This report by Taiyuan Daily instantly pushed the nationwide demonstrations and protests to a new climax.
By April 18, not only students took to the streets to protest, but many citizens and employees also joined the march.
Moreover, the target of demonstrations and denunciations has shifted from the Peking branch of the Central Military Commission to the Central Military Commission headquarters in Nanjing.
On this day, the principal, who was a bit overwhelmed by the pressure of public opinion, while cursing General He as a stupid pig in his heart, held a press conference in Nanjing and publicly made a promise: the National Government will never sit idly by and watch.
Our own heroic troops are trapped in the enemy's hands. The Military Commission will put pressure on Japan and at the same time order the frontline troops to prepare for an attack. They must rescue this troops who have repeatedly made meritorious service to the country and return to the pass.
In the afternoon of that day, Zhao Changshu and Meng Yuting, who had been suffering at Lengkou Pass for four days, finally received orders from the Peking Military Commission to prepare for war.
Zhao Changshu, who was in high spirits, ordered loudly: "Order the 1st Regiment, 2nd Regiment, artillery battalion, guard battalion, and brigade chief officers at all levels to rush to the headquarters for a meeting in half an hour without any mistakes."
At the same time, in the field hospital at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain, Cui Xiaolu was helping Gao Xiaoshan to walk slowly in the woods.
After a month of training, Gao Xiaoshan's injury has basically recovered and he can start some functional recovery training.
"Brother Shanzi, when do you think the scholars will be able to come back? It's been a month since they left this time, right?"
Although Cui Xiaolu is just a head nurse and doesn't know much about military matters, in recent days she has felt that there is no sound of gunfire and no new wounded are being sent down from the front line. Has the little Japanese been beaten?
Run away? But I haven’t seen Zhou Wen and the others come back yet, so I can’t help but feel a little worried.
Gao Xiaoshan knew that maybe it was because of the serious atmosphere in Lengkou Guan in recent days, or because this alert girl sensed something was wrong.
Although he was lying in bed recuperating for most of the month, every time the mercenary group contacted Lengkouguan via telegram, Meng Yuting had to send someone to send him a copy, so he was very concerned about the current situation of the mercenary group.
clear.
As the second-in-command of the mercenary group, he cannot express his inner anxiety, and in this situation, even if he fully recovers, there is nothing he can do.
If you want to bring the scholars back, you need the cooperation of the 29th Army and the 32nd Army. What can he do alone?
Therefore, he could only bury his anxieties and worries in his heart, and also pretend to be calm and calm to stabilize the emotions of the brothers behind him.
So, Gao Xiaoshan pretended to be relaxed and said: "It's okay. It's not like you don't know what the scholars are capable of. These Japs are no match for them at all. The reason why they haven't come back now is because of military needs. Don't worry, just do your job well."
.”
"Yeah!" Cui Xiaolu hummed and fell silent.
Gao Xiaoshan knew that his explanation just now was a bit far-fetched, and he was afraid that Cui Xiaolu would ask again, and he was not good at telling lies, so he continued: "Xiaolu, I feel that the wound doesn't hurt anymore. Just go and do your work. I will do it myself."
Walk more."
Cui Xiaolu responded softly, gave him a few more instructions, lowered her head, turned around and walked towards the door of the hospital.
Gao Xiaoshan looked at Cui Xiaolu's somewhat lonely figure and knew that this girl might have guessed that Zhou Wen and the others had encountered a problem.
But he could only do this, looking at the few white clouds hanging in the sky far to the north, wondering if the scholar and the others were fighting bloody battles with the little devils under those clouds.
Of course, he has strong confidence in Zhou Wen and the mercenary group. He knows that in the vast land of Yanshan Mountains, the little devil can only wish to destroy the mercenary group.
He was worried about the casualties of his brothers.
The previous few battles were smooth sailing, but the mercenary group inevitably suffered casualties.
The first detachment was okay, only a few people including themselves were injured, but the second detachment had already suffered dozens of casualties, and the number of sacrifices had exceeded that of the Songhu Anti-Japanese War.
Li Han's howitzer platoon alone lost three people on the spot to the Japanese air attack, and one of them was the gunner, which made Gao Xiaoshan extremely distressed when he found out.
Now the mercenary regiment has been alone for a month. It has experienced a series of battles such as shelling the Japanese heavy artillery positions, annihilating the Kuroda Cavalry Regiment, annihilating the Engineer Regiment, and defeating the 7th Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo Army. The casualties are definitely not small.
Another thing that worries Gao Xiaoshan is the logistics problem of the mercenary group.
Taking advantage of the gap after the Japanese Army's 24th Mixed Brigade was annihilated, with the help of the Model Brigade's transport battalion, the mercenary regiment transported a lot of supplies out of the customs and established one in the Dushan Mountains and the Songling Mountains.
Temporary supply warehouses are secret camps No. 1 and No. 2 respectively.
However, after the Japanese 6th Division came up, they basically blocked all the roads out of the customs, leaving only the unknown trail that bypassed Jianchang Camp.
The trail was so steep that even mules and horses could not pass it, so it had to be carried on human backs.
There are fewer people to transport, and the materials transported are of little use and of no use. If there are too many people, they are afraid of exposing the secret trail.
Therefore, Zhou Wen had previously ordered that supplies should not be transported through that path unless absolutely necessary, because that road was likely to be the mercenary group's last retreat.
So until now, Zhou Wen and the others have not received supplies for a month. Countless battles in the past month have continued to consume the reserves in the secret camp.
Now, Gao Xiaoshan knew that Zhou Wen and the others had moved from Dushan to the Songling area two days ago under heavy Japanese encirclement and suppression, which meant that the No. 1 secret camp had been abandoned.
There are more than 1,000 people, and the reserves of the No. 2 secret camp alone cannot last long.
Moreover, the tactics of the mercenary group have always been firepower first. Without enough artillery shells and bullets, the combat effectiveness of the mercenary group will inevitably be greatly restricted, and casualties will inevitably increase.
War is like this. Once the firepower is insufficient, human lives can only be used to make up for it.
If there are a large number of wounded, the storage of medicines will also be a problem.
Although these issues were not mentioned by Zhou Wen in the exchange of messages, Gao Xiaoshan, who had been the general manager of the mercenary group for many years, naturally had an account in his mind and knew the extent of consumption of various materials after a battle.
Gao Xiaoshan was thinking that now the seven or eight injured members of the first team, including brothers Zuo Mingqing and Qu Mingxing, had recovered. He, the most seriously injured, would be able to move freely after two days of recovery.
It seems that I need to contact Zhou Wen to see if I can lead a team to transport a batch of supplies.
You must know that since the formation of the Dawangzhuang mercenary group, Gao Xiaoshan has never been away from the team for such a long time. He has become accustomed to standing behind Zhou Wen and being his strong back at all times.
No matter what difficulties or desperate situations the brothers encountered, he would face them together.