The Second Tragedy

  Bid farewell to his reluctant dry mother, Li Tie set out on the road to find his troops.

  Now Li Tie only has a set of clothes on his body, without any external objects, let alone weapons and equipment. If he can't find Lian Zhang for the time being, what should he do?

  Leaving the dry mother's dwelling cave, looking at the dry mother's thin figure, gradually getting smaller, Li Tie hid in the grass, and tears couldn't stop flowing. The hardest thing is to part ways, Li Tie thought of his own mother, is she okay in another world?

  Leaving the grass thicket, Li Tie Xun adjusted his mood. Anyway, he had to find some weapons first, even if it was just a knife.

  Although it's not far from here, there is a fort of the devils' cannons. Can I just go and grab it with my bare hands? If I'm not shot into a beehive by the devils' bullets, I'll be invited to sit on a tiger bench and drink chili water. This way of visiting is better avoided.

  The main reason is that Li Tie doesn't want to provoke the ghost's revenge and harm the life of his mother-in-law, who has just settled down.

  Let's go take a look at the old battlefield, and if we're lucky, we might still be able to scrounge up something.

  Arriving at the first battlefield in this new world, Li Tie still underestimated the Eighth Route Army's skill in clearing the battlefield. Not to mention knives, guns and bullets, even shell fragments were nowhere to be found. Except for the trees blasted apart by cannonballs and the smoky marks on the shattered rocks, it seemed as if no battle had ever taken place here at all.

  。

  I remember Lian Chang said that if this battle is dispersed, we will gather at Wangjiagou. But where is Wangjiagou?

  In the mountains, no one is in sight. A few wild chickens fly up and play not high. Seeing this peaceful rural life, who can think of the cruel struggle that is going on fiercely?

  Crossed over several hills and saw a small mountain village.

  Let's go to the village and take a look, maybe we can find someone to ask.

  The village was quiet, with no sound at all.

  As soon as we entered the village, a bloody smell hit us in the face.

  What a miserable face this is.

  A pregnant woman lies at the entrance of the village, her abdomen a bloody mess, the fetus cut out with a bayonet. An old man, split in two by a sword, lies on the ground, still clutching a stone in his hand, a child's severed leg thrown nearby.

  The village is now devoid of living people, and in the well are the bodies of two villagers who met their deaths.

  Only a few households in the village, nothing was left, no people, no livestock, not even daily necessities, everything that could be taken away was taken away, what couldn't be taken away was smashed, what couldn't be smashed was blown up with bombs.

  The house was left with only walls, nothing that could catch fire was left, no doors, no windows.

  In a small courtyard of a family home, a cluster of peach blossoms burst forth with a sheet of crimson flowers.

  Li Tie buried the bodies of these people with tears in his eyes.

  Leaving this village, with a belly full of hatred, took away a bundle of blood-red willow peach blossoms.

  Following the trail left by the devils, Li Tie easily found the culprit.

  This is a small cannon tower not far from here. He said it was a small cannon tower, only because there was only one devil here, and that was a lame devil with more than ten fake soldiers.

  Because this is not a strategic location, and there are not many battles to fight, the reason for setting up a gun tower here is mainly because there is a telephone line passing through this area. If no one guards it, it will be easy to cause disconnection due to human or natural factors, so a wounded devil was sent with a small team of puppet troops to garrison.

  These beasts have been here for a while now and can't do anything all day, there are no villages around, nowhere to roam freely, it's suffocating them.

  On this day, a puppet soldier told the crippled Japanese devil that there was a small mountain village about ten miles away. The crippled Japanese devil was overjoyed and immediately took them to sweep through the village. As a result, they only saw a few households in the village, which was greatly disappointing. However, based on the principle that having something is better than nothing, they still entered the village. At the entrance of the village, they saw a pregnant woman, and the Japanese devil went over to tease her. The pregnant woman grabbed his face, leaving it covered with scratches. The Japanese devil was furious and killed the pregnant woman, even cutting out the fetus from her belly. Just then, an old man happened to pass by and saw the situation. He picked up a stone and fought the Japanese devil to the death. However, before he could even touch the Japanese devil, he was cut in half by him. The Japanese devils were extremely brutal and led the puppet soldiers to massacre the village. When they left, they took away all the livestock, burned down all the houses, and even used a hand grenade to blow up the only millstone in the village. Only then did they return with satisfaction.

