Chapter 55

  The arrival of summer, the green canopy rises, which provides convenience for the resistance forces. Perhaps inspired by the spring's enemy harassment, the commander-in-chief of the 18th Army Group issued an order to launch a large-scale raid on the enemy-occupied highways, railways, and strongholds, shattering various rumors with actual actions. The chairman was deeply moved, ordering the National Army to fully cooperate, and the brothers stood together again, hand in hand against the enemy. For a time, the entire North China region was mobilized, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties, exhausted from responding, and transportation was almost paralyzed.

  The sudden change in the situation made everyone in Feihu Village dizzy, and to avoid misunderstandings, they simply closed their doors and stayed out. At home, they either practiced martial arts or built temporary shelters in the mountains to store supplies.

  The grain seizure operation during the harvest season thoroughly enraged the Japanese, and the lieutenant of the garrison in Ping City, looking at more than 40 shiny corpses, suspected that there was collusion between inside and outside. However, the puppet army had long since escaped without a trace. He ordered a thorough search of Liu's mansion and found a secret passage. The Japanese army vented their anger on Grandma Liu, not only killing her but also committing a heinous crime by blowing up the Liu family ancestral hall, despite warnings from subordinates that doing so would provoke resentment among local people. If they didn't have to go to various places for mop-up operations, the lieutenant would immediately send troops to fly Tiger Fort to avenge his hatred.

  But this time, Liujiatun hated Feihu Village and the Japanese almost equally.

  Anti-Japanese activities were in full swing, and the situation seemed to be turning in favor of the Chinese. Resistance armed forces sprouted up everywhere like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, which required a large number of weapons.

  Ma Liu and Sun Er Gou seized the opportunity to suggest to Xiao Ming that they dispose of those old guns. Xiao Ming seemed to have lost interest in the ocean, so he said straightforwardly: "Now who still has money to buy a gun? You'd better spread the word outside, just say that Fei Hu Zhai is selling guns at a fair price. If you don't have money, pigs, cows, horses, sheep, chickens, dogs, geese, and ducks are all okay! As long as we can use them, everything can be exchanged!"

  Ma Liu and Sun Er Gou stared at each other, unsure whether Xiao Ming was telling the truth or not, and stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do. Lin Xiuying smiled and said: "Go quickly! Your master is not joking, he's afraid you'll be in danger if you go out!"

  "Why don't we just recruit more people ourselves? That way, we won't have to worry about manpower every time we take action!" Lü Jizong was perplexed. Now it's a case of many people and little land, with idle men aplenty; as long as you have grain and guns, recruiting soldiers is an easy matter.

  "I don't want to be dragged down by them!" Xiao Ming sneered, "Most of the people around here have families to support, and their purpose for joining the army is just to make a living, at least to reduce the burden on their families. If the Japanese capture their family members, it's easy for them to go home, but what if they turn against us? How would you deal with that? The common people don't understand what national righteousness is, or else they wouldn't be collaborators! By then, our Flying Tiger Fort will become their enemy!"

  "So why would people like Lao Mazi Liu and others fight to the death with the Japanese?" Lü Jizong was puzzled.

  "Wolf-like! Wolves travel thousands of miles to eat meat, and we eat big fish and meat every day just to maintain their wild nature, which also stimulates their bloodthirstiness! In the past, when eating meat, even if Japanese people came, we still had to eat meat! Whoever dares to smash our rice bowls, we'll take his head!" Xiao Ming's gaze suddenly became somewhat dim. "And what about the common people? They're used to enduring hardships, no matter whether it's the landlord, government officials, bandits, or refugees, whoever comes will have to pay taxes. Even if they only have enough food for their cattle and dogs, as long as they can survive, they'll silently endure! In the past, they couldn't even eat their fill, and when Japanese people came, it was just a matter of eating one less mouthful - what's there to hate? The country doesn't care about its people!"

