Chapter Twenty-Five: The Common People

  Although the reputation among the common people is not very good, under the consistent external situation, the common people still showed their unexpectedly enthusiastic and generous attitude.

  "Hey fellow villager, open the door!"

  "Hey fellow countryman, open the door!"

  ……

  In the pitch blackness, even I myself didn't know which direction or street I was being taken.

  The words were somewhat ironic, as the entire plan seemed to be my brainchild, yet I was now utterly clueless about where I was. All I knew was that the team had been sneaking silently through the streets for over ten minutes, and then suddenly dispersed in units of rows, lightly knocking on the doors of the common people...

  Why knock on the doors of the common people? The houses in this area are connected one after another, if we want to ambush on both sides of the street, we can only enter the houses of the common people!

  At first, I thought the ordinary people would be resistant to us, after all, it's their own house, a place where the whole family can take shelter from the wind and rain. How could they just lend it to us as a battlefield? If there was borrowing and returning, that would be fine, but once the battle starts, there will be guns, cannons, and hand grenades - how can this be returned? Not to mention the house, I'm afraid even the ordinary people's own lives won't be guaranteed!

  In fact, it is indeed the case that ordinary people generally have some reservations about us going to knock on their doors in the middle of the night. Isn't that so? We knocked on the door for a long time and no one answered...

  Because it was arranged in rows, I, as the row leader, could only respond by lightly knocking on the door of a household.

  Like others, no one responded. Unlike others, there were a few muffled sobs coming from inside... The ordinary people were obviously frightened by our actions.

  "Fellow countryman, we're our own people!" Chen Dalie couldn't bear it anymore, rushed forward and lowered his voice to shout inside: "We're the * corps, not Japanese!"

  But Chen Dalie didn't say anything, it's better not to mention it, but now that he mentioned it, the crying sound inside seemed even louder, and all the soldiers looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what was going on.

  "Attention, all ranks!" Commander Xu took out his pocket watch and looked at it, saying somewhat anxiously: "If the door isn't opened soon, we'll force our way in!"

  But everyone knows this is not a good idea, one is that breaking in won't get the support of the people, two is that the noise from smashing the door will likely alert the Japanese army, even though it's in the dark. But time is pressing us to do so, because the Japanese army will arrive soon, and if we haven't set up an ambush by then, everyone knows what will happen...

  Why are the people afraid of us? Aren't we our own troops?

  I thought for a moment and understood, just like when we were guarding the defense line, the people would throw rotten vegetable leaves and stinky eggs at us. They generally believed that the troops who stayed in Beiping were traitors and running dogs of the Japanese army, and now it's not certain whether they want to catch them to flatter the little devils and ask for rewards!

  Thinking of this, I called out in a low voice through the door gap: "Fellow countrymen, we are not traitors, we want to borrow your house to fight against the Japanese..."

  As soon as I said that, it had an effect, and the crying in the house stopped quickly. Then a girl asked: "What did you say? Borrow our house to beat up little Japan? Are you serious?"

  "Right!" I replied: "The little Japanese are about to attack, fellow countryman can you..."

  "Bang" went the sound, before I could even finish speaking, the door swung open and a young girl with disheveled hair appeared in front of us. Without even looking at us, she beckoned us to come in, saying "Quick! Come in..."

  This change is too big, I and the warriors are stunned... but because of time constraints, I don't dare to be polite, with my order, the warriors grab their guns, carry bullets, and rush in one after another.

  "Thank you!" I didn't forget to thank the girl as I entered the house.

  "So it's you?" A smile suddenly appeared on the girl's face.

  "Who are you..." I was somewhat perplexed.

  "Have you forgotten?" The girl tied up her hair and then, as if by magic, took out a hairpin from somewhere and put it on.

  "Oh! It's you..." Only then did I remember the female college student who had handed me tea and poured water for me at the city gate.

  "What a coincidence! The female student nodded and said: "I didn't expect it to be you... Why didn't you say so earlier? Otherwise, I would have opened the door for you!"

  I couldn't help but smile wryly and remain silent, she thought I was a clairvoyant god who could see the person behind the door was her?

  "Line up!" Captain Xu shouted from outside the door and gave me a wink.

  I soon understood what he meant and turned around to say to the female student: "Comrade, Little Japan is coming soon. Look at this military emergency, can you..."

  "No problem!" The female student was also a clever person, she quickly understood what I meant, nodded and rushed out the door to call for us despite the rain.

  "Old Master Wang, open the door! It's our troops coming to fight the devils!"

  "Auntie Zhang, don't be afraid! It's our troops who want to borrow your house to fight the devils, open the door!"

