Chapter 57: Peach Blossom Spring in a Turbulent World

  The troops broke through the siege without any stop, heading northwest all the way. By dawn, the high and low hills appeared one after another in the distance.

  You Fei rushed from the back of the team to the front, with Jiang Zhuang closely following behind him, and five or six soldiers from the guard company followed behind Jiang Zhuang.

  The devils have been completely shaken off, but as the mountains ahead gradually clear up, You Fei feels a little uneasy and his feet quicken by several steps.

  Under the morning light, the officers and soldiers hurried along the road in silence, as if they had already forgotten that brutal battle not long ago...

  As the troops advanced, the small hills gradually withdrew, and the main scenery became a series of high mountains rising one after another. The team was marching in the valley between the two mountains. According to the continuous reports from the front reconnaissance squad, You Fei knew that in this vast mountainous area, the strength of both the devils and the National Army were almost blank. The devils temporarily had no way to reach, while the National Army's defense system relied on various cities, because this place was very far away from each city, so it was abandoned. As for the local security teams, bandits, and armed forces with various flags, there were also over a thousand people in total, but they were not affiliated with each other and were scattered all over the place.

  They walked quickly to the front of the advancing troops, and a sharp turn in the valley separated the forward troops from You Fei's line of sight. You Fei looked up at the towering mountain peaks by the road that seemed to pierce the sky, muttering: "Those damn devils haven't arrived yet, otherwise this terrain would be pretty good for an ambush."

  As soon as the words fell, a loud shout came from the front: "Halt! All of you stop for me!"

  "What's going on?!" Yu Fei and the others quickened their pace, turning a corner to reveal a bizarre scene before them. Yu Fei couldn't help but turn his head to the messenger soldier beside him and sternly say: "Get Wang Lie over here for me!"

  Blocking the road was a big man wearing a vest, holding a large ghost-headed knife. The man stood alone in the middle of the road, looking around at the large group of soldiers surrounding him with his eyes wide open, unhurriedly raising his knife and shouting loudly towards You Fei: "This mountain was opened by me, this tree was planted by me, if you want to pass through here..."

  "What about his grandfather? Where's Wang Lie?" Yu Fei's voice turned cold.

  "Here! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Wang Lie hastily rushed over.

  "Old Wang! What's with your special forces? Letting a madman rob us here!"

  "Report! Just spotted some activity on the mountain across from us, two teams of Stormtroopers have moved in. This madman is probably with them. He's disguised as a farmer wandering around by the road, we've been keeping an eye on him."

  As they spoke, the "robbery" army was knocked down by two soldiers and tied up with five flowers. He only heard him say: "Hei Ya Gou has always been water-free from the national army, if you want to pass through us, you have to make sense of it, and bow your head to the mountain before it's okay! We are following the rules."

  "Shut up!" You Fei said impatiently. "Beat him! Give the old man a good thrashing and throw him into the river."

  "Spare our lives, sir! This is what the Second Master of Hei Ya Gou means! It has nothing to do with us!" Hearing that they were going to be beaten, the rough and burly men instantly turned into timid girls, begging for mercy in a trembling voice.

  Jian You flew a glance at the front of the troops, and the soldiers of the guard company immediately understood what he meant. They dragged the thug to the front of the troops and started beating him up. A mournful cry rose up. In the end, with a loud splash, the thug was thrown into the turbulent river by the side of the road. Fortunately, the water was not deep, and he struggled to climb onto a large rock, his whole body covered in blood. He could only breathe out, but couldn't breathe in anymore.

  Just after the "Jie Dao" was abused, a loud noise came from the mountain on the opposite side, and two thick trees split to both sides, revealing a crooked machine gun. At the same time, three people stood up beside the machine gun, with the middle one holding an iron megaphone made of foreign metal, shouting at the flying tourists below: "Listen, brothers of the National Army below! The order of Commander Zhan in the war zone, our Hei Ya Gou Autonomous People's Militia will replace the National Army to garrison here. No troops are allowed to disturb. Please go from other roads!"

