Chapter 244: Turning in (Part 1)

(...Every time you retreat, you have to face resentful eyes and cold faces along the way. At this time, the troops will find it difficult to get food and other support from the people. What can help you at this time are those brothers, dead brothers... Excerpted from "My Memories of the War of Resistance - Cao Xiaomin")

Because Baoying was about to hold an important military meeting, Cao Xiaomin had to rush back, so he later fought with the Japanese and Mie to the other brothers to command.

The whole journey north was drizzling and breeze, and the sky looked sad and sad. The more people walked north, there were soldiers and refugees who walked slowly. The muddy land made every step forward extremely difficult. There were people walking on every ridge of the field, but they rarely heard people speak or echo, and they were all dead.

From time to time, there will be a few people who look like scarecrows from afar, wearing straw raincoats and staring at the retreating people expressionlessly. These are the old and weak who cannot walk or the stubborn heads who are determined to stay on their own land. They also get two inferior grenades from the local guards who are responsible for arranging the withdrawal of people and clearing the fields. The grenades produced by small workshops cannot guarantee when or whether they will explode. If the Japanese come, they will rely on these to fight the Japanese.

Because there are more guerrilla warfare on the battlefield in northern Jiangsu, the guerrillas basically come from their hometowns. The sacrifices from the battles over the past few days have made many families filial to every village passing by.

There were several times when Cao Xiaomin wanted to go in and take a look and mourn these brothers who died, but surprisingly, they were not welcome and their cold eyes turned them out.

"My fellow villagers said, we will deceive their children into being cannon fodder... Alas!" He sighed, and the "harpoon" who was recently promoted to the commander of the guard of Cao Xiaomin was helpless. He was also a local. Because he had acquaintances in various villages and places all year round, he was the one who was scolded the most and was beaten.

Many houses with filial piety were empty. Those who originally wanted to wait until their children came back to leave together, hurriedly held the funeral after receiving the bad news and took filial piety away from their hometown. Among the marching crowd, people often saw people wearing linen and white cloth; most of these people were military families, and the families of new soldiers who were enthusiastically inspired by the War of Resistance during the resumption of Yangzhou. But now Cao Xiaomin found that they had become the most silent and least willing to pay attention to the army they encountered on the road.

"Why is this happening? According to the principle, the family members were killed by the Japanese. Shouldn't they be more likely to share the same hatred of the enemy?" Cao Xiaomin was very surprised.

"There are all military-owned people who die in the family, but the pensions are still not paid, and they are covered with white strips... Many of the military members who fled to escape do not even have travel expenses. After eating all the dry food on their bodies, they have to chew the bark. They..." "Harbu" shook their heads and said, "Our corps is pretty good. I heard that several security groups that came from behind have not paid military pay for three months. The officials said that the people who paid military pay will run away now, so they cannot pay even more..."

Military pay, food, combat supplies, and even various human relationships in the local world. When Cao Xiaomin heard what "Harbuzi" said, he immediately felt overwhelmed. In the past, he ignored these things and basically left them to Xie Zhong to deal with them. Unless he had major events like "little gods" who harmed the people, he would only stretch out his hand. Now he truly realized how much is the aspects that a war involves, and how much is needed to win a war.

Also, it was not until he heard the explanation of "Harbu" that Cao Xiaomin understood why he often saw many troops carrying bodies and retreating on the road without burying the bodies on the road: those dead brothers were locals, and they took bodies to report the death. The head of the family usually hosted a hot meal! Just carry the bodies for a day or two for a meal!

If it is a troops that are ordered to quickly transfer without a body, it is difficult to get help from the people along the way. They will be regarded as "fearing the deaf" because they are afraid of death and have killed so many local recruits. So no matter which unit is transferred, as long as there is no urgent marching mission, many corpses will be carried, and the minor wounded are pretending to be seriously injured... Only in this way can the troops that have won the sympathy of the people on the road get some help, otherwise even the big pot of cooking will be

Maybe it can't be borrowed! The army that retreated without the casualties was not the soldiers of the War of Resistance? What about the troops that were ordered to move forward? Cao Xiaomin's mind saw the 57th Army, which had countless corpses left in the Huaisi River. This Northeast Army almost wiped out all the troops on the front line. They died thousands of people by the Huaisi River, but they could not take away almost any of them when they retreated urgently. The brothers looked back and watched the bodies of their comrades who died in battle everywhere...

Just listening to the introduction of "Harbuzi" all the way, Cao Xiaomin, who had never tried to retreat with the large army, made up for a lesson. All kinds of sadness and heavyness were pressing on his heart.

