It's not yet dawn, but the raging fire burning in the city has been burning red for a long time, like burning a red hole in the dark sky, swallowing the souls of the dead.
The battle in the neighborhood where the Japs and guerrilla officers and soldiers were fighting has tended to ease. The two sides were facing each other more than a hundred meters apart, and cold guns and artillery were still firing. From time to time, illumination bombs flew into the sky, casting a pale light.
People near the fighting area have begun to evacuate to the rear with the assistance of the guerrillas to avoid being accidentally injured by shells falling from the fighting.
In this era of war and chaos, the common people have long been accustomed to seeing the city turn into a battlefield. They silently carry food and packages, leave their homes, brave the cold wind, and move towards safety.
After all, Gaoyou is the gateway to the Huaihe River and is adjacent to the canal. Going north, you can reach Baoying Huaiyin, and going south, you can reach Yangzhou and the Yangtze River directly by water and land. It has an important strategic location.
Yang Ling clearly remembered that when the Japanese emperor announced his unconditional surrender, the Japanese soldiers who went north from Yangzhou joined the more than 5,000 Japanese soldiers in Gaoyou City who resisted and refused to surrender.
But they were eventually completely wiped out by the heroic Chinese officers and soldiers. Although there were now less than a thousand Japs and wounded in the city, the battle was even more cruel.
Because guerrilla troops are still growing like immature babies, while Japanese soldiers are strong adults.
Anticipating the cruelty of the battle, Yang Ling made complete preparations to let the people evacuate. People will die in the war, but it is the duty of commanders like them to minimize casualties.
The people with their families silently closed their doors and followed the guerrilla officers and soldiers who came to cover them and left with bowed bodies.
Behind them, the Japanese's incendiary bombs rained down, and the Japanese set many houses on fire. In order to slow down the attack speed of the guerrilla officers and soldiers, they waited for the surrounding reinforcements to encircle them.
Seeing their houses burning and collapsing in the raging fire, many evacuated people were wiping tears, but they were all unarmed people and they had nothing to do about it.
"Go with peace of mind. After the war is over, we will help you rebuild your house."
The guerrilla officers and soldiers could also understand the mood of these people at this moment, and comforted them in a low voice. Seeing their homes destroyed by the war, no one felt comfortable.
Although the guerrilla officers and soldiers were comforting them, low sobs could still be heard from the crowd from time to time. They walked back and forth three times, wondering if they would still have a home when they came back.
When the people in the area where the guerrillas were fighting were evacuating, Yang Ling was also explaining to Sun Zhong, the director of the munitions department, in the temporary headquarters of the General Command.
"Arrange the evacuated people to settle down in nearby villages and towns first. Those who have relatives will go to their relatives. Those who have no relatives will be arranged by the army. They will be allowed to come back after the war."
"The flour mills and rice mills that have just been seized from the Japanese have allocated some food to go out. We cannot let the evacuated people go hungry."
"The patriotic gentry in nearby villages and towns must also mobilize and set up a patriotic committee to let them arrange for the evacuated people nearby. Military propaganda teams are also sent out. Everyone must know that at this moment when the country is ruined and the family is in ruins,
We Chinese must unite and overcome difficulties together!"
...
While Yang Ling was talking, Sun Chong, the Director of Munitions Department, memorized every order carefully.
Although he asked the people to evacuate, Yang Ling did not ignore it and asked Sun Chong, the quartermaster, to temporarily dispatch people to make arrangements.
The development speed of Yang Ling and the others was really too fast. In just a few months, they went from a guerrilla detachment that was being chased and had nowhere to hide, to the behemoth they are today.
Their soldiers are easy to recruit, including local residents who are unable to survive due to the persecution of the Japanese, refugees who have no clothes and no food to eat, and regular soldiers who have been broken up.
Their troops expanded to two to three thousand men in a short period of time, but in this era when national education was not universal, there was no shortage of soldiers who dared to fight the Japanese to the death, and there was a shortage of people who could read and write.
In this era, traditional Chinese characters were used instead of the simplified Chinese characters of later generations. Yang Ling seemed to have a big head, let alone those people who didn't have enough to eat and had the ability to learn.
In this era, those who can go to school are those from well-off families, and many of these people are marching in the safe rear area or joining the army and joining the regular army.
In the plan of the Chongqing Military Commission, although guerrilla troops like Yang Ling and others were also a type of regular army, they were not attractive enough to attract scholars to join.
The guerrillas are mostly composed of illiterate peasants. When Yang Ling established the Anti-Japanese Association in Huaiyin, he saw many village self-defense armed forces, not even a gun, only some kitchen knives, hoes and
Red tassel gun and other cold weapons.
Relying on these cold weapons, the common people and the Japs behind the enemy lines have been fighting, and then they have become an inconspicuous and cold number among the 30 million casualties.
Nowadays, due to the lack of civilian officials who can take charge of their own affairs, Yang Ling has to hand over all such matters to people from the Military Supplies Department.
The Munitions Department is not like a combat unit that requires training and fighting, which affects cultural learning. The staff of the Munitions Department have enough time to attend literacy classes and learn to read and write.
The current phenomenon is that the munitions department has become a talent training base for Yang Ling and his troops. People who come out of literacy classes are quickly transferred to various battalions and companies to serve as staff officers or communications soldiers.
As for them who had never attended a military academy, they had to learn while fighting, sum up experience on the battlefield, and then perform their duties. Under difficult conditions, Yang Ling had no choice.
Yang Ling has realized the importance of talents. When he led the main force of the guerrillas south to attack Gaoyou, Zhang Liechen, the deputy captain who stayed behind, had already begun to recruit civilian officials.
Difficulties are temporary. Yang Ling believes that as long as we get through this difficult period, there will be bread and milk.
The people in the fighting area were evacuating, and they gathered on the streets from all over, just like countless streams converging into one big river, slowly flowing into the darkness in the distance.
Behind them are blazing flames, black smoke rising into the sky, and the Chinese who are hiding in the ruins and fighting with the Japanese. Every inch of the mountains and rivers is filled with blood. The Chinese are fighting bloody battles. The Chinese have never
Withdraw.
The faces of the common people were numb, hollow and stained with tears. After they were escorted out of the fighting area by the guerrilla officers and soldiers, the guerrilla officers and soldiers turned around and threw themselves into the battlefield.
The task of maintaining these evacuated residents now falls on some patriots and agents hidden in Gaoyou City.
Their cuffs were tied with white cloth as a sign, and they spontaneously assisted the troops in moving and evacuating the people. As time went by, more patriots stood up and took the initiative to assume the responsibilities that a Chinese should have.
The people were evacuating, getting farther and farther away from the fighting area. In the warehouses and factories not far from their evacuation, some officers and soldiers who had come down from the firing line and were still covered in smoke were also gathering.
The logistics department under the Munitions Department has temporarily set up a large pot at the back. Pots of gruel are steaming hot, and steamers of white-flour steamed buns are taking shape.
The women who took the initiative to help make the fire and cook were also busy. On this winter night, there were fine beads of sweat on their foreheads, but they had smiles on their faces.
Smelling the refreshing smell of white flour steamed buns, the brothers who were used to eating multi-grain steamed buns stretched their necks, waiting for the meal, and glanced at the women.
In the eyes of the officers and soldiers, these busy women are the most beautiful women in the world, and they are willing to use their lives to protect them from being harmed by the Japanese.