Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Lu Dashi returned to the camp when the regimental commander and others were seeing off Lin Xiuchang. Several people were flushed with excitement, addressing each other as brothers, seemingly having a good chat. Lu Dashi greeted them and hastily pulled the regimental commander into his own room.

  After listening to Lu Dashi's words, Li Tuanzhang was also startled: "What you said is true, are they really that fierce?"

  "The place I chose is the best position to observe and suppress the opponent, that Ma Liu is a master, he had already laid an ambush there in advance, those guerrillas didn't notice at all, I also fell into his trap. If they were rushing to attack our headquarters, we would only have the fate of being buried alive now!" They are all old comrades-in-arms, if it weren't for frequently making mistakes, the position of battalion commander should be Lu Dashi's, so speaking is also more casual.

  "So what does their cooperation mean, are you going? This needs to be carefully considered!"

  "I think Flying Tiger Village has suffered a loss and is now looking for an easy target to bully. Since we're not familiar with the local situation, this kid wants to drag us down! However, I have an idea - let's take some people to open their eyes and see how they fight. Even if we don't get anything out of it, we won't be at a disadvantage. What do you think?"

  Just fought a battle with the Japanese army, the soldiers are all listless, the regimental commander is burning with anger in his heart, and he wants to boost morale. After thinking for a moment, he says: "Damn it, let the little devils know that we're not easy to mess with!"

  "What if the superiors blame us afterwards? Who will take responsibility?"

  "That's your Lu Dashi's business, Director will take care of you, when the time comes, you can just go to Old Director and throw a tantrum!"

  Lu Dashi took one row from each of the three rows, led by the political commissar, a total of 100 people, and set off with Lin Xiuying's team. The regimental commander wanted to go in person, but the political commissar strongly disagreed. Neither of them was a fool, and going together would only lead to big trouble. The regimental commander had no choice but to stay at home and make arrangements for reception.

  It's said to be a hundred miles away, but the mountain road is winding and not easy to walk. Moreover, the people of Lushan are still on foot, while Lin Xiucheng ordered them to ride horses in turns, and the Flying Tiger Fort people were on foot. The horse didn't stop running all the way, and finally arrived at a narrow pass before dawn, camping down in the mountain forest five kilometers away from the railway. The special agent company quickly completed the search and alert, seemingly unaffected by the long march, which made Lushan look at them with new eyes. He thought that marching was his strong point, but unexpectedly, the other side didn't fall behind at all, and even distributed their physical strength more reasonably. He became even more curious about this team in his heart.

  The political commissar sent someone to contact the local comrades, and the rest of the people rested in place. Seeing that the soldiers from Lu Dashi brought out steamed buns, the soldiers from Fei Hu Zhai took out their own canned biscuits and handed them over. Lu Dashi looked at Ma Liu with a bitter smile: "Damn it, you guys are really wealthy! If we hadn't drunk together before, I would have thought you were devils! Brothers, don't be polite to them, eat what you should eat, and we'll return double after the battle!"

  The person sent out did not return until the afternoon, and also brought a local district committee secretary, who introduced each other and was very cordial.

  The secretary of the district committee introduced a situation that caught everyone's attention: about once a week, a train would pass by here, heading south, with more obvious guards on board than other trains, and it was estimated to be carrying important goods. The arrival time is around 7 pm. Lu Dashi asked how many days had passed since the last one, and the answer was that if not today, then tomorrow would be good.

  Lu Dashi looked at Ma Liu, and Ma Liu nodded slightly, meaning it was the one. Lu Dashi consulted with the political commissar and secretary for a while, then turned around to ask Ma Liu: "Old Ma, when do you think this car will arrive?"

  Ma Liu smiled and said: "It's today, otherwise I wouldn't have rushed over in such a hurry. How about it, are you going to do it or not?"

