Chapter 24: The Slaughter Outside the Western City Gate

  Yuexiang was a young girl who didn't understand what it meant for Japanese troops to enter the city, but Lin Feng was different.

  He fought against the Japanese army and deeply knew their cruelty.

  The night before last, the dare-to-die corps suddenly raided the artillery position of the Japanese army, successfully destroying the artillery and ammunition together. It's said that with the combat effectiveness of the security regiment, it shouldn't have been possible to break in so quickly!

  Lin Feng found it hard to believe this was true.

  "What?" Lin Feng also didn't know where the strength came from, and with a "thud" he sat up straight, staring at Yue Xiang in disbelief, asking repeatedly: "What did you just say? The Japanese army has entered the county town?"

  Yuexiang was startled by Young Master's sudden behavior and almost dropped the rice bowl in her hand, saying: "Young, young master, you can't let madam know that I told you these things!"

  Seeing Yuexiang's flustered expression, Linfeng knew he hadn't misheard, the Japanese army had indeed entered the city. He didn't have the mood to care about her now, and hastily threw off the covers, wearing only his undergarments as he jumped out of bed. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he urgently shouted: "Clothes, bring me my clothes!"

  Yuexiang saw that she had gotten into trouble and was afraid of being scolded by the mistress, so she quickly put down her rice bowl to persuade Young Master: "Young Master, don't worry, the mistress has already sent someone to inform Old Master, and Old Master knows you're back home, he'll definitely come back soon, maybe he's on his way back now."

  Lin Feng is now anxious and worried, on one hand because of his father, and on the other hand because of Feng Jie.

  After his father knew that the Japanese army had entered the county town, he still didn't care about his own safety and personally rushed over to find him, which made Lin Feng deeply feel the selflessness of paternal love.

  Phoenix's sister is trapped in a place of smoke and flowers, struggling bitterly. The situation was already unfavorable, and now with the Japanese army entering the city, the county town will surely be thrown into chaos for a while, making things even more unfavorable.

  He had promised Feng Jie that he would definitely bail her out. If something were to happen to him, this promise would be useless.

  As the young master of the Lin family, Lin Feng's words cannot be taken lightly. The Lin family was founded on business, and in business, honesty is paramount.

  Whether for his father or Feng Jie, Lin Feng must go into town immediately.

  Lin Feng personally rummaged through the boxes and cabinets, hastily finding a set of clothes to wear, and quickly walked out.

  Yuexiang shouted as she chased after him.

  The commotion here was very loud and startled Mrs. Yao and Yao Fengyun who were eating in the front hall.

  Actually, Yao Fengyun had known about Lin Feng waking up in the morning, but due to a woman's reserve, she didn't rush over to visit him. At noon, she accompanied her aunt, who is now her mother-in-law, to eat in the front hall, and also didn't ask about Lin Feng's situation after he woke up.

  Logically speaking, after marrying into the Lin family, Yao Fengyun should have called Yao Furen "mother-in-law", but Yao Furen preferred Yao Fengyun to call her "Auntie".

  Two women rushed over to see what was going on and causing such a commotion.

  Lin Feng had just walked to the back door when he ran into them.

  Mrs. Yao saw her son rushing over with his clothes in disarray and a fiery look on his face, startling her - he was still injured!

  "Peak, you're injured, why aren't you resting in the house? What are you doing running out?"

  "Daughter, you all should do what you need to do, don't worry about me, I have to go to the county town immediately."

  Lin Feng didn't recognize the woman following his mother and was too distracted to pay attention, so he just said that one sentence and quickly walked past them.

  Mrs. Yao knew that Lin Feng and his son were a stubborn pair, once they made up their minds to do something, no one could stop them, all she could do was stand there watching her son's back, secretly worried.

  Outside the west gate of the county town.

  Lin Feng didn't come alone, he was accompanied by Yuexiang.

  Yuexiang said it was Miss's order.

  Lin Feng knew that the lady in front of him was Yao Fengyun.

