Chapter 25: The Black Pot Medal

  Yan Yunnong was fantasizing about producing steel, making his own designed weapons, and the scene of helping his brother Hufan made him excited. His brother Hufan would definitely not disappoint the world with these guns, nor would he disappoint himself. Damn those devils, die! At this moment, Yan Yunnong emitted boundless hatred and killing intent. It seemed that the scene of the devils killing his parents appeared in front of him again. Tears gushed out of his eyes, wetting the clothes on his chest.

  Yan Ju Fan gently held her in his arms, softly comforting her. This scene made Qin Si Jiao feel a little heartbroken. She hugged Yan Ju Fan and Yu Nong from behind, not knowing why she didn't want to see them sad. She just wanted to freeze this moment.

  Tears blurred her eyes, several children tightly hugged each other, at this moment silence was more powerful than sound.

  Zhang Yun Tian has been having a tough time lately, although he's far away from Lingshan. However, with the Pacification and Consolidation system implemented by the Japanese invaders, the Workers' Militia has always faced enormous difficulties. Many people didn't dare to receive them, from material supplies to personnel replenishment, everything was a problem. People were afraid to get close, not even daring to speak. This Pacification and Consolidation system stipulated that ten households would be held responsible for one another, if one household committed a crime, the other nine would be killed. In the face of such harsh reality, almost no one dared to help them. After all, people are pragmatic, with their lives threatened, how could the timid villagers dare to take risks and talk to the Workers' Militia?

  In this situation, the members of the Wu Gong team couldn't help but miss their happy life in Lei Shi Village. The taste of being full after eating and training was like heaven. There were also beautiful village girls with admiring eyes, which was a world of difference compared to the cold and hostile looks from the villagers now.

  Although everyone didn't speak, their eyes made Zhang Yun Tian extremely worried. If this continues, they probably won't be able to hold on for much longer. As the wounded left behind in Leshi Village recovered and returned to the team, morale also fluctuated. Especially since Leshi Village's own strength was getting stronger and stronger, if his own team didn't develop soon, he was afraid that this territory would have to be given up.

  At that time, how was I viewed by others within the Communist Party? After so many years of revolution, I still haven't made any progress. How humiliating!

  A while ago, I heard that a small team of devils and two battalions of fake troops were eliminated. My superior even sent a telegram to ask if it was me who did it. How could I have such great skills? In the previous few battles, we almost lost soldiers and generals, at most just harassing them, how could we have such strong firepower to eliminate a small team of devils and two battalions of fake troops in one go? I don't know if this is true or not, many places are spreading rumors about it.

  Some people even suspect that it was the Wu Gong team who did it, to avenge the massacre of over 1,300 old and young men in Li Village and Ji Jiahezi. Even their own Wu Gong team thought it must have been another brother team that did it, and they were desperately trying to find out who it was. Their denial seemed like intentional concealment.

  Inside and out, Zhang Yun Tian was driven to distraction. He couldn't help but sigh that his luck was running out. Chen Jian felt that the current situation could only be resolved by fighting a few battles to let the common people know that the devils were not to be feared. If the devils came to our country, they must be driven out, otherwise who knows when a massacre would fall on their own heads.

  For this opinion, Zhang Yun Tian felt that since there was no good way, trying it out wouldn't hurt. The village he was currently staying in was a remote place, and precisely because there were few people around, it hadn't entered the enemy's line of sight. However, this wasn't a place to settle down, and they still had to go to places with people to develop. Only with the support of the common people could they grow and expand. Although the whole nation was in an anti-Japanese slump, whether or not to gain local support depended on the quality of the local leadership. Thinking of this, he hastily discussed with Chen Jian how to break through the situation.

  Chen Jian remembered that when he was in Pheasant Village, Yan Jufan had mentioned making some landmines. Although Chen left later, he still remembered the method. This gave the militia, which lacked weapons and ammunition, a powerful tool. If they buried landmines on the routes used by the Japanese devils, it would make it difficult for them to move forward. In this way, ordinary people who were watching from the sidelines might not be persecuted. Their own troops could also avoid losses. Compared to bullets, making firecrackers was much simpler. Many villages made their own fireworks and firecrackers during Chinese New Year celebrations.

  A large number of landmines were quickly manufactured and buried in areas where the enemy and puppet troops came and went. With a series of loud explosions, the enemy and puppet troops' limbs flew into the sky. Although the harvest was not great, it greatly damaged the enemy's morale, and many times they did not dare to move freely. All this gave the Wu Gong team space to operate. "Accumulating small victories into big ones, continuously attacking the enemy so that they cannot rest or get supplies." As the leaders of the Wu Gong team in Tongcheng area, Zhang Yun Tian and Chen Jian continued to gain experience. As their achievements expanded, they caught the attention of some central leaders of the party. They sent congratulatory telegrams and praised Zhang Yun Tian's unyielding revolutionary spirit in resisting Japan during the low tide of the revolution. They called on all party members to learn from Zhang and Chen, and awarded them the Anti-Japanese Hero Medal.

  All this finally caught the attention of the Japanese occupation authorities. Yamamoto Kitaro was constantly scolded by his superiors, which made him very angry. Although he killed a few puppet troops who were said to have abandoned the Imperial Army's bodies, he knew in his heart that not a single fleeing puppet troop had been captured. Although some of their family members were killed afterwards, it did not help with this matter at all.

  However, to use the enemy's way to control oneself is a traditional strategy of this country. So let these riotous parties and worker-peasant armies be dealt with by the Chinese themselves; the warriors of Great Japan cannot afford to suffer losses in the face of such despicable surprise attacks.

  Mei Huan-yu received the order to purge the armed work teams in Changgu County. He also gave them two months' worth of rations and pay for the security battalion, in order to boost morale. Mei Huan-yu naturally understood that this was another instance of the Japanese using him as a gun, but there was nothing he could do about it - after all, this was his fate. When something happened, they would come looking for him to scold; when nothing was happening, they would kick him aside.

  It's because of this that I've become valuable in the eyes of the Japanese, Mei Huan-yu thought to himself with a hint of self-deprecation. He had considered himself to be both literary and martially accomplished, and had originally planned to make something of himself. But then the Southern Rebels stirred up trouble, and the Jin Dynasty's court was thrown into chaos. The ancestral legacy was at stake, and as a result, they invited in the Japanese wolves, leading to the current state of affairs. For the sake of his family's safety, he had no choice but to pledge loyalty to the Japanese. It's really infuriating. And it's not just the Japanese - they're so arrogant, thinking themselves superior, treating him like a dog and ordering him around everywhere. When danger arises, they push him to the front lines, making him take the fall, and once he's served his purpose, they discard him like a used chamber pot.

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