  Lü Jizong and Lin Xiūqīng were also moved to tears, but Xiao Ming's words made them laugh and cry at the same time. The original noble spirit of resistance against Japan had become a joke in his mouth. Lü Jizong sighed and said: "Damn it, how can good words become so twisted when they come out of your mouth?"

  "My point is, never trust anyone! Xiao Ming smiled and said, "So you have to be careful with those new people on the mountain. If anything happens, it won't just harm us, but also your sister!"

  As soon as the news came out, outside Feihu Fort was like a lively market, with horse-riding and carriage-driving people coming in droves, all walking away happily because the prices offered by Feihu Fort were very reasonable. Although the guns were a bit old, they were still guns after all!

  Lin Xiuchang worried that it would cause chaos in local security, but Xiao Ming comforted him: "Isn't everyone talking about total war now? What we're doing is also supporting the war effort! Those guns are useless to us anyway, and they'll just rust if left unused. Giving them to others will make them useful, and the mountain stronghold will gain a lot of goodwill from the people. Isn't this a win-win situation?"

  Ma Liu made a big deal, using four heavy machine guns and five thousand bullets to exchange for twenty pure Mongolian horses, which made the mountain stronghold red-eyed.

  In the Liu family compound, Ma Liu led his men in a thorough search and found six heavy machine guns. Two of them seemed to be used by the Japanese army and were well-maintained, so they had to be handed over. The remaining four should have been captured from the Japanese army and had been stored in the warehouse for who knows how long, with rust spots all over the barrels, Ma Liu set his sights on them.

  After returning to the mountain stronghold, Ma Liu disassembled the machine gun and cleaned it inside and out, making it look brand new. He somehow got wind of a message that a group of horse traders wanted to buy guns, and they were looking for a large quantity. This little scoundrel had an active mind, and he instigated Sun Er Gou to join him in persuading Wang Jinlong and Xiao Ming to sell their guns.

  This Mongolian horse, although not tall in stature, is fast and has great endurance, and it's just at its prime age. Xiao Ming was very satisfied, he knew that Ma Liu wasn't a reckless person, but still called him to the main hall, severely scolded him, and demanded that he confess how much money he had embezzled during the transaction, and what other things he had hidden from the mountain stronghold! Wang Jinlong didn't understand, quietly pulled Xiao Ming aside: "Brother, Ma Liu isn't that kind of person!" Xiao Ming didn't say a word, just waved his hand behind his back.

  Ma Liu wasn't a fool either, one look at the situation and he knew exactly what was going on. He sighed and said: "Boss, don't try to sweet-talk me anymore, we've run into bandits today! Alright, let's make a deal, I'll give you eight horses, how about that?"

  "Eight pieces? You little rascal, eight pieces is still a bit too much!"

  "When it comes to family, there are several groups of people watching! Old cat's thread, Zhou Yongnian pulled back, Xu Dagou helped repair, Ding Bangzi gave pointers, and Er Gou, none of them are easy to talk to, you can't let me work in vain, right?" Ma Liu was also very embarrassed.

  "What's Sun Ergou got to do with this!"

  "He's almost born already, let me be the godfather of the child, and let me give the gift in advance!"

  Xiao Ming laughed and said: "Nonsense, just these few horses have brought out so many people! Alright, leave five for us, the rest are yours!"

  Watching Ma Liu walk out of the hall with a happy expression, Wang Jinlong smiled: "Brother, if you want to scold him, just say it directly, why bother scaring him again!"

  Xiao Ming smiled and said: "If we ask him for it, he will think that we owe him! Besides, if this kid is not beaten regularly, who knows what he can do!"

  "Lao Xiao, this private sale of firearms is no small matter, especially heavy machine guns. You don't say anything to him?" Lü Jizong was puzzled, according to Xiao Ming's temperament, Ma Liu would not die but lose a layer of skin.

  "This rifle is too old and has many problems! Our firepower is already sufficient, and this thing is not easy to handle in the mountains. Besides, when we encounter planes and artillery, it's like a child's toy, and it's better to have a horse, which gives us more chances to escape!"

