers didn't seem to be lying.

Those people who had been busy with their own affairs immediately gathered around to watch when they heard the soldiers' shouts.

They only saw a swirl in the water.

A green figure had already sunk to the bottom of the river.

Lin Fan's mind was filled with the heavy question of "British Concession!" as his body moved quickly in the river.

More people gathered, watching the water, wanting to see where this stowaway soldier would emerge.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes passed.

No one came up to the surface.

"That person must have dived into the water, got tangled in the weeds, and won't be able to come up again."

"Alas! In troubled times! Human life is as cheap as grass."

"Better to be a dog in peaceful times than a human in chaotic times!"

"Hopefully there is no war in heaven!"

"Fortunately, we are in the concession, not afraid of the Japanese devils!"

Just as the onlookers were lamenting, someone shouted, "He's out!"

The soldiers who had just forced Lin Fan back were also nervously searching along the river.

Following the direction of the people's fingers, sixty meters away on the river, near the edge of the opposite bank, a head popped out.

It was the young man from just now.

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. They were also acting on orders: all soldiers were strictly prohibited from entering the concession.

Behind this was a tacit agreement between major powers: Japanese soldiers would not enter the concession, and the concession would not allow soldiers to enter.

When the onlookers saw that the central figure in the incident had landed on the opposite bank, and there was no more excitement to be had, they slowly dispersed.

Today, they would have another topic to talk about when they went home: a deserter tried to sneak into the concession but was driven back by brave British soldiers.

From this topic, they could also extrapolate the difference in combat power between the National Revolutionary Army soldiers and the British soldiers.

Lin Fan easily got ashore and immediately noticed the difference: the opposite side was crowded with people, and the streets were filled with trams, bicycles, and cars.

There wasn't a single person on the side he landed on!

As far as he could see, there wasn't a single person!

However, he could see traces of fighting on the surface of the buildings.

Where was this place?

Listening to the voices of the people on the opposite bank, the most common phrase was "We Shanghai people!"

Was this Shanghai?

Those vehicles, every one of them, was an antique!

What era was this?

Lin Fan's figure quickly disappeared from the eyes of the onlookers by the Suzhou River in the British Concession.

From the information he had just gathered, Lin Fan had deduced that he had come to Shanghai during the Republic of China period.

The specific period remained to be further investigated.

As for why he had arrived here, Lin Fan didn't dwell on it.

Since he was here, he would make the best of it!

Lin Fan walked through the ruins, looking for a path.

Lin Fan had roughly determined that it was after 1935, with the British Concession, British soldiers, Shanghai, and war!

There were only two major battles during the Republic of China period, one that occurred in January 1932. Da Feng Novel Website

The second began on August 13, 1937.

Was this the Battle of Shanghai in 1937? Had he arrived on the battlefield of the Battle of Shanghai?

He made this judgment simply because the battle in 1932 took place in January and February, and the temperature at that time wouldn't have made him, wearing only summer camouflage, feel comfortable.

There was a tall building ahead, and Lin Fan decided to move towards it.

Along the way, he still didn't see a single person, but he did find a Chiang Kai-shek rifle.

As an excellent military officer, he knew the history of this type of rifle very well:

This type of rifle was first produced in 1935!

Lin Fan checked, and the five bullets in the rifle were still there.

Clearly, the person who discarded it hadn't fired a single shot.

Lin Fan walked cautiously through the ruins of the city, nearby was silent, while the opposite bank was noisy.

Various shouts were constantly coming from over there: Extra! Extra! Fierce fighting between the Japanese and the National Revolutionary Army yesterday, latest battle situation!

This was the voice of a newsboy.

A rough male voice was shouting:

Sharpening knives! Sharpening scissors!

Sharpening knives! Sharpening scissors!

…

Repairing umbrellas! Repairing broken rubber shoes!

Is there anything broken umbrella to repair!

And there was a clear female voice hawking: Gardenias and orchids, fragrant gardenias and orchids

Sweet osmanthus and red bean soup

…

White sugar lotus seed porridge

…

Hearing these shouts, Lin Fan immediately felt his stomach rumble.

He was hungry!

After walking a short distance and turning two street corners.

Lin Fan saw the towering building, five stories high.

On the top floor of the wall was written: Sihang Trust Department Shanghai Branch Warehouse.

Was this the Sihang Warehouse? The Sihang defended by eight hundred soldiers?

These words were still intact.

Lin Fan had seen photos of the exterior walls of the Sihang Warehouse taken by Japanese soldiers after the battle. At that time, there were many bullet holes in the walls.

Several of these characters were also missing, having been blasted into black holes.

Had the Defense of Sihang Warehouse not yet begun?

Lin Fan saw figures flickering behind the windows of the building.

His body immediately rolled over, using a corner of the wall to protect himself.

Only then did he carefully examine the exterior of the building.

From the outside, the building looked very sturdy, the walls were at least fifty centimeters thick, most of the windows were still intact, and there were not many bullet marks on the walls.

This indicated that the Defense of Sihang Warehouse had not yet happened.

Lin Fan quietly approached the building.

The figure that had just flashed behind the window appeared again.

More than half of his body stretched out, craning his neck to look outside, clearly looking for him.

Lin Fan looked at the man's clothes, he was clearly a soldier, because a bandolier was visible on his shoulder.

But with this kind of quality, he would only affect his comrades in battle!

Lin Fan entered the Sihang Warehouse without alarming anyone. As soon as he went inside, he heard several tense breaths around him.

