Chapter 80 New Year's Eve Dinner
Yang Village was already immersed in the atmosphere of the New Year. From time to time, a group of little kids would run past the gate of the regiment headquarters, shouting and yelling, followed by a bang, which was firecrackers.
For the people in the base area, although life is hard, they still have to have a sense of ritual during the New Year.
The independent regiment is also busy preparing for the New Year. Among the more than 2,000 officers and soldiers in the entire independent regiment, the busiest person these days is none other than Lao Wang, the head of the regiment’s cooking squad.
The independent regiment has more supplies than ever this year.
So starting from the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Lao Wang and a dozen cooks from the kitchen team began to get busy.
They fried meatballs, made dumplings and beat rice cakes. Because the soldiers of the independent regiment included new recruits from Shanxi and veterans from Hubei or Sichuan in the south, they had to be taken care of as much as possible.
Needless to say, there was also a lot of horse meat, horse intestines and horse offal.
Because tomorrow is New Year's Eve, Wang Ye does not plan to go out tonight. He will have a night's rest and get enough rest so that he will have enough energy to fight the Japanese tomorrow night.
According to his judgment, there is a high probability that the Japanese will cause trouble tomorrow night on New Year's Eve.
So not only he has to be prepared, the entire independent regiment has to be prepared for battle.
Opportunities only come to those who are prepared. The same goes for the troops, they must be prepared at all times.
After getting up at noon and having lunch with everyone, Wang Ye followed Li Yunlong to the cavalry company's training ground.
The cavalry company's equestrian training has ended, and now they are practicing equestrian stabbing. A platoon of more than 40 riders are seen galloping across the training ground.
As the knife flashed, the scarecrow's "heads" rolled to the ground in rows.
After a month of hard training, the cavalry company is now quite interesting.
Li Yunlong pointed and said with a smile: "How is it, Xiao Wang? You have not been idle this month, and the cavalry company has not been idle either. Have you made great progress?"
"It is indeed very big." Wang Ye said, "It is enough to give the Japanese a hard time."
Li Yunlong chuckled and said, "However, your Wolf Warrior Squad has made greater progress. In a cavalry duel of equal strength, any squad of the cavalry company is no match for the Wolf Warrior Squad."
"Of course we do." Wang Ye said with a smile, "Otherwise, how can we live up to the name of the Wolf Warrior Squad?"
Li Yunlong laughed and said, "You kid, you're really out of breath when I tell you you're fat. Don't you know how to be humble?"
"I don't understand." Wang Ye sneered, "There is no word for modesty in the dictionary of our independent regiment."
Li Yunlong laughed and said, "By the way, I haven't had time to ask you during this period. How is your harassment of the Huting stronghold going?"
Wang Ye said: "It's OK."
Li Yunlong was unhappy: "What do you mean it's OK?"
Wang Ye said: "In total, we probably killed about 40 to 50 Japanese soldiers. Also, the Black Island Brigade must not have had a good rest in the past month. If nothing unexpected happens, the more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers in the Huting stronghold are on the verge of going berserk and may go crazy at any time."
Li Yunlong's expression changed and he asked, "What do you mean?"
Wang Ye said: "The Japs will most likely cause trouble tomorrow night."
"Then let's have the New Year's Eve dinner tonight and celebrate the New Year first!"
Li Yunlong paused and asked again: "How much ammunition was consumed?"
Wang Ye said: "More than 120 bullets and 39 shells."
"What?" Li Yunlong was anxious when he heard it. "You prodigal son, how come you consumed so many shells?"
"We only have more than 200 shells in total, and you destroyed one-fifth of them in one go! Damn it, can't you save some of them?"
If it were Wang Chengzhu, he would definitely complain at this time.
Damn it, wasn't this your order?
Now you're not admitting it again, complaining that I consumed too many ammunition?
But Wang Ye knew Li Yunlong's weakness and could not confront Li Yunlong head-on.
Wang Ye followed Li Yunlong's tone and said with a smile: "Captain, there is a saying that you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child. If we don't invest some money, how can we defeat the Black Island Brigade?"
"As long as we kill the Black Island Group? What's the point of these shells?"
"By then, let alone 40 rounds of ammunition, we can even get back 400 rounds."
"Captain, don't forget that the Black Island Regiment has a cavalry artillery squadron!"
"An artillery squadron, commander. Four 75mm mountain cannons!"
What Li Yunlong cares about most is the Kuroshima Squadron. As long as the Kuroshima Squadron is defeated, everything else will be easy.
