Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Chapter 402: Unor Fortress

It was already dark, but the construction site of Unor Fortress was still very busy.

A large number of pale and skinny laborers were digging the frozen soil on the land that had not yet thawed. The frozen ground was very hard and it took a lot of effort to dig out the soil.

The Japanese soldiers stood on some high places to supervise the work of these laborers.

Most of the laborers who built the fortress for the Japanese were deceived by the Japanese. The reasons for the Japanese to deceive people were generally similar to those in later generations, recruiting them with high salaries, one or two dollars a month, and sending them to farm or repair things.

Natural disasters occurred almost every year during the Republic of China, and whenever a natural disaster occurred, there would be people recruiting workers. These people would bring the deceived people to the Japanese invaders, and once they fell into the hands of the Japanese invaders, the probability of these laborers surviving was less than 2 in 10.

Later statistics showed that starting from 1931, the Japanese recruited about million laborers in the country through various means. After the end of the -year war, less than million of these laborers survived.

Most of the laborers who survived were deceived into doing relatively simple jobs, such as building some bunkers and watchtowers in Shanxi Province. It was difficult for the laborers who built fortresses or went to mines to survive.

They were either tortured to death due to the harsh working environment, or secretly executed by the Japanese after completing their work.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Anyone who slacks off won't have any food today!"

A supervisor was holding a whip in his hand and shouting loudly, and from time to time the whip would fall on the workers who were moving slower.

"brute!"

A laborer cursed under his breath and gritted his teeth as he continued to work. They had been tricked by the Japanese into moving to this desolate place with promises of high wages, and then had to work sixteen hours a day.

The construction site conditions were extremely harsh, and the tools used were rudimentary. They could only rely on the most primitive methods, carrying heavy stones and cement on their shoulders and hands. The work was intense, and the food was worse than pigs and dogs, with only moldy steamed bread and murky vegetable soup, which was completely inadequate to replenish their energy.

The living environment was also extremely bad. Dozens of people were crowded together in a small shack with no heating facilities. The winter wind was biting cold, and a large number of laborers would freeze to death every winter.

Even if they survived the winter, once they fell ill, it was basically the same as death. The Japanese had no medicine to give them, but instead threw these sick laborers directly into the wilderness to fend for themselves.

"Report, urgent message from headquarters!"

At this time, in a gun tower not far from the construction site, a signalman stood up and handed a telegram to the commander of the 119th Division, Kiyonori Shiozawa, who was standing beside him.

In fact, at this time the 119th Division had not yet been temporarily incorporated into the Japanese army system.

It was sent to the Unur area to build a fortress after only completing the conscription and simple training. It was not until the fortress was completed that the 119th Division appeared in the official organization of the Japanese army.

However, although it has not yet been given an official division number, the Japanese have already assigned the number 119th Division to this newly formed Type B division.

"An urgent message from headquarters?"

Shiozawa Kiyonobu quickly took the telegram. Compared to the 80th Mixed Brigade, which had become a veteran of the Hailar Fortress, the newly formed 119th Division, both its commander and the soldiers, wanted to go to the battlefield rather than build a fortress on the border.

Going to the front battlefield can gain military merits and also capture a lot of spoils.

The reason why ordinary Japanese people are willing to join the army is, firstly, because they are brainwashed into believing that their foreign wars are just and are helping the people in East Asia; secondly, because through war, these ordinary Japanese people can obtain a lot of wealth.

The Japanese would publicize every day that some ordinary soldiers were commended for their meritorious service, and they would also publicize that some soldiers became rich overnight by seizing a large amount of spoils.

These news constantly stimulated ordinary Japanese soldiers, so in their homeland, a large number of ordinary people would rush to join the army, and there would even be scenes where a Japanese soldier would be sent off by his family when he joined the army.

So some fools in later generations whitewashed the Japanese by saying that the ordinary people of the Japs were innocent, which is completely nonsense. The Japs' people are innocent? The Chinese people are not innocent?

When these devilish civilians were enjoying the benefits of the war, why was there no one to object? But when they were beaten and hurt, they jumped out and said it was all the fault of militarism and had nothing to do with ordinary people.

Even later on, he refused to admit the crimes he had committed.

When Kiyonori Shiozawa heard the urgent telegram, his first reaction was that the Russians were about to attack, otherwise the headquarters would not have sent an urgent telegram to his army which was building a fortress, and their division was a Type B division that had just completed basic training.

"Support the First Division?"

Shiozawa Kiyonobu was also very surprised when he saw the content of the telegram.

Then he immediately stood up and said excitedly: "Order all troops to assemble immediately!"

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, what about the mission of building a fortress?"

"Leave the artillery and engineering regiments behind to guard these laborers, and the rest of the troops will depart immediately."

"Hai!"

The 119th Division was a newly formed division. The so-called artillery regiment now only had twelve mountain guns and twelve infantry guns, but no field guns.

Because they had to rush to support the 1st Division, bringing the artillery regiment would slow down the troops' marching speed, so Shiozawa Kiyonobu decided to only take the infantry regiment and rush to Arshan as soon as possible.

