Five

  After seeing off the six people slowly walking down the mountain, Yan Wei walked to Fang Lan's front, looking at her tear-stained face and smiled: "What's wrong? A little feeling?"

  Fang Lan faced Yan Wei's nonchalant inquiry, wiping away a tear and saying: "Officer Yan, on behalf of all the comrades at the Wuhan Orphanage, I salute you National Army officers!" As she spoke, she mimicked their military salute to Yan Wei.

  Yan Wei then smiled and pulled down Fang Lan's left arm, which was raised upside down, and held her shoulder, saying: "I lent my handkerchief to that class leader to bandage the wound earlier. You quickly wipe away your tears and don't delay work. I have something important to ask you."

  Just now, it was because of seeing this scene that made a young girl feel very moved, and triggered her feminine sadness. Now being held in the arms of a strange man, Fang Lan felt an electric shock and extreme unease all over her body!

  Seeing Fang Lan's discomfort, Yan Wei let go of her shoulder and asked: "I'd like to ask you, how many children will the Wuhan Orphanage be escorting for transfer this time?"

  Fang Lan took a deep breath, looking at the National Army lieutenant colonel with an uncertain expression: "This time, we're transferring a total of 42 children. Including the one who didn't make it earlier, three children were killed by the Japanese army!" After speaking, she was on the verge of tears again.

  Yan Wei looked at Fang Lan and said: "Fang young lady, let's cry later, now first wait for me to ask you something important."

  Fang Lan furiously glared at Yan Wei, who seemed to be taking everything lightly and didn't understand how others felt. Her eyes seemed to want to bite him!

  "Is that so? I'll ask you again, before you set out this time, did your superior have any special instructions for you? For example..."

  "Report to Officer Yan, we don't have officers, only leaders."

  Fang Lan interrupted Yan Wei's questioning, her face still resistant and glaring at Yan Wei.

  Yan Wei realized that perhaps he had not been careful enough in his attitude towards the young girl. So, smiling, he stretched out his right arm and was about to put it around Fang Lan's shoulders again to show comfort and closeness.

  When he saw Yan Wei coming again, Fang Lan immediately took a step back and said: "Officer Yan, I'm fine! Please ask me questions, I'll cooperate with you and answer them seriously."

  "Alright, alright. What I mean is, can your leaders inform us if there are any special individuals among these children that need our attention? For example, are there any children of high-ranking military or government officials from our party and country?"

  "There's nothing special about it! Moreover, can the family members of high-ranking officials in the military be among these children? Even the family members of high-ranking government officials wouldn't stoop to this level, would they? As for these children, they're actually what you'd call war orphans. To put it bluntly, they're just poor people's kids who were abandoned on the streets because their families couldn't afford to take care of them! Any family with a bit of means or who values their children highly, do you think they'd abandon such young children on the streets without a care?"

  "Then did you notice that among these children, there are some who are a bit different from the others?"

  "Every child is different and yet the same. What exactly do you want to ask me?"

  Fang Lan was clearly annoyed by Yan Wei's questioning method of not getting straight to the point.

  But she didn't know that these words were originally something Yan Wei couldn't explain clearly to her. Maybe even Yan Wei himself was still completely confused and had no clue. Everything, after all, was just his own speculation.

  Due to the lack of engineers accompanying the mission, soldiers without suitable tools could only use Japanese rifles with bayonets for excavation work. As a result, the burial of the fallen soldiers was not proceeding very smoothly. Fortunately, being in the south where the soil is soft, the current trench can be made do with, although it's a bit shallow, but it can still squeeze people in and bury them somehow.

  "Fang Lan, you go and count the children now. We'll set off immediately after that. After all, we're still far from Chongqing, and it's going to be a tough journey for you to take care of these poor kids. I've also assigned five people to assist you on this trip, under your command. This whole big fuss is all about the children, so no matter what, we have to get them to Chongqing safely."

  Yan Wei said and looked at Fang Lan, nodded and walked away.

  Although nothing helpful to unravel the mysterious encounter was obtained from Fang Lan's mouth, as a soldier, once an order is received, it must be carried out.

  Lan Gang saw Yan Wei wanting to send someone to call the person in charge of the guard on the mountain road below, preparing to set off. Then he said to Yan Wei: "Team leader, I have an idea, I don't know if it's feasible."

  Yan Wei smiled and said, "Tell me about it."

  Lan Gang said: "It's like this, you see, now that there are no longer any of our National Army troops scattered throughout the entire Wuhan area, then look at these Japanese corpses all over the mountains and fields, and those few Japanese trucks stopped on the highway below the mountain, can't we..."

  "Not allowed."

  Yan Wei didn't wait for Lan Gang to finish speaking before interrupting him and immediately stopped him from continuing.

