Chapter 18: Stormy Squad

  The troops marched quietly across the plain, occasionally passing through one dead and deserted village after another. The people had all fled. The rich Yangtze River Delta, once a land of fish and rice, had become synonymous with hell.

  The warriors urgently need to repair, replenish guns, ammunition and food, medicine. On the road where the devils passed, all signs of life seemed to have disappeared, and even the wandering birds flying overhead only urged the marching speed to be faster.

  "Report! A large number of civilians and enemy soldiers have been spotted."

  "What? You little brat, speak clearly, was it the ordinary people who discovered first or the Japanese devils?"

  "They're mixed together!"

  "What? Be careful, I'll go take a look." You Fei suddenly remembered the things that happened on the battlefield of Shanghai and Songjiang where the devils drove away the ordinary people to clear the way. Are the devils playing this trick again? Who are they attacking? There's no sign of the National Army's movement!

  You Fei and several others poked their heads out from the bushes by the side of the road, before them lay a large town, where several streams of refugees were being driven together by the devils. A group of devils entered the town, stuffing something into the hands of the frightened people.

  Wang Er Dan returned at this time, dressed as a peasant, and reported to You Fei in a low voice: "Report to the company commander. The town ahead is called Ma Jia Ji, with about 5,000 or 6,000 people gathered there. The devils are distributing candies to them all over the streets!"

  "Milk candy?"

  "It's just colored paper wrapped around small sugar cubes with a milky flavor!"

  "Milk flavor? You little brat still greedy for foreigners' snacks?" Yu Fei's face sank like water.

  "No! I didn't even dare go near the devils, I heard it from a fellow villager." Wang Er Dan showed off his pearly whites with a smile.

  "What's this devil doing? Has that son of a bitch changed his ways? This isn't right!"

  No one answered him.

  Yóu Fēi retreated and came back, letting the troops take a detour to avoid disturbing the devils at Majiacun. There were so many civilians there, if they opened fire, those people would be caught in the crossfire and suffer. Along the way, Yóu Fēi kept thinking that if they headed west, it would lead straight to the capital, where the fighting would be extremely intense. His team of 90 people would be wiped out in no time, and even if they died for their country, it wouldn't be worth it. But he couldn't do that! He had to preserve his own life and those of his comrades so they could kill more devils. The new tricks the devils were playing at Majiacun were just a ploy to make this place their rear base, thinking they could win over the civilians and stay for a long time. They mustn't let the little devils have their way!

  "Get Wang Er Dan over here for me!" You Fei said, and the messenger soldier next to him took off running towards the front.

  All the way here, Ge Cunzheng and Wang Er Dan, these two reconnaissance men, have made great contributions. Now that Ge Cunzheng is dead, only Wang Erdan is left, this precious treasure, and we must discuss with him how to fight this battle.

  "King Two Eggs has arrived!" King Two Eggs was a small and unimpressive figure.

  "Oh! How did you become a scout? Your name is too simple!" You Fei asked.

  Wang Er Dan flashed his white teeth in a smile and said, "As a scout, I was influenced by the old soldiers of the 259th Brigade. My ancestral home is in Henan Province, and a fellow townsman from Henan taught me a lot. I'm relatively bold, and in Henan dialect, 'Er Dan' or 'Er Qiu' means that someone loves to fight to the death and has a strong sense of justice. After several battles, my comrades-in-arms all started calling me Wang Er Dan. Later, they all died, and my name was no longer known."

  "Oh! You're famous! Tell me about it!"

  "Hehe! My name at home is Wang Lie."

  After a moment of contemplation, he said seriously: "Along the way, our sharp team has launched surprise attacks, and with flexible tactics, we've accomplished many things that even a full battalion couldn't do. You, Wang Lie, deserve credit for this. As for the battles ahead, it's likely that without you, we won't be able to win. But relying solely on you is also out of the question. Today, I'm promoting you to lieutenant and making you the leader of a special reconnaissance and surprise attack team. Let's call it the 'Fierce Wind Team'. What do you think?"

  "Yes!" Wang Er Dan's answer was very simple.

  "Hmm! This is what they mean by 'good steel being used on the blade'! Once I've trained one Lü Feng team, I'll train a second and third. I'm going to stir up trouble in this little brat's belly, not letting him live in peace."

  Wang Er Dan, also known as Wang Lie, accompanied by You Fei, went from the front to the back of the team, from ordinary soldiers to wounded soldiers, and gave them a look one by one. In the end, Wang Lie selected seven good soldiers and a wounded soldier on a stretcher as members of the Lie Feng squad. The wounded soldier was He Tian Hao, who had fainted due to excessive blood loss and was carried by two soldiers in a hurry. Wang Lie chose him because of his brains and performance on the riverbank.

