The Iron Direction

Chapter Five: An Unexpected Mistake

I remember reading about a historical event in modern times: In the early stages of the War of Resistance against Japan, the National Revolutionary Army deployed nearly 30,000 troops to defend Nanyuan, the southern gate of Beiping (now Beijing). This included two regular armies and a training regiment. The two regular armies consisted of an infantry division and a cavalry division, while the training regiment consisted of newly recruited student soldiers, numbering only about five or six thousand.

Some might wonder how untrained student soldiers could appear on the front lines, but at the time, it was quite normal, as it was the National Revolutionary Army's practice to send new recruits to the front lines for training. Whether this was to speed up training or for some other reason, this newly arrived student army directly faced the Japanese attack on the battlefield.

Logically, since the student soldiers lacked training and combat experience, the responsibility of defending Nanyuan should naturally have fallen on the shoulders of the two regular army units. However, to everyone's surprise... a bombardment by Japanese aircraft and artillery scared the two regular army units away, and they didn't even notify the military training regiment during their retreat!

If the student soldiers in the military training regiment had also run away like the regular army after being bombed by Japanese aircraft and artillery, that would have been fine! But the problem was that most of these student soldiers had volunteered to go to the battlefield with the belief that they would die for their country, resulting in a heartbreaking scene... thousands of student soldiers were completely unaware that their allies had withdrawn, fighting alone in Nanyuan against a well-trained Japanese army that outnumbered them several times over. Inevitably, they were surrounded in Nanyuan and wiped out. Among those who sacrificed their lives was Tong Lingge, the lieutenant general and deputy commander of the 29th Army, who was also the commander of the Nanyuan Military Training Regiment...

The reason I remember his name so clearly is because he was the first anti-Japanese war general to fall!

"Sir!" Thinking this, I couldn't help but ask, "You... no, isn't our regimental commander Tong Lingge?"

Platoon Leader Chi didn't answer directly, but instead glanced at me with surprise and asked, "How do you know him?"

"Um! I heard it from someone else..." I made up an excuse, my heart sinking. Now it was clear: my unit was this training regiment on the verge of total annihilation!

What could I do? I fell into deep thought. As the saying goes, "When the nest is overturned, only the eggs remain intact." If this training regiment was wiped out, how could I possibly survive under the Japanese bayonets?

"Sir!" Thinking of this, I immediately stopped Platoon Leader Chi, who was about to leave, and said, "Don't you feel... something seems wrong?"

"What else could it be?" Platoon Leader Chi replied impatiently, "I'm telling you, just focus on fighting the Japanese, why are you thinking about this and that..."

"Sir!" I interrupted Platoon Leader Chi, "Don't you feel... the Japanese artillery is just constantly firing at our heads, does that mean our troops aren't anywhere else?"

"Huh..." Upon hearing this, Platoon Leader Chi couldn't help but gasp, and after a long while, he nodded solemnly and said, "Now that you mention it, something really is wrong. You stay here and guard, I'll go report the situation!"

"Yes, sir!" I nodded in response, secretly thinking to myself that I had succeeded. Actually, how could I possibly listen to the artillery fire? When the Japanese were firing, I was only thinking about how to survive, how could I care about anything else?

Everyone says there are two kinds of sharpshooters: one who can hit exactly where they aim, and the other who can hit exactly where they aim. Clearly, I belong to the second type.

A short while later, I saw Platoon Leader Chi return with a worried expression. I quickly went over and asked what was wrong.

Platoon Leader Chi shook his head and replied, "The situation is still unclear. We can't get through on the phone. The company commander has already reported the situation to the regimental commander! Damn it, these guys wouldn't be..."

Platoon Leader Chi stopped there, his face turning extremely grim. Seeing this, I felt a little relieved. Platoon Leader Chi was a veteran; he certainly knew the quality of the friendly forces. Judging from his current attitude, he most likely guessed that the friendly forces had retreated without reporting. He wasn't saying anything because the facts weren't confirmed, and saying it would affect the morale of the entire army.

