The charcoal fire in the brazier inside the house was only embers, and the cold wind blew the black window paper.
It was dark outside the house, and the sky was not yet bright, but Yang Ling inside the house had already gotten up early, put on his leggings and armed belt in an orderly manner, and was dressed neatly.
News of the Japanese massacre in Nanjing came from the south. Countless tragedies spread across the country as quickly as the wind blew. The atrocities committed by the Japanese invaders filled every Chinese with righteous indignation.
The Japanese army tried to show their powerful force with bloody killings, thereby forcing the Chinese to fear and surrender to them, but they made the wrong calculation.
Instead of intimidating the Chinese people, their killings aroused the anger of every Chinese. This anger quickly surged across the land of China like a rough sea.
The Japanese invaders tore off their hypocritical masks and showed their cruelty with bloody bayonets. Many people who had originally hoped for peace talks also gave up their illusions about the Japanese invaders and began to shout for resistance to Japan and national salvation!
"Brothers and sisters! Take up arms! Defend our tired country!"
"If we don't resist, our country will be destroyed! Our species will be destroyed!"
…
All kinds of calls for salvation were heard one after another across China. Young students raised their arms and shouted, calling on more people to join the resistance.
Businessmen generously donated money and materials, and young students shouted for downfall of Japanese imperialism. Then they abandoned their pens and joined the army and went to the front line, shouting that the wave of resistance was getting higher and higher.
Whether it was the troops who had withdrawn from the front line or the troops who were about to go to the front line, they were also agitated and angry because of the killings by the Japanese invaders in Nanjing. Every soldier was holding a breath of anger in his heart, and he wished he could kill the Japanese troops immediately and flow into a river of blood.
, to avenge Nanjing and wash away the shame of the Chinese army's defeat.
Yang Ling and his troops were recuperating and resting in Bengbu. The news coming from the south was pervasive, and the angry news stimulated the nerves of the soldiers.
The calls for war grew louder and louder, and soldiers from many armies wrote letters in blood, demanding to go to the front lines to kill the enemy and take revenge.
However, the Chinese army has just experienced two disastrous defeats in Shanghai and Nanjing. Three to four hundred thousand Chinese soldiers were stained with blood on the battlefield, and several times the wounded were seriously injured. It is undoubtedly stupid to take the initiative to provoke a war at this moment. Army commanders at all levels are also
Forced to fight.
Angry emotions roared in the chest of every soldier. The high morale of the troops made the army commanders happy, but if there was nowhere to vent this emotion, it would cause problems and give them headaches.
Yang Ling and his troops from the 301st Regiment had fought in Shanghai and Nanjing. Countless brothers had died at the hands of the Japanese army, so they had a bloody hatred for the Japanese army, and their mood for revenge was even higher than that of the other troops.
Yang Ling, the deputy commander, hopes to strike while the iron is hot and start training while the brothers are currently in high spirits of killing the enemy and seeking revenge, in order to improve the combat effectiveness of the troops and prepare for the next battle.
After Yang Ling got dressed, he opened the door. A cold wind mixed with snow particles in the sky rushed towards him. He looked around and saw that the sky and the earth were completely white.
The first snow of this winter came quietly to the Bengbu area. Heavy snow fell from the sky. Houses and courtyards, bridges, rivers, fields, woods, and wheat stack roads were all covered with thick white snow, crystal clear and beautiful.
Yang Ling stepped on the crunching snow, pushed open the door of the house where Si Chaobing lived, and stepped forward to gently wake up Si Chaobing, who was snoring loudly.
"Deputy Commander Yang," the young bugler opened his sleepy eyes and saw a neatly dressed Yang Ling standing at the head of his bed.
"Get up and blow the trumpet." Yang Ling ordered, then turned and left the house.
The young trumpeter looked at the dark sky outside, and was startled by the cold wind that poured into the room. Although he was extremely reluctant, he quickly dressed up, ran outside and raised the suona tied with a red string.
The loud bugle sounded in this snowy cold winter morning. The bugle sound penetrated the beams of the house, bypassed the courtyard, and reached the ears of every sleeping brother.
The deputy battalion elder, Yanqiang, was having a nightmare and returned to the smoke-filled battlefield. He heard the familiar and loud sound of the bugle.