  Along the Yellow River, several Japanese army divisions and National Army troops are facing off, consuming a large amount of supplies every day. According to the Japanese army's logistics habits, it should be a seven-day cycle. Based on the reconnaissance company and Lü Jizong's intelligence, Xiao Ming calculated that the train would pass through this area today, so he dispatched Ma Liu to lead the team to hurry over. "Blow it up for me, don't leave it for the devils, and by the way, make a big fuss, if possible, blow the sky away!"

  Lu Dashi's forehead was sweating, regretting not being prepared. If he let such a big piece of fat go, where would he find another opportunity? He thought to himself that this matter still needed to be discussed with Ma Liu, to see if there were any remedial measures. With an awkward smile, he said to Ma Liu: "Old Ma, look at all these things being wasted, isn't it a pity? Why don't I go find some containers and bring some back?"

  Ma Liu looked at his watch and shook his head, saying: "It's already past three o'clock now. Where can you go to find a car? Even if we get one from the nearby village, it won't be able to carry much! Moreover, the Japanese army's patrol team is just roaming around in the vicinity. If we accidentally expose ourselves, not only will we suffer losses, but also the villagers nearby will be affected. You'd better think carefully, hijacking a train is not like hijacking a road, the risk is too great!"

  Lu Dashi looked at the political commissar, who thought that Ma Liu's words made sense. If this were to implicate the common people, then Lu Dashi, the battalion commander and himself would certainly be killed. He said: "Old Lu, don't lose sight of the bigger picture because of a small matter, let's just follow the friendly army's arrangements!"

  The district committee secretary saw Lu Dashi not reconciled, said: "Or I go back to mobilize, the mass base here is not bad, everyone's anti-Japanese enthusiasm is high, organizing a transport team should not be a problem!"

  "Absolutely not, Old Ma is right. If we fail to intercept and it ends up benefiting the enemy instead, the masses will suffer losses too. Our guilt would be even greater then. Let's take things one step at a time."

  After seeing off the district party secretary, a few people began to work out a battle plan. Ma Liu no longer spoke, with an air of not being concerned, Lin Xiucheng and Political Commissar Jian yielded to each other, under the insistence of Political Commissar, Lin Xiucheng said his own plan: around 6:30, the special operations company would lay explosives on the railway, the cavalry company would be responsible for clearing the Japanese army patrol team, after the explosion of the train, the special operations company and the Eighth Route Army would move forward to inspect the results of the battle, arrange a second explosion, strive to destroy all materials, finally, the special operations company would cover the retreat.

  "Lao Lin, what's going on here? You're the ones who came out together, and you've taken all the risks. How can this be? I think it's better for you to withdraw first, and we'll cover for you. This ambush is our specialty!" The political commissar was not pleased - they had come out with guns drawn but hadn't fired a shot, and now they were asking others to provide cover. What would happen to the prestige of the regular army? Would there be any face left in the future?

  Lin Xiuzhi smiled and said, "You're being too polite! We have horses, we can run fast! When we can't hold on anymore, your army can come up later. In the face of a great enemy, let's not distinguish between you and me!"

  "Director, let's just listen to Old Lin for now. Who knows if we'll even be of any help, and instead cause more trouble!" Lu Dashi sighed. After two days of observation, it was discovered that the Flying Tiger Fort didn't seem like a bandit group at all. The individual quality and military discipline of its members were even better than those of well-trained regular troops. It seemed there must be someone with high abilities guiding them. Obviously, Lin Xiuzhu wasn't that person, so who could it be?

  Seeing Lu Dashi say this, the political commissar was no longer polite, but in his heart he was puzzled: How did this little kid Lu Dashi suddenly change his ways and not take a stand? This is someone who has never been willing to show weakness!

  Ma Liu looked at his watch and shouted, "Old Wu, are you ready? Let's go!" He turned to Lin Xiuqing and the others and said, "Chief of Staff, we're leaving!" Then he pointed to the Japanese military uniform he had just put on and said to Lu Dashi, "Old Lu, tell the brothers to be clear, we have white towels tied around our necks, don't shoot at us!" After finishing speaking, he waved his hand and led the special forces company to gallop towards the railway on horseback. Wu Dingbang also nodded to Lu Dashi and the others, and led two squads to take separate actions.