  They took a horse-drawn carriage and arrived here in the late afternoon.

  The carriage was one with an awning, and a mattress had been spread inside.

  Lin Feng's body was injured and couldn't withstand too much tossing about. The mattress had been specially prepared by Mrs. Yao for him.

  Lin Feng rode in the carriage all the way, and although he still couldn't avoid some bumps, having a cushion under him was much more comfortable than not.

  The horse carriage suddenly stopped.

  Lin Feng's eyes opened with it.

  "Have you arrived?"

  Lin Feng's words were naturally directed at Yuexiang.

  Yuexiang leaned forward and lifted the curtain of the carriage door to ask the coachman, "Have we arrived?"

  "No, I don't know why there's such a long line in front, you and young master wait for a moment, I'll go ask someone."

  A man's voice came from outside.

  Yue Xiang responded with a sound and withdrew her body, saying to Lin Feng: "It's not time yet, there's still a line outside."

  Actually, there was no need for Yuexiang to say it, Lin Feng had already heard what the carriage driver said.

  Lin Feng nodded silently, suppressing the anxiety in his heart, patiently waiting for the driver to find someone to ask and come back.

  Lin Feng felt that a long time had passed, but in fact the time was not long. The shed door curtain was lifted from the outside by someone, and a middle-aged man stuck his head in and said: "Young master, there are Japanese soldiers checking at the city gate, and all pedestrians are queuing."

  Japanese military inspection?

  Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat, he got up and said: "Yuexiang, you wait here, I'll go take a look."

  Lin Feng got off the bus and blended into the crowd, pushing his way forward.

  "Stop pushing! Everyone is lining up, what's wrong with you?"

  "Watch where you're going! You stepped on me!"

  "What's going on today? It wasn't this troublesome to enter the city before!"

  "You don't know yet! Now the county town is occupied by the Japanese. I heard that they have set up sentry posts at all four city gates to search for anti-Japanese elements."

  ……

  There are many people, chattering and making a racket, with all sorts of conversations going on.

  Lin Feng exerted a great deal of effort and finally squeezed his way to the front, looking up ahead, only to see a terrifying scene.

  Only then did I see that on both sides of the city gate were set up heavy machine gun positions, and Japanese soldiers held their guns at the ready.

  A small group of Japanese soldiers were checking pedestrians one by one at the entrance.

  Next to it was a guard tower under construction, with several laborers working anxiously under the prodding of two Japanese soldiers' bayonets.

  A pedestrian leaving the city was stopped by Japanese soldiers, who grabbed his hand and took a look, then shot him without saying a word.

  A gunshot rang out and the pedestrian was shot dead on the spot.

  Bystanders were frightened out of their wits, and several people who wanted to enter the city might have been too timid, seeing this situation turn around and want to go back, but unexpectedly caught the attention of the Japanese army.

  Several Japanese soldiers came over, blocking their way and forcing them towards the base of the city wall with the guns in their hands.

  At the foot of the city wall, there were already several people being taken away by the Japanese army. Among them was a man with a bandage on his head and wearing a military uniform. Although it was very tattered, Lin Feng could still tell that it was the uniform of the Security Regiment.

  Behind these people is a city wall with a notice posted on it.

  A man wearing a black satin jacket and a Japanese military cap, holding a fan in his hand, pointed at those people who were boasting and talking loudly. In the end, the fan pointed to the wounded soldier of the security team, and he concluded: "This person was injured while resisting the Imperial Army, but his unit abandoned him here and ran away. When the Imperial Army found him in a civilian house in the city, he had already fainted. The Imperial Army rescued him with humanitarianism, but after he woke up, he still did not repent. The Imperial Army had no choice but to bring him out for execution. And these people are all resistance elements, now they will be executed together. This is the outcome of resisting the Imperial Army!"

  After finishing speaking, he flashed his body and retreated a few steps to the side.

