Article Thirty-Five

  Although the conditions on the mountain are harsh, it can be seen that Fu Daojun and his men have made long-term plans to stay here. The barracks may be simple, but they have all the basic facilities, making it a good place to seek longevity.

  After finishing his toilet and changing into a plain suit provided by Fu Daojun, Yan Wei sat with Wu Hanhuai, Fu Daojun and Wang Zhengwei under an old camphor tree outside the barracks to discuss the current situation.

  After passing a circle of cigarettes to everyone, Yan Wei looked at Fu Daojun and Wang Zhengwei and said: "As I said, at this critical moment, he is still one of our own people. Our two parties have been fighting for many years over this beautiful Jiangshan, but when it comes to dealing with foreign enemies, we are absolutely not ambiguous. However, the main target of the Japanese army this time is me. As long as I don't leave, the Japanese army will not give up searching this area."

  "You must leave, you and Wu are on a special mission, how can you stay here and cause me trouble for the rest of my life. But if it wasn't for your timely rescue this time, Commander Yan, I'm afraid Old Fu would have been heroic by now! So whatever plans you have, just speak up, we've been operating here for many years, we can still make arrangements." Fu Daojun's face was full of gratitude.

  Yan Weizheng was about to speak when he saw the scout sent by Fu Daogun to investigate the situation return. After running to Fu Daogun's side and saluting him with a military salute, he looked at Fu Daogun uncertainly, wondering if he should report back.

  Wang Zhengwei looked at the scout in casual clothes and said, "What's the current situation at the base camp down the mountain? What's the current state of the Japanese army? There are no outsiders here, so report freely."

  "Yes!" The scout stood at attention and began reporting to Fu Daojun.

  "The situation is slightly unexpected, apparently the Japanese army's pursuit focus this time is not us. Apart from the Japanese troops who fought and pursued us, I saw another large batch of Japanese troops arriving soon after I slipped into the village at the foot of the mountain..."

  "How many people?" Fu Daojun interrupted the scout's words and asked.

  "According to the team leader's words, there are probably more than 200 people!" The scout said affirmatively.

  Everyone present secretly congratulated themselves on not having clashed with the Japanese troops at noon in the mountains below, otherwise, given the speed of the Japanese reinforcements, the situation would have been truly dire!

  "Go on." Fu Daojun also wanted to make it clear what Yan Wei and the others had that made the Japanese army so interested in them.

  The scout continued: "After they entered our base, they immediately conducted a large-scale and meticulous search. After confirming that their target was not there, they immediately withdrew more than 30 people to stay and guard, and assigned their traitorous translator to concentrate all the villagers in the village's threshing ground for interrogation, forcing the villagers to reveal our whereabouts. The rest of the main force then immediately pursued the next village."

  "Have the civilians been hurt?" Wang Zhengwei was clearly unwilling to see his long-term work being completely destroyed by a single action of the Japanese army.

  "The Japanese army resorted to trickery, burning down the houses of the village head and several families! But they didn't kill anyone, although physical suffering was unavoidable. However, all the villagers unanimously testified that their village had never been garrisoned before, and recently they hadn't seen any soldiers either, leaving the Japanese army with no good options. That's... "

  "What's going on?" Wang Zhengwei was afraid that the ordinary people would be intimidated and reveal the whereabouts of his troops to the Japanese army.

  "It was those slogans and anti-Japanese posters that we painted on the walls of our village houses with whitewash that ended up bringing suffering to our fellow villagers! Later, if a household had slogans painted on the outer wall of their house, all the old and young people in that family would be forced to come out and be brutally beaten by the Japanese soldiers with rifle butts! And then they would set fire to that household's house! The flames from several houses that were burned down were so intense that they also implicated neighboring families! But everyone insisted that these slogans had been forcibly painted on their walls by troops passing through the village in the past, and that they had nothing to do with them! Afterwards, they didn't even dare to wash them away with water! This was what caused disrespect towards the Imperial Army! As a result, those Japanese soldiers were also left with no choice!"

  "It's fortunate that no one was killed or injured! If it had affected the villagers, we would have been in trouble!" Wang Zhengwei secretly breathed a sigh of relief and felt lucky that no one died.

  "This is also inexcusable! When the wind dies down, we must go back and make amends to our fellow villagers! Those who should build houses for them will build houses, those who should compensate them will compensate them! We cannot let the common people lose hope in our Communist Party's troops!" Apparently, Fu Da-jun did not accept Wang Zheng-wei's view.