  The commissar looked at him strangely: "What's this, Old Lin? Aren't you going to give out combat assignments?"

  Lin Xiuzhi was taken aback for a moment, then understood and smiled: "It's already been arranged! Don't worry, this task is a familiar routine now, the rest depends on them."

  The political commissar was worried and ordered Lu Dashi to lead his men in making preparations, so that they could make up for any mistakes if something went wrong.

  The commandos got on the railroad and divided into three groups. One group stood guard, while the other two took out engineer shovels and started digging holes to bury explosives.

  A distant gunshot was heard, and after a while, the cavalry company's men came to report to Ma Liu that both Japanese patrols had been eliminated, and more than 20 horses were captured. Ma Liu's eyes rolled around, instructing them: "It's not good if we can't bring these horses back, you guys keep this in mind, tell Wu Lianzhang to send the horses over, hide and be on guard!"

  The people left, and before long, someone led the horse over and tied it up in a small grove not far from the railroad. Then they went to inform Lin Xiuzhen that she could move forward now.

  Just after burying the explosives, the electric wires were pulled to a safe distance. Suddenly, the sound of an approaching train could be heard in the distance. Ma Liu signaled for the special agents to disperse and hide to avoid injury. He personally controlled the detonator, setting off the explosives. In the midst of the earth-shaking explosion, the locomotive jumped off the tracks and into the air, then crashed back down, rolling over and landing under the railway line. Several carriages also overturned. This was a technical job, with different amounts of explosives buried on either side according to need.

  The special agent didn't move, waiting for the Japanese soldiers in the rear carriage to come back to their senses and shout as they jumped down. Ma Liu detonated another explosive, a huge impact throwing the Japanese into the air, and then heavily slamming them back down, directly sending them back to their hometown in Eastern Ei.

  Ma Liu shouted: Up! The special agent rushed up. Lin Xiuzhen patted Lu Dashan, who was still in a daze: "Old Lu, hurry up and pick up the fallen!"

  Lu Dashi suddenly woke up from his dream, pulled his throat and shouted loudly at the soldiers under him: "What are you all stunned about? Why don't you hurry up?" The soldiers finally came back to their senses, yelling and rushing towards the train.

  Open the compartment, inside are rice, flour, canned biscuits, and fuel, fodder, etc. Ma Liu's heart aches and he stammers, gritting his teeth to shout at the surging soldiers: "You only have one minute, hurry up and take what you want! Special agent company, get the gasoline ready and prepare to ignite!"

  Lu Dashi directed the soldiers to gather up their guns and bullets. Seeing one soldier carrying a bag of flour running towards the back, Lu got angry and anxious, grabbed him and shouted: "You stupid thing, put it down and go move the canned food!" The soldier finally came to his senses, threw down the bag of flour and ran back.

  Wu Dingbang led his men over, and they quickly loaded some things onto the captured horses' backs. They then rushed to set up an ambush at the mountain pass. The special forces stuffed oil barrels into each train car, twisting open the lids. Ma Liu checked his watch, and when the time was right, he fired three shots into the air with his pistol. Everyone jumped in fright, but then they heard Ma Liu shout: "Alright, grab your things, let's retreat!"

  Lu Dashi's warriors were not yet satisfied, and the political commissar and Lu Dashi hastily ordered: "Quickly, quickly withdraw! If the devils come, don't even think about taking these away!" The soldiers only then came to their senses, but when they turned around, they were stunned. The things they had moved over were piled up like a small mountain, and for a moment, they didn't know where to start.

  Lin Xiuzhi smiled bitterly and came over to discuss with Ma Liu, whether they could borrow the horse for a while. Ma Liu hesitated for a moment and said: "Okay, tell them to load less, don't exhaust the horse, we're still relying on it to fight!"

  Lu Dashi was overjoyed and immediately ordered the soldiers to load the goods onto the horseback, hurry up and transfer them, let the political commissar take care of the team, don't get hurt by the horses, and he led a squad to stay behind and cover with Feihu Village.