Chapter 5: Abdominal Concealed Pearls

  Coming down from the eastern mountain ridge were three Japanese policemen led by Sergeant Nishitani of the Mengjiang County Police Department and eleven puppet police.

  Yesterday, the Director of the Tonghua Provincial Police Department, Nishitani Ryōtarō, who was stationed in Mengjiang County, issued a stern order and severely reprimanded all the military police and special agents who were searching for Yang Jingyu. Nishitani was scolded until his face turned red with rage, and to salvage the dignity of Japanese soldiers, he decided to personally capture Yang Jingyu. Early this morning, he led his team out to search in the mountains, hoping to save face.

  In the heart of Kishitani Toshirō, it was truly shameful for his troops. Since January 21st when they captured Ding Hulong, the chief of staff of the First Division of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, and learned of Yang Jingyu's specific location, a whole month had passed, but except for their own dead bodies being transported back due to constant gunfire, not even one hair of Yang Jingyu was touched. What made him particularly angry was that on February 16th, when Choi Chul-pung's unit had clearly caught up with Yang Jingyu, they still failed to capture him, and instead lost Vice-captain Ito, and Captain Choi Chul-pung was injured, while the enemy was only 7 exhausted soldiers who could die of starvation at any time.

  How many people are on our side? Kishigami Jirō didn't even want to think about it, it was too humiliating. After a fierce battle, more than 600 people followed the footprints of Yang Jingyu's retreat for a day and night, but somehow lost their trail? It was simply unbelievable, astonishing.

  Slightly better news is that on February 18, the two anti-Japanese fighters killed near Dàdōnggōu were confirmed to be Yang Jingyu's bodyguards. This proves that Yang Jingyu has reached a dead end and even his bodyguards have dispersed, indicating that there are almost no people left around him. This excited Kizaki Ryūjirō for half a day.

  But 5 days have passed, and under the fine-toothed search, even flying birds can't escape such a thorough search, but Yang Jingyu still can't be found.

  The enemy general was extremely depressed.

  Yang Jingyu and Ma Qian followed the mountain foot southward at a rapid pace. Both of them were in top physical condition, with quick footsteps.

  Ma Qian'an was vigilant and searched in all directions, while also paying attention to the general's expression. The general walked ahead, occasionally turning his head back to gaze into the distance, and catching Ma Qian'an's curious glance, he said: "Anzi, pay attention to your surroundings, don't always look at me."

  Ma Qian'an shrank his neck and asked: "Commander, where are we going?"

  "We are going to Linjiang, where our comrades from the Second Route Army are. We will hurry over and join forces with them to continue fighting." Comrade Chang Jingyu replied.

  The straight-line distance from Linjiang is about 70 kilometers, and with the strength of two people, it would take almost a day and night, but both of them understood that this was impossible. A large number of enemy troops were scattered all over the place, the highway was completely blocked, and even in the deep mountains, there were various special forces and vanguard teams everywhere.

  It's not an easy thing for two people to reach Linjiang.

  The two men had been galloping for more than two hours, during which they narrowly avoided a search party of over fifty people. Now both of them were emitting hot air from their heads, Ma Qian'an took off his hat and wiped the top of his head with his hand, wiping away the sweat. He wanted to suggest that General take a break, but seeing that General had no intention of stopping, he opened his mouth and finally didn't say anything.

  "Tired? Hold on a bit longer, once we get over that mountain ridge in front of us, we'll stop for a while in the lee. Yang Jingyu knew it all too well - trudging through knee-deep snow to climb mountains and cross ridges was extremely exhausting, and Ma Qian'an was able to keep up with him tightly, which was already not easy."

  Near the top of the mountain, Ma Qian'an found a corpse. More than half of the body was buried in snow, only exposing an arm and a young face. The mouth was half open, stuffed with slightly greenish grass roots, and the empty eyes stared at the void sky. A hand full of frostbite tightly grasped a Type 38 rifle.

  This young corpse was obviously a frozen anti-communist league member. Only the anti-communist league members had no place to go, no food or clothing in this cruel winter.

  Yang Jingyu squatted down, examined it for a while, then stretched out his hands to scoop up some snow and slowly covered the young corpse's face. He sighed, his voice tinged with sorrow, "This little devil was from the Iron Blood Youth Corps. We got separated after the fierce battle at Ma Pi Gu Shan last month. I don't know what happened to the other little devils."

  The Iron and Blood Corps is a doll soldier in the Anti-Japanese League, and it is Yang Jingyu's heart. Most of these 14-16 year old children have deep blood feuds with the Japanese devils or Han traitors. Either their fathers or brothers were killed by the enemy, or their sisters were raped by the evil tyrants. Almost everyone has a history of blood and tears. Therefore, when the Anti-Japanese League fought in various places, the first to join the Anti-Japanese League were these young people. They are the most determined, they are the most stubborn.

  Yang Jingyu's eyes were filled with tears, "This child, named Li Zike, fought very bravely, what a pity."

  Ma Qian'an learned from the book about many of the Eighth Route Army's arduous and heroic battles, and thought he could face them, but when the real scene appeared before his eyes, he still couldn't bear it.

  The two had no choice but to scoop up the snow and bury Li Zikai's exposed body.

  Ma Qianan aimed at the long gun, but couldn't bear to pry open the hand that was grasping it. He hesitated and looked at Chang Jingyu, "Commander, what about the gun?"

