Chapter 301

As the players' progress gradually caught up.

They successively arrived at the time point of 1937.

For some Blue Star players far away in other provinces, the time point in the plot had already passed the Battle of Shanghai, and changes were quietly happening around them.

700,000 soldiers from all over the country on the land of Huaxia used their flesh and blood to shatter the Japanese army's "three-month delusion", trading space for time in those difficult three months.

Factories, schools, and political forces on the land of Huaxia completed their strategic westward migration as the final guarantee.

Reconstructing the key core of the Republic.

Now it had turned from local resistance to a situation of comprehensive resistance.

In Shi Rui's stream room.

After sneaking into the Sihang Warehouse and recording the shocking 20-meter close-range shooting of the Central Army.

Shi Rui was hit by a bullet in the chaos and had now restarted the game.

Fortunately, Polar Star officials had opened the timeline, so one could directly choose the 1937 timeline, which saved them from having to skip the plot all the time.

At this time.

Shi Rui chose the identity of a reporter.

Ever since streaming for so long in the Battle of Shanghai under the guise of a reporter, Shi Rui had also grown to like this profession; when restarting the game, he simply chose reporter directly.

And the current time point was after the Battle of Shanghai.

Shi Rui was in the Shanxi region.

Following the soldiers of the 129th Division of the red faction, preparing to ambush the Japanese army.

Shi Rui lay on another high ground far from the position, introducing the situation to the Blue Star friends in the stream room:

"Brothers, we are currently here in the Taihang Mountains."

"Just now, the red faction sent people to attack the Japanese stronghold in Licheng, north of Shentouling."

"The Japanese army's nearest support can only come from Lucheng in the south, so currently, they are preparing to ambush the Japanese soldiers heading to Licheng for support at Shentouling."

"Let's see if we can catch a big fish."

After briefly introducing the current situation, Shi Rui continued:

"After the Battle of Shanghai ended, the entire Republic is currently conducting resistance against the Japanese army with different styles."

"Shanxi is mainly Mobile Corps Commander warfare and ambush warfare carried out by the red faction."

"Relying on the mountainous terrain, small groups of troops are used to harass the Japanese army, cooperating with the construction of base areas to form a protracted resistance posture."

"Which is the 'Protracted War' mentioned by the red faction before."

Just as Shi Rui was speaking, Japanese reinforcement troops heading to Licheng appeared on the road in the Shentouling mountains in the distance.

Looking at the long Japanese team, Shi Rui used the photon supercomputer to estimate that there was about a company's strength; at this time, the heavy trucks the team was heading with were driving slowly.

Watching this scene, the Blue Star netizens in the stream room were somewhat puzzled:

[Are the Japanese trucks so slow? It wouldn't be bait, right?]

[Possible, there's probably a large army behind.]

[Hiss—streamer, remind them quickly.]

[Not necessarily, the Japanese team is stretched so long, would they be willing to use so many people as bait?]

[I don't think so either; the Japanese army seems a bit too relaxed, right?]

Looking at the danmu in the stream room, Shi Rui explained:

"Normal."

"Because this is the place where the Japanese army least expects an ambush."

Saying this, Shi Rui swept his gaze over the Shentouling region in the distance.

Only after seeing the full outline did the Blue Star netizens in the stream room understand why Shi Rui said this was the place where the Japanese army least expected an ambush.

Because this road was on an open mountain ridge.

There was no cover on both sides, just a slope, looking like a single-plank bridge.

Who would set an ambush under a single-plank bridge?

Perhaps the Japanese army had this kind of thinking, which was also the reason why the marching troops were so relaxed and indifferent, because they simply didn't expect anyone to set an ambush here.

But the red faction really did it.

With the help of this reverse thinking, the red faction used camouflage works for concealment; the Japanese army had already walked halfway, but still hadn't discovered the red faction soldiers hidden at the entrance.

And at this time, the Japanese troops had already entered the encirclement.

As they passed the halfway point, the first Japanese truck ran over the landmines buried by the engineering company overnight.

Boom—!

The deafening explosion echoed in the mountains "Fire—!!!"

Accompanied by a roar echoing in the mountains, hundreds of grenades flew up at the same time, pouncing on the Japanese convoy in the middle of the road from both sides.

A Japanese soldier just jumped off the truck.

Boom!

He was blown to death by the explosion of the grenades; some grenades detonated the Japanese trucks, the road instantly turned into a sea of fire, and the sound of gunfire on both sides of the road kept ringing.

Suddenly suffering an attack, the Japanese command was in chaos and couldn't respond in time.

