"Strange. Truly strange."
Tan Hai rubbed his head, pacing along the railway tracks. The original Japanese sentry posts remained, but the devils who usually puffed their chests and glared were nowhere to be seen. It seemed as though things had reverted to the days when only a single squad held the post.
Sometimes Tan Hai felt an urge to shout across the line: *You dog bastards, where the hell did you all go?*
Yet he held back. Flanking him on either side were Zhu Shiqing and Gu Chuanning, awaiting his orders.
"Staff Officer Zhu, what do you make of this?" Tan Hai asked, resting his hands on his hips and turning his head, deciding to pass the buck to Zhu Shiqing.
"Mm..." Zhu Shiqing pondered for a long moment before answering, "Tighten our vigilance. The devils' moves are completely out of the ordinary; they must have some coordinated plan. I'll head back to regimental headquarters to analyze the situation with the commander."
Tan Hai nodded slightly, then turned to Gu Chuanning. "Old Gu, no resting in the rear today. Nail yourself right here beside the railway. Report any movement back to me at the battalion camp. If an emergency strikes, fire a warning shot, and I'll bring the boys to reinforce you."
"Yes, sir," Gu Chuanning replied, turning to assemble and drill his men.
July 7. Overcast. A light drizzle seemed to be falling, yet didn't quite seem to be falling either.
Inside the headquarters of the 219th Regiment, Sun Yi's attention was not focused on Fengtai Station to the north. Early that morning, scouting posts had reported that the East Hebei Peace Preservation Corps from Tongxian, acting on instructions from the traitor ringleader Yan Qiwen, was sweeping forward along the Jinnan Highway.
And their advance was aimed straight toward Zhaojiazhuang's defense sector!
"An entire regiment? Yan Qiwen brought quite a crowd!"
Sun Yi, Xia Qidong, Xiang Chengyu, and several company commanders gathered before the operational map in regimental headquarters. Standing in front, Sun Yi traced his short, stubby finger across the yellowing paper. "Roughly how many li out are they?"
"Judging by the timing, they should have reached Chenjiaji," Xiang Chengyu answered after a moment's thought. "However, the scout squad reported that the puppet troops aren't moving fast at all. They've been stopping and starting along the way."
"Stopping and starting?" Sun Yi turned around, clasping his hands behind his back and pacing left and right. "Damn it, what a nuisance. Last time, we should've pushed all the way to Tongxian in one go and slaughtered that old bastard."
Xia Qidong was somewhat more optimistic and offered words of comfort. "Regimental Commander Sun, I don't think these puppet troops are necessarily coming for us. This isn't the Spring and Autumn or Warring States periods—who marches right down the main road in broad daylight to wage war? Besides, even if an entire regiment comes, with our 219th Regiment's current fighting strength, handling them will be more than easy."
Sun Yi knew this full well. A mob of puppet troops led by a good-for-nothing commander taking him down was sheer fantasy. But strange occurrences had been cropping up one after another lately, making the normally daring Sun Yi grow cautious.
"Whatever the case, tell Fang Wenjian to take his scout squad and latch onto these bastards. If there's any unusual movement, report back immediately," Sun Yi instructed.
Just as Xia Qidong was about to speak, hurried footsteps echoed outside. Zhu Shiqing rushed in, breathless, and blurted out, "Commander, the Japanese troops at Fengtai Station have pulled out."
"Tan Hai already called and told me." Sun Yi's expression had turned grave. He beckoned Zhu Shiqing over to the map, pointing at it. "Look here. That regiment of puppet troops on the Jinnan Highway advanced another twenty li today. They've reached here now."
Where Sun Yi pointed was Chenjiaji. Chenjiaji did not lie along the Jinnan Highway itself; rather, about a dozen li from Zhaojiazhuang, the path veered abruptly west, leading to Chenjiaji, which at this point was nothing more than a deserted hamlet.
"Chenjiaji?" Zhu Shiqing said, puzzled. Following the contours of the map, he quickly arrived at an assessment. "They aren't coming for us."
