Chapter 1 The Never-Ending Archives

After the Yosada Taro Battalion left the Shimakura Yuto Company to cover their retreat, Gui Wen led a company and routed them.

Within this area, the Japanese and puppet troops no longer had any organized resistance.

The Japanese soldiers couldn't regroup to resist, and as for the puppet troops, they were even worse. They knelt on the ground from afar when they saw the Special Operations Brigade soldiers approaching, threw their guns away, and raised their hands in surrender.

Originally, the puppet troops were the first to flee, but their speed couldn't match the Special Operations Brigade soldiers who trained with ten-kilometer cross-country runs every day.

Fan Jinglue was among the first of the puppet troops to see the opportunity, and they were also the first to flee from the second line of defense.

He led about a dozen of his men, avoiding the Eighth Regiment's artillery bombardment and the Twelfth Company's rocket attacks.

Just as he was about to reach the first assembly point with his men, he discovered that the assembly point had already been occupied by the Japanese artillery unit.

Of course, these puppet troops didn't dare to argue with the Japanese, and they didn't even have the courage to speak to them.

Fan Jinglue and his men watched the Japanese soldiers from a distance, waiting for Division Commander Bian Binbiao to realize that the assembly point was wrong and issue another notification.

As time passed, more and more puppet troops began to gather together.

The Japanese artillerymen rested on the spot, and they also noticed the puppet troops not far away, but the Japanese didn't take any action.

Just then, the "嗡嗡嗡" (wēng wēng wēng) sound of engines roared from the sky.

Many planes flew over from the horizon, indiscriminately strafing the Japanese soldiers resting on the highway.

Seeing those planes spewing four long tongues of fire, strafing along the highway, the Japanese soldiers who hadn't reacted in time were torn apart, suffering countless injuries.

Fan Jinglue only glanced twice before quickly saying to his men, "Run!"

He got up and ran, and his puppet troops followed suit. They started running, and the puppet troops who had been standing and watching the show didn't know what was going on.

Anyway, they just ran along. Seeing a long, thick tail following behind him, Fan Jinglue became anxious and shouted loudly, "Run separately! Run separately! Dodge the planes!"

Hearing that they were dodging planes, the puppet troops following him finally understood and began to scatter and flee.

Even so, the planes in the sky didn't let them go, flying low and strafing with machine guns. The Special Operations Brigade pilots were much more merciful to the puppet troops.

They only opened fire on the puppet troops who were gathered together, and they didn't necessarily chase after those who scattered and fled to kill them all.

But it was different for the Japanese artillerymen. If possible, even if it was just one Japanese soldier, the pilots in the sky were willing to fly after them, spending hundreds of bullets to kill that one Japanese soldier.

Yesterday, the First Regiment's battle in Tianji'an was fully prepared by the Aviation Brigade, but they hadn't received the order to attack.

Today, they finally received the order to attack. After arriving at the battlefield, they discovered this Japanese artillery unit.

Of course, they weren't willing to let it go easily, and the Japanese infantrymen further ahead were already under the artillery bombardment of the ground infantry, so the Aviation Brigade didn't need much help.

Xiao Jianying had already ordered: No matter what, the Japanese cannons must be protected. Now they were already supplies for the Special Operations Brigade, and they were just waiting for the comrades of the First Regiment to come and receive them.

Before that, the area around the cannons must be cleared, and not a single Japanese soldier could be allowed to hide here.

Even more, the Japanese couldn't be allowed to sabotage them while escaping and blow up these cannons.

The aerial ground attack aircraft constantly skimmed over the highway at low altitude, guarding the supplies of the Special Operations Brigade, and after gliding for a distance, they reached the fleeing Japanese soldiers.

After strafing these Japanese soldiers and reaping a harvest, they turned the plane around and came back to continue strafing.

Xiao Jianying led the Aviation Brigade until the First Regiment rushed to the cannons and protected them, and only then was the mission completed, and they began to return.

The number of Japanese and puppet troops killed on today's battlefield was very high, and the area for cleaning the battlefield was also very wide.

Fortunately, many villagers from the surrounding villages came today, and Tang Youwei had a flash of inspiration, drawing some of the villagers to participate in cleaning the battlefield.

The people from the logistics team went ahead to finish off the Japanese soldiers and collect their weapons. The villagers searched all the Japanese soldiers' satchels and pockets, sorting the items into categories.

Photos, diaries, books, and pens were sorted into categories, and satchels, belts, equipment belts, clothes, pants, and backpacks were all stacked separately.

Now wasn't the time to distribute them, and everything collected from the battlefield was piled together.

The small items carried by these Japanese soldiers, such as cameras and watches, were also collected.

Finally, after stripping the Japanese soldiers' bodies completely bare and there was nothing else that could be used, they were carried to the prepared large pit and buried.

