Chapter 1 1937

November 5th, 11:00 AM:

Lin Fan led the soldiers of the Special Company off the ship at the Jiangyin pier.

As they disembarked, the soldiers of the Special Company all changed back into the uniforms that Battalion Commander Xie had issued to them when they were stationed at the Sihang Warehouse.

Accompanying them off the ship were not only all the weapons of the Special Company, but also more than fifty corpses from the cargo ship "Jiuzhi," as well as the weapons of more than thirty Japanese soldiers.

Bringing these Japanese soldiers who had died on the cargo ship ashore could be considered Lin Fan and his men's pledge of allegiance upon arriving in this unfamiliar place!

The clothes of these Japanese soldiers were not completely removed, as had been the Special Company's usual practice.

Instead, their original appearance was preserved. Lin Fan only hoped to gain the trust of the garrison stationed here, or at least to get them to allow him to stay here for a few days.

The Special Company had been fighting continuously for days. Although the time wasn't long, the combat missions were indeed very heavy.

If he were to tell the truth, none of the soldiers here would believe him.

Lin Fan wanted to rest here for a few days, and also wanted to do his part for the War of Resistance.

He knew that in the days to come, the Nationalist army would face a major defeat.

The Jiangyin Fortress was the most important gateway to stop the Japanese advance.

As long as this place was defended, the Japanese warships would not be able to go up the river, and the territory behind them, those enterprises and people who were nervously transferring backwards, could be rescued a little more.

Jiangyin was now a complete military fortress. The goods unloaded from other cargo ships in this place were either grain or other wartime materials.

Only this cargo ship unloaded more than fifty corpses, including thirty-three Japanese soldiers.

This immediately attracted the attention of the Nationalist soldiers guarding the pier.

When the one hundred and thirty members of the Special Company disembarked from the "Jiuzhi" cargo ship, they were all wearing the uniforms of the 88th Division.

Now they were the Special Company of the 1st Battalion, 542nd Regiment of the 88th Division.

This was the official identity that Lin Fan and his men had been recognized with when they were defending the Sihang Warehouse.

Lin Fan and his company of more than a hundred men were invited into a barracks in the Jiangyin Fortress headquarters.

According to Lin Fan's observation: this barracks was easy to attack but difficult to defend.

The outside was heavily guarded.

If they were all their own people, this was a place where they could sleep peacefully.

If they wanted to defend with this camp area: this was a death trap.

Thinking about how suddenly they had arrived, it was already good enough to have such treatment.

At least their weapons had not been confiscated, which was already due to the corpses that the Special Company had carried off the ship.

Fortress Commander Lieutenant General Xu Kang personally received Lin Fan, the commander of the Special Company who had defended the Sihang Warehouse.

Commander Xu Kang was not a reckless man. He had just contacted the 88th Division to confirm that there was indeed such a Special Company in the team stationed at the Sihang Warehouse.

He also confirmed that this company had not withdrawn into the concession with the 1st Battalion of the 542nd Regiment.

They had not reported their whereabouts since they left the main force.

These were not the most important things. The most important thing was that Chief of Staff Zhang Boting on the phone had praised this team to the skies.

In particular, he had praised the head of this team, Company Commander Lin Fan, to the heavens.

He said that just such a company had killed more than 6,000 Japanese marines in Shanghai in one day while defending the Sihang Warehouse.

This was a bit of nonsense.

Commander Xu Kang certainly knew that his own son was always the strongest, and other people's wives were always the best.

He just thought that the Chief of Staff of the 88th Division was gilding his own team.

However, this successfully caught Commander Xu Kang's attention, so he personally met such a small company commander.

The 88th Division had originally thought that this small team had been wiped out by the Japanese.

Now they suddenly appeared in Jiangyin with a team of Japanese corpses, which also startled the 88th Division.

Not many people could recognize this team now.

In order to confirm whether this team was the one that had defended the Sihang Warehouse,

The 88th Division immediately sent Chief of Staff Zhang Boting with Shi Meihao, the 3rd Company Commander who had been injured and sent to the concession for treatment, to Jiangyin immediately.

As for Lin Fan and his team, they were closely guarded in a camp area designated in the Jiangyin Fortress.

