Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 174 Arrival
It's no wonder the veterans said that, although the Shanxi militia would provide cigarettes and matches to the soldiers, lighters were an exception. If you wanted a lighter, you had to buy it yourself, and the price was ridiculously high.

This also means that people who can afford ZIP lighters are either wealthy or military officers of the rank of colonel or lieutenant.

"What, am I not worthy of using a lighter?" someone next to me laughed.

"Of course not, I mean..." The veteran said, looking up and immediately seeing the bright yellow triangular star on Su Yaoyang's shoulder.

"My goodness!" The veteran jumped up in fright, saluted, and shouted in a trembling voice, "Greetings, Commander!"

"Don't panic."

Su Yaoyang waved his hand, signaling the veteran to quiet down. "So, are you ready to fight the Japanese? Are you scared?"

The veteran shouted, "Reporting, sir... Don't be afraid!"

"Nonsense, who isn't afraid?" Su Yaoyang scoffed at his words. "Being afraid of death is human nature. Even I'm afraid, so how could you be an exception?"

The veteran chuckled awkwardly after hearing this.

Seeing the somewhat nervous veteran and the cigarettes that had fallen at his feet, Su Yaoyang took out a pack of Lucky cigarettes from his pocket, handed one to him, and then took out another and put it in his mouth.

He then instinctively reached for his lighter, only to find it was still in the veteran's hand.

The veteran was quick-witted; seeing this, he immediately used his lighter to light Su Yaoyang's cigarette, then lit his own before returning the lighter to Su Yaoyang.

Su Yaoyang waved his hand, "It's yours."

"Thank you, sir!" The veteran was overjoyed and, despite the envious glances from the surrounding soldiers, happily stuffed the lighter into his pocket.

Su Yaoyang plopped down in the trench, waved to the veteran, and asked after he sat down, "Brother, what's your name? Where are you from?"

"Sir, my name is Cao Dawang, I'm from Tongzhou, and I'm a machine gunner! Everyone calls me Lao Cao, so you can call me Lao Cao too."

"Hey... I didn't expect you to be a native of Beijing, right here in the heart of the capital."

After a couple of puffs of his cigarette, Lao Cao's tense mood noticeably eased.

Su Yaoyang continued, "We're all soldiers, so I won't go into the big talk."

The Japanese devils have already reached our doorstep. If we still cower like cowards, how can we be men?
Death itself is not scary; what is scary is being cursed by the Japanese devils after death. That would be a disgrace to our ancestors.

Besides, you wouldn't want your descendants to bow and scrape before the Japanese devils, calling them "Taijun" (a derogatory term for Japanese soldiers), and to be their obedient subjects for generations, would you?

So, if we don't want our descendants to be slaves to the Japanese, then we have to fight them. Even if we die, we can hold our heads high when we meet our ancestors in the afterlife. Don't you all agree?

Old Cao shouted, "The officer is right! We're all in the same boat, so who's afraid of whom?"

"Hahaha... It's good that you think that way." Su Yaoyang laughed loudly.

"Commander!"

At this moment, a staff officer hurried over and shouted, "The forward outpost reports that the Japanese vanguard is less than five kilometers away from us. Chief of Staff Wu, please return to the command post immediately."

"Okay... I'll go back now."

Su Yaoyang threw away his cigarette, stood up, and patted him on the shoulder. "Watch closely. After this battle, I'll treat the brothers to drinks and plenty of meat!" "Yes, sir!"

Not long after Su Yaoyang returned to the command post, the vanguard of the Japanese army appeared in front of the position.

With a command given, the militia soldiers who were digging fortifications all retreated into their bunkers, leaving only a few observation posts behind. In an instant, the once bustling position became deserted.

When the Japanese vanguard arrived, they did not attack immediately, but stopped and began digging simple defensive positions.

"Hey...the Japanese are so cautious, they've even learned how to dig fortifications?" Su Yaoyang said in surprise, standing in a hidden observation post.

“You learn from your mistakes,” Huang Guantao, standing behind him, said. “The 20th Division lost more than half of its regiment in that shelling the day before yesterday. If Ushijima Sanetsu doesn’t learn from his mistakes, he doesn’t deserve to be a division commander.”

“That’s true.” Su Yaoyang nodded.

"We have almost finished building the frontal positions. We are not afraid of the Japanese bombarding us from the front or attacking us from the flanks. The only thing we are worried about is their aircraft, so you must pay attention to air defense."

"Well... the department can only say that it has done its best," Huang Guantao said helplessly.

"Sigh..." Su Yaoyang shook his head helplessly. Although they had shot down several enemy planes in the past two days thanks to the tenacity of the air defense forces, the air defense regiment had also suffered considerable losses.

If the Japanese army disregards casualties and insists on bombing even at the cost of mutual destruction, he really doesn't have any good solutions.

Su Yaoyang originally thought that with the expansion of the troops, the air defense battalion would be sufficient after it was upgraded to an air defense regiment. However, he did not expect that it would still be inadequate when the war actually broke out.

It seems that the most effective way to truly solve the threat from the air is to build our own air force.

He had considered poaching talent from the Central Air Force, but after careful consideration, he decided against it.

Putting aside whether doing so would anger Chiang Kai-shek, the Central Air Force had been almost completely wiped out after more than a year of losses. Even if they tried hard to recruit people, they could only manage to get a few. Instead, they would offend Chiang Kai-shek for nothing, which was too low a cost-benefit ratio.

Instead of focusing on poaching talent from the US, which is currently experiencing an economic recession, there's no reason why they can't poach anyone if they're willing to spend the money.

However, this only applies to the next two years. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US war machine was fully activated, and it became much more difficult to poach personnel.

After observing for a while, Su Yaoyang put down his binoculars. "Old Huang is gone... It looks like the Japanese won't start a war with us today. You should go back and get some sleep, otherwise you won't have time to rest once the fighting starts."

Wutai County Field Hospital

It was called a field hospital, but it was actually just five or six rows of hastily erected bungalows. According to the requirements, it could accommodate five hundred wounded soldiers.

Of course, in case of an emergency, tents can be temporarily set up here to accommodate more wounded.

The smell of poison mixed with the stench of blood filled the room. Bandages and gauze were piled up in a nearby trash can, and blood-stained enamel plates made a series of jarring clanging noises.

The nurses moved back and forth in their muddy cloth shoes, the hems of their white nurse uniforms stained with dark brown blood.

Suddenly, hurried footsteps approached from the corridor, and the stretcher bearer's hoarse shout pierced the air: "Quick... this is a penetrating abdominal wound!"

As the sound rang out, a group of nurses rushed over...

(End of this chapter)