Fan Jinglue, a seasoned veteran, possessed remarkably sharp eyes. He observed how the Special Operations Brigade utilized heavy artillery to blast open fortifications that had consumed immense manpower and resources.

The way the Special Operations Brigade's heavy artillery scattered the elite Japanese infantry spoke volumes: this unit boasted incredibly powerful weaponry.

Later, as a prisoner of war, he noticed the soldiers escorting them. Each one was radiant, burly, with thick arms and calves thicker than his own thighs.

He immediately understood: this was an exceptionally formidable force. He had only encountered such troops among the Japanese sergeants in the North China Front Army.

That was several years ago, when the Japanese had just transferred a large number of troops from their homeland.

All of them were the elite of the elite, and many of the squad leaders and company commanders were of this caliber.

At that time, the puppet troops who had recently surrendered from the Northeast Army still had some spirit, and many had competed with the Japanese.

The Japanese officers were incredibly strong and agile. Even the excellent officers from the Baoding Military Academy were no match for them in bayonet fighting.

The ordinary soldiers were even worse off, with three of them unable to defeat a single Japanese squad leader.

From then on, Fan Jinglue lost interest in striving within the puppet army. No matter how hard he tried, he would never be valued by the Japanese.

After all, how could a force without combat effectiveness earn respect?

Today, Fan Jinglue saw such men again, and this time it wasn't just one or two, but the entire unit, from soldiers to officers, was like this.

No wonder they were able to beat the Japanese like turtles. With such warriors in close combat and heavy artillery for long-range attacks, there was no reason why they couldn't defeat the Japanese.

Fan Jinglue had already discerned that this force intended to break up all the prisoners and assign them to different units.

This was to prevent them from forming cliques, which was understandable.

Fan Jinglue, fearing that his comrades would suffer losses because they couldn't see the situation clearly, spoke out to remind them.

Hearing their leader's reminder, the brothers who had escaped death with him more than once all nodded, afraid to speak.

They feared attracting the attention of the officer speaking above. Being noticed at this time would make it difficult to avoid becoming the chicken that gets slaughtered to scare the monkeys, a story everyone had heard.

Fortunately, the officer above didn't speak for long, finishing in less than five minutes.

He concluded with two very powerful remarks: "Everyone, follow orders and go to your new companies. Remember this day, it is a very special day.

From today onwards, you have joined the ranks of the resistance against Japan. From today onwards, you begin a new journey, and at the same time, you open a new and magnificent chapter in your lives."

After Lin Fan finished speaking, the instructors from the 1st to the 12th companies directly counted off, taking two hundred and thirty men each and leading them away.

It was like rushing to buy piglets at a market, without picking and choosing. Whoever was counted was counted.

These newly joined soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade, led by a veteran squad, followed their instructors back to their respective companies.

Fan Jinglue watched these soldiers walk with a breezy gait and stand as straight as pines, each with the demeanor of a martial arts master.

He finally couldn't help but ask, "Brother! May I ask something?

I see that all of you are so strong. What did you do before?"

The soldier he questioned smiled, "I used to be a puppet soldier too! I was even thinner than you back then.

Judging by your appearance, you were doing quite well in the puppet army, right? An old hand, aren't you?"

"Brother has sharp eyes! Thanks to my brothers' support, they give me a little face, so I'm a little better off than the average brother," Fan Jinglue admitted without any pretense.

"It seems like you were an officer before, and you went to school. You must have helped a lot of brothers in the puppet army, that's why everyone listens to you," the soldier said with a smile.

"Hehe!" Fan Jinglue felt embarrassed being praised by a soldier he had been defeated by.

"Don't worry, in our unit, if you have the ability, show it; if you have the skills, display them.

As long as you are capable, genuinely fight the Japanese, and follow us in fighting the Japanese, you will have to shoulder greater responsibilities.

The one who spoke on the platform just now was our Brigade Commander, and the one next to him was our Regiment Commander.

The Regiment Commander was just a private last October, and now he is a Regiment Commander in charge of five thousand men."

Hearing about a Regiment Commander in charge of five thousand men, Fan Jinglue opened his mouth wide, "Brother! Are you mistaken? Is five thousand a virtual number or a real number?"

"In our unit, there are never any virtual numbers. Even if someone is injured and sent to the rear for hospitalization, the number is reduced accordingly.

If we say five thousand, then it's five thousand men, not one less, only more."

"But... brother! It's not that I'm arguing, but a real number of five thousand men is at least a brigade, or even a division!

How can it still be a regiment?" Fan Jinglue now wanted to inquire more about the Special Operations Brigade.