  Yan Wei sighed and said, "Actually, soldiers are a disaster! This sentence is not wrong at all! We soldiers usually call on the common people to support us and protect us every day. Oh, you also claim to be the people's army! But no matter whether it's your Communist Army or our National Army, aren't we just eating and living off the local area when there's nothing going on? And when something happens, don't we just pat our backsides and leave? Who really puts the lives of the common people in their eyes?"

  Yan Wei said so, Fu Daojun's face turned black and he didn't make a sound, but Wang Zhengwei disagreed: "Commander Yan, you can't say that! Your National Army abandoned the entire capital city to the Japanese without caring! Now you're saying we don't care about the lives of the people? What kind of logic is this? Besides, wasn't it you who insisted on retreating and not fighting the Japanese to the death back then? Why are you now speaking cold words here?

  Yan Wei smiled and said, "Commissioner Wang, please don't get angry. I, Yan, absolutely do not have the intention of looking down on your party! I truly believe that our Chinese people are really too pitiful! For many years, they have had no human dignity, no political status, and no personal rights! Whenever this country is in trouble, it's always the ordinary people who suffer first! Whenever sacrifices need to be made, it's still these ordinary people who pay the price! When will it be their turn to enjoy good fortune? Commissioner Wang mentioned Nanjing earlier, but our National Army has been causing trouble and harming the people for a long time, not just in Nanjing. What about the more than 30 million people in the Northeast? Weren't they abandoned and left to fend for themselves against the Japanese army? Where do I have the qualifications to criticize your party? I am truly sympathetic to our ordinary people!"

  "The government of the three eastern provinces is not in charge! That's the Northeast Army selling out, it has nothing to do with our government!" Wu Hanhua's face was clear-cut.

  "Brother Wang's words are quite wrong! Think about it, when Deputy Commander-in-Chief Zhang ordered the whole army to retreat without resistance back then, their Northeastern Army would have changed flags long ago! Can Chairman Yan escape the responsibility of being unable to govern the army and having lax supervision?" Yan Wei remained calm and objective.

  "Alright! Whose fault is it, anyway? In the end, aren't ordinary people always the ones who have to use their lives to clean up the mess and bear the consequences for these big shots?! Captain Yan, you're right too. We've been doing propaganda and mobilization work among the local population every day, telling them that only a great proletarian revolution can change their fate, and that only by supporting our Communist Party's army can we drive out the Japanese invaders! Now it seems like I won't have the face to say such big words to people again in the future! And Old Wang, let's also stop randomly smearing white paint on people's walls in the future! Whether or not to resist Japan is not the issue here; propaganda work can't always be about causing trouble for others, right? It's better to do something practical and beautiful rather than just talking big! Let's focus on doing more real work and less empty talk in the future!"

  Just as Wang Zheng was about to stand up and argue, Yan Wei suddenly stood up and shouted loudly: "Good! On this trip, I can meet heroes like Commander Fu Zhi. It is the greatest gain for me, Yan Wei! China has a loyal, true, benevolent and righteous person like Commander Fu Zhi, my China has hope!"

  Looking at Wang Zheng's face, Wu Han also hastily stood up and said: "Wang Zheng, this time our National Army has indeed caused you trouble! This is the case, all losses of your base people will be borne by us after we return. I will apply for special action loss funds to my superiors immediately after I go back! The kindness of our fellow villagers will never be forgotten by our government! The sacrifices of our fellow villagers will be borne by our government!"

  When Wu Han saw this, Wang Zheng suddenly became speechless and stood there laughing, not knowing how to respond. But he immediately changed the subject and said: "No, no, Director Wu, you've said too much! The losses of the people will be borne by our detachment. If it weren't for you, I might never have been able to fight side by side with my old partner again in the future! When you think about it, we still owe you a great favor!"

  Fu Daojun also stood up and said: "It's all nonsense! What's the point of calculating this? Let alone that we are still cooperating between the KMT and the CPC. Even if our two parties' leaders haven't reached an agreement, does it mean we're not Chinese anymore? We should unite against Japan when the country is in danger! All of China's armed forces should come together to resist Japan!" After saying this, he asked the scout beside him: "What's the situation like back at the base?"

  The Japanese army's search focus should be on these National Army officers, every household's boys were forced to gather in the central threshing ground! The shiny bayonet was pointing at each of the children! Pull out one and let the ordinary people in the crowd take back one, whoever's child whoever takes, if it doesn't look like it then it won't do! Immediately, the traitorous interpreter would ask this child questions. For example, what is the name of this village? What is the name of the village head? What are the big surnames in the village? What livestock does your family raise? And so on and so forth! Looking at that situation, if you say it's not right or if no one comes out to claim this child...

