Chapter 24

  One side is advancing cautiously, afraid of being seen by others, while the other side is pursuing recklessly, afraid that the opponent will escape. The distance between the two sides is rapidly narrowing.

  The devils on the mountain top only saw the grass being stirred and swayed, a few pieces of medicinal flags appearing and disappearing in the grass, knowing that their own people were chasing after the Eighth Route Army. So they didn't open fire, but just stared at their front, ready to provide firepower support for them at any time.

  Li Tie led the team members to avoid the bushes as much as possible, fearing that stirring up the bushes would alert the devils on the mountain top. As a result, their pace slowed down considerably, but the devils didn't care and just kept chasing after them.

  Li Tieben thought of leaving a few landmines on the road, but all along the way were just bare rocks and grass, so he estimated that the explosive force wouldn't be very big, and had to give up this idea.

  The sound of the devils' footsteps had already been transmitted, and some team members were getting nervous, occasionally looking at Li Tie. Li Tie gave them a reassuring look, took out a plaster flag from his backpack and tied it to the muzzle of his gun. Two other team members followed suit, taking out their own plaster flags and tying them on. Then, they lay in ambush in a ditch on both sides of the mountain gorge, waiting for the devils to come up.

  The devils have arrived, each and every one of them is arrogant, they don't even have the consciousness to hide, in their opinion, the Eighth Route Army can't even escape, how can they launch an ambush against them? One after another followed up.

  The devils are coming up, and the nearest devil is now only about ten meters away from me.

  "Fire!"

  Li Tie gave the order, and he was the first to raise his submachine gun and start firing at the devils. The other team members also started shooting at them. In an instant, the mountain valley erupted in gunfire, with bullets flying everywhere, some hitting rocks and bouncing back, making sharp cries and sparks. The devils fell down one after another, and those who were left quickly sought cover, some crouching behind rocks, others doing a standard forward roll without hesitation as soon as they heard the gunshots. But this was exactly the place Li Tie had chosen, where the ground was covered with rocks and wild jujube trees growing in the crevices between them. The thorns on those jujube trees were even more vicious than the devils' barbed wire. As soon as a devil rolled down, he let out a strange cry and quickly scrambled up, then dropped his weapon and started pulling off the thorns from his body. But before he could finish removing them, a bullet helped him end his suffering.

  "Alas, I'm too kind-hearted." Li Tie muttered to himself as he fired his gun, "After all these years, I'm still so benevolent, can't bear to see others suffer." As for who caused this suffering, that was none of Li Tie's concern.

  The devils have all found their hiding spots and started counterattacking Li Tie and the others, bullets occasionally flying over the soldiers' heads.

  "The wind is strong, it's blowing fiercely."

  Li Tie hastily called on everyone to escape.

  This time you don't have to run carefully, just run openly and uprightly, and don't forget to raise the plaster flag when running.

  The devils on the mountain top initially only saw their troops chasing the Eighth Route Army in the valley below, although they didn't see the Eighth Route Army themselves, it was clear that they had caught up with them. Later, they saw the troops and the Eighth Route Army exchanging fire, the machine gunners had their hands on the triggers, bullets were already loaded, all they needed to do was apply a bit more force with their fingers to provide firepower support for the troops in the valley below, the grenade throwers also made preparations.

  But something unexpected happened:

  The sound of gunfire in the valley came and went quickly, and it only took a few minutes for the gunfire to stop. Then, the grass in the valley began to sway, and the machine gun muzzles pointed at the swaying grass, but the red cross flag waving in the grass made the devils hesitate - this was their own unit. Immediately after, another patch of grass swayed, and this time it was indeed the Eighth Route Army. The gun barrels were aimed at the grass, and the grenade launcher adjusted its angle, just as they were about to fire, a red cross flag flashed out from the grass again. The devils on the mountain top were frustrated: which one was the Eighth Route Army after all?

  After a while, the gunfire in the valley started again.

  "In front of us are the Eighth Route Army, and behind us are the Imperial Army." a devil said.

  It seemed to verify this sentence, the team that was originally in front suddenly turned around and charged towards the devils behind, while the devils behind could not withstand the fierce machine gun sweep and began to retreat while fighting.

  The devils on top of the mountain were stunned, which side was their own after all?

  When Li Tie led everyone to flee in the valley, the devils behind them also chased after them recklessly, probably because they saw that there were not many of them. The devils didn't care about casualties and rushed towards them without regard for their lives. The two teams were only tens of meters apart, with bullets whizzing overhead. Due to the dense grass, the devils' bullets almost caused no harm to the team members. Similarly, their own bullets did not cause greater casualties to the devils either.

  In front was a vast expanse of open land, the grass wasn't particularly deep, more importantly, this open land was relatively low. If the devils were at a slightly higher location on the edge of this land, then one might be suppressed and unable to lift their head in the open land. But as long as they left this open land, they could quickly escape the devils' encirclement and even deal them a bigger blow.

