Chapter Sixteen: The End of the Cannon Tower

  Lu Gong couldn't sleep, thinking about what happened during the day, and all the things were sorted out in his mind.

  Will the devils give up after killing a few of them? Just now, Mountain Tiger was causing trouble again on that side. Will the devils track their footprints? Tonight, when Mountain Tiger's uncle sent them across the river, there were devil patrol boats on the river, and they almost got discovered. No, they can come at any time. Thinking of this, he suddenly got up from bed and called out to those young men who were just entering dreamland.

  "Get up, I have something to say."

  Those boys were woken up by him, unaware of what had happened, rubbing their eyes.

  "Mountain tigers, you tell me, after you left, did the devils continue shooting at you from the shore?"

  "It's been hit, ouch." The monkey answered first and got a slap on the back of his head from the mountain tiger. The mountain tiger said, "I wasn't asking you." The monkey rubbed his head and said, "Third Master, then you say." The mountain tiger said, "You've already spoken, what else can I say?"

  Lu Gong asked again where the boat was stopped. Shan Laohu said it was by the shore. Lu Gong immediately called Jiang Ya Zi: "Jiang Ya Zi, quickly go and wake up Xiao Ke, we are leaving here right away."

  Things came suddenly, and Lu Gong's words left these young men bewildered. After hearing what Lu Gong had to say, they all rushed out of the hotel, and as they passed by the counter, Lu Gong told the boss to wake up those who were sleeping and hurry them to run away. At this time, Xiao Ke and Jiang Ya Zi came out, but before they could steady their feet, Lu Gong said: "We can't stay here, follow me, quickly, let's run to the riverbank. Little Lin, take care of Xiao Ke."

  Xiao Ke said don't bother Xiao Lin, and called out to Lu Gong, which brought on a burst of laughter. Lu Gong ignored them and led them hastily towards the riverbank.

  The river water is flowing with a gurgling sound, and it's very late at night.

  The old tiger panted and followed at the end, the monkey led them to the shore, and the boat was still there. Under Lu Gong's command, they boarded the boat, Lu Gong and Xiao Lin rowed with oars, and they quietly rowed downstream along the riverbank.

  "Where are we going, Master?" asked Mountain Tiger.

  "Shut up," said Lu Gang.

  "Shut up if I tell you to shut up, got it?" The monkey added. "Then why do you want to talk?" said the mountain tiger.

  "I'm telling you to shut up," said the monkey. The mountain tiger slapped the back of the monkey's head with a loud crack: "You're getting bold, aren't you, trying to order me around?"

  "Who told you to speak, don't listen to Brother Gun's words." Xiao Ke saw the mountain tiger bullying the monkey and came out to fight for justice.

  "Everyone be quiet, did you hear? The devils are coming." Lu Gang signaled for everyone to keep silent.

  The boys crouched on the boat, hardly daring to breathe as they listened to the sounds around them. Sure enough, the rumble of machinery came through, unusually clear on the quiet river surface.

  Lu Gang pointed to the small forest of reeds in front of him and to his left, and Kobayashi understood what he meant. They paddled carefully together, afraid of stirring up the water and making a noise.

  On the motorboat was a small village. At that time, in the small village, Cao Chang saw the mountain tiger's boat had sailed to the center of the river, and he ordered the devils to open fire on them while saying to the devils beside him: "Go, call the motorboat for me, I want to capture them alive."

  Just as Lu Gang and others were rowing along the riverbank, a motorboat arrived, and the devils boarded the boat and rushed straight to the opposite bank.

  Onto the embankment, a swarm of devils rushed to the other side of the embankment slope, and two devils were left on the boat to keep watch. The searchlight was directly aimed at the edge of the embankment, illuminating it brightly.

  There were only a few households on this side of the dam, and two lanterns hung outside the inn, looking particularly desolate in the dark night.

  The little village was divided into several groups with the devils and rushed to the nearby civilian houses and inns, kicking open the doors and killing anyone they saw.

