Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 119 Arrival at Luodian Left Wing

Zhang Wenwu and his convoy had not gone far when they heard intensive gunfire and explosions coming from the direction of Luodian Town. The horses in the convoy were frightened and ran around everywhere. It took the officers and soldiers in charge of escorting the convoy a long time to get it back in order.

After walking for less than twenty minutes, we saw a team of soldiers wearing military police armbands patrolling and standing guard in the middle of the road and in the fields around it.

"Stop, command." An officer with the rank of captain and four soldiers blocked the convoy's way.

Damn, Zhang Wenwu was at a loss now. He didn't even get the wartime password for today. He could only stand there and shout, "Brother, we are from the Quartermaster Department of the 102nd Division of the th Army. We have been ordered to assemble in the direction of Luodian Town. I just got off the train in Nanxiang and don't know today's wartime password yet." He didn't dare to move. If he moved or approached the gendarmes, they would shoot. Don't be killed by his own people before he even fights the Japanese. That would be an unjust death.

As soon as Zhang Wenwu heard what he said, the officer on the opposite side came over with four soldiers. At first, because it was dark, Zhang Wenwu could not see the officer's appearance clearly. When he got closer, he saw who it was in the weak light and shouted, "Li Shangping, it's me, Zhang Wenwu."

When Li Shangping heard Zhang Wenwu's shout, he quickly walked a few steps to Zhang Wenwu's side. After seeing that it was Zhang Wenwu, he immediately said, "Wenwu, why is it you? How dare you go forward without even getting the command?"

Zhang Wenwu was also annoyed when he heard Li Shangping's question: "Don't mention it, brother, I almost took the convoy to the Wusongkou direction just now. Fortunately, our Chief of Staff Zhao left a signalman waiting for us at the intersection. Then I learned that the troops had come to Luodian Town again, so I hurriedly led the convoy here to chase the troops. No one told me what the password was. By the way, Li Shangping, are you a military police now?"

Li Shangping understood after listening to Zhang Wenwu's explanation. He also knew that the troops had been changing their marching orders. After hearing Zhang Wenwu's question, he smiled and explained, "Wenwu, I was transferred to the military's direct pistol battalion some time ago. Later, when the war was about to start, the direct pistol battalion was reorganized into the military's military police battalion, responsible for battlefield discipline enforcement and vigilance tasks. This is to prevent the Japanese traitors from infiltrating, so I was arranged to lead the team to carry out the mission here."

Zhang Wenwu understood as soon as he heard it. Li Shangping was not simply preventing the Japanese spies from infiltrating and investigating, but also preventing the officers and soldiers on the front line from retreating privately. Anyone who went back without a pass issued by the chief officer of their respective unit would be treated as a deserter and could be shot on the spot. To put it bluntly, he was acting as a supervisory team. However, he was the last line of supervision, and there were corresponding supervisory teams patrolling and setting up checkpoints behind each unit.

"Li Shangping, how many Japanese traitors are there?" Seeing that Li Shangping did not mention the matter of his supervisory team, Zhang Wenwu asked according to his explanation.

"A lot. Those bastards are all scums bought by the Japanese. They report what they see and the information they collect to the Japanese, and then receive rewards from them. In just these few hours, I have caught three Japanese traitors, all of whom are local Chinese. Two of them are from local gangs." Li Shangping said gritting his teeth.

Zhang Wenwu was immediately in a heavy mood when he heard that there were so many Japanese traitors active, so he asked immediately: "Li Shangping, where is our 102nd Division now? Brother, I have to escort the convoy there quickly, so as not to delay the battle ahead. Also, tell me the password so that I can have the correct password to answer when asked at the checkpoint ahead."

"Wenwu, I know that your 102nd Division is in charge of the left wing of Luodian Town. I don't know exactly where your division headquarters is. You can go and ask in that direction. As for the command today, it's 'Fight, Forward.'" Li Shangping pointed to the left and introduced what he knew to Zhang Wenwu. As for the command, he also told Zhang Wenwu, otherwise Zhang Wenwu would still be stopped at the checkpoint ahead.

After Zhang Wenwu and Li Shangping thanked them, they asked the convoy behind to hurry to the left front. The gunfire from the direction of Luodian Town became more and more frequent. Zhang Wenwu was even more anxious when he heard the gunfire. He knew that the attacking force of the 18th Army was attacking the Japanese army in Luodian Town. If they fought at night, they could avoid the powerful and fierce artillery of the Japanese army and the attack of Japanese planes in the air, and they could give full play to the combat advantages of the Chinese army. But after taking back Luodian, that was the most fatal time. During the day, the Japanese artillery and planes could support their attack, and the naval guns on the sea were all large-caliber shells.

Thirty minutes later, Zhang Wenwu finally found the temporary headquarters of the 102nd Division, which was in a small village five kilometers away from the left wing of Luodian. The people in the village had already been evacuated, and those who were unwilling to evacuate were forcibly taken away by the local government. If they were not taken away, who would be able to take care of these people when the war broke out?

The largest building in the village is the clan ancestral hall. The headquarters of the 102nd Division is located in this hall. Zhang Wenwu asked the convoy to rest outside the hall first, and he walked quickly into the gate of the hall. He needed to find Chief of Staff Zhao Dong immediately to ask for instructions on the next task.

