Chapter 1: The Leaflet Storm

  Although it's already early autumn, the wild reeds on the lake surface still wear a lush green coat, swaying gently in the wind, rising and falling like layer upon layer of green ripples lightly undulating on the lake surface.

  A flock of wild ducks were happily circling and quacking in the air, sometimes landing on the marsh, sometimes on the lake water, and sometimes flying over the reeds. Some young geese also landed on the reed stalks, but the fragile stalks could not bear their weight, and they fell into the muddy water, flapping and quacking, struggling to flap their wings upwards, finally flying back up into the air, circling back and forth, seemingly frightened and loudly calling out.

  At this moment, a small boat emerged lightly from the reeds.

  On the boat was a handsome and refreshing tall boy and a lovely pure and slender girl.

  A wild duck flew over their heads, the young man picked up the gun from the bow of the boat, quickly pulled out a handful of gunpowder from his pants pocket, loaded it quickly, raised his right hand and fired, the wild duck flapped its wings a few times before falling towards the lake surface.

  The little girl smiled with a childish smile and exclaimed excitedly: "Brother is so awesome, he hit it!"

  The young man responded proudly: "Needless to say, who is your brother?" Then he gazed at the lake where the wild duck fell and rowed quickly. When he arrived at the place where the wild duck fell into the water, with a nimble body, the wild duck was in his hands. Not dead, struggling in his hands, its wings were broken.

  "Lu Wei, go home and give Father something to drink with his wine." With a casual flick of her wrist, she tossed the wild duck's head into the cabin and began to row. Lu Wei arranged the fish in the cabin while gazing out at the lake water, responding with a clear "yes", her face radiant and pure. She gazed out at the lake and the blue sky, unable to resist singing freely:

  Far, far away in the sky, geese are flying by, on a small boat, there's my brother, clear lake water is my dream, in my dreams, I have my brothers and sisters, I'm swimming in my brother's lake water, Brother, am I not a pair of geese with you on this lake?

  Her song had just ended when a young man's response came from behind her:

  The lotus flowers in the pond are blooming, my sister is on a small boat far away, the beautiful lakeside is my home, I have my sister in my dreams, brother I alight on my sister's lotus.

  Sister, you and I are like the twin lotus flowers in the same pond.

  A clear and melodious song broke the tranquility of the lake, and a young man listened with a playful smile: "Lu Wei, aren't you ashamed? Listening to this voice, it's not Li Xiaolin, who else could be singing at such an age?"

  Lu Wei's face turned red, and she pouted: "Brother, don't laugh at me. I didn't know he would be here either. I was just singing to have fun." She said it lightly, but in her heart, she was actually drumming up a storm.

  The young man changed his tone from earlier and turned serious: "It's not that I'm saying you, Wei Mei Zi, but I don't like you being with Xiao Lin."

  "Why? Aren't you and Xiaolin good friends and brothers?" asked Lu Wei.

  "Don't ask why, just don't get too close to him, got it? Once I graduate, I'll take you away from this place, just don't get mixed up with him. After you finish school, I'll take you out to make a living and see the world outside. Did you hear me?" He and Xiaolin were indeed good friends, brothers, and classmates, from the same village, their families had a good relationship, but he didn't want his sister to be close to Xiaolin, couldn't say why.

  Lu Wei made a face at her brother and ignored him, focusing on sorting the fish in the basket.

  "Brother Lu Gan, wait for me." Lu Gan heard Xiao Lin shouting from behind and stopped rowing to wait.

  "Hey Kobayashi, what are you doing here?"

  I went to my uncle's home.

  Lu Wei laughed and shouted for Xiao Lin Ge to come over quickly. Lu Gong's eyes widened, but he didn't say anything, and his heart was secretly delighted.

  Lu Gang and others waited for him to approach, pulled him to his side and whispered: "In the future, don't sing such songs in front of my sister again, got it?"

  Kobayashi looked puzzled, gazing at Lu Wei and then at Lu Gan: "Hey, Gan-ge, what do you mean?"

  "In short, don't get close to Wei Mei! Otherwise, I'll beat you up. Want to try? Go ahead!" Lu Gang's tone was extremely tough, and Xiao Lin didn't dare make a sound.