  "Take the guns from the martyrs' hands and continue fighting! Don't talk so much in such a cruel environment." Yang Jingyu was accustomed to this situation and gave orders without hesitation.

  The two had just climbed over the ridge, took a quick glance and quickly retreated. At the foot of the mountain was a simple highway, a group of devils were patrolling along the highway, and the road was blocked.

  This was already their third enemy they had encountered in more than two hours.

  Yang Jingyu made a decision almost without thinking, hiding and waiting for nightfall before acting.

  It was already noon, and the two of them simply ate something and sat back to back behind a small snow mound, listening to the sounds around them.

  "You see?" Yang Jingyu broke the silence first.

  "I see." Ma Qian felt at ease with a sense of tacit understanding.

  "There will be sacrifices in battle. If I am sacrificed, without conditions, I do not allow you to collect my body. Immediately retreat, save yourself, and avenge me."

  "Yes, save yourself, I'll take revenge for you!"

  "Anzi, we will ultimately win, we will definitely defeat the Japanese, do you have confidence?"

  "Yes."

  "Anzi, you're the most straightforward one, why are you so confident?"

  "RB is a small country with few people and resources, it can't afford a war of attrition; while we are a big country with many people, much land and abundant resources, our potential for war is great, the final victory will certainly be ours, but the process will be long and arduous, we must prepare ourselves for a protracted war, only then can we emerge victorious in the end." Ma Qianan concluded without hesitation.

  Yang Jingyu's reaction was beyond Ma Qian'an's expectation. The general felt very surprised and confused. "Anzi, is this what you came up with?"

  Ma Qianan certainly couldn't take credit for it, and honestly replied: "No, this is written in a book I've read."

  "What book?" Yang Jingyu was worried that he had no books to read and had lost contact with the outside world for several months, unaware of the situation outside.

  "On Protracted War" is written by Mao Zedong.

  "Ma Hongze?" Yang Jingyu turned around, "I've heard of him, our provincial committee has passed on some documents that mentioned him, it was he who saved the Central Red Army, saved the Center, and facilitated the cooperation between the KMT and the CPC. Indeed a talented person, I have met someone with vision."

  This time, Ma Qian was confused. Why did General Yang discuss the central government's top leader in this tone? It seemed very unfamiliar. "Commander, he is the biggest Communist Party member, and you are also a Communist Party member, don't you belong to him?"

  Yang Jingyu smiled wryly, "Anzi, you don't understand." Yang Jingyu thought to himself: Since the Manzhou Provincial Committee was abolished in January 1936, we have lost direct contact with the Central Committee. Although nominally we are part of the Communist Party of China, our direct leader is actually the Communist Alliance, and in reality, it's the SL people who are leading us. This South Manzhou Provincial Committee was also established under the instructions of the Communist Alliance. For four whole years, the Central Committee hasn't sent any cadres here. Alas! To put it bluntly, the Communist Alliance ZG faction and the CPC Central Committee haven't fully integrated yet. These upper-level politics are even confusing to me, let alone you, a rural youth who doesn't understand anything.

  Ma Qianan didn't know what the general was thinking about, but he guessed it was something difficult to express. This was politics, which he found hard to understand and wasn't interested in.

  Yang Jingyu thought to himself: "Strange, how did Ma Qianan know about Mao Hongze? And he even knows that he is the leader of the Communist Party. These things are not something that someone at Ma Qianan's level should know, but he clearly knew them. He seemed to know very naturally, so how did he know?" A thread of doubt crept onto the general's mind. "Anzi, where did you see this book? Why were you reading this kind of book?"

  "I went to the Chinese quarter last year, there were many Chinese people, also not a few Chinese books, and newspapers from China, I saw it there, I thought what the book said made sense, so I remembered." Ma Qian'an lied with a straight face.

  "Why do you read this kind of book?"

  "I also read other books, like Jin Ping Mei and Journey to the West."

  "It's still not right, but where is it wrong?" Yang Jingyu furrowed his brow and muttered to himself.

  "Commander, why did you join the Anti-Communist League?" Ma Qian took a defensive stance.

  Yang Jingyu thought for a moment, "When I was studying in prison, I came into contact with advanced ideas and was deeply attracted to this ideology. Step by step, from being an advanced youth, joining the Communist Party, leading the uprising to overthrow the corrupt government, accepting the party's appointment to come to Northeast China, establishing a red regime to resist the invasion of the RB people, leading the anti-Japanese armed forces, it all happened like that."

  "Commander, when you were reading books, you were attracted by advanced ideas and became a progressive young man. Why can't I do the same? I've also read progressive books, I'm also capable of it, I can also make progress. What's wrong with that?" Ma Qian'an retorted.

  Yang Jingyu's furrowed eyebrows relaxed, and he suddenly felt that Ma Qian'an was right. He couldn't help but lightly punch Ma Qian'an with his fist, saying "You little scoundrel, setting a trap."

  Ma Qian'an's answer was not flawless, but it couldn't be picked apart either. Yang Jingyu initially thought that his own biases were at play, thinking that Ma Qian'an, being from a rural area, shouldn't know anything, but now he realized he was wrong. He should reevaluate this young man beside him and stop treating him like an ordinary rural youth; it seemed this kid had some substance to him.

  "Alright, young progressive, tonight follow me to kill the enemy, dare you?" Yang Jingyu handed over Ma Qian's army.

  Ma Qian'an stretched out a palm, waving it in front of Yang Jingyu, and with a smile, made a request: "Five, Commander, I want to kill five devils, you must praise me."