"That's right." Li Yunlong said happily, "Xiao Wang, if you can really defeat the Black Island Brigade this time, I will treat you to a drink. How about half a pound of sweet potato stew?"
"That's it?"
"The Black Island United is only worth half a pound of sweet potato stew?"
Wang Ye said disdainfully: "You are too stingy."
"Half a pound of sweet potato stew is pretty good. When I first arrived in Shanxi two years ago, I couldn't drink a sip of alcohol for most of the year." Li Yunlong snorted twice and added, "But you are not an ordinary person. So, if you can successfully defeat the Black Island Brigade this time, I will reward you with a bottle of Xinghuacun. Isn't that good enough?"
"That's not nice." Wang Ye said unhappily, "I don't drink."
"That's impossible." Li Yunlong laughed and said, "I haven't married yet. If I marry and have a daughter, I will definitely take you as my son-in-law."
Wang Yexin said, just forget it.
Waiting for your daughter? The cucumber dish is cold.
Oda is probably still in elementary school now.
Oh, by the way, since I have traveled through time, Xiuqin will definitely not be sacrificed, so Xiaotian has nothing to do with you, Li Yunlong, so don’t worry about it, you bastard.
At that moment, Wang Ye said, "Captain, if you really want to reward me, why not give me a gold medal?"
"A gold medal for you?" Li Yunlong was stunned for a moment and asked puzzledly, "What gold medal?"
"Gold medal of immunity from death." Wang Ye said, "If I capture Japanese prisoners of war again in the future, you are not allowed to punish me when executing or burying me alive. You must bear the pressure from above for me."
Wang Ye has figured out the rules of the system.
In a word, there is no reward for killing the Japanese on the battlefield.
The reward will only be triggered if the prisoners are captured and then executed or buried alive.
Therefore, he was destined to continue violating disciplines and being punished.
Li Yunlong said angrily, "Why are you competing with the Japanese prisoners of war?"
"Just kill them on the battlefield. Since they are already captured, why do you have to execute them or bury them alive?"
"Just do as the political commissar said and hand it over to the enemy work department of the headquarters to deal with it. Can't we persuade them to join the anti-war alliance? Can't you respect the political commissar, who is such an intellectual?"
Wang Ye was silent. He really had no way to explain this to Li Yunlong.
You can't tell Li Yunlong that you can get a treasure chest by burying the Japanese prisoners of war alive, right?
Li Yunlong said again: "I say, what's wrong with you? You deliberately didn't kill the devils on the battlefield, but you had to capture prisoners to play with them, and then buried them alive after playing with them?"
Wang Ye said angrily: "You are the one with a problem."
"Hey, you little bastard, how dare you scold me?" Li Yunlong got angry.
"That's because you scolded me first." Wang Ye said, "You don't allow me to talk back?"
"How dare you talk back, you son of a bitch?" Li Yunlong glared at him, "Be careful or I'll beat you up."
"That requires you to be able to beat me." Wang Ye chuckled and said, "Captain, how about we practice? This time I'll let you have five moves."
Li Yunlong said angrily: "Look at what you can do."
"That's a must." Wang Ye said with a smile, "Our leader is Li Yunlong."
This sentence made Li Yunlong laugh again. After laughing, he cursed: "In the entire independent regiment, only you dare to talk to me like this. You are more powerful than the political commissar."
Wang Ye smiled and said, "Just tell me whether you will carry it for me or not?"
"What the hell, if I really took it for you, the brigade commander would have taken me as well. You bastard, do you want me to be beaten up or what?" Li Yunlong glared and said, "Besides, can't you do it more covertly? Don't let the political commissar know, right?"
What this means is that there will be no problems with Li Yunlong.
This is exactly what Wang Ye wanted.
Okay!
…
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve.
The commander of the Japanese 1st Army in Shanxi, Yoshio Shinozuka, issued a notice to host a banquet at the Taiyuan headquarters for all senior generals of the 1st Army above the rank of brigade commander.
It is said that only senior generals above the rank of major general will be invited to the banquet.
But there were exceptions. Two colonels also received invitations to the dinner.
One of the colonels is Yamamoto Ikki and the other is Kuroshima Morita.
Yamamoto Ikki was invited because Yoshio Shinozuka attached great importance to Yamamoto Ikki's special operations theory, while Kuroshima Morita was invited purely because he was a member of the royal family.
Kuroshima Morita didn't want to go at first.
But I couldn't resist Maeda Hide's invitation and had to go with him.