  So, Lu Gong had his own thoughts. In the past few years, while chatting with Teacher Yang at Huxi Middle School, he gained a deeper understanding of the outside world and began to think about leaving, also wanting to take his sister with him. Xiao Lin was the son of Li Baochang, whose mother had died young, and his father's only child. Although Lu Shui Sheng got along well with Li Baochang, Lu Gong was unwilling for Xiao Lin to be close to his sister, and he couldn't even figure out why he had such thoughts.

  Kobayashi didn't understand Lu's meaning, in his heart he only regarded Lu as a younger sister, no other thoughts, and what Lu said was also ignored. The two of them grew up together since childhood.

  Lu Wei is different, she likes Xiao Lin.

  Lu Wei was at the age of 17, a young girl with her heart just opened. In her childhood, she often played with Xiao Lin and her brother, playing hide-and-seek, playing with mud, frolicking in the lake, and hitting birds in the reeds. When her brother went to school, she would follow Xiao Lin like a shadow. After school, the three of them would often return home covered in mud, often getting scolded by their parents.

  He didn't hear what his brother said to Little Lin just now, but he kept thinking that Little Lin was actually his brother's best friend. Why did his brother oppose her being with Little Lin? She couldn't understand and didn't think about it, wondering if Little Lin would like herself? Her heart was uncertain, just like this lake, no one knew how deep it was. Thinking of this, she felt a flush on her face, her face turned red, like the peach blossoms in March.

  It was approaching dusk when a loud rumbling sound came from the sky, and looking up, I saw an airplane flying over in front of me. The huge roar startled many geese and wild ducks resting in the reeds, they flapped their wings and took off in a flurry from their perches, and in an instant, the sky above the reed marsh was black with them as they flew northward in a frantic scramble.

  More than a month ago, planes came countless times, sometimes in groups of three or five, sometimes one or two, flying quickly over the lake surface or village. I heard adults say that they would "drop shit", which means dropping bombs downwards, and also said that those bombs were very powerful, once dropped, there would be a pit on the ground, if it fell on people, they would be gone, if it fell on houses, the whole house would be gone.

  Being so close to the plane for the first time, I naturally felt very nervous, especially Lu Wei was flustered and urged Ge and Xiao Lin to row the boat quickly.

  The plane whizzed over their heads, they didn't dare to lift their heads, and the paddles shook violently, splashing water all over the lake. At this time, their bodies, boats, and the surface of the lake were covered with many colorful paper scraps.

  Many leaflets also fell on a boat preparing to return home on the lake surface, and they were shocked after reading them.

  Three young men saw the bow and stern of the boat, lotus lake on which were all sorts of green paper scraps, relaxed. Lu Gang stopped rowing with his hands, bent down to pick up a piece of paper, took a look, understood, said: "Nothing, nothing, this is the devil's flyer."

  When I was in Huxi Middle School, Teacher Yang Binglian told us that after the Japanese occupied Wuhan and took control of Jiangbei, they had long coveted Jiangnan. As the battle lines in mainland China and Southeast Asia lengthened and the Chinese people fought tenaciously, Japanese imperialism had reached a desperate point, and they would make a final dying struggle, launching a counterattack and committing even greater massacres against the Chinese people, one through physical violence and military conquest, and the other through spiritual cultural propaganda.

  There were pictures of bloody bayonets and swords on the flyers, accompanied by text explanations. Some had pure writings such as "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere", while others had indecent pictures of beauties. Lu Wei saw one and kicked it into the lake.

  Lu Gong remembered his parents, urged his sister to sit well, and didn't even say goodbye to Xiao Lin. With a double paddle, the boat sped towards the shore like an arrow, with Xiao Lin following closely behind.

  Lü Gang's home was in a beautiful village not far from the lake.

  Across the river is Changyuan Town surrounded by water on three sides. Most people here grow ordinary crops such as sugarcane, hemp, rape, and rice during busy farming seasons, raise a few dogs and chickens. Chickens lay eggs, dogs guard homes, and during slack farming seasons, they make a living by fishing, occasionally catching some wild birds to change their taste, and live a comfortable life.

  There is a crescent-shaped bay by the shore, where all the boats returning to the shore are moored, densely and disorderly together, swaying with the waves, the sound of the water hitting the hulls one after another, as if it were a melodious song of the harmony between the boat and the water.

  They landed on the shore and as they approached the entrance of the house, they met Li Baochang who looked anxious and older than his age. Fang Zheng's face was dark, his hair was slightly white, his eyes were not big, but his nose bridge was high, his lips were thick and solid, and his beard had not been taken care of for several months, but his tall and sturdy figure made people feel a sense of majesty everywhere.

