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At the beginning of 1940, 21-year-old Cai Yuanfei didn't want to go to school, he wanted to join the army.

Cai Yuanfei had two older brothers, a sister and a younger sister, the eldest brother died in the Battle of Wuhan in 1938; My sister is married and works as a physician in the "American Association for Aid to China"; The second brother, Cai Yuanzhi, graduated from the Army Baggage School and was the battalion commander of the Second Kuomintang Traffic Regiment; And Cai Yuanfei's twin sister ran out to join the army before graduating from junior high school, and as a result, she lost her voice on the battlefield.

Cai's ancestor was a native of Hubei, and came to Fujian during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, first as a staff member in the government, and later as a salt operator. The Cai family opened the "Hengshengyong" business here, which also dealt in salt, cloth and groceries, and soon made a fortune.

The Anti-Japanese War broke out, and a large amount of medical alcohol was needed at the front, so Boss Cai bought batches of products and sent them to the front line regardless of the cost. Within two years, the family business was almost tossed by him.

Although the Kuomintang army was defeated again and again, the performance of the Kuomintang was not bad, the soldiers were not afraid of death, and the officials were able to endure hardships. Therefore, despite the grim situation, all sectors of society were very united, the people actively supported the front, enthusiastically participated in the war, and everywhere showed a vigorous and upward spiritual outlook, and Chairman Chiang's image was also unprecedentedly great.

In Fujian, many "refugee relief stations" have been set up, and there are various kinds of them.

One is the civil affairs agencies with political axes, which work in the yamen, have disaster relief funds, can requisition people's houses, and can mobilize the police to maintain order. However, they have to check the identity card, refugee and evacuation certificates of the help-seekers, and ignore incomplete documents. Most of the people who fled did not carry supporting documents, so very few were able to get help from the political axe. Another type of relief site is the "hometown associations" in the provinces. They carry out relief in the temple and ancestral hall, and they do not check the documents, but they have to distinguish the accent, and only their fellow villagers can have food and a place to live.

The American Aid Association has also set up a roadside "relief shed" with treatment rooms, kitchens, bathrooms and toilets. They do not check documents or distinguish accents, they serve two meals a day, but they only receive the elderly, women and children, and young men are not welcome. Cai Yuanfei's sister Cai Zhizhi works as a doctor in the "relief shed" and is responsible for treating patients with female surnames. Men are not allowed to enter her work area. But that morning, a few soldiers suddenly broke into the shed, rummaging through boxes and cabinets, clamoring for something "penicillin". Cai Zhizhi chased them out and explained that this was just a relief station, and there were no such expensive medicines. The soldier was on fire: "Where the Americans are, how can there be no Western medicine?" He also said, "Lao Tzu is fighting in front, and you have stolen all your valuables and sold them!" He scolded a lot of ugly words, and even injured Dr. Cai.

When Cai Yuanfei rushed to the hospital, he saw many colleagues gathered in front of his sister's bed, and many of them were so angry that they cried. Mr. Ma Li, the person in charge of the "China Aid Association", was yelling at the county magistrate of Zunyi County: "Too bad! It's too savage! The unlucky county magistrate only nodded again and again, promising to "severely punish the gangsters who caused the trouble."

That night, in a letter to his father, Cai Yuanfei wrote: "The country has fallen to such a point, the army has degenerated to such a point, what is the effect of punishing a few soldiers who committed crimes? Now, what Mr. Lei Haizong said is that the intellectuals should join the army and strive to reform the hooligan habits of the old warlords, and it is necessary to build a new and noble army with a civilized mind and a brave spirit, so that they can effectively shoulder the heavy responsibility of protecting the people."

In this way, in March 1940, Cai Yuanfei abandoned his pen and went to the battlefield of resistance with the desire to save the country and the people.

And the unit he joined was the teaching team of the newly formed 37th Division of the Fourth Theater.

The 37th Division Teaching Team is actually a recruit training camp, and Cai Yuanfei doesn't know what role he is here. He travels around every day, doing whatever he wants, no one restricts him, and no one arranges for him to stand guard.

There was a group of new strong men in the teaching team, and it was said that there were more than 2,000 of them. But there were only 1,030 left from the division area, some ran away along the way, some died, and those who were lucky enough to walk to the barracks were also tossed and dying like living ghosts, and they were not far from death.