However, before leaving, Kuroshima Morita still called Nishi Takeichi to his side.
"Xizhu Jun, you must keep the entire regiment in check during the two days I'm away."
"Until I come back, no one is allowed to take even a single step out of the base."
"Especially this fellow Jiro, you must keep an eye on him for me and never let him do anything reckless."
"Hai!" Xi Zhu nodded and said, "Don't worry, Captain. I will definitely keep an eye on Jiro and the entire corps during your absence for the next two days."
"Yoshi."
Only then did Kuroshima Morita leave with peace of mind.
In order to ensure safety on the road, Kuroshima Morita also took the armored vehicle squadron in addition to the guard team.
However, Kuroshima Jiro, the captain of the guard squad, did not follow them, saying that he had a stomach upset last night. Nishi Takeichi could probably guess what Kuroshima Jiro was thinking.
They simply wanted to take advantage of the absence of the platoon leader to sneak out and burn, kill and loot.
But he was not too worried about it because he could stop it.
The Japanese military discipline was still very strict. In the absence of the regiment commander, he, the deputy regiment commander, was the highest commander, and anyone who dared to disobey his military orders would be punished by military law.
However, the morale of the Black Island United is indeed a problem now.
So Xi Zhuyi wanted to boost morale during the New Year.
In order to have the best possible New Year, Xi Zhuyi put a lot of thought into it.
First, they contacted the chairman of the Baijia Village Maintenance Association and bought more than 100,000 kilograms of wheat straw from the surrounding villages.
Then the wheat straw was piled up outside the Huting stronghold, and bonfires were lit every fifty meters.
The puppet army was also ordered to secretly add wheat straw continuously to ensure that these dozens of bonfires could continue to burn all night long, so that the Japanese troops in the stronghold could discover them if the Eighth Route Army came from afar.
This requires the consumption of a large amount of straw.
But the Japanese troops in the stronghold can live a peaceful year.
By the way, since the Meiji Restoration, Japan's Spring Festival was changed to January 1st of the Gregorian calendar, which is New Year's Day. The first day of the first lunar month became the old Spring Festival, but to this day, most Japanese are still accustomed to celebrating the original old Spring Festival. The Japanese really got used to celebrating the new Spring Festival only after their defeat and surrender.
After dark, Xi Zhuyi invited all the officers to the cafeteria of the base.
Li Yunlong planned to let the independent regiment celebrate the New Year in advance, while Xi Zhuyi planned to let the Kuroshima Brigade hold a two-day party.
He was even planning to contact the comfort station in Yangquan County at noon tomorrow and send a group of comfort women to the Huting stronghold.
The banquet has been set up in the cafeteria, with a rich variety of food and wine, even traditional Japanese delicacies such as sashimi and sushi, and of course Japanese sake.
"Gentlemen, today is the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month,"
"Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and the day after tomorrow is the old Spring Festival."
"Here, I would like to wish everyone a happy new year in advance."
After saying that, Xi Zhuyi raised his wine cup, and the officers also raised their glasses.
Only Kuroshima Jiro sat there without moving. This little Japanese also dragged his "sick body" to attend the dinner.
Nishitake glanced at Kuroshima Jiro and continued, "While wishing everyone a happy new year, I would also like to make three rules for everyone. During the two days when the commander is away, I hope you can control your respective units, don't fight, don't cause trouble, and especially don't go out without permission. Violators will be punished by military law!"
"Hi." Dozens of officers stood up and kowtowed.
Xi Zhuyi added: "However, as a New Year's gift, the kitchen will provide you with fine wine and delicious food in the next two days. There will also be comfort women coming to entertain the troops at noon tomorrow. Everyone, enjoy yourselves."
"Get on board!" The officers cheered when they heard the words.
Kuroshima Jiro finally stood up and bowed in greeting.
However, this little Japanese soldier's heart had already flown away from the stronghold.
Today is the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, and tomorrow is New Year's Eve.
For Chinese people, this is also the most important festival of the year.
If nothing unexpected happens, the Eighth Route Army will also celebrate the New Year. In other words, these three days should be the time when the Eighth Route Army's vigilance is the most relaxed. Perhaps we can take this opportunity to teach them a lesson.
But Instructor Xizhu is an obstacle, he will definitely stop us.
Thinking of this, Kuroshima Jiro picked up the wine glass and walked towards Nishi Takeichi.
"Instructor." Kuroshima Jiro said, holding up his glass, "I toast to you."
