Chapter Twenty-Four

  The war in the south is being fiercely fought, and the mountains are also in an uproar. The Pacification Army has turned against us, killing Li Ma Zi and the Japanese advisor, while the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the chaos to launch a four-pronged attack and recover many areas. The Nationalist guerrilla forces have not been idle either, taking the opportunity to expand their territory, and the situation is chaotic.

  Upon hearing the news of Li Ma Zi's death, Xiao Ming slapped the table and exclaimed "what a pity!", Wang Jin Long found it strange and asked him: "A traitor is dead, what's there to be pitied?"

  Xiao Ming sighed and said, "If this damned thing had died a few days earlier, we would have saved at least half the money!" Wang Jinlong shook his head, thinking that this guy must be crazy about money!

  As expected, to make up for the loss, Xiao Ming ordered the reconnaissance company to lead, the special operations company to cooperate, and each battalion took turns going down the mountain to train troops, specializing in the Japanese army's logistics units, and not allowed to take action around the Flying Tiger Fort.

  Xiao Ming slowed down and handed the mountain doll to Ye Maozi, and every day he went to drink tea with Wang Jindong, chatted, and supervised Xiaoyue's studies. This little girl Xiaoyue, when the mountain village was busy before, Ji Hongru didn't even have time to take care of her, she was really happy, running to the village every day to play with her friends, and her homework was almost all abandoned. When Xiao Ming slowed down, she suffered.

  Wang Jinlong has been in a bad mood for the past few days, looking at everyone with disdain. Even when they brought back spoils of war, he would pick and choose with a critical eye, making Zhang Tiezhu and others quickly hide as soon as they saw him from afar. Xiao Ming said: "This is an illness, caused by idleness, it needs to be treated!"

  Wang Jinlong was lying on the table, listless, holding a teacup in his hand and playing with it. Xiao Ming came in and greeted him, but only hummed a response as if he didn't care. Xiao Ming poured himself a cup of tea, sat down at the table, propped up his chin with one hand, and stared at the ceiling, muttering to himself: "This business is too big, I don't know whether to do it or not."

  Wang Jinlong suddenly sat up straight, looked at Xiao Ming's expression, and his eyes dimmed again. He looked at the teacup in his hand and said, "Don't joke around, I'm busy now, speak quickly if you have something to say."

  Xiao Ming ignored him and said to himself: "A military train, what a big fat target! What should I do?"

  "Army convoy?" Wang Jinlong's eyes lit up, and he grabbed Xiao Ming's shoulder, "You little scoundrel, what are you hiding? Speak quickly!"

  "Lightly, lightly, isn't this exactly why I came to discuss with you!" Xiao Ming smiled, "The night cat received the news that in the next few days, a Japanese army train will pass through here, carrying military supplies. If we can get our hands on it, we won't have to worry about ammunition for several years. However, if we take action, the Japanese army will reinforce within two and a half hours at most, and our road is a bit far, this is undoubtedly a fierce battle!"

  "Is the news reliable?" Wang Jinlong's face was solemn, "This time we've made a big fuss, don't let the little devils catch us off guard!"

  "Night Cat has an old acquaintance who is the deputy stationmaster at Pingcheng Station, and it's said that he's a close relative of his family. It was revealed by a Japanese person who had too much to drink, so it should be reliable, but we still need to verify the specific time. I've already ordered Big Dragon to go scout out the location and choose an ambush point. Let's wait for Old Lin to come back and then we'll discuss it further."

  Wang Jinlong sneered and gritted his teeth, saying: "Get him! Damn it, even if we can't get him back, we can't let the little devils have him!"

  Night Cat Report: Fellow villagers said that a train was temporarily added, and the time is the night of the day after tomorrow at 10:30. The Japanese army also strengthened its guard around the railway. Wang Jinlong and others discussed it and felt that it should be so. Xiao Ming ordered: Each company only left one platoon to garrison in the mountain stronghold, strictly preventing enemy attacks, and Zhang Tiezhu was in unified command. Artillery companies, machine gun companies, and cavalry companies were deployed along the way to guard against enemy reinforcements and escort the convoy, with Lin Xiuying in charge. Engineer companies laid explosives at the ambush point and 15 kilometers north and south of it, preventing enemy reinforcements from the railway. The rest of the people dispersed and approached the railway, gathering at the designated location.

  Having said that, Xiao Ming looked around at everyone and asked: "Are there any other questions?"

