Chapter Thirty-Nine

  The night sky was dotted with stars, and the big dragon lay in a pit about 100 meters away from the highway, next to an explosive device. "Company Commander, it's here, just like before," a soldier came over to report.

  As the sound of engines drew closer, Da Long narrowed his eyes. Just as a few motorcycles had passed by, two armored vehicles appeared in view, one after another, with their headlights providing clear visual references. Satisfied that everything was in place, Da Long reached out and pressed the detonation button.

  With a loud roar, the two armored vehicles flipped over and flew into the air, heavily crashing to the ground. The shockwave from the explosion caused a nearby motorcycle to lose control as well, plunging headfirst into a roadside ditch. The Japanese soldiers on board were instantly knocked unconscious.

  The warrior beside him habitually wanted to rush up, but the big dragon pulled him back: "Don't worry about it, let's hurry to the next rendezvous point, there's still work to be done!"

  The sound of the explosion traveled exceptionally far in the quiet night, and the nearest place to the scene was a Japanese military base in a nearby town. The base was very large, with a small team of Japanese soldiers and a battalion of security troops stationed there.

  The highest-ranking officer, Lieutenant Kobayashi, was awakened by the explosion and hastily asked what had happened. The duty officer of the Military Police Corps came over to report that a patrol unit had just passed by and it should be their problem.

  Kobayashi was shocked, recently the Imperial Army had been frequently ambushed on the highway. If the resistance force appeared in his own jurisdiction, the crime of dereliction of duty would be enough to strip him of his military rank, and all his previous efforts would have been in vain. He immediately made a report to his superiors, and after receiving their orders, he left behind one platoon of Japanese soldiers and one company of security troops to guard, and personally led the team to rush to the explosion site.

  They had just run about five kilometers, and the public security troops following them were sweating profusely, panting, and slowly falling behind. The head of the public security troops asked if they could rest for a while. Looking at the chubby captain who was covered in sweat and panting, Lin inwardly scorned him as a "pig" and ordered them to hurry up and catch up, leading the Japanese army forward himself.

  Another two or three kilometers away, the well-trained Japanese soldiers also showed signs of fatigue and began to fall behind. Just as Xiao Lin was considering whether he should rest first, a row of black shadows emerged from the grass about ten meters away from the road, without even greeting him, the submachine guns in their hands opened fire and rushed towards the highway. The Japanese were caught off guard, they didn't even see the enemy's figure, and were shot into a beehive.

  Confirming that the Japanese troops were all killed, Da Long ordered to sweep the battlefield: "Quickly, the first and second groups clean up, the rest follow me to meet Xie Sibao and others, see the signal to withdraw completely, and gather at the designated location!"

  As soon as the gunshot rang out, the security troops were panicked, looking at each other in dismay, unsure of what had happened. The fat battalion commander was about to give the order to depart when a loud gunshot rang out, and the fat commander's hat fell to the ground. A cold voice came over: "Put down your guns, if you want to live, don't move, why risk your life for a bowl of rice?"

  The fat captain jumped up and shouted to his subordinates: "Don't move!" He turned around and asked: "May I ask, good fellow, which road are you from, and what brings you here?"

  "The Fifth Guerrilla Army has arrived to take over the stronghold. Listen, is it quiet on that side? Listen again, are they starting to fight at the artillery tower?! Now, put away your guns, bullets, and hand grenades, you can leave, those who don't obey will be left behind for individual training! Machine gun, get ready!"

  The fat camp commander is an old hand, and as soon as the popping sound of gunfire from Xiao Lin's side stopped, there was no more movement. He knew that the situation was not good, but then intense gunfire came from the direction of the artillery tower. It seems that what this person said was true, but it's unknown how many people the enemy has. If they don't fire a single shot, wouldn't that be a bit unreasonable?

  He glanced at his subordinates, who shook their heads directly, meaning that one look knew they didn't want to fight. The fat battalion commander wiped a cold sweat and said: "Okay, we'll surrender, but don't make it difficult for the brothers, we're all just trying to make a living, no one wants to be a traitor!"

  He seemed to consider it for a moment, then said slowly: "Alright, let's not pursue this today. In the future, leave some room for maneuvering. After all, we're all Chinese, and it'll be easier to meet in the future!"

