October 25, 1937 at 2 pm.
The sky was cold and overcast, as if it were dusk.
The smoke in the sky over Shanghai gradually dissipated, leaving behind devastation, broken limbs, craters and bullet holes everywhere. Thick smoke billowed in many places, and the entire city exuded a pungent burnt smell.
Since August 14th, there have been more and more crows in Shanghai. Citizens believe that they are disaster stars and that wherever they are there, there will be death.
A group of crows flew over the noisy crowds on the south bank of the Suzhou River, circled a few times in the air on the quiet north bank of the river, and then descended one after another, chasing away a few wild dogs with fat bellies and round waists.
After a crow landed, it stood on a hand that stretched out from the ruins. It looked at the tall six-story building opposite with its blood-red eyes, and suddenly lowered its head and pecked off a piece of carrion.
This tall building is a warehouse jointly built by Salt Bank, Jincheng Bank, China South Bank, and Continental Bank, referred to as the Sihang Warehouse.
There were corpses everywhere on the ground around the Sihang Warehouse. The various ways of death were unbearable to look at. Some of the corpses had already rotted, while others had relatively fresh wounds.
Suddenly, a circling crow that had just fallen flew up and fled with a squeaking sound, because the corpse it was standing on suddenly moved, and it used one hand to pull on its wings.
"Snapped!"
A crisp gunshot accompanied by screams came not far away, and the "corpse" quickly lay still.
"We took away the corpses of our own people. When we saw the corpses of Chinese soldiers, we stabbed them all with bayonets, then piled them up, poured gasoline on them and burned them!"
The voice of a Japanese military sergeant sounded.
Ten minutes later, acrid thick smoke appeared in many places near Tibet Road on the north bank of the Suzhou River.
Then, a group of more than a dozen Japanese soldiers cleaning the battlefield appeared diagonally opposite the Sihang Warehouse and beside a ruins 500 meters away. Several corpse trucks rumbled towards the Sihang Warehouse. When they saw the faces of the Chinese soldiers The corpse was stabbed with a bayonet, then lifted up and thrown onto the pile of corpses that was doused with gasoline and burned.
"boom!"
A corpse truck suddenly exploded, and the Japanese corpses on the truck fell even more scattered.
The Japanese soldiers were knocked down by rows of bullets before they had time to react. The dead ones were convulsing on the ground, and the injured ones were rolling on the ground screaming and looking for cover to block the bullets. Some wounded soldiers climbed directly into the pile of dead bodies to hide, and several car soldiers He was shot in the head before he could even run out of the car.
The sudden explosions and intensive gunfire immediately alerted people on the south bank of the Suzhou River to look over, with wide-eyed expressions of disbelief - Didn't all Chinese troops withdraw from Shanghai?
When the gunfire stopped, a dozen Chinese soldiers dressed as corpses stood up from the pile of dead people. With shining bayonets in hand, they walked towards the Japanese soldiers who were all lying on the ground. Regardless of whether they were dead or alive, they would stab them in the throat. bayonets, and then seized cigarettes and valuables from the corpses of the Japanese.
"Snapped!"
"boom!"
After a crisp gunshot, all the Chinese soldiers lay on the ground and rolled into the pile of corpses. Before they could even pick up their guns to find the source of the gunfire, they were frightened by the explosion of grenades and buried their heads on the rotting bodies of the dead corpses.
"Look at how cowardly you are. If you don't change your mind and have so much money on your body, are you sure that you can leave Shanghai alive?"
A sincere voice came from a collapsed house nearby.
"Made...bah..."
A Henan veteran got up from a rotting corpse with a curse, wiped the corners of his mouth, lit the cigarette in his ear, and continued to look for the fresh corpses of the Japanese with his gun, stabbing every one he saw.
Now that squad leader Zhu, a Shandong veteran sniper, has spoken, it means that the danger has been lifted. All the Chinese soldiers lying in the pile of dead bodies cursed and stood up and continued to touch the corpses.
