Chapter Thirty-Three

  Ma Liu was exhilarated, and with a cart of lime, he thoroughly teased Moku Village. After returning, he was hailed by everyone as a lone hero, just like Zhang Fei at the Battle of Red Cliffs back in the day. Ma Liu felt quite pleased, and somewhat elated.

  In class, looking at the words on the blackboard, a group of people with big heads, those who were in a good mood asked Ma Liu to tell them about his heroic deeds. Ma Liu was overjoyed and began to describe them vividly, drawing cheers from everyone.

  Lv Jiying stood by, his face flushed red, not knowing what to do. Xiaoyue rolled her eyes and said, "Stop bragging, if it weren't for my master, you wouldn't have come up with such a plan, now behave yourself in class!" As she spoke, the wooden ruler in her hand came down.

  Ma Liu Yi stretched out his hand to grab the wooden bar, and said with a smile: "Little Yuanyuan, if you can let me leave the bench today, I will worship you as my master." The crowd cheered in unison.

  "This is what you said, don't deny it." Xiaoyue strained with all her might to pull the wooden bar back, but it didn't budge. She changed tactics and kicked Maliu's leg instead. Maliu acted as if nothing was wrong. Xiaoyue's face turned bright red, almost in tears, when suddenly she looked up and shouted: "Master, come quick! Dead Maliu is bullying me and Lü sister!"

  Ma Liu Ha Ha burst out laughing: "Little girl, you're quite cunning, trying to fool me with your master! Let me tell you, even if the Jade Emperor himself came, I wouldn't be afraid! Right, brothers?" He raised his head and suddenly found that everyone was standing at attention, some of them winking at him. Thinking it wasn't good, he quickly changed his tune: "This little girl is getting more and more formidable, no wonder she's the second master's disciple. In a couple of years, uncle...no, brother, you won't be her match! Alright, that's all for today, I'll teach you again another day."

  "Oh, so it's Sixth Master guiding Little Moon in her kung fu, broadening her horizons. What a fortunate encounter!" A gloomy voice came from the doorway, and it was Xiao Ming.

  Ma Liu yi da zha, han shua de xia lai le, lian mang qi shen li zheng: "Si ling hao! Si ling, nin lao ren jia jin tian zen me you kong lai le, shi bu shi you ren wu, jiao gei ma liu hao!"

  Translation:

  Ma Liu was startled and sweated profusely, hastily standing up at attention: "Commander is well! Commander, how did you happen to have time to come today? Is there a mission? Leave it to Ma Liu!"

  "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy," Xiao Ming said with a smile, "You and Tian Wang are buddies, so in the future, we'll have to rely on your help again. Can you grant us an audience, Sixth Master?"

  Sweat instantly soaked Ma Liu's back, stuttering: "This this, I was just talking nonsense that day, how could the old king compare to the master? You are a magnanimous person, consider it as me farting, I won't dare next time!"

  "Oh, no way! But I also heard that someone wants to make Xiao Yue their master," Xiao Ming turned to Xiao Yue: "Is this true?"

  "Yes, he said that as long as you leave the stool, it's considered a loss. Let me be your master. Master, you're going to have a disciple soon!" Xiaoyue gained spirit and pulled Lu Jiaying's hand, "Dead horse Liu is causing trouble in class, look at how angry he made my sister Lu!"

  Xiao Ming smiled and nodded towards Lü Jiying, saying to Ma Liu: "Sixth Master, when Little Moon first became an apprentice, she did indeed kowtow. You see..."?

  Ma Liu wiped the sweat, his eyes secretly scanning around, seeing that everyone's faces were already unable to hold back their smiles, waiting to see the scene. He silently cursed in his heart: "You little rascals, just wait, Sixth Master will deal with you later!" He hastily came before Little Yue, bowing and making a gesture of respect: "Little Yue, sister, look at how well brother treats you usually. Just lift your hand, from now on brother will listen to you, whatever you want just tell brother and brother will go get it for you."

  Xiao Yue didn't dare to be too reckless in front of Xiao Ming, pointing at Ma Liu's nose and saying: "This is what you said, don't try to cheat me, I want a gun, just like my master's!"

  "I'll definitely get it for you, I guarantee it on my brother's body." Ma Liu hastily nodded and turned his face to look at Xiao Ming.

  "It seems that Liu Ye has already learned it," Xiao Ming smiled, the blackboard had a few lines of words written on it, with elegant font, which was the Thousand Character Classic. "So today I'll be a student too, and listen to you teach everyone, please go ahead!"