In his dream, Lao Yanqiang saw the densely packed brothers lying in the trenches and immediately jumped out of the trenches with bayonets in hand and rushed toward the Japanese positions amidst the loud sound of military bugles.
The bugle sound became louder and louder, and Lao Yanqiang watched their familiar brothers fall down one by one on the road to charge.
The splashing blood and wailing made Lao Yanqiang extremely painful. Suddenly a ferocious Japanese soldier rushed to him, and Lao Yanqiang had no choice but to roar and stand up to fight.
This loud roar made Lao Yanqian wake up from his sleep. He turned around and saw his brothers sleeping deeply. He touched the hot sweat on his forehead and realized that he had had a nightmare.
The bugle sounded again outside, loud and rhythmic. Lao Yanqiang was startled and subconsciously wanted to touch the gun. But then he thought, the Japanese were still hundreds of miles away. Where did the Japanese come from here?
"Damn it, why are you so crazy so early in the morning?"
Lao Yanqiang got up from the bed and was about to go outside to see the situation, but the curses of Liu Yidao, who lived next door, could be heard.
"Get up! Assemble! Anyone who can't wait in five minutes will get his own baton!" As soon as Liu Yidao's curse fell, Yang Ling's steady and powerful voice rang out.
Hearing Yang Ling's voice, Lao Yanqiang felt a chill in his heart and hurriedly put on his clothes.
Those brothers who were originally hesitant to get up were all hurriedly getting dressed. It was not yet bright, and the room was dark, and there was a sudden rush of excitement.
"It's snowing!" Someone shouted excitedly from outside. It was the brothers from the south who were a little excited when they saw the white snow.
Lao Yanqiang also opened the door, and sure enough, the sky and the earth were already white. However, the cold wind like a knife came through, which made him tremble. He hurriedly wrapped himself in the cotton military uniform and ran towards the meeting point.
The sound of the bugle had stopped, and the sleepy-eyed brothers who got up from their warm blankets hurriedly rushed from place to place to gather.
The gathering this early in the morning was really hurried, and the weather was freezing. Many brothers forgot to wear helmets, forgot to pick up guns, and wore the wrong shoes. The gathering place was noisy and chaotic, and many people were freezing.
They were all huddled together, and the queue was crooked.
Yang Ling looked at the chaotic mess of hundreds of brothers, standing there upright without saying a word. It wasn't until he saw the last few brothers running out of the house slowly and trying to squeeze into the team that he shouted to stop.
got them.
"Just stand where you are."
Yang Ling's face was full of seriousness, and these brothers did not dare to disobey, so they had no choice but to stand there at a loss.
Although First Battalion Commander Lu Xing heard yesterday that Yang Ling was going to conduct training, he did not expect that Yang Ling would ask them to get up early in the morning to blow the cold wind, and it was still snowing.
Yang Ling's eyes swept over these brothers, and he did not blame them for their embarrassment. Finally, he looked back, coughed and spoke.
"Brothers, these days you are eating white flour steamed buns, wearing brand-new cotton military uniforms, eating well and wearing warm clothes. But in the south and north, we still have many places occupied by little devils.
The people don't have enough food or clothing to keep warm, and they have to be bullied by the little devils! This is a shame for us soldiers!"
The brothers were woken up by Yang Ling early in the morning to listen to his lectures. They were full of complaints and hoped that he would finish his lecture quickly and go back to sleep. However, Yang Ling's next words dashed their hopes of sleeping.
"Everyone has almost recovered in the past few days, so let's start training today! Once we have mastered the ability to kill the enemy, we will drive the little devils out of China by then! Avenge the death of our Chinese people!"
After Yang Ling finished speaking, these brothers who were shivering in the cold wind suddenly started to buzz, "What kind of training is this in the cold weather? Isn't this a torment?"
But Yang Ling didn't care so much. The ninth cold winter was a good time to train troops. If the Japanese army launched a new round of attack in the spring, there would be no such good opportunity.
As the saying goes, more training on weekdays means less bloodshed during war. In Yang Ling's opinion, this is perfect for the current 301st Regiment.
Although they fought well in the previous battles, they all relied on human lives. This was not what Yang Ling wanted to see, so he had to seize the time to train.