The battle quickly entered a white-hot stage; the Japanese army fought to the death to charge towards the high ground, wanting to occupy a high ground, but the red faction soldiers also blocked the Japanese dare-to-die squad without fear of death.

On the hillside on the other side, Shi Rui was streaming this blocking battle to the stream room.

Some people were curious about who the commander of this red faction troop was, because after the Long March, many Blue Star players were attracted by the Battle of Shanghai and didn't pay much attention to the red faction.

They didn't know what it had developed into.

Shi Rui looked at the questions in the stream room and introduced:

"The one ambushing the Japanese army below is the red faction's 129th Division; the division commander is Liu... the deputy division commander is Xu..."

"The 386th Brigade under the 129th Division is the main attack, the north is the 771st Regiment, and the west is the 772nd Regiment."

"By the way."

"Mobile Corps Commander Chen of the 386th Brigade is also Whampoa First Class..."

Shi Rui introduced while observing the battle situation below.

And the Blue Star netizens in the stream room also widened their eyes following these introductions; good guy, they are all big shots of the red faction, no wonder they have such combat effectiveness and tactical crushing.

On the other side.

After the security regiment temporarily reorganized from the Northwest small town supported the Battle of Shanghai.

The streamer Li Ran, who died in battle, restarted the game and chose the Great Northwest again; the identity was still a soldier of the security regiment, but the mission was different.

Between the gullies of the Loess Plateau, Li Ran followed the team to escort a mule and horse team westward.

The mules and horses were carrying heavy machine parts, the man driving the cart shouted from time to time, urging the horses to move forward on the rugged mountain road, and Li Ran looked at those parts somewhat trance-like.

Because when he entered Shanghai before, he happened to encounter the factory relocation.

Now that he had restarted the game and returned, the factory equipment that had withdrawn during the Battle of Shanghai had already appeared on this vast Northwest Loess Plateau.

With the fall of the eastern coastal areas, the strategic value of the Great Northwest deep in the interior became prominent at this time.

Originally, he didn't feel anything.

But with in-depth analysis, Blue Star netizens felt more and more the greatness of the Huaxia ancestors.

The vast land area allowed the nation living on this land to have extraordinary fault tolerance; after the economically developed areas such as the eastern coast, North China, and East China fell one after another.

The Loess Plateau in the Northwest region became the strategic rear supporting the protracted resistance.

The complex terrain of the Northwest interior, such as the Loess Plateau and Qinling Mountains, made the Japanese army's mechanized troops completely ineffective, greatly limiting the Japanese army's offensive capability.

International aid could also reach the Loess Plateau directly through the western channel, becoming another lifeline.

And the Guanzhong Plain and Gansu Hexi Corridor were still important grain-producing areas, supplying the daily grain needs of the army and the people.

If there was no geographical advantage of the Northwest region.

Then the economic and social structure of the "Republic" would likely collapse rapidly within a few years after the Battle of Shanghai.

But with the Northwest land supporting it.

Trading space for time, the vast Northwest land could not only accommodate the migration of hundreds of colleges and universities, but also hundreds of factories, refugees, troops, etc., could all be accommodated.

Becoming a material supply base, military buffer zone, and international aid channel in the resistance war.

It was precisely these that supported the existing social system and structure from collapsing.

The important value of the Northwest might not be seen in peacetime, but it became particularly important in wartime.

Streamer Li Ran stayed locally to continue observing the changes in the Great Northwest after the Battle of Shanghai after escorting the factory machinery.

On the other side.

Streamer Xia Jie, who was in the Northeast region.

Was following at the end of a 30-person team; the team was walking with difficulty on the snow at the foot of Changbai Mountain, the white air exhaled was on the eyebrows,

And ice dregs had formed on the hair.

The stream room was very quiet; although there were many people watching, the danmu was sparse.

Some newcomers who didn't know why were sending question marks, while the old friends in the stream room explained:

[New friends, the streamer is not mute, just needs to save energy and can't speak.]

[It will be fine when we find the camp; the situation is very difficult after just passing the Japanese sweep.]

Following the explanation of the old friends in the stream room, the newcomers also learned a lot.

In the plot of streamer Xia Jie.

Just after experiencing the Japanese army's "Winter Great Sweep", the team suffered heavy losses; through the perspective in the stream room, one could see that the cotton clothes on everyone were already tattered.

Various knife cuts, bullet holes, and dark brown bloodstains covered the cotton clothes.

Not long ago, the news of the failure of the Battle of Shanghai came, causing no small blow to the anti-Japanese coalition soldiers insisting in these white mountains and black waters, plus the Japanese army's "Winter Great Sweep".

The original team of nearly a hundred people now only had these 30 people left after fierce fighting.

Ahead.