Lin Fan was mentally prepared for this kind of treatment: at this time, a team that only existed in legends suddenly appeared in the most important national defense fortress.

If they could not be identified clearly, it could be fatal.

The soldiers of the Special Company were all dissatisfied in their hearts because they had been fighting non-stop these days and had made so many great achievements, but were treated like this.

However, under Lin Fan's suppression, these soldiers did not resist on the spot.

The entire Special Company had just come all the way from the river.

Japanese warships appeared from time to time.

The soldiers had been on high alert.

Now that they were on land, they could finally relax.

Although the Jiangyin Fortress was suspicious of the Special Company, the treatment they gave them was not bad.

Knowing that Lin Fan's team had not eaten,

They immediately sent them meals with meat, which was a high-standard treatment.

Lin Fan smiled and thanked the comrades in the cooking squad who delivered the food.

The cooks, in this era, had already become veterans.

Without more than ten years of military service, you couldn't get into the cooking squad.

People who could stay in the army for more than ten years were somewhat capable.

Lin Fan never dared to underestimate anyone who was capable.

He ordered: "The whole company eats! Take the time to rest, there will be training tonight."

After being busy all night yesterday and not sleeping this morning, the soldiers of the Special Company relaxed.

They soon began to fall asleep.

Xu Kang casually asked, "What is that company that came today doing?"

His personal adjutant He Hesong said with a smile: "That company is all sleeping.

The funny thing is, most of them are sleeping.

They are resting in our camp area, and we also have people on guard outside.

They even sent out sentries.

The 88th Division has praised them to the skies.

In such an easy-to-attack and difficult-to-defend place,

Even if they have sentries, what's the use?"

Xu Kang was a little surprised: "Is this because they have strict military discipline? Or are they worried and guilty?

Pass the order: Let the headquarters' direct unit send two companies to set up a defense line around this company secretly.

Be careful not to leave a single dead corner!"

Adjutant He Hesong was a little surprised: "Commander! This is..."

"Just in case! We have been fighting fiercely with the Japanese navy and air force here for three months.

We can't be careless.

This team is so careful, what if they are not our people?"

Adjutant He Hesong suggested: "Then just take action directly? Or send them to Nanjing!"

"No! If they really fought in the Sihang Warehouse,

These people have experience in defensive warfare and will be helpful to us.

Although the newspapers have exaggerated a bit, it is very remarkable to be able to persist for five days under the heavy siege of the Japanese army with eight hundred people.

We need their experience."

Hearing what his superior said, Adjutant He Hesong immediately went to issue the order.

Lin Fan still followed the rules of the Special Company, and there must be sentries at all times.

These days, every soldier in the entire Special Company was exhausted.

Now that they had arrived at the Jiangyin Fortress, although it was still the front line,

In any case, it was much safer than being active in the enemy's stomach all the time.

This time, the soldiers of the whole company could really relax and sleep.

By the time these soldiers were woken up by Lin Fan, it was already dinner time.

The food was the same as at noon, with plenty of meat and white rice.

Lin Fan, of course, as always, ordered the soldiers to eat as much as possible.

After a sleep, the soldiers of the Special Company

Immediately felt resurrected with full health.

These days, the Special Company had been eating very well.

Coupled with the high-intensity combat missions every day, the soldiers' physical fitness had all improved a lot.

After eating dinner, it was already dark.

The entire fortress implemented a blackout, with only a few lights flickering.

The soldiers of the Special Company were all gathered together to listen to Li Xian teach them to read.

The task of five characters a day was what Lin Fan had requested.

From last night to today, all the soldiers had not had time to stop.

Now, Li Xian suddenly drew them to recite and write down the characters they had learned yesterday.

Suddenly, these illiterates were caught blind.

Fortunately, whether it was Zhao Qian Sun Li, Zhou Wu Zheng Wang; or "At the beginning of man, his nature is good"; these were all easy to recite.

Once one person said it, everyone could recite it.

But to write them down would cost many people their lives.

Lin Fan understood this situation very well.

Having passed countless exams, Lin Fan was too aware of the difficulties of these older students.

Since teaching these soldiers to read last night, the Special Company had not had a decent rest.

First, they moved supplies, then they seized the cargo ship.

