Rise From Eight Hundred

In the blink of an eye, it is Chinese New Year again!

The Sihang Regiment held its annual New Year celebration under the chairmanship of Lei Xiong.

But this time it was not as lively as last year.

It was not because of lack of financial resources or lack of people, but because more than two-thirds of the regular army had arrived in southern Hebei, and there were less than 2,000 veterans left in the garrison.

But there were more than 4,000 new recruits. In addition to the new recruits recruited in southeastern Shanxi, a considerable number of them came from southern Hebei and arrived at the garrison led by some squad and platoon leaders.

First, they represented the veterans to participate in the New Year celebration in the regiment, and second, they came to the Sihang Regiment Martyrs Cemetery to pay tribute to the style of their predecessors.

After a year of renovation, the current Martyrs Cemetery is much more magnificent than before. Thousands of tombstones are made of granite. Each tombstone not only has the name and hometown of the martyr who died, but also has a detailed description of his life's achievements and where he died in battle.

"They are dead, but we are still alive. What we who are still alive can do for them is to let more Chinese people remember them. As long as there are still people who know them, they will exist forever." This is Tang Dao's answer to many officers and soldiers who do not understand why they invested a lot of financial and material resources to build the Martyrs' Cemetery.

Every round of recruits who are about to go to the battlefield come to the Martyrs' Cemetery, pass each tombstone in a queue and watch the deeds of the martyrs. The title is awarded in front of the martyrs' tombstones, which is their graduation ceremony for recruits.

Because the battlefield situation in southern Hebei was complicated, all recruits in 1939 had no chance to continue this tradition. It was not until after New Year's Day and the New Year was about to come that Tang Dao ordered the recruits who joined the army in the second half of 1939 to travel a long distance back to the garrison to complete the last subject that these recruits must go through.

There are more than 200 recruits who died in the battles in the first half of the year. After Tang Dao and his family members discussed and respected their wishes, half of their ashes were buried in Zishan, the current location of the Sihang Regiment Headquarters, and the other half were transported back to the Martyrs' Cemetery in Dakouzidong Town.

That was the last subject that the new recruits had not completed, and they stood on the top of the towering Taihang Mountains with their predecessors who had never met, waiting for the dawn.

The night of New Year's Eve was somewhat quiet.

After seeing off Mrs. Leng and Sanxiao, Tan Tai Mingyue stood alone in the small courtyard, looking at the horizon.

She knew what Tang Dao was doing. He would not stand in the quiet courtyard like herself and miss his lover.

Because he had no time.

At this time, Tang Dao should be in the operations room, discussing the combat deployment with Ye Chenghuan and others who had arrived.

This was the first time that Tan Tai Mingyue had been separated from Tang Dao for so long. Since the two got married, the couple had not been together for more than 15 days, and this time they could not even spend the New Year together.

Touching her belly that had not yet bulged, Tan Tai Mingyue was both sad and slightly happy!

Tang Dao was going to be a father, but he didn't know it yet.

Tang Dao did not let Tan Tai Ming Yue go to Ji'nan to celebrate the New Year. First, because the Japanese North China Front Army had been frequently mobilized half a month ago, and more than 15 military trains came from the three northeastern provinces. This was at least a division-sized force arriving.

Second, due to the current battlefield situation, Tang Dao was determined to build a large war-ready hospital at the station to treat the seriously injured on the front line. The equipment was easy to say. Miss Laura secretly transferred a lot of equipment and medicines from the famous Western Medicine Hospital in Pingbei City, and the United States also imported a lot.

But medical staff is a big problem. The overall design of the hospital that Tang Dao wants to build is to accommodate 3,000 seriously injured and 6,000 lightly injured. The medical staff must reach 2,000 people, and because it is wartime, the hospital buildings cannot be exposed outside the mountain to avoid being bombed by the Japanese army.

Once the hospital is built, it will serve the entire southeastern Shanxi defense line!

This is definitely a big project. Zhuang Shisan, who was originally in charge of logistics, now has to take care of the food, drink, defecation, urination and sleep of more than 10,000 people in the regiment, including recruits, technicians and engineers, because the entire regiment's front line has been extended. Even though the logistics department now has a staff of 100 people, it is still very busy.