  Lu Gang, leaning on the downstream edge, saw that all the devils had jumped off the boat and thought to himself: "This is not good. Their behavior today has already enraged the devils, they will definitely kill people." What to do? Go back and fight with them? Or take these people and quickly escape from here? Where exactly should they go? If they return to town, what if the devils come to the town again to cause trouble? No, they can't go back to town, nor can they go back to the inn. At this time, a burst of gunfire came from the direction of the inn, tightening their hearts.

  Suddenly, Lu Gong had an idea.

  He asked about the situation of the mountain tiger's artillery tower, and the mountain tiger said that generally at night it was guarded by fake soldiers, surrounded by barbed wire, during the day fake soldiers were on duty at the two earth mounds, at night they usually stayed on the top of the tower and didn't dare to come out. There was a motorboat moored not far from the riverbank, which came out for patrol during the day but rarely came out at night unless there was a situation that required it.

  The boat isn't coming out, is it? said the monkey.

  He said to Kobayashi: "Do you have guts?"

  "What's wrong? Just speak up." Xiao Lin was not afraid. He had followed Lu Zhuang and killed so many devils, his courage had also grown.

  "Master," said Mountain Tiger, "just tell us already, what are we going to do?"

  "We'll go to the gun tower, take it out, and then wait for those devils to come back and take them down one by one." Lu Gang's tone was very hard. But he had no confidence in his heart about how to attack the gun tower.

  "The watchtower has cannons, and there are machine guns guarding it," said the monkey.

  "Are you scared, huh? Otherwise, you can stay here and wait for the devils to catch you." This time it was Xiao Ke who started hitting the monkey's occipital bone. The monkey quickly said that wasn't what he meant, he wasn't afraid, but rather afraid that Xiao Ke wouldn't be able to withstand it. He spoke with a smooth tongue: "Sister Xiao, I'm thinking for Brother Gun, I'm afraid you, as a girl, won't be able to hold on, and as soon as you see the devils, you'll run away and still harm Brother Gun?"

  "What have I done to harm him? Say, what have I done to harm him?" Xiao Ke came on strong, pinching the monkey's ear and not letting go, causing the monkey to grit its teeth and gasp in pain, but it didn't dare to shout loudly.

  Jiang Ya Zi said: "Sister, let me throw him into the water, okay?" The monkey was almost scared to death, and he had to beg for mercy: "Okay, okay, I'm a scale weight, Xiao Jie you just spare me, I won't speak again, is that alright?" Shan Lao Hu slapped his occipital bone with a loud crack, saying: "You're also afraid of the master, if in the future you still dare to disobey Xiao Cuo's words, I'll hit your occipital bone every day, did you hear me?" The monkey repeatedly said "yes, yes", making Jiang Ya Zi and Xiao Cuo laugh.

  Lu Gang and Xiao Lin rowed the boat quietly towards the direction of the artillery tower. At this time, he spoke up, telling everyone to be quiet, and he vaguely saw the shadow of the artillery tower. He called over Shan Laohu and Houzi and made a simple arrangement on the boat: "I and Houzi will sneak there first to take a look, Shan Laohu, you know that fake soldier, you come with me too. Xiao Lin, you ambush on the shore, if something happens, Xiao Lin, you open fire. Houzi, give your gun and bullets to Xiao Lin. Jiang Pizi and Xiao Shao wait for us on the boat, Jiang Pizi, be careful, as long as the devils come out of the artillery tower, you row the boat downstream, take Xiao Shao with you and don't care about us, got it? Xiao Lin, unless absolutely necessary, don't open fire."

  Kobayashi asked if the devils would shoot when they came.

  Lu Gang said: "Need to ask me? Just fight against the devils."

  The monkey said: "Little Lin, is your shooting accurate? Don't shoot at us." Little Lin kicked him and he dodged, saying to the mountain tiger with a grievance: "Third Master, they always bully me."

  The old mountain tiger patted his head: "Monkey, you're just a scoundrel."

  Xiao Ke wanted to go, but Lu Gan disagreed. Jiang Ya Zi also wanted to go, although Xiao Ke was a bit unhappy, she still stopped him when she heard that Jiang Ya Zi wanted to go too, so the two of them stayed on the boat.

  Lu Zhuang and his men jumped ashore and quietly approached the artillery tower under the cover of night.

  They were now only about 100 meters away from the artillery tower.

