The Third Set: A Fierce Battle with Lingering Emotions

  After leaving Zhang Jie's tomb, under the repeated requests of Zhan Dongdong and Sakura, they went to the cave entrance at the foot of the mountain.

  On the road, Da Yu lightly said to Zhan Biao's ear: "Biao Ge, on the day of Zhang Jie's sacrifice that year, I made a mistake. These years have been thinking about it with you."

  Xiao Yu hastily used her fingers to touch Da Yuan: "You still have the face to say that your sons and grandsons are all here, you dare to say!"

  Zhan Biao snorted and turned to Da Yun, saying: "Your belated self-criticism is too late! However, you must not have thought that I already knew about it long ago. Otherwise, how could I have so readily held a wedding for you?!" As he spoke, Zhan Biao seemed to intentionally glance in the direction of the cave entrance at the foot of the mountain.

  Xiao Yu and Da Yuan looked at each other, their old faces both flushed red again. Xiao Yu chased after the fleeing Zhan Biao, hitting him: "You say, you say, how did you know?"

  Zhan Dongdong turned around and said: "Xiao Yu Nainai, is there even a need to ask? Whatever it is between you two, it must be my precious Nainai who said it."

  Sakura seemed to understand and not understand, following everyone's laughter. While Zhai Biao and County Magistrate Zhai also seemed to feel that this was related to their "unseen" family secret, they had already avoided talking about it.

  Knowing that the Japanese army would come to collect the bodies and retaliate the next day, Qiang Biao ordered the dead to be respected. He led a platoon of "apprentices" to neatly arrange the Japanese corpses with their heads facing east and feet west, in the direction of their homeland, Japan. They also simply tidied up the clothes of the corpses. After counting, there were 674 bodies in total. If the driver who was taken away by the Japanese army and killed in Kao Shan Town, as well as more than 50 bodies killed during the highway battle, are included, the total number of Japanese soldiers killed in this annihilation battle should be around 730. The wounded soldiers at that time were also ruthlessly swept away by heavy machine guns.

  The Japanese army directly participated in the war with two infantry battalions (250 people each), a heavy machine gun battalion (174 people) and two artillery battalions (55 people each). Among these 784 people, only more than 50 people who were guarding the trucks escaped, and only 2 lieutenants and 5 ensigns retreated. Matsuyama's special officer detachment also lost 21 officers equivalent to two teams of elite soldiers.

  As for the captured weapons and equipment, except for a battalion of weapons taken away by the New Fourth Army (18 machine guns, 178 rifles, 72 pistols and 9 grenade launchers) and the six Type 92 heavy machine guns, six Type 11 light machine guns and 50 pistols later given to the New Fourth Army and guerrilla forces by Zhan Biao, Zhan Biao also had two Type 92 infantry cannons (the other two could be used after repair), six Type 92 heavy machine guns, six Type 11 light machine guns, 132 rifles, 282 pistols, six grenade launchers and four flamethrowers. The ammunition was even more abundant, especially the bullets for heavy machine guns and the 70mm high-explosive shells for infantry cannons, because the Japanese army's heavy machine guns and infantry cannons were not fired at all and were preserved.

  After burying Zhang Jie, Zhan Biao expressed his gratitude to the Tang camp leaders and seemingly casually brought up his next course of action.

  The proposal of the action plan shocked Tan Yingchang, Gui Secretary and Shan Team again. Everyone looked at each other in dismay for a while, and Tan Yingchang patted Zhuang Biao's shoulder and said: "This is also beyond the expectation of this camp. Hehe, to put it nicely, you are clever, but to put it badly, you little devil are really cunning!"

  He originally kept his mission in mind, not wanting more people to know the hiding place of the weapons. Although he knew that many villagers and Tang Camp leaders were aware of the hidden caves here, they had never revealed it. So when Da Yu advised Tang Camp leader to go down the mountain, saying "we have a hiding place where we can easily escape", he was later scolded severely. Even Xiaobao and Xiaoyu do not know that there is another weapons cave in the mountain cave now.

  So when Tan Yingchang proposed to send a squad for training, he had already made his own plan. That is, leading the squad equivalent to the number of anti-Japanese guerrilla classes, carrying a batch of light and heavy machine guns openly withdrawing, and he led the team in person. This would not only paralyze the Japanese army but also cover up the mountain cave, and it could actually exercise the soldiers in that squad, achieving multiple goals at once. However, doing so was equivalent to Tan Yingchang lending him a squad of troops for his own use.

  Tan's ambition for the War of Resistance was not small, he planned to expand three companies into three battalions and establish a machine gun company, making him the commander of a regiment. Secretary Gui and Captain Shan had similar ideas, wanting to expand the current district squad of less than sixty people into a district battalion with three squads, and then further develop it into a county regiment. After all, guerrilla warfare is about persisting in resistance in this region, and the New Fourth Army may need to transfer the battlefield for the sake of the overall situation. At present, the anti-war enthusiasm among the occupied areas' civilians is high, people are not lacking but guns are, which means that as many guns can be gathered, as many troops can be formed.