  ……

  The gates opened one after another, and the warriors who had been lingering on the streets disappeared into the darkness in batches.

  Although the reputation among the common people is not very good, under the consistent external situation, the common people still showed their unexpectedly enthusiastic and generous attitude.

  "Hey! It seems we're quite a match!" Chen Dalie looked at me with a mischievous grin in his eyes.

  "What's wrong with that?" The monkey also chimed in jokingly: "If I had known, I would have let the handsome guy come out and use his charm..."

  "Go away, go away... what did you say?!" I glared fiercely at the monkey, scaring him so much that he swallowed all his remaining words.

  But it seemed that was already too late, as the warriors all cast strange glances at me.

  "What are you looking at?" I blushed and gave orders: "Get everything ready for battle, what's with the joking around!"

  "Yes!" The warriors didn't dare to slack off, grabbing their guns and scattering up and down, with only a few stifled laughs echoing through.

  Soon guns were set up at windows, door gaps and even on rooftops, while soldiers carrying ammunition were busy running around distributing the ammunition to the soldiers.

  When I climbed up to the upper level, I found that the windows and eaves were already crowded with soldiers armed to the teeth and ready for battle, leaving no room for me to stand. So I had to pull out my bayonet and dig a hole about the size of a bowl in the wooden wall facing the street, then stuck my rifle out...

  "Officer!" At this time, the female student ran to my back with a gasp, followed by an old and young man.

  Just as I was in doubt, the female student introduced me: "This is my father, this is my younger brother... Officer, give your orders! What do you need our help with?"

  "Help?" I refused without thinking: "You've already helped us a lot by lending us the house, now the most important thing is to find a place to hide! Besides... after we drive away the little Japanese devils, you'd better pack up and go live with your relatives..."

  I'm saying this for a reason, without mentioning whether this house can be kept after this battle... This house was also once used by us to block the little devils of Japan, so the owner would hardly escape the crime of "collusion with the enemy", and the little devils of Japan would not let them off.

  "Officer!" The female student replied carelessly, "What's the big deal about one room? My dad said as long as you need it, even if we have to dismantle the house, it's no problem!"

  "Yes, sir!" The old man wearing a blue cloth gown and leaning on a crutch nodded and said: "We're all going to be slaves of a ruined country anyway. What's the use of leaving this broken house behind? As long as you can drive out those little devils, it doesn't matter if you destroy this house, or even sacrifice my old bones!"

  At these words, I and the warriors fell silent, because we all knew in our hearts that the strategic purpose of this battle was not to recover Beiping, but to break through... In other words, it means that the people of Beiping are destined to be slaves of a lost country...

  "Shut up!" The old class monitor stared at me straight in the eye, signaling me not to tell the truth.

  I understand what the old class leader means, it's clear that we now need the support and cooperation of the Beijing citizens, which will provide us with many conveniences and even conditions for victory. If I reveal the true situation... then it is very likely to reduce the enthusiasm of the citizens!

  But I don't want to continue deceiving them like this, because I couldn't live with myself, I couldn't bear to see the people being so enthusiastic about helping us while we were hiding something from them, or even cheating and taking advantage of them!

  "Old Master!" I stood up and adjusted my uniform, gathering courage to say: "We... we're not going to drive the little Japanese out of Beiping, we're going to break through!"

  "Break through?" The old man was taken aback, but quickly understood my meaning and suddenly slumped like a deflated balloon. Myself and the female student hastily rushed over to support him on either side...

  But unexpectedly, the old man shook my hand violently and pointed at me with trembling fingers, panting: "Good! Good! Break through... What break through? It's better to say escape! Can you bear to abandon us? Can you bear to watch the good rivers and mountains being trampled by the little devils? Can you bear to watch your own parents and relatives die under the devil's butcher knife? You... I'll kill you useless things!"

  He raised his cane and struck me, but was stopped in time by a female student.

  "Dad, let's just go down and not get ourselves worked up, the officials must have their reasons..."

  The female student said so with her mouth, but when she left and turned back to look at me, her eyes revealed infinite disappointment, which made my heart tremble, and a kind of inexplicable self-blame quickly filled my entire head.

  After the three of them left, the house was silent, and no one knew what to say.

  After a long time, Chen Dalie finally cursed: "Damn it! I really *** don't want to leave, stay in Beiping and fight the Japanese devils to the end!"

  "No!" I shook my head: "We have to go! And we have to go beautifully!"

  The reason is simple, leaving useful people for future plans. Only in this way can we minimize the suffering of the common people as much as possible...

  Upper Sanjiang is closed, and all book friends are asked to vote for the soldiers. It's even better if you can give Zhang Sanjiang a ticket every day!