Chapter 8: In Desperate Straits

  Yang Jingyu and Ma Qian'an's situation became increasingly difficult, the two hid during the day and moved at night, taking two days to rush to the vicinity of Linjiang. However, they did not find the Second Army's Tanaka Shinichi's unit, so the two had no choice but to move northeast again to look for Cao Guanjue's First Army unit.

  The Japanese puppet army has obviously strengthened its search efforts, and now even at night it's becoming unsafe. Every ten or so li you can discover the ghostly or puppet army's campsite, with scarlet torches burning all night without a break. Any slight unusual movement can bring about pursuit.

  Ma Qian'an and Yang Jingyu were extremely cautious, but under such a tight blockade, it was only a matter of time before they were discovered. From the moment they set foot on the road to the north, the outcome was pursuit, battle, constant battle.

  One wave was repelled, and another came up. Yang Jingyu's expression also became serious. The intensity of this search was unprecedented. Fortunately, the two were extremely physically strong, Yang Jingyu's hiding skills were superb, and Ma Qian'an's marksmanship was accurate, so they didn't get surrounded. The two always had a chance to break through the blockade and hide in time.

  Two days later, the hideout was unfortunately discovered. After a fierce battle, the two retreated to a mountain ridge while fighting. Fortunately, the slope was steep, the trees were sparse, and the shooting range was open, so the enemy could not attack for the time being.

  Yang Jingyu looked at the enemy at the foot of the mountain, then looked at Ma Qian who was lying beside him, and gave an exceptionally calm order: "Anzi, you break through by yourself, I'll cover for you."

  "Commander, what's going on? Of course we'll go together!" Ma Qian'an didn't understand why Yang Jingyu said that.

  Yang Jingyu smiled bitterly and said: "I'm afraid it's no good, I'm injured, can't run."

  Ma Qian was shooting and only then turned his head in surprise, seeing that the general's left leg had been stained with blood, his heart skipped a beat, and a bad premonition suddenly rose to his mind.

  In the icy and snowy land, once the person being chased loses speed, the consequences are obvious.

  Yang Jingyu, with the help of Ma Qian'an, tightly bound his wound and repeatedly urged Ma Qian'an to hurry: "Anzi, listen, take advantage of it now while the devils haven't surrounded us from behind, there's still a chance, ah?"

  Ma Qian did not respond and remained silent.

  Yang Jingyu saw Ma Qian'an ignoring him and raised his tone in anger, "Ma Qian'an, obey orders, withdraw immediately!"

  "I won't!" Ma Qian replied stubbornly, "If we're going to die, let's die together. I'm not afraid, what's the difference if I die again? This time I've made a profit anyway."

  Yang Jingyu was taken aback: "Nonsense! What's this about dying again? Disobeying orders, I'll relieve you of your duty!"

  "What position?" Ma Qian was baffled, what position did I have?

  Yang Jingyu was momentarily speechless, hesitated for a moment, and said: "I am now appointing you as the captain of the guard company, but if you don't listen to orders, you will be removed from office immediately!"

  "Yes, I am Guard Platoon Leader Ma Qian'an. The duty of a guard platoon leader is to ensure the safety of the commander-in-chief. I'm currently carrying out my task, please don't give arbitrary orders." Ma Qian'an replied without turning his head back.

  Ma Qian'an's sight was locked onto another hidden enemy who couldn't expose his upper body, "Bang!" A crisp gunshot later, a devil over 300 meters away fell forward, collapsing onto a rotten tree stump, with a blood arrow flying out of his back for a long distance.

  More than a hundred devils in front were suppressed by Ma Qian'an at 3 or 4 hundred meters away, and they could not get close. Once they crawled to within 300 meters of Ma Qian'an, they would immediately become corpses.

  The devils finally understood this truth at the cost of more than a dozen lives and no longer dared to launch a surprise attack.

  On the mountain top, Ma Qian'an slightly curled his lip, spat a mouthful of saliva, and turned to Yang Jingyu with an air of nonchalance: "Commander, the little devils' marksmanship isn't great, huh? At just over 300 meters, they can't even hit the target."

  Yang Jingyu didn't have time to be angry with him, and for some reason, he felt not only no anger but a thread of emotion and comfort towards this disobedient guy who refused to leave his side.

  The intense gunfire attracted the troops led by Cheng Bing, but they did not join the Ghost Legion's side. Instead, they followed the foot of the mountain, advancing step by step towards the rear mountain. Cheng Bing had long since figured it out - Yang Jingyu's side had a godly marksman, and only a fool would launch a frontal assault, asking for trouble. By going to the rear mountain, he could cut off Yang Jingyu's escape route, which was also a great achievement. If things went well, he might even be able to capture his exhausted opponent.

  Yang Jingyu took advantage of a fallen tree to quickly stick his head out and take a look at the mountain, seeing Cheng Bing's vanguard advancing in the snowy terrain. He turned around and said to Ma Qian in a low voice: "Anzi, you can't leave now even if you want to, what's the point of this?"

  Nothing much, I can't abandon my comrades, if I abandoned you, others would laugh at me to death, anyway it's death, dying in battle is the most glorious, it's worth it!

