Chapter 5: Going Up to the Front Line (Four Up)

  The mutton smells gamey, but when chewed in the mouth, a strong oily flavor is released. It's quite delicious and has a slightly salty taste, making everyone smile with joy. What's even more delightful is that there's Hu Fengshou, an expert hunter in the team, so at least food supplies won't be a worry for a while. The possibility of success in the rescue mission has increased subtly, and walking on mountain roads isn't as dull anymore.

  "Wild goat meat isn't even the best!" Hu Fengcai said with a proud smile, walking while boasting to everyone about his rich hunting knowledge. "In our hometown, there's a kind of bird that's as big as our fist. It weighs just half a catty. We all call it 'stupid half-catty'! It's especially easy to scare, but when taking off, it doesn't know how to watch the road. Often, it crashes into tree trunks. When I was very young, I often went with my older brothers to find their nests. Once we found them, we'd chase them into the forest. We didn't even need to use a slingshot; just wait for them to crash into trees themselves!"

  "Go ahead and brag!" The crowd didn't believe Hu Fengshou's words at all. Obviously, if there were such stupid birds in the world, they would have been caught and extinct long ago. But Hu Fengshou persisted to the end, stiffening his neck and protesting in a low voice: "You guys haven't even been to my place, how do you know it doesn't exist? Think back to when I followed Ji Dabao to Chaobei..."

  It seemed to have touched some taboo, and the eyes of the old camp were raised, with a cold gaze like ice in the early morning of winter. The second half of Hu Feng's words was forced back into his stomach, he lowered his head and muttered discontentedly: "I just said that our hometown has a fool named Half Jin, and didn't mention anything else! Besides, we fought against the devils back then, not..."

  "Go ahead and scout the road, and be careful not to attract the enemy!" Officer Lao Gou glared at Hu Feng again, shouting in a low voice.

  Hu Fengshou shrugged and ran to the front of the team with a piece of dried mutton on his back. Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling, who were walking too close to Hu Fengshou, also suffered from the misfortune of being kicked by Camp Commander Lao Gou, who whispered: "Eat, just eat. When you've eaten your fill and have diarrhea, you won't need to go rescue people anymore. All of you go scout ahead and learn some real skills from Old Hu!"

  Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling looked at each other in dismay, then followed Hu Fengshou to pursue. The three of them formed a row, advancing in a triangular formation along the winding path where sheep were grazing, slowly making their way down the mountain. As they walked, Hu Fengshou suddenly made another hand gesture, quickly crouching behind a large boulder.

  "What's going on again?!" Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling rolled up to the same boulder, poking their heads out to look around. The path ahead suddenly took a nearly ninety-degree turn, heading north from south. Along the right side of the road, a wide cliff appeared. And below the cliff, a faint cry for help could be heard.

  "It's the little devil!" Hu Fengshou's face twisted with rage, "He's harming ordinary people! You two stay here and don't move, I'll go take a look at the slope!"

  "Hmm!" Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling nodded in unison, ready to provide cover for Hu Feng with the box cannon at any moment. The latter, like a leopard, crawled out from behind the boulder on all fours, quickly approaching the cliff, grasping a branch of a low-growing wild apricot tree, and slowly poking out half his head.

  The direction facing the slope is a large village. Hu Feng glanced at it hastily and saw more than a dozen rows of courtyards, all typical Hebei folk houses with doors facing south, the horizontal width of the house far exceeding the vertical depth. Many vegetable fields were opened in the courtyard, with green and green leaves that seemed to be dripping.

  It should be hiding under the cucumber trellis to avoid the heat, but there was no one in the yard. All the villagers were running towards the north entrance of the village, carrying big bags and small bundles, with pots and pans on their backs. At the south entrance of the village, three Japanese soldiers were chasing after them, carrying chickens and ducks they had just looted, brandishing bayonets and shouting loudly. Each one was excited and cheerful, as if they were playing a very interesting game.

  Among the villagers, there were many robust men, some carrying sacks on their backs, others carrying trunks on their shoulders, and some even carrying iron pots for cooking on their bodies. Altogether, they had over a hundred kilograms of weight on them, but it didn't slow down their pace as they fled for their lives. The women and children who were relatively weak physically cried and wailed as they pulled at the men's hands, fearing that their husbands or fathers would consider them a burden and abandon them to the three little devils behind.

  "What's that little devil singing now?" Before he knew it, the old camp commander had already crept up to Hu Feng's side and patted him on the shoulder, asking in a low voice.

  "See for yourself!" Hu Fengshou turned his face to one side and responded in a trembling voice.

  The squad leader didn't have time to care about the tone, and quickly looked down at the slope. Just in time to see a devil chasing up a lagging old villager, mercilessly stabbing his bayonet into the old man's back.

  "Ah——" The old man let out a loud, mournful cry and fell to the ground, his hands stretching out in despair. The devil laughed loudly as he passed by him, the blood drops on the bayonet sparkling brightly and piercingly.