Cai Yuanfei had never had much contact with poor peasants before, and the first time he observed these people up close, his first impression was that they were "really delicious" -- dozens of large wooden barrels filled with brown rice, no vegetables and no soup, and they were eaten in the blink of an eye. The strong men wiped their mouths and looked around, with an unfinished expression, as if they could still run out of dozens of buckets.

Except for eating, other skills are not good. The team couldn't even distinguish between the front and the back, the left and right, just "turn left" and "turn right" for two hours, and the instructor shouted "turn back" again, but these guys didn't know how to turn around, and actually "dong dong" took a few steps back, making Cai Yuanfei's stomach hurt with laughter. Cai Yuanfei also tried to talk to the strong men, saying something "Where is your home?" "Who is in the family?" Something like that. But these recruits either buried their heads deeply, or they kept their frightened eyes silent, as if they were not talking but dealing with interrogation, which made Cai Yuanfei very boring.

After two days, Captain Xu of the teaching team talked to Cai Yuanfei and asked him not to be so close to the strong men.

"Why?" Cai was very puzzled. He also devoted himself to preparing to educate the recruits and improve their spiritual qualities.

"Brother, you must be strict and fierce in the teaching team. Do you think that the recruits are ordinary people, and if they are not cruel to them, they will feel like they are at home, how can they develop the habit of obeying their superiors and abiding by discipline? Besides, we are too polite here, let them relax their hearts, and when they enter the army, they will feel unbearable when they meet powerful officers with troops, and when the time comes, they will have weapons and technology, and once they have a backbone, they will be prone to black guns and mutiny, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

Captain Xu also said: "As the saying goes, kindness does not lead soldiers. The army was originally a place to lick blood and eat, and everyone had the word 'death' on the top of their heads, and they were all beaten and scolded. Brother Cai, how many people in the world can have such good fortune as you. ”

The captain's tone was very tactful, but his eyes were cold. Cai Yuanfei could feel that there was actually another subtext hidden in his eyes: "Don't forget, you are also a recruit yourself, so don't come here to pretend to be an instructor" So, from then on, Cai Yuanfei had to stay away from the strong men, and no longer took the initiative to get close.

People are dying every day in the boot camp.

Some of the recruits who made mistakes were hung up and beaten with sticks, and some were dragged to the edge of the field and killed with a single shot, and there was no trial and no record. No one could figure out who was buried in the grave, and a human life disappeared into the wilderness.

After a few more days, the training team issued guns to the recruits and began to practice live ammunition.

Machine guns were set up around the range to prevent recruits from mutiniing. In such an atmosphere, people are very nervous, and various accidents occur frequently.

When the bullet was loaded, there was a "bang", and the person in the back row killed the person in the front row. The recruits were immediately panicked and scattered, and no one dared to stand in front of them. The instructor rushed over with a military stick and beat his head and brain: "What are you afraid of!" If you don't die today, you will die tomorrow, it's like this on the battlefield, either you kill others or you are killed by others. The order was then given to drag the body away and continue shooting.

It didn't take long for another "bang" sound, and someone made a mistake in his actions, and he shot himself to death for several days and practiced shooting, and several similar incidents happened every day. In the end, the recruits were numb, and it didn't matter if they died, so they continued to shoot while lying on the edge of a pool of blood. As a result, Cai Yuanfei gradually understood the reason why the soldiers were barbaric and rude—because they had been trained by this brutal method—that such training could form obedience, fear, and hatred, and that the training team was stationed very close to the front line, and that there were many civilians coming and going, and that they did not seem to be afraid of war.

The biggest headache for the logistics unit is the local youth, because they steal. The military vehicle was parked on the side of the road, and if he was not careful, it was emptied, and even the wheels were removed and pushed away. Although the stolen items can be found on the stalls soon, they will need to be bought back for another fee.

Of course, the local people still actively supported the Chinese [***] team in the war of resistance, and at this time the fourth theater was launching a fierce attack on Lianhua Mountain at the junction of Fujian and Guangzhou. More than half of the ammunition supplies on the front line are transported by locals. There were both young men and big girls, men and women dressed up in fancy clothes, some talked and laughed, and looked happy, those who knew knew that they were going to the front, and those who didn't know thought they were going to the market. For a while, they were all carrying explosives. Within a few days, I heard the young men and women come back and say, "What a terrible explosion, the whole mountain has jumped up." That joy was like watching a wonderful drama - Cai Yuanfei knew that the 91st Division in front of him carried out tunnel blasting and knocked down the main heights of Lotus Mountain.