  Li Tie ordered everyone to launch a counter-charge against the devils. The effect of the counter-charge was very obvious, under the sweep of seven or eight submachine guns, combined with the explosion of hand grenades, the devils were caught off guard, thinking only of pursuing the Eighth Route Army, but unexpectedly these Eighth Route Army troops dared to launch a counter-charge. After leaving behind several corpses, the devils retreated dozens of meters and then began to return fire.

  Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Tie led everyone to swiftly pass through the open terrain and rushed out of the valley in a few minutes, entering another mountain gorge.

  When the devils came to their senses, the Eighth Route Army had already vanished from sight.

  There were only the corpses of his comrades in front of him and the light smoke rising from the blasted wild grass, telling himself that the Eighth Route Army had indeed been there just now, but he hadn't caught them.

  "The Eighth Route Army is cunning, very cunning." The Japanese commander muttered repeatedly.

  Commanding the troops to follow the traces left by the Eighth Route Army and pursue again.

  Before long, Li Tie had led his team over several mountains and across many streams. Everyone was exhausted.

  After a short rest and having something to eat, Li Tie was about to lead everyone back to the base when he suddenly remembered seeing a devil (Japanese soldier) carrying a radio transmitter on his back at the top of the mountain. If they could get their hands on this thing, wouldn't they be able to contact the base anytime they went out on an operation in the future?

  The more I think about it, the more my heart itches, and I've decided to go find those devils and ask for one. Of course, if they really won't give me one, then I'll have to use some tactics, but it's best to win them over with virtue, after all, we are a country of etiquette.

  Now, a radio is a rare thing. Although our own regiment has one, the entire Eighth Route Army only has radios equipped at the division level, and even our own brigade doesn't have one. To send a message, we can only rely on a messenger. But our small district team actually has two radios - isn't that impressive?

  Li Tie led his squad back stealthily and soon discovered the enemy's troops.

  Poor devils, dozens of them came out to catch these twenty or so people, not only did they not catch one, but they themselves lost many. However, the morale of these devils was not affected much. They were all old soldiers, their awareness was not comparable to that of ordinary devils. So, although they didn't find the Eighth Route Army, those who should be on guard were on guard, and those who should be on sentry duty were on sentry duty, without relaxing in the slightest.

  Li Tie led everyone to circle around the mountain where the devils were, and it felt like a dog trying to bite a hedgehog - there was no way to get a grip. The vigilance of this group of devils was too high, and with just over twenty people, there was no chance of winning by launching a strong attack.

  Although the radio is possessed by a ghost, you still need to have a life to take it.

  At this time, a team member accidentally stepped on a stone and the stone rolled down to the mountain ditch with a rustling sound.

  "Not good, hide quickly!"

  But it was too late, the devil's sentry had appeared, and immediately the devil's machine gun swept in this direction, a team member hummed, a string of blood flowers burst out on his shoulder, and he was wounded. Li Tie quickly pulled the team member behind the rock and gave him a simple bandage.

  The devils have started coming in this direction, and the grenade launchers have also begun throwing hand grenades in this direction.

  "Retreat quickly, be careful, and pay attention to safety."

  Taking advantage of the cover of the trees on the mountain, Li Tie led everyone in a retreat.

  Taking advantage of his familiarity with the terrain, Li Tie gradually widened the distance between himself and the devils.

  They simply opened up a distance, and the devils divided into two teams. One team provided firepower support at the top of the mountain, while the other team pursued below the mountain.

  Bullets and hand grenades occasionally exploded around Li Tie and his comrades, but the trees next to them blocked most of the shrapnel, so unless they were extremely unlucky and hit directly by a bullet, there was generally no problem.

  Like this, you chase me, I flee, and before we know it, more than a dozen mountains have passed by. The devils are pressing in tightly from behind, unable to catch up but also unable to shake them off.

  While fleeing, Li Tie was also thinking about the devils' radio station, truly a thief's heart never dies.

  It's not the thief who steals, but the one who remembers.

  Now, Guizi's radio has been on Li Tie's mind all the time.

  Li Tie was running away while observing, and finally found a small detail: the devils' wounded soldiers did not follow up, and it seemed that there were only two radios, so there must be one in the hands of the wounded.

  As soon as Li Tie saw this situation, his eyes lit up instantly, and it seemed that the slightly sore legs from earlier also gained strength. He led the team members to suddenly speed up their pace, widening the distance with the devils once again.

  Because he was familiar with this area, Li Tie now fully demonstrated his strengths.

  They led the devils in a big circle, but the devils didn't know, because by this time the sky had darkened and the whole day was spent in pursuit.

  The sun has set and the last ray of light before nightfall is about to disappear.