Before being transferred to the Kuroshima Regiment as deputy commander, Nishi Takeichi, like Kei Tojo, had served as the equestrian instructor for Kuroshima Jiro and his group of non-commissioned officers, so Kuroshima Jiro was more accustomed to calling him instructor.
"Jiro," Saijo nodded slightly, "Are you feeling better?"
"It's not completely healed yet." Kuroshima Jiro said, "But if you drink a few glasses, it should be fine."
"Try to drink less." Xijo Ichi warned, "Alcohol will irritate your stomach and intestines and aggravate your condition."
"Hai." Kuroshima Jiro said, "After I finish toasting the instructor with this glass of wine, I will return to the dormitory to rest."
"Yoshi." Nishijo accepted it readily, and then things got out of control.
After Kuroshima Jiro, one officer after another came forward to toast.
Nishi Takeichi originally just wanted to have a few drinks, but he forgot everything once he got drunk.
In the end, he was drunk.
…
In Yang Village.
The sky gradually darkened.
The backyard of the independent regiment's headquarters was brightly lit, which was unusual.
Not only the upper room and the two wings, but even the yard was filled with tables, with a total of more than a dozen tables.
Although it was a bit simple, there were still a few main dishes. For the Eighth Route Army, it was considered a top-notch meal, which they rarely had throughout the year.
Guan Dashan, Zhang Dabiao, Sun Desheng and nearly a hundred other cadres above the platoon level walked into the backyard chatting and laughing, and were immediately delighted when they saw the dozen or so tables of banquets.
Wow, so rich?
Hearing the laughter outside, Li Yunlong, Zhao Gang, Kong Jie and Wang Ye also came out from the upper room.
"Brothers, come, come, come and sit down." Li Yunlong called out, "It's time to eat, it's time to eat."
As they were talking, the head of the kitchen team, Lao Wang, and a dozen cooks brought up a dozen pots of steaming dumplings.
"Oh, there are dumplings to eat?" Wei Dayong took a steamed dumpling from the bowl in Lao Wang's hand and said with a smile, "What day is it today?"
"Monk, have you lost your mind from horse riding?" Sun Desheng joked, "Today is New Year's Eve."
"You're the one who's lost your mind," Wei Dayong shot back while chewing his dumplings. "New Year's Eve is tomorrow."
While the two men were bickering, nearly a hundred battalion, company and platoon leaders had already taken their seats, and more than a dozen tables were almost full. The independent regiment was now truly strong in both men and horses.
Li Yunlong laughed and said, "The monk is right. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve."
"But we don't have to wait until tomorrow for our independent regiment's New Year's Eve dinner. We can have it tonight."
Zhang Dabiao asked, "Captain, why do we have to have the New Year's Eve dinner earlier? Is there something special about it?"
"Hey, I'll keep it a secret for now and tell you guys later." Li Yunlong smiled and said, "This year is a rare good year for our independent regiment."
"So we have to have a good meal to celebrate!"
"By the way, I also wish our independent regiment a more prosperous year next year!"
After that, he turned to Zhao Gang and said, "Old Zhao, why don't I see any wine? How can we have a New Year's Eve dinner without wine? Such delicious dishes must be accompanied by wine. Hurry up and bring out the wine."
"No." Zhao Gang flatly refused, "You can't drink."
Li Yunlong was unhappy when he heard this and said angrily: "What's the use of New Year's Eve dinner without wine?"
Zhao Gang also refused and said in a deep voice: "If you don't want to eat, no one will force you."
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Wang Ye quickly stood up to smooth things over: "Political Commissar, they say that being drunk can cause trouble, but only when you are drunk can you cause trouble, right? Drinking in moderation is still okay."
Kong Jie also said: "Political Commissar, the brothers have been busy for a whole year. Let's have a New Year's Eve dinner tonight, let's have a little fun. This is all we have to think about throughout the year."
At this time, Zhao Gang actually felt a little regretful.
It's just that I said it too quickly just now and can't take it back.
But now Wang Ye and Kong Jie gave him a way out and he went down.
Zhao Gang nodded and said, "Then everyone can drink one bowl each."
When Li Yunlong wanted to argue again, Wang Ye stopped him and turned his back to Zhao Gang and said in lip language: "Big bowl!"
Li Yunlong understood what he meant and immediately turned around and shouted, "Old Wang, change to a bigger bowl. You have to use a big bowl to drink! Today, let's learn from the Liangshan heroes and drink with big bowls and eat big chunks of meat. Haha."
