Chapter 15: Shouldering Heavy Responsibilities

  Wei Zhengmin was of medium build, with a fair complexion and wearing an old-fashioned pair of round glasses. His eyes were sharp, his ears pointed, and his chin slightly protruded, giving him the overall appearance of a scholar.

  Ma Qian noticed that Wei Zengmin, like Yang Jingyu, was very particular about his personal grooming and cleanliness. He wore a short blue cotton-padded jacket with a white collar, tightly tied at the waist with a cowhide belt, looking very neat and tidy. However, on his face, there were faintly visible dark grey marks, apparently some stubborn illness was tormenting this young man.

  Wei Zhengmin came in and carefully sized up Ma Qian'an. From the smile on his face, he must have heard about some of Ma Qian'an's "brilliant deeds". Ma Qian'an hastily raised his hand in a salute, "Secretary Wei!"

  Wei Zhengmin smiled and casually pulled up Ma Qian's hand, saying: "Oh, this is Comrade Little Ma. I heard from Old Yang that you are very brave and have good marksmanship skills. Not bad, not bad. From now on, you will be in charge of the shooting training task, okay?"

  "Alright, it's settled." Ma Qian'an replied readily.

  Yang Jingyu pulled Wei Kemin aside and said, "You old Wei, you're always snatching my people. This is my lifesaver and the captain of the guard company. Do you want him? Bring two mountain chickens to exchange."

  Ma Qian'an was surprised, and the lifesaver was worth only two pheasants? He saw Yang Jingyu wink at him with a pleased expression, but he didn't know what else to say, so he remained silent.

  As expected, Wei Zhengmin heard that he wanted two pheasants and immediately made a bitter face, sighed, "So expensive? Then I don't want it, where can I get the money to pay you?"

  In this deep mountain and old forest, aren't there many pheasants? What's difficult about that? Ma Qian'an couldn't understand Wei Congmin's expression.

  Yang Jingyu saw Ma Qianan's confusion and explained, "Anzi, there's nothing left here now. The small animals that can be eaten have all been caught by us. Where do you want him to find mountain chicken? Come on, you just came back, are you hungry? Eat this, eat."

  Yang Jingyu pushed the small bowl of stir-fried soybeans in front of him to Ma Qian'an. Ma Qian'an was indeed hungry, and as soon as he reached for it, Chen Tian Tian slapped his hand away from the soybeans, "Don't eat that, it's for Commander to supplement his nutrition, haven't you seen Commander's injury?"

  Ma Qian'an only then noticed that Yang Jingyu's face was waxen yellow, with a layer of cold sweat hanging on it. The general's body must be in very poor condition now. He patted his own head.

  "Commander, our Anti-Japanese United Army shouldn't be so poor, right? These soybeans?" Ma Qian said with a sigh, these soybeans have become a nutritious food, let alone meat, it's probably all gone.

  Wei Zhengmin smiled wryly, "Little Ma, you just arrived and don't understand the situation. Wait a few more days until the grain team returns and you'll be able to eat several full meals. For now...just bear with it."

  What's the point of sending a grain team? Seeing Wei Zhenmin's embarrassed expression, Ma Qian'an cleverly stopped continuing on this topic. He turned to look at Yang Jingyu and changed his tone.

  "Hey, look at me, Commander, are there any bullets in your leg? I still know a bit of medicine, let me take them out for you."

  "It's nothing, just a through-and-through wound. The little devil's bullet had great force and exited. Oh? You also know some medical skills?"

  "Haha! I've gone hunting before, and when I got a little injured, I just took care of it myself." Ma Qian'an rubbed his head with a silly grin, preparing to slowly reveal his skills.

  "You're not calling me 'I' anymore? What's changed?" Yang Jingyu was indeed a meticulous person, and he keenly sensed Ma Qian'an's change.

  Ma Qian'an had long been prepared with his excuse, and from the moment the battalion commander who blocked him pointed out this characteristic of his, he had already decided to say so. "I see everyone saying that, I can't fall behind, right? They say 'me me' and it sounds nice, so I changed."

  "Heh heh, you little guy, you learn fast. Alright, tell Secretary Wei again about the situation with the blocking battle, and we'll discuss it together, how to contact them, how to guide them to play their role." Yang Jingyu didn't plan to ask too much about Ma Qianan's self-proclaimed identity, wasting time, as many people had changed a lot here, not just Ma Qianan.

