Chapter 30: Imaginary Enemy (Seeking Bookmarks)

  Zhao Wenzhen adjusted his hat pin and said in a low voice, "These devils are too arrogant, occupying the so-called stronghold for a long time, blocking roads and robbing people, making it difficult for nearby residents to survive. We've just arrived here and we must solve this big problem for the masses! Let's get rid of them!" As he spoke, the battalion commander was already standing at the door, although he had been humiliated by Shan Yixuan, but still stood outside and shouted, "Report!"

  Zheng Wen looked towards the outside of the door and said loudly: "Come in!"

  Zhao Wenzhen looked at the map without saying a word. Gao Fei lowered his head, thinking that the captain was going to punish him this time, and stood still with no mental preparation!

  "Gaofei, don't worry about the Qinglong Village matter, remember you are a frontline commander, can't have any revenge or personal grievances behavior, because they will affect your normal performance on the battlefield!" Zheng Wen looked at Gaofei's listless appearance and softly advised.

  "Yes, Commissar!" Gao Fei nodded solemnly.

  Zhao Wenzhong turned around, glanced at Gao Fei and said: "Gao Fei, I have a task for you!" He circled three places on the map and continued: "These three strongholds have been occupied by the devils for years. At that time, we had not yet entered Zhaojiazhuang. Now that we are here, we must uproot them! Battalion Commander, do you have any questions?"

  Gao Fei walked up to the map and took a look at where the captain had marked. "No problem!" he said immediately.

  Zhao Wenzhen nodded and said with satisfaction: "Quick battle, quick decision, let's go!" Watching Gao Fei leave on cue, he thought to himself that the three strongholds were nothing but a mere three cups of wine for the devils.

  Gao Fei returned to the camp and quickly gave instructions. The 1st Battalion's 3rd Company launched a full-scale attack, simultaneously attacking three strongholds.

  In the afternoon, the sunlight shone all over the ground. Liu San led a few people to the designated location quickly and looked at the enemy's bunker. Liu San put on the camouflage uniform made by Xian Ye for the team members, and everyone who wore the camouflage uniform lay down in a place invisible to the enemy, slowly crawling forward towards the not-so-distant bunker. The scorching sunlight turned the withered grass on the ground into golden yellow, and the movements of several people became the wind-blown withered grass in the eyes of the enemy.

  After all the brothers were in place, Liu San took out the hand grenades tied to his body, pulled the pull ring and hesitated for a few seconds before throwing them into the bunker. With a loud "boom", the bomb exploded inside the bunker, and several people stood up at the fastest speed, rushing into the bunker with one shot each. Five minutes later, the battle on Liu San's side was declared over.

  Xiao Feng led another team to ambush on the opposite side of the artillery tower, Xiao Feng held a telescope and looked at the heavy machine gun of the devils on the artillery tower. After thinking for a moment, he said: "You wear the devil's clothes, get close and greet them, try to solve this battle silently, I will cover you with firepower from a distance!" As for Xiao Feng's current marksmanship, everyone trusted him completely, able to shoot two bullets through the same bullet hole. Such a godly marksman, besides Shan Yixuan, was Xiao Feng.

  A few people quickly changed into the enemy's clothes and swaggered towards the artillery tower.

  Xiao Feng's eyes were fixed on the enemy's heavy machine gunner, although the artillery tower was located in an unimportant region, but the enemy's defensive strength did not weaken for this reason. When they were more than 100 meters away from several brothers, the enemy's machine gunner discovered them wearing the same military uniform.

  "What are you doing?" A devil holding a Type 38 rifle next to the machine gunner immediately stood up and took aim.

  Several brothers staggered along, speaking in a bird language that they themselves didn't understand, ignoring the devils' threats and continuing to walk towards the artillery tower. The devils saw the several people's drunken appearance, furrowed their brows and didn't pay attention. Several people took advantage of the devils' unpreparedness, quickly pulled out daggers and short knives from their bodies and rushed into the artillery tower through the main gate!

  Xiao Feng saw a few people successfully enter the artillery tower, and with a smile, said: "The good show has begun!" As he pulled the trigger, one shot hit the machine gunner. The devils on the rooftop panicked, while those below heard the gunfire and focused their attention elsewhere, not noticing the brothers. When all the guns were firing blindly outward, the cold blades in the hands of the few men pierced through the devils' chests, slashing their throats, until they died without knowing what happened.

  Xiao Feng fired the gun once, and someone fell down. The people on the watchtower were too busy to notice what was happening below. After a few minutes, it became very quiet downstairs. The leading brother slowly walked up the stairs with a pistol in his hand. Several devils were still searching for the shooter when "bang bang" several shots rang out, and several devils fell down.

  Xiao Feng put away his gun and muttered to himself: "Before nightfall... Lao Da really looks down on us too much! Let's end this battle!"

  Just after Xiao Feng's battle ended, Lao San's group quickly resolved the fight and used horse-drawn carts to transport weapons and food to the assembly point. The first mission was very successful. Everyone gathered before leaving the assembly area.