  "Has something happened?" Fu Daojun asked with concern.

  "What's going to happen? They're all real village kids, and in the end, they'll all be taken home by their parents!" In fact, even if this scout didn't say it, everyone would have thought of this outcome anyway. But under pressure, Fu Da-jun was worried about the safety of the villagers' children and couldn't help but make a mistake.

  "Have all Japanese troops withdrawn now?" Fu Daojun wished he could rush back immediately to see how the village was doing.

  "They've all left, I only came back after watching the Japanese troops withdraw. Just as they were leaving, a Japanese sergeant suddenly spotted Old Zhao's eldest daughter in the crowd, she's from the east end of the village... Commander, you also know how beautiful that girl is... The result..." The scout couldn't continue speaking.

  Fu Daojun grabbed the scout's collar with one hand, his powerful arm almost lifting the small scout off the ground! Glaring at him with angry eyes, he shouted: "What are you eating?! Are you still a soldier?! Are you still my soldier?!" The last sentence was already thundering with fiery eyes!

  Yan Wei immediately stepped forward, using both hands to pry open Fu Dajun's right hand which was tightly grasping the scout's collar: "Fu, if all Chinese people had your bravery, they wouldn't just stand by and watch as their village girls were brutally raped! A village of several hundred people can take down a few dozen Japanese soldiers with ease! Don't be angry with your comrades! What use is one person going solo?! Can sacrificing one life save the girl? Or will it fail to complete the mission and cause trouble?"

  "What kind of crappy mission is more important than a girl's chastity!" Fu Daojun was clearly still unable to accept this tragic event.

  Yan Wei sighed and said, "Fu Zhi, captain, this is the price our nation has to pay for its corruption, weakness, and backwardness! Do you know? Last year, in Nanjing, according to some of the surviving brothers from the 103rd Division who followed General Gui Yongqing and escaped back after the Battle of Nanjing, when the city fell, the Japanese army was doing whatever they wanted! Often, a single Japanese soldier would kick open a civilian's door, go inside, take a look around, choose a woman he liked, and start raping her right in front of her whole family! They wouldn't even close the door! Their rifles were just leaning against the table, without any concern! And almost 100% of these families, the husband would watch as his wife was raped, parents would watch as their daughter was raped, brothers would watch as their sister was raped! Not a single person dared to pick up the Japanese rifle leaning against the table and stab those bastards!"

  Here is the translation:

  "And then, they finish and don't even rush to leave, sitting there smoking a cigarette and taking a break. After finishing the cigarette and resting enough, they point at another woman in the household! What does this mean? They want to continue! The whole house is filled with close relatives, still incredibly calm as always! Each of them stares blankly with weak and numb eyes, without any concept of resistance in their minds! To preserve the lives of the whole family, they endure the humiliation. Sometimes the husband begs his unwilling wife to quickly take off her pants, lest they provoke the Japanese military and bring disaster to the whole family! Sometimes the father slaps his daughter with a fierce gaze like that of Xiang Yu, forcing her to lie down on the bed and spread her legs!"

  "One of the lucky survivors from Nanjing City personally told people that he witnessed two women who refused to be humiliated, in front of their whole family, including husbands and fathers, smash their heads against the wall until they died! One woman even splattered her brains on the wall while hitting it with her head! It can be seen how strong their will was! How deep their hatred was! This is our Chinese people in Beijing! This is the national masses led by Chairman! It's really hard for Chairman to lead such a group of people, who are stubbornly resisting with an unyielding spirit that surpasses steel and iron, and a self-respect that exceeds stone, against the tiger-like Japanese nation that wants to show off its strength to the world!"

  "We Chinese people, if we don't truly learn to be self-reliant, self-loving and proud! If we don't truly learn to unite as one and stand together against our enemies! The tragedy that occurred in the village below today will not be an isolated case! Nor will it be the last tragedy! Perhaps it's because of your effective propaganda work, perhaps it's because you have won over the hearts of the people, perhaps it's because the ordinary people truly support you, or perhaps it's because they are afraid to offend anyone! In any case, I am surprised that all the villagers were able to keep the secret and not betray us! Listen to me, war is meaningless and not fun! At least for the ordinary people, that's how it is! Believe me, this is the price our people must pay! These blood debts must be avenged by us soldiers on behalf of the people! So we must learn to endure, learn to survive, and in the final moment, represent our country and our people, and take back these accumulated blood debts from the enemy with interest!"