Chapter 40: Orders and Decisions (Part 2)

Neither of them continued their previous topic, but sat there listening to the Japanese army's three-inch caliber flat-fire cannons, and violently bombarded the Sihang Warehouse at a frequency of one shot per second.

Feeling the slight trembling of Sihang Warehouse again and again, tasting the hot tea that is even worse than rotten leaves, but finally boiling hot, silently thinking about my own thoughts.

Gradually, Lieutenant Colonel Smith felt that it seemed that the intensive artillery of three-inch caliber flat-fired cannons and the continuous slight trembling of the Sihang Warehouse were not that scary, and the sweat on his forehead was not flowing so fast.

He looked at Xie Jinyuan, who was sitting there with a complicated look, and his whole body was filled with a relaxed and freehand painting. Lieutenant Colonel Smith really didn't want to imagine how many life and death battles the man in front of him had to have such an almost weird calm when facing danger.

The boiling water in the aluminum lunch box was emptied. Just as the two of them raised their teacup at the same time and drank the last sip of tea in it, a sound of a sudden came from the south side of the Sihang Warehouse amid the dense shelling and explosions, which was still loud and overwhelmed all the sounds in an instant.

This voice made Smith involuntarily think of the bombshell dropped by the bomber. If it weren't for the fact that he was too calm and calm like Xie Jinyuan, Lieutenant Colonel Smith might have been unable to help but jump up.

Xie Jinyuan smiled, "Ltd. Colonel Smith, would you like to make a bet with me? Just bet on the Japanese shelling, and it will stop within one minute."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith certainly didn't believe Xie Jinyuan's judgment. He opened his mouth and just wanted to say something, but he closed it again. Because at this time, the Japanese army's shelling had stopped.

"You can take it and let it go. If you find that things cannot be done, you can stop unnecessary interference immediately. The other party's commander is really straightforward." Xie Jinyuan sighed: "I originally thought I could get a bag of good tea from you!"

"Report!"

It was still the company commander, he looked excited and said quickly: "Report, the fire on the south side of the warehouse has been controlled!"

"You will take the work of burying explosives in the houses on the south side, right?" Xie Jinyuan looked at the company commander in front of him who reported military information to him three times in a row, and smiled and said, "There are so much explosives left, enough to blow out an isolation belt more than 20 meters long.

Why are you so unconfident in the work you do?”

Lieutenant Colonel Smith was stunned again. He finally understood why Xie Jinyuan could burn the fire in the Sihang Warehouse within half a small jin, but he could not move at all.

It turned out that before entering the Sihang Warehouse, he had analyzed the possible offensive methods that the Japanese army might use and made effective prevention and prevention in advance.

The commander of the Japanese army found that the fire that could really threaten the Sihang Warehouse had been suppressed, and the small-caliber artillery in his hand was not enough to collapse the Sihang Warehouse, so he immediately stopped the unnecessary ammunition consumption.

"Now the Japanese night attack has ended. If it is within fifteen minutes, they have no new moves. Dear Lieutenant Colonel Smith, you can take those five students and safely withdraw from the Sihang Warehouse."

Lieutenant Colonel Smith nodded, "No problem, they are all because they respect Lieutenant Colonel Xie. So they ran to our concession barracks and asked us to open the checkpoints and go to the Sihang Warehouse to listen to Lieutenant Xie's motto.

Our UK is a country that emphasizes democracy and freedom. We respect the patriotic sentiment of these students. We also understand that they long to see the heroic mentality in their minds.

So this time when I came here, I brought the five representatives they selected, and of course I would also bring them back safely..."

Listening to Lieutenant Colonel Smith's words, the smile on Xie Jinyuan's face gradually disappeared. He knew very well that Britain, an old capitalist country that opened up the era of navigation by smuggling and pirates, plundered slaves and gold, occupied colonies, and established an empire that never sets.

I am too sure about the essence of the flowing in their blood vessels.

Mark Twain, a famous Western writer, once commented on those Western capitalists like this... If there is 10% profit, the capitalists will do it; if there is 30% profit, the capitalists will rush it; if there is 100% profit, the capitalists will dare to trample on any law in the world; if there is 300% profit, even if it is to send its head to the stalker, the capitalists will have the courage to try! The two Opium Wars that year were not just to reverse the trade gap between imports and exports with China.

And the war of aggression was launched blatantly?!

Britain. They show that they are good at everything on the international stage. They are a standard businessman's face. They will not do things without profit-driven things.

It is the greatest luxury to ask them to take risks just for justice and truth.

But Lieutenant Colonel Smith took his life and brought five patriotic students to the Sihang Warehouse and promised to send them back safely!

