Chapter 47: Encirclement And Annihilation
“Is it real?”
Su Yaoyang stared into his eyes, slowly pulling a small yellow croaker from his pocket… followed by the second one… the third one…
“Of course… I… I… I could never go against my principles as a man… damn it… fine… for God’s… oh no… for the sake of those women in the church… I agree to help with this.”
John’s deep pit shifted from resolute to hesitant, then to eyes gleaming with surrender, the entire process taking only a short five seconds, profoundly illustrating humanity’s love for money.
After swiftly tucking the small yellow croaker Su Yaoyang handed him into his inner pocket, John then asked: “Colonel… oh… boss, do you want me to drive a car for you or a tank?
If it’s the latter, then this price isn’t enough.”
Looking at this foreigner who looked like he was reaching out from the coffin demanding money, Su Yaoyang helplessly shook his head. In the original work, this guy wasn’t so money-obsessed; how did he turn into this when he met me?
He asked with interest: “If it’s the latter, how much reward do I need to pay you?”
John first held up five fingers, then raised another palm: “Five… no… ten such gold bars!”
“Hey…” Su Yaoyang was almost amused with anger. This guy was planning to fleece him to death.
He said unceremoniously: “John, to be frank, with the price of ten gold bars, I could hire ten retired soldiers from your country who know how to drive tanks. Why should I choose you?”
John chuckled: “But as you said, they’re all in America, and I’m your only choice right now… aren’t I?”
“Hey…”
Su Yaoyang suddenly felt like pulling out his gun and finishing this guy off, but after thinking it over, he gave up the idea.
Fine… if he wanted someone to risk their life for him, he shouldn’t be stingy with that bit of money.
Anyway, this stuff could be redeemed anytime for him, so why should he care?
He immediately nodded: “Alright, I can agree, but you must remember, once you join us, there’s no turning back. If you dare to be a deserter on the battlefield, I will enforce battlefield discipline!”
“Don’t worry, I’ve served in the military too.” Seeing Su Yaoyang agree to his conditions, John was especially pleased inside.
He secretly calculated in his mind that a dozen or so gold bars would be enough to buy a small farm back in America and then get twenty or thirty head of cattle and sheep.
That way, his latter half of life would be secured.
But he then asked puzzledly: “Boss, but as far as I know, tanks are extremely precious for your country. Could it be that you can even get a tank?”
“That’s not for you to worry about.” Su Yaoyang waved his hand, signaling this talkative guy to shut up.
“You wait here first. What you need to do now is select four members and teach them to operate the tank in the shortest time. You don’t want to be the only one driving the tank in battle, do you?”
“Oh damn… this is simply an impossible task. I can’t make people who’ve never even seen a tank operate that thing in such a short time. It’s unrealistic!
Besides, I haven’t even seen the shadow of the tank yet. How am I supposed to do it?”
“That’s your problem.” Su Yaoyang grabbed his collar, staring coldly at him: “I’ve already offered a sufficient price. What you need to do is complete the task I’ve assigned with full effort.”
With that, Su Yaoyang turned and strode out the door.
Then, he walked out of the church gate and alone came to a nearby abandoned courtyard. After tinkering for a bit, accompanied by a faint blue light, a brand-new tank appeared in the courtyard.
Five pairs of road wheels, a 75mm tank gun, low-slung hull, and three machine guns in a front 2-head-1 configuration all showed this was a formidable combat vehicle.
In fact, this was a tank from another spacetime that wouldn’t appear for a few more years. It was the M24 Chaffee tank, named after the father of American armor.
This tank’s advantage was its good balance of firepower and mobility; its drawback was thin armor, prone to damage on the frontal battlefield.
But the latter wasn’t a big deal to Su Yaoyang. After all, it was a one-time consumable. As long as it could bolster their firepower in the next battle and cover the main force breaking out of Nanjing, that would do.
After carefully checking the tank’s ammunition, fuel, and other conditions, Su Yaoyang returned to the church and brought John to this small courtyard.
When John saw the tank parked in the courtyard, his mouth gaped wide enough to fit an egg. “God… you really got a tank! This… what model is this tank? I’ve never seen it before.”
“That doesn’t matter. What you need to do now is familiarize yourself with its performance in the shortest time and drive it. This is its manual.” Su Yaoyang tossed a manual to John and returned to the church himself.
He was well aware that as the remaining resistance forces in Nanjing were mopped up by the Japanese, their isolated unit would inevitably draw increasing attention from more Japanese troops, with more coming.
Time was too precious for him; there was no spare time to waste.
“Boom…”
As the saying goes, what you fear most is what comes.
He had just returned to the church and found Li Gaoyuan and Huang Guantao, not even had time to speak, when a muffled explosion sounded from the distance.
Then soldiers hurriedly reported, “Sirs, bad news… many more Japs have come from the front and are already engaging our outposts.”
“Report, sirs, the observation post reports Japanese cavalry appearing to our rear, numbers unknown.”
Faced with the sudden enemy situation, all three felt immense pressure, as if overwhelming waves were crashing toward them from all sides.
Huang Guantao smiled wryly: “The Japs aren’t giving us a moment to breathe.”
Li Gaoyuan pondered: “I reckon this time it’s still the Kunizaki Detachment. After all, we just killed their deputy detachment leader and the 11th Regiment commander.”
With that, he turned his gaze to Su Yaoyang beside him.
Su Yaoyang ignored Li Gaoyuan’s gaze and frowned thoughtfully: “I figure the commotion here has already caught the attention of Japanese high command. After all, we just wiped out one of their regiments.
That old devil Kunizaki will never let us go, so even if we repel the Kunizaki Detachment’s attack next, the Japanese will send more troops to encircle and annihilate us.”