  "Ah, this......" Ma Liu was really confused, he didn't even recognize the thing on the blackboard.

  Xiao Ming's face turned cold: "Ma Liu, Lü is your cultural instructor, you actually dared to be disobedient and insubordinate, how should you be punished?"

  Ma Liu's sweat dripped down with a pattering sound. He raised his eyelids and looked sideways, Lü Jizong turned around to look outside. All he saw was Shan Wa'er winking at him, nodding towards Lü Jingying, Ma Liu suddenly understood, bowed to Lü Jingying, then slapped himself twice: "Miss Lü, I'm so sorry for the trouble, please forgive me!"

  Lü Jiying was somewhat embarrassed, his face red as he said to Xiao Ming: "Commander Xiao, Ma Lianchang is usually diligent in class, maybe today he's just too excited, so... let him off this time."

  "Hmph, let him off? Ma Liu, bring your men and gather at the entrance!" Xiao Ming's face eased a bit as he said to Lü Jiaying: "Miss Lü, my subordinate was rash, please forgive him!"

  "It's nothing, Commander Xiao, don't mind it." Lü Jiying felt a bit flustered and hastily avoided Xiao Ming's gaze, responding in a soft voice, "Actually, they're all quite good to me, taking care of me." This was indeed the truth, since becoming an instructor, she had received over a dozen pens.

  "That's good!" Xiao Ming smiled and said to Xiaoyue, "Xiaoyue, are you thinking about that gun of mine? Remember, when you grow up, Master will give it to you. Now you can't play with guns, do you understand?" Xiaoyue has this temper, if she had a gun, she would definitely show it off everywhere, and if something went wrong, it would be troublesome.

  "I've grown up already, you still say I'm little, when will it be enough?!" Little Yue muttered.

  Xiao Ming smiled and gently tapped her head: "When you get married, I'll give it to you as a dowry!" After finishing speaking, he laughed and turned around to leave the door.

  Ma Liu and the others had all gathered, knowing that punishment was inevitable. Xiao Ming wouldn't have the leisure to ask who made the mistake, there was only a simple method: collective punishment!

  As expected, Xiao Ming gave a faint order: Fully armed and rushed to the west highway, find Da Long to see the situation, come back and report, patrol the mountain at night!

  Everyone heard this and felt a chill, as the round trip was nearly 200 miles, and they still had to patrol the mountains on the way back. They secretly resented Ma Liu for making such a big fuss. But Ma Liu didn't care at all; this was much better than being lectured on stage. He quickly led the team to set off.

  Ma Liu led the team on a rapid march, still far from the highway, when they heard the sound of gunfire and cannons coming from ahead. Ma Liu was startled, ordering his men to scatter and hide, while he himself climbed onto a boulder, raising his binoculars to observe. He saw that the Japanese army was exchanging fire with someone up ahead, and upon looking further into the distance, it turned out to be their own people. He gave the order to proceed cautiously, hiding as they advanced, so as not to alert the enemy.

  Gao Shouyi and Da Long have been lying in ambush on the highway for three days, until this afternoon, eight trucks came from the north. As soon as Xie Sibao and others fired their guns, the Japanese drivers abandoned their vehicles and fled in all directions.

  Nothing seemed to be happening, and Gao Shouyi was about to charge forward when Da Long grabbed him: "Gao Lianzhang, this isn't right, are you saying the little devils don't even have a single escort?" Gao Shouyi said: "Damn it, could it be an empty truck?!" He turned around and ordered a squad to go down and take a look.

  Just as they were about to approach the car, the canvas suddenly lifted, and inside the carriage were fully armed Japanese soldiers. The entire squad of soldiers was instantly turned into a sieve, followed by light and heavy machine guns spewing out flames, bullets rained down like raindrops, and the soldiers couldn't lift their heads.

  Gao Shouyi's eyes were about to split with rage, and he was just about to engage in a fierce battle. Suddenly, Da Long stretched out his hand and grabbed him, shouting: "Captain Gao, calm down! We've fallen into their trap! Hurry up and lead your men in retreat, I'll cover for you!"

  Gao Shouyi couldn't hear clearly, just as he was about to break free, another gunshot sounded from behind. A soldier rushed over to report that the enemy cavalry had been discovered, and they were surrounding them from two sides in the rear. Gao Shouyi broke out in a cold sweat, quickly calmed down, and asked Dalong: "Zhang Company Commander, what should we do?"