This behavior is definitely not in line with the British habits and thinking logic!

Sure enough, Lieutenant Colonel Smith continued, "But Lieutenant Colonel Xie, you should also understand that this is a war between you, China and Japan. As a neutral stance, respecting the will of two sovereign states, and hope that you can resolve all problems peacefully, it will not be convenient for you to intervene too much in your dispute.

We can face those overly enthusiastic students, with restrictions on openings, but we will not guarantee their personal safety.”

At this time, Xie Jinyuan's face had turned pale.

Threat, this is a naked danger! Opening the checkpoints to those unarmed and untrained students and allowing them to enter the battlefield blocked by the Japanese army is tantamount to pushing the students with hot blood in their blood vessels into the arms of the god of death! Especially the so-called "restricted opening gate" allows the Japanese army to clearly know the time of entry and exit of these students and strike targeted.

Xie Jinyuan couldn't imagine that when the British government opened these barriers, those passionate students flocked into the Sihang Warehouse in batches, and fell under the guns of the Japanese military A-level shooters. This actually aroused the unyielding patriotism of more students and drove more learning to flock to the Sihang Warehouse.

The terrible consequences formed.

Xie Jinyuan clenched his fist tightly. Since the shelling had stopped, Smith could even clearly hear the light sound of the joints that came from Xie Jinyuan's fists pinched together.

At this time, Xie Jinyuan's body was trembling slightly.

Lieutenant Colonel Smith smiled. In the confrontation with Xie Jinyuan, he saw Xie Jinyuan revealing his personal emotions for the first time. Although he could not do so, he finally showed his trump card. But he finally found Xie Jinyuan's weakness.

Xie Jinyuan suddenly grabbed the military lunch box on the table and said, "Do you still want to drink tea? I'll boil some water."

Before Smith could answer, Xie Jinyuan poured clean water into the lunch box.

Amid the light sound of the matches, more than a dozen blue flames and wisps of black smoke emerged from the kerosene stove. The lunch box filled with clear water made a "squeaking" sound in a short while.

Xie Jinyuan did not stand up. He squatted in front of the kerosene stove, watching the water in the lunch box be heated little by little, rolling layer by layer until it finally turned into boiling boiling water.

After picking up the lunch box filled with boiling water, Xie Jinyuan turned his head to look at Lieutenant Colonel Smith. He smiled and said, "The water is boiling, should you change some new tea?"

Lieutenant Colonel Smith was stunned because Xie Jinyuan, who was holding a lunch box in his hand, raised his indifferent smile again. His eyes were once again calm and bright, and it was unpredictable.

Lieutenant Colonel Smith cried in his heart that the Lieutenant Colonel Xie Jinyuan and Xie in front of him actually successfully adjusted his mentality while boiling water.

Looking at Xie Jinyuan's calm smile, he said that he had not found a solution to the problem, and even Lieutenant Colonel Smith would not believe it.

"I forgot that those students risked their lives to come to Sihang Warehouse to find me. I want to listen to my lecture." Xie Jinyuan smiled and said, "I dare not take the lecture. As the saying goes, there is no need to learn before and after, and the best is the first, so I will chat with them.

I wonder if my respected Lt. Col. Smith is interested in having a heart-to-heart talk with us?"

When Xie Jinyuan and Lieutenant Colonel Smith found the five students, they were sitting in a pile of ammunition boxes, and together with the injured soldiers, loading bullets on the magazine and heavy machine gun chains.

Seeing Xie Jinyuan and Lieutenant Colonel Smith coming, the five students stood up together.

"Sit down. Don't force yourself." Xie Jinyuan smiled and said, "Don't tell me. I've been bombarded for so long just now, and your legs are not weak. You know, I'm on the battlefield for the first time.

The enemy on the opposite side fired a few shots at us with a mortar. I felt my heart beat faster and my breathing was rapid. My legs were more like two soft noodles, trembling there and I couldn't stand it straight.

If any of you legs are not weak and can still be like a person who is fine, then I will be ashamed of myself and sighed with a long sigh that the back waves of the Yangtze River pushed the front waves, and the front waves died on the beach."

"Nothing happened!" A student who seemed to be brave and active sat down on the ammunition box. He raised his right hand, which was still holding the bullet, and shouted: "Don't say that his legs are so weak that he can't stand up. Look at my hand, it's still shaking like cramps. I've stuffed this bullet for several minutes and has not been filled in the magazine yet!"

"coax……"

Not to mention these students and Xie Jinyuan, there was a depressing laughter among the soldiers nearby. Xie Jinyuan just said a few light words and became harmonious with these students.

