Chapter 451: Republic of China: Starting from the First Class of Whampoa Chapter 461 Great Uprising in the Jingxing Mining Area

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

Inside the Youth Army Command, everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion.

Twenty hours had passed since the attack on Niangzi Pass was launched.

Although the cannon fire outside the Command continued, its frequency had clearly become steady and powerful; it was the Youth Army conducting the final mop-up of Niangzi Pass.

Chen Geng put down the enamel jar in his hand, looked up at Lv Muzhi, and smiled as if relieved of a heavy burden.

"Twenty hours, Maeda Osamu's division's positions are probably almost flattened by your rocket artillery."

Lv Muzhi glanced toward Niangzi Pass; although his view was blocked by the great mountain, judging by the sound, he knew the assault had reached its final moment.

"Within two hours, my Youth Army will retake Niangzi Pass!"

Chen Geng asked: "Really?"

Lv Muzhi nodded: "Absolutely true!"

Chen Geng stood up and said to his signaller:

"Send a report to the underground radio station in the Jingxing Mining Area; tell the comrades: the Youth Army is about to break through Niangzi Pass, and the mining area uprising can begin!"

The radio waves penetrated the smoke of Niangzi Pass and reached the Jingxing Mining Area fifteen kilometers behind Niangzi Pass.

In a basement within the mining area, several figures flickered under the dim oil lamp.

This was the liaison center for the great uprising of the Jingxing coal mine workers.

Lao Han, the underground Party head hiding in the mining area, was looking at the several people before him with a stern expression.

"The little devils at Niangzi Pass can hardly hold on anymore, and most of the Independent Mixed 8th Brigade in the mining area has been transferred out to support; you must see the situation clearly and absolutely do not take the wrong path!"

Liu Dacheng, captain of the mining area security team, looked embarrassed and smiled bitterly: "Even Wang Shi's forces have attacked; we can't continue being that extinct traitor; I understand the situation very clearly, and I will definitely perform well later!"

Wang San, chief of the mining area Police Bureau, also immediately declared his position: "Previously we were just making a living, but now the Youth Army has fought to our doorstep."

"My four hundred-plus brothers all understand the situation; as soon as the uprising begins, I will be the first to lead men to take Xiao Zhukazuo's headquarters!"

Liu Dacheng looked at Wang San in confusion: "Not bragging won't kill you; your police don't even have a single machine gun, and you want to take Xiao Zhukazuo's command? Do you have that ability? That's work for the Eighth Route brothers!"

Lao Han stopped the two from arguing: "All go back and prepare; the Jizhong Military Region's 28th Regiment will also come to support at that time!"

Inside Mine Shaft No. 3 of the Jingxing Mining Area.

Mine foreman Zhao Tiechui led several clever miners, pushing a basket full of freshly dug raw coal.

The miners stared at the two puppet security guards responsible for surveillance like wolves and tigers.

Seeing this situation, the puppet soldiers immediately knew when to submit and left the mine shaft.

Zhao Tiechui pulled a heavy cloth bundle from the bottom of the coal basket; opening it, he found more than a dozen bolt-action pistols inside.

"Take them, Boxer Pistols!"

Zhao Tiechui distributed several bolt-action rifles to the infiltrated guerrillas, and also found some clever young miners to teach them how to use bolt-action rifles later.

"Those who didn't get a gun, later follow those with guns and charge; use the pointed hoes in your hands to strike the devils' heads hard!"

Similar scenes were unfolding in various mine shafts within the mining area.

A miners' great uprising targeting Xiao Zhukazuo's headquarters was about to begin.

Countless miners passed news in the dim alleys; some sharpened their pointed hoes to be sharp and bright, some took kitchen knives from the kitchen, and some counted their homemade explosives.

The bombs made with underground mining explosives were enough to throw the Japanese-controlled Jingxing Mining Area into great chaos.

The miners of the Jingxing Mining Area had a blood feud with the Japanese Army and had long hoped to break free from Japanese control.

The miners were lured and abducted from various places by the Japanese Puppet Army, working twelve to fifteen hours a day in the lightless mine shafts, eating rice bran, wheat bran, and mixed flour to stave off hunger.

Many miners, after mining coal for a few months, were covered in injuries and illnesses, with an extremely high mortality rate; corpses were thrown by the Japanese Army into the "Wanrenkeng." (Later statistics: the Jingxing Mining Area had six Wanrenkeng, burying over forty thousand miners)

The first shot of the uprising rang out by the Wanrenkeng at Nan Da Gou.

Two Japanese soldiers, holding bayonets, forced two miners to throw a large cart of comrades' corpses into the Wanrenkeng.

Although the two miners were thin, one of them was a guerrilla from the mountains in disguise.

"Hurry up! Chinese pig, throw it down!" The Japanese soldier kicked a miner while cursing.

The guerrilla's originally meek expression instantly disappeared.

He quickly pulled a Boxer Pistol from the bottom of his tattered cotton jacket, pressed the muzzle against the devil's chest, and pulled the trigger directly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Five gunshots, bullets sweeping in a fan shape, two little devils fell to the ground.