  "Damn your grandfather! The National Army doesn't have anyone like me. Get out of the way now!" Yu Fei shouted loudly, scaring the person holding the megaphone in the distance into a tremble. They all crouched down and disappeared without a trace under the cover of the dense forest. Only the person lying behind the machine gun remained, looking around anxiously.

  You Fei glanced at the machine gun with a cold smile, his eyes fixed on Wang Lie beside him, meaning to say, where is the person who went up? Why haven't they arrived yet? Wang Lie nodded very seriously, and his intention was also very clear, the person who went up was absolutely fine.

  The team leader, a company commander at the front of the team, also nodded to You Fei. You Fei knew that these soldiers on the road were also prepared. He was relieved and calmly looked at the mountain in front of him.

  Again on the mountain, two people appeared. One of them shouted loudly: "Brothers below the mountain, since you are not the National Army, looking at your strong army and horses, could it be that you are following the Imperial Army?"

  You furrowed your brow and said, "We came from the Japanese army's side, are you blind?"

  "Hey! We don't fight our own people! Bring out the tolls and we'll let you go right away."

  Suddenly, the sound of gunfire like popping beans came from the mountain. The soldiers on the road, along with You Fei and others, instantly hid behind large rocks and roadside ditches. The machine gun on the mountain didn't fire a single shot, and the machine gunner had already lost his life. The troops below only fired one or two lukewarm shots, teasing the bandits' appetite. In less than half an incense stick's time, the battle was over. According to reports from the front-line troops, only six enemies were killed, and three others were captured alive.

  Soon, three shifty-looking men were brought over. They looked around at the people with their heads down and eyes slanted.

  Before You Fei could ask any questions, a bandit said to him: "Sir officer, you don't follow the rules of the rivers and lakes, nor are you the National Army, nor do you take the road of the Japanese army. I dare to ask what unit are you?"

  "Whose grandfather is he? You go first, who are you?" asked You Fei.

  This bandit heard You Fei ask this, and suddenly became spirited: "Hmph! Our Hei Ya Gou family is large and prosperous! We don't care about losing a few people. I'll go back and tell the master of the house, you've killed a few of our brothers, so it's only right that you pay some compensation in money and grain. No matter which road you take, no matter how many people you have, I am Liu Kui, the second master of Hei Ya Gou, known as 'not to be trifled with'..."

  Bang! A gunshot rang out, interrupting Liu Kui's speech. You Fei puffed out a mouthful of smoke that had been lingering around the muzzle, "Damn it! So much nonsense! I don't want to listen!"

  After glancing at the bandit's corpse, which was lying motionless on the ground, You Fei inserted his gun into his waist and bellowed: "What are you standing there for? Move this Liu Kui or whatever his name is!"

  "Hey! You two, tell me, how many men do you have? How many guns? Where is your base? What's your relationship with the devils?"

  The remaining two bandits were trembling like a cicada, one of whom was already crying and shitting at the same time, unable to speak. You Fei curled his lips, and the soldier next to him kicked down the frightened one, shouting at the other: "You say!"

  "Yes, yes, yes! Mercy, sir! There are over 200 people in Heiwa Valley and more than 100 guns. The stronghold is easy to find, it's inside Heiwa Valley, 40 miles away! However, the entire area of hundreds of square miles around here belongs to Heiwa Valley. We are the largest group in this area, openly occupying this place, and even Commander Gu of the National Army has given us a title. It seems that more than half of our guns and ammunition were bought from the devils. I heard that when the devils come, we can help them maintain law and order. That's all I know, sir! I'm just a small pawn, I don't know any other details! I'm just trying to make a living. My mother is over 80 years old, my child is only eight months old... Mercy, sir!" The bandit spoke quickly, his words flowing smoothly.

  "Damn it!" You Fei cursed. This guy who had all the classic villainous lines memorized but said them all wrong without even realizing it, kept repeating himself.

  "Is he right?" You kicked the butt of the guy on the ground.

  "Right! Right! Ah... Wuuu..." The nearly frightened bandit, after his partner poured beans down a bamboo tube on him, still couldn't recover his normal voice.

  "Damn it!" You Fei cursed again, "These two are useless!" He waved his hand.

  These two bandits had been quietly watching You Fei, and when they heard that they were useless, they couldn't help but shiver with fear. The one who had spoken so smoothly earlier was now unable to utter a word of pleading, and his chin trembled as he drooled a long stream of saliva.

