"Shaozuo!" As soon as Kobayashi Shaozo sat up, a captain officer stumbled over there.

"Ono-kun, what's wrong?" Kobayashi Taro, who was also in shock in his heart, couldn't care about pursuing this old classmate's faux pas, so he hurriedly pulled Captain Ono and asked.

"The Chinese are shooting again! I guess they're putting pressure on us! Twelve more people from the 3rd Squadron were killed just now. Shaozuo, it's time to make a decision! You can't watch the last 600 soldiers who are with you die! The lieutenant spoke much louder, and at this point, he didn't care about the difference in status.

It's really hard for them, with the state of the Eighth Brigade, it is really not easy to hold on until half of the casualties are still stiff.

After only ten minutes, the sound of gunfire had subsided, as if it was specifically reminding the Eighth Brigade. It's time to decide! If you really have to wait until five o'clock, I'm afraid that if you want to surrender again, the Chinese will not give them a chance! Kobayashi Taro gritted his teeth and finally made the most painful decision of his life, "You go and gather all the officers in the brigade." ”

"Hey!" Captain Ono promised not to mention loud, as if he had received some special reward.

It didn't take much time to gather the officers, and the 500th Army didn't have much room for the 8th Brigade. Captain Ono ran out in less than ten minutes, and summoned all the officers of the Eighth Brigade to the temporary headquarters of the brigade.

When the officers came, they all showed the basic qualities of imperial officers, nodding and greeting when they met, and saluting the captain in a proper manner.

Kobayashi Shaozuo sat in the center, looking at these subordinates with complicated eyes, "Gentlemen, everyone knows the situation in front of you, so I won't say more." I would like to hear your views on the way out for our Eighth Brigade. ”

Although he has made up his mind, Kobayashi Taro doesn't want the word surrender to come out of his mouth first, if someone else brings it up first, he can still have a reputation of being forced to surrender, if he says it first, then it will become the captain to lead the crowd to surrender, and it is too ugly to hear it out! In fact, did he say it first, as long as he was in the surrendered team, Kobayashi Shaozo, as the captain, would inevitably have the reputation of a leader, and Kobayashi Taro wanted to leave the last fig leaf.

It's a pity that these officers of the Eighth Brigade don't seem to intend to give them the captain this step, and none of the dozens of officers present have spoken, and these people have hung His Excellency Shao Zuo here!

In desperation, Shao Zuo's eyes looked at Captain Ono, it was you who proposed to make me decide, you have to come out to help?

Sure enough, it was still the old classmates who were more considerate, and Captain Ono coughed and spoke first: "Everyone," he began, and the officers' eyes were focused on him.

"Shao Zuo can gather everyone together, which means that Shao Zuo has made a decision in his heart. Now you need to put forward your thoughts first, and Shao Zuo can say yes or no. Do you all want to stop talking and wait until five o'clock comes? It's three o'clock, I don't know if it's half past three or four o'clock, and can you guarantee that none of you here will die when the next shelling comes? Or are you ready to go to the Yasukuni Shrine at five o'clock to erect the tablet? ”

Although Captain Ono still didn't say the word surrender, his meaning was already obvious, and if this continued, no one would survive! Shao Zuo needs an excuse now, no matter which of you guys hurry up!

Officers, you look at me, I look at you, and finally a lieutenant officer spoke, "Your Excellency Shaozuo, everyone, there is nothing to say!" I propose that at five o'clock all our officers and men take up arms and launch a final charge against the Chinese army, and use our last bravery to be loyal to the Emperor! The one who spoke was Nobuo Ikeda, the leader of the second squadron.

"Lieutenant Ikeda, please stop talking this useless nonsense!" A captain stood up, this was Michiro Toyoda, the leader of the machine gun squadron. The machine gun squadron leader spoke quite unceremoniously, "If it weren't for the unfavorable operation of your second squadron this time, how could our eighth squadron not rush out with the wing?" If you want to be loyal to the emperor, it's long past time to apologize! ”

"Yaga!" Lieutenant Ikeda pulled out the sword he was wearing under his ribs and was insulted in public, mainly by Captain Toyota, who was forced to have a disembowelment, so how could he stand it? "Michiro Toyoda, I'm going to duel with you!"

"Cangchang! Cangchang! There was a sound of steel knives coming out of the sheath, and five officers stood up behind Captain Toyoda, all of whom were from the machine gun squadron. On Nobuo Ikeda's side, however, only one second lieutenant stood next to him with a knife. Originally, there were three squad leaders in the second squadron, but one of them had already been slaughtered by him, and the other had also turned against him, and now only this one was still thinking about the feelings of a squadron and reluctantly stood with Lieutenant Ikeda.

"Nobuo Ikeda, are you sure you want to duel me?" Captain Toyota saw Lieutenant Ikeda's embarrassed appearance and sneered with disdain, "You are so mixed up now, and you dare to duel with me?"

"Ikeda-kun, please sit down! Toyoda-kun, please take a seat! I'm here for you to discuss things, not to bring everyone together for a duel! Seeing that the good military meeting had turned into a farce, Kobayashi Shaozo loudly scolded two of his subordinates who tried to make trouble. In the end, Shaozuo's authority is still there, the two squadron leaders glared at each other stupidly, and each led his subordinates to sit back.

"Shaozuo, we don't have to hide it anymore! I decided, I want to save the lives of forty-nine soldiers of the 1st Squadron! As a squadron leader, I can no longer ignore the lives and deaths of the soldiers! Our squadron as a whole decided to surrender to the Chinese army! "It was Saburo Kurizono, the acting squadron leader of the 1st Squadron, who spoke. The former squadron leader had already died in battle, and Saburo Kurizono was temporarily in charge by the deputy squadron leader during the day.

"Kuriwon, do you want to surrender? You coward, coward! It was Nobuo Ikeda who scolded this, and this Captain Ikeda seemed to be a troublemaker, and he couldn't get along with anyone.

"What? Lieutenant Ikeda, do you still want to duel with me? Saburo Kurizono smiled contemptuously, and three officers immediately stood up behind him. It's not that the officers of the 1st Squadron and the Squadron Leader of the Kuriten Squadron are not of the same mind, the main thing is that the rest of the officers of the squadron have been killed, and the entire squadron is now left with only four of them.

The vast majority of the Fourth Division was from merchant families, with Kobayashi Shaosa being the young owner of Osaka's big merchant family, and Saburo Kurizono being from a small handicraft family. Because he has participated in a lot of manual labor since he was a child, Saburo Kurizono has a very good physical fitness, and after joining the army, he has learned a lot of military skills.