The soldiers of the Special Operations Brigade also wanted to tell these newcomers more about the special nature of their unit, to cultivate a sense of honor in these newcomers.

The two sides had the same goal, and the conversation became more and more congenial.

The puppet soldiers around Fan Jinglue, who were originally uneasy, also wanted to hear more about the situation of this force.

The soldier said with a smile, "We are the Special Operations Brigade under the Fifth War Area, and our organization is a brigade.

But we have a lot of people, so we can only have more soldiers in a regiment."

"Your Brigade Commander doesn't know how to manage! Wouldn't it be better to have more regiments?" a newcomer interjected.

The soldier didn't mind and explained with a smile, "We have already organized nearly thirty regiments, how can we add more?"

Fan Jinglue asked in surprise, "If a brigade is organized into so many people, will the higher-ups provide money?"

"We don't need the higher-ups to provide money. We seize our weapons from the Japanese, and we earn our own military pay from our base areas."

"Are you warlords? Which faction are you from?" Fan Jinglue suddenly understood.

"We are not warlords, we are the people's army." The soldier, who had been amiable all along, blushed for the first time.

"Brother! Forgive my careless words, I just couldn't find a similar word to explain," Fan Jinglue quickly apologized.

Just kidding, when you're under the eaves, if you realize something is wrong, you don't quickly lower your head, but wait to be beaten!

The soldier said with a serious face, "We are not warlords, we are an army fighting for ordinary people.

You saw our Brigade Commander, right? Young, good-looking, and not yet married, he has no one in his family.

Just him alone, always on the battlefield, never resting.

He has no house, no land, and no money.

But all the equipment and supplies in our entire Special Operations Brigade, when we started, were all seized from the Japanese by him leading us."

A new soldier asked, "What can you seize from the Japanese on the battlefield? At most, you can seize some weapons and ammunition, and you can't even seize much food.

How can you support so many people?"

The soldier's face now showed a look of adoration, "Our Brigade Commander led us to directly take down the Japanese bank in Shanghai.

We hijacked the Japanese warships transporting supplies. And our Brigade Commander also built many factories in the base area.

Have you eaten delicacies from the mountains? Shiitake mushrooms, phoenix tail mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, we have them every day in our base area.

They are all grown by our people, and they earn a lot of money. And we have opened many factories in the base area.

The people who open factories earn money and pay taxes, and we have more money.

As for food, the Brigade Commander has new technologies and methods, and the grain yield is several times higher than before. Originally, there was enough food to eat.

It's just that in the past few months, our base area has received millions of people from the Yellow River flood area, so there is some shortage.

But the Brigade Commander sent people to import grain from abroad, which is completely enough."

"Brother! You said it so well, where is your base area?" Fan Jinglue was a little disbelieving, was such a place richer than even Guandong?

"Jurong Base Area is our main base, as well as Lunan Base Area and Jiangbei Base Area," the soldier said proudly.

Hearing the words Jurong Base Area, Fan Jinglue's eyes lit up. He had heard of this place from the conversations of his superiors.

Knowing that it was a good place, he heard that it was now called Little Shanghai, and that there was gold everywhere, and you could pick up money just by walking around.

Some of the puppet soldiers who had surrendered together had also heard of the place called Jurong. Whenever someone mentioned it, they said that there was money everywhere, and all you had to do was bend down and pick it up.

They now realized that they had jumped from a chaff nest into a rice bin.

"Is Jurong really full of money, and can you pick up money just by bending down?" Finally, a new soldier asked.

"Full of money is just a figure of speech, you can't pick up money by bending down. But as long as you are willing to work, you can definitely earn money.

New factories are opening and starting business every day in our base area. People with skills can directly enter the factory as technical workers.

People with culture can directly become workers, and people who don't know anything but have a lot of strength can also do many things. There are many people needed to build new factories.

Even if you are an eighty-year-old man, you can find something to do if you want to earn money."

Fan Jinglue was now familiar with the soldier's bottom line, and he jokingly said, "Brother! Are you bragging! An eighty-year-old man, unable to carry or lift, who would want him?"

The soldier said with a smile, "In our base area, roads like this need to be swept, and people want an eighty-year-old who can pick up a broom.

But people who are really eighty years old don't need to do this. First, their family won't allow it, and second, the base area will give living expenses to everyone over seventy-five years old.

Living expenses are enough for them to eat and use. But there are many people in their fifties and sixties who work."

Hearing him say so well, these new soldiers began to yearn for Jurong.

Fan Jinglue asked, "Have you been to Jurong?"

The soldier said with a smile, "We were still training in Jurong in July.