  The newly assembled Liefeng team should have been led by You Fei, but Xu Zhiyuan messed it up. Xu Zhiyuan found You Fei with a furious face and pulled him away, saying: "Big brother! This three-row mission is impossible for me to complete! Every time we fight, there's no place for us, and this time, the best fighter was also taken by that Wang Er Dan. I think Liefeng team is just a fake team, all the good things are done by others first, I'd rather be a soldier here than a idle squad leader... Brother Er Dan, you can take me in!..."

  "That's enough! You're still going on and on with your nonsense. Who said you were a useless soldier? When it's time to fight, you're the first one up. Now get back here with your three rows of men. Say another word and I'll kick you to death."

  Xu Zhiwei saw You Fei's angry expression and quietly slipped away.

  "Company commander! Company commander!" The scout who had been sent ahead of the troops came running back and shouted from a distance.

  "What's the big deal! Are you afraid the devils don't know? What else is new?" You Fei asked.

  "Wang Lie interrupted: 'Report to Commander! His name is Zhang Mingshan, and the Stormtrooper Squad has left a place for him!'"

  "No, no!" Zhang Mingshan panted and said. He didn't know about the strong wind yet, of course not for this matter, "Found fellow villagers. There are two fellow villagers in the village ahead. One can still speak! He promised to lead us the way."

  "Oh! Go take a look."

  The nine members of the Stormtroopers followed You Fei into the village.

  A chaotic village was not burned down, but at the entrance of the village, several corpses were scattered horizontally and vertically, which was a relic left by the devils who had passed through this place. The houses in the village were relatively tall and large, and it can be imagined that this was originally one of the few rich villages.

  A fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy was squatting at the entrance of the house, staring blankly at this group of people coming over.

  "Hey kid! Are you familiar with the roads around here?" asked You Fei.

  The young man's lips trembled as he said with great effort: "I'm familiar! I'll take you to a place in the north where there are no devils. However, you must bring my grandmother along!"

  "Your grandmother?"

  Zhang Mingshan hastily crawled beside You Fei's ear and whispered: "The old man is in the house! He was taken by the devils..."

  You Fei pushed open the door and walked into the house, his eyes slowly adjusting to the light inside. An old woman sat on the floor with her legs crossed, her hands covering **, her gaze piercing through You Fei as she stared blankly at some point in space.

  "Someone come! Help the old lady put on her clothes." You Fei said, trying to help the old lady stand up. After supporting her for a while, the old lady didn't move at all.

  "Too stiff! We just tried it a moment ago. Her legs and feet are all rigid, no matter how hard we try to straighten them!" Zhang Mingshan said.

  "Then use a stretcher to carry him, and take him to a place where there are no devils," said You Fei.

  The old man on the ground suddenly jumped up and crashed into the wall with a thud, his head cracked open and blood flowed out quickly. It looked like he wouldn't survive!

  "Grandma!" The boy standing at the door burst into tears.

  You Fei and the others didn't notice that the old man had been jumped up, and were startled. Hearing the boy's cry, they rushed forward to rescue the old lady, but it was already too late. You Fei gritted his teeth and said: "Not even sparing an elderly woman of this age! These beasts!" In his heart, he added another account to the devils' bill!

  The troops left the empty village with the only fellow villager they had found in two days - that somewhat silly young man.

  "What's the young man's name?" he was asked, but he didn't open his mouth. "Where are the Japanese devils?" he replied with just three words: "They're gone!" Nothing else could be gotten out of him. Fortunately, under his lead, the remnants of the enemy were getting fewer and fewer, and refugees began to appear. Everyone was heading north, but the troops had to move faster. The refugees all had a dull expression and didn't want to bother with these soldiers.

  At night, they finally arrived at a larger town outside, and the fierce wind team disguised themselves as civilians to explore the town. They came back to report that the town was called Lukiao. Food and other things can be bought, but we don't have money! After talking with several wealthy families, asking them to sponsor the national army to fight against the devils, they said the national army had already run away, and the devil's liaison officer had been here before. This place is now under the control of the devils.

  "Such a thing! Let's go visit the wealthy family." You Fei said coldly. As for getting some grain, he still had confidence in it. If there were civilians supporting him, that would be easy to say, but if they were all looking out for themselves, You Fei wouldn't mind resorting to his old ways and collecting protection fees like a hoodlum again.

  With the professional rogue skills of You Fei, and the cold guns in the hands of the soldiers behind him, those rural merchants were "very happy" to donate some food and medicine, and kept saying "Officer, you are working hard for the people". You Fei was satisfied and set up camp outside the town, near a small forest. Because there were too many people in the town, to prevent any unexpected events, You Fei sent out scouts in all directions, each group of three people hiding and observing, taking turns resting.

  In the pitch-black night, pairs of eyes were still straining to watch the surroundings. However, an accident still happened.

