"It's certainly better to be alive than to die. There is hope only when we live, but we do not fear death because of this. If it is for the sake of our country, if it is for the sake of our relatives, or even for the sake of like-minded brothers, between a despicable life and a glorious death, I am willing to choose the latter. Our brothers, the reason why they are so fearless and so heroic on the battlefield is precisely based on such ideas. Today, when we pay our respects to them here, we are sad, but we are more proud, because we have lived and fought with our heroes, and because of their example, we will be even more brave in our future war careers......"

The above text is a paragraph of Ouyang Yun's speech at the memorial meeting of the fallen soldiers after the end of the battle of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi. On that day, Li Xiaoshan, Gao Yongxiang and Li Liang were all present, and at that time, they were all moved to tears by this sentence.

"Fighting a war is bound to kill people, and death does not favor us because we are on the side of justice. You must know that bullets, as dead things, have no concept of right and wrong. Today, we are sad that we are missing a group of brothers and comrades-in-arms, and at the same time, we are also proud of this - they took the first step for the great cause of resisting Japan...... One day, we will sacrifice to you in Tokyo with the heads of the culprits who started this evil war - brothers, please believe us, the living, this will be a promise that all the officers and men of our cadet army will keep with their lives. ”

This is also what Ouyang Yun said that day, because he faintly revealed some questions about the future direction of the student army after the most difficult passage, and Li Xiaoshan also secretly wrote down this sentence in his notebook excitedly. In fact, not only Li Xiaoshan, in fact, as long as there is a heart, they all wrote down this sentence at that time, because what they cared about was - will we attack Tokyo?

Thinking of these two sentences at this moment is because Li Xiaoshan feels that, as the commander-in-chief said, he has done it, and he is already using his life to fulfill this promise. He remembered the squad leader who died in the battle of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi when he was in the recruit company, and after Gao Yongxiang left, he silently said to himself: Old squad leader, wait, I will come down to accompany you soon. At that time, we can fight devils together again!

"Boom!" A loud bang sounded about twenty meters away from him, and it was the little devil's mortar that began to fire again. Looking at the darkness in the distance, Li Xiaoshan sighed regretfully: I am afraid that my dream of being the head of the regiment will not come true!

Li Xiaoshan's ideal is not great, but it is enough to be the head of the regiment.

In fact, the gap between the officers and men of the cadet army is very large, but this gap is only reflected in income. Officers at and above the regimental level have dividends from the shares of the enterprises under the jurisdiction of the Cadet Army, and this kind of dividend is not comparable to a mere amount of money. Of course, ordinary soldiers are paid the equivalent of five silver dollars a month, which is far more than other troops in the country. The burden of military salaries has become a problem for Jiang Shuren, he raised this issue at high-level meetings more than once, and he has also received the support of many people, but he has failed to pry Ouyang Yun's views every time.

Ouyang Yun insisted on giving greater benefits to officers economically, for the simple reason that compared to the current cadet army, he was actually an airborne troop. In the current high-level of the Cadet Army, any one of them is more senior than him, and in this case, it is impossible to grasp the army as firmly as he did when he was in Renqiu without taking a certain amount of skill. Although vigorously grasping the ideological building of the troops can temporarily unite the troops, this is absolutely not a long-term strategy. Wanting the horses to run and wanting the horses not to eat grass has not been possible for a long time since ancient times. However, if there is a common interest, and it is a real interest, then it is different. If before the crossing, Ouyang Yun still had all kinds of impure thoughts, now, he only has the idea of resisting Japan in his heart. And to his point, money has lost its positive meaning for him. Therefore, he didn't care about the transfer of interests at all, so he ran the student army into a monolith. Facts have proved that he has made the right move, whether it is the original Cantonese system or the newly joined Fujian and Sichuan departments, because high-ranking officers and ordinary soldiers can get a piece of the pie from the big family of the Cadet Army, so the cohesion of the troops is unprecedentedly high. And this is also the reason why Ouyang Yun dared to send troops to Min Yueqiong at every turn.

Compared with the Central Army, the only three levels of the Cadet Army are inferior to them, but this is not a big problem, because there is a bright future waiting for them, so it is impossible for them to make rebellious behavior. And becoming a regiment commander has become the consensus of almost all students with ideals and ambitions.

As Gao Yongxiang expected, the Japanese army lurked a large number of troops around, and soon, as one flare after another came from the northwest to the sky over the river beach, a new round of Japanese offensive began.

In an instant, on this battlefield that was already dripping with blood, the sound of guns and cannons rang out again.

Gao Yongxiang squatted in knee-high water, holding a Weiqing-style assault rifle in his right hand and a grenade in his left hand, quietly observing. It's not the devil who was repulsed just now, it seems that the size of this Japanese army should be more than one brigade. The reason why the Japanese army had only dispatched one wing at first must have felt that it was enough—I hope so, if they had the intention of luring the enemy—he thought so, and looked back at the dark river, and suddenly realized that he had made a mistake. Since the telegraph machine is broken, it is necessary to send people back, and if the division insists on coming to the rescue, the 36th Brigade and the troops directly under the division headquarters may have to be handed over here today.

The main means of communication of the cadet corps is walkie-talkies, and telegraphs are only equipped by units at and above the brigade level. In order to make it more convenient for Deng Changyou to unify the actions of the troops and prevent the troops from getting lost, Ouyang Yun transferred the walkie-talkies of the 36th Division to him. As a result, although the width of the Yangtze River channel between Jiujiang and Huangmei was only about 1,500 meters, communication between them could only be carried out by telegraph.

The telegraph on the north bank was damaged by bullets, while the telegraph on the south bank was rendered unusable due to water ingress. As a result, not only could the two sides of the strait communicate with each other, but Ye Zhao could not report the battle situation on the front line to the headquarters in time, so it was no wonder that Ouyang Yun would be worried and unable to maintain calm at Madang Fortress.