  "Damn it!" The squad leader, Lao Gou, pulled out the bazooka and wanted to give the little devils a blast. But after estimating the distance between the two sides, he gritted his teeth and withdrew the bazooka. It was too far, beyond the effective range of the bazooka. If they fired rashly, not only would they fail to kill the devils, but they would also expose their own position.

  "Cowards!" Hu Feng's anger was not directed at Lao Gou, but at the men who had escaped to the north of the village. Not less than fifty sturdy fellows, even if each one unbuttoned his pants to pee, could have drowned the three little devils. But they actually let their fellow villagers who were lagging behind be stabbed by the enemy's bayonet, and no one dared to turn back.

  "You and Old Zhu, Old Huang, go around from the front and ambush by the side of the road. Take advantage of the little devils' carelessness and catch them off guard!" Camp Chief Lao Gou estimated the strength comparison between the two sides and made a quick decision. "I'll lead the others to rush down directly from here and block the little devils from behind. If possible, try not to use guns, lest we attract the main force of the devils!"

  "Ah!" Hu Fengshou responded with a grunt, bending his waist and quickly running down along the sheep path. Zhu Laocong and Huang Xiaomao followed closely behind him. Watching the three people's backs disappear from the next turn of the small road, Old Gou took off the double-shoulder bag he had been carrying on his back and pulled out a roll of dirty rope.

  Shi Liangcai quietly ran forward, helping Lao Gou tie one end of the rope to a thick wild tree root. Then he pulled hard several times, didn't feel the tree root loosening, and quietly threw the rope down the cliff.

  The slope was very steep, with all kinds of wild trees and grasses growing on it, very lush. The devils were busy chasing the common people, no one noticed the rope hanging down. Silently counting hundreds of numbers, confirming that the little devil had no time to take care of this side, Officer Lao Gou inserted the box cannon into his waist, grasped the rope and slid down like a leopard cat.

  A few frightened wild doves flapped their wings and flew into the sky, making loud cries with their beaks. But their voices were too small, far from the wailing sounds at the north entrance of the village. The three devils didn't feel any danger approaching, still holding bayonets, chasing villagers like driving sheep.

  "Follow up!" Shi Liangcai watched as Lao Gou had safely descended to the bottom of the slope, grabbed the rope and flipped down second. The other members of the small squad followed silently, one by one disappearing from the cliff. Zhang Songling was arranged in the last position, looked down a few times, held his breath, and slid down quickly along the rope.

  Several clumps of unknown wild trees and countless piles of grayish-white bird droppings flashed before his eyes, followed by patches of gray-green moss. Further down, he saw a startled venomous snake, its triangular head poking out of the cave, hissing at it with its tongue. Before he could be afraid, the snake had already disappeared from view, and Shiliangcai reached out from behind to hold him tightly in his arms. "Be careful, don't make any noise!"

  Zhang Songling nodded vigorously, turned around, and gave Shi Liangcai a grateful glance. The group quietly made their way towards the village along the slope below the wild tree thicket, passing through a dense cornfield and then a lush melon field. The fellow villagers hiding in the melon shed had already seen them and were so frightened that they covered their mouths with their hands, cold sweat rolling down their foreheads.

  Zhang Songling looked at this man with contempt, following the footsteps of his companions, and continued to move towards the back of the devils. Several times, he thought the devils had already discovered them, but it was just a false alarm. These beasts were completely immersed in chasing and killing, unaware of the threat from behind.

  The group of villagers who had escaped to the mountain road suddenly stopped and then scattered. Several middle-aged women with bound feet were knocked down by their own people and fell on the stones at the side of the road, bleeding from head injuries. The devils' soldiers rushed over like flies smelling fish, making beast-like sneers in their mouths. The next moment, Hu Feng's figure suddenly emerged from behind another stone, his dagger flashing like lightning.

  In an instant, the devil soldier running in front was beheaded. Fresh blood spurted out high into the air. Another devil soldier raised his bayonet and stabbed at Hu Feng. Before he could exert any force, Zhu Lao's dagger flew over and hit him right in the throat.

  "Ah!" The last Japanese soldier was thoroughly frightened, dropped the chicken and duck hanging on his gun, turned around and ran wildly. "Give it to me!" Shi Liangcai stepped forward with big strides, kicked the Japanese soldier's Type 38 rifle flying with one foot. Then he grabbed the little devil's arm and pulled hard, directly throwing him onto the stone by the side of the road.

  "Pffft!" The Japanese soldier opened his mouth and spat out a large amount of blood. Shi Liangcai stepped on him again, directly crushing his throat into the trachea.

  Note 1: Ji Dabao, nickname of Ji Hongchang. Former subordinate of Feng Yuxiang, in 1933 organized the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Alliance Army, recovered Duolun and Baochang from Japanese invaders. Later, was annihilated by Nationalist government with cooperation of Japanese army on grounds of violating national policy. Remaining troops were reorganized into Sun Lianzhong's command, approximately one division in strength. In 1934, Ji Hongchang was arrested in French concession, soon after being sent to Beiping and executed for treason.