  You Fei woke up to find it was still dark, a silent night with no moon or starlight. He shook awake Jiang Zhuang beside him, whose eyes sparkled as he asked, "Who is it?"

  "You can't even see me clearly when I'm this close! It seems the situation is not good! Jiang Zhuang, quickly get up and wake up all the brothers, also secretly notify the outer observation posts, everyone immediately evacuate."

  "Now?" Anyone who is woken up by someone in the wee hours, even if it's a matter of life and death, would still be somewhat skeptical.

  "Hurry up, wake everyone up, notify all of them, assemble here in 15 minutes and then transfer immediately!"

  "Yes!"

  You Fei led the troops to march for more than two miles, and the sky was getting brighter. Under the backdrop of morning fog, the black shadow of Lüqiao Town spread out in the air like an ink painting, as if it were not a real existence. What kind of danger would such a town have?

  "Wang Lie! Come with me and take a look at Luqiao!"

  The closer they got to Lukou Town, the more uncomfortable they felt. Without being told, Wang Lie let a few members of the Lie Feng team split up and search outside the town. You Fei and Wang Lie arrived at the entrance of the town.

  "Company commander!" A member of the vanguard returned, "Hurry up! The devils are here! The devils have come! They're coming from the west."

  "Retreat! Wait! Since we're here, let's notify the matchmaking ones to retreat together!"

  Before long, the scouts in several directions all came back: "Comrade Captain! The devils are going to surround us!" At the same time, Wang Lie also called at the doors of several homes, and Luqiao Town woke up ahead of schedule. You Fei saw that his goal had been achieved and did not dare to linger any longer, hastily withdrawing from the town. Only Wang Lie and others wanted to stay nearby to observe the devils' movements, and You Fei instructed them not to provoke the devils easily before heading in the direction of the company.

  Luqiao Town, which woke up at dawn, was a mess everywhere, but the shadow of the devils had not been seen yet! Local villager Liu Baoguo shouted loudly: "Where are the Japanese soldiers coming from? Don't panic, everyone! Don't panic!"

  Some people quickly left from the small road, but the dense crowd on the main road blocked their way back.

  Clatter! Clatter! The sound of the devils' boots echoed behind these people who were being driven back.

  "Don't be afraid, everybody! The Imperial Army was still distributing candies in Majiacun yesterday! Several of my relatives received some." It was Liu Baoguo shouting at the top of his lungs again.

  The devils drove all the villagers to the empty space in front of the pond and set up two machine guns. A devil officer stepped forward, chattered on for a while, with Liu Baogui and an interpreter standing on either side of him. Facing the machine guns and listening to the devil's chatter, the villagers could only remain silent.

  The devil finished speaking, and the interpreter cleared his throat and began to speak loudly.

  "Hmm! This! This is Captain Tofu, he says he has great admiration for Chinese culture, so he came to China. Captain Tofu wants to work with you all to build a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and create a better life together. The Imperial Army doesn't want to be enemies with the folks from the countryside, as long as they catch those troublemakers from the Nanjing military, everyone will be fine."

  Liu Baogui took a step forward after finishing his translation, turned around and bowed to ask Commander Tofu again. Then he shouted to the villagers: "The Imperial Army has already caught those Nanjing troops who made trouble. Now, everyone should expose those who colluded with them and passed on information. The rest of you, the Imperial Army said, are all good citizens."

  Wang Lie and others hiding outside the town pricked up their ears to listen to the movements inside, fortunately, those who shouted had voices like pigs, which made them hear clearly. Looking at where the Flying Squad camped yesterday, a group of Japanese soldiers were walking out from a small grove nearby. The devils were empty-handed, but they could find it so accurately, obviously someone was informing the devils.

  "Do you still need to guess? Look at that Liu Baogui, he's calling out 'Imperial Army' with such familiarity. The informant must be him," said Wang Lie.

  "Old Zhang knocked on his head!" said Zhang Mingshan.

  "Go! You go to the opposite side and make a move, only allowed to fight from a distance, hit and run. Just in time to lure the devils to the west."

  Zhang Mingshan carried an ordinary semi-formal rifle, this rifle he would not exchange with anyone, because Zhang Mingshan practiced a unique skill with it. Within the effective range of over 600 meters, he could easily hit a cigarette butt at will.

  Liu Baogui's fate was sealed because of Zhang Mingshan's decisive move. When Zhang Mingshan found the best shooting position, Liu Baogui was still there, shouting and slapping the horse's buttocks: "This imperial army is here! My waist doesn't ache anymore, my legs don't hurt anymore, eating is fragrant, doing things is successful. Otherwise, how can we say that this imperial army is here to help us?"

  Bang! A loud noise. Liu Baogui fell backwards, face up to the sky, and when he looked at his head again, a red and white substance flowed out, and it had been cracked open.