Lei Xiong is responsible for the defense of the Sihang Regiment in the southeastern defense line of Shanxi. Ye Chenghuan's main energy is to assist Tang Dao in commanding the entire regiment's operations and the training of recruits, squads and platoon leaders, and he has no time to manage this big project.

In the end, it can only be handed over to Tan Tai Mingyue, the company commander of the medical company, to prepare for the construction of the war preparedness hospital.

For this reason, the headquarters of the 80th Army Group issued a call to the educated youth who arrived in An County, calling on young people who study medicine to go to the front line of Taihang Mountains, and issued a call for urgent medical care across the country.

In 3 months, more than 2,600 doctors and nurses entered Zhongtiao Mountain and then Taihang Mountain from An County and Shaanxi Province through the Yellow River defense line.

After screening, more than 1,800 people stayed in the Dakouzidong Town garrison, and the remaining 800 people were divided among the various army groups in Zhongtiao Mountain.

The problems of people, equipment and medicines were solved, which was only the first step for this large front-line combat readiness hospital that could accommodate nearly 10,000 people.

Long before deciding to build this hospital, Tang Dao had already decided that the combat readiness hospital could not be exposed in the wild, but should be hidden underground.

For this combat readiness hospital, the Sihang Regiment garrison started construction three months ago, digging out a 3,000-acre earthen hill away from the Sihang Regiment garrison.

For this purpose, the Sihang Regiment issued a conscription order to the surrounding villagers, summoning nearly 6,000 young and strong people, plus more than 200 Sihang Regiment engineers. The new medical staff had to join the construction team with shovels and pickaxes before they had time to show their strengths.

This does not even include the 600-man guard company sent by the guard battalion.

The first director of the War Readiness Hospital, Tan Tai Mingyue, is the steward of nearly 10,000 people. Old Tan Tai loves his daughter so much that he leaves all his affairs to Teacher Xiao He, and comes to be Tan Tai Mingyue's assistant. Otherwise, Tan Tai Mingyue would have to work on the big construction site, which only has two days off, even on New Year's Eve.

Fearing that Tan Tai Mingyue would be lonely, Mrs. Leng brought her three children to the small courtyard where Tan Tai Mingyue and Tang Dao were stationed in the afternoon. Together with Wei Donglai's wife, who was also alone and pregnant, an old man, three women and three children had a not-so-lonely New Year's Eve.

For some reason, Old Tan Tai drank a few more glasses and fell asleep at this moment.

Perhaps, only Tan Tai Mingyue understood that although Old Tan Tai was usually cheerful, he actually missed his old wife at this time.

Because of the war, the couple who had been together for decades had to be separated thousands of miles away. Although they occasionally exchanged letters, it was rare after all, especially in the New Year when the whole family was originally reunited to stay up together, the longing would only become stronger.

If it were just the longing, the old Tan Tai was still worried.

The only youngest son is now also on the front line. A month ago, Leng Feng's third battalion headquarters was also ordered to arrive in southern Hebei. As Leng Feng's communicator, Tan Tai Mingjing naturally followed.

Tai Mingjing, who was fearless and brave, was very happy. He felt that he could finally show his skills on the front line after a year of hard training, but he didn't know how worried his old father was.

If it weren't for his daughter here, the old Tan Tai, who was eager to protect his daughter, might have chased to Zishan again.

Tan Tai Ming Yue found out that she was pregnant more than a month after Tang Dao left at the end of October. She wanted to tell Tang Dao the good news immediately, but Tang Dao was still in Tianjin at that time. Tan Tai Ming Yue didn't want to use the secret radio because of their personal affairs, and wanted to wait until Tang Dao returned in the New Year to give him a big surprise.

As a result, before Tang Dao returned, the garrison troops of the Four Lines Regiment rushed to southern Hebei in batches, and the situation was like a dark cloud over the city before the war.

At this time, Tan Tai Ming Yue was even more afraid that Tang Dao would be distracted, so she simply suppressed the news and decided to tell Tang Dao after the battle.

However, Tan Tai Ming Yue overestimated her own strength. On this quiet night of New Year's Eve, she still missed her baby's father very much.

"Son, you said that your father still doesn't know you, and he didn't say to send a telegram on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Is he a heartless man?" Tan Tai Ming Yue touched her belly that had not yet shown her pregnancy and smiled gently.

Suddenly, Tan Tai Ming Yue was stunned, and her eyes turned red.

Because she suddenly felt a tremor in her stomach, which was a response from her and Tang Dao's blood.