  He had a piece of paper in his hand and was looking for Lu Gang's father. He couldn't read.

  Lu Gang took the flyer and read it out loud. On it was clearly written in Chinese:

  To all Chinese compatriots who own fishing boats or other vessels, for the sake of Sino-Japanese friendship and harmony, you are ordered to destroy all your ships within two days. Otherwise, our Imperial Army will send planes to bomb your ships and raze your villages to the ground.

  Without caring about the young men and women in front of him, Li Baolang scolded fiercely: "Damn it!" Then he said: "Let's go, let's go, to your home, to find your dad."

  Li Baochang shouted as soon as he entered the house: "Shui Sheng, Shui Sheng, come out and scatter, where are you? Are you dead or what?" Lu Shuisheng was digging a cellar in the backyard vegetable garden with his wife Sun Huamie at this time, hearing the loud shout from outside, knowing that Li Baochang had arrived.

  Shui Sheng put down the hoe in his hand, patted his palm, and instructed Sun Huamei to pour a cup of water for Li Baichang. He was over 40 years old, physically strong, with regular eyebrows and eyes, and was a down-to-earth person. His relationship with Li Baichang was very good, and there were no unspoken words between them; they had been like this since childhood, quarreling and making up until each of them got married and started their own business. In the words of the villagers, the two of them shared a pair of pants and one brain. Whenever something happened in the village, Li Baichang would generally ask Shui Sheng for advice to come up with a foolproof plan. Li Baichang had once said in the village that whoever didn't take Lu Shuisheng seriously, don't blame me for being impolite, I just won't take him seriously either.

  Li Baochang wasn't bragging either. That year, he became the village head without knowing a single character, originally this position was Lu Shuis's, but Lu Shuis had a serious illness that year and pushed him to the position of village head. Once, a rascal named Gong Qiu stole and sold Lu Shuis' cow. Li Baochang investigated inside and out, and finally caught Gong Qiu, hanging him from the big tree in front of Lu Shuis' house for half a day. It was only when Lu Shuis pleaded for mercy that he was let down, and even invited a doctor to treat Gong Qiu's injured arm. However, Li Baochang still wouldn't let it go, forcing Gong Qiu to redeem the cow, but the money was paid by Lu Shuis, as the money from selling the cow had all been squandered by Gong Qiu, who couldn't afford it. He told Lu Shuis that he would repay him slowly, but Lu Shuis didn't want it. From then on, Gong Qiu treated Lu Shuis with great respect and naturally didn't dare to provoke Li Baochang again.

  What made Gong Qiu extremely grateful was that Lu Shuisheng took the initiative to find a matchmaker, arranged a marriage for him, and Gong Qiu started a family with children. For this reason alone, every year during festivals and holidays, he would invite Lu Shuisheng's family to his home for a drink or two. Of course, he would also drag Li Baolang along, and as they came and went, the three families became very close.

  Shui Sheng had just entered the main room from behind the house when Li Baozhang handed him a tightly clenched piece of paper, telling him it was something that had fallen off an enemy plane and asking if anything like this hadn't fallen in his backyard. Lu Shuisheng shook his head to say no. After taking the paper, Lu Shuisheng's eyebrows furrowed as he looked at it, his face tense, the veins on his neck bulging, and his eyes blazed with anger as he stared at Li Baozhang. Li Baozhang took a sip of water, looked up to see Shui Sheng, and was startled, hastily saying: "Shuisheng, what's wrong?"

  "That little Japanese devil, he's really not human, a beast! Isn't this obviously intimidation?" Lu Shuisheng cursed loudly and slapped his hand on the table, causing the teacups to shake violently.

  Scolding can't solve the problem, so they start looking for a way out. After thinking about it, they still don't have any clue.

  Although this village has never been ruled by the Japanese devils, the villagers have heard about their cruelty through refugees from other places, saying that they are not human, but a group of ferocious demons from the sea. They haven't seen the Japanese, but they have seen the devil planes in the sky, occasionally passing by here, and although no bombs were dropped, the deafening roar was enough to make them fearful, worried that one day it would really be like what many people said, the plane would "shit".

  The Japanese can say and do it, Li Baochang and Shui Sheng have heard of it.