  Because this watchtower is built on a mountain, the view is very broad, but there is also a shortcoming, that is, using water is not particularly convenient, only more than 100 meters away from the watchtower on the mountain waist, there is a well spring, which is the only source of water for this watchtower.

  Li Tie grew up in a mountainous rural area since childhood, and only moved to the city after starting work, so he was particularly familiar with this terrain. He knew that there wouldn't be many water sources, and judging from the small path beside the water source, it was clearly leading to the enemy's artillery emplacement - the Ghost Cannon Emplacement Water Source.

  Li Tie crushed the leaves and flowers of the peach tree with a stone until juice came out, then threw them into the spring eye, covering it with a thin stone slab to ensure that all the water coming out contained toxins. He also threw the remaining flowers and leaves into the water, and quickly hid, because a fake soldier had already arrived, carrying a bucket of water, probably unaware of any danger, so he didn't even bring a gun.

  He went to the edge of the spring and started scooping water into a bucket, probably wanting to get some fresh spring water. He even deliberately scooped up water near the spring eye, without noticing anything unusual about the spring eye itself. The residual leaves and peach blossoms attached to the spring eye were completely ignored, and he thought they might have been left behind by some wild animal that came to drink water. He couldn't have imagined that someone would come here specifically to harm them.

  The fake army, carrying water and humming a little tune, swayed back leisurely. Li Tie hid in the grass clump, secretly delighted, you guys have fun, have fun after dinner, hehe.

  The Oleander, also known as the Nerium oleander, is one of the most toxic plants in the world and at the same time one of the most popular decorative elements for dinner tables. A single leaf can kill an adult human being, and even minimal contact with the tender shoots, flowers or berries can be fatal.

  Oleander contains several toxic compounds, including nerioside, oleandroside and cardenolides. It is native to the Mediterranean and parts of Asia, but has been widely cultivated in many other regions. Oleander can be highly toxic to horses and other livestock, causing severe illness or death if ingested. The toxins affect the nervous system, heart and digestive tract. Despite its toxicity, oleander is often grown as an ornamental plant in rural and urban areas due to its attractive flowers and ease of cultivation.

  The willow leaves and peach blossoms that Li Tie threw into the water just now are enough to kill several rounds of devils and puppet troops in the artillery tower.

  Li Tie found some wild fruit nearby and ate a little to fill his stomach, then lay down under a tree to rest, waiting for the devils to collect their dead.

  The sun was gradually westward, the devils should have eaten long ago, Li Tie thought secretly.

  It was Li Tie's first time using poison and it was for actual combat, so he didn't have any confidence in his heart.

  He slowly crept towards the artillery tower.

  The cannon tower was silent.

  The toxicity should be taking effect by now. I heard that just one leaf can kill a person, and I've added over a hundred leaves here.

  Getting closer and closer to the gun tower, there is still no movement inside the gun tower.

  As he approached, through the gun port of the artillery tower, Li Tie saw a puppet army soldier foaming at the mouth and falling to the ground by the wall.

  It works! It's successful!

  Li Tie rushed into the gun tower, but then rushed out with twice the degree as before.

  Too dirty! Too miserable!

  Those who have never experienced it don't know how vicious these leaves are.

  The devils and puppet soldiers inside have been completely wiped out.

  On the ground of the small fort, there were all sorts of white foam and blood foam, as well as some feces and urine.

  Some fake soldiers couldn't take it and died by banging their heads against the wall, in short, if they didn't die from banging, they died from vomiting, and judging by the looks of it, some also lost control of their bowels.

  At this point, Li Tie didn't expect it to be like this. He had only heard that poisoning could lead to vomiting blood and death, or vomiting white foam and death. But this was too much, how was he supposed to clean up the battlefield? Ah, yes, the battlefield. Although there were no real guns or knives, people had really died.

  This, um, next time correct it, don't spit so much white foam, just spit a little blood is fine, I'm not afraid of blood.

  First take care of the battlefield, wait until you're free, then make criticisms and self-criticisms.

  Enduring nausea, he put away his weapons and placed them outside the gun tower.

  This place is remote, don't worry about others seeing you. Hehe, as long as the phone line isn't damaged, I reckon no one will show up for ten days or half a month.

  From the documents in the artillery tower, Li Tie Xian found that this artillery tower received supplies every ten days. What they called "supplies" were mostly just a little food and other things like canned goods, which only the devils could enjoy, while the puppet army had no share. This small artillery tower was for guarding the line, so there were work records. The devil was very lazy, and the recording of such low-level activities was done by a literate puppet soldier instead.