  Ma Qian'an didn't say anything grand, but it was this simple language that moistened Yang Jingyu's eyes. He felt gratitude, emotion and admiration for this young man who had appeared like a riddle, taking huge risks to weather the storm with him and fight together. He looked at Ma Qian'an silently for a moment, then said in a low voice: "Good brother!"

  Cheng Bing led his troops, exerting great effort to arrive at the foot of the mountain. He looked up at the summit and then ordered his men to spread out in a scattered line along the foot of the mountain. Just as everyone was preparing to climb upwards, Cheng Bing shouted loudly: "Everyone listen! Find cover where you are, observe the summit from your original position, and do not fire randomly!"

  A horse-faced squad leader under Cheng Bing's command wiped the sweat and asked breathlessly, "Squad leader, what's going on? Why aren't we charging?"

  Cheng Bing glanced at Ma Liang's face with disdain, "Li Sipao, you're really asking for it. Don't you know that Yang Jingyu is not easy to catch? You used to be in the resistance league, don't you know how formidable he is? A cornered beast will still fight back, do you know that? Without a dozen lives lost, no one can get close to him. Let's wait and see."

  "What? What's going on?" Li Si was confused.

  "What are you waiting for? Waiting for your mom's comparison? What are you waiting for, stupid pig? You want to go up, go ahead and see who dares to go with you?"

  Li Si was scolded and shrank his neck, slipping away to one side, no longer daring to speak.

  Cheng Bing knew his men all too well, most of them were timid and afraid to die. Especially just now, everyone saw that there was a sharpshooter on the mountain top, even the Japanese were suppressed 300 meters away and didn't dare to raise their heads. At this time, if he let everyone charge towards the mountain top, it's likely that after an hour of giving orders, these guys would still be hesitating in place. If they were rushed, they might even shoot their own comrades. Forget it, surrounding them was a better option for now.

  The mountains in front and behind had no signs of attack for a while, the devils didn't bring cannons, maybe they thought it was not necessary to carry them, only two grenade launchers, the range was far from enough. Several machine guns were constantly roaring, but their accuracy was not commendable, just hitting around Ma Qian'an's surroundings, either left or right, up or down.

  Ma Qianan aimed for half a day and fired a shot, hitting the embankment of a ditch where a devil's machine gunner was hiding, stirring up a small snow mist.

  "Damn it, they've retreated! What's the point of these bastards hiding so far away? They still claim to be bushido warriors, spit!" Ma Qian'an cursed in anger, resenting the Japanese for being afraid of death.

  Yang Jingyu looked at Ma Qian's muttering and smiled, "Anzi, you really aren't bragging, this shooting is amazing! If all of us in the Anti-Japanese League were as skilled a marksman as you, I reckon we would have driven those devils out long ago."

  Ma Qian'an knew that Yang Jingyu was telling a joke, the devils not only had guns, but also planes, cannons and tanks. This, the god of guns couldn't hit. He smiled and replied: "Commander, why don't you try?"

  "Never mind, 100 meters is still okay, at this distance now, I'm shooting, purely wasting bullets." Yang Jingyu said while loading another Type 38 rifle.

  "If only I had a heavy sniper rifle, I guarantee that with one shot, I'd blow that guy's head off." Ma Qian glared sullenly at the Japanese military officer hiding behind the tree and making gestures.

  "Oh? You know quite a lot, have you ever seen a sniper? The kind with binoculars?"

  "I've seen it before... Oh, I saw it at the old Mao's place once when they were rehearsing, and I hid in a tree hole to watch for real."

  "Don't worry, if we can get out of here, I'll definitely find a way to exchange one for you, how about that?" Yang Jingyu joked.

  "That's great! But we have to wait until we get to the boss's place."

  "Huh? You little brat, one mouthful of 'comrade' after another, do you know what comrade means? Call me comrade."

  Ma Qian'an doesn't have that much respect for SL people. These Russians, wherever they go, bring disaster to wherever they are. No matter what high-sounding name this country is crowned with, it's all for their own benefit and not worth trusting.

  "Here we go again! Haven't had enough of gunfire yet!" Ma Qian'an deliberately didn't pick up Yang Jingyu's conversation thread, and pointed to the foot of the mountain.

  The devils were not reconciled to this stalemate, and sent out four small groups for a probing attack. This time they learned their lesson well, and instead of charging forward with abandon, they moved stealthily through the snowy terrain, three men in each group taking turns covering each other as they advanced.

  "Bang!" One of the devils raised both arms and fell straight to the ground, "bang!" Another devil's body shook, its crawling posture immediately stopped, motionless, and a large patch of red slowly seeped out from under the white snow.

  The remaining devils didn't dare to move forward again, and there was no hope of survival. Everyone looked back at the officer with fear, and the devil officer Qing Tian Zhishu had a gloomy face, calling off this ineffective attack.

  Since you can't get up there, don't think about coming down either. Starve them to death, freeze them to death, all the devils are having vicious thoughts.

  Night fell, and bonfires were lit one after another at the foot of the mountain. Looking from afar, it was like a fire snake that tightly encircled this small mountain ridge.