The War of Resistance Against Japan: Starting with a Calm View of Life and Death

The next morning, in Ningwu County, at the headquarters of a Japanese army battalion.

Tomohisa Okada was eating breakfast. Today's breakfast was very simple, consisting of only rice and pickles—the pickles were made from radishes and were so salty they tasted bitter.

Because the supply lines to the front lines were cut off, even his food rations as the battalion commander were reduced.

There is a map hanging in his office with the location of "Cangshan'ao" marked on it.

The door was flung open, and Fujita Hiroshi scrambled in, his face ashen, his military cap gone, revealing his bald head.

His collar was askew, and a button was missing, making him look particularly disheveled.

"Captain! Captain!" Fujita Hiroshi's voice trembled.

Okada Tomohisa frowned and put down his chopsticks: "Fujita-kun, where's your manners? What kind of behavior is this, all flustered and unseemly!"

His voice carried its usual authority, but it couldn't hide the weariness in his eyes.

"Cangshan...Cangshan Pass..." Fujita Hiroshi gasped for breath, pointing outside, his fingers trembling. "It's over! It's all over!"

"What's over?" Okada Tomohisa felt a sense of foreboding, and his hand unconsciously reached for the pistol at his waist.

"I just received a report that the Cangshan'ao outpost has been attacked, and all the supplies... all the supplies have been stolen! The outpost... the outpost has also been destroyed!" After Fujita Hiroshi finished speaking, he collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud.

"Snapped!"

Tomohisa Okada's chopsticks fell onto the table, the sound of the ivory chopsticks hitting the surface was particularly crisp.

He slowly stood up, the chair tipping over with a loud thud. His eyes were bloodshot, like those of an enraged beast, and his voice was terrifyingly low: "What did you say? Say it again."

"It was the Eighth Route Army...it was the Eighth Route Army who did it! He disguised himself as a puppet soldier being sent to provide supplies, infiltrated the stronghold, drugged more than sixty Imperial Army soldiers, and then...then emptied the warehouse!" Fujita Hiroshi said, his voice trembling with tears.

"The squad sent to investigate was also ambushed and wiped out. The stronghold was razed to the ground, not even a single bullet was left!"

Tomohisa Okada felt a sweet taste in his throat, followed by a salty, fishy flavor.

His vision went black, and his ears were ringing as if countless flies were buzzing inside.

He opened his mouth, wanting to curse and roar, but what he actually spat out was a mouthful of blood.

"puff!"

Blood splattered in the rice bowl on the table, staining the white rice grains red.

"Captain!" A guard rushed up to help him.

They had never seen their captain lose his composure like this.

Tomohisa Okada pushed the guard away, braced his hands on the table, and trembled violently.

That was his savings accumulated over six months!

The ammunition and food that were originally intended for sweeping through the Taihang Mountains are now all gone!

Those ammunitions were transported from Taiyuan, and each one was extremely precious;

The grain was looted from surrounding villages and was enough to feed thousands of people for a month.

"Zhou—Jin—Dong!" Okada Tomohisa spat out the name through clenched teeth, each syllable seemingly dripping with blood, his teeth grinding together. "I'll tear you to pieces! I'll skin you alive!"

His fingernails dug into his palms, and blood flowed down between his fingers, dripping onto the floor.

"Commander, what do we do now?" Fujita Hiroshi asked cautiously. "The troops only have enough rations for three days, and we're running low on ammunition... What if Zhou Jindong attacks again..."

Tomohisa Okada took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger and fear in his heart.

He knew that now was not the time to vent.

Without supplies, this force of over 800 men would be committing suicide in the field.

The surrounding villages had been looted, and there was no food to be found.

He never imagined that sometimes, a large number of people could be a terrifying thing!

"Issue the order!" Okada Tomohisa's voice was extremely hoarse. "All troops, immediately withdraw to Ningwu County and hold the city! No one is allowed to leave the city without my order!"

In addition, send a telegram to the Taiyuan headquarters requesting an emergency airdrop of supplies, saying...saying that we were ambushed by the main force of the Eighth Route Army on the top of Cangshan Mountain and suffered heavy losses!

His lie was tinged with helplessness, yet he had no choice but to tell it.

If headquarters finds out he lost the outpost, he will definitely be dismissed.

"Hai!" Fujita Hiroshi bowed his head and obeyed, not daring to look at Okada Tomohisa's distorted face. His back was already soaked with cold sweat, which clung to his body and felt chilly.

Tomohisa Okada stared blankly out the window.

The sky outside the window was overcast, as if it were about to rain.

It's almost laughable that this battle wasn't lost on the battlefield!

He knew that after this battle, his future in the army was ruined.

But he knew even more clearly that the man named Zhou Jindong had become his inner demon.

If this person isn't eliminated, he'll never get a good night's sleep in his life.

Even in his dreams, he could see Zhou Jindong standing at the warehouse door, smiling as he watched him break down.

……

Behind Dongzhai Town, in an unnamed valley.

This place has now been turned into a huge camp.

The tents, made of canvas and branches, are scattered in the valley like small houses.

When Zhou Jindong returned with his men, it was already late at night.

But the valley was brightly lit, and cheers were deafening—the torchlight illuminated half the valley like a fire dragon.

When boxes of canned goods, bags of rice, and bundles of quilts were unloaded, the elderly, women, and children left behind all cried.

They had never seen so many good things: some elderly people touched the rice bags, tears streaming down their wrinkles;

Some children stared at the canned food, their fingers in their mouths, their eyes shining.

"Long live the guerrillas!" someone shouted.

Immediately afterwards, shouts of "Long live the guerrillas!" echoed throughout the valley, the sound rising like waves, one after another.

Zhou Jindong did not bask in the joy of victory.

He summoned Wang Yuan, Zhang Fang, and Kosuke Ogawa to the command post—which was a large wooden shed with a kerosene lamp hanging inside, its dim light illuminating the map on the wall.

"We need to hurry up and take stock of the supplies." Zhou Jindong pointed to a pile of ledgers on the ground. "Brother Yuan, you are in charge of registering the food and clothing."

Zhang Fang, you're in charge of ammunition. Xiao Chuan, you take those Japanese soldiers and inspect the weapons and equipment to see if they're damaged or unusable.

"Dongzi, we've struck it rich this time!" Wang Yuan's hands trembled as he flipped through the account books, the papers rustling loudly. "We have 850 Type 38 rifles alone, 32 Type 92 light machine guns, 14 Type 92 heavy machine guns, and two Type 92 infantry guns! We have over 300 shells! And enough food to last us half a year!"

His eyes were full of light, like a child who had seen a treasure.

"There are also medicines," Zhou Jindong added, pointing to several boxes in the corner. "There are several boxes of special anti-inflammatory drugs and sulfonamide powder; these are the most valuable. With these medicines, the wounded soldiers can be saved."

He stood up and walked to the map hanging on the wall.

The map marks several towns and townships surrounding Ningwu County, with several circles drawn in red.