"Everyone, return to the warehouse immediately. The Japanese already know that we are here and will soon surround this place. Zhao Fugui, take the two of you to break up the rear and blow up the Japanese corpse collection truck."
The Shandong veteran walked down from the collapsed house with a Type 97 sniper rifle in hand and loudly ordered the soldiers who were searching for the corpses of the Japanese to stop. Just now, he shot off the wrist of a wounded Japanese soldier holding a grenade.
Successfully ambushed a Japanese corpse collection team, letting the whole of Shanghai know that the purpose of the Chinese army still in Shanghai has been achieved and they can withdraw to the warehouse.
Henan veteran Zhao Fugui, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, led two soldiers to blow up all the Japanese corpse trucks. The three finally returned to the warehouse.
People on the south bank of the Suzhou River were excited, running around telling each other that the Chinese army was still in Shanghai, that Shanghai had not fallen and was still in our hands...
Half an hour later, the entire concessions on the south bank of the Suzhou River knew that the Chinese army was still in Shanghai and that Shanghai had not fallen.
"Oh God, the Chinese army is still in Shanghai. Quick, send a report back to the country..."
The concessions quickly sent reports back to China and sent reporters to take pictures on the south bank.
Half an hour later, except for the Suzhou River in the south, the other three sides of Sihang Warehouse were surrounded by Japanese troops. Immediately afterwards, traitors who had defected to the Japanese army used loudspeakers to persuade them to surrender: "Chinese soldiers in the warehouse, listen up, the imperial army said As long as you surrender your weapons, the imperial army will never harm you, you will get delicious food and drink, and you will be given money for your journey home..."
"I don't believe what you say. How about handing out money? It's almost like handing out guns!"
The Shandong veteran raised his sniper rifle and knocked away the loudspeaker placed by the traitor on the trench. The traitor was so frightened that the traitor shrank back into the trench with his head in his hands.
Ten minutes later, the traitor's voice became louder: "Chinese soldiers in the warehouse, listen, the imperial army said that Shanghai, which cannot be defended by 700,000 Chinese troops, is now in the hands of the imperial army. Just because you still want to Holding the warehouse in such a small area is simply a dream. The reason why I shouted to give you a chance to surrender is because the imperial army is merciful and wants to leave you a way to survive.
The imperial army doesn’t care if they take over the warehouse more than ten hours later, so I’ll leave you enough time to think about it tonight. If you don’t surrender and walk out of the warehouse before eight o’clock tomorrow morning, you will have no chance of living anymore…”
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the streets and alleys of Shanghai were filled with the voices of newsboys:
"Excuse me, Shanghai has not fallen, the Chinese army is still in Shanghai... The Japanese army requires the Chinese defenders in the Sihang Warehouse to surrender before 8 o'clock tomorrow morning, otherwise, they will capture the Sihang Warehouse in three hours... Excuse me...
What?
Are the Chinese troops still in Shanghai?
The citizens were surprised and delighted. Within half an hour, the whole of Shanghai knew that Shanghai had not fallen and that Chinese soldiers were still there.
At 5:30, near the Suzhou River in Shanghai, the shrill siren of a bomber dive sounded again, and people once again raised their eyes to the sky.
At 5:50, on the top floor of the Sihang Warehouse, a fighter plane with the blue sky and white sun emblem painted on the wings and the number 214 on the fuselage was parked.
At 6 o'clock in the evening, the newsboy's voice echoed throughout Shanghai again:
"Exceptional number..." All the soldiers of Sihang Warehouse swear to live and die with the warehouse... All Japanese people listen, the chief instructor of the Chinese Air Force supports all the soldiers of Sihang Warehouse and challenges the Japanese pilots in Shanghai... "Exceptional number"... Chinese Air Force The chief instructor boasted about shooting down all the ace pilots of the Japanese army... He said that the battle of No. 214 was on the roof of the Sixing Warehouse. If the Japanese did not dare to engage in the battle, they would bomb the aircraft in an act that humiliated your emperor..."
6:10pm.
The top floor of Sihang Warehouse.
Xie Jinyuan:
"Brothers of the 88th Division!"
"yes!"