"What's your reasoning?" Xia Qidong asked first from behind him.
Zhu Shiqing gestured along the highway and village roads on the map, explaining, "The Jinnan Highway leads straight to the south of Zhaojiazhuang. If the puppet troops were after us, why would they detour so brazenly to Chenjiaji? Zhaojiazhuang isn't far from Wanping. If the puppet troops had the nerve to attack us, reinforcements from the 37th Division could cut off their retreat in an instant. They wouldn't take that risk."
Sun Yi nodded. There was no flaw to be found in Zhu Shiqing's analysis. Over the past year, the reason Sun Yi had dared to hold Fengtai with just a single battalion was precisely because of its proximity to division headquarters, making reinforcement very convenient. Now, Zheng Dazhang's cavalry division had also arrived in Wanping. If a fight really broke out...
Wouldn't they wipe these puppet troops out to the last man?
Zhu Shiqing's finger continued to move across the various landmarks on the map. After a painstaking search, he found the location he deemed most suspicious.
"Here. Nine times out of ten, it's here." Zhu Shiqing's voice trembled slightly, prompting the battalion and company commanders behind him to squint and lean in.
"Langfang?" Xiang Chengyu smiled with relief upon seeing it and shook his head. "Impossible. A single puppet regiment dares to attack Langfang? A regiment of the 38th Division is garrisoned there."
Langfang Station was a transit hub on the Beiping-Tianjin railway.
From the standpoint of troop strength, this was indeed a pipe dream. But in terms of motive, Zhu Shiqing couldn't think of any other target valuable enough to justify roving around with an entire regiment.
Ming Quan had once said that fighting a war meant fighting for transit lines. Following that logic, along the entire Beiping-Tianjin defense belt, there were only three places whose control Zhu Shiqing believed held sway over the whole situation:
Lugou Bridge, which connected the east and west banks of the Yongding River; Changping, the fulcrum of the Pingsui Railway; and Langfang Station along the Beiping-Tianjin line.
These three strategic strongpoints formed the backbone supporting virtually the entire Beiping-Tianjin defense line, serving as the linchpins that allowed the various armies to maintain communication and coordinate with one another.
"Still, we cannot let our guard down," Sun Yi sighed. Having stood for so long, he felt weary. Leaning back, he sat down in his chair and added, "The enemy won't give us a single day of peace. So let's keep eyes on everything. Have Fang Wenjian stick to that puppet regiment, and have Old Tan keep a close watch at Fengtai. Any sign of trouble must be reported immediately."
With the enemy's intentions unclear—and especially given their intelligence disadvantage where the Chinese forces stood exposed while the enemy remained in the shadows—they could only adapt to shifts by holding their ground.
After the short meeting concluded, the battalion and company commanders prepared to return to their units to maintain their alert, leaving the regimental headquarters empty once more.
Sun Yi leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed to rest, humming some unfamiliar tune under his breath. Zhu Shiqing sat quietly to the side, still turning over in his mind what the Japanese might actually be up to.
"Commander, how about calling the division to ask? Maybe their scouts have picked up some intelligence."
In the quiet headquarters, Zhu Shiqing's sudden voice startled Sun Yi back awake just as he was dozing off.
"Damn it, you little brat, I was finally getting a moment of sleep!" Sun Yi grumbled as he sat upright. Indeed, he hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days, constantly watching this and worrying about that. When he had nightmares, he was brawling with the devils; when he had sweet dreams, he was recruiting fresh troops with those two hundred rifles...
Shaking his head, Sun Yi clicked back into work mode. Shifting his weight, he pulled the telephone on the desk toward him, cranked the handle vigorously several times with one hand, and pressed the receiver to his ear.
After listening for a moment, Sun Yi set down the receiver, picked it back up, repeated the cranking motion, and placed the receiver to his ear once more.
A moment later, Sun Yi glanced over at Zhu Shiqing.
"The line is dead."
Chapter 46