  You Fei walked away by herself.

  "Don't block the way! Our tour guide has already let you go. Hurry up and leave!"

  The two bandits suddenly woke up from their dream and managed to escape with their lives. They hastily rolled and crawled away in the opposite direction of Hei Ya Gou.

  The two of them fled far away and counted their gains one more time, and from then on they never became bandits again. They had never been treated well in the bandit's lair anyway, so they didn't even have the heart to go back and report the news. Thinking about it, they decided to bypass Hei Ya Gou's territory and go to a mountain valley near their own home to open up a few hectares of thin fields to cultivate instead.

  They returned home after several days of wandering, only to receive news that the Hei Ya Gou bandits had been surrounded by a newly arrived detachment - the 259th Brigade.

  Hei Ya Gou is easy to defend and hard to attack, the terrain is actually very suitable for garrison. The entrance of the valley is steep and narrow, but the middle part of the valley is wide and open. Around the well-maintained small mountain stronghold of the bandits, there are large areas of empty land. Not far from the entrance of the valley, there is a hundred-acre black stone forest formed by volcanic lava. Hei Ya Gou got its name because the rocks on both sides of the valley are all black, from the black stone forest at the entrance to the steep Black Tiger Mountain at the end of the valley, the black rocks are integrated as one. The two sides of the valley are extremely steep, and even monkeys can't climb them.

  You Fei surrounded Heiyagou with just two infantry companies and a special squad, but it was not easy to take them down. A small number of bandits in the stone forest at the entrance of the valley had already caused heavy casualties of more than 30 people to a company of the 259th Brigade who had rushed out of the intense battle. To eliminate the bandits hiding in the stone forest, Lie Feng also dispatched a squad.

  A hundred acres of stone forest, strange and precipitous, with complex terrain. Without mentioning how to avoid getting lost in the stone forest, just at the entrance of the stone forest, there are traps, ambushes and bandits hiding in the dark to shoot cold guns, which made a newly formed infantry company suffer a lot. A small team from Liefeng arrived here, looking far into the complex interior of the stone forest, also helpless.

  Wang Lie specially rushed over to study for half a day, he assembled several sharpshooters and assault troops to prepare, then let the soldiers hold half-wet hay at the mouth of the ditch and ignite it. The rolling thick smoke drifted into the stone forest, and the assault troops of the Fierce Wind Team put on a pig-nose gas mask and followed in with the smoke.

  Coughs came from somewhere, followed by a grenade. Wherever someone ran out, they were immediately shot with extremely accurate marksmanship. The traps in the smoke didn't work for some reason. It left the bandits completely bewildered. They watched as this group of fierce soldiers occupied one corner of the stone forest. The remaining few bandits, who had no way out, quickly threw down their guns and shouted: "We surrender! We surrender!"

  As they led the prisoners out of the stone forest, they discovered that it wasn't the traps that had lost their effect, but rather the several assault troops with pig snouts, who were all stuck to the rough natural stone pillars, slowly and uncomfortably shifting back and forth. The leading officer was still yelling at people to clear away the various mechanisms from under their feet!

  After occupying the Shilin, the large group of bandits behind became easier to handle. Two companies charged in and took down the entire bandit camp without any suspense.

  The 259th Brigade temporarily stationed outside Hongyunling Town. You Fei was discussing with Jiang Zhuang, Gao Yongtai and others at this time, wanting to choose Heiyagou as the long-term residence, and set up an external liaison office in Hongyunling, the nearest town from the mouth of the valley. From Heiyagou, 13 towns and more than a thousand mountain villages are scattered within a distance of over 200 miles around. Further north and west, it is still a mountainous area. This place is suitable for both offense and defense, and it really looks like a Shangri-La in the midst of chaos.

  Knowing that the battle to clear out the bandits in Hei Ya Gou was going smoothly, they were about to have their ideal new "home", and everyone in the traveling department also had a bit of joy.

  What they didn't know was that on the south side of the ditch, there was an inconspicuous stone seam. Behind the stone seam, there was a narrow passage leading out of the ditch.