Shiozawa Kiyonobu had only one purpose in doing this, which was to support the 1st Division as soon as possible. It was not because he had any friendship with Yokoyama Isamu, but because he was fed up with the current situation and wanted to make a contribution.

Shiozawa Kiyonori felt this was his chance. As long as he could perform meritorious service in supporting the 1st Division, he might have the chance to leave the Unur region and become the commander of a major division. He could lead his troops south, capture the mountain city, and become a lieutenant general or even a general...

"Emergency gathering!"

In the darkness, several Japanese officers shouted excitedly, and a group of Japanese soldiers who were resting quickly got up after hearing the urgent assembly order. Half an hour later, the three infantry regiments and the supply regiment of the Japanese 119th Division were assembled.

After briefly explaining the mission objectives, the Japanese soldiers of the 119th Division excitedly climbed onto the trucks and headed towards Arshan.

However, what these devils did not notice was that in a hidden corner near the area where they were building the fortress, some scouts were observing their situation.

"The Japanese army has set off. Go and notify the main force!"

"Yes!"

At about the same time, at the Hailar Railway Station, a military train carrying two infantry battalions of Japanese soldiers left the train station. Half an hour later, another train left the train station.

The four infantry battalions of the 80th Mixed Brigade left Hailar City on two trains.

The scouts outside Hailar City also quickly reported the situation to the main force in the rear.

Chapter 403 Cavalry Column, Attack!

Cavalry column headquarters.

"Report, scouts report that the Japanese in the Wunuer area have transferred at least three infantry regiments, leaving only one artillery regiment and one engineering regiment!"

Ma Renxin, who was resting against a tree, heard the news and opened his eyes wide: "It seems that the commander has already destroyed the Japanese First Division. The Japanese are getting anxious!"

As he spoke, Ma Renxin stood up and said, "Inform the comrades to rest immediately. We will attack at 2 a.m. and take down the Wunuer Fortress in one fell swoop!"

"Yes!"

Ma Renxin's cavalry column's target was the Unur Fortress. Compared to the already built fortress like the Hailar Fortress, the Unur Fortress, which was still under construction, was suitable for cavalry assaults and did not require a siege.

At two o'clock in the morning, all the soldiers of the three cavalry regiments of the cavalry column packed up their things and mounted their horses.

There was no need for mobilization or slogans. Ma Renxin drew out his saber and pointed to the position ahead.

All the soldiers silently squeezed their legs against the horse's belly and began to speed up in the direction of the saber.

Construction site of Unur Fortress.

After the division commander Kiyonobu Shiozawa left, there were only more than 4,000 people left in one artillery regiment and one engineering regiment.

In order to speed up the progress, construction of Unur Fortress continued day and night.

"Where are the division commander and his men? They still want us to come out and supervise them in such a cold weather!"

A Japanese soldier from the artillery regiment sat in a sheltered place, eating biscuits and asking.

"You do not know?"

"I don't know! What happened?"

"I heard he went to war?"

"Fight? Fight without our artillery?"

The soldier from the Japanese artillery regiment instantly became interested.

"Who knows? Maybe it's because our artillery moved slowly."

The Japanese soldier beside him whispered something, glanced around, looked at the small stones jumping on the ground, and said with some confusion: "Look at the ground, it seems to be shaking."

"Turbulence? This isn't our homeland, earthquakes rarely occur. You must be seeing things."

Another Japanese soldier said this while looking at the ground.

The pebbles on the ground are jumping irregularly, and the sand is flowing towards the low-lying areas.

"It seems like there really was an earthquake!"

The Japanese soldier was muttering to himself, but at this moment, a dull sound suddenly came from the distance.

It didn't sound like thunder, but more like the sound of a drum. The sound was very dull, and as time went on, the originally dull sound began to become clearer and clearer.

"It seems like something is coming."

A Japanese soldier looked around in confusion.

At this moment, an experienced Japanese officer suddenly stood up and looked around: "Cavalry, there are a lot of cavalry!"

"cavalry?"

"Where did the cavalry come from?"

Just when a group of Japanese soldiers began to feel puzzled, a black "city wall" suddenly appeared on the plain not far away. It was impossible to see what the black wall looked like in the darkness.

But the black wall was visibly moving towards them.

"Fire flares!"

A Japanese officer roared, and two Japanese soldiers took out weapons that launched flares and fired two flares into the sky not far away.

These flares were used by the Japanese to capture laborers who were trying to escape under the cover of darkness, but they came in handy at this moment.

As the flares exploded in the air, they illuminated the surrounding land.

The moment the flare exploded, the Japanese finally saw clearly what the moving black wall in the distance was.

It was cavalry, a large group of cavalry lined up in a row and charging towards them.

"Enemy attack!"

These Japanese soldiers reacted quickly and began to blow the emergency assembly whistles in their mouths to remind the surrounding Japanese soldiers to prepare for battle.

"Get into position!"

"Don't panic."

"Aim, aim!"

"Heavy, Heavy."

"..."

Except for some officers with battlefield experience, most of the Japanese soldiers in the 119th Division were just recruits.