  Fire? Hard rush? Lure the snake out of the hole? How to lure? Lu Gong's brain was rapidly turning over various methods.

  On the watchtower, a fake soldier was flashing his flashlight around the surroundings. The light was too weak to shine on Lu Zhuang and the others, so Lu Zhuang decided to move forward to take a closer look at the situation before deciding what to do next.

  "Master, look quickly, that traitor on top is the person I met today." Shan Laohu said softly to Lu Gong.

  "Do you know each other?" Lu Gong asked.

  "He also taught monkeys how to shoot guns, didn't he?" Shan Laohu replied.

  The monkey says yes.

  Lu Gang said: "Alright, you and the monkey go downstairs, give him a shout, see how he reacts. Remember to hide in a place where the gun can't reach after calling him out. Do you know his name?"

  "Arrived."

  "I don't know, how did you find him?"

  "It's not that I don't know, it's just that I'm not saying." Shan Lao Hu said word by word to Lu Gong.

  "What a surname and name. Hurry up and go, if we can call him down, we'll have a way." Lu Gong heard clearly and said with joy.

  The mountain tiger drew out his knife and ran towards that side, hiding behind a mound of earth, shouting the name of Bo Zhidao from above.

  Park's arrival was met with someone calling out to him, and he nervously took his gun off his shoulder. The voice that came from the dark night scared him quite a bit, and he responded in panic: "Who is it? Who's shouting?" He shone his flashlight towards the source of the shout, but couldn't see anyone.

  "Bother you're here, get out of the way, be careful I'll smash your dog head, let me tell you I'm San Ye."

  "Third Master?"

  "It's me, hurry up and get down, I have something to say."

  "Alright, alright, I'm coming." Bozhi arrived and clearly heard the voice of that fatso from today. He went downstairs, bypassed those sleeping fake soldiers, and walked out of the artillery tower.

  At this time, Lu Gong saw that the fake soldiers on the rooftop were gone and ran up with the monkey to the side of the mountain tiger. When Bu Zhidao came over, he pressed him to the ground. Before Bu Zhidao could shout, Lu Gong had covered his mouth, and the monkey had taken away his gun.

  "Don't talk, tell me, how many devils are there in the artillery tower?" Lu Gang asked.

  Buzhidao shook his head, and Shan Laohu took out a knife: "Buzhidao, don't you really know? Our New Fourth Army has already surrounded this place. If you're not honest, we'll kill you first."

  Bo Zhidao was still shaking his head, and the mountain tiger got anxious and wanted to stab him with a knife. The monkey said: "Gangzi brother, cover his mouth, how can he speak?" Lu Gang heard this and said to Bo Zhidao: "I can let you go, but you have to be honest with me, don't shout, did you hear that?" Bo Zhidao nodded, and Lu Gang released him. Bo Zhidao took a breath and said: "There are no devils in the artillery tower, only us guarding it. Xiao Cun took the devils to the other side of the river, see, the motorboat is not there, they all left, don't know if they went to find you."

  "How many people are inside?" Lu Gong asked.

  "Six people, the class leader took two brothers to town to buy things, the village said, wait for the imperial army to finish fighting and come back, oh no, not, it's, it's the devils."

  "Whose side are they on?" Lu Gang said to Mountain Tiger again: "Go, call them all over."

  "What do you want to do?" Bo asked tensely.

  "We just want to get rid of the devils." Lu Gang glared, and Bu Zhi hurriedly said: "Great, we've long been unwilling to deal with the devils, they're not human, they're beasts. Alright, you tell me what to do, I'll definitely follow through, those brothers will still listen to me."

  Lu Gong said a few words in his ear. At this time, Xiao Lin and Xiao Xiao came over.

  Lu Gong saw them coming and let Bo Zhi go first, they followed behind him and entered the artillery tower.

  The puppet army in the artillery tower is still sleeping soundly.

  Bo Zhidao arrived and woke them all up. The awakened pseudo-army emerged from their dreams, saw Bo Zhidao bring so many people, and didn't panic too much. Lu Gong saw this and the stone in his heart was put down. He let Xiao Lin climb to the top of the gun tower to observe the wind, then said to the pseudo-army: "We're not here to fight you, the evil deeds of the devils are deep, we're here to fight the devils, don't be afraid, as long as you follow us, we won't kill you."