At dusk, Cao Xiaomin arrived at the place to rest. It was a not too remote village. This big village was a little different from other places, and there were not many people fleeing. The village chief waited at the entrance of the village for a long time to welcome Cao Xiaomin. As soon as he met, he was extremely polite and threw all kinds of high-cap flatteries over.

"Old man, why are all other villages running away? You haven't moved here?" Cao Xiaomin was very surprised. He knew very well where the withdrawal of troops would be withdrawn this time. This village was destined to become an occupied area!

"It's okay, it's okay. This man has to eat when he comes. Does he not want people to farm? The Sixth Division is said to be more cruel, but he also needs food and salary..." The village chief replied: "Look at other villages, if you escape like that, you don't know where you can escape along the way. Instead of starving to death to death on the road, I think it's better to be angry. People will not kill all Chinese people when they see them, right?"

Cao Xiaomin was stunned. He really didn't expect that there would be people in northern Jiangsu who thought this way.

Seeing Cao Xiaomin being stunned, the village chief was a little scared, afraid that Cao Xiaomin would treat him as a traitor, so he quickly added: "Of course, we have also made the worst plan. If the Japanese want to enter the village, we will refuse to allow it. If they want to come in, we will fight to the death... By the way, the military rations donated in our village this time are the most in this area..."

Cao Xiaomin never thought of treating the village chief as a traitor. Although the troops of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party like to do this in this era and took the opportunity to rob the family. He was stunned because of a sentence from the village chief:... If you escape like that, you don’t know where you can escape along the way. Instead of starving to death to death on the road, I think it’s better to be angry...

The village chief's words are actually a very real situation assessment. Those who are afraid of the arrival of the 6th Division and fleeing the whole village will be frozen and hungry all the way, and will be air strikes from time to time; there will also be some bandits and chaotic troops on the ground from time to time... In such a situation, the wife and children are separated, and the number of people dies in a foreign land! If you don't escape, you may not be killed. If you run away, you may not be able to escape. It is difficult for the people! In addition to lamenting in your heart that people are not as good as peaceful dogs in troubled times, Cao Xiaomin really doesn't know what to say.

Although Cao Xiaomin had a high status, he could not come up with much to treat him in such a world village. He just made a pot of mixed grains and rice, and counted the heads. He only put the rice in the pot after they arrived. The smoke from the cooking stove rose, and Cao Xiaomin went to the village to inspect the achievements of the anti-Japanese war accompanied by the village chief and several elders.

The main buildings in the village and the streets on both sides of the roads were rubbed with various anti-Japanese slogans with white ash, such as "Supporting the leadership of the central government to fight against Japan", "Supporting Chairman Jiang to fight against Japan", etc., but more of them are just two very simple words of anti-Japanese. Many of the slogans actually have no practical significance for the Anti-Japanese War, such as "Restoring the Prime Minister's Patriotic Teachings and Implementing the Revolutionary Three Principles of the People", "Free of Speech and Association", "Realizing Democratic Politics", etc. At first glance, I thought this was a demonstration to the government, like those meticulous in the core areas of Yangzhou.

Hua called for joining the army, donating military rations, and exposing the atrocities of the Japanese, but some propaganda were not seen at all in Cao Xiaomin's eyes. Some things that were laughed at in later generations called "map anti-Japanese" occupied the largest street propaganda column. There was a complete map of China on it, which looked very uncomfortable in Cao Xiaomin's eyes, because it was not the image of "big rooster" that he was common in later generations, but the eroded mulberry leaf. The slogans next to the map made Cao Xiaomin laugh and cry: he firmly demanded that the central government take back the Northeast and check the North...

Dizzy! If the central government still has the ability to recover here and there, will the War of Resistance be so difficult? Cao Xiaomin really doesn't know which genius made these propaganda, but from the perspective of the content, it is not what those pedantic or ignorant people made.

"Who made these?" Cao Xiaomin couldn't help but be curious. It was not like this village where there are such knowledgeable and ambitious characters!

"It's your military representative Director Huang..." An elder said, "It's been two months since I came, don't you know each other?"

"Oh? Maybe it's from the Ministry of Military Affairs..." Cao Xiaomin pondered for a moment: "Let's go, let's meet this Director Huang..."

"Oh, it's a coincidence that Director Huang and the soldiers he led were going out to do business this morning, and they left at noon. It would probably take a few days to see him..." The village chief said: "You Director Huang is a good person. After you come, you will be a teacher to teach the villagers to recognize words and do farm work with everyone. The soldiers under him are also good, especially two female soldiers, who can recognize words and sing, and the young men in our village are jealous of them..."

Female soldier? A soldier who is a teacher and sings? What happened to Director Huang and his troops? Cao Xiaomin began to feel very curious. He really wanted to wait until Director Huang meets...

(Author: It has entered the minefield. You have to express the following content very carefully, you know...)
Chapter completed!