Chapter 13

  Hong Biao turned his head and pointed at Li Bin, saying to Wang Zihao: "He is a patriotic scientist who returned from the US to fight against the devils! Our guns are what he brought back!" After finishing speaking, he took out his military officer ID from his pocket and handed it over to Wang Zihao.

  Wang Zihao took the officer's badge and looked at it, sneering: "So you're the reconnaissance hero Hong Biao! How come your reconnaissance didn't detect the Japanese plot? We lost so many brothers for nothing!” He pointed to the corpses all over the ground: “And these innocent villagers, they were all killed by the devils' swords and guns! What do you say? What are you reconnaissance soldiers eating for?”

  "What are we eating? What are you eating at Beida Camp? Hundreds of devils charging at your over 7,000 people, why didn't you fire?" Hong Biao rebuked.

  Seeing the two men at odds, Li Bin hastily stepped forward to stand between them: "You both stop arguing! We are all Chinese! Now that the little devils are attacking us, what's most important is that we must unite! A fist only has power when it's clenched and thrown out! Do you know why the Japanese dare to attack us? It's because we Chinese people aren't united! Old Chiang excludes dissenting voices, launches internal wars! He views your Northeastern Army as a potential threat in his heart! That's why he issued the non-resistance order!"

  There is one sentence that Li Bin dare not say, which is the order of non-resistance was given by Zhang Xueliang after all. If it weren't for the Xi'an Incident later on, how would this opium ghost become a "national hero"?

  When Li Bin said this, the two stopped arguing. Hong Biao looked at the short man and unexpectedly had a few points of admiration for him: it seems that this person really has some leadership skills! However, what he said was extremely correct. We Chinese people are indeed not united. If everyone could unite as one, would those little devils dare to come in?

  Wang Zihao looked at this "drinking foreign ink" shorty and also felt that he was reasonable. He stopped arguing with Hong Biao and said to Li Bin: "Little brother, after drinking foreign ink for a few years, you're really different! What you say is still quite reasonable! Moreover, looking at the weapons you brought back, they're not bad either! Alright, we'll listen to you, let's do it together!"

  "That's right!" Li Bin smiled and walked forward, putting Hong Biao and Wang Zihao's hands together. "From now on, we're all close brothers, let's talk things out properly!"

  Here is the translation:

  Just like that, Wang Zihao's good men and Hong Biao merged into one. At this time, Li Bin considered who should command this team, he was worried that Hong Biao and Wang Zihao would quarrel again. Thinking of this, Li Bin came up with a plan, he said to Hong Biao and Wang Zihao: "Two big brothers, why don't we just do it like this? We three become sworn brothers?" After finishing speaking, Li Bin took the lead in reporting his age, saying that he was born in the 28th year of Guangxu in the Qing dynasty, currently 28 years old. However, because he had been abroad for a long time, he looked younger than his actual age.

  Wang Zihao asked Li Bin to produce his documents, but Li Bin just pushed them away, saying that all the certificates were abroad and the only thing he brought back was his passport, which was destroyed in the war. After finishing speaking, he secretly congratulated himself that when he first left the tank, he had already burned all his identity certificates, otherwise it would have been possible to reveal his true identity. And Hong Biao helped Li Bin with all his heart, in fact, Hong Biao admired Li Bin's excellent marksmanship and rich knowledge very much, so he also helped Li Bin say: "Big brother is a foreigner, not like us who are always afraid of being caught, looking younger is normal."

  Hong Biao and Wang Zihao reported their ages in turn. Hong Biao was born in the 30th year of Guangxu, Qing Dynasty, and is now 26 years old; Wang Zihao was born in the 34th year of Guangxu, Qing Dynasty, and is now 22 years old. In this way, it should be Li Bin who is the elder brother.

  Everyone worked together, dug a big pit, buried the villagers' bodies after covering them up, and then set fire to the village.

  Then, the three of them knelt down under a big tree outside the village, one holding up a bowl of wine to swear an oath as brothers, with Li Bin as the eldest brother, Hong Biao as the second brother and Wang Zihao as the youngest brother. After drinking the three bowls of wine, they became sworn brothers.

  Next, let's discuss what to do next. Wang Zihao didn't see his sister in the village, nor did he see a corpse. He guessed that his sister was likely taken away by the devils. He said to Li Bin and Hong Biao: "Big brother, second brother, I think this way, my whole family has been killed by the devils, only one sister is left, I must rescue her! The devils should have taken her when they passed through here. I think we should go north first, rescue my sister back, and then make plans."

