Chapter 1: In a Strange Land

  Walking down from the mountain, I walked for more than ten miles and finally saw a village.

  Looking at this village, he couldn't help but furrow his brow.

  The village looks like it's still living in the 1930s, a small village with only twenty or thirty households, each with low stone walls and no gates, just simple wooden fences made from chopped and dried tree branches. In the center of the village is a small open space where several women sit on mats woven from sorghum straw, their old spinning wheels creaking away. A worn-out stone mill stands silently to one side, like an elderly person who has experienced much hardship, while a scrawny little donkey with large ears hangs its head and sways listlessly nearby.

  Qin Yang's heart suddenly skipped a beat, he hadn't expected there was still such a desolate village.

  After all, he was adopted by Li Haishan from a young age and entered the army when he grew up a bit, so he didn't have much chance to know that there were still such villages in the mainland. So it's inevitable that he would be shocked when he suddenly saw them.

  After looking around and seeing no one else in the village, Qin Yang had no choice but to walk towards those few women spinning yarn.

  Unexpectedly, those women saw Qin Yang in special forces uniform and their faces changed. They didn't even bother to collect the spinning wheels and fled in all directions in a state of panic.

  "Hey, you guys!" Qin Yang stretched out his hand and stood there in a daze!

  He never thought it would turn out this way!

  Before long, there was no one left on the empty ground.

  Qin Yang scratched his head with his hand, but he didn't understand what was going on!

  He had no idea that in 1932, people dreaded joining the army as much as they did snakes and scorpions, because at that time soldiers were hardly distinguishable from bandits, and were often even more detestable. Especially some warlord troops, they were simply a group of devils who would stop at nothing, killing, arson, robbery, rape were just their daily routine.

  Although I didn't recognize the military uniform on Qin Yang's body, Qin Yang's heroic temperament was indeed only possessed by soldiers.

  Just then, a coughing sound came from behind the millstone. Qin Yang hastily turned around and saw an emaciated old man leaning against the millstone with his hands tucked in his sleeves, dozing off with his eyes narrowed.

  The old man was extremely thin, looking even thinner than a small donkey, with his cheeks deeply sunken and his cheekbones clearly visible. If it weren't for the sound of heavy breathing, he might have been mistaken for a skull. His wrists looked like withered tree branches, and through the purplish skin on the back of his hands, the protruding bones were clearly visible.

  Hearing someone approaching, the old man struggled to open his drooping eyelids and got up with difficulty, asking weakly: "Boss, do you have something to say?"

  "Boss?"

  Qin Yang couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time. What kind of title is this? It sounds like they're filming a TV series. Is that film crew shooting on location here?

  But there's no one else around, at least there should be a photographer!

  Since they couldn't see anyone else, Qin Yang had no choice but to ask: "Old man, may I ask where this place is? We're lost and can't get out?"

  The old man took a deep breath, and his chest seemed to be moving back and forth like an old bellows. Then he said: "This place is called Shigu Village. Within a hundred miles around, there's only this one village. It's surrounded by big mountains on all sides. There are three roads leading out of the mountain. One goes south, one north, and one west. The southern road leads to the Great Wall after about 150 miles. The western road leads to Tie Men Guan after more than 100 miles. And if you keep going north, you'll reach Ping Quan. However, two days ago, I heard from a peddler in our village that it's already been occupied by Japanese devils, so we can't go there."

  "Japanese devils!"

  These four words, like a thunderclap, exploded in his ears, causing his heart to stir. He was not unfamiliar with these four words; the days written in blood and gunpowder had been etched into the hearts of all Chinese people. And for them, as soldiers, it was a name filled with hatred.

  But what era is this? How can Pingquan still have Japanese devils?

  "Could it be that World War III has broken out?" He thought this was the only possibility.

  But then I thought, even if the third world war really broke out, how could Pingquan be easily occupied by Japan. Maybe others are not clear about the strength of the Chinese army, but as they themselves know accurately, the strength of China's military is terrible.

  The Chinese are good at hiding their sharpness, and often put away the real killer. The Chinese army usually shows only a corner of the huge iceberg to the world.

  Qin Yang calmed down a bit and decided to get to the bottom of this matter. He continued to ask, "Old man, what time is it now?"

  "It's already the 21st year of the Republic now! You don't even know that!" The old man also found it strange. How could a person not know what era they were living in?

  Qin Yang was momentarily stunned and wondered why the Republic of China calendar was used instead of the Gregorian calendar, but then it suddenly dawned on him like a bursting soap bubble.

  "In 1921! The Republic of China was established in 1911, so the 21st year of the Republic is... exactly 1932!"

  Qin Yang almost fell to the ground!

  He never thought he would leave the era of his life and come to this era that has already happened.

  I unexpectedly traveled through time!

  He soon calmed down. Since things had already happened, there was no use thinking about anything else. He might as well think about what to do next!

  After thanking the old man, Qin Yang left the village and headed west.

  Qin Yang, who is familiar with Chinese military history, of course knows that in March 1933, at Xifengkou in northeastern Hebei Province, the 109th Brigade of the Nationalist Party's 29th Army clashed with the Japanese army's Suzuki and Hattori detachments in a battle of unprecedented ferocity.

  It was this battle that shook the whole nation and made the 29th Army's Big Sword Team famous overnight.

  As soon as he thought of being able to personally experience that brutal war in history, Qin Yang's military heart couldn't help but boil with hot blood.

  A faint smile slowly floated up on Qin Yang's lips, as if he had thought of something: "It seems that crossing over to this place isn't so bad after all!"

  Soldiers are soldiers!

  A soldier's fighting spirit will never change!

  Qin Yang agilely jumped on the mountain road.

  The mountain road had not been walked on for a long time and was already abandoned. The weeds by the side of the road had spread to the surface, squeezing out cracks in the rocks that were already weathered. If one wasn't careful, they might cause a rockslide and fall into the valley. Several times, he almost lost his footing and fell into the valley. If it weren't for Qin Yang's quick reflexes, he would have become a snack for the wild beasts in the mountains.

  After turning a bend, the mountain road in front suddenly stopped. The original narrow path with cliffs on one side and precipices on the other completely collapsed, forming a steep cliff.