  Gao Fei and others rushed into the artillery tower, seeing the corpses on the ground and the looted equipment, they couldn't help but gasp in shock. It was so ruthless... that it made everyone involuntarily take a cold breath. Gao Fei touched the Japanese soldier's arm, which still had body temperature, and thought to himself: "Who did this?" It seemed like it was done just before they arrived.

  "What? Too late?" Zhao Wenzhong and Zheng Wen looked at Gao Fei in surprise. Gao Fei nodded and said, "Yes, when we arrived, the enemy's artillery towers and fortresses were all empty, with only the enemy's corpses and leftover bullets remaining!"

  Zhao Wénxīng took a deep breath of cool air, thinking to himself that this was probably another move by the Green Dragon Gang. How did they think of attacking these three places? Were they trying to convey something to us?

  "Lao Zhao, what do you think this is the work of?" Zheng Wen asked Zhao Wenzhen with a questioning tone. The latter thought for a moment and said: "This must be the work of Qinglong Village! There's no more terrifying armed force around here than theirs, so it must be their Second Master trying to make us consider his plan carefully. This is just a gift he sent."

  "Still, gifts... Just killed a few devils and didn't leave us anything. You know the food in the military camp won't last long, after a while, I think we can't even drink porridge!" Zheng Wen sighed, is this what they call giving gifts? He'd rather believe that these people valued the devils' food and ammunition."

  Zhao Wenzhen lit a cigarette, smiled and said: "Old Zheng, people should learn to be content. I think they saw that we just arrived, exhausted from the long journey, so they helped us get rid of these troublesome devils, letting us rest at ease!" In his heart, he admired and was curious about Shan Yixuan's strategy and thinking, wondering how capable this person really was, Zhao Wenzhen secretly speculated.

  Thirty or so people returned to Qinglong Village before nightfall, each team with a bountiful harvest of spoils: food, guns, and bullets... Since following Shan Yixuan, these seemingly unattainable things had become simple and within reach. Everyone's heart was filled with boiling hot blood.

  "Big boss, second boss, we're back!" Xiao Feng and a few others stood in front of Shan Yixuan and Liu Yiming with big smiles on their faces, the joy written all over them.

  Shan Yixuan looked at the setting sun and frowned, saying: "Barely passable!"

  Dozens of people who thought they would get Xiao Yixuan's recognition and praise were stunned, barely... These four words made Xiao Feng and others lose the smile on their faces. Liu Yiming was even more puzzled, not to mention that he had obtained so many military supplies in such a short time, destroyed three enemy pillboxes and gun towers, and no one was injured, but such a brilliant achievement was only six words: barely qualified.

  Since the special forces team was formed, Shan Yixuan, who used to always have a smile on his face, almost never had a day where he wasn't frowning, making it uncomfortable for the thirty or so people around him. Sometimes, they would do anything just to get a smile from Shan Yixuan, even if it meant training for two more hours! This time, they thought they could make Shan Yixuan laugh, but unfortunately, they failed again. Xiao Feng sighed and lowered his head, saying: "No matter what we do, Brother Xuan might not be able to change this cold attitude of his."

  Shan Yixuan didn't notice the disappointed brothers, walked to Liu Yiming's side and said: "Big brother, if our food is still enough, I want to send this batch of supplies to the Eighth Route Army, what do you think?"

  Liu Yiming smiled and said loudly: "No problem, send it then, anyway we don't lack this thing!"

  Shan Yixuan saw Liu Yiming nod in agreement, and smiled as he said: "Then I'll send the goods to Zhaojiazhuang later, let's see if they can agree to my requirements. At least, we're showing our sincerity!" After speaking, he looked at the ruts left by the carriage behind him, and couldn't help but furrow his brow.

  Shan Yixuan looked at everyone and said: "Do you know why I say it's barely okay?" Everyone stared at Shan Yixuan, all wondering why.

  Shan Yixuan pointed to the ruts and asked, "If a ghost follows the ruts all the way here, it won't be a celebration, but a disaster! Do you understand?" He looked at everyone seriously. The carriage was dragging a very long rut behind it, but no one asked about it. Shan Yixuan paused for a moment before continuing, "Brothers, I know that a month of training has made you much stronger and more clever and brave. That's true! But you still lack caution! Our Qinglong Fort is strategically located and easy to defend, but difficult to attack. However, this doesn't mean no one can launch an attack!"

  "You may think my words are far-fetched, but I guarantee that in three months' time, if you treat yourselves as hypothetical enemies, this Qinglong Fort will be a very simple matter for you! Therefore, after completing the task, I hope everyone can eliminate all traces of enemy suspicion. We can make them grasp at air, but we absolutely cannot let them find us!" Yan Yixuan looked seriously at everyone present.

  Xiao Feng and others turned back to look at the long tire tracks, their faces no longer had the joyful expressions they had just now, everyone looked down in shame, this was an error that should not have been made, could not be made!