Everything on the battlefield was proceeding in an orderly manner. The Special Operations Brigade had fought many battles like this and was used to it.

But for the villagers around Tianji'an, this was the first time they had seen so many dead people, especially so many Japanese soldiers dying here. At first, they were a little scared.

Today there were many people here, and it was broad daylight. Everyone encouraged each other, and after doing it for a while, there was nothing to be afraid of.

There were many people who came today, not just men from various villages, but many people had also called their wives, parents, or siblings from home to come.

These women were still a little hesitant to start working, but as they worked longer, this kind of large collective life was most able to embolden people.

Soon the entire battlefield actually became a good place for women to chat. They chatted and joked with each other while working.

The children weren't afraid of anything and were already running around everywhere on the battlefield. Except for the places where weapons were piled up and guarded, they didn't dare to go there, they had played everywhere else.

Today, people from all around came, making it even more lively than a market day.

Today there were many people, and it was even more lively when it was time for lunch. When those women and children saw that today's lunch actually had canned meat, they all smiled and gathered around the rice buckets and vegetable basins, unable to move their feet. Although they didn't reach out to grab it, their eyes couldn't leave it for a moment.

The person in charge of distributing the food, after asking Lin Fan for instructions, then ordered everyone to be given a portion of food, so that everyone could have a snack.

This made people extremely happy, and everyone present was overjoyed.

Those women originally thought that only the strong laborers would have food, but they didn't expect that they would all have it too, especially since the children could all get a portion as well. Suddenly, everyone's goodwill towards the Special Operations Brigade doubled.

After eating lunch, these villagers didn't rest and immediately started working again.

They understood in their hearts: If the Special Operations Brigade didn't invite them to do things like burying corpses, after a few days, the local leaders and managers would also assign the work to them.

But at that time, there would be no wages and no food.

If there were too many corpses and they weren't buried for a long time, they would be dragged away by wild dogs and scattered everywhere. Not only was it scary, but it was also easy to breed plagues. Therefore, every place, as long as a major battle was fought, the surrounding villagers who hadn't escaped would be organized to bury or burn the corpses.

Otherwise, there would definitely be a plague in the coming year. This was the experience passed down over many years.

Today, in the bunkers of the second line of defense, there were more than two thousand Japanese soldiers from the Tianji'an Coal Mine Team, plus some puppet troops who died around the bunkers, making a total of three thousand corpses.

The three battalions of the Japanese Mizukane Ichiro Regiment rushed to the position, and although nearly four thousand Japanese soldiers escaped, more than two thousand died.

Every dead Japanese and puppet soldier was found, their clothes stripped off, and their corpses buried.

The villagers' enthusiasm for searching for the corpses of Japanese and puppet soldiers was high. They were thinking that if they found one more Japanese or puppet soldier's corpse, they could distribute one more piece of clothing or a pair of pants when the time came.

Today, the Special Operations Brigade killed a total of five thousand three hundred and fifteen Japanese and puppet soldiers. This was counted by the villagers from the corpses buried.

There were less than five thousand villagers working on the scene, so this time they could really share a complete set of equipment each, and even the cotton quilt in the Japanese backpack could be shared. This was a good thing.

The villagers were enthusiastic and didn't rest at noon, so the work was done quickly. By a little after three o'clock in the afternoon, the work had been completed.

Even those clothes, pants, backpacks, shoes, and belts that the Special Operations Brigade had clearly stated they could handle themselves were all distributed.

For the rest of the time, everyone was waiting for dinner. Tang Youwei didn't dare to waste this time, so he sent many people to the villagers to chat with them about their families and harvests.

The soldiers in Tang Youwei's logistics team were all working at home when they set off from Jurong.

Everyone was a farmer and could not only exchange experiences in growing crops, but also inquire about the prices of grain and goods in each other's places. Finally, they talked about why they joined the Special Operations Brigade and why they were resisting Japan.

These soldiers were the most persuasive about the prospects of the war against Japan, and the villagers also deeply believed in what they said. Burying so many Japanese corpses today was the most powerful evidence.

On the spot, some young men expressed their desire to join the war against Japan, asking if they were still recruiting.

Did they even need to ask? Of course they were recruiting! Some people wanted to resist Japan but couldn't let go of their families. This was easy: guerrilla teams could be organized.

And these logistics team members said that when they were in their hometowns, they also participated in military training while working.

At that time, some people from several villages said they wanted to join the guerrilla team.

Tang Youwei wrote down these people's names and told them to come back tomorrow. Fighting the Japanese required the action of all the people in the country. As long as everyone united and resisted Japan together, the Japanese wouldn't be able to be rampant for much longer.