  "What if the intelligence is wrong?" Lin Xiuzhi couldn't help but worry.

  "That can't be for nothing," Xiao Ming said viciously, "Let's turn around and rob the train station!"

  On the railway, an armored vehicle drove by, and then the sound of a train rumbling was heard. Xiao Ming looked at his watch, the needle pointed to ten o'clock, nodded and said, it's almost him, wait until a train entered his line of sight, ordered Shan Wazi to send a signal.

  Three red signal flares streaked across the night sky, a deafening explosion sounded from behind the train, followed by another one in front, and amidst the screeching of brakes, sparks flew out as the wheels ground against the rails, slowing down.

  The train had just slowed down, and several figures flashed out from the side of the road, jumping up silently. The night cat quietly climbed onto the car head, suddenly pulling open the car door, and the box in his hand sprayed out a flame, the people inside the car were shocked and unprepared, and they all fell to the ground, dead.

  In the rear carriage, a small team of Japanese soldiers were guarding the train. Upon hearing the explosion, they quickly opened the door and set up their machine guns. Before they could even take off the safety, black objects flew in, "Hand grenades!" someone shouted, and instantly the Japanese soldiers' souls fled. Those who reacted quickly tried to pick them up and throw them out, but the hand grenades were delayed, exploding as soon as they hit the ground. Amidst the explosion, the train came to a stop. Dalong and his men flipped over and jumped into the carriage, sweeping the interior with their submachine guns, then pulled out their pistols to clear the area.

  "Up!" With a single order from Wang Jinlong, hundreds of people emerged from the fields and rushed towards the train, with more than 200 horse-drawn carriages behind them. A dozen or so trucks also came out, turning on their headlights to illuminate the way for them.

  The compartment door was quickly opened, and the soldiers were amazed by the abundance of supplies inside. Then bursts of cheers erupted, and they jumped onto the compartment to start unloading.

  Xiao Ming ordered Da Long and Ma Liu to stand guard on both sides, then came over to find Wang Jinlong. At this time, Wang Jinlong was laughing so hard that he couldn't catch his breath, panting heavily as he said: "Brother, this is really a huge fortune! So many things, enough for us to use for several years!"

  Xiao Ming smiled and waited until Wang Jinlong finished laughing before saying, "Big brother, we only have an hour. Tell the brothers to hurry up. When the time is up, no matter how much is left, we'll withdraw!"

  "I've handed over what I should have. Let the brothers take care of the good stuff first. What about the leftovers, blow it up?" Wang Jinlong said with some regret.

  Xiao Ming thought for a moment and said: "No, stay behind. In case the Japanese army rushes over, they will also divide their troops to guard us, we won't be too passive."

  Wang Jinlong thought about it and felt that if he didn't leave anything behind, the devils wouldn't be able to fight with him to the death!

  Sun Ergou came to find Xiao Ming and said, "Commander, come and take a look. The things in the train carriage are not quite right." Sun Ergou heard that they were going to rob the train, so he found more than 30 strong young men from the village to help, promising each of them two silver dollars.

  Xiao Ming took a glance and saw that inside were boxes of ammunition marked with toxic signs, as well as chemical protective suits and gas masks. He was shocked in his heart, but his face remained calm and expressionless. He smiled and said: "These are good things, we must handle them with care. Shan Wa Zi, call Zhou Lian Zhang to bring over a few skilled brothers to load these things onto the truck first."

  Zhou Yongnian rushed over and asked Xiao Ming: "Commander Xiao, what's going on?"

  Xiao Ming pulled him aside and whispered: "Don't make a sound, the things in the carriage are likely to be chemical weapons, pull them all back, remember to be careful!"

  Zhou Yongnian was startled and quickly led everyone to carefully move onto the car.

  A distant rumbling explosion was heard, and it should be the enemy sending reinforcements. Xiao Ming looked at his watch, time's up, the cars were almost all loaded, and he said to Wang Jinlong: "Brother, it's almost done, you and Da Long lead the team to retreat first, I'll cover with Ma Liu." Ordered Shan Wazi to signal a retreat, nowadays Shan Wazi had replaced his bird gun with a cannon and no longer blew a wooden whistle.

  Wang Jinlong knew it was a big deal and didn't decline, saying "be careful, brother" as he ordered the retreat to begin.

