Gunfights Eight, Stormy Years

  Zhan Biao asked Yamamoto: "At that time, some of you already suspected this cave entrance, why didn't you come up to check later?"

  "I insisted on checking this place at the time, and I argued with my colleagues for half a day under this mountain wall. But at that time, one was that there were no tools to come up, and another was that the orders from the front line were one after another, letting us quickly advance to attack Nanjing. In addition, our superiors insisted that you had been driven away from the top of the mountain early, so we gave up checking this place. However, at the time, a small team was left behind to search for missing heavy weapons and equipment, but they returned empty-handed three days later."

  Yamamoto continued, "You created a miracle of war. Nine people made nearly four hundred people disappear into thin air and took away a lot of weapons and equipment. This is all confidential in the military history of Japan. You should all be heroes after the war."

  Zhan Biao looked at his grandson Zhan Dongdong and Yamamoto's granddaughter Sakura, and slowly said: "Fighting is for the peace of the people and future generations, never thought of being a hero."

  No one had expected this battle to end like this, to end with a "two kicks" from San De.

  The Eighth Route Army hid in the mountain cave, holding back and not moving, while the Japanese army thought that the Chinese army was ambushing on the top of the mountain, and now they had already taken advantage of it and ran far away. Then, within a radius of ten miles, all were under martial law, and the main force entered the valley to thoroughly sweep the battlefield, collecting the bodies of hundreds of martyrs who died for the Great Japanese Empire. The valley was filled with wailing sounds, and some Japanese soldiers hoarsely sang Japanese military songs and ditties, while a dozen bonfires burned the corpses.

  Qiangzi lay beside Zhang Biao and looked at the Japanese army filling the valley, asking Zhang Biao: "Heavens, so many devils have come again, can't we fight?"

  Zhan Biao shook his head and said: "They are collecting bodies, give the dead some time, they are all soldiers."

  At this time, a group of people came from below the cave entrance. A Japanese military officer was heard loudly discussing something with several people in front of the mountain wall, seemingly suspicious of the protruding part of the mountain wall, but soon there was no movement.

  Before long, it was night again. The Japanese army had withdrawn and the bodies had been dealt with. The valley was quiet once more. Tonight there was no moonlight, only a drizzle of autumn rain mixed with autumn wind, washing away the bloody smell that filled the valley.

  All the spoils of war have been cleaned up, and they were laid out in the cave for a distance of about two miles. Liu Yang held the Japanese notebook and pen, and counted all the items, filling three large pages. Liu Yang read aloud:

  Weapons include: 12 Type 92 heavy machine guns, 18 Type 96 light machine guns, 9 Type 89 50mm grenade launchers; 52 Type 38 rifles, 36 various handguns; 5 commando knives, 132 military bayonets; 540 rounds of 7.7mm heavy machine gun ammunition in 15 boxes, 600 rounds of 6.5mm light machine gun and rifle common ammunition in 20 boxes. 24 Type 89 hand grenades in 11 boxes, 8 boxes of Type 91 sweet potato hand grenades, 3 boxes of 8mm handgun ammunition.

  "Equipment includes: two sets of Japanese military uniforms for soldiers, one set of officer's uniform, four officer's map bags; 12 military sleeping bags, 12 gas masks, six first aid kits; four military telephones with 200 meters of wire and 10 reels, four binoculars; 32 boxes of compressed biscuits, two boxes of cigarettes, 13 boxes of canned goods, two boxes of matches, eight boxes of soap, ten boxes of salt, 12 barrels of edible oil; two cameras, 13 flashlights, three boxes of batteries, one harmonica, 25 watches. And there's also a box of books and a bunch of pens - these are the spoils of war from Cheng Yi."

  Zhan Biao listened and then asked Liu Yang: "Add ours up, let's count our main household items again."

  Liu Yang waved the small notebook in his hand and said, "I've also taken stock. We have 6 heavy machine guns of our own, 5 Czech light machine guns, 120 rifles, and 9 handguns. Now, adding the spoils of war, we have a total of 18 heavy machine guns, 23 light machine guns, 172 rifles, and 45 handguns."

  "Too awesome, enough to arm an entire reinforced battalion!" Qiangzi exclaimed excitedly.

  Cheng Yi also happily said: "Brother Biao, if we keep doing this, our spoils of war might even increase."

  Zhan Biao straightened up, gazing worriedly at the distant flashlight beam in the cave and said: "This battle doesn't seem like it will end anytime soon, our future days won't be easy."

  At this time, Xiaofeng and Sande came back with handguns and flashlights, and Sande was also holding a small wolf cub that looked like it had just been born. The news they brought back was also exciting.

  Inside the cave, it's spacious all the way, and two people can walk side by side. After more than 2 li, there is a large cave, like a spacious hall, and nearby is a spring eye with good water quality. Then from the "hall" divided into two mountain caves, one has seven or eight miles of road leading to the top of the mountain, and the entrance is not big either. The other one is longer, about ten miles away, leading to a forest at the foot of the mountain, and the entrance is a wolf den. Xiaofeng killed all the wolves in the den with several shots, and Sande quickly picked up the remaining wolf cub and brought it back.

