Chapter 64: Targeting the Railway

November 5, 1938, Night. East of Yangquan County, Mianhe River Bridge.

The Mianhe River Bridge was originally constructed during the Guangxu reign of the former dynasty. It served as a vital node on the Zhengtai Railway. On October 26, 1937, during the retreat of the Twenty-Sixth Route Army, the southern end of the Mianhe River Bridge was blown up to halt the Japanese advance, causing the spans to plunge into the Mianhe River. To secure material supplies for the impending Battle of Jiangcheng along the Zhengtai Railway, the Japanese forces dispatched an engineering unit to urgently repair the bridge, subsequently constructing blockhouses and pillboxes in the surrounding area.

Wang Yue lay prone on a small earthen mound east of the bridge, quietly observing the vague silhouette of a train shrouded in thick fog. Because the Mianhe River Bridge had been hastily repaired using a massive amount of timber supports, the speed of crossing trains was severely restricted. Under normal circumstances, this might not have posed a problem, but under high-density usage, it inevitably led to traffic congestion. The train before him was a freight train that had been pulled over to yield the right-of-way to military and passenger trains.

Shortly after, a heavy fog rolled into the Yangquan area, rendering the tracks slick. Lacking an auxiliary locomotive, even if this freight train managed to cross the bridge, it would be unable to proceed further. Consequently, it had no choice but to wait here for an auxiliary engine or for the sun to rise at dawn before continuing its journey.

One driver, one fireman, two laborers, and a single squad of Japanese soldiers—the personnel were few, and their combat readiness was weak. Owing to the bitter cold of the night, the Japanese squad leader had assigned only a single sentry, and even then, it was merely for the sake of appearances. The guard simply loitered near the passenger car where the rest of the crew was resting. Given visibility as poor as this, if he were to wander off on patrol, there was no telling whether he would even find his way back.

The arrogance of the Japanese knew no bounds. True, this location fell within the defensive fire zone of the pillboxes guarding the Mianhe River Bridge, but the fundamental prerequisite was that they had to be able to see their targets. Visibility right now was a mere twenty to thirty meters, whereas the pillboxes were situated more than five hundred meters away from the train.

Putting aside whether one could capture the supplies on board, dispatching a squad to sabotage the train was entirely feasible. If all else failed, setting it on fire would certainly do the trick. The train boasted a full twenty cars; a single fire would translate to losses numbering in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions. It seemed that moving forward, he really needed to ramp up the pressure on these Japanese troops. Living such comfortable lives was truly detrimental to the growth of His Imperial Majesty's soldiers.

Following the assimilation of Nalan Xinde's abilities, Wang Yue's five senses had become exceptionally acute. He could even hear the snoring coming from the Japanese pillbox five hundred meters away. Confirming that no other souls were present in the vicinity, Wang Yue, whose impatience had reached its limit, finally made his move.

The instant his body vaulted from the earthen mound, a battle axe whizzed into the thick fog like an arrow released from a taut bow. Although Wang Yue could not clearly see the Japanese soldiers, locating targets by sound was a skill he had mastered effortlessly. On the other side, the Japanese sentry was still sneezing while holding his Arisaka rifle when a battle axe abruptly materialized in his field of vision. Before the sentry could even react, a long, deep gash was slashed across his throat.

Fresh blood spurted, and the sentry's body went limp. Just as he was about to collapse, Wang Yue rushed forward and, with a flick of his hand, swept both the sentry and his rifle into his spatial dimension. Only a few scattered droplets of splatter remained on the gravel of the railbed.

Without a moment of hesitation, he slipped through a car door that was left ajar by barely twenty centimeters and immediately set upon the men still fast asleep inside. In mere breaths, he eliminated every last one of them, including the two coal-stoking laborers. There was no question of whether it was right or wrong; anyone who could huddle with the Japanese to share a fire and drinks while occasionally tossing out Japanese phrases was bound to be scum. Killing them required no second thought.

A freight car of this type measured roughly 15.5 meters in length, or no more than 17 meters including the couplers at both ends. By uncoupling them, the cars could be taken directly into his spatial dimension one by one. This was precisely why Wang Yue had chosen such inclement weather to go out hunting. One has to ask: how terrifying is it when an entire train simply vanishes right before your eyes?

True to expectation, the railcars could be stowed into the space with effortless ease. Twenty-two boxcars, a coal tender, a locomotive, and a small caboose attached to the rear for the rest of the Japanese soldiers—in no time at all, the entire train had vanished into Wang Yue's dimensional space.

Yet, the cargo contained within this train surprised Wang Yue somewhat: fifty tons of tinplate, one ton of specialized welding rods, a small shearing machine, a small canning machine, a semi-automatic welding machine, a high-temperature sterilization steamer, and a sealing machine. Moreover, all these equipment and raw materials bore the stamp of the Northwest Industrial Company. How on earth did equipment and raw materials belonging to the Northwest Industrial Company end up on a train bound for Taiyuan?

There were also cases of American-produced canned beef. Checking the production date, it was stamped 1915—likely surplus supplies from the previous World War. Such items had been scattered across the globe post-war and were remarkably cheap, not to mention having sat in storage for over twenty years. With the American garrison stationed in Tianjin, having reserves of these goods was quite normal. However, wasn't the quantity a bit excessive? There were a full five hundred tons of it. Had the Japanese First Army grown this affluent?

Wang Yue had fought the Japanese before, and when examining their field rations, he rarely encountered the milk biscuits and canned beef often depicted in films and television dramas. The most common item in their mess tins was rice balls, supplemented at best by a little lard. Furthermore, the rice used for those rice balls was unpolished brown rice mixed with sorghum in roughly a 1:1 ratio, occasionally peppered with crushed black salt grains—nothing remotely resembling what modern people consume in sushi restaurants.

The memories of the original host also contained fragments regarding the diet of the Japanese frontline troops. It was somewhat better, but strictly limited. At best, it might feature dried seaweed, dried tiny shrimp, or pickled vegetables, while canned beef remained a rare sight indeed. Simply put, those infantrymen were not entitled to eat beef!

The subsidiary food supplies of the Japanese units relied fundamentally on "sustaining war with war." On occasion, capturing cured meat or sausage from the National Revolutionary Army felt like celebrating the New Year. Do not assume that corruption among officers was exclusive to the Nationalist forces; the Japanese shared the exact same pathology, the only difference being that even after their superiors embezzled supplies, the ordinary soldiers could still barely manage to fill their stomachs.

Not lingering over the question of why these goods were present, Wang Yue turned his attention to the steel rails. No, that still wouldn't do; continuous, connected rails could not be taken into his spatial dimension. As for the spare rails stacked along the roadside, however, they could be harvested. Previously, utilizing the spatial dimension to collect objects required physical contact. Following Wang Yue's integration of Nalan Xinde's various skills, physical contact was no longer mandatory. Within a radius of fifty meters, sweeping them with his mental perception was sufficient, though that was as far as its limits extended.

Concentrating his mind once more and projecting his senses outward to confirm that no one remained nearby, Wang Yue once again melted into the swirling fog. As for how the Japanese intended to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an entire train, that was no longer his concern. Hovering along the Zhengtai Railway, there was an abundance of actions he could take. Even without hijacking supplies, he could organize men equipped with long-range mortars to continually harass the Japanese. There was no need for a hundred regiments to sever the Zhengtai Railway!