Chapter 34: Old Li Here Wishes You a Fortune!
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“After taking part in this mission, we’re bound to get a larger share of the spoils.”
That was why Li Yunlong had suppressed his good brother Meng Fanle with one hand, in the name of putting righteousness before family.
“Commander,” Zhang Dabiao asked with a grin. He was just as fond of joining in the fun. “How long do you think Commander Tan will need to finish off the Japanese armored train?”
“I’d say another twenty minutes!”
Under ordinary circumstances, Zhang Dabiao’s estimate would have been perfectly reasonable.
Although the New Third Regiment had been greatly bolstered by the new RPG launchers, their firepower had increased substantially.
But as mentioned earlier, this was an occupied area far from Changzhi.
To sneak all the way here without being spotted by the Japanese along the road, the eight hundred men of the New Third Regiment, along with the five hundred men of the New First Regiment sent to provide support and receive them, had brought very few heavy weapons.
As for artillery, apart from four Type 92 infantry guns, they had nothing else.
The Japanese armored train was not nearly as fragile as one might imagine. Its armor was reasonably thick.
Let alone Type 92 infantry guns—even 75mm mountain guns might not be able to destroy all the turrets on the armored train in a short time.
Without the RPG launchers, Zhang Dabiao would not have been optimistic about this operation at all.
Li Yunlong, however, merely shook his head with a smile. Baring his teeth in a grin, he said,
“Dabiao, you’re still too young!”
“Old Tan may look mild-mannered most of the time.”
“But from the first moment I laid eyes on him, I knew he was just like us—a ruthless fighter.”
“Tell the men to settle down and keep their hearts steady!”
“I reckon it’s about time we went and started hauling things away!”
Sure enough, only a few minutes later, the sound of gunfire and artillery in the distance abruptly ceased.
Before long, a New Third Regiment messenger came galloping over on horseback, his face alight with excitement.
He did not even dismount. He merely shouted a single sentence before turning his horse around and racing back.
“Commander Li, our commander says you should hurry over and help carry away the supplies!”
“Hahahaha!” Li Yunlong burst out laughing. “Didn’t I tell you?”
“Our fortune has arrived!”
By the time Li Yunlong and the others reached the scene, more than a dozen train cars stood along the railway. Their doors had been thrown wide open, revealing piles upon piles of military supplies.
Guns and ammunition, artillery shells and spare parts—the dazzling array was enough to make anyone’s eyes swim and mouth water.
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Li Yunlong drew a deep breath at the sight and steadied his violently pounding heart.
Then he walked over to Tan Ziwei with a broad grin and threw his arms around him.
“Old Tan, congratulations on striking it rich!”
“Tonight, I’m going to have a proper feast at the expense of you, you wealthy bastard!”
…
More than ten minutes after Li Yunlong and the others had departed, a Japanese battalion that had set out from Tongyang County finally came hurrying to the scene.
By then, however, all that remained were the fiercely burning armored train, more than two hundred Japanese corpses in mustard-yellow uniforms, and the tightly sealed supply cars.
Seeing this, the Japanese battalion commander sent to reinforce the site, Taro Tanaka, felt his heart tighten. A wary expression spread across his face.
There had to be something suspicious going on!
He immediately made his decision.
He dispatched an infantry squad of more than twenty Japanese soldiers to investigate the exact situation at the scene.
The main body of the reinforcing force halted several hundred meters away, remaining on standby and prepared for battle at any moment.
The soldiers sent to investigate were all as tense as if facing a formidable enemy. They gripped their bayoneted rifles tightly, hunched low, and crept toward the supply cars on tiptoe.
When they cautiously reached the outside of the cars, the Japanese sergeant leading them gave one of the veteran soldiers a meaningful glance.
The veteran nodded in understanding and moved toward the carriage door.
He drew a deep breath, then suddenly exerted all his strength and yanked open one of the tightly shut doors.
With a sharp, grating screech, the door flew open, and every Japanese soldier nearby felt his heart leap into his throat.
Several black rifle muzzles were aimed at the doorway almost simultaneously.
Yet, contrary to all expectations, when they looked closely, they found the entrance completely empty. There was not even the shadow of a person.
More precisely, there was no sign that anyone had ever been there.
Even stranger, the vast quantities of weapons and ammunition inside the carriage remained exactly where they had been, untouched.
The Japanese inspected several more cars loaded with weapons and ammunition, only to find much the same situation.
Whether Type 38 rifles or 75mm mountain guns, everything was still stored in perfect condition inside the cars.
It seemed that not even a single bullet or artillery shell had been taken.
What was more, the uniforms and bedding provided for the soldiers inside the cars were all still there, neatly arranged, not one item missing.
The Japanese squad continued their investigation from car to car, yet they found nothing unusual at all.
But when they reached the cars specifically used to store food and daily necessities, the sight before them left them utterly dumbfounded.
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Those few cars had been emptied completely.
Forget important supplies such as canned beef and sake—even a single box of biscuits or a slice of bread was nowhere to be found!
The Japanese soldiers were left speechless.
At last, they reached the cars transporting poison-gas shells. Two Japanese soldiers quickly put on gas masks before cautiously opening the doors.
Perplexingly, the shells and the specially designed artillery pieces were all still there. There was not the slightest sign that they had been touched.
“Report, sir!” A Japanese soldier who had run over to deliver the news bowed and said, “The inspection of the site is complete. Apart from the food and daily supplies, nothing is missing!”
“What?!”
Taro Tanaka froze, then hurriedly confirmed it once more.
“Nothing is missing except the daily supplies?”
“Yes, sir! The chemical shells are all still here as well!”
What?
What on earth were those Chinese doing?
They had taken nothing but food and daily necessities.
Were they a bunch of clowns sent here by monkeys?
At that moment, another Japanese infantry battalion arrived to provide reinforcements.
After learning the details of the situation, Saku Nakamura, a thick-faced man with a contemptuous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, shook his head dismissively.
“Tanaka, what’s so strange about that?”
“Your troops and mine arrived too quickly.”
“The Chinese were afraid we would surround them, so they hurriedly opened two cars, tucked their tails between their legs, and fled in disgrace.”
“Wasn’t this sort of thing common when we fought the Jinsui Army?”
As he spoke, Nakamura seemed to recall the disgraceful conduct of the Jinsui Army in battle, and the contempt on his face grew even heavier.
“Their defensive line clearly hadn’t been breached. But the moment they heard that our reinforcements were on the way—”
“They were scared witless. They abandoned even the weapons most precious to a soldier and ran for their lives with their heads down.”
“They don’t deserve to be called soldiers!”
As he spoke, the two men unknowingly arrived beside a train car packed with every kind of artillery shell.
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