  Zhang Biao secretly rejoiced in his heart, this is truly heaven helping us. With the current mountain wall exit, this cave has a total of three exits, a standard rabbit's three burrows! The cave has water and a place to live, can garrison troops, can store goods. And with these weapons, we can often go out and beat those devils, also must make some effort for the resistance war.

  Zhang Biao and these nine hot-blooded men were destined to launch a mysterious heavy machine gun storm in the enemy's rear from then on. In the eight years of resistance war, they wrote many mysterious stories, which continued until the long and tumultuous years after the war...

  After the two veterans roughly exchanged their experiences at that time, they both sighed with emotion, seemingly still trapped in the atmosphere of the past. At this moment, two younger people broke the silence, and they began to converse in Chinese.

  "Miss Sakura, your Chinese is so good, you must have lived in China before?"

  Ying put down the digital camera in her hand and smiled slightly: "Me? Yeah, I live in Beijing for a long time. I'm a master's student at Renmin University of China, majoring in modern Chinese drama and Chinese literature. How about you?"

  Dong Dong nodded slightly: "Oh, no wonder. I'm a history major and now I'm a substitute teacher at a middle school in my hometown."

  Sakura listened to Dongdong saying that he was studying history, and immediately became interested and asked: "You are a historian, as far as you know, why didn't China publicize this battle at the time? Under the circumstances at the time, this battle was very important for boosting morale."

  "It seemed that Zhang Dongdong, who looked very calm, replied: 'Because my grandfather and others were hiding in the mountain cave at that time, fighting alone and isolated from the outside world for nearly a year before contacting the anti-Japanese troops. So if the Japanese army didn't say anything about this battle result at that time, nobody would have known.'"

  Sakura tilted her head and continued to ask, "But it seems that there is no record of this battle in the later Chinese anti-war history, nor is there any praise for your grandfather's heroic deeds during the war."

  Zhang Dongdong smiled: "The situation in China is a bit complicated, and Grandpa's personality was also very stubborn. At that time, the resistance war behind enemy lines was led by the Communist Party, and Grandpa was unwilling to accept the Communist Party's reorganization and hand over his weapons, but only helped the Communist Party fight. The Nationalist Party blamed Grandpa for supporting the Communist Party, so Grandpa's actions at the time were not well received in both aspects, and it's pointless to talk about whether he was a hero or not. However, Grandpa and his comrades never regretted their actions back then."

  Sakura asked seriously again: "We found some information about your grandfather's affairs in our data in Taiwan, including the fact that he was reported by the Third War Zone for disobedience. However, there is no information at all on the mainland. Did your grandfather and others receive unfair treatment?"

  Dong Dong glanced at his grandfather and said, "Grandfather and the others did many things later on and won many battles. As for treatment, what could move a man who is content with living in seclusion in the countryside and being self-sufficient? Grandfather often says: to be able to live peacefully is already fair treatment; to be able to enjoy one's work is extra gain."

  Sakura fell silent for a moment, standing upright in front of Dongdong, and then asked: "Ask you, if you were Chinese back then, or even now, would you be able to do what your grandfather did during this war?"

  "I can, I definitely can, and even better than Grandfather. However, I don't want to see humans engage in such artificial killings. Why can't humans and different ethnic groups get along peacefully, trust each other, and help each other live a good life? Actually, I also want to discuss this issue with you, Sakura, as a Japanese person, what's your view on this war?"

  Sakura seemed to have been prepared for Yamato's counter-question, and she walked around him saying: "We all know that greedy and selfish people exist in every nation and era, and conflicts and wars will not stop as long as there are disputes over interests among humans. I am also against war, but I admire those who are not afraid of war. Because if you don't resist, war will destroy you. I have great respect for your grandfather, he is great, a hero in my eyes. My grandfather thinks so too, right, Grandfather?" As she spoke, she walked up to Yamato and gently grasped his arm, saying a few words in Japanese.

  Dongdong realized that Sakura didn't fully answer her own question, but only expressed her views from the perspective of war definition. Doesn't she think Japan is an aggressor? Doesn't she acknowledge that Japanese military are war criminals?

  Yamamoto's eyes lit up with a smile as he heard his granddaughter's question, and he said to Zhang Biao: "This time I can see you, it has fulfilled my lifelong wish. I just want to take a look at the hero who defeated us back then. It's fortunate that we can meet each other alive."

  Zhan Biao also nodded and said: "I'm also back here for the first time, I want to stay here for a few days thinking about the past, but I didn't expect to meet my old...my old enemy." Then he pointed at Zhan Dongdong and Sakura: "I hope they won't be like us in the past, standing together in friendship and love forever, living a peaceful life."

  Sakura, with her narrow eyes blinking repeatedly, looked at Zhan Dong and then jumped in front of Zhan Biao, bowing and saying: "Master Zhan, it would be great if you could stay here for a few more days. I really want to hear about your life in this mountain cave... how you and your nine fellow disciples used those heavy machine guns to fight in the wars that followed... and also, how did you spend these years of turmoil?"