Chapter 58

  "Fire!" Xiao Ming gave a low growl, and the cannons started firing. The Japanese soldiers had just received orders to dismount and rest, it was their most relaxed moment!

  The sound of artillery shells breaking through the air came from the sky, and Kuroda's subordinates were all seasoned veterans who naturally wouldn't be unfamiliar with it. They quickly reacted, some rolling to the ground, some pressing against the horseback, and some hugging the horse's neck, sticking their bodies to the horse's belly...

  As the shells exploded among the horse groups, the hit horses fell to the ground with a loud crash, and the wounded ones let out mournful whinnies. Even though these war horses were well-trained, they could not withstand such an impact, either dodging around in circles or scattering in all directions. This caused trouble for the soldiers on the ground, who had to avoid both shells and the trampling of the war horses, causing chaos everywhere.

  The five rounds of shooting were over, Xiao Ming ordered the artillery company to retreat into the valley, and he himself brought Shanwazi to the entrance of the road leading to the forest to keep watch. Explosions had already been heard from the direction of the forest, and the Japanese army in the north had rushed here. These artillerymen's riding skills were average, and they would basically be no match for the devils (Japanese soldiers). Xiao Ming wanted to buy some time to let the artillery company retreat safely.

  The Japanese army on the north side heard the sound of artillery and immediately judged that their own people were under attack, because they did not have such strong firepower. The commander ordered a swift passage through the forest, surrounding the enemy and supporting Major Kuroda.

  The soldiers charged into the forest on horseback, and the war horses triggered a cluster of hand grenades. The shrapnel from three hand grenades and several hand bombs exploded with almost no blind spots, and nearly everyone in the vanguard was injured. They had to dismount and carefully bypass the obstacles, but accidentally stepped on a landmine, triggering a series of explosions. After finally arriving at the edge of the forest, they were blocked by a chest-high rope. A soldier drew his knife to cut the rope, but was stopped by his comrades. Only after they carefully dismantled the rope did they discover that it was just an ordinary rope... In this way, they finally arrived on the road, only to find that the enemy had long since disappeared!

  Kuroda Lieutenant Colonel gathered his men and rushed over, after counting, more than 20 soldiers were lost, not to mention the wounded. In a fit of rage, he ordered one unit to collect the bodies and take care of the wounded, while leading the team in pursuit.

  Upon arriving at a mountain pass, Hei Tian was hesitating whether to send out scouts first. Suddenly, over ten big men emerged from behind the rocks, with over ten machine guns roaring and spewing out a hail of bullets, catching the Japanese army off guard and sending them fleeing in all directions. After firing one round of bullets, these people took advantage of the chaos to escape swiftly.

  After checking the casualties, they lost another twenty or thirty men and horses. Kuroda was furious and, disregarding his subordinates' advice, ordered the troops to pursue with all their might. Just as they were about to charge over the mountain valley, a series of deafening explosions rang out from the mountain waist, and in an instant, the valley was filled with scorching heat, flying rocks, and Japanese soldiers were thrown into chaos. Before the smoke from the explosion had cleared, more than twenty war horses rushed forward, with men holding submachine guns, sweeping wildly at the still-dazed Japanese troops before turning their horses around and disappearing in the blink of an eye!

  Lucky Kuroda was only scratched on the thigh by gravel, he shook his buzzing head, trying to calm himself down, looking at the miserable situation in front of him, sighed, ordered to assist the wounded, and sent a report to the superior officer, requesting support...

  At dawn, the chief of staff of the Japanese cavalry brigade found the brigade commander with a telegram to report: "Your Excellency, Major Kuroda reported that he was attacked by unidentified armed forces and two cavalry companies suffered more than half casualties. Requesting instructions!"

  "How many people does the other side have?"

  "The number of people won't be too many, according to yesterday's intelligence, there should be over a hundred. I have ordered them to defend in place and wait for reinforcements!"

  The team leader thought for a moment and said, "Use one company to go and exchange the black fields! Let them be careful and beware of the enemy coming over. Without orders, they are not allowed to take the initiative to attack."

  "Shouldn't we send someone to annihilate this enemy? Wouldn't that tarnish the reputation of the Imperial Army?"

  "No, this team's combat effectiveness should be very strong. It will take at least a battalion of troops to annihilate them, and it will also take time! Those cunning Chinese people are obviously trying to lure us into the mountains so that the Chinese army surrounded by us can take advantage of it!" The brigade commander stroked his chin and smiled slyly, "Don't mind him. Tell the intelligence department to investigate their background. After eliminating the main force of the Chinese army, we will settle accounts with them!"

  Xiao Ming did not expect that the Japanese army only sent people to guard the exit and did not pursue, which was not in line with the Japanese style. He realized that the Japanese army could not be divided and should be guarding against the main force of the National Army. Looking at the soldiers who had been rushing for a day and tossing for a night, they were all exhausted. He ordered them to find a place to rest and make plans again in the evening.

  Just as they were getting drowsy, a vigilant warrior came over to report: "We've caught two scouts, but we can't figure out their identities!"

  Xiao Ming found it a bit strange, such things are usually handed over to Ma Liu, under his hand, there are very few people who can't speak out, what's going on today! He got up and came to the place where the two were being guarded, only to see an old man and a young man tied to a tree, hanging their heads, with a bird gun and a bow and arrow next to them.

  "What's going on?" Xiao Ming asked.

  "Report to the commander, two scouts have been captured. First, they caught the smaller one, who claimed to be a hunter from nearby, and Ma Lianchang tied him up to a tree. Not long after, the older one arrived, trying to rescue him, and was also tied up. When asked where they were from, neither of them would say."

  "What about Ma Liu?"