  The fat captain let out a sigh of relief and hastily ordered his subordinates: "Quickly, listen to the officer, put down your guns!" The soldiers took off their guns, ammunition pouches, and hand grenades, placing them separately. The fat captain shouted: "Officer, they're all here! Can we leave now?"

  He said: "Alright, take ten steps back, squat down with your hands on your head and wait for my instructions!"

  When the Special Forces arrived, Xie Sibao was directing the security troops to retreat. Seeing Da Long, Xie Sibao let out a sigh of relief: "Good thing you're here, I don't know how I would have continued the act if you hadn't come, hurry up and take control!"

  The big dragon smiled and said in a low voice: "You also know how to be afraid. Didn't the second master always praise you for having good mental quality?"

  "Go to hell! What's the use of mental quality? With just the six of us, if they were to launch a charge, they'd trample us to death!"

  Only to see about twenty soldiers with submachine guns jumping onto the highway, five of whom naturally raised their guns to guard, while the others began to move things. The fat captain was startled and thought fortunately he didn't take action earlier, or else they would have been under fire...

  Lü Jizong arrived at the assembly point with his cavalry company, and the special forces company was already there. Earlier, when they made a feint attack on the strongpoint, they fired several rounds of artillery. Lü Jizong was very excited: "Damn it, this is exhilarating! The only problem is that this cavalry company's marksmanship is too poor, it took them half a day to hit one shot, we need to practice hard when we get back."

  The cavalry captain curled his lip: "You're also getting on in years, Big Brother Mo shouldn't make fun of Second Brother!" Everyone burst out laughing.

  Lü Jizū asked what to do next, and Da Long thought for a moment before saying: "The commander wants us to stir up some noise. We can't stay on this highway anymore. We have to go to the railway, but not too many people are needed. I'll take a small team there, just to scare the devils a bit, no need to fight them head-on."

  Lü Jizong glanced at his watch, 1 o'clock in the morning, and said to Dalong: "The railway is not far from here, we can arrive in half an hour. I think we should take advantage of the situation and go now, rather than waiting and having too many thoughts."

  Dà Lóng thought this was a good idea, made some arrangements, and brought people to the railway, where they randomly buried some explosives on the tracks, lit them on fire and ran away, without caring about the effect. They then found Lǚ Jì Zǔ and returned to the mountain stronghold.

  Ma Liu went to Flying Eagle Fort, he really wanted to do business, he was not very satisfied with the results of this battle, that gun was too old, if it wasn't well maintained, it would be almost useless, an idea occurred to him, might as well take it to exchange for money. He heard that recently a group of bandits had arrived at Flying Eagle Fort, Ma Liu thought of going to try his luck, he currently had twenty or thirty 38 big cover guns and also twenty or thirty riding guns which were very old, altogether forty or fifty guns could be sold, after getting rid of these burdens, then consider whether to go do something bigger.

  Lin Xiujing understood Ma Liu's calculation and was both angry and amused: "Then why don't you just give it all to Lu Dashan, the mountain stronghold doesn't lack this little money, it's better than selling it to bandits!"

  "Look, you've also been to military school, the difference between you and Second Master is right here! I gave Lu Dashi a gun so he could go get more equipment back, otherwise when the bullets are gone, the gun becomes a firewood stick. Lu Dashi should understand this. Just like our Flying Tiger Fort, at first we didn't even have a decent gun, look at us now, our equipment is top-notch, those little devils can't compare to us! This is all thanks to Second Master's cleverness! If they use the guns we sold them for bad things, we'll go take care of them and make some money on the side... Ah, that Little Wu, tell your people to get off their horses, don't be stupid and become someone else's target, you're in the mountains now, be smart!"

  There were many bandits on this road, either guerrillas or so poor they couldn't even afford pants, how could they have money to buy guns? They almost got ambushed, because they had accidentally entered the base of the 18th Army Group, and people thought it was the Japanese army coming. Luckily, they managed to sell twenty rifles, Lin Xiuzhen advised Ma Liu to return to the mountain stronghold, but Ma Liu didn't care, he had done this business in this area before and knew that more customers would come soon.

