Chapter 348 The 5th Column
Liu Zhengxiong couldn't help but ask, "Director! Why let these local troops travel thousands of miles to Shanghai? Why not just wait for the Japanese to come and fight them locally?"
"If they had not traveled thousands of miles to Shanghai to fight the national crisis together, which local army could have stopped the Japanese alone? The Northeast Army and the 29th Army in North China are precedents."
Xiang Chu shook his head, paused, and lowered his voice to say,
"When the local army sees that they cannot defeat the devils, if someone takes the lead in surrendering, the devils will try to win them over. I'm afraid there will be countless Wu Sanguis, and China will be gradually eroded. That would be even more terrifying."
Liu Zhengxiong suddenly realized: "It seems that the Battle of Songhu was really necessary, but it was fought too tragically."
Xiang Chu clenched his fist and said, "Learn from the pain! Phoenix Nirvana!"
In front, the straw-sandal soldiers of the Guizhou Army bravely charged forward amid the Japanese invaders’ heavy bombardment.
The supervisors looked at the troops in astonishment:
One company had only sixty or so outdated Hanyang rifles and three or two machine guns, and the rest were just broadswords and homemade rifles, but they still fought bravely and killed the enemy with extraordinary bravery, which was completely beyond imagination.
Hongyi clasped his hands together and said, "Amitabha! This is a force that dares to slay evil spirits."
Ning Qiang said angrily: "Master Hong! Why don't you just say you are not afraid of death?"
“How uncultured!”
Liu Zhengxiong shouted loudly.
Xiang Chu was deeply moved by the bravery of the Qian army and said with emotion: "This is the worst-equipped army in the country. They are good at mountain warfare. It is rare that they can still be so strong in a place with dense water networks!"
"It's a pity that the sacrifice was so tragic! Amitabha!"
Hongyi said sadly, clasped his hands together and chanted the Buddha's name.
Indeed, on the first day of the Guizhou Army's participation in the war, nine brigade commanders died.
After three days, only 3 of the 6 elite troops were left.
Of course, it also caused a large number of casualties to the Japanese.
The Qian Army fought with the courage and bravery of the Guizhou people, which was truly inspiring.
Xiang Chu couldn't bear to observe on the spot, so he took the supervision team to inspect the battlefields.
Near noon, they arrived at the base of a Sichuan Army.
Under the blue sky and white clouds, the Sichuan Army was making a fire and cooking.
The smoke from the cooking stove rose into the air.
Xiang Chu shouted, "Quick! Let them evacuate and put out the fire."
"Put out the fire?"
The supervisory team members didn't react.
Liu Zhengxiong shouted: "The cooking smoke will attract the Japanese planes."
"Yup!"
The supervisory team members rushed forward, extinguished the fire and evacuated the Sichuan troops.
A Sichuan Army quartermaster said to Xiang Chu, "Sir! How could the devil's plane possibly come here?"
"coming!"
Xiang Chu pointed to the sky in the east and said.
Indeed, a large number of Japanese bombers were flying towards here.
"Boom! Boom!"
Countless heavy bombs were dropped.
The Sichuan troops stationed there were stunned.
The Sichuan Army's quartermaster cried and said, "These bastards, are you going to let me eat?"
"Don't worry! I have a way."
Xiang Chu smiled and ordered loudly,
"Light dozens of smoke stacks for the Japanese in the nearby open space, and let them bomb as much as they want."
"Yes!"
The supervisors all responded in unison.
The Sichuan Army's chief steward gave Xiang Chu a thumbs up and praised:
"Sir! That's a great move, thank you!"
Xiang Chu smiled and said, "In fact, you reminded me that the best way to disrupt the bombing of the Japanese planes is to light cigarettes randomly, so that they can't figure out where to bomb, and the Japanese agents lose their guidance."
Soon, piles of smoke began to rise. The Japanese bombers had not yet returned to the airport or aircraft carrier, but they turned around and bombarded the place where the smoke was rising.
Lu Xiong laughed at the sky: "Blast it! Blast it as hard as you can, let's see how many shells you have."
The Sichuan Army's quartermaster shed tears and invited, "Sir! It's time for lunch, please sit down and eat."
