pappabearbooks Chapter 12 Entering the Fourth Row Warehouse, Xie Jinyuan's Shock
Chapter 12 Entering the Fourth Row Warehouse, Xie Jinyuan's Shock
That battle was fought brilliantly.
Li Jianghe was able to lead a ragtag army to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army on the front lines, which demonstrates his strategic planning skills.
Commander Gu pondered for a moment before saying:
"Chief of Staff, pass this order on."
South bank of the Suzhou Creek, inside the Third Battalion camp.
Unlike the demoralized troops in the surrounding camps, the soldiers of the Third Battalion maintained high morale after retreating from the front lines.
At this moment, Li Jianghe was teaching Long Wenzhang how to shoot.
Long Wenzhang learned very quickly; in just a few days, his marksmanship improved rapidly, especially his machine gun skills.
Just then, Lin Yongzhi, a burly man with a strong Hunan accent, ran over.
He is now the company commander of the third battalion infantry company.
"Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Liu is here."
As they were talking, Li Jianghe saw Deputy Liu swaggering over with his long legs.
Standing at over 1.9 meters tall, he truly stands out from the crowd in this day and age.
"Lieutenant Liu, what is it?"
Seeing the grim expression on Liu's face, Li Jianghe knew something bad was about to happen.
He wondered if they were already planning to retreat? Were they going to leave these ragtag troops behind as scapegoats?
Lieutenant Liu handed over a telegram.
"Brother Li, Commander Gu has ordered your unit to reinforce the 524th Regiment of the 88th Division. Depart immediately."
When the unit designation was mentioned, Li Jianghe felt that it sounded familiar.
Wait a minute, aren't these the troops guarding the Sihang Warehouse?
Could it be...?
Thinking of this, Li Jianghe looked at Deputy Liu.
"So, we're going to be assigned to a German-equipped division too? That's great news! Lieutenant Liu, why are you looking so down?"
Lieutenant Liu leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"Brother Li, the regimental commander asked me to tell you that this is a trap. The higher-ups have decided to leave a lone force on the north bank of the Suzhou Creek to hold out until the League of Nations conference is held."
If you join us, we will be surrounded by enemies on all sides and will surely die.
The commander meant that you could refuse, and he would try to persuade you to stay.
"Our Guangxi Army only has so many men left; we can't afford to lose them all."
But Li Jianghe still had that "I'm the only one who can do this" expression.
"Lieutenant Liu, if our Third Battalion doesn't go in, other units will eventually go in."
With our nation and people fallen to such a state, how can we, as soldiers, stand idly by?
That's what they say, but Li Jianghe actually has his own plans.
The Sihang Warehouse was very sturdy, and because it was close to the foreign concessions, the Japanese dared not bombard it with artillery.
In light-arms combat, the Sihang Warehouse isn't a battleground, but rather a place to farm merit points.
The accumulated merit points can be used to boost troops, which will make it easier to break through and advance towards Jinling.
If they had stayed here, and the Japanese army had landed in the Hangzhou Bay direction, hundreds of thousands of Nationalist troops would have been stuck on several highways.
Being chased by the Japanese devils and bombed by planes overhead, dying without even knowing how you died, that's what you call pathetic.
Deputy Liu looked at Li Jianghe, his admiration for him growing even stronger.
He gave Li Jianghe a thumbs up.
"Brother Li, if all Chinese people were like this, what would our mighty China have to fear from the Japanese invaders?!"
After saying that, he added:
"The commander has one more thing to say."
"What did you say?"
Li Jianghe asked.
"The regimental commander said that if you insist on going, the regiment has two heavy machine guns. You can take them with you and use them to fight the Japanese."
Those were two German-made Maxim heavy machine guns, quite rare items.
In fact, the entire Fifth Regiment only had four Maxim guns, two of which were destroyed by Japanese grenade launchers in battle, leaving only these two.
Li Jianghe knew that the Gui Army was also poor, and originally wanted to politely decline, but Deputy Liu said that it was the regimental commander's order, so he had no choice but to accept it.