He quickly made a tactical move, hiding himself and his gun in a corner.

A relaxed voice immediately rang out around him: "Damn, this skill is really something!"

Another younger voice said, "With such good skills, he's still a deserter.

The country's future is worrying!"

Several voices immediately snickered: "Scholar Jia! You're worrying about the country and the people again.

If you're so worried, why don't you rush out? The battlefield is right outside!"

Scholar Jia shook his head and spoke eloquently, "I have the talent of a general, strategizing within the tent, winning battles thousands of miles away.

How can I do the work of wielding a gun and killing people?"

"Tch! You're just scared! Afraid of death!" Someone pointed out the essence.

"I'm not afraid, I'm saving my useful body, waiting for the day to turn the tide!" The person called Scholar Jia blushed and shouted loudly.

"He's anxious! He's anxious! The turtle is anxious again!" The voice that had praised Lin Fan earlier spoke again.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down, do you want to attract the Japanese devils with such a loud voice?" A trembling voice said.

On the contrary, no one came to care about Lin Fan, the outsider.

Lin Fan had already heard that none of these voices had any obvious malice.

And these people seemed to be deserters.

Lin Fan had already surveyed the environment here. There were seven people in total.

He stood up generously: "My name is Lin Fan, I'm new here, I don't know what you all call yourselves?"

The person speaking with a Sichuan dialect said, "My name is Chen Sanhui, this is Scholar Jia, this is Little Northeast, this is Liu Laopao, this is Zhen Danxiao, this is Ye Dadan, this is Master Yang."

Scholar Jia pointed at Chen Sanhui and said, "His name is Chen Sichuan!" (Sichuan is the province where the dialect originates.)

Lin Fan looked at Chen Sichuan, the young man was not tall, and his pair of eyes darted around on his thin face.

He smiled and asked, "What is your full name?"

Chen Sichuan avoided his eyes: "What can you do even if you know?"

Lin Fan looked at these people, he could tell that they were still very relaxed, only Zhen Danxiao was nervous.

It seemed that it was not yet time to have a good heart-to-heart talk with these people.

The Little Northeast, who was only a teenager, said softly, "My name is Pu Pengju."

Lin Fan smiled and encouraged him: "A good name, the same name as Yue Fei. Yue Fei's style name was Pengju."

Little Northeast's face turned red, he probably didn't even know that his name was so impressive.

The rest of the people in the room had already looked at Lin Fan several times. Although they were a little puzzled by the military uniform he was wearing, they didn't know which unit it was from.

But they all smiled at each other at the wet marks he had left on the ground after rolling around after being soaked.

They understood: another deserter!

A deserter who wanted to escape into the concession, and then failed!

Just like everyone else in this building.

Zhen Danxiao asked, "Brother Lin! Did you just come out of the river?"

Lin Fan nodded.

"Did any of you make it ashore?"

"Ashore!"

This topic clearly aroused the interest of everyone, not just the seven people here.

Even someone at the corner of the stairs quietly stood up and listened attentively.

"No!" Lin Fan was the only one, and he really hadn't been able to get to the other side just now.

Everyone sighed in disappointment.

Chen Sichuan opened his mouth again: "Damn British, they don't even allow us to go in."

Scholar Jia said, "If we enter the concession, the Japanese will also enter.

They don't dare to fight the Japanese! They're afraid of the Japanese devils."

"The British aren't afraid of the Japanese devils!" Master Yang said.

"They just disdain to fight the Japanese, and don't want us to benefit."

Lin Fan asked, "What's the date today?"

"Soldiers don't care what day it is, living is fighting, fighting every day, what's the point of remembering the date?

When you're killed, it's over." Chen Sichuan interjected.

"October 26, 1937!" Scholar Jia said.

"You still have to study, if you don't study, you won't even know the date."

Chen Sichuan was unhappy with these words: "What's the use of studying? I joined the army at the age of thirteen, first fighting in Sanhui, then fighting in Ya'an, then fighting in Chengdu.

We're fighting every day, what's the use of remembering the date.

All these years, we've been fighting our own brothers. Today the brothers are still playing cards and drinking together, and tomorrow they'll be shooting at each other.

If you ask me, Commander Chiang is decent this time, pulling tens of thousands of us out to fight the Japanese devils.

It's considered a foreign experience."

Hearing him say this, Lin Fan knew that this Chen Sichuan was really a veteran. Before the War of Resistance against Japan, Sichuan was fighting every day.

The warlords' wives were playing mahjong together, and their husbands were directing their troops to fight each other outside the city.

Before the soldiers fired, they would shout a few words: Li Mazi, hide well. Our guns are firing into the sky, don't go to high places!

Zhang Laobiao! Lower your head, don't get hit by a bullet.

Hurry up and finish the bullets, and we'll drink in the city.

Lin Fan had heard many such stories.

Now that he had heard the account of the person involved, he was certain that sometimes stories are not just stories!

Just at this moment, Lin Fan's stomach grumbled again.

The people who had been talking laughed together: "Idiot! Joining the army without even eating! He must be an idiot!"

Scholar Jia pointed in a direction: "Silly soldier! Go over there, there's plenty to eat!"

Lin Fan quickly ran in that direction, and the other soldiers laughed without minding at all.

Just at this moment, a burst of dense gunfire suddenly came from the distance. Lin Fan looked out of the window and saw many planes with the Rising Sun flag flying overhead.

The war was still going on, and the battlefield still needed soldiers!