  The Nationalist Party had a unit stationed near the village, and they often heard some news from outside through their mouths. They had heard about the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, which was described as terrifying, making people's hair stand on end and tremble with fear. At night, when they returned home and lay in bed, they didn't dare close their eyes, as if closing them would bring those bloody Japanese bayonets right before their eyes.

  After a moment of silence, Shui Sheng thought of Geng Yingchang and said: "Let's try this, after dinner, we'll go find Geng Yingchang and see if he has any ideas."

  Li Baochang: "Alright, why didn't I think of him?"

  At this time, Sun Huamei came out, with short hair and a round face, looking like a kind and capable rural woman. She smiled and invited Li Baichang to stay for dinner. Li Baichang jokingly asked if there was any good dish. Sun Huamei mentioned some radish and cabbage, then said she couldn't bear to kill chicken or cow, but they had a wild duck that her son had shot, which would do. Hearing this, Li Baichang's mouth kept making "good, good, good" sounds, saying it was even better with peanuts. Just as they were chatting and laughing, a shout suddenly came from outside: "What's so good, Li Baichang?"

  Everyone looked out and saw a man walking in with an air of nonchalance.

  "You little scoundrel, what are you yelling about? The guest has died! What's the hurry?" Li Baozhang said with a smile and a curse when he saw it was Gong Qiu.

  The one who came in was Gong Qiu. He was about 5'3" with a rough and chubby build, revealing two rows of white teeth that still looked quite cute.

  Lu Shuigen asked him what was the matter. He said he brought a roasted chicken. Upon opening it, it was indeed so, and Li Baichang was overjoyed, but then became serious again, asking Gong Qiu if he had stolen it. Gong Qiu panicked and explained that the chicken belonged to his family, and last night when he got up to relieve himself, he heard a noise coming from the chicken coop, so he went to take a look, not expecting to see a weasel stealing chickens. He wanted to find a stick to chase it away, but due to excitement or nervousness, his movements were too big, and the weasel ran away, leaving the chicken on its last breath.

  After listening, everyone laughed. Li Baochang happily said: "Great, there's chicken and wild duck again today, it's a blessing to have such good food! Water-born, you should drink more today." At this time, Lu Shuisheng didn't care about Li Baochang's words and asked Sun Huamei when Lu Gan and his siblings would return. Sun Huamei said they had returned early, Xiao Linzi and Wei Mei were killing fish by the river, and Gan'er was practicing martial arts.

  Sun Huamei was right, just as they came out, Lu Gong took off his clothes and wanted to enter another room. Xiao Lin wanted to go with him, but Lu Gong didn't allow it. He didn't let Xiao Lin in because his father had told him not to let anyone outside the family watch him practice martial arts. He instructed his sister to go kill fish and shoo them away before practicing.

  Xiao Lin took a fish basket and followed Lu Wei to the riverbank. Lu Huamei picked up a wild duck from the ground and went to the kitchen. Lu Wei was delighted that her brother didn't let Xiao Lin watch him practice martial arts, so she could be with Xiao Lin instead. She smiled secretly as she watched Xiao Lin take fish out of the basket and kill them. Out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Lin noticed Lu Wei watching him and felt a little embarrassed and nervous, remembering what Lu Gong had said earlier. He bent down, lowered his head, and continued to kill the fish.

  Lu Shuigen listened to Sun Huamei say that her son was practicing, and asked Li Baichang and Gong Qiu to sit in the main room for a while waiting for him, saying he would go take a look at his son and come back. Li Baichang and Gong Qiu were thinking about wild ducks, ignoring Shuigen as he left, the two went to help Sun Huamei with cooking in the kitchen.

  San Hua's wife had placed the dishes on the table and was calling out to her husband, Lu Gong, to come and eat. Li Baochang and Gong Qiu were already seated at the table, eating without hesitation. Li Baochang exclaimed, "That little devil, Xiao Lin, went to buy wine but seems to have gone to drink it instead, why hasn't he returned yet?" Before he finished speaking, Xiao Lin burst in excitedly with a bottle of wine. Behind him followed Lu Wei, who coincidentally ran into Lu Gong as she was changing clothes. Lu Gong said to her, "Follow the fart!" Lu Wei stuck out her tongue and made a face at Lu Gong before running off to help her mother serve dishes in the kitchen.

  After finishing their meal and drinking wine, Shui Sheng, Li Baochang and Gong Qiu walked out of the door with a burp.