He sat down on an ammunition box, reached out to pat his seat beside him, and said, "What are you doing? You're sitting down? Who did you experience the first shelling? Let's talk about it, what does it feel like when you experienced the shelling for the first time? Dear Lieutenant Colonel Smith, you can sit down and chat with you.

”

"I really thought I was going to die!" A student patted his heart and shouted: "The sound of cannons was so dense just now that I felt my heart was about to explode with resonance. Not to mention my legs were weak, I felt my chest was stuffy and my head was still buzzing. If they bombarded for a while, I would have to spit out all the overnight meal!"

"Fortunately, I didn't drink much water before leaving." A slightly fat student said slowly: "Otherwise, I would be so scared that I would be so scared that I would pee my pants."

A kind laughter sounded again around him, and Xie Jinyuan asked, "Everyone thinks that the shelling just now is terrifying, completely different from what you imagined, right?"

Several students nodded together.

"But the cannon they fired at Sihang Warehouse just now. It was just a three-inch caliber flat-fire cannon.

"Xie Jinyuan gestured to several students a small width, and then continued: "But on those battlefields where there was almost no cover and no protection, our soldiers were attacked by large-caliber artillery anchored on the Huangpu River, and were repeatedly bombed by bombs dropped by bombers.

Many troops went to the battlefield and did not even see the enemy's ground, so they paid half of the casualties first. Some troops.

Just because on the way to march, a marching stove was set up, and the thick smoke attracted the enemy's bombers, and the entire brigade was bombed by the enemy and wiped out the entire army.

There was even a field hospital that simply cleaned the bandages used by the wounded and hung them on the branches outside, and planned to dry them and reuse them again, but was discovered by the enemy's reconnaissance plane. It was eventually blown into a flat ground.

Several students stopped laughing. They listened quietly to Xie Jinyuan's story and listened to the stories built with blood and life.

"We called 750,000 troops to fight against 250,000 Japanese troops for three months. After paying the price of 250,000 casualties, we had to choose to retreat."

Xie Jinyuan's bright and deep eyes flew past the faces of several students in front of him one by one. He asked in a deep voice: "Our troops are already desperate enough.

We are brave enough, and our number is three times that of each other, and we have occupied the right place and harmony, but we are still defeated. Do you know why?”

Several students were silent for a long time before someone finally replied: "Weapons, our army's weapons and equipment are too poor."

"Yes. The weapons in our hands are too bad. Only the firepower of our eight divisions can match one Japanese division.

On land, we can also use the number of people to fight, but on sea, our navy's total tonnage is less than 50,000 tons, most of which are wooden warships, while a Japanese aircraft carrier has 40,000 tons.

In the face of such an absolutely asymmetric war, in order to prevent the deep invasion of enemy warships, our navy could only sink twenty-eight old warships and merchant ships into the Yangtze River to block the Yangtze River in our golden waterway. And the naval guns on these warships.

It can only be removed and placed on the coast, and used as a shore defense cannon. Faced with the powerful Japanese Navy, our navy is almost 'zero'!"

Several students were silent. How could this extremely strong military power comparison be compensated by passion and courage?

"As for the Air Force, our Air Force is also very brave. They have also hit the Japanese local flagship Izumo, and volunteers from the United States, including Chennard, a member of the United States.

But they were flying old planes and fighting against enemy planes that were several times more than themselves in the blue sky. The final outcome was equivalent to annihilation of the entire army! Without the air force and the navy, the artillery was far from the enemy's opponents. Think about it, can we win such a war? If we really have to use human lives to fill the gap, how many blood and corpses we need to win the final victory?"

Listening to Xie Jinyuan's quiet and hoarse voice and listening to him telling the true contrast between the two armies, the entire Sihang Warehouse was as quiet as death, leaving only a heavy breathing sound.

No one wants to imagine that if China had to fight against Japan alone, a country that started with the Meiji Restoration, whether it was national strength, economy, military or political influence on the international stage, would be tremendously varied day by day. Now it can only be described as a crazy combat machine. How much sacrifice would they have to make to do it?

Xie Jinyuan continued to ask: "Who can tell me how to improve weapons and equipment?"

A student replied: "You have to have money."

Another student replied: "We need advanced technology."

The slightly fat student was not willing to be outdone and said, "We must open up the wisdom of the people!"

"Yes, that's right! Only when we have money can we buy enough resources in a short period of time. Only with advanced technology can we create our own sharp weapons. Only when we open up the wisdom of the people, we can improve the quality of the whole people, and produce more scientists, more industrialists, and more engineers!"

"Tell me, if you want to have money and advanced technology, what do we need to open up people's wisdom?"

This problem is a bit difficult. It has already involved the fundamentals of national economy and people's livelihood. Several students looked at each other in all directions.
To be continued...