  "Do you know what I want?"

  Lan Gang's face was full of discontent.

  Yan Wei looked at Lan Gang and smiled: "This is purely a fantasy that is not grounded in reality. Although it's true that there are Japanese corpses all over the mountains, where can you still find a complete set of intact Japanese military uniforms without any distinctive marks? Moreover, even if we put on Japanese military uniforms and drive a Japanese military vehicle, would we be able to drive all the way to Chongqing without any obstacles? Can you speak Japanese? What would we do if we encountered Japanese troops along the way? What unit number should our troop report? What task are we supposed to be carrying out? And what about these forty or so children, big and small - wouldn't we be finished as soon as we're discovered?"

  "Besides, even if we don't run into the Japanese army, running into our own scattered National Army troops isn't a joke either! Fighting all the way while explaining? That's just a stupid idea born out of desperation!"

  Yan Wei looked at Lan Gang's astonished face and said, "I'm not that great! I just thought of this move earlier too, but the more I think about it, the more I realize it won't work. Luckily you were thinking along the same lines as me. Don't waste any more time, quickly pass on the order to have two drivers from headquarters drive back to pursue the main force, and have everyone else hurry up and gather here."

  What was unexpected for Yuan Wei was that, apart from the two people he had ordered to stay behind and guard the highway, the driver also followed him up the mountain.

  "Commander, you ordered me to drive back to headquarters on my own, isn't that sending me to my death? The whole world is almost under Japanese control now, where can I go to catch up with headquarters? Do I even know where headquarters is right now? I'm not going anywhere, I'll just follow you, Commander. Although my combat skills may not be as good as your bodyguards, I used to be a regular infantryman! Shooting guns is no problem at all! Last year, on the south bank of the Zhang River, when our 32nd Army was still called the 52nd Army, we had that battle with the Japanese army's 14th Division led by that old bastard Tōyama Kaneji. Commander, you must still remember it vividly? At that time, although I was already a motorized soldier, I was ordered to transport ammunition to the front line and encountered Japanese patrols outside Handan City. I got off the truck with my fellow soldiers and fought with rifles, personally killing three Japanese soldiers!"

  "Are there three people?"

  "Here comes three!"

  In response to Yan Wei's questioning, this armored soldier was adamant!

  "What's your name?"

  "Returning to the team, belongs to the lower command department car camp Shu Feng."

  Yan Wei looked at Shi Feng and said: "You'd better think it through, following me doesn't necessarily mean you'll die slower than if you were to drive away alone!"

  "Report to the leader, following the leader's orders is a death without regret!"

  "Your headquarters' motorcade is equipped with short guns, go pick up a longer one on the ground yourself. It's best not to pick up the Japanese army's rifles. The 6.5mm bullets can only be replenished by capturing them from the Japanese army, otherwise there's nowhere else to get them. After you're done, go find that girl and report to her directly. From now on, you'll be under her command."

  Yan Wei said and pointed at Fang Lan who was organizing the children in the distance.

  Shi Feng saw a Japanese light machine gun lying on the ground at a distance. He asked Yan Weidao, "Team leader, I used to shoot with a light machine gun when I was an infantryman. Can I pick up this Japanese light machine gun?"

  Yan Wei looked at Shi Feng and said, "I really doubt whether you've been in a battle or not, and what's with taking down three Japanese soldiers! Now we're on the march, completely without logistical support. A machine gun without ammunition supply is nothing but a heavy weight that can crush people to death, I don't know what other use it has! Besides, the Japanese Type 11 light machine gun is also just a toy, firing three shots and then jamming twice due to its funnel-shaped feeding system, who's going to be your loader to clear the mechanical failure at any time? Go pick up the standard rifle of our fallen brothers from the Wuhan Security Regiment, finding more bullets would be better."

  Lan Gang said to Yan Weidao, "Team leader, have you really decided to give up driving on the highway and instead take the kids through these mountains? If so, I'm afraid it's impossible for them to reach Chongqing."

  Yan Wei helplessly said, "There's no other way now. The radio station can't contact the command center for instructions, and we're completely isolated from the outside world. Under unclear circumstances, taking risks on the highway is just asking for trouble! Before contacting the command center to clarify things, I think it's safer to stay in the mountains. I also know that with the kids, we won't make it to Chongqing, and I didn't plan on really going there anyway. As long as we can safely reach Jingzhou, once we're in Jingzhou, we can take a boat down the river, and the rest will be easy."

  Lan Gang nodded and said: "In other words, the most difficult part is this journey to Jingzhou... Ah, I'm asking, Team Leader, how far is it from here to Jingzhou?"

  "It's almost 400 miles, with a large group of children like this, even if everything goes smoothly, it'll take at least seven or eight days."

  Yan Wei's future is uncertain.