Chapter 40: The Wu An Tragedy (Part 2)

  The village in the late afternoon is very beautiful, but a storm is about to destroy this beauty.

  Zhao Hailong and Zhang Guifang, Li Changjiang and others were discussing how to respond to the devils' sweep this time. A militia member rushed in hastily, panting and saying, "Captain! It's not good, just now the people in front passed on a message that a large number of devils have been found in our northwest, probably over a thousand people, and they are rushing towards us."

  "Captain! Retreat quickly!", Zhang Guifang heard and urged Zhao Hailong to order a retreat with great anxiety.

  "First inform the villagers to retreat! Our people are also ready to withdraw at any time!" Zhao Hailong ordered. He was thinking about how to let the villagers safely survive this attack by the devils. During this period, many villages had been slaughtered by the devils. These villages had all supported their guerrilla troops, sending them supplies and sometimes even helping them transmit intelligence. Now what Zhao Hailong least wanted to see was those simple-minded villagers being brutally killed one by one by the little devils, while these armed men were supposed to be protecting themselves, when in fact they should have been protecting these lovely villagers. Although he had thought many times about taking his men to fight the devils to the death, reason told him that if he didn't die, there would still be a way out. Only by enduring this temporary humiliation could he plan for revenge another day.

  "Captain! The villagers have all retreated, we should retreat too!", Zhang Guifang had already sent the villagers in the village to be escorted and withdrawn into the mountains. He came back to call on Zhao Hailong and his men to withdraw.

  "Hurry up and withdraw now! Otherwise, it will be too late!", Li Changjiang urged on the side.

  "Alright! Tell the brothers to withdraw!", Zhao Hailong felt relieved when he heard that his fellow villagers had retreated into the mountains. He immediately repeated Zhang Guifang's notification to the guerrilla team to start withdrawing.

  "Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat!", a burst of gunfire interrupted their plan.

  "Something's wrong! The devils have entered the village! Quickly notify our brothers to retreat!", Zhao Hailong knew something was amiss as soon as he heard the gunfire.

  The team members followed Zhao Hailong and retreated in the direction of their fellow villagers, while the team members covering them resisted and retreated into the mountains. Originally, this group of devils didn't know that their target was here, otherwise how could they have let them retreat so calmly? However, as soon as they entered the village, they discovered something unusual, the vanguard was attacked by the guerrilla troops, and immediately, Lieutenant General Shibata ordered his troops to attack. They bit down on the guerrillas' heels, not letting go, despite the difficulty of walking in the mountains at night. The devils had a huge advantage, they were all holding torches, moving quickly. But the guerrillas couldn't do that, they didn't dare hold torches while rushing, that would be equivalent to giving the devils directions for their attack, and the devils could chase them according to the light.

  "Captain! This won't do! These damned devils are clinging to us and won't let go! If we keep going like this, we'll be caught by them sooner or later. Once daybreak comes, we're all done for, and the villagers will suffer too!" Zhang Guifang said beside Zhao Hailong.

  "Yes, Captain! What shall we do?", Li Changjiang asked anxiously.

  Zhao Hailong was very clear in his mind that the enemy's main force was biting their heels, and as soon as it dawned, everyone would be in danger. If at this time a batch of people were left behind to attract the enemy's main force, taking advantage of the night and their familiarity with the terrain, they could safely escort the villagers to escape the enemy's pursuit.

  "What's the situation ahead? Have you caught up with that group of bandits?" Lieutenant Onoda asked his subordinate.

  "Report, Lieutenant Colonel! Our soldiers are chasing after this band of Eighth Route Army, but they are very cunning and the mountain roads here are very difficult to navigate, which is not conducive to our pursuit." His deputy officer reported to him.

  "Bastards! No matter what, I want you to give it your all and catch up with those bandits, annihilate them!", Heita yelled at his deputy officer, urging the troops to speed up their pursuit.

  While crossing a ditch and running towards another mountain, several guerrilla fighters at the back of the team desperately blocked the main force of the devils. They kept firing bullets to counterattack, attracting most of the devils' firepower, and took the opportunity to charge over the mountain.

  Zhao Hailong turned back on the mountain top, he couldn't help but look back before rushing down the mountain. The position where they had just blocked the devils earlier suddenly made a loud "boom" sound, this was because those few comrades had fired all their bullets and then pulled the hand grenades on their bodies, perishing together with the devils.

  This scene Zhao Hu forever unforgettable, he choked back tears and led other warriors ran down the mountain.

  The devils behind were getting closer and closer, but the fellow villagers in front were slowing down. If they didn't take action soon, they would be surrounded and eliminated by the devil's main force.

  Zhang Guifang knew that she had to take action now. The captain absolutely could not be caught by the devils, and the team needed him; without his command, the guerrilla force would find it very difficult to continue. He even more did not allow the devils to harm these fellow villagers.

  "You few protect the team leader and leave first, everyone else stay behind to block the devils!", Zhang Guifang ordered the comrades around her to protect Zhao Hailong and follow the villagers to retreat first, while she led people to take responsibility for covering their backs.

  "Old Zhang! What are you trying to do?", Zhao Hailong knew that Zhang Guifang was trying to sacrifice himself for the sake of his own and the villagers' safety. Zhao Hailong absolutely could not agree with him doing so.

  "Hurry up! What are you dawdling for? If we don't leave now, it'll be too late!", Zhang Guifang loudly shouted to several guerrilla fighters beside Zhao Hailong.

  "Xia Lao Wu, Lu Xiaolin, you two protect the captain for me. If anything happens to the captain, I will never forgive you!" Zhang Guilin's words were also understood by the two of them, but they couldn't bear to leave like this either. In the end, under Zhang Guilin's repeated urging, they carried Zhao Hailong and withdrew.

  "Old Zhang! Old Zhang!", Zhao Hailong shouted loudly at Zhang Guifang, but Xia Laowu and the other two refused to let go, no matter what Zhao Hailong said they wouldn't stop.

  "Brothers! Today we'll have a good fight with these damned devils!", Zhang Guilin said to the remaining guerrilla fighters.

  "We'll fight it out with these little devils!", "Right! We'll fight it out with them!", the team members exclaimed.

  "Watch out! The devils are coming again! Give it to them fiercely!", facing the enemy who outnumbered them several times, they did not show fear or retreat, but instead picked up their guns and launched a fierce attack on the charging enemy, momentarily stunning the enemy's vanguard. At first, they were just counterattacking with a few shots to stop the enemy's pursuit. But now, suddenly in the darkness, such a large-scale attack came, instantly causing the enemy to lose their composure.

  "What's going on up ahead?", a burst of intense gunfire came, breaking the tranquility of the night sky and echoing far away. Guizi Pingtang couldn't help but ask upon hearing the gunshots.

  "Report to Lieutenant! The vanguard has encountered resistance, the enemy is very stubborn and we are having a hard time advancing!", the Japanese soldier reported the situation in front to Hiratani.

  "Order the vanguard troops to concentrate their firepower and annihilate this gang of Eighth Route Army with the fastest speed, catch up with their main force." Pingtang ordered. The devils in front suddenly increased their firepower, light and heavy machine guns continuously spewing bullets onto Zhang Guifang's position, the devils also mobilized infantry artillery, constantly bombarding Zhang Guifang's position.