We have all trampled the streets there an inch deep."

Everyone laughed.

"Can we go?" Fan Jinglue asked the question that all the new soldiers wanted to ask most.

"You can go! We have a month's vacation every year, and you can go wherever you want during the vacation."

"If I go, I won't come back to be a soldier. I'll just be a worker, or even do hard labor," said a new soldier.

The soldier from the 1st Company looked at him strangely, "Do you have some misunderstanding about our army?

We get five yuan a month for being a soldier, we eat meat every day, and we always win battles.

Wearing this uniform in Jurong, everyone looks at you with nothing but envy.

In all the amusement parks in Jurong, we can bring one person in to play as long as we have our documents, without paying admission.

We don't pay on any of the buses, and there are many other benefits.

Many people want to come in, but they can't.

You are lucky, and of course I am lucky too. We are all very lucky people.

That's why we were assigned to the 1st Company of the 1st Regiment. Do you know that?

Our regiment is the most capable unit in the entire Special Operations Brigade."

Fan Jinglue, like a comedian's partner, immediately asked, "What battles have you fought?"

The soldier immediately told these new soldiers about the heroic achievements of the 1st Regiment, and especially highlighted the battles that the 1st Company had participated in.

Listening to Fan Jinglue and the others, the soldier was talking about battles that some of them had heard of, and that had indeed caused huge casualties to the Japanese.

Some they had not heard of, but now they all believed that the soldier was not lying.

The soldier only picked a few of the most representative battles to tell, and Fan Jinglue asked, "Can we train to be like you?"

"Definitely, absolutely. When you were puppet soldiers, were you able to eat your fill?" the soldier asked with a smile.

"Most of the time, we couldn't," Fan Jinglue honestly replied.

"Here, our Brigade Commander has a saying that everyone must abide by: The ability to eat is combat effectiveness.

A soldier must be able to eat, and eating a lot means strong combat power.

We have meat every day, and we can eat our fill every meal, and then train every day.

The muscles on our bodies grow quickly, and I have never lost when fighting the Japanese with bayonets.

I have rarely encountered a Japanese soldier who can parry me for one round."

Fan Jinglue looked enviously at his burly body, "Your arms are so thick, how can ordinary people withstand your great strength!"

All the new soldiers laughed, and the soldier from the 1st Company also laughed, "My strength is not the greatest. There are two regimental commanders in Lunan Base Area who are real gluttons.

They can really eat a bucket of rice in one meal, and then they went from ordinary soldiers to company commanders in two months, and regimental commanders in half a year."

"Is he your Brigade Commander's nephew?" a new soldier immediately asked.

Everyone laughed again.

"The Brigade Commander has no relatives. Those two eat a lot, are strong, run fast, have good eyesight, and are good at shooting.

Every time we fight the Japanese, they are the ones who run in the front.

When attacking the city, they are also the first to rush to the top of the city. Of course, they are the first to be promoted."

Fan Jinglue suddenly asked, "They are regimental commanders now, what about their squad leaders and company commanders? Aren't they still doing things under the hands of their former soldiers?"

"Some have already become platoon leaders, company commanders, and regimental commanders. It is very normal here to be managed by their former soldiers.

If you have the ability, you can manage your squad leader in the future," the soldier said with a smile.

"However, this opportunity is rare. You have to put in much more effort than others in training, learning, and fighting to be able to do it.

You are improving, and others are also improving. Everyone is improving, it just depends on who improves more."

The 1st Regiment's work of incorporating these new soldiers was carried out very smoothly with the soldiers' personal experiences.

They were not being reorganized in the rear training camp, but were being reorganized on the battlefield.

The new soldiers who joined the 1st Regiment ate meat that night. Wu Long, the 2nd Company Commander, smiled and addressed the new soldiers, "Brothers! We are all one family now.

This horse meat was obtained after we annihilated a Japanese cavalry squadron today.

Is it fragrant?"

"Fragrant!" All four hundred of his soldiers replied loudly.

"If it's fragrant, eat more. After you've eaten your fill, there will be new battles tomorrow. Our company has added so many new people, we must fight even better tomorrow than we did today!" Wu Long said loudly.

Influenced by the fact that the 1st Regiment had five thousand men in one regiment, Lin Fan finally decided that the five thousand men in the Logistics Regiment would only be reorganized into one regiment and incorporated into the official organization of the Special Operations Brigade.

As for the planned artillery regiment, it was downgraded to an artillery company, and this regiment became the 16th infantry regiment of the Special Operations Brigade.

While Lin Fan was busy reorganizing the troops, the Brigade Commander of the Soratani Brigade was busy directing the various troops under his command to enter their pre-set positions.