That evening, Li Jianghe led the way across the Suzhou Creek toward the Sihang Warehouse.
The road was littered with blood, corpses, and ruins.
Occasionally, gunshots and cries of agony could be heard echoing through the night, sending chills down one's spine.
Li Jianghe's team, though called a battalion, actually consisted of fewer than two hundred people.
However, they were better equipped, had high morale, and had accumulated a great deal of combat experience.
(Sihang Warehouse)
Inside the Sihang Warehouse, Xie Jinyuan and Yang Ruifu were setting up defenses.
"Commander, reinforcements have arrived; it's a battalion from the Guangxi Army."
Battalion Commander Yang Ruifu wore round-framed black-rimmed glasses; although a soldier, he possessed a refined and scholarly air.
Xie Jinyuan, deputy commander of the 524th Regiment, stood tall and straight in front of the window with his hands behind his back.
Hearing this, I was slightly surprised.
"Guangxi Army? Which unit?"
Xie Jinyuan had bright black eyes, regular facial features, a high nose bridge, and a military-like neatness and simplicity in his every move.
"You should know that in Chenjiaxing, there was only one unit that dared to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army."
Yang Ruifu adjusted his round-framed glasses.
"It was them?"
Xie Jinyuan's lips curled up slightly. "My superiors have certainly found me a good helper."
However, he also had concerns, knowing that these local troops were poorly equipped, poorly trained, and relied entirely on their courage to fight.
Forget it, if all else fails, let's give them some of their ammunition and reserve weapons.
As Xie Jinyuan walked, he secretly made plans in his mind.
Upon seeing Li Jianghe's troops on the first floor, Xie Jinyuan was immediately taken aback.
Something's not right. Why are they all carrying Type 24 rifles, Mauser rifles, and even machine guns?
Not only that, but there was also a bunch of weapons and equipment that they didn't even recognize.
For example, the machine gun covered with heat dissipation holes, and the well-made submachine gun.
There were even gas masks and German-made steel helmets.
Is this still the Guangxi Army? Their equipment is better than their German-equipped divisions.
"Li Jianghe, battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment, 176th Division of the Guangxi Army, Commander Xie, I have long admired your name."
Li Jianghe and Xie Jinyuan shook hands.
"I have long admired Battalion Commander Li's reputation."
After exchanging pleasantries, Xie Jinyuan led Li Jianghe to the temporary command post.
"The order from above is to hold out until at least November 6, because the signing ceremony of the Nine Powers Pact will be held on that day."
Xie Jinyuan said, looking at Li Jianghe.
"Battalion Commander Li, you should know what this means."
Li Jianghe was well aware that it was October 25th, and there were still ten days until the meeting began.
These four hundred-plus men held out for ten days under the fierce attack of the Japanese army, which was an almost impossible task.
Of course, the historical defense of Sihang Warehouse actually ended on November 1st.
The remaining four lines of the isolated army retreated into the foreign concessions and were imprisoned in the isolated army camp on Jiaozhou Road for four years.
As for Xie Jinyuan, he was assassinated in 41 by a traitor bribed by the Wang Jingwei regime.
By the time the War of Resistance against Japan ended, only about 100 of the original 400 people survived.
"I know, our entire army is very likely to be wiped out."
Li Jianghe spoke calmly, as if it were a very ordinary matter.
Seeing that Li Jianghe was ready, Xie Jinyuan said with a firm gaze:
"That's right. Since Battalion Commander Li is already mentally prepared to die for his country, I won't say anything more. Let's fight to the death and defend our country today."
Li Jianghe thought to himself, "I didn't intend to die here. I just came here to kill Japanese devils and rack up some merit points."
The battle plan was quickly finalized, and Li Jianghe volunteered to deploy defenses around the Sihang Warehouse.
This deeply impressed Xie Jinyuan, who secretly admired Battalion Commander Li, who was indeed a man dedicated to serving his country and always at the forefront.
After Li Jianghe left, Battalion Commander Yang Ruifu walked over with a worried look on his face.
"Commander, can they hold the outer perimeter?"