Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 179 Heading North to Jinling City

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. The journey to Nanjing is extremely dangerous and it is possible that the entire army will be wiped out. So Yue Qianli left behind a unit under the pretext of fighting guerrilla warfare, but in fact he was leaving behind some seeds.

The 4th Detachment (Deputy Regiment Level) did not stay as a whole, but each detachment selected a main battalion to exchange with the battalion of the th Detachment, so that there were still infantry battalions;
The direct-affiliated troops include artillery battalions, supply teams, reconnaissance companies, medical companies, communications companies, etc., with a total number of about 6 people.

In order to facilitate replenishment, all the equipment was replaced with captured Japanese weapons, including 12 rocket launchers and 500 rounds of ammunition, which were personally controlled by Duan Yulin.

"Old Duan, I'll give you enough ammunition this time, but from now on you'll have to rely on yourselves.

Don’t blindly expand the army in the next two years. Quality soldiers are more important than quantity. Too many will be a logistical burden. Keep the number of troops between 3 and 8.”

Then the two of them put their heads together and talked a lot. Yue Qianli told him all the tricks of guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and establishing bases. And they were all forbidden words. Fortunately, others had avoided them. Even Duan Yulin couldn't help but say:
"Old Yue, your approach is somewhat similar to that of the other party. If you treat them honestly, it won't be--"

"Old Duan, do you want to die? Don't make jokes that shouldn't be made!

They eat with chopsticks, so do we have to eat with our hands?
Aren’t we also learning the Japanese tactics? As long as they are useful, we will use them. Remember, survival is the first priority! "

Yue Qianli denied it flatly, which made Duan Yulin more certain of his judgment. When he left, he said something without thinking:
“Laoyue, no matter where you go, you must take my brother and I with you, because I never want to be your enemy;
I'll leave Yaqin to you. She's 26 years old this year, you know!"

Yue Qianli waved at him impatiently. It seemed that this kid had him in his grasp. Wasn't he the same?

Brothers are the closest to each other in fighting tigers, so he would naturally bring brothers like Duan Yulin and Zhao Tianci with him.

That night, the guerrilla column split up for the first time. Yue Qianli led the main force to Nanjing, while Duan Yulin and the fourth detachment continued to stay near Kunshan.

They put on a defensive posture, with only one guerrilla brigade stationed in the city, and the flag of the Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column flying high on the top of Kunshan City.

After the division, the main force of the Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column (regimental level) was slimmed down, with three detachments under its jurisdiction, each with three guerrilla battalions (3 people) and corresponding direct-affiliated troops, totaling about 3 people. The previous four battalions were reorganized into three, with an increase in the number of people.

The column's direct troops include artillery battalions, reconnaissance battalions, baggage teams, medical teams, communications teams, youth battalions, etc., plus three detachments, totaling about 3 people.

The shortest way from Kunshan to Jinling is naturally to go north along the Beijing (Jinling)-Shanghai Railway, which is only more than 250 kilometers, but the railway is full of Japanese troops. If you fight along the way, there will probably be few people left.

Therefore, Yue Qianli had no choice but to stay away from the railway and divide his troops again, detouring to the north of Taihu Lake and implementing a large-scale detour. The three detachments acted separately, and the column headquarters acted alone. All the mountain artillery and field artillery that were not convenient for mobility were buried, so that a large number of mules and horses could be reduced;
炮兵营只装备12门火箭炮（取回物资后辎重队又赶制了6门）、16门迫击炮、24门20毫米高射炮。

All infantry artillery was transferred to the detachments. The characteristic of these artillery pieces was that they were very light. One mortar weighed only 1 kilograms. One mule could carry four mortars, one rocket launcher, or one anti-aircraft gun. In addition to carrying artillery shells, fifty or sixty mules were enough.
Ammunition was distributed to individuals, with each person carrying 200 rounds and a box on their shoulders. The remaining supplies were also transported by mules and horses. Each detachment was responsible for its own supplies, and the baggage team only carried the supplies that Yue Qianli brought back from the concession.

After this optimization, they discarded the horse-drawn carriages that were too dependent on roads, and could travel through country roads, rural areas and even mountains, where there were almost no Japanese invaders.

Yue Qianli called several team leaders together and said to the map:
“Brothers, you see, the Japanese offensive against Nanjing City is divided into two major parts, attacking along the left and right wings of Taihu Lake;
The right wing was the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, which was divided into several parts, basically advancing along both sides of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.

第3师团刚刚攻占了吴县，11、13、16师团攻占常熟后兵分两路，一路11、16师团与第3师团会攻无锡，被21集团军、第15集团军暂时挡住；
Another detachment, the 13th Division, took a detour to attack Jiangyin, while the th Division was heading towards Kunshan.

South of Taihu Lake is the Tenth Army, which is currently attacking Wuxing. If we take a detour south of Taihu Lake, we may be surrounded by the Tenth Army.
As the saying goes, the more dangerous the place, the safer it is. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to take the route from the north of Taihu Lake to the south of the Yangtze River, passing through Wuxi and Changshu!"

Naturally, everyone had no objection. In the guerrilla column, as long as Yue Qianli decided on a plan, there was almost no objection. He was a typical one-man show. Now that the military situation was urgent, Yue Qianli could not care about these things and made the decision on the spot.

Their marching method was to lie in wait in the morning and move out at night. Several detachments moved separately, starting from Kunshan and heading north. As long as they passed the Wuxi to Changshu line, they would be safe.
The reason why Yue Qianli chose to set off early was also based on this consideration. The line from Kunshan to Changshu is only a few dozen kilometers. If everything goes well, he can get there in three nights, marching 20 to 25 kilometers each night, which is not difficult.

After the marching plan was determined, the first detachment set out as the vanguard, and the second detachment and the column headquarters set out two hours later. The second detachment was on the left, the column headquarters was on the right, and the third detachment was delayed for another two hours to be the rear guard.

Yue Qianli's prismatic deployment is also prepared for a forced breakthrough. When two brave men meet on a narrow road, the brave will win. Infiltration is just a matter of strength. Anyway, they are all mixed together now and they are not alone.

The first and second squadrons of the reconnaissance battalion followed the first detachment and were responsible for clearing out small strongholds that could not be avoided along the way. The third squadron followed the column headquarters, and the fourth squadron followed the third detachment.

The march on the first night went very smoothly. Since we had done our homework and walked along country roads, we did not encounter large groups of Japanese invaders. Some small strongholds were destroyed by the reconnaissance squadron.

During the day, they hid in small woods or deserted villages in large groups. Due to the rampage of the Japanese invaders, the people in the surrounding towns and villages were almost all massacred, and the survivors hid in the mountains.
When Yue Qianli and others saw the corpses scattered all over Songling Village, girls like Duan Yaqin couldn't help crying. Monica even used her camera to take pictures of the tragic scene in the village while crying.

Although Yue Qianli was mentally prepared, he was still angry. The historical records were just a few faint sentences, just like the various massacres of cities and villages, with just a string of numbers attached at the end;
But what they saw now were indeed living lives, and corpses were everywhere, from white-haired old people to hungry children, no one was spared.

Without exception, all the women had their clothes stripped off, it was a horrible sight. They had done almost all the evil in the world. They were just a group of beasts who had lost their conscience!

(End of this chapter)