Chief of Staff Zhao Dong had just finished explaining things to the training staff when he saw Zhang Wenwu entering the lobby, so he quickly said to Zhang Wenwu: "Wenwu, you're back, that's great, I hope you had a smooth journey, I was afraid you would run off to Wusong."

"Reporting to the Chief of Staff, the journey was smooth. The signalman you left behind at the intersection has informed me. I have already escorted all of our supplies on the train back. Please give me your instructions, Chief of Staff." Zhang Wenwu immediately stood at attention and saluted to report.

"Very good, Wenwu, our division is now responsible for the security of the left wing of Luodian. In front of us are two regiments of the 210th Brigade who are building forward positions overnight. The th Division is now attacking Luodian Town. According to the request of Deputy Minister Chen, after retaking Luodian, the entire army must continue to attack and advance, and strive to drive the Japanese army back to the sea. You should first find a house in the village to store the military supplies and ammunition, and use it as a temporary base for the Quartermaster Department." Chief of Staff Zhao Dong briefly explained the current situation and the subsequent tasks to Zhang Wenwu, and then went to arrange other things.

Zhang Wenwu walked to the courtyard of the ancestral hall, lit a cigarette and took two puffs. He had to find someone who was relatively familiar with the village to ask if there were any vacant houses. The village was not big, with only about forty or fifty households. With so many people from the division headquarters pouring in at once, it was not easy to find an empty house.

"Captain Wang, Captain Wang, here." Zhang Wenwu saw that the captain of the first company of the special forces battalion, Wang Gui, had just walked into the gate of the ancestral hall, so he hurriedly greeted Wang Gui loudly.

"Oh, Deputy Director Zhang, you have so much free time. I'm so busy." Wang Gui walked to Zhang Wenwu, took the cigarette handed to him by Zhang Wenwu, lit it, and then joked to Zhang Wenwu.

Zhang Wenwu smiled, then said to Wang Gui: "Captain Wang, I am taking a break from my busy schedule. I just came here with the supplies. Chief of Staff Zhao asked me to find a house as a temporary quartermaster. I just arrived and I am completely in the dark. I am just trying to figure out where to find a house."

When Wang Gui heard what Zhang Wenwu was talking about, he said to Zhang Wenwu, "Deputy Director Zhang, you are late. There are only so many houses in this small village, and there are basically no empty houses now. I think you can only set up a tent outside the village. Haha."

Zhang Wenwu felt helpless when he heard Wang Gui's words. It seemed that it was just as he expected. So he looked at Wang Gui with a smile and said, "Captain Wang, Brother Wang, please help me. Please give me a room from your company."

Wang Gui saw Zhang Wenwu looking at him with a smile, and he felt that Zhang Wenwu was holding back his fart. Sure enough, after hearing what Zhang Wenwu said, Wang Gui shook his head like a fan and said, "Deputy Director Zhang, brother Zhang, it's not that I won't take care of you, but there's nothing I can do about it. Look, my brothers in the same company have only been allocated three small houses, and I don't even have a place to sleep. I really can't help you with this."

Zhang Wenwu saw that Wang Gui had no chance, so he stopped trying and changed his mind. He said, "Brother Wang, how about this? I won't ask you for a house. I'll set up my quartermaster's office outside the village and put up a few tents. But you see, I don't have many people in my quartermaster's office. Can you arrange some brothers to come over and help put up the tents?"

When Wang Gui heard that Zhang Wenwu didn't have to vacate the house himself, he immediately said with a smile: "No problem, I will arrange for a platoon of brothers to come and help you set up the tent. Have you chosen a place?"

Zhang Wenwu thought for a moment and said, "When I entered the village just now, I saw a forest to the west of the village. I plan to set up the quartermaster tent between the forest and the village, and then get some branches from the forest to use as camouflage."

After hearing about the place chosen by Zhang Wenwu, Wang Gui also thought that the place was good. If the camouflage was done well, it would be difficult for Japanese planes to detect it. So he said nothing more and turned back to arrange for someone to come and help Zhang Wenwu set up the tent.

The gunfire from the direction of Luodian lasted almost the entire night. Zhang Wenwu directed the soldiers to listen to the gunfire while working hard to build tents. It was not until the sky turned white that all the supplies on the carriages were moved to the built tents. Only then was Zhang Wenwu's temporary quarters completed.

Zhang Wenwu asked the soldiers to spread all the branches cut from the woods on the tents for camouflage. Before they had time to go to the division headquarters canteen in the village to find food, they heard the roar of airplanes in the distance. Zhang Wenwu hurried back to the tent and took out the military binoculars that he had taken from Smith last time.

The Japanese planes did not come to bomb the small village, but circled and dropped bombs over Luodian Town a few kilometers away. From time to time, some planes dived and strafed the ground. Zhang Wenwu knew that these were planes that took off from Japanese aircraft carriers. Because they were very close to their aircraft carriers, the Japanese planes could almost continuously fly back and forth to drop bombs and strafe in the air. At the same time, they could also discover the artillery positions of the Chinese troops in the air and attack them, suppressing the Chinese artillery.

Zhang Wenwu watched the attack of Japanese planes through a telescope and kept greeting the families of the Japanese pilots, but it was of no use other than satisfying himself. The air defense capability of the Chinese army was almost zero, and the only anti-aircraft artillery units were deployed at the railway station and Jinling City. The front line could only rely on China's few old biplanes.