The reconnaissance teams sent out by the various troops under his command gathered all the information they saw.

Judging from the news reported from the front, the tense mood of the Soratani Brigade Commander relaxed a little: the front-line troops opposite were not an exaggerated army, not even a division.

This made him feel much more at ease. In fact, Commander Kamishiro Yusuke was clear about this situation.

Commander Shuhito Yoshikata was even clearer, and he estimated that the opposing infantry would not exceed two thousand men.

But he didn't dare to say it!

The Japanese were preparing intensively.

The 1st Regiment was completely unaware of this, and they were still building fortifications and trenches in the驻地 according to their usual habits.

Secret and overt sentries were sent out far away around the camp.

Each company of the 1st Regiment had added new recruits today, and these new recruits were entering the队伍 for the first time.

Each company tacitly did not arrange for them to go on sentry duty. Gui Wen, the company commander of the 1st Company, got up at one o'clock and quietly patrolled the camp.

He also checked all the secret and overt sentries that his company had placed outside before returning to continue resting.

The company commanders of each company of the 1st Regiment were doing almost the same thing, getting up when people were most likely to be tired and patrolling each sentry post.

Captain Shiba Hideki knew from the information fed back by the reconnaissance team he had sent out that there was a Special Operations Brigade troop encamped ten kilometers in front of them.

In the afternoon, the Japanese in his squadron rested early, and it wasn't until after one o'clock in the morning that these Japanese were awakened and ate the prepared breakfast.

Then, under the cover of darkness, they began to march quietly.

The squadron of Naoki Machida was also like this. In the first half of the night, they let the Japanese have a good rest.

The Japanese in these two squadrons had come from Xuzhou today and had been on the train for several hours, and they were really tired.

After sleeping for seven or eight hours and eating a last meal, their energy and spirit immediately rose.

Even though they were marching in the dark, these Japanese had no complaints: this march was different from other night marches, and all marching troops were not allowed to carry torches.

These Japanese could only quietly follow the Japanese in front, watching the blurry figures in front of them, and walking forward quietly.

It wasn't just the Japanese under the command of Brigade Commander Soratani who were like this.

The Love Mine team of Commander Yoshikata, the puppet troops of the Puppet Division Commander Bian Binbiao, and the troops of the Garrison Commander Kamishiro Yusuke all set off at this time.

They had all eaten a full last meal before setting off.

Tens of thousands of Japanese set off from Tianjia'an without alarming anyone. In order to maintain secrecy, the troops had left the town of Tianjia'an early.

Starting now, they hadn't even alarmed a wild dog, and had quietly advanced to a position two kilometers away from each troop of the 1st Regiment.

Although the Japanese were not clear about where the sentries released by the Special Operations Brigade were, they did not approach too closely.

These Japanese and puppet troops were going to突进 forward when the sky was darkest, and then rush into the Special Operations Brigade's camp to attack when the sky was just dawning.

Brigade Commander Soratani had set this time at five o'clock in the morning!

Time passed minute by minute, and all the Japanese were waiting anxiously.

Waiting!

Just as the clock struck five o'clock, Captain Shiba Hideki ordered in a low voice, "Set off!"

"Set off!" Captain Naoki Machida ordered.

"Set off!" Garrison Commander Kamishiro Yusuke ordered.

…

The Japanese in Tianjia'an used all the troops they could muster.

Brigade Commander Soratani was making a desperate gamble, believing that such a surprise attack would definitely be able to wipe out the Special Operations Brigade on the opposite side.

Lu Shu and Qiao Si, from the 1st Company, were lurking quietly 700 meters away from the camp, one in the dark and one in the open.

Qiao Si, in the open, looked at the dark sky and knew that dawn was approaching.

At times like this, people are most likely to feel sleepy. He gently moved his hands and feet.

"Snap!" There seemed to be the sound of a branch breaking in front of him.

He quickly lowered his body and gently pulled the rope tied to his hand, only pulling it once.

Feeling the other side pull back once, Qiao Si was relieved.

Lowering his entire body and putting his ear to the ground, he could hear a clear rustling sound.

This was the sound of many people walking, the sound made by their feet.

He pulled the rope in his hand three times in a row, and the other side returned it three times, indicating that the other side also knew that many people were coming.

At this time, someone was coming quietly, or rather, many people were, and they certainly wouldn't be coming to deliver supplies.

Both Qiao Si and Lu Shu were clear about this. They had discovered the other side, but the other side had not discovered them.

After several rope pulls, the two reached a unified opinion. Qiao Si immediately lowered his body and quietly retreated back.