Now all I could do was wait. I cautiously peeked out towards the Japanese lines; an eerie silence reigned. Aside from the occasional groan of wounded soldiers lying unattended in the trenches, there was almost no sound.

But I knew this was the calm before the storm. The reason the Japanese hadn't attacked yet was because we were already encircled. They were simply waiting to muster their forces for a fatal blow!

Distracted, I withdrew my head and leaned weakly against the trench, staring blankly. Even now, I couldn't believe it was real. Looking at the blood and corpses around me, the fully armed Nationalist soldiers beside me, and my rifle already loaded… it all felt like a dream, yet so real… What's done is

done. After a long while, I sighed: even if this is a dream, I don't want to become a victim of the Japanese, do I? So the wisest thing to do now is to adapt to this as quickly as possible and do my best to save my own life!

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but turn my gaze to the rifle in my hand. Actually, I wasn't unfamiliar with this kind of gun, as I had seen it many times in movies and television. It was about 1.1 meters long and weighed about seven or eight kilograms, but even now I still couldn't name it. After fiddling with it for a while, I finally saw the two characters "Zhongzheng" on it, and only then did I realize that this was the famous anti-Japanese war rifle, the Zhongzheng Rifle...

"Platoon Leader Chi!" Just as I was fiddling with the rifle in my hand, Company Commander Xu frowned and beckoned to Platoon Leader Chi to come over, and I knew then that something must have happened.

Sure enough, a short while later, I heard the soldiers around me whispering:

"Have you heard? The 9th Cavalry Division and the 132nd Division on our left and right flanks have already withdrawn!"

"What? Impossible! They're regular troops, over 20,000 men... This battle has only just begun..."

"What's impossible about it? Our messenger said so!"

"Exactly, I heard it with my own ears. Messenger Wang Dacheng said that apart from a disheveled wounded soldier, there wasn't a single feather left at headquarters!"

"How could they just retreat without a word?" "

That's right, they retreated first, leaving us here to be their shields and die. I won't do it !

" "Right! I won't do it!"

The discussion grew louder and louder, and the news quickly spread throughout the troops like a plague. Soon, the soldiers were all furious, some even so angry that they took off their uniforms, threw their rifles on the ground, and shouted that they wanted to go home and farm...

It was then that I realized I had unintentionally done something wrong. How could I have been so stupid? These student soldiers were fighting the Japanese with nothing but passion. If they didn't know that more than 20,000 regular troops on both flanks had fled, it would have been fine. But once they found out, it would have greatly damaged their morale.

This can't go on! Seeing this, I couldn't help but think, if things continue like this, our unit will probably be scattered before the Japanese even arrive, and then my life...

"Brothers!" Thinking this, I waved to the indignant soldiers and shouted, "Brothers, have you all forgotten why you came here?"

My shout immediately silenced the soldiers.

Seeing that I had a chance, I pressed my advantage and continued, "That's right! There are indeed many in our ranks who are afraid of death and only care about self-preservation, but why don't you brothers think... it's because our country has people like these that Japan, a small island nation, can act so arrogantly on our Chinese soil. Do you want to become one of them?"

The soldiers stopped what they were doing, looked at each other, and no one spoke.

I knew they were struggling with their thoughts, so I continued shouting, "Today you can leave, you can run away, but brothers, think of your fathers and mothers, think of your loved ones who died tragically under the bayonets of the Japanese army, think of your homeland groaning under the iron heel of the Japanese. Do you think you've done right by them? Do you think

you've done right by yourselves?" Finally, I waved my hand and shouted almost frantically, "Brothers!" Who are we? We are Chinese soldiers, we are the 29th Army Training Regiment! Others may run away, but not us; other units may retreat, but not our 29th Army Training Regiment! We'd rather die fighting than be slaves of a conquered nation! "

We'd rather die fighting than be slaves of a conquered nation!"

"Enemy or no enemy, I am invincible!"

"Enemy or no enemy, I am invincible!"

Watching the soldiers chant the slogans again and again, I knew I had succeeded.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but sigh. Student soldiers are just student soldiers; so easily swayed...