Chapter 7 Coercion and Inducement

  Ma Qian'an saw Yang Jingyu safe and sound, his heart was excited beyond measure. He immediately took a step forward, stretched out both arms, and tightly hugged the general, saying incoherently: "Great, Commander, great!"

  Yang Jingyu looked at the guy who was tightly hugging him, and a warm current surged in his heart. Ma Qian's earlier painful expression with closed eyes and now tightly hugging himself, the unintentionally revealed sincere emotions deeply moved the general.

  "Alright, alright, Anzi, you're so grown up now, yet you're acting like a child." The general patted Ma Qian'an's back lightly, "Hey, stop messing around, there are good things on the ground."

  Ma Qian quickly opened General An's package and squatted on the ground to inspect the contents, covering up his earlier embarrassment.

  Yang Jingyu saw it in his eyes and smiled slightly.

  "Fifteen rifles, and a machine gun with a crooked handle, what a pity that we can't take them away." Ma Qian'an sighed regretfully, and could only gather some bullets to carry on his back.

  "These bastards, not even bringing a bit of dry rations." After finishing the last corpse, Ma Qian'an cursed in dissatisfaction. After cursing, he thought for a moment, pulled out a dagger, and with three or two slashes, cut off a large piece of meat from a Japanese devil's leg, found a backpack to pack it up.

  Yang Jingyu furrowed his brow and remained silent. The feeling of hunger, the general knew better than anyone else, that this meat, no matter how dirty, was still better than cotton and grass roots. If it weren't for hunger, his two guards wouldn't have taken the risk to go out and find food, nor would they have sacrificed themselves. He didn't know when he could find his own troops again, or how long he would have to deal with the devils. It's always better to be prepared.

  "I'm learning from General Yue's grandfather, drinking Hun blood to quench thirst and hunger." Ma Qian explained, seeing the general frown.

  "What a starving meal and thirsty drink of barbarian blood, that is an ambitious meal of barbarian flesh." Yang Jingyu smiled and acknowledged Ma Qian's actions.

  "Yes, Commander Yang is indeed highly knowledgeable." Ma Qian saw that Yang Jingyu was smiling and guessed that he might have opened up about his past experience of cutting off the enemy's flesh, so he casually gave him a compliment.

  Ma Qian'an was extremely loving to himself, but extremely cruel to the devils. Yang Jingyu gave Ma Qian'an a fixed phrase in his heart.

  Ma Qian'an is now well-off, except for his underwear and socks which are his own, everything else on him from head to toe is the enemy's stuff: cotton-padded jacket, cotton-padded pants, cotton-padded hat, military boots, military bag, military overcoat. He also has a brand new 38 rifle and more than 100 bullets.

  Yang Jingyu couldn't wear those small clothes and pants. The tallest devil's clothes were first tight on Ma Qian, and then there was no suitable one.

  An unspeakable comfort all over, Ma Qian'an jumped a few times and quickly followed Yang Jingyu, disappearing into the vast snow, leaving behind a trail of chaos.

  Tōhoku Provincial Police Department Chief Nagaya Ryūjirō received another piece of bad news, an entire platoon plus the squad leader, a total of 15 elite soldiers were silently and effortlessly killed, as easily as killing fifteen chickens. This is absolutely a slap in the face for the Imperial Army, it's smearing feces on their own faces.

  What especially enraged the old devil was that among the dead were Taiheiki and Yuushi, Lieutenant Nishida Magozō's squad leader who had been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd Class, and a large piece of flesh had even been cut from his thigh.

  "@#￥%，barbaric Zhina people, uncivilized savages, Bah! Ga ya road!" The old devil cursed like a madman. At this time, he was dizzy and had completely forgotten that he himself was a beast.

  The various expedition team leaders and vanguard team leaders gathered in the conference hall, while the police sergeants from each county saw Lao Guizi getting angry, one by one they were as still as wooden chickens, silent as cold cicadas, not even daring to take a breath, afraid that Lao Guizi would find fault with them, everyone was afraid of being made a scapegoat for Lao Guizi's anger, such a death would be too unjust.

  Kishitani Ryōjirō wasn't one to get angry over nothing, having experienced greater losses before. For months, the battles against the Anti-Communist League had been ongoing, with each slightly larger battle resulting in dozens of casualties on both sides. However, they always managed to gain something from it, which kept his anger at bay. But this time was different - the enemy had left behind only a pile of tattered clothes and pants, without even a single corpse. He knew that in their current state of fleeing, the Anti-Communist League wouldn't be able to take their dead with them, nor would they have the ability to dig graves in the icy snow to bury their fallen comrades. This meant that the enemy had suffered no losses, and this battle was a complete victory for them. He couldn't understand how there could still be a large number of Anti-Communist League members in the heavily guarded area of Mengjiang County. Were his men really useless?

  The old devil stared at the blood-red eyes, staring at the captain of Cheng Bing's expedition team, Cheng Bing, "Cheng Sang, you say, is this not Chang Jingyu?"

