The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Chapter 599: Making Japanese prisoners work for at least 20 years to atone for their sins

Near the exit of the col, more than a dozen short figures had their hands tied behind their backs with rough hemp ropes, and then a thicker main rope was tied around their waists one by one like grasshoppers, forming a string.

This is the defeated Japanese soldier captured by the squad.

Not long ago, in a hidden valley near a stream, the squad successfully ambushed and captured this group of defeated Japanese soldiers.

The whole process was clean and efficient, and the Japanese were unable to organize any decent resistance.

At this moment, these captives no longer had the arrogance of the "Imperial Army" of the past. They were even a hundred times more miserable than the Nanyang Army squad that had been hiding in the woods for half a month.

uniform?

The Japanese military uniforms were already in tatters, covered with mud, blood and indescribable filth. The colors were almost unrecognizable. They looked more like a pile of rags hanging on a withered skeleton.

Many of the Japanese soldiers were even barefoot, their feet covered with festering wounds and leeches full of blood.

The exposed skin is covered with pustules from mosquito bites, bloody scars from thorn scratches, and a sallow or grayish color due to malnutrition and disease.

What was most unbearable for the squad members was the stench that hit them in the face.

It was a mixture of rotten sweat, festering wounds, excrement, and some kind of decay, an extremely strong and pungent smell.

The smell was like a real wave, causing the escorting Nanyang soldiers to frown and cover their mouths and noses reflexively. Even the veterans who were used to bloody scenes couldn't help but retching.

"What the hell is that smell?!" A new recruit couldn't help but vomit. "It's a hundred times stinkier than a pigsty."

"Damn it! Did these bastards fall into a cesspool?" Zhao Dayong cursed, suppressing his nausea. He poked a stumbling Japanese prisoner with the butt of his rifle, saying, "Hurry up! What are you dawdling for?"

The Japanese prisoner was hit by the butt of the gun and fell to the ground, letting out a weak groan.

He struggled to get up, but his body seemed to be completely out of control. A large dark yellow stain quickly became visible on his crotch, and the suffocating stench became even stronger in an instant.

An old soldier nearby spat and kicked the devil in disgust:

"Fuck! They peed in their crotch again. What's wrong with these guys?"

The old squad leader, walking in front of the team, covered his face with a cloth soaked in mosquito repellent and explained in a muffled voice:

"What else could it be? Drinking raw water, eating raw food, plus this damn hot and humid place, it's all caused by dysentery.

When we found their 'camp,' guess what? It was just a giant open-air latrine.

Their feces and urine were everywhere, and flies were buzzing around like a black cloth. Many people were lying right in the middle of the feces and urine, unable to move, like a nest of maggots with legs."

The scene he described made all the soldiers' stomachs churn again.

A new recruit looked at the Japanese prisoner lying on the ground with a blank look in his eyes and a dirty crotch, his face showing extreme disgust and incomprehension:

"Deputy Zhao Lian, these beasts committed all kinds of evil in Singapore and Pegu, burning, killing, looting and committing all kinds of atrocities. How many villagers were harmed by them?

Why not just shoot it and save yourself the trouble? Why bother pushing it down the mountain?

To me, it's a waste of food. How long have we been eating canned food and luncheon meat? I haven't eaten white rice in a long time..."

An old soldier who was escorting the prisoners heard this and grinned, revealing his white teeth. His smile was a bit ferocious. He used the butt of his rifle to "gently" poke a slow-moving Japanese prisoner next to him, and watching him curl up in pain, he slowly said:

"You little brat, you know nothing. Just collapse? That would be too easy for these beasts."

He pointed to the vague outline of the road below the mountain:

"See? We have so much work to do in Nanyang. How many roads need to be repaired? How many bridges need to be built? It's all hard, tiring work, and it can easily lead to deaths.

The commander-in-chief said this is called recycling waste. Let them atone for their sins with their lives. They are being used like animals. One less person will die of exhaustion. Before they die of exhaustion, they can still build bridges and roads for us in Nanyang. Isn't that better than just collapsing them? "

He kicked the stone at his feet, his eyes cold:

"Great Commander, be kind and righteous. These devils will be sentenced to a minimum of twenty years in prison. They will be working to death, building roads, mining, and clearing wasteland.

Let them taste the bitterness of their own sins; this is true retribution."

These words immediately resonated with the other soldiers.

"Yeah, these bastards are exhausted."

"Bah, then they'll just have to dig rocks and eat pig food every day."

"It would be better to let them work on the railway and die of exhaustion on the roadbed, just to serve as sleepers."

"Damn it, just thinking about it makes me feel better. It's a thousand times better than just killing him."

The soldiers were talking among themselves, and the atmosphere of the escort team was actually a little "cheerful".

Looking at this group of Japanese prisoners who were once so arrogant but now stank like mud and were kicked and beaten by anyone, a sense of pleasure of revenge and a sense of superiority of having the power of life and death arose spontaneously.

The group of tied-up Japanese soldiers moved like zombies under the soldiers' shouting, pushing and "reminders" from their gun butts.

The severe pain and weakness brought by dysentery made them feel like they were walking on the edge of a knife with every step. Their stomachs ached, and uncontrollable filth flowed down their tattered trouser legs, leaving a trail of foul smelling dirt behind them.

Their eyes were empty and numb, occasionally flashing with a trace of fear of death and deep resentment towards the Nanyang soldiers in front of them, but more of it was a kind of despair after their will was completely destroyed.

They once viewed other Asian races as pigs and dogs, but now they are even worse than pigs and dogs.

This huge contrast, this situation worse than death, is exactly what Zhang Chi wants - physical torture is only the beginning, the destruction of the spirit and the complete trampling of dignity are the most cruel and most satisfying punishment for these war criminals.

The road down the mountain was long and rugged, and the air was filled with a lingering stench and the gleeful curses of the Nanyang soldiers.

This string of moving "human-shaped garbage" has become the dirtiest and most tragic footnote to the complete collapse of the Japanese invasion war in the depths of the Sumatran jungle.

At this moment, countless remnants of the Japanese army were being searched out on the island of Sumatra and were being rounded up and locked up in the prisoner-of-war camps they had built themselves, waiting to be taken back to the mainland of Southeast Asia...

-----

After inspecting the training of several divisions that were preparing to participate in the expedition to Ryukyu, Zhang Chi quickly handed over the military issues to the staff team to resolve.

He himself focused his energy on developing people's livelihood.

Currently, the cheapest and most securely supplied meat in Southeast Asia is the canned SPAM luncheon meat imported in batches.

The imported wholesale price of each can of this stuff, which is almost one pound, is only 20 eagle cents, and the retail price in the local Nanyang market is 0.6 Nanyang dollars.

It contains only 6-8% meat, and most of it is minced meat and bone-in meat, and the rest is mainly starch and seasonings.