Li Dazhu had young children at home, and he didn't dare to leave home too far. He was a little hesitant to join the Special Operations Brigade, but he was very willing to participate in the guerrilla team.

Of the more than four thousand people who came today, three hundred people signed up on the spot to go with the Special Operations Brigade to fight the Japanese. These people's parents were all on the scene. Hearing that they were joining the Special Operations Brigade, their families could receive special supplies issued by the Special Operations Brigade every year, and even when their families' crops were busy, the Special Operations Brigade would coordinate people to help.

Not to mention that after joining the Special Operations Brigade, they would receive five yuan of pay every month at the beginning. If they did well in the team, the pay would be even higher when they became squad leaders, platoon leaders, and company commanders. Even if they were always ordinary soldiers, the pay would increase in the second year.

Calculating it this way, it was still very cost-effective for a family to send someone to the Special Operations Brigade to be a soldier.

Although the villagers didn't understand many great principles, they also had their own little cleverness.

Whether these soldiers were good or not could be seen from the complexions and figures of the Special Operations Brigade soldiers they saw today: these soldiers all had rosy complexions and burly figures, obviously they had grown up eating enough every day.

Just from the food that these people had given them these two days, it was much better than what they ate at home. They could eat as much as they wanted until they were full. If they did this at home, which family would dare to do it? Every family had a plan for how much grain they ate every day, and they were all calculated.

Wasn't there an old saying that went like this: You can't eat yourself poor, you can't dress yourself poor, you'll only be poor if you don't plan.

Mobilizing the masses was a task that the Special Operations Brigade had to carry out every time they arrived in a place.

This time, the work was indeed easy to do and was done well.

Lin Fan was very happy when he received the report. He knew that although the Japanese were currently powerful, their main forces were still in the cities, and the vast countryside was something the Japanese couldn't manage at all.

Now that the National Army had been defeated and fled, their county magistrates and officials had all run away with them.

Only the village leaders and village chiefs were still there. The Japanese had just occupied these places and hadn't even restored order to the cities, so they couldn't take care of the poor and remote rural areas.

This was a good opportunity for the Special Operations Brigade to establish an organization, so Lin Fan was willing to slow down the pace of the offensive in order to develop the surrounding guerrilla teams.

To this end, he specifically left behind 1,300 rifles and 100 machine guns from the weapons captured today, and had Tang Youwei leave behind a company to conduct a seven-day intensive training for the villagers who were willing to join the guerrilla team.

Today, they captured a Japanese artillery team, with twelve mountain guns, six field guns, and four infantry guns.

All of these weapons were distributed to the logistics team. With the machine guns and heavy machine guns captured these days, the firepower of the logistics team was suddenly fully equipped.

Their firepower was now no worse than the First Regiment's, and their numbers were comparable to three First Regiments.

The only thing lacking was a rocket artillery company and an anti-aircraft machine gun company.

If the logistics team was equipped with three such companies, they would be three main regiments.

The three hundred people who newly joined the Special Operations Brigade today were also all assigned to the logistics team for training. After the seven-day intensive training, they would consider supplementing these depleted teams.

The prisoners left behind by the Special Operations Brigade on today's battlefield were the same as before, only puppet troops. A total of five hundred puppet troops were captured, and Fan Jinglue was among them.

He really did as he said, and when he couldn't run away, he quickly found a place to hide and actively surrendered to become a prisoner.

Everything was as he said, no matter what, as long as he surrendered, the National Army wouldn't kill them.

The Special Operations Brigade didn't let them go either, and first arranged for them to clean the battlefield together.

When these puppet troops carried the Japanese corpses, they immediately felt the difference: the Japanese corpses all had traces of being finished off, but the puppet troops' corpses didn't.

Their eyes immediately attracted the attention of the Special Operations Brigade soldiers next to them. Of course, this soldier said, "We never let a Japanese soldier survive from our battlefield.

As for you people, as long as you haven't done anything heinous in the past, we won't be ruthless.

Don't worry! Your wounded are also our compatriots and have been sent to the rear hospitals for treatment.

We might even be comrades in the future."

Fan Jinglue heard him speak seriously and immediately asked, "Officer! Can we join you too?"

"As long as you are willing to resist Japan and fight the Japanese, you can join." The soldier said immediately without hesitation.

Then he added, "You were helping the tiger to do evil when you were puppet troops before. As long as you don't do it again in the future, that's fine.

In our team, there are people like you who came from the puppet troops. Regiment Commander Shan started as an ordinary soldier in the puppet troops and is now a regiment commander, and so is Regiment Commander Shan."

Although what he said wasn't very clear, Fan Jinglue understood: "Officer! Are you saying that there are puppet troops like us who joined you and are now regiment commanders!"