The 91st Division took the main heights of Lianhua Mountain, while the 37th Division was still fighting a tough battle.

Almost every day, officers came to the teaching team to recruit reinforcements, and the strong men in the new barracks were almost emptied, but Cai Yuanfei was still idle. Captain Xu just didn't call him by name.

However, Cai Yuanfei is not without nothing to do. In those days, he was working on "new weapons."

In mid-March, the 37th Division was equipped with a batch of flamethrowers, and the boot camp received a few. None of the instructors had ever seen this thing before, and they didn't know how to do it. Fortunately, there was an English manual in the box, which Cai Yuanfei could understand, and after tossing for a while, he figured out all the mechanisms.

The principle of the "flamethrower" is actually very simple, that is, two 15-liter canisters, one for napalm and the other for compressed air, the oil is pressed into the spray gun through a hose, and then it is sprayed out after firing the ignition. The temperature of the flame exceeds 600 degrees Celsius, and although it cannot melt steel, it can turn iron red. Cai Yuanfei tried and tested many times and found that the flamethrowers of the teaching team were not up to standard. The manual says that it can be sprayed 80 meters, but the actual range can only reach 40 meters; The book says that a standard shot can be repeated eight to ten times, but in reality it can only be fired up to six times. This is probably due to the fact that the compressed gas cylinder is not up to par, resulting in insufficient power of the pressure source, so it is necessary to have an assistant in actual combat to carry the supplementary gas cylinder on his back.

One day in mid-March, Cai Yuanfei was sitting at the door of the teaching team, when he suddenly saw Colonel Wang Zhanjiao running over and shouting at Captain Xu: "How many soldiers do you have here?" Pull it all out for me! ”

At this time, there were only a few stupid and stupid "crooked melons and bad dates" left in the recruit camp, and letting them go to the front line was simply sending them to death. Cai Yuanfei hurriedly grabbed Wang Zhanjiao and demanded vigorously: "Take me there!" Take me to war! ”

"What are you going to do? Have you learned to let go of your gun? ”

"I would have shot a gun a long time ago, and I would have used a flamethrower, better than all of them!"

Hearing that Cai Yuanfei knew how to use a flamethrower, Colonel Wang thought about it and agreed to his request: "Bring a flamethrower and follow me." ”

So, from this day on, recruit Cai Yuanfei officially set foot on the battlefield.

The battle of Lianhuashan was fought at the beginning of March 21, 1940, and the new 35th Division of the New 2nd Army was the first to take on the attack mission. This new 35th Division is also a Fujian army, which was adapted from the security regiment of the six counties in southern Fujian. They attacked for more than a month, suffered heavy casualties, and made little progress, so they were transferred to the follow-up of the 2nd Army.

The Lotus Mountain position is 25 kilometers around, and the defense system is divided into four parts: the peak of Lotus Mountain, the Evil Dragon Slope, the big exit and the touch of Tiangang, but in fact, the army bunkers and tunnels in these areas are all connected to each other and can support each other. The 2nd Army took over the task of attacking the Lianhuashan position in mid-March, mainly relying on the 37th and 91st Divisions.

The 37th Division was responsible for attacking the Evil Dragon Slope of Lotus Mountain, the Great Exit and the Touching Tiangang. They captured the Evil Dragon Slope, but crippled the 207th Regiment; After the second time, the big exit was captured, and the 208th regiment was wiped out; In the end, there was still the largest area of Motiangang, and Yu Wenzheng kept the 209th Regiment of the 37th Division, and he was reluctant to fight.

The 91st Division rushed around the peak of Lotus Mountain for several days, and many people died, but they couldn't go up. In the end, Wang Jingyuan, deputy commander of the 91st Division, came up with an idea, dug a tunnel under the main peak of Lotus Mountain, buried five or six tons of explosives, and carried out a very large sapper blast, "booming" to tear off half of the mountain, and shook all the devils on the high ground to death, and finally won the peak of Lotus Mountain.