Her child was responding to her when he was just a small embryo.

"You are a girl! When you hear me say this, your father wants to jump out and oppose it, right?" Tan Tai Ming Yue had tears in her eyes, and her face was full of happiness. "Okay, okay, mom doesn't say it, when your father knows you are coming, your father will be very happy."

On this night to welcome the arrival of the New Year, Tan Tai Ming Yue and her unborn child had a sad but happy conversation.

And in Zishan hundreds of miles away!

Tan Tai Ming Yue guessed wrong.

Tang Dao had walked out of the operations room hidden deep in the underground bunker, standing at the foot of the verdant mountain, as if he had felt something in his heart, and turned his head to look southeast.

"Captain, let's go. The heavy rain has just arranged for the kitchen team to cook dumplings. Eating dumplings during the New Year can also be considered as celebrating the New Year." Ye Chenghuan, who was following behind Tang Dao, shouted.

"You go first, I'll walk by myself!" Tang Dao waved his hand, and was unusually silent.

Ye Chenghuan took a look. With his wisdom in life, how could he not know what Tang Dao was thinking at this time? He didn't say much, and quietly nodded to Gu Xishui behind him, indicating that he should accompany Tang Dao, and he took a group of battalion and company commanders to the kitchen team of the regiment not far away to eat first.

In view of the frequent mobilization of the Japanese army, taking the opportunity of today's New Year, the Four-Line Regiment recalled all the battalion and company commanders who were still in the field, and the combat meeting was held from 3 pm to 11 pm.

It was unclear how tense the atmosphere of the meeting was, but a group of old smokers headed by Li Jiujin showed their strengths. Fortunately, there was a fairly good ventilation and exhaust system in the underground bunker, otherwise the blue smoke diffused inside would make people mistakenly think that the Japanese had thrown a gas bomb inside.

Although there were no lights in the mountains, fortunately the moon was round and clear today, and the visibility was not bad.

Tang Dao walked along the mountain path with his hands behind his back, while Gu Xishui followed behind him. A guard squad soldier was in a guard formation less than 15 meters behind the two.

"Xishui, you are not bored after holding a combat meeting for an afternoon and half a night? You still want to listen to my nagging! Didn't you see Leng Feng and Jiujin running away so fast?" Tang Dao said lightly without turning his head.

Gu Xishui was not surprised. It was no secret in the Four-line Regiment that Tang Tuanzuo could identify people by footsteps at a distance of 50 meters. This required both super hearing and familiarity with everyone. It was pure talent, and no one could envy it.

"Hehe, after breathing the secondhand smoke of Captain Jiujin and others for a day, I can finally breathe fresh air with you, the commander of the regiment. I'd better stay away from them." Gu Xishui replied with a smile.

"Xishui, where are your parents?" Tang Dao suddenly asked in a low voice.

"My parents..." Gu Xishui's face darkened.

After hesitating for a while, he finally said: "My parents made a harsh statement when I joined the army. If I joined the army, they would treat me as if they had never given birth to their son. Before the Battle of Shanghai, I could still learn about their recent situation from my fellow villagers. After the Battle of Shanghai, I have not received any news from them!

However, the commander does not need to worry. Based on my understanding of my stubborn old father, he must have quickly sensed the crisis after the defeat in Shanghai and Nanjing, and moved his family south. My father has a close friend in Hengyang, Hunan Province, and it is very likely that he has defected there. Now there is the Ninth War Zone guarding there, so there should be no worries for the time being!"

"Hengyang?" Tang Dao frowned deeply when he heard the place name.

In fact, this city, which was once called the "Eastern Moscow Defense War" in time and space, has the record of the most casualties on both sides of the enemy and the longest direct combat time of the Chinese army in the entire history of the War of Resistance.

But the price paid was 50,000 Chinese soldiers killed and wounded and the entire city was razed to the ground!

"It's their business if their parents are limited by their cognition. As sons, we should only do what we should do. You should report the names of your parents, brothers and sisters to Director Ye tomorrow. I will ask Brigade Commander Xie of the 9th War Zone to find them in Hengyang and tell them to continue south to Kuncheng!" Tang Dao said.

"When we meet again after the war, believe me, your parents will eventually understand their son's choice."

"Thank you, sir!" Gu Xishui nodded fiercely.