  But whether it was the New Fourth Army or the guerrilla, they were all local peasant youths, mostly uncultured, and especially those who could skillfully use weapons were really too few. Being able to let his subordinates receive training from this group of divine marksmen was something that Captain Tan and Single Team Leader had been longing for. Therefore, Captain Tan could only agree with the action plan proposed by Zhan Biao. Zhan Biao stood at attention in front of Captain Tan: "I'll return a steel army to you in a month!"

  At that time, it was decided that Zhang Biao would take his two "coaches", Xiao Ban, Qiangzi and Ermin, San De and Da Yuan's two classes with a total of 8 people to follow the team. Together with a platoon of 35 people from the New Fourth Army, 8 people from the guerrilla squad learning machine gun shooting, they formed an enhanced platoon of 52 people. They brought 6 Type 92 heavy machine guns, 2 Maxim heavy machine guns, 12 "crooked handle" submachine guns, 2 Czech-made machine guns, 2 Type 96 machine guns, 3 grenade launchers, 35 Type 38 rifles and a pistol for each person, as well as various ammunition. They immediately went down the mountain to assemble in Kao Shan Town.

  One day, the flames of war came down, and Zhang Biao's anti-Japanese class fought with blood, fought with prestige, and won the hearts of the local people. They formed an unbreakable bond with the villagers from all over the country. From then on, they never lacked food or vegetables. In the following years, the locals provided them with information, the guerrilla troops transmitted intelligence to them, and the New Fourth Army cooperated with them in battles, which was a model of cooperation between the Nationalists and Communists. Unfortunately, no one realized this at that time and sorted it out for reporting. Zhang Biao also never dared to mention the matter of killing enemies in the mountain valley, fearing to expose his own secrets about having more heavy weapons, and also fearing revenge from the Japanese army's heavy troops.

  What happened next became another interpretation of rural feelings. The rural feelings here, in addition to the friendship between Zhang Dabiao and the local villagers, also include the folk customs and human affections of a place with its own unique soil and water.

  After the battle that day, everyone was under tremendous pressure. It's impossible to say they weren't nervous or afraid. Of course, this included Xiaoyu and Dajue. When Xiaoyu saw off Changjie, she almost collapsed and leaned on Dajue all the time. Although her personality had some boyishness, the sound of gunfire ringing in her ears that day, as well as the instant changes between life and death, almost made her thinking stop, leaving her mind a complete blank, only clutching the arm in front of her for support. Zhanbiao saw this scene and asked Dajue to take Xiaoyu into the cave first, then he himself returned to town to chase after the troops.

  Dai Yu was also close to his fiancée for the first time in a long time, and the woman's intimacy comforted him from the high tension of the day. After Dai Yu led Xiaoyu into the cave, they walked slowly, and under the weak light, the two people hugged each other tighter and tighter, turning their arms around each other into an embrace, both releasing the tension and pressure of the day through this intimate hug and seeking comfort from each other.

  Xiao Yu trembled and weakly told Da Yuan to sit down and rest for a while. Da Yuan held Xiao Yu in his arms and let her sit on his lap. It's hard to say whether it was intentional or unintentional, but the two people's hair kept rubbing against each other, their foreheads touching, their faces lightly attached, and then their lips touched like electricity, finally bursting out together, tearing apart a layer of paper to passionately kiss each other.

  Locally, it is customary for a couple who has fixed their marriage to cohabitate, just like how a child bride would move into the groom's home early. Dà Yuè had been making this request to Xiǎo Yù for several years, but she had always refused. After the incident where Xiǎo Yù was almost violated by the devils, both of them felt regretful, so when Dà Yuè kissed Xiǎo Yù and took further action, she did not refuse, also relaxing after a day of tension.

  In the quiet cave, with Xiaoyu's long cry, Dajue became Xiaoyu's most intimate person. This long cry made Xiaobao, who was searching for Xiaoyu, stop in her tracks. She stood not far away, silently listening to Xiaoyu's moans and Dajue's thrusts, almost collapsing to the ground. In this moment of human outburst, people forgot about war, forgot about those who had just passed away, didn't think about the future, nor cared about anything around them...

  In the following days, Da Yu and Xiao Yu never had the opportunity to be together like that again, until two months later when Xiao Yu discovered she was pregnant with Da Yu's child. After Xiaobao and Zhanbiao held a grand wedding for them, Da Yu and Xiao Yu officially became husband and wife. They savored every moment of their newfound love - Xiao Yu wanted it day and night, and Da Yu gave it to her day and night. When calculating the due date, Xiaobao had already figured out the birthdate, leaving Xiao Yu and Da Yu stunned. Meanwhile, Xiao Yu and Da Yu had already chosen a name for their child, "Yu Biao", which also left Zhanbiao and Xiaobao stunned... In this mountainous land, people left behind blood, life, and endless love.

  The next day at dawn, a "semi-mechanized" unit led by Zhan Biao left Kao Shan town with 12 horse-drawn carts loaded with light and heavy machine guns and soldiers wearing steel helmets. Songshan also intercepted the Japanese Eighth Armored Vehicle Unit's 16 Type 94 light tanks heading to Nanchang, engaging in a fierce battle with Zhan Biao's heavy machine guns, forcing him to create the miracle of "breaking the cart" (a military slang for destroying and dispersing vehicles with heavy machine guns).