  It was said that Wang Zihao's sister had been captured by the devils, and Li Bin also felt very anxious. He too thought that going north might allow him to rescue Wang Zihao's sister, and after rescuing her, continue north to join Ma Zhanshan. At this point, whether to go to Ma Zhanshan or Huang Xiansheng, Li Bin was in a dilemma. He said to Wang Zihao: "Wait for a moment, let me think for a while."

  Warrior Wu Congyu heard Li Bin say this, he jumped up and aimed his water droplet gun at Li Bin's head: "Damn it! Our squad leader's sister was taken away by the devils! What are you still hesitating about!"

  "Put down your gun! You mustn't be rude to Big Brother!" Wang Zihao ordered Wu Congyu to put down his rifle.

  Li Bin thought: If he went north to join Ma Zhan Shan, if they were defeated in battle, he would probably have to flee all the way to the Soviet Union. It was better to go south and join Huang Xian Sheng; if the Righteous and Brave Army failed, he could temporarily retreat back inside the passes and think of a way to develop and grow stronger before organizing future resistance. As long as he could establish a powerful army, by the time Japan launched its all-out invasion of China in 1937, he would have hope of turning things around...

  Li Bin originally wanted to tell Wang Zihao: Your sister was kidnapped by the devils, I Li Bin feel extremely heartbroken. But brother, do you know which branch of the devils took her away? And how are we going to find out about this situation? I'm afraid that by the time we get news about your sister, the devils will have already found us! Now with the great enemy in front of us, I think we should first prioritize preserving ourselves. Only if we can stay alive can we kill more devils!

  But he thought again, if brothers have difficulties and cannot share the burden together, then what kind of leadership will he have in the future? It's worth noting that these soldiers who can survive will all become the backbone of his team! If they can't convince them today, it's likely that no one will listen to him in the future.

  At this point, Li Bin said to Wang Zihao: "The little devils killed innocent civilians and took away your sister. I'm furious! However, we don't know which branch of the Japanese army took her away. Let's do it like this - the Japanese are currently transferring troops to Siping, we can quietly follow a group of Japanese soldiers and wait for an opportunity to take out a few devils! Maybe we can rescue your sister. Even if we don't encounter your sister, killing one more devil will save dozens of civilians from suffering!"

  "Alright! Let's do it your way, you're the big brother, I'll listen to you!" Wang Zihao nodded his head in respect towards Li Bin.

  Hong Biao gently pulled Li Bin on one side: "Big brother, didn't you say you were going to Jinzhou? Why did you change your mind?"

  "Brother, I didn't say we're not going to Jinzhou, we still have to go! But as for Third Brother's matter, we can't just ignore it! Let's first think of a way to rescue Little Sister. If the rescue fails, then there's no need for us to follow them to Siping and turn back halfway to Jinzhou." Li Bin replied.

  Eighteen people, all the way quietly followed those murderous aura towards Siping advancing Kwantung Army, heading north. They either walked through the overgrown grassy roads, or through the forest, or through the cornfields, and the devils on the road did not discover this small team wearing civilian clothes.

  At that time, the September 18th Incident had just broken out, and the Japanese, who were full of themselves, occupied Shenyang and advanced northward, preparing to completely swallow up all three provinces in the northeast within three months. Along the way, Han traitors quickly surrendered and established one puppet regime after another with the devils. However, at that time, there had not yet appeared any large-scale puppet army units, and for the areas through which the Japanese passed, basically no one was in charge of the Japanese rear, this situation continued until a large number of Kwantung Army troops entered and a large number of puppet troops appeared.

  On the road, Li Bin and his men quietly followed a lone Japanese squad. These arrogant Japanese, they were reckless to the extreme, a small squad of devils actually had quite astonishing combat power, they simply didn't put the Chinese army in their eyes.

  Another very important reason is that at the time, the Japanese in order to smoothly occupy the entire Northeast, generally adopted a "soft policy", and for ordinary civilians on the road, they didn't pay much attention to them.

  After these few days of contact, Li Bin also understood the abilities of these sixteen good men. Wang Zihao and Hong Biao were both highly skilled in martial arts and marksmanship. Wang Zihao's subordinate, Wu Congyu, was also a master shooter and had previously served as a machine gunner, but this time they were "deserters" and did not carry machine guns. As for the other fourteen soldiers, they were basically ordinary soldiers without any special features.

  Nearby Tieling County, the sky had darkened, and the small team of Japanese troops set up camp for the night.

  Quietly tracking the Japanese army, Wang Zihao and Hong Biao observed the Japanese movements from a distance. After the Japanese set up their camp, they returned to report to Li Bin. Meanwhile, Wang Zihao suggested: "We should take advantage of the Japanese night camping and launch a surprise attack on them! Perhaps we have the ability to eliminate this small group of devils!"