Xiang Chu took a look at the food, which was not too much, and asked in confusion: "We have eaten, what will your people eat when they come back?"
The Sichuan Army's quartermaster cried, "Sir! No one has returned from the front at this time. They must have all died in the Dachang front. The food we cooked cannot be wasted. Woo woo!"
"what?!"
The supervisors were stunned.
Xiang Chu choked up and said, "Brothers! Let's eat. After we finish eating, we will go to the big field to see our brothers from the Sichuan Army."
"Yes!"
The supervising team members all nodded sadly.
Dachang is an inconspicuous small town in the northern suburbs of Shanghai.
The town only has one three-mile-long street, but it is a distribution center for goods.
This place is like the center of a circle, radiating to every stronghold in the Songhu battlefield.
Dachang is only a few miles away from the Japanese positions in Jiangwan and Hongkou. It is the last strategic location for the Chinese army to fight against the landing Japanese invaders and join forces with the Japanese invaders in the urban area.
Xiang Chu led the team to the arena and said with emotion:
"Old Liu! Do you know the 'Three Massacres of Jiading'?"
Liu Zhengxiong nodded and said, "I know that the Qing troops entered the pass and massacred Jiading three times."
"There was a bloodbath at that time!"
Xiang Chu shook his head and paused.
"Now the blood of Chinese soldiers has washed the field once again."
At this time, Gu Wei and a group of brothers from the 36th Regiment of the 216th Division ran over and shouted happily:
"Director Xiang! You guys are here too?"
The two troops fought together at Huishan Wharf, engaged in hand-to-hand combat at Chuanshakou, and seized a landing ship to Jiangyin. It was a revolutionary friendship, and they were very happy to meet on a battlefield of blood and fire.
Xiang Chu smiled and said, "Not bad! Brother Gu has been promoted to lieutenant colonel!"
Gu Wei smiled cheerfully and said, "It's mainly because of the great battles I fought with you that I took over as the head of the 216th Regiment."
"very good!"
Xiang Chu praised, paused, patted his shoulder and said,
"Brother! Where are the Sichuan troops?"
Gu Wei said sadly: "All gone! Alas!"
Liu Zhengxiong was surprised and said, "No wonder I didn't see it."
Gu Wei shook his head and said, "The Japanese army has deployed a very powerful heavy howitzer, the caliber is estimated to be over 300mm, and the range is 10 kilometers. It is really amazing."
"what?!"
All the supervisory team members cried out in surprise.
Xiang Chu scolded, "What? Why don't we just find the enemy's special artillery position and destroy it?"
"destroy?"
Everyone took a deep breath.
Xiang Chu ordered: "Lao Liu! I will lead the 'Fifth Column' into the Japanese defense zone, and you lead the other brothers to continue patrolling to prevent Japanese agents from sneaking in."
"Yes!"
Liu Zhengxiong nodded and paused.
"You must be careful."
In order to infiltrate the enemy's position and fight, Xiang Chu selected 61 people including Hongyi and Gan Rong who all knew Japanese and formed a special "Fifth Column Group".
After secret training, the "Fifth Column" can become indistinguishable from the Japanese army.
Moreover, in addition to being equipped with a full set of Japanese weapons and equipment and uniforms, they also specially imitated personal documents with the same logos as those on the Japanese uniforms.
“第五纵组”相当于1个鬼子加强小队，小队部为小队长、军曹、通讯员、卫生员等7人，3个15人加强分队和1个10人的掷弹筒加强分队，正好共计62人。
Today, 25 Japanese troops are fighting in Shanghai, and they cannot be found without careful investigation.
In the middle of the night, Xiang Chu led the Fifth Column Group to approach the Japanese defense zone and put on Japanese weapons, equipment and uniforms in a hidden place.
He played the role of a captain, and his name and ID were Noda Yokoi.
Hongyi plays the bald sergeant Doihara Akihiro, and Gan Rong plays the correspondent Xiang Ming Chaoyi.
Gan Rong carried the Japanese radio on his back and occasionally uttered some Japanese Kansai swear words, which were very lifelike.
The night is shrouded in darkness and the fog is thick.
Xiang Chu led the "Fifth Column" into the depths of the Japanese defense zone and headed towards the Japanese army's heavy artillery positions...