  Li Tie grew up in the mountains and it was common for him to walk mountain roads at night, but the devils couldn't. Although they were old soldiers, their pace had slowed down.

  It was around 10 o'clock in the evening that Li Tie finally got rid of the devils once and for all.

  You think, a group of people who are not familiar with the local conditions in the mountains, turning east and west, looking around to find that everything looks the same, everywhere is mountain, everywhere is trees and wild grass, if they don't get lost it's simply divine. So, this group of devils finally got lost.

  After calling the wounded soldiers through the radio, the devils also put down their minds when they knew everything was normal, thinking that this group of Eighth Route Army was indeed fleeing for their lives. Then, they arranged the sentry line and rested in camp.

  Li Tie led everyone to take a short rest, had something to eat, and took advantage of the night to finally return to the enemy's wounded soldiers' camp at midnight, which was on one side of the mountain valley where Li Tie first hid.

  It's actually easy to find at night, the devils lit a fire in the camp to guard against wild beasts, thinking that the Eighth Route Army was fleeing everywhere after being chased by themselves, and this moment would never come back to attack again. Even if they did come to attack, they wouldn't be afraid, although they were wounded soldiers, but still soldiers, with three machine guns and two grenade launchers in hand, with sufficient ammunition.

  But the Japanese soldiers wouldn't have thought that they had gotten Li Tie, a bold and daring guy, who must be a thief-like daredevil, for that radio, he had been thinking about it all day long, not stopping to think of ways, how many brain cells would be consumed, the Japanese devils should pay some price for this.

  Put away the submachine gun, Li Tie led his men to take out blowpipes and daggers, slowly crawling towards the top of the mountain.

  Very smoothly reached the top of the mountain, all the way not even a rabbit was met, it should be that the noise during the day was too big, and these small things were scared away.

  Approaching the edge of the devils' camp, two devils were walking back and forth beside the bonfire, while the other devils had already fallen asleep. The wounded soldiers had bandages wrapped around their heads or arms in slings, lying haphazardly beside the bonfire, having long entered dreamland.

  Li Tie crouched in the dark bushes, carefully observing the devils. After about twenty minutes, he finally discovered two of the devils' hidden sentries: apart from the two bright sentries placed beside the bonfire, they had also set up two hidden sentries at a high point behind the camp. These two sentries were extremely well-hidden and would not have been visible if Li Tie hadn't observed them for a long time in those directions. However, the devils were slightly careless - the two hidden sentries had been crouching for too long and wanted to stand up to rest for a bit. As it happened, they stood up just as Li Tie saw them. Although it was only for a brief second, it was enough. After the two hidden sentries stood up one after another, they quickly hid into the shadows of the trees and disappeared from view.

  Li Tie slowly retreated back to where everyone was, quietly assigning tasks: two people would take care of the left flank's silent whistle, he himself would take one person to deal with the right flank's dark whistle, and after succeeding, they would then attack the devils in the camp, using guns only when absolutely necessary, and trying their best to use knives or crossbows instead.

  Two members of the Fox team went to the left, Li Tie took one to the right, and carefully arrived at the location of the hidden sentry. Finally, they found the hidden sentry. He was indeed a veteran of the enemy's army. Although he didn't see the enemy, he still hid behind a tree, constantly gazing at the camp.

  Li Tie carefully reached out from behind, covering the enemy's mouth with one hand, and a comrade swiftly stabbed his chest with a bayonet. The enemy went limp in an instant. They pulled off the enemy's rifle, bullets, and other equipment. Li Tie slowly made his way back to camp.

  The comrades on the left also completed their tasks smoothly, saw Li Tie and others, made a victorious gesture, and together they encircled the devils' camp.

  "Thud, thud" two soft sounds, two devils took two arrows to the chest, two devils opened their mouths to shout, and four or five crossbow arrows flew into the devils' mouths. The devils only let out a short, mournful cry before being knocked down by the charging Eighth Route Army. At this time, the other wounded devils who were sleeping didn't even hear it.

  Li Tie made a gesture to everyone, and they all drew out their bayonets. Together, they took action, and the devils were all beheaded in their sleep.

  Two team members carry the radio, the rest of the team members some carry machine guns, some carry ammunition, and some hold grenade launchers. More than 20 people, each person's body is fully loaded to barely finish carrying everything. The looting is complete, retreat!

  When daylight broke, the lost devils called out to the wounded soldiers several times, but no one responded. It wasn't until after sunrise that they were able to determine their direction and return to the wounded soldiers' camp. However, what greeted them was only the bodies of the devils, with all their weapons and equipment gone, even the backpacks of the wounded soldiers had disappeared, and the identification documents of the wounded soldiers were also missing.

  At the time when the remaining devils were furious and jumping wildly, Li Tie had already led everyone back to the mountain cave base, where they had a hearty breakfast, and each person went back to their dormitory to make up for lost sleep.