  "Prepare hand grenades. When the grenade explodes, you first retreat and block the enemy's cavalry. After we hold down this Japanese army, rush to meet with you and charge out together. Remember, act according to circumstances, don't fight hard!"

  Gao Shouyi shouted: "Three links, prepare hand grenades, count to three, throw and run, don't show your head." The soldiers pulled out the hand grenades, lit them, counted silently to three, swung their arms and threw them out. Under the cover of the explosion smoke, they retreated backwards.

  The power of over a hundred hand grenades exploding was not small. In the moment when the Japanese gunfire stopped, the special agent connected and threw out hand grenades one after another, suppressing the Japanese with the firepower of the submachine guns. Seeing that the Japanese who had jumped off the vehicle were already setting up mortars, Dalong loudly ordered: "Set up obstacles, retreat, Xie Sibao cover!"

  Gao Shouyi had just withdrawn three or four miles when he encountered the special troops who were blocking the Japanese cavalry. Da Long left five men at each of two intersections in the rear to keep watch, and fortunately the road was narrow, so the cavalry couldn't deploy, and they barely managed to hold off the Japanese; otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

  The Japanese army, seeing the plot exposed and the attack frustrated, quickly changed tactics, set up heavy machine guns, grenade launchers and mortars, preparing to trap the enemy first and slowly eliminate them.

  As the cannon fire rang out, casualties quickly appeared in Feihu Village. At this time, Dalong led his men to rush over and was shocked by what he saw. The gunfire behind them grew louder and for a moment they didn't know what to do. Gao Shouyi's eyes turned red as he said to Dalong: "Dalang, I'll lead the third company to clear the way ahead, you think of a way to break out!"

  The big dragon eye revealed a strong killing intent, coldly saying: "Gao Lian Chang, it's unlikely we can leave during the day. Even if we rush out, not many of us will be left! Tell the brothers to find suitable terrain and get close to the devils to fight, see if we can hold on until nightfall." After a pause, he said in a low voice: "Leave a hand grenade for each wounded soldier, let them take care of themselves!"

  Seeing the usually gentle and honest Da Long with a ferocious expression, Gao Shouyi was startled and thought that this good person had become like this at this time, and hurriedly prepared to leave.

  The Japanese army stopped shelling but did not immediately launch an attack, as if waiting for reinforcements. Dalong looked through the telescope and suddenly found someone slowly approaching the enemy from behind. Upon closer inspection, it was actually Ma Liu! He hastily called over Gao Shouyi, who was delighted: "Good, now we have a chance to escape! I'll get the machine gun to draw the enemy's fire and prepare for a breakout!"

  The three linked light and heavy machine guns burst into a deafening roar, the Japanese commander immediately tensed up, his own side only had one cavalry squadron, which could now only be used as infantry, and didn't have many artillery shells. If the enemy were to make a desperate last-ditch effort to break through, he would definitely not be able to stop them. He ordered everyone to be on high alert, absolutely not allowing the enemy to approach their position, waiting for reinforcements.

  Gao Shouyi could no longer wait, and after the machine guns were ready, he led his troops in a charge. The Japanese commander ordered the machine guns to fire, but suddenly dozens of submachine guns appeared behind him, spewing flames and engulfing the Japanese position in a fierce barrage. The commander was also killed in the hail of bullets.

  A burst of gunfire, Ma Liu and others took out twenty rounds to start calling the roll. These were all close combat weapons, and the Japanese army hadn't even had time to mount their horses before they were defeated. Ma Liu chased them for two miles before stopping.

  Dalong and Gao Shouyi rounded up the war horses, found their own chariots, and prepared to retreat. However, several seriously injured soldiers refused to get on board. Dalong went over to take a look and saw that the leader was an old soldier from Feihu Fort, whose leg had been blown off.

  The old soldier saw the big dragon, smiled sadly and said: "Big dragon, we brothers are done for, leave a few hand grenades to me, take a few devils with us on our way out. My money is under the pillow, take it to buy wine for my brothers, as a surprise. Go back and tell the two masters that I didn't bring shame to them, next life I'll follow them again!"

  The big dragon was silent for a moment, then said in a hoarse voice: "Hand grenade!" After that, he knelt down and kowtowed to the old soldier: "Old brother, go well, the Flying Tiger Fort brothers will see you off!" Then, with red eyes, he shouted: "After the special forces team is cut off, retreat!"

  Just as they had walked out a short distance, a loud explosion was heard from behind them.