  Ma Qian'an reported again and handed the list to Wei Zhengmin. Wei Zhengmin and Yang Jingyu looked at the list, both of them fell into deep thought. Ma Qian'an, on the other hand, was eating corn kernels brought by Chen Xiangxiang and drinking mushroom soup with relish.

  After a while, Wei Duomin raised his head and stared at Ma Qian'an, asking: "Little Ma, do you have some kind of magic power? These comrades," Wei Duomin shook the list in his hand, "they are all old veterans, with very strong willpower. You just spoke a few words and they were moved? I don't quite believe it, tell me, what did you say at the time?"

  It cannot be denied that Ma Qianan's performance was indeed good at the time, but now he is asked to repeat those original words, and it's really a bit unclear, Ma Qianan looked at Chen Tiantian for help.

  Chen Tian also suddenly remembered the situation at that time, and she felt that Ma Qian's mobilization level was high, and she even praised him with a sentence "like our Secretary Wei". Chen Tian's memory is good, and she repeated most of it on the spot, basically conveying the main idea. Ma Qian occasionally interjected from the side, saying "Did I really say that?" or "Was that what I said?", expressing his surprise.

  Chen Tian Tian finished speaking, saw Ma Qian An still pretending to be a pig eating a tiger, looked at him with disdain and said: "What are you pretending? You didn't say it like that!"

  Yang Jingyu and Wei Duomin listened with piercing eyes, apparently very appreciative of Ma Qian'an's mobilization speech.

  Ma Qian couldn't install it anymore. He touched his head and said with a hint of embarrassment, "Am I a genius? I was able to think of this method."

  As soon as this was said, Yang Jingyu and Wei Duomin couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing, saying "interesting, interesting".

  "Maybe at that time, I really didn't want them to sacrifice like this, it's also an unavoidable measure, let's win in the midst of danger." Ma Qian'an covered himself up.

  Wei Zhengmin took over the conversation and said thoughtfully: "You're not simple, very quick-witted, with a good theoretical level. Just now I heard Tiantian say that you get along well with Li Fengshan and his gang. Are you interested in going over there to reform them?"

  Ma Qian'an shook his head repeatedly, "Secretary Wei, you're overestimating me. I'm not that capable, it's all just book knowledge. I won't go, I still want to follow Commander and make progress. By the way, Commander, this time I killed a lot of devils, can I join the party now?"

  Yang Jingyu smiled but didn't answer, nodded his head and let him talk to Wei Zhengmin.

  Ma Qian An discontentedly pouted her mouth.

  Wei Zhengmin inquired about the battle situation over the past few days, then patted the list in his hand and said to Yang Jingyu, "Hmm, looking at this situation, these comrades except for those who are seriously injured will probably survive. The devils' current propaganda offensive is also very fierce and can easily confuse people, they won't lightly kill those who surrender to the Anti-Japanese League. So we need to give them better cover."

  "What conditions? Let them make amends?" Yang Jingyu said with a smile.

  "We can notify them of several abandoned secret base locations and let them make contributions to the enemy, who knows, it might come in handy in the future."

  "How can we get this message across? Who can reach these wounded?"

  "It's still worth taking a risk, do you remember when Cheng Bing surrendered and took away 115 soldiers? One of them has already been found by his family and he said that he didn't want to surrender, it was all forced by Cheng Bing, if he didn't follow Cheng Bing, he would be shot immediately, so it was under duress."

  "Can you believe it?"

  "Hey, let's treat the dead horse as if it were alive for now. Let's test this traitorous warrior first, and if he passes, then we'll give him his assignment. That's all." Wei Duomin suddenly remembered, "Weren't you guys surrounded by Cheng Bingting's troops? Later when our people came up, they didn't even know if the warrior was dead or not. If he's really dead, that would be a real injustice."

  Several people looked at each other in dismay, this kind of thing where one mistakenly harms their own people has happened before, a spy who had been lurking for many years didn't die in the secret war, but instead died from the guns and cannons of their own comrades, it's not that rare, is it?

  A few people put this matter aside first and talk about it when the special task force arrives.

  Yang Jingyu had just heard the word "book" and was thinking about something. After the matter of sending a spy was settled, he suddenly asked: "Right, Anzi, can you remember the article 'On Protracted War'? Recite it for us, I'll take notes."