  "Two more people ran away, and Ma Lianchang led his men in pursuit."

  "How long has it been?"

  "It's been over ten minutes."

  It's been over ten minutes and they haven't returned, looks like the other party isn't slow. Xiao Ming walked up to the two of them and said coldly: "Lift your heads!"

  The two men raised their heads, looked at Xiao Ming, and then lowered them again. Their faces seemed to be those of mountain villagers who had been weathered by the wind and sun for many years. The older one muttered: "Officer, have mercy on us! We are really just hunters from nearby, we accidentally bumped into the old general, spare our lives!"

  Xiao Ming listened to the man's words and found that he was quite articulate, knowing that he wasn't an ordinary mountain dweller. His suspicions grew, and with a cold smile, he said: "Hunting? With all the gunfire last night, are there even any living creatures left in these mountains?"

  "Sir, we set a trap and came to see if anything fell in. We didn't expect all the big shots to be here! We're really hunting today!"

  "Sorry, friend, it's an extraordinary time now. Even if you're a hunter, there's no way out unless you can take us to your village for a look!" Xiao Ming sneered and turned to the guarding soldier: "Wait for Ma Liu to come back, and if we still can't get anything out of him, bury them together!"

  He had just finished speaking and was about to turn around and leave when someone shouted: "Commander, something's wrong! Captain Ma has encountered an accident!"

  Xiao Ming was shocked, and saw a soldier running over with sweat all over his face, panting and saying: "Commander, we went to capture people, but didn't expect to be ambushed. The other side suddenly swarmed out with dozens of people, each with guns, and Ma Lianchang is facing them right now!"

  "Who is he?" Xiao Ming let out a breath of relief. Not hearing any gunshots, it seemed they hadn't started fighting yet.

  "I don't know, but it looks like what they call a 'local tyrant'!"

  "Pass the word, assemble the troops! Cavalry company on alert, special troops and machine gun company follow me to take a look!"

  Shan Wa Zi walked over with Xiao Ming's equipment, and Xiao Ming took it from him saying: "Wa Zi, you stay here and watch these two people with your cat uncle." This time when they came out, Xiao Ming originally didn't plan on bringing Shan Wa Zi, but he begged to come along. Xiao Ming softened his heart and brought him along, on the condition that he would pay attention to safety. If a fight really broke out, Ye Mao Zi wouldn't be able to join in, so Xiao Ming decided to leave Shan Wa Zi behind to keep him company.

  When Xiao Ming arrived with his men, Ma Liu had already become fast friends with the people on the other side. Seeing Xiao Ming approach, he hastily introduced: "Boss, this is an old acquaintance, it's Lu Yingchang, the regiment commander we met last time when we were with the chief of staff! Old Lu, this is our second boss!"

  "Oh, so you're General Lu's camp commander? I'm Xiao Ming!" Xiao Ming smiled and bowed slightly.

  "I'm Lu Daxian, I've met the Xiao family before! The Xiao family's power shakes the Flying Tiger Mountain, it's like thunder in one's ears!" Lu Daxian clasped his fists in greeting, "Xiao family, this is a misunderstanding, my men mistook you for Japanese again, haha!"

  "So you're saying those two are also your people?" Xiao Ming said with a smile.

  "It's all right, it's all right, what can they do to us?" Lu Dashi hastily asked a sentence, he knew his people wouldn't say anything, a ruthless character like Fei Hu Zhai wouldn't have the patience to waste words on suspicious people.

  "It's okay, I was originally going to wait for Marshal Ma to return and handle it, but since time is dragging on, I'm afraid those two subordinates won't be able to hold back from taking action." Xiao Ming smiled slightly, turned around and ordered someone to release the Night Cat.

  Lu Dashi let out a sigh of relief and hastily asked: "Xiao Dangjia, what brings you here this time?"

  "This isn't about watching the excitement here, come and see if you can pick up some spare change, you know, we haven't done business for a few days, so we don't have anything to eat!" Xiao Ming laughed and chuckled.

  Lu Dashi is also an old hand, yesterday the gunfire sounded in the middle of the night, no need to say, it's definitely these people in front of me who had a fight with someone, 80% likely with Japanese people. He smiled and said: "A chance encounter is better than a scheduled meeting, since you're here, please ask your brothers to take a break at our place, what do you think, boss?"

  Xiao Ming had something on his mind, and he went along with it: "Of course, that's good, Lu Yingchang, we won't be polite!" On the one hand, he signaled Ma Liu to bring the troops over, following Lu Dashan down the mountain.

  After turning over a hill, it gradually became spacious. Walking further in, after three or two turns, a not-so-small village suddenly appeared before his eyes. The surrounding green trees were embracing, the stream was gurgling, and the fragrance of flowers was patted on his face. Xiao Ming couldn't help but exclaim: "It's really a paradise! Lu Ying Chang, you've found a great place!"

  "It's nothing, it's nothing, we're not worthy of the praise. Our humble village can't compare to your Flying Tiger Fort, I've heard that your fort is impregnable! What's the use of just admiring the scenery for a soldier?" Lu Dashi said humbly, leading Xiao Ming and the others into the village.

  Lu Dashi's camp was set up in a mountain temple at the head of the village. The villagers here seemed to have been quite wealthy before, and this temple was built with great momentum, with even side houses on both sides, which made Xiao Ming feel poignant: In a remote mountain village, how many people had to cut their clothes and food to build this useless mountain temple!

  Ma Liu left the troops at the village entrance and let the soldiers disperse to rest, without disturbing the villagers. He brought Wu Dingbang and others to the barracks.

  Since he had arrived at Lu Dashi's territory, Ma Liu didn't consider himself an outsider, and he was still thinking of how to ask Lu Dashi for food.