  Lin Xiuzhi spoke up, very seriously saying to Xiao Ming: "Old Xiao, we have no opinion on how you treat Ma Liu, but where is Lü Niangzi? Can't just wait for her to say something! Now that there's a horse, will Lü Niangzi ride the horse or not, do you want the horse or not, you should at least have an attitude about it! That old Lü, won't he disagree with you?"

  Lü Jizong stuttered: "Th-th-this isn't me... A girl's age is a sensitive topic, and as her brother, it's not easy for me to say..."

  "That's fine, as long as you don't object!" Wang Jinlong slapped the table and stood up, "I'll go find someone to propose right away! Let's see who would be suitable..." Suddenly thinking about it, he realized there really wasn't anyone suitable, and dejectedly sat back down.

  Xiao Ming felt more and more like it wasn't right, so he made an excuse to go see the horses and quickly slipped away.

  This time, they exchanged a lot of cattle, horses, pigs and sheep. Ji Hongru complained that there was no place to raise them, Xiao Ming thought for a moment and said: "Why not find a few people to go to the mountain to raise them? I remember there is a large piece of empty land there."

  "This is easy to say, but we still need to build a shed or something, and the mountain stronghold doesn't have any materials at all!" Ji Hongru was afraid of spending money.

  "Hmm, let me think about it!"

  The commotion outside the mountain is getting more and more lively. Xiao Ming's mind moved, and he called Ma Liu over: "Liu Zi, how are those new soldiers doing?"

  "If I go back home now, it's still a bit short of being ripe, give me another three months and there shouldn't be any problem!"

  "It's not just a matter of practicing to death, we should take them out and practice while fighting! Alright, have Gao Shouyi assign them to the 3rd company. You lead the 3rd company, artillery company, and logistics company to the east road and bring back those artillery towers."

  "Bring back the cannon tower?" Ma Liu didn't understand what Xiao Ming meant for a moment.

  "It's just bringing back bricks, tiles and wood! How come you're getting more and more stupid!" Xiao Ming glared at Ma Liu fiercely.

  In the evening, Ma Liu led his men to the stronghold outside Er Long Ridge and ordered them to stop, saying that they didn't need to use guns or cannons. He himself would go and drive away the people inside. He didn't care, swaggering forward to tell the sentry: "Call your superior out to talk!" The sentry didn't dare to delay, hurrying off to call his superior.

  Recently, the situation has become increasingly tense. There is only one row of fake soldiers stationed in the artillery tower, and this row was temporarily transferred from elsewhere. The row leader came down to take a look, didn't recognize him, and asked haughtily: "What do you do? What are you looking for me?"

  Ma Liu laughed and said: "Flying Tiger Fort Ma Liu, tell your brothers to move aside, our master has taken a liking to this cannon tower!"

  "Bullshit! What's wrong with Flying Tiger Fort, is it that big? You can scare a three-year-old, but you think you can scare me? Are you blind?! Get out of here quickly, or I'll shoot you dead!" The platoon leader seemed to have never heard of Flying Tiger Fort and said angrily.

  "Oh, I see! Don't be angry, sir. It's just a young fool who doesn't know any better and has offended you. Please don't take it to heart, I'll go call our leader to come and apologize to you!" Ma Liu smiled and nodded at the squad leader, then turned and left. The squad leader was still muttering to himself: "Damn it, trying to scare me with the Flying Tiger Gang without even asking what I do..."

  Ma Liu returned to the team and Gao Shouyi asked: "How was it? Did you succeed in negotiating?"

  "Damn it! Get out of the way and get the cannon ready! This time we won't even have to lift a finger to take them down!" Ma Liu said viciously.

  The pseudo-army in the artillery tower only then realized that Ma Liu had not been fooling them, but it was too late. Along with the rumbling explosion sounds, the artillery tower and barracks collapsed...

  "Sixth son, shall we return to the mountain stronghold?" Gao Shouyi asked. The automobile company and logistics company were loading up their vehicles.

  "No, wait for the next one! Grandma's, don't even know how many eyes Ma Wangye has......!"