  As they approached Flying Eagle Fort, Ma Liu suddenly felt uneasy all over, as if someone was staring at his every move. He mentioned it to Lin Xiucheng, who had the same feeling. The two of them whispered a few sentences, and slowly, Ma Liu led several people and the team opened up some distance, turned a few more corners, and disappeared! Wu Dingbang found it strange and asked Lin Xiucheng: "Chief of Staff, where did Ma Liu go?"

  Lin Xiuzhi blinked and said: "This, go ahead and arrange the business, ask your people to take care of the horse, say it will be back soon, or we can find a place to rest for a while?"

  Wu Dingbang saw Lin Xiucheng speaking a bit strangely, just about to open his mouth, and found that Lin Xiucheng was winking at him, so he nodded and stopped at a slightly higher place to rest. The special agent team dispersed around with laughter. Lin Xiucheng whispered to Wu Dingbang: "There's something going on, your people should do what they need to do, and be more vigilant!"

  It wasn't long before a soldier ran back and reported to Lin Xiuzhen: "We've caught several suspicious people, Ma Lianchang wants you to cooperate with us to see if they are Japanese spies." After finishing speaking, he slipped away.

  After a while, Ma Liu and others brought over four people dressed as mountain villagers. Ma Liu pointed to the soldier's uniform, winking frantically at Lin Xiuqing, then came over to salute him, saying something incoherently. Lin Xiuqing suppressed his smile, putting on a serious face and mumbling a few sentences. Ma Liu immediately turned around, facing those four people and said: "The master asks, what kind of people are you? Answer honestly!"

  One of them looked up and saw that Lin Xiucheng indeed looked like an official, except for the clothes on his body being a bit out of place. With a hint of doubt in his heart, he turned his eyes and shouted: "Your Excellency spare our lives! We are all good people, we didn't intentionally bump into Your Excellency, spare our lives!"

  Ma Liu muttered a few words to Lin Xiuzhi, who nodded and made a throat-slitting gesture. Ma Liu waved his hand dismissively and led the group away. The man suddenly looked uneasy and shouted loudly: "Wait, we're on the same side!"

  Ma Liu stretched out his hand to stop them and asked: "What are you people doing?"

  That man hesitated for a moment and carefully asked: "You are really imperial soldiers, why are your uniforms different?"

  Ma Liu slapped him with a loud slap: "Damn it, this is the imperial army that has just been transferred from outside the pass to assist in the clearing, what are you, a little boy who dares to suspect the identity of the imperial army? Come on, take him away and kill him, don't reveal our whereabouts."

  That man fell to his knees with a thud: "Spare our lives, spare our lives! We are truly on the same side. Please listen to me, sir. We are from the Flying Eagle Fort ahead and have been ordered by the Imperial Army to occupy this place and monitor the anti-Japanese troops in the surrounding area. If you don't believe us, wait until tomorrow when the Imperial Army arrives and ask them yourself!"

  Ma Liu Yi was stunned: "Is it really the Imperial Army that sent you? What's going on with the Imperial Army coming tomorrow?"

  The man calmed down a bit, wiped the sweat from his head, and recounted everything one by one.

  These people were originally some bandits, after the Japanese army came to clear them out, they had no way out and surrendered to the Japanese. Since they were evil, the Japanese didn't want to keep them around either. Someone suggested giving them some guns and ammunition, letting them station here, monitor various resistance forces, gather intelligence, and report regularly to the Imperial Army. These past two days, Ma Liu and others have been selling guns in this area, which turned out to be Japanese-made weapons. They immediately thought of the recent attacks on the Imperial Army, so they reported it to the Japanese army. The Japanese army ordered them to keep a close watch, and troops would arrive tomorrow, striving to annihilate the enemy at once.

  Ma Liu was startled in his heart, but his face didn't show any expression. He winked at Lin Xiuchang and the two of them mumbled a few more sentences. Ma Liu asked the man: "How many people are there in your mountain stronghold? How many imperial soldiers came?"

  "That man replied: 'We have about 200 people, and two liaison officers sent by the Imperial Army. As for the Imperial Army, I don't know how many are coming.'"

  Ma Liu didn't think much: "Let's go, take us to the mountain stronghold. Tomorrow we'll fight together and your merits will be great!"