  What is called a work record is just a diary, nothing more than May 8th nothing happened, May 9th nothing happened, May 10th gave some to Nourish Ruo and so on.

  Li Tie slowly gathered up the cannon tower, and finally the result came out:

  Weapons: 6.5mm Type 38 rifle, also known as the "Three-Eight Big Cover", one branch, ninety percent new, well-maintained, it seems that the devils are still very careful with their own food guys, 30-style bayonet one, canteen one, front and rear box magazine (with 120 bullets), steel helmet one, combat knife one, backpack one.

  7.92mm caliber Hanyang-made rifle 10 branches, bullets over 300, grenades 40, watermelon-shaped hand grenade 4.

  Food: 8 cans of food, 2.5 bags of millet, 2 bags of mixed grains, half a bag of flour, some salt, chili peppers and meat products.

  The rest were just odds and ends, like telephones, telephone wires, iron wire, pliers, needles and thread, matches, foreign currency, and a small amount of medicine, all very ordinary things that didn't seem particularly valuable to Li Tie.

  There's too much stuff, it's impossible to take everything away, can only settle on the spot.

  Li Tie chose a relatively good-looking Hanyang rifle, loaded 200 bullets, and also brought all four small sweet potato-shaped hand grenades. He carried the canteen, bayonet, and some miscellaneous items on his body. The other weapons and food were hidden in a dry cave not far from the cannon tower in a mountain gorge. The entrance was camouflaged, and a trap was set at the entrance. If the devils really found this place, it wouldn't necessarily be a good thing. All 40 hand grenades had their fuses pulled out, and a small pit was dug at the entrance. As soon as someone stepped on the pit, one grenade would explode, triggering the other 39 grenades to explode as well. At that time, whether the weapons and food could be left behind or not would be a minor matter; it's likely that there wouldn't be any living creatures within tens of meters around.

  As I was leaving, I saw a few pieces of the enemy's clothing on top of the cannon tower. Following the principle that the enemy's belongings are mine, I took them without any guilt. I also shamelessly rewired the enemy's telephone line, and I don't know what consequences it will bring.

  For a moment, Li Tie finally felt a sense of satisfaction, after four years on the Eighth Route Army, today was the richest day, not to mention the brand new Hanyang Arsenal rifle, just these bullets were enough to make him sleepless with joy.

  Li Tie tore off the insignia on the Japanese soldier's uniform, sewed his own armband on it, and then found some natural dyes on the mountain to dye this Japanese uniform into a camouflage suit in Li Tie style. He also dyed the Japanese steel helmet, and then quickly left the place. The devils should be able to find here soon, because the phone is not working, right?

  After doing all this, the sky had basically darkened, Li Tie used a bag from the artillery tower to make a backpack, and put bullets, dried meat, salt, matches, and chili peppers inside. He also brought some iron wire, thread, and needles, essential items for traveling. As for his tattered cotton-padded jacket, he left it in that mountain cave along with the foreign money, which he didn't need at the moment either. Now wearing this new set of clothes, he felt like he had endless energy.

  Found a place out of the wind, rested and had a snack.

  Don't wander around carelessly at night, what if you trip and fall?

  The sky is getting light.

  Li Tie opened his eyes and felt that there were people moving vaguely at the foot of the mountain, not one, but a group.

  The devils have found us so quickly? Impossible.

  What place leaked its own trail?

  At this moment, the grass in front of us moved slightly on the hillside.

  Li Tiepa was in the grass thicket on the mountain top, looking down clearly. The approaching person was obviously not a devil, as he wore a local-style short jacket, black trousers and straw shoes, with something bulging at his waist that couldn't be seen. The man looked back nervously at the pursuing soldiers while hastily climbing up the mountain, because once over this mountain, it would all be mountainous terrain behind, where hiding a person wouldn't be a problem.

  It wasn't me who had a problem, but someone else mistakenly stumbled here and was chased by devils.

  Li Tie decided to help this person based on the principle that the enemy of our enemy is our friend.

  。

  Before long, the man ran to Li Tie's side, but because he was too flustered and mainly due to Li Tie's outfit, the newcomer almost stepped on Li Tie's body and didn't even notice him.

  Li Tie dragged the newcomer away just as a burst of machine gun bullets whizzed past their heads.

  It has to be said that the enemy's combat effectiveness was still very strong at this time. The shooting was really accurate. Then, the bullets flew lower and lower, even hitting the rocks on the side, causing sparks to fly everywhere.