"Yes! Knowing that the highest official position in our team is the brigade commander, they became regiment commanders."

"Ah! One person below, ten thousand people above!" Fan Jinglue and the puppet troops around him were stunned.

"That's not true! Our team only has the organization of a brigade, so other than the brigade commander, the most others can be promoted to is regiment commander.

We have many regiment commanders, and becoming a regiment commander is my dream!"

Fan Jinglue kept asking questions, and as long as it didn't involve secrets, the soldier was happy to answer.

The political instructor would say at every evening study session, be patient and explain our Special Operations Brigade's policies to the villagers, explain our policies to the National Army soldiers, and explain our policies to the puppet troops.

Every time we get a puppet troop to join us, the strength of the resistance increases by one point, and the strength of the Japanese decreases by one point. Calculating it this way, when we mobilize a puppet troop to join us, the gap between us and the Japanese closes by two points.

This was also the reason why the soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade were very willing to explain to the puppet troops.

As long as their thinking was clear, it wouldn't be long before these puppet troops became comrades.

In fact, the puppet troops of this era had no faith at all. They were soldiers and ate food, just to eat.

As long as they were given food, they could help fight, and they didn't care about right or wrong.

These people only gradually recognized themselves and understood why they were fighting and for whom they were fighting after joining the Special Operations Brigade and studying every day.

The same group of people were scum in the puppet troop, but they were an invincible army when they came to the Special Operations Brigade. The difference was only that they had found themselves here, had faith, opened their eyes, and understood things.

When such people gathered together, their thoughts were unified, their actions were unified, and although there were millions of them, they only had one mind, so of course they were invincible in battle.

Commander Uenoto Yusuke was completely relieved after the Mizukane Ichiro Regiment left.

He specially found the Kempeitai Commander Ezaki Sota, asking him to pay close attention to the order in Tianji'an these days, to prevent anti-Japanese elements from sabotaging and working from the inside out, which would be bad.

Kempeitai Commander Ezaki Sota, who would create trouble even when there was none, immediately agreed after receiving the order from Commander Uenoto Yusuke. After going out, he immediately dispatched all several hundred Kempeitai members.

They sent people to stare at every intersection in Tianji'an, especially the teahouses, theaters, and the roads where miners went to and from work.

When the battle in the morning had just begun, Square Hall Dun and Bian Binbiao, the two commanders on the second line of defense, had called back to report the situation.

Hearing that the front line was tight, Commander Uenoto Yusuke felt uneasy, but then the phone calls stopped going through.

He couldn't be sure what the situation was like on the front line.

When Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro was the first to escape back, he learned from the regiment commander that the front line had been completely defeated, not only were all the bunkers on the second line of defense destroyed, but the two infantry battalions of the newly arrived Mizukane Regiment today were also completely lost inside.

This time, Commander Uenoto Yusuke was really panicked. Although the war had reached this point, the strength under his command hadn't been damaged at all, but two infantry battalions and an artillery battalion went up and were defeated without even formally engaging in battle. This was too surprising for him.

But there was one good thing today, at least he knew that those bunkers were destroyed by the Special Operations Brigade's cannons.

Thinking that the other side had so many heavy cannons, Uenoto Yusuke felt uncomfortable.

Although he also had an artillery company in his hands, no matter how he compared it, it couldn't compare to the artillery team that Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro had brought today.

Of course, Commander Uenoto Yusuke didn't know yet that the cannons of the artillery team brought by Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro hadn't even entered the position and were still in transit when they were attacked.

When Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro escaped back, he changed his route because he saw planes flying low and strafing in the direction of the highway. He didn't know how much the artillery team had lost.

But based only on the losses of the two infantry battalions, he already knew that the artillery's fate wouldn't be good.

Now he had to immediately report to the brigade commander and request that the brigade commander quickly send the follow-up team. And he also had to have the follow-up team come up together, otherwise, sending two battalions at a time would become a piecemeal tactic, just sending food to the Special Operations Brigade.

The Japanese soldiers of the Independent Mixed 10th Brigade received the order to assemble yesterday. They directly abandoned some positions, and they had to wait until the Japanese and puppet troops taking over those positions arrived before they dared to leave.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner according to their plan.

Brigade Commander Soratani Shunsuke was still very satisfied with the current state, everything was under control!

Just then, he received a call from Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro. In the phone call, Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro reported everything that happened on the battlefield today in a panicked tone and a trembling voice.

Brigade Commander Soratani Shunsuke heard that the attacking Special Operations Brigade not only had heavy cannons, but also quite a few of them, at least fifty, and they also had dozens of planes.

The two infantry battalions led by Regiment Commander Mizukane Ichiro hadn't even entered the position and were already bombed into a daze, suffering heavy losses. The specific losses hadn't been counted yet.