  Lu Gang wanted to go but didn't get approval, but the adults left and the three of them followed. Outside was dark, except for a few barks, the rural night was really quiet.

  As they spoke, Lu Shuizhen and his party soon arrived at the garrison's quarters.

  "Halt!" The sentry discovered them, shouted loudly, and they were startled. They stood there, Li Baochang heard a familiar voice, hurriedly waved his hand, and shouted to the sentry: "It's me, it's me, little dog, damn it, I don't even recognize myself, I'm Li Baochang."

  The little dog heard that it was Li Baochang's voice, put down the gun he had raised, and asked with a smile: "Uncle Li, what's going on so late?"

  The little dog is a villager who has just joined this team recently.

  "None of your business, stand aside, I'm looking for Manager Geng." Li Baozhang glared at him with wide eyes in the dark night, waving his hand.

  "The squad leader is still drinking and no one is allowed to disturb him without his order." Little Dogzi replied in a serious tone.

  Li Baochang was about to lose his temper, but Lu Shuizheng stopped him and pulled Xiaogouzzi aside, saying: "Xiaogouzzi, we've come to discuss something with Geng Yingzhang. Can you go and smooth things over for us so we can get in?" Xiaogouzzi hesitated, and Gong Qiu suddenly slapped the back of his head from behind: "You little scamp, what's gotten into you? You put on this uniform and forget about Li Baochang and Uncle Lu? Don't you deserve a beating? Hurry up!" As Xiaogouzzi dodged the blow, he saw Lü Gang standing behind a large tree not far away. Lü Gang was nodding at him and gesturing for him to let them in. Xiaogouzzi and Lü Gang were good friends, with Xiaogouzzi being two years older than Lü Gang.

  He understood Lu's meaning and muttered in front of Li Baochang, pretending to be calm: "What's the matter? I'll go, it's fine. You guys are bullying me, one day I'll tell my dad." After finishing speaking, he said to another sentry: "Xiaomai, take care." Then he ran towards the camp area.

  Before long, he returned and said that Commander Geng had agreed to let them in. Li Baozhang led Shui Sheng and Gong Qiuzi to the camp.

  Lu Zhuang saw them enter the barracks, and a figure emerged from behind the trees, playing with the little dog. Xiao Mai coughed. The little dog returned to its serious demeanor, asking them what they were doing here, if they were spies trying to gather military information or if they wanted to be Japanese scouts?

  Lu Gang punched him and said, "You're the spy. Let me tell you, we picked up a lot of flyers today." Xiaogouz listened with disdain and said, "What's the big deal? What's so special about that? Who are you trying to scare? I also picked some up." He then pulled out a dozen papers from his pocket and said, "I have extras here, planning to use them to wipe my butt in the toilet."

  Lu Gan took a look and saw that it was a wanted poster, so he said: "It's not like this." Then he told Xiaogouz about the content of the flyer he had seen from Xiao Lin's father, and also said that his father went to find Geng Yingchang to discuss this matter.

  Wheat stood there silently watching these young men at a loss in the stillness.

  The autumn wind blows through the surrounding leaves at night, making a rustling sound. The autumn night is quiet and the autumn wind sweeps across people.

  Lu Gong looked at the bright light in the camp, really wanting to go in and listen carefully, coaxing the little dog with sweet words, but the little dog refused to budge.

  The barracks were very lively.

  Li Baochang and his group had just entered when Geng Yinglong pulled them to the table: "Come, come, Li Baochang, Old Lu, you've arrived at the right time, join us for a drink. Jianliang, pour wine." He was called Geng Zitang, a Northeasterner, with black hair and shallow temples, thick eyebrows and big eyes, dignified in appearance, robust in build.

  A sturdy man heard Geng Yinglang shout at him and immediately stood up, excitedly replying: "Good! Full wine."

  They were forced to sit down and drink with them, as they had something to ask of them. Every time they tried to bring up the matter at hand, Geng Ying was cut off by him, saying "Just drink, don't talk business, let's just have a good time."

  Gong Qiu and Li Baozhang held their wine cups, watching them play rock-paper-scissors, unable to join in the conversation, feeling anxious and uneasy. Just as they didn't know what to do, Shui Sheng, who had been silent with a gloomy face, suddenly stood up, poured the wine into his mouth, then slammed the cup onto the table, shattering it. This sudden movement startled everyone present. Shui Sheng didn't care, his voice exploding in the room: "What's there to drink? The Japanese are about to slaughter our people, and you're still having so much fun! You don't look like soldiers at all, just a bunch of drunkards!" He was about to storm off when Li Baozhang stopped him.