Tang Dao's words touched the heart of the young commander. His greatest wish was that one day his parents would understand his original choice as a son.

Although he has been worried about the safety of his parents and family all the time in the past two years, he knows that Tang Dao is not a god. It is good enough to manage the southeastern defense line of Shanxi with a group of forces. There is no way to manage the distant thousands of miles away, so he has never mentioned it to Tang Dao.

It's just that on this New Year's Day, when Gu Xishui just looked up at the bright moon, thinking of his parents and relatives, he couldn't help feeling sad. Unexpectedly, Tang Dao's intuition was sharp, and he instantly sensed it and asked it actively, so Gu Xishui confessed it.

"It's okay. I was just thinking about my parents who are far away in my hometown. They get older every New Year. We don't have as much time to spend with them as we thought.

It's just that, in this year of broken mountains and rivers, you and I, as soldiers, can only keep this regret in our hearts and defend our territory." Tang Dao sighed.

"Yeah! I don't know when this war will be over. I'm afraid that after the war, I will become an uncle like Brother Jiujin. If I go home, my parents probably won't recognize me." Gu Xishui also sighed.

"Haha! If you talk about Lao Li behind your back, do you think he will beat you if he knows it!" Tang Dao smiled.

Gu Xishui, who just followed him two years ago, was only a 19-year-old youth. Although he is now the company commander of a mountain infantry company with more than 300 elite soldiers, he is actually only 21 years old. Li Jiujin, who has been in the army for 12 years, is already in his early 30s. For Gu Xishui, he is indeed an uncle-level figure.

"Then you are wrong, sir. Brother Jiujin told me to wait. His daughter is eight years old this year. In another 10 years, he can recruit me as his son-in-law." Gu Xishui also laughed.

"Xishui, let some things pass. When the war is won one day, when you go to see your younger sister, she will definitely not want you to be alone in middle age. Your happiness is her happiness." Tang Dao cast his eyes on the bright moon in the sky.

"True love is never possession, but like comrades like you and me, we support each other through the wind and rain of life."

Every time Gu Xishui returned to the base, there would be a lonely back standing for a long time in front of the tombstone full of military medals in the Martyrs' Cemetery.

The disabled soldiers guarding the cemetery would wipe the precious military medals hanging in front of their comrades' tombstones twice with silk cloth every day.

It represents not only honor, but also longing.

Time may be a good medicine that can heal wounds, but it cannot cure longing.

Gu Xishui has always been a persistent person in this regard. Few comrades touch his wounds and say these things in front of him, even if it is to comfort him.

"Sir, of course I understand what you said, but you don't know how regretful I was when I could kill all the devils but was unable to save her. At that moment, I swore that if I killed all the devils on that battlefield and still couldn't save my beloved, then I would kill all the devils in the world.

Maybe when the war is won, I will let go of this obsession, but now, I can't!" Gu Xishui's eyes were slightly red, but he was still firm and persistent.

That was a young man's promise to his love flower that had just sprouted but quickly withered, and only a young man.

Tang Dao didn't persuade him anymore, and patted Gu Xishui's shoulder: "Believe it or not, just now when I was walking here under the moon and missing Tan Tai, I actually felt that she was also looking at the moon and missing me."

"I believe it!" Gu Xishui nodded.

"Sir, you are favored by a talented woman like Captain Tan Tai. We are really envious!"

"Haha, you are using all means to flatter the future director of the combat readiness hospital. Don't worry, I won't pass on your flattery." Tang Dao laughed loudly.

Everyone has seen that Tang Dao is invincible on the battlefield, but few people know that Tang Dao thinks that one of his greatest achievements in this world is to marry Tan Tai Ming Yue. Gu Xishui's words praising Tan Tai Ming Yue really touched Tang Dao's heart.

"The commander misunderstood me. I was telling the truth. But I would like to remind you that the dumplings will cool down quickly if they are cooked. If we don't go back, there will be no hot atmosphere." Gu Xishui said with a smile.

"Okay! Let's go back and eat dumplings. When the Japanese come, we can eat a big plate of dumplings!" Tang Dao swept away the longing for his parents and wife that had surged up before, and was full of ambition.

And thousands of miles away, which Tang Dao could not see, two Japanese army lieutenant generals also clinked their glasses under the moonlight!

"Okabe-kun, the Empire will win this battle!"

"Definitely win!"