  "Right, as long as you don't cause trouble, the New Fourth Army won't kill you, is that right, monkey?" Mountain Tiger asked Monkey again. "Yes." Monkey felt a surge of energy and saw that Mountain Tiger kept asking for his opinion, he was delighted, thinking he was just like the New Fourth Army.

  "We won't come in a mess, we've long been unwilling to do things that are ungrateful to the Chinese people, and we don't want to do things that are ungrateful to our fellow villagers. I will not coexist with the devils, brothers, what do you say, shall we fight against the devils?" Bu Zhi said to these puppet soldiers. Indeed, his words caused a commotion, and one of the puppet soldiers stood up and said: "Brother Bu, whatever you say, we'll follow."

  "Alright, pick up your guns and follow me, let's go fight those little village devils."

  Lu held him back and said, "No way, we can't fight them head-on. Let's just guard this place. I think these devils are definitely off guard. Send a few brothers outside to guard the earth mound and catch them off guard. Are there any machine guns?"

  "There aren't any, the small village has been taken away, but there are hand grenades." said Bu Zhi Dao. Lu Gong said: "Everyone find a good position, don't expose yourselves, hurry up. Jiang Wei Zi, you follow Xiao Suo in this artillery tower and don't go out." At this time, Little Lin came down and said that the enemy's motorboat is approaching.

  Everyone took up their positions, cocked their guns, and waited with bated breath for the village team to come and meet their deaths.

  Lu Gang carried a box of hand grenades out of the gun tower and arrived at the edge of the earthwork with Bo Zhi. Jiang Youzi couldn't stay still, so he simply carried a box of hand grenades and followed Xiao Lin and Xiao Ke up to the top of the gun tower.

  Everything was ready, and then the light of the motorboat shone on the riverbank, a group of devils came to the artillery tower with laughter.

  At this time, the little village shouted to open the door. The response was a fierce bullet flying towards him, hitting the little village and leaving him bewildered. The devils heard the gunshot and felt something was wrong, their first reaction was to lie down and use the terrain to fire forward, the machine gun firepower was very strong, killing several puppet soldiers. However, Lu's grenade also blew the little village into a daze, some were killed, some were injured, and only a few devils remained. The devil's machine gun had no bullets left. Bu Zhi said to Lu.

  At this time, Lu Gong saw Xiaocun leading several devils running towards the motorboat. What reason is there to let the devils escape? Lu Gong picked up his gun and chased after Xiaocun. On the second floor, Xiao Lin saw it, aimed at Xiaocun with his gun, and shot him in the back. Xiaocun fell dead beside the motorboat, and the other devils were also sent back to their hometown by the bullets of Lu Gong and Bo Zhituo.

  On his way back, Lu Gang saw a seriously injured devil struggling on the ground. Without saying a word, he stabbed him with a knife and sent him to the Western Heaven.

  "Hurry, Xiao Lin, see if there are any who aren't dead yet. Kill all those who aren't dead to avenge our parents and fellow villagers." Lu Gong thought of the tragic event that occurred in his hometown, and as he stabbed, he cried, crying so hard that Xiao Chu tightly followed him, hugging him, and comforting him also started crying. The others didn't move. Xiao Lin moved, one by one stabbing each of the enemy's corpses with a knife, crying out "Dad, I've avenged you" as he stabbed. Until his hand trembled, his whole body weak, he knelt down, shouting "Dad!" and then burst into loud sobs like Lu Gong.

  The tigers and monkeys on the mountain, as well as these fake soldiers, are heartbroken. A man has tears but doesn't easily shed them, only when he's extremely heartbroken. Judging from Lu and Xiao Lin's frantic behavior, their deep hatred for the devils is profound.

  In the dark of night, two young men were crying. Under Bu Zhi's leadership, others were gathering on the battlefield and calling out to the wounded. Xiao Ke and Jiang Youzi were comforting Lu Gang and Little Lin.

  Suddenly, a voice came from the darkness: "No one is allowed to move."