  Cheng Bing, the original commander of the First Route Army's First Division, was promoted and entrusted by Yang Jingyu, but defected to the enemy in August 1938. He was appointed as the captain of the Vanguard Team by the old devils, specializing in searching and annihilating the Anti-Japanese League. Cheng Bing's Vanguard Team had over 300 people, with the backbone being the original Anti-Japanese League soldiers who defected to the enemy. For more than a year, these traitors, who were extremely familiar with the Anti-Japanese League, brought irreparable losses to the First Route Army. Almost all the secret camps storing weapons and food were destroyed by these guys along with the devils, causing the First Route Army to lose its supply and hiding places, forcing them to engage in a war of attrition with the enemy, resulting in huge personnel losses. The army's size was reduced from 6,000-7,000 people to just hundreds, reaching a precarious point.

  The old devil Lao Gui pointed at a pair of large cotton shoes on the table and asked Cheng Bing.

  Cheng Bing's Adam's apple moved up and down several times.

  "What's wrong?" The old devil pressed on.

  Cheng Bing's body trembled slightly, and his fearful eyes quickly glanced at Kishi Ryojiro, saying: "Director, it's not easy to tell from a pair of slippers, but Yang Jingyu's feet are indeed large, however, there are also several bandits' feet that are this big."

  The old devil rudely interrupted him: "Enough, I told you to speak, not to be unclear, huh? You don't understand the word 'unclear'. Let me put it clearly." The old devil suddenly realized that Cheng Bing was uncultured.

  Sweat beads as big as soybeans suddenly seeped out of his forehead, and he stuttered: "Director, I really don't know."

  Looking at Cheng Bing's flustered appearance, the old devil was furious and coldly sneered: "You're not a man, you're a coward, you're afraid of Yang Jingyu, you don't dare to say it, I'll say it for you, you're afraid that I'll make you lead the charge!"

  The old devil deeply understands these traitors from the Anti-Japanese League, in order to keep that one humble dog life, they can do whatever despicable and shameless things, just not including charging into battle.

  Cheng Bing's sweat beads increased.

  An Qi's eyes rolled around, his tone became a bit more gentle, "Cheng Sang", then he looked again at the large group of team leaders with their heads down and said: "Cheng Sang, your merits, the Imperial Army will not forget. The many anti-communist dens you've discovered, are great achievements, but as long as Yang Jingyu is not eliminated, you will not be safe for a single day, do you understand? Do all of you understand?"

  A large group of traitorous chicks nodded repeatedly like pecking at rice, "Understood, understood." The noise was chaotic and confusing.

  "Your turn." The old devil walked over to the wall with the map on it and picked up a wooden stick, beginning to gesture on the map.

  "The Kwantung Army headquarters is supporting our two battalions, which will arrive here in no time." The old devil pointed to two places on the map. "You all, move out, bring food with you, and camp wherever you search at night. Don't come back to the city until Yang Jingyu is eliminated."

  "Hi!"

  "Cheng Bing, your Songjiang River, Tang Zhendong, your Donggang, Niu Wanshan, your Quanyang West Ten Miles, Qiaoben, you bring a battalion to Xianren Bridge to meet with the troops there..."

  The old devil would dispatch a unit to a location, and there would be staff officers drawing circles on the map at that location. Ten minutes later, the border of Mengjiang County in front of everyone was already densely covered with circles.

  "Director," a timid voice sounded, and the old man turned his head, "Tang Sang, what's going on, speak."

  "Camping at night, I'm afraid my brothers won't be able to withstand it and many people will get frostbite."

  "What's going on? Damn it, why can Yang Jingyu do it? As far as I know, they don't even dare to start a fire, so why can they camp?" The old devil's eyes widened.

  The old devil has made up his mind this time, the expeditionary force, the vanguard, will camp on the spot and never give Yang Jingyu a chance to escape again. He summed up his experience, the reason why he couldn't find Yang Jingyu was mainly because his subordinates would stop work at night, hide in the towns, and the nighttime search operation would cease, resulting in gaps in the encirclement. This time it can't be like this again. Now seeing Tang Zhendong raise an objection, he's furious, his eyes bulging, frostbite? Ridiculous! You lowly Japanese people can't even bear a little hardship, you're a born inferior nation. I don't care, as long as we find Yang Jingyu's trail it's fine.

  A group of traitor captains cursed in their hearts, "Damn it, if we could hold on like Yang Jingyu, why surrender and become a Han traitor? Isn't it just because we can't bear that hardship, so we surrendered? This old devil, really doesn't take us as human beings, I'm so angry, I'll join the Anti-Japanese League."

  Seeing his subordinates with bitter faces, the old devil became even more enraged. "You're indulging in pleasures and wealth, forgetting who gave them to you? Hmm?" He glared fiercely at these underlings: "If you can't capture Yang Jingyu, all of these will be gone, including your families, hmm? Think about it."

  Cheng Bing heard the old devil's threatening words and thought, a good man doesn't take advantage of the situation in front of him. He puffed out his chest and replied loudly: "I am willing to serve His Majesty the Emperor!"

  Others cursed in their hearts but also expressed their loyalty one after another.

  The old devil's face slightly cleared, and with a wave of his hand, "Everyone set off!"