  A military sergeant shouted a sentence in Japanese, and several Japanese soldiers raised their bayonets at those people. The sergeant shouted again, and the Japanese soldiers followed with a shout, stabbing forward with their bayonets...

  "Whoosh, whoosh" a few sounds, the bayonet pierced into the human body, fresh blood gushed out along the blood groove...

  Those who were being driven by the Japanese army with guns to walk towards the root of the city wall saw this scene and let out a cry of extreme terror, running wildly in all directions...

  "Ah-choo!"

  The Japanese troops guarding the heavy machine gun position shouted loudly and turned their guns towards those people, firing a burst of shots...

  Those people who were fleeing in all directions were hit one after another, crying out as they fell to the ground. Some not only lost their lives but also had their limbs mutilated by the large-caliber machine gun bullets, with severed limbs and blood scattered everywhere.

  Lin Feng saw this scene and felt his scalp numb, with cold sweat breaking out on his back!

  This is too cruel and bloody, those killed are all civilians!

  These civilians were killed without question just because they aroused the suspicion of the Japanese army, and even Lin Feng, who had just gone through the smoke and fire and crawled out from among the dead bodies, couldn't bear to watch.

  At this time, another person came out of the city and was also inspected by the Japanese army.

  That person was not very old, looking only in his early twenties, of medium build, with an ordinary face, but a somewhat pale complexion. He wore ordinary clothes, grey trousers and a black cloth jacket, which had become somewhat dull due to being washed too many times.

  The Japanese army stopped him for a search but found nothing unusual and let him go with a wave of their hand.

  Just then, the sergeant who had just ordered the Japanese soldiers to kill people with bayonets came over and stopped him.

  The sergeant circled around him a few times and suddenly reached out to grab his right arm...

  "Ah..."

  He let out a mournful cry, his face twisted in agony, and beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

  The Japanese soldiers who searched him earlier obviously felt ridiculed, scolded loudly "Bah!" and stepped forward to grab his sleeve with force, tearing off a piece of it with a "ripping" sound.

  A bandage wrapped around his arm with a spot of blood seeped through.

  The sergeant grabbed his arm, removed the bayonet from the rifle, roughly ripped open the bandage, and disregarded his heart-wrenching screams of pain.

  Lin Feng saw that his arm had an obvious gunshot wound, similar to the one on his own shoulder.

  Damn it, this can be seen by the Japanese army, Lin Feng felt that his eyelids jumped uncontrollably.

  Lin Feng already knew that this young man would not be able to escape his fate without looking down.

  Hiding in the crowd, Lin Feng quietly retreated backwards, his eyes fixed on the Japanese army at the city gate, until he was blocked from view by the crowd, only then did he let out a sigh of relief and quickly turned around to hurry back.

  Back in the car, Lin Feng was silent and speechless, his hand unconsciously rubbing his injured shoulder, his eyes dull and lifeless.

  "Master, what's wrong?" Yueshang asked with concern as she saw the young master sitting in a daze since he returned from the front.

  Lin Feng sighed and said, "We can't enter the city now."

  Thinking of the scene he saw at the city gate earlier, Lin Feng's back was chilled. The search at the city gate was so strict that it seemed unlikely to be much different inside the city. Now entering the city was almost like sending a sheep into the tiger's mouth.

  If Lin Feng hadn't been injured, it wouldn't be a big deal to enter the city now. The main problem is this gunshot wound on his shoulder. If he's discovered by the Japanese army, his fate will definitely be the same as that young man's.

  Lin Feng was worried about his father and Feng Jie who were still in the city, but his own life wasn't something to be trifled with either.

  As long as you have your life, everything else can be recovered; if you lose it, then nothing else matters.

  What's wrong?

  Giving up like this, after a long time, the Japanese army may relax their search, but can Feng Jie and others who are still locked in Chunfeng Building wait?

  Lin Feng did not dare to confirm.

  And also, with the Japanese army being so brutal, is Father safe in the city?

  Lam Fung also dared not confirm.

  Still need to enter the city as soon as possible and figure out what's going on inside.