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

Zhou Jindong's eyes lit up, and he stuffed all the beans in his hand into his mouth: "Alright! As long as I can join the 717th Regiment, I'll take the job. That old bastard Qian Tian is a scaredy-cat right now. As long as we keep a close watch on him, he won't even get a hot meal."

"Don't be careless." Commander Li looked at him sternly. "Although the 717th Regiment is the main force, it's not familiar with the terrain here. You're the local, so you have to take the lead. Also, don't be reckless."

"Don't worry, Commander Li, I'm tough as nails." Zhou Jindong chuckled, then turned and waved to Wang Quan and the others who were cleaning their guns. "Stop standing there like idiots! Assemble the troops! Let's go drink and eat with the 717th Regiment!"

That evening, dust filled the dirt roads outside Sanjing Town.

Commander Zhang of the 717th Regiment had a fiery temper. After receiving the order to pursue, he led his troops on a forced march of sixty li (about 30 kilometers) without even having time to drink water.

He was riding a chestnut horse when he saw Zhou Jindong leading the guerrillas to meet him, and he reined in his horse.

"You're Zhou Jindong?" Commander Zhang asked, looking down at him.

"Reporting to Commander Zhang, Zhou Jindong, deputy captain of the Dongzhai Town guerrilla team, reporting for duty!" Zhou Jindong stood ramrod straight and saluted.

"Commander Li recommended you, saying you have a lot of clever ideas for battle." Commander Zhang jumped off his horse, patted Zhou Jindong on the shoulder with such force that Zhou Jindong swayed slightly. "That old devil Chida has entered Mitsui Town and is building fortifications. Our 717th Regiment's plan is to take it in one fell swoop while it's still dark. What do you think?"

Zhou Jindong glanced at Sanjing Town in the distance.

Under the setting sun, the town's walls appeared dark and somber, with machine guns already mounted on them, and Japanese helmets could be seen swaying between the crenellations.

"Commander Zhang, it's not a good time to attack." Zhou Jindong pointed to a high ground on the east side of the town. "Qian Tian is an old hand; he's definitely set up an ambush on the outskirts. Besides, a few hundred remnants of the army have just entered the town, and they're on edge right now. If we attack now, we're just throwing our soldiers' lives into a brick wall."

"Then what do you suggest we do? Just stay here and watch?" Commander Zhang frowned.

"Just watching won't do." Zhou Jindong squatted down, grabbed a handful of dirt, and drew a circle on the ground. "We have to keep them awake. As soon as it gets dark, I'll lead the guerrillas to the edge of town and use sniper rifles to spot their sentries and machine gunners."

Your regiment's mortar company should fire a few shells into the town every half hour. Just a few, enough to make a sound. Chida is currently short of water and food, and his camp is full of wounded soldiers. If we don't let him sleep, he'll collapse on his own in less than two days.

Commander Zhang stared at the earthen mound on the ground, remained silent for a moment, then suddenly slapped his thigh: "Good! We'll do it your way! But if there's an opportunity, like when their morale drops, you must report immediately, and I'll lead the soldiers to charge up and cut off Chida's dog head!"

"No problem!" Zhou Jindong stood up. "Then I'll go and get ready."

As night fell, Mitsui Town was deathly silent, with only the occasional groan of a wounded soldier.

Chida sat in a grand chair in the town hall, with a broken table in front of him that he had taken from a commoner's home.

There was half a piece of dry rations on the table, as hard as a rock. He had no appetite and gripped the commander's sword tightly in his hand.

"Commander, the main force of the Eighth Route Army has arrived." Yoshino Yuto walked in, his face pale. "They're in the woods about two miles outside the town. The sentry just reported hearing digging sounds over there."

"Why aren't they attacking?" Chida suddenly looked up.

"Maybe...maybe they're afraid of our firepower," Yoshino Yuto said uncertainly.

"That's not right." Chida shook his head, his eyes sinister. "I know the Eighth Route Army's character; once they've got their grip on something, they won't let go. They're not attacking because they're waiting for us to fall into disarray. Pass on my order: all soldiers are forbidden to sleep and must take turns standing guard."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a muffled thud came from outside the town.

Immediately afterwards, a mortar shell came hurtling down with a sharp whistling sound.

"boom!"

The shell exploded in the town hall courtyard, and the blast wave overturned the table.

Dust settled all over Chida.

"Fire! Take cover!" Yoshino Yuto screamed and fell to the ground.

Before they could even get up, two more shells fell, this time at the sentry post at the town gate.

Several screams were heard, followed by the sound of heavy machine gun parts flying everywhere after being blown up.

Chida scrambled to his feet, spitting out dirt from his mouth, and roared, "Don't panic! It's just a test shell!"

But it was pitch black outside, and no one could be seen at all.

While the Japanese army was busy dealing with the shelling, Zhou Jindong was lying behind a pile of thatch at the east end of the town, with Wang Quan and Zhao Laosi beside him.

"Dongzi, that cannon shot was really accurate, it blew up the Japanese watchtower." Wang Quan hugged the Type 96 machine gun and rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Don't get too excited yet, this is just the beginning." Zhou Jindong stared at a firing port on the town wall through the scope.

A string of flames just shot out from there, revealing their location.

A Japanese machine gunner was firing wildly outwards, trying to suppress a possible charge.

Zhou Jindong gently pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

The muffled gunshots of the Type 98 sniper rifle carried far into the night.

The flash from the firing port went out instantly, and the machine gunner's head snapped back like a watermelon hit by a hammer, spraying red and white matter all over the face of the assistant gunner behind him.

"Good!" Zhao Laosi shouted in a low voice, "Another one down!"

"Don't stop!" Zhou Jindong pulled back the bolt, his eyes continuing to search between the wall crenellations. "Shoot down anything that sticks out. Wang Quan, you take the second squad to the west and knock that Type 92 heavy machine gun out. Zhao Laosi, you stay here and keep watch, I'm going to check the north side."

Zhou Jindong, like a nimble cat, took advantage of the cover of night and crept along the wall to the north of the town.

A section of the wall had collapsed due to years of disrepair, and the Japanese army was rushing to repair it, with several engineers carrying stones to build it up.

Zhou Jindong took a grenade from his waist, pulled the pin, tapped it on a rock, silently counted to two, and then threw it.

The grenade traced an arc in the air and landed precisely in the middle of the pile of rocks.

"Grenade!" A Japanese engineer shouted desperately when he saw the smoking metal lump.

"boom!"

Debris flew everywhere, and three engineers were blown to the ground. One of them had his leg blown off and was rolling on the ground howling in pain.

This frying was like pouring a bucket of cold water into a pot of oil.

The entire town of Sanjing was instantly in an uproar.

The Japanese soldiers didn't know how many Eighth Route Army soldiers were outside, and in the dark they didn't dare to fire indiscriminately, so they could only fire wildly at the shadowy figures.

Chida stood on the upper floor of the town hall, listening to the sounds of gunfire and explosions coming from all directions, veins bulging on his forehead.

"Baka! Baka yarou!" He drew his command sword and waved it wildly at the night sky. "Yoshino! Send men out! Drive the Eighth Route Army soldiers away! I want to sleep! I want to sleep!"