  He stood up with a long, crooked and slanting posture, pulled the military cap off his head and slammed it onto the table, spitting out a mouthful of alcohol fumes as he cursed: "Damn you, what kind of person are you? You dare to come here and act wildly, looking for death? You're ruining Lieutenant Bai's and my brothers' fun." After finishing speaking, he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Shuǐshēng.

  Shui Sheng was taken aback, staring at the long row of gun barrels, his face looking unwell. He puffed out his chest and said, "Come on, if you dare, shoot me." In fact, he had also drunk too much, with the muzzle pressed against himself, he felt a sense of fear in his heart, but fueled by alcohol, his courage grew.

  Gong Qiu's face turned red with rage as he stood in front of Shui Sheng and let out a loud roar: "You dare!"

  Those military officers who were still holding their wine and were drunk and dizzy seemed to think that something had happened, and they stood up in a hurry, wanting to get angry. One of them didn't stand firm, got drunk, and "crash" fell under the table.

  Seeing this scene, Geng Yinglong seemed to have sobered up and kicked the butt of Yilian Chang: "Put away your gun." Then, looking at his subordinates who were lying east and west, he scolded heavily: "A group of bears."

  Li Baochang saw the situation and worried that Shui Sheng would be at a disadvantage, so he came out to mediate, hastily telling Ge Yingchang not to take it seriously and speaking kindly. Ge Yingchang ignored him, picked up his wine cup, walked in front of Shui Sheng, pushed away the hand holding the gun with one hand, and handed the bowl to Shui Sheng's face: "Drink. Let's talk after you finish drinking."

  Shuǐ Shēng's face was stubborn: "I won't drink, why should I? If you want me to drink, take a look at this first." After saying that, he pulled out the flyer from his body.

  Geng Yinglong read it through once, and after finishing, he suddenly burst out laughing. The other officers who were not drunk followed suit, laughing so hard that they left the others bewildered.

  "So that's what it was all about, you're really scared, huh? You guys aren't three-year-olds, being intimidated by a little devil like this, haha!" Geng Yingzhang burst out laughing again.

  "But you have to give us ordinary people a way out, this matter still depends on your decision." Gong Qiu said. Li Baochang also chimed in. Only Shui Sheng remained silent, staring at the company commander, wishing he could punch him twice.

  Geng Yinglong gazed at the three of them, beckoning them to sit back down, and had other officers help the drunkard who had fallen to the ground get back up, leaving only one company commander behind.

  He held up his wine bowl and said to Sheng: "Come on, Old Lu, drink this bowl of wine, and we'll discuss it slowly."

  Shui Sheng didn't want to drink, but Li Baochang and Gong Qiu persuaded him to. He had no choice but to continue, but instead of drinking, he said: "No way, you two are always bullying me, I won't drink. You're pointing a gun at me, if you have the guts, try it with your bare fists. And you," he pointed at Geng Yingchang and said: "If you don't come up with a good plan to help us, we won't cooperate. You have to drink three bowls."

  Geng Yinglong stood up and ordered a row of attendants: "Hurry up, serve wine for Old Lu as a courtesy."

  He knew it was pointless to argue with Lu Shuisheng at this time, and he was aware that he had almost reached the point of intoxication. He didn't want to provoke him, nor did he want to compare martial arts skills with him. If he hadn't been drinking, he wouldn't have given up. In a daze, he said: "I'll wait... wait... wait a bit and drink some more." After taking the wine from Geng's hand and drinking it down, he staggered towards the door, saying intermittently that he was going outside to urinate and would come back, probably because he needed to vomit.

  "Alas, what can I say? The Japanese devils are too arrogant, like wolves biting everywhere. Damn it." He paused and continued, "However, they won't last long. As far as I know, the situation is still in our favor. With the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese are not at ease, their battle lines are stretched too long, and domestic supplies are insufficient. From today's actions of the devils, I think they're just trying to intimidate you ordinary people and save face. For now..."

  Gong Qiu interrupted Geng Yingchang's words, saying: "What is this 'currently not currently' nonsense? Don't say that. We don't understand it either, and we've never seen a Japanese devil. You'd better tell us what to do with our boat."