  "What is the theory of protracted war?" Wei Zhenmin did not know about this matter.

  "Anzi, let's hear him out. He has come into contact with a lot of outside information, much of which is urgently needed by us. Let him speak, and after he finishes, we can discuss it further."

  Ma Qian'an didn't dare to slack off, he looked up, narrowed his eyes and started reciting the article from memory. Yang Jingyu's pen moved swiftly on the yellow paper, afraid of missing a single word. When Ma Qian'an was pondering, everyone waited patiently with bated breath, not daring to disturb him.

  The more Ma Qian'an carried on his back, the brighter Wei Zhengmin's eyes became, and finally they sparkled like two bright grapes. He restrained his excitement, constantly rubbing his palms, it was clear that he had found resonance.

  Of course, Ma Qianan couldn't remember it word for word, but there were no major omissions. He had also studied this article carefully back then. When Ma Qianan finished reciting with a flourish, he looked up to see Cao Yafan's excited face staring at his mouth without blinking. He was startled immediately, and Cao Junzhang's lightness skills were really good, sneaking up on him.

  Ma Qian'an spread his hands out, indicating he had finished carrying it.

  Wei Zhengmin adjusted his glasses and tried to suppress himself, saying repeatedly: "Great, great. We've always wanted to get in touch with the Central Committee. Last year we sent two groups of people to Yan'an, but there was no response. Maybe something unexpected happened on the way. Tell me everything you saw and heard about our party while you were in SL."

  Goodness, there's so much to this matter. Ma Qian'an recalled the influential meetings and events from 40 years ago, recounting them one by one. He could see how much Yang Jingyu and Wei Zengmin needed these, as they were surrounded by enemies with too little information. Ma Qian'an wasn't worried about their interrogation; all this information was available in the newspapers of SL.

  "So that means Shi Daoling also praised Chairman Mao? And said he was the most impeccable leader of the Chinese revolution?" asked Wei Zengmin.

  "Yes, that's what the newspaper said. I understand some Russian, learned it from old Mao when I was a runner."

  Yang Jingyu glared at him and said, "Comrade."

  Wei Zhengmin was very politically-minded, he once said, "Revolution cannot rely solely on bravery and passion, but also requires political acumen and grand ideals. Politics is a weapon that not only enables us to progress, but also empowers us to strike at the enemy; every combatant in our Anti-Japanese League must become a political propagandist."

  Wei Zhengmin keenly felt that the SL people, or the Communist League, had already acknowledged Mao Hongze's position, and the internal line struggle had come to an end. But why didn't the SL people inform them of their connection with their own Central Committee? Why not report the situation here to the CCP Central Committee? Did they have their own plans? No, they had to quickly clarify the situation, like now, like a child without a mother, no one was in charge, and if this continued, all personnel would be lost.

  Wei Zhengmin wanted to send more personnel to contact the Central Committee, and there were two routes. One was the domestic route, which went through Manchuria and passed through the Japanese-occupied area to reach Yan'an. This road was very difficult, and the fact that the previously sent personnel had not been heard from for a long time explained the problem. The other route was to cross the national border directly to the Soviet Union, and this route only had one pass, which was the national border. As long as they passed through, they could explain the situation to the Soviet side, find the representative of the Central Committee in Moscow who was sent to the Communist International, and reflect the situation. Even if contact with the Soviet side was not established, they could still gather a lot of urgently needed information that could serve as a reference for guiding the next actions of the Anti-Japanese League. Should this be done?

  "Old Yang, I have an idea. What do you think about sending someone to the Central Committee to find our central representative? Please ask the Central Committee for instructions and send some cadres. We are too lacking in cadres with organizational ability." Wei Zhengmin sought Yang Jingyu's opinion.

  Yang Jingyu thought for a moment and replied, "I agree. In addition, we must think of a way to inform Zhou Weizhong, Li Zhaolin and others. It would be better if we act together with comrades from several other provincial committees."

  Yang Jingyu and Wei Quanmin were discussing specific details, but Ma Qian'an couldn't hold on anymore and fell asleep. When he woke up after a short nap, everyone was staring at him, feeling awkward, he asked: "Commander, Secretary, you're looking at me with an unusual gaze, am I not a mountain chicken?" Is it? Isn't it? Am I supposed to go to Old Mao's place?