The main peak was taken, and the rest of the army was all concentrated in Motiangang. And by this time, the 37th and 91st divisions were also exhausted.

On March 26, the 209th Regiment paid the price of all the casualties of the three battalion commanders, and finally rushed to touch the sky. As soon as the troops reached the top of the mountain, the army commander Yu Wenzheng reported to Gao Fei: "Our army has recovered Lotus Mountain!" But as soon as he put down the phone, the army counterattacked, and the 209th regiment was driven down again. Yu Wenzheng was annoyed and ashamed, accusing Chen Muren, the head of the 209th Regiment, of "abandoning the position without authorization". The Fourth Theater Command immediately called and ordered the 2nd Army to shoot Chen Muren and recover Lotus Mountain. The troops were gone, and the head of the cronies was going to be shot, Yu Wenzheng was suddenly so angry that he dropped the telephone on the spot.

Gao Fei had already given a death order, and he must take Lotus Mountain before mid-April, otherwise the regiment commander, division commander, and army commander would not be able to eat and walk around.

As a result, the 2nd Army pieced together the last troops, with the remnants of the 209th Regiment and the 207th Regiment, as well as the remnants of the Rong 3rd Regiment and the 116th Regiment of the 91st Division, with a total of about 2,000 people, and the vanguard officer Wang Zhanjiao. Wang Zhanjiao was still idle in the military department at this time, and he had no position. His qualifications are a little higher than the regiment commander and a little lower than the division commander, and he is both a Huangpu student and a local of Fujian, so it is quite suitable to serve as this commando leader. Moreover, as a pioneer officer, he also bears a responsibility -- Yu Wenzheng temporarily pressed the order to "shoot the commander of the 209th Regiment" and did not do it. If Wang Zhanjiao can take down Lotus Mountain, Chen Muren's life can be saved; If this battle is lost, the heads of the two Fujian villagers will move together. Cai Yuanfei was under such circumstances, and followed Wang Zhanjiao to the 209th regiment in a daze.

The 209th Regiment was stationed at the exit of Lianhua Mountain. As soon as he walked into the regiment headquarters, the head of Chen Muren greeted him, held the hands of Lao Wang and Xiao Cai tightly, burst into tears, and said in a loud voice: "Good friend! It's really my own brother" looked grateful, making Cai Yuanfei inexplicable.

At the regiment headquarters, Wang Zhanjiao told everyone: "In this operation, the 209th Regiment only accepted the direct dispatch of Commander He, except for the commander himself, all the calls of the military headquarters and the division headquarters were ignored. ”。

According to Wang Zhanjiao's plan, the 209th Regiment took the lead in launching an offensive this time, first conquering Zhuying Mountain in Motiangang, and then other troops were put into battle one after another.

Regiment Commander Chen Muren said that he had organized the remaining strength of the 209th Regiment into five death squads, and in addition to himself going into battle, deputy head Zhou Zhicheng also led a death squad. After hearing this, Wang Zhanjiao smiled and said, "Okay, give me a team, and I will also be a death captain." ”

Then, a few people lay on the map and began to count: how many people rushed here, how many people were left in the rush, and while counting the numbers on the paper.

Cai Yuanfei watched from the side for a long time and couldn't understand it, so he asked, "How do you know how many people are in a place?" ”

Chen Muren said: "You think that you only need mathematics when you go to college, and you have to rely on calculations to fight wars. He took a ruler and compared it on the map: "You see, according to the terrain, at such a long distance, the first shock wave will lose 80 percent, the second shock wave will lose 60 percent, and the third shock wave will continue to attack this section, and the first shock wave will lose 60 percent" Cai Yuanfei suddenly felt that the numbers on the map were too terrible - those percentages were only the probability of victory or defeat for the army, but for individuals, they were 100 percent!

After a while, the officers of the 209 regiment came to the meeting. Because the losses in the past few days were too great, only two deputy battalion commanders and seven or eight principal and deputy company commanders were present today.

The head of the Chen Muren regiment said: "This time, I am ready to die in battle, Brother Wang and Brother Cai are friends in life and death, they specially rushed here to share the hardships with me, are you willing to die with me?" ”

The battalion commanders and company commanders did not hesitate and were willing to die!

(To be continued)