  A huge explosion sound spread far in the quiet night, and the Japanese army at both stations were shocked. Their first reaction was that something had gone wrong, and it must be a problem with the military train! They called each other but couldn't get through, and simultaneously sent out armored trains, hung up carriages, and rushed to the explosion site.

  Who would have thought that just after walking out of ten kilometers, the engineer battalion of Feihu Village, which was ambushing here, detonated explosives, and the Japanese army's vehicle was destroyed and killed, with not a small loss. By the time they reacted, the engineer battalion had already disappeared without a trace. The Japanese commander could only order them to advance on foot, rushing to the scene, only to see that the car door was wide open, and more than half of the supplies were gone. The soldiers who escorted the vehicle were covered in blood, all killed in action. He couldn't help but rage, immediately leaving a unit to guard, and another unit chasing after them along the road.

  Just after chasing out not far, a loud noise, a Japanese soldier stepped on a landmine and blew up several. The commander ordered to walk from the fields and continue to chase. After stumbling and stumbling, came to a earth ridge, was swept by more than ten submachine guns, barely rushed up the slope, another Japanese soldier again triggered a cluster hand grenade. When chased to the highway, this hundred or so Japanese soldiers were left with only twenty or thirty, almost everyone was injured, and could no longer pursue.

  The Japanese army, upon learning that the military train had been hijacked, was shocked and ordered troops to split up and attack, determined to intercept the hijacking team and retrieve the military supplies. Wang Jinlong's team hadn't even reached the highway when Lin Xiuying and his men engaged in a firefight with the Japanese army.

  A cavalry squadron of the Japanese army came from the north, and Xu Dage, with great courage, led a machine gun squad, mounted the machine guns on the roof of the car, and drove three cars towards the Japanese army. The Japanese thought they were their own people and were completely unguarded, and were swept away by Xu Dage's men in a burst of gunfire, defeated and fled in disarray.

  The south-facing mountain also sent out a squadron of Japanese troops, who rushed over in eight cars and encountered an ambush at a narrow point. The enemy first set off landmines, followed by grenade launchers and mortars. The Japanese were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses, without even seeing the enemy's shadow.

  The Japanese army was getting more and more, but most of them were in a hurry, without carrying heavy weapons. The Flying Tigers, on the other hand, had spent a lot of blood, with mountain guns, infantry guns, mortars, light and heavy machine guns all firing away, with the firepower overwhelmingly one-sided. The devils were crying out in misery, with countless deaths and injuries. Even the cavalry regiment launched a charge, driving the enemy back.

  When Xiao Ming led the second special agent company to arrive, Wang Jinlong led the vehicle team to pass through the highway and rushed to Er Long Ridge. Lin Xiuying was arranging the buried explosives and saw them with great joy: "Old Xiao, you've arrived! The troops have all passed by, and the explosives are almost buried... look..." Xiao Ming said: "Send a signal, let them retreat!"

  Three green signal flares streaked across the night sky, and more intense gunfire erupted everywhere. After a while, the gunfire gradually weakened, and the artillery and machine guns withdrew one after another. Xiao Ming said to Lin Xiuqing: "Old Lin, take the brothers back quickly, I'll cover you." Lin Xiuqing was about to argue, but saw that Xiao Ming's eyes were bloodshot, his face full of murderous intent, and he was shocked in his heart, so he hastily led the men away.

  The road returned to calm, and the large group of Japanese soldiers cautiously followed. In a mountain valley, Xiao Ming was instructing Ma Liu and others: "After you open fire later, run to the back of the mountain and crouch down, remember, don't lie down! Go prepare quickly."

  The vanguard confirmed that there was no one, and sent a signal to the Japanese army behind. The commander urged the soldiers to pass quickly. Suddenly, a fierce gunshot rang out, and the vanguard was shot into a sieve. The commander shouted "Enemy raid, take cover", and the Japanese army lay down and fired back.

  Behind a huge boulder, Xiao Ming lit the fuse with a cold smile and pulled Shan Wawa, "Run fast!" The two of them barely ran to the back of the mountain when Xiao Ming pulled Shan Wawa down just as they were about to squat. Suddenly, a deafening explosion shook the sky, the air was stifled, and everyone felt like they had been struck in the chest by a huge hammer, their eyeballs almost popping out.

  After a long time, the earth returned to calmness. Xiao Ming got up with a sway, gestured with his hand, and led the team to withdraw.