  Li Baochang pushed him and signaled to listen to Geng Yingchang continue, saying that listening would be beneficial. Geng Yingchang didn't say anything else, asking Li Baochang how many ships were included in this area. Li Baochang said he didn't know about other villages, but almost every household here had one, some even had two, big and small ones, nearly 200 households.

  "So you're saying that just in this village alone there are over 400 ships? That's quite a few." asked Commander Geng.

  Li Baochang replied: almost.

  "If we really listen to the devils and destroy everything, wouldn't that be a huge loss?" Commander Geng seemed to be muttering to himself as he paced back and forth in the room.

  "What's the point, it's all over. How are we going to make a living? No boat, no fishing, how am I supposed to support my wife and kids?" Gong Qiu responded. Geng Yinglong is now thinking about more than just fishing.

  "Geng Yingchang, you really need to think of a way, or else we'll really be worried." Shui Sheng said, looking at Geng Yingchang who was pacing back and forth after hearing Gong Qiu mention this matter.

  "It's nothing big, damn it, don't be afraid, we're here, what are you afraid of?" was a voice coming from outside the room.

  As they spoke, Yilian came in, obviously a bit drunk but much better than before, probably having vomited already. He wiped his mouth and said that after coming in, he had poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down. Seeing the wine still in Shuisheng's hand, he asked him to drink it, saying what was there to be afraid of with the devils arriving? Shuisheng said the problem hadn't been solved, so he would resolutely not drink that bowl of wine. He also said Yilian could stand and talk because he had a gun, but they ordinary people were unarmed.

  Geng Yingchang grabbed the arm of Commander Wan and said: "Commander Wan, I think the devils will not destroy the ship so easily. There must be a plot behind this. The intention of the devils is not here, perhaps there is a bigger plan and conspiracy."

  After some thought, Geng Yinglong suddenly had an idea. He asked Shuisheng to drink the wine in his bowl and then gathered everyone at the table edge, saying: "How about this? You don't fish during the day, but instead do it at night. When you come back, move all the boats ashore and cover them with straw or cotton sticks. Even if the enemy's reconnaissance planes come, they won't be able to find them. The boats aren't too big or heavy anyway. If the enemy can't see the boats, they'll think their goal has been achieved and everything will be safe and sound. How about it?

  Also instruct them to gather some hay and pile it up in several stacks, burning a few stacks each day to confuse the enemy's reconnaissance planes into thinking they are burning ships.

  They heard the aquatic ones, looked at each other and thought it was a good idea, but still had to go back to work in the village. At this time, the communication soldier rushed out of the door, ran to the camp, reported with one voice, handed over a paper, saluted, got on his horse and left quickly.

  Geng Yingchang was reading official documents, Li Baichang and his party bid farewell and left the camp, when they arrived at the sentry post, they saw Lu Gong and others here. Shui was angry and asked them what they were doing here so late. Lu Gong said it was to see Xiao Gouzi. Xiao Gouzi quickly explained that's what happened. Lu Wei asked about his father's situation with Geng Yingchang.

  "Go and play on one side, this is grown-up's business, don't ask questions." Lu Shuisheng was a bit impatient.

  Li Baochang told Gong Qiu to go and beat the gong to inform the villagers to gather at Daping. Before long, the villagers came one after another. Shui Sheng asked Gong Qiu about the autumn melon that was not seen by the pipe crossing. Gong Qiu said it was unclear.

  Li Baozhang stood on a large tree stump, looking at the dense crowd of villagers in front of him, and began to tell them in detail about what had happened today and his discussion with Geng Yinglong. The villagers all nodded in agreement.

  While Li Baolang was still speaking, Shuisheng walked out of the crowd to find Qiuxigua who was lying on the bed sleeping soundly. He told him to hide the boat well and also that tomorrow Lu Gang's siblings would go to school, worried that Qiuxigua saw the daytime flyers and didn't want to take the ferry, delaying the children's studies. He expressed his concerns because Qiuxigua was illiterate, fearing he wouldn't understand.

  Qiu Si Gua was a bit unhappy when he heard Lu Shui Sheng say that. He muttered to himself, "Lu Ge, you're looking down on me too much, am I really that kind of person? At least that time the stick kid saved my life. And every time they went to school, wasn't it me who sent them there? No matter if it was raining or snowing, or even thunder and lightning striking right above our heads, scaring people to death, I wasn't afraid. Which time did I ever delay them? Lu Ge, rest assured."