Captain Zhao, who was leading the way, turned around and shouted hoarsely to the back:

"Brothers! Persist a little longer!"

"There is our secret base in Taojingo, there should still be some food hidden there!"

"Persist!!!"

In the ice and snow of minus 30 degrees, this sentence was quite encouraging; having food meant having a way to live.

It was just that when the team arrived at Taojingo after half a day of trekking.

The scene in front of them made everyone's heart sink.

More than half of the village had been burned, silent, obviously there was no one left.

Everyone didn't go to the village again.

Instead, they followed Captain Zhao to the secret base; the base was a collapsed mine, which hadn't been discovered by the Japanese army, but the entrance had already collapsed.

Everyone managed to clear the rubble and dug out half a bag of grain to cook into porridge, only then did everyone come back to life.

It was just that after drinking the porridge, thinking of the tragic situation in Taojingo, everyone fell silent.

Inside the semi-collapsed mine, the cold wind outside kept blowing into the cave; the Northeast night of minus 30 degrees was not easy to endure.

Streamer Xia Jie could only curl up in the corner and say in a low voice about the current situation:

"This should be the most difficult resistance troop in the 'Republic'."

"The temperature in the Northeast region at night in winter is basically minus 30 to 40 degrees, and the winter lasts for half a year."

"Under such circumstances, the anti-Japanese coalition soldiers still don't have a stable base."

"From time to time, they have to fight and transfer according to the Japanese army's sweep, just like this team I am in now."

"In the battle with the Japanese army in the winter great sweep, the number was reduced from over a hundred to 30."

"And once transferred."

"It is to use willpower to fight against nature."

"Today, we found the secret base, otherwise a group of people would have to endure the night in the snow."

"Enduring the night outside in such a temperature... I guess they would all be frozen into ice lumps."

"The winter in the Northeast lasts for half a year, and such days, from 1931 to the present 1937, the anti-Japanese coalition soldiers have been fighting for a full six years."

The new Blue Star netizens in the stream room all fell into silence,

Many people had played [WWII] games, and had participated in the [Battle of Moscow] and [Stalingrad] battles; that kind of cold winter lasted for four or five months.

They felt that kind of situation was already very difficult.

But at this time...

A winter of minus 40 degrees Celsius, a winter spanning half a year, and they had already carried it for a full six years.

How on earth did they carry it?

The Blue Star friends in the stream room pondered this question.

The howling wind outside the cave roared.

Adding a bit of gloom to this cold night, no one dared to sleep, fearing that they wouldn't wake up if they were careless, all surrounding the fire to roast for a while longer.

Suddenly.

I don't know who asked in a low voice:

"Captain... I heard that in Shanghai over the pass... failed?"

Captain Zhao looked at the fire.

The reflection of the flames danced in his eyes; Captain Zhao was silent for a moment and said:

"Not defeat, it's a retreat."

"Last year, the Central Army and troops supported from all over the country fought in Shanghai for three months; the whole world saw our determination, and instead, the Japanese's delusional 'three-month plan' failed."

Saying this, Captain Zhao took out something wrapped in cloth from his arms and opened it carefully, revealing the thing inside; it was a small booklet that was almost worn out.

Everyone looked at the captain's treasure curiously.

And Xia Jie and the Blue Star friends in the stream room recognized the four characters on the cover of the small booklet.

"On Protracted War"

Captain Zhao opened the small booklet by the firelight, and his hoarse voice sounded:

"The War of Resistance Against Japan is a protracted war."

"We are not afraid of sacrifice, not afraid of difficulties, insist on resistance, insist on a united front..."

Outside the cave.

The north wind howled.

Inside the cave.

Thirty starving and cold soldiers huddled together, listening to the captain reading "On Protracted War", and the fire of hope rekindled in many soldiers' eyes.

Xia Jie suddenly understood why in this ice and snow.

The anti-Japanese coalition soldiers could persist for six years, and perhaps even longer in the future, because they possessed an incomparably firm belief.

That was something the Japanese would never understand, something hotter than minus forty degrees.

Blue Star players were experiencing the "Republic" at this time from all over the land of Huaxia in the [Awakening Era] DLC.

It was just that the limit of the [WWI] series was 1939; at this time, the plot timeline was opened to after 1937, and the progress of Blue Star players suddenly accelerated a lot.

Polar Star Company, inside the President's Office.

Zhao Ming looked from the background; in about another week, there would be players who would finish experiencing all the plots of 1939.

Later, more and more players would finish experiencing it.

And [WWII] was also about to start the war of great power games, by the way, leading this batch of [WWI] players to [WWII] to continue experiencing the plot after 1939.