Chapter 2: The Fugitive

  Early in the morning, the sun had not yet risen from behind the mountains. The thin mist drifting from between the trees, mixed with the water vapor rising from the river, was like a white silk gauze, lightly shrouding Zhangjiadu Port. The Thousand Feet Tower, built by the river, seemed to be half-floating in mid-air, as if it had not yet awakened from its night's sleep. The scenery looked somewhat hazy.

  Suddenly, a burst of tramping footsteps broke the silence of the wilderness. A team of New Fourth Army soldiers emerged from the sandy road on the south bank, numbering only a dozen or so, but each with robust physique, equipped with uniform carbines and bulging ammunition pouches on their chests, clearly an elite force. At this moment, they were covered in grime and fatigue etched on their faces, obviously having traversed mountains and valleys to arrive after a long journey.

  Leading the team was Li Zhi Gao, head of the military reconnaissance department. He was tall and thin, in his early twenties, also a Red Army Long March cadre sent from Yan'an like Ye Daozhi. He was one of the few who excelled in both literature and martial arts, deeply respected by the military leaders. This time he was ordered to lead the team to track down and finally successfully captured Ye Shouzheng and others who were fleeing with guns in the mountains near Jingdezhen, now being escorted back to Yunling Military Department to report.

  The two people walking in the middle of the team were the two escaped soldiers who were caught this time. Walking a little further back was Xu Changsheng, the chief of staff of the Military Department's Special Operations Brigade, who was from the same hometown as Ye Shouzhi and was about the same age, both under thirty years old. Xu Changsheng was robust in build and straightforward in temperament, and when fighting, he didn't care about his life, earning him the nickname "Desperate Third Son" in the Fourth Route Army. Before studying at Yan'an Anti-Japanese University, he served as deputy regiment commander of the Red 31st Army, and after joining the New Fourth Army, he was assigned to be a staff officer in the Special Operations Brigade, where he spent his days training or standing guard, unable to get the opportunity to lead troops in battle. Xu Changsheng had already been dissatisfied with this arrangement. Moreover, seeing that his original division commander Ye Shouzhi had been demoted to deputy regiment commander of the Fourth Regiment of the Second Column, a position several ranks lower than before, and Chen Wuhua, who was originally a regiment commander, had been assigned to be an instructor in the training battalion, where he could only talk big, made Xu Changsheng even more resentful.

  Xu Changsheng was a straight shooter, and behind Chen Wu's back, he whispered about this matter, feeling very indignant for Ye Shilong. Unexpectedly, their complaints fell into someone else's ears, who added fuel to the fire and reported it upwards, saying that Ye Shouzhi and these cadres from the Fourth Route Army had complex thoughts and impure motives, and were seriously dissatisfied with their job arrangements. As a result, the Political Department issued an order, transferring Ye Shouzhi out of the combat troops, first putting him in the "cold bench" at the military department for a while, and then arranging for him to become the regiment commander of the Special Operations Regiment.

  Xu Changsheng and Chen Wuhua felt that something was amiss, so they instigated Ye Shouzhi to leave without saying goodbye, returning to work for the Eighth Route Army. Ye Shouzhi had already intended to do this, nodding in agreement. As a result, there was the previous scene of the three men carrying guns and walking out in a dramatic fashion.

  Xu Changsheng dragged his feet, walking while recalling the scene when they were just intercepted by the military police. Li Zhihao led the pursuing soldiers to surround them and shouted at the three: "All of you, stand still! Under orders from the military commander, I'm here to capture you three deserters!" Xu Changsheng's temper flared up: "Who are deserters? We're not going back!" Before he finished speaking, Li Zhihao drew his gun and fired. Ye Shouzhi quickly pushed Xu Changsheng out of the way, avoiding disaster by a hair's breadth as the bullet whizzed past Xu Changsheng's head. This was clearly an attempt to kill them. Ye Shouzhi angrily shouted: "You dare shoot at your own people? Who gave you that authority?" Li Zhihao showed no weakness: "I'm under orders to capture, and I'll shoot dead anyone who resists!" Ye Shouzhi's body flashed with movement, and before Li Zhihao could react, he had disarmed him of his handgun. With a swift motion, he accurately returned the gun to its holster.

  What a beautiful empty-handed gun grab! Li Zhi Gao was shocked. Ye Shouzhi took a step back, and in a low voice said: "Put away your guns, guns are for dealing with the enemy. I'll go back with you all, let them go." Chen Wuhuo became anxious: "Commander, we can't go back, absolutely not!" Xu Changsheng shouted with his neck stiffened: "If we leave, we leave together, how can we abandon you?" Ye Shouzhi fiercely glared at the two of them, and with a swift wave of his hand said: "Still not leaving quickly?!" Chen Wuhuo saw that things had reached this point, and suddenly gave Ye Shouzhi a military salute, then turned around and ran swiftly.

  Li Zhi Gao had not yet recovered from the shock, and stood there in a daze, watching as Chen Wu He's figure disappeared into the mountains. In fact, he also understood that if they really wanted to take action, he would have been the first to fall earlier. If they ran, then so be it, as long as Ye Shou Zhi didn't run, that was all that mattered.

  Ye Shouzhong, walking in the team, had a sturdy build and steady steps. His dark face was full of determination. However, his heart was turbulent at this moment: seeing the pursuing soldiers coming so quickly with such ferocity, did they think this matter would blow up? Would it be possible to escape? He thought about the words of the village elder, "The imperial court is like a huge net, once you get caught, it's hard to escape." The villagers had said that the government troops were very powerful and had many soldiers. They also said that they had already sent people to report this matter to the county town. Ye Shouzhong thought about his family, his wife and children, would they be implicated? He thought about his fellow villagers, would they be able to escape? The more he thought, the more anxious he became.

  At the beginning of the year, from Yan'an to Yunling in the south, when passing through Wuhan, the Yangtze Bureau informed everyone that Zhang Guotao had defected and betrayed, asking us people from the Fourth Front Army to stand firm and draw a clear line. Ye Shouzhi was the secretary of the temporary party branch of the cadres who went south from Yan'an, and he specially convened a branch meeting to organize everyone to criticize Zhang Guotao, and one by one, they also made their political attitudes clear. Zhang Guotao really harmed people, harming us people from the Fourth Front Army, making us lose face in Yan'an, and even when we arrived at Yunling, we couldn't hold our heads up. It's true that "when the commander is not wise, the soldiers suffer".

  Just as Ye Shouzhong was feeling anxious, someone at the front of the team shouted that Zhangjiadu had arrived. Zhangjiadu is an important ferry terminal in Qingyi River, Jing County, where the military department has set up a general station. Originally, there was a pontoon bridge at the crossing, but last month's continuous heavy rain caused the river to surge and destroyed the pontoon bridge, now people can only cross by boat.

  Standing by the river, Ye Shouzhong gazed at the turbulent current, and then glanced at Xu Changsheng beside him. His mind was also surging like the river water: This trip back seems to be fraught with danger, even if there's a catastrophic disaster, I'll take it upon myself to bear it, no matter what, I must ensure Old Xu's safety.

  Little did he know that Xu Changsheng was also thinking the same way as Ye Shouzhong at this time: no matter what, he had to protect Old Ye's safety. After all, we are fellow villagers and comrades-in-arms.