  The newcomer was startled, thinking that he had fallen into the hands of the devils. He stretched out his hand to feel for something in his breast pocket. Suddenly, he saw the badge on Li T'ieh's left arm and his expression relaxed at once; his hand also loosened its grip.

  Li Tie pulled the newcomer slowly back and retreated into the mountain forest.

  It wasn't until they entered the mountain forest that Li Tie carefully looked at the person who had come, and the person was also sizing him up.

  "Are you Comrade Li Tie?"

  "Huh? Who are you?"

  "I'm Lao Bao, Bao Songping, from the Meng County Guerrilla Squad. Last time I followed Captain Zhang to visit the troops at your battalion, it was your company, and you even poured water for us."

  "Oh, right, you're Old Bao, look at this memory of mine."

  Lao Liu Tuan is the team where Li Tie is in. Local people call it that way.

  Li Tie remembered, and indeed there was such a thing.

  "What's wrong with you? Were you chased by devils?"

  The devils would normally not bother to chase a small character like this, and yet they mobilized so many people, at least half a squad of devils plus almost a squad of puppet troops.

  Lao Bao smiled awkwardly and habitually touched the back of his head.

  "Still not for this?"

  He pulled out a handgun from his waist.

  "Inagaki-style pistol? Where did you get it?"

  Heavens, what Lao Bao is holding in his hand isn't just an ordinary pistol, it's a ceremonial handgun for high-ranking military officers. This gun uses 8mm southern bullets, with a caliber of 8mm, effective range of 50m, maximum range of 600m, and the magazine can hold 8 rounds.

  However, it was not issued in large quantities to troops, but rather used as a ceremonial handgun for senior officers.

  "I went to the town to do some errands, and had lunch at a small restaurant. The deputy commander of the puppet army was bragging to his subordinates about how the Japanese squad leader in the village had obtained a pistol that was supposedly used by some high-ranking officer or something, I didn't understand what he meant but thought it must be a very powerful gun. Coincidentally, the Japanese squad leader came to the restaurant to celebrate, and I took the opportunity to give him a little 'gift'. When he went to the toilet without noticing, I knocked him down into the latrine pit, snatched the pistol and ran away. Who knew they would chase me so desperately, all for just one pistol?"

  "It's not just a handgun? Easy to say, but this is not just a handgun issue. It might be that some high-ranking official gave it to the village as an award, and if you take it away from him, he'll definitely pursue it to the death. This is a matter of honor for warriors! Heads can roll, blood can flow, but the gun cannot be lost. Not to mention that it's a special handgun for General Zhang, even an ordinary handgun won't do. Old Bao, this... a gun is a warrior's life, how can you so casually take it away? Are you trying to get the village chief killed? And besides, if you're going to steal it, you should at least steal some bullets too! Look, there's not even one bullet in the gun, and it doesn't match the caliber of the Hanyang-made bullets either. This is basically stealing a useless thing! Comrade, be careful, be careful!"

  Lao Bao's face turned red from Li Tie's words, if it wasn't for Li Tie stopping him, Lao Bao would have gone to return the gun to Village Chief Xiao and sincerely apologize, ask for forgiveness or go grab some bullets again.

  When the gun was snatched away right in front of him, Murata thought it was like being slapped hard on both sides of his face. The superior's superior had just awarded him that gun and before he could even warm up to it, it was snatched away, just like being slapped hard on one side of the face and then again on the other side. In the end, he was also kicked hard in the stomach. How could he not pursue with all his might? The honor of the Great Japanese Imperial Army had been lost by their own doing.

  It's unlikely that Murata would have thought that he'd be robbed of his gun right in front of his own home. If it were a great hero with unparalleled martial arts skills who got robbed, there might be some excuse, but being robbed by an ordinary person? Who would believe it? Even if someone did believe it, how could he swallow the humiliation of being pinned down on the ground? How could he show his face in the Imperial Army again? How could he lead troops again? If this grudge isn't avenged, he'd have to take his own life. Indeed, there's no more face left to save.

  The town only had one train station, which could be considered a strategic location, but since the Eighth Route Army guerrilla forces never came to attack, there were only a small number of Japanese soldiers and a company of puppet troops stationed here. Generally speaking, it was quiet and peaceful, with no major incidents, thanks to the good public security situation over the long term. As a result, superiors specially met with him and rewarded him with a pistol. Originally, he had high hopes for promotion, but now all was lost, he had become too complacent, far too complacent.

  Murata has now brought devils and puppet soldiers to fight Old Bao to the death.