There were originally a few hours of rest on the cargo ship, but these soldiers were all too busy being excited.

Who still remembered to study?

Everything that Li Xian had taught yesterday was returned to him.

Fortunately, Li Xian was not impatient or angry. He first patiently reviewed the knowledge of yesterday.

The books he had bought back for everyone came in handy.

Everyone first copied the ten or so characters from yesterday.

Then they continued to teach today's knowledge.

There was enough time tonight, and these soldiers of the Special Company studied for two hours.

This ended the literacy class study.

Next was Lin Fan's physical training phase.

Squats, push-ups, and frog jumps in the yard were all used in turn.

Lin Fan consciously did not take the team out of the yard. Not only that, but he also ordered all the soldiers not to leave the house without his permission.

This was to avoid causing unnecessary trouble. Lin Fan knew that the Jiangyin Fortress would definitely try to prove the identity of these people.

As long as the identity of these people was proven, all these precautions and secret surveillance would naturally be lifted.

Lin Fan kept training these soldiers until eleven o'clock before announcing the end of training.

Whether it was the Special Company's literacy campaign or the later indoor training,

They did not avoid or keep it secret.

All of them were recorded by interested people one by one. The commander wanted to see these.

Regardless of Adjutant He Hesong's opinion of this team,

Those soldiers of his in the dark had already begun to admire this team that had just run over today.

Lin Fan did not reveal half of what his team had done last night.

This was because Lin Fan did not want the "Jiuzhi" to attract the attention of the Japanese.

Although they had now left the waters controlled by the Japanese, if the Japanese really wanted to sink a ship,

Even if this "Jiuzhi" cargo ship sailed to Wuhan, it could not escape the Japanese bombs.

As long as the Japanese knew that the "Hinomaru" was now called "Jiuzhi," they would definitely retaliate at any cost.

Therefore, the fact that the soldiers of the Special Company slept in the afternoon and trained at night made the officers and soldiers on the fortress very strange, but also a little admired.

November 6, 1937, 6:00 AM:

The soldiers of the Special Company had all gotten up, and another set of indoor training exercises began.

This time, the training intensity was not as great as last night.

Half an hour later, the whole company lined up in the yard to begin bayonet training.

This was also the first time they had carried out bayonet training with their throats open since they had withdrawn from the Sihang Warehouse.

It was not known whether it was because these soldiers had been eating well and growing well these days,

Or whether it was because they were depressed in their hearts about being watched.

In any case, every soldier's roar today was particularly loud.

The three Ji siblings were training in bayonet fighting with the team for the first time today.

Their movements were still very rusty, and Lin Fan had to focus his main attention on the three of them.

However, the roar of the three siblings was not small at all.

In particular, the shouts of the two sisters were obviously much sharper than the voices of the other soldiers.

This was a natural difference, and Lin Fan had no way to correct it. However, in this way, as long as he paid a little attention,

He would be able to know that there were female soldiers in his team.

On the cargo ship, Lin Fan had already talked to the two Ji sisters: entering Jiangyin was temporarily considered to be entering the territory of the National Government.

From here, it would be very easy to enter the rear.

If the two sisters wanted to return to the rear and live the lives of ordinary people,

The Special Company could give them a sum of money so that they could live a good life.

Lin Fan hid the words that he did not say: As long as you get to the rear, no one will ever know about what happened before.

Ji Wuzhi obviously did not accept Lin Fan's kindness and arrangements.

"We are already dead people. Dead people are not worthy of going to the rear to live a comfortable life.

I will not put down my gun for a day until I have killed all the Japanese devils."

Ji Jiahen also expressed the same attitude as her sister.

Lin Fan could only let them continue to stay in his team for free.

However, he also gave the two sisters a new task: to teach the whole company of soldiers to learn Japanese.

The road of resistance was still very long, and his team would have many opportunities to deal with the Japanese.

Everyone knowing some simple Japanese would be very useful for the entire team to disguise themselves and enter the enemy-occupied areas in the future.

Such a task was nothing to the two women who were一心wanting to avenge the Japanese.

Lieutenant General Xu Kang listened to Adjutant He Hesong's report and could not help but nod: "This team has a strong discipline and combat style!

It is much higher than our team.

When will General Zhang and the others arrive?"