The crisp gunshots echoed over the open mine pit, like a thunderclap from flat ground.

Immediately after, explosions began to sound one after another in every corner of the mining area.

The puppet security troops originally patrolling outside the mine shafts, after hearing the gunshots, under the leadership of their commanding officer, all turned their muzzles around.

"Brothers! Did you hear the gun and cannon fire from Niangzi Pass? The Youth Army is about to charge in; hurry and make meritorious deeds to atone for your sins, otherwise you will be put on trial; kill the devils!"

Inside the mining area Police Bureau, Chief Wang San likewise warned the puppet policemen under him: "Now fighting the devils counts as an uprising and is meritorious; when the Youth Army rushes into the mining area, you will be prisoners, and you might even be executed by firing squad; think it through clearly!"

Over a thousand guns of the puppet security troops and police turned direction simultaneously, and together with the workers in the mining area, charged toward Xiao Zhukazuo's headquarters at the mining area Office Building.

Xiao Zhukazuo was sitting in his headquarters at this moment; a sudden explosion shook the window glass with a buzzing sound, followed by a tide-like surge of shouting, gunfire, and explosions.

He rushed to the window and saw countless figures in ragged clothes surging out from every mine mouth; some held rifles snatched from who knows where, some carried pistols, and there were also homemade Tu Qiang Huo Qiang; more miners raised pointed hoes and iron shovels high.

"Nani? What's going on?!"

"Kameda Battalion! Immediately go suppress them! Execute all these rioters!"

However, the Japanese troops stationed in the mining area had only one infantry battalion of the Independent Mixed 8th Brigade left, with fewer than a thousand men.

The Youth Army was about to arrive, and the fury of tens of thousands of miners had been ignited; coupled with the defection of the Puppet Army and puppet police, it was far from something an infantry battalion could simply suppress.

Not only that, on the eastern front of the mining area, Ding Wei, regimental commander of the 28th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army's Jizhong Military Region, was holding up binoculars to observe the situation.

"Well done, these miner brothers are truly tough! First and Second Battalions, press forward! Third Battalion, handle external security!"

Ding Wei's 28th Regiment operated in the Jizhong Military Region, that is, around Zhengding in Hebei, with over three thousand men.

They coordinated internally and externally with the miners, slicing the Japanese Independent Mixed 8th Brigade's remaining defensive force into several pieces.

The Japanese troops that had been resisting stubbornly instantly fell into a people's war covering the mountains and fields.

Xiao Zhukazuo watched the headquarters building's defenses crumble bit by bit, and the despair in his heart reached its peak.

"Your Excellency, we can't hold out; we'll cover your breakout!"

Over a dozen of the most elite Japanese guards escorted this Japanese lieutenant general, attempting to break out amid the chaos.

But they thought too simply.

At this time in the Jingxing Mining Area, every inch of land was filled with laborers brimming with hatred.

Not long after Xiao Zhukazuo's group went out, several hundred miners charged toward them.

"It's the devils! Stop them!"

Zhao Tiechui took the lead, firing his bolt-action rifle at the Japanese troops.

The miners raised hoes, jian Mouth pao, and iron shovels; the mechanics carried mallets; the cooks held kitchen knives—every single one of them rushed over to settle accounts with the devils.

The Japanese guards fired crazily at the crowd, and the miners in the front row fell into pools of blood.

But the people behind showed no fear; they threw homemade explosives.

Puffs of black smoke exploded within Xiao Zhukazuo's ranks, and shrapnel and gravel knocked several guards to the ground.

The two sides soon collided, engaging in the most primitive and brutal close-quarters combat.

Xiao Zhukazuo saw one miner after another, their bodies blackened and faces almost unrecognizable, wielding jian Mouth pao and charging at him.

As an army lieutenant general, encountering a group of South China civilians, pride kept him from fleeing immediately; instead, he drew his command sword from his waist.

"Eight Gua! I am a lieutenant general of the Great Japanese Empire! Who dares come forward!"

"South China farmers! Go die for me!" he shrieked hysterically.

Xiao Zhukazuo was surrounded by the miners, wildly swinging his general's sword, trying to carve out a safe zone for himself.

With a puffing sound.

Behind Xiao Zhukazuo, an old miner raised a heavy and sharp jian Mouth pao and slammed it down hard onto the back of Xiao Zhukazuo's head.

The jian Mouth pao penetrated the skull, and fresh blood mixed with brain matter splattered onto the coal pile.

After the old miner pierced Xiao Zhukazuo's skull, he was exhausted and collapsed; he wiped the sweat from his forehead and plopped onto the ground, unable to get up.

Xiao Zhukazuo didn't even let out a scream; he only felt a warm liquid streak across his face, his body growing weaker and his vision darker.

He used the last of his strength to turn around, wanting to see who had ultimately killed him?

"Taste the might of your worker grandpa!"

Another young miner shouted, swinging an iron shovel at Xiao Zhukazuo's face once more.

Afterward, the miners swarmed over him.

Xiao Zhukazuo fell on his back and finally saw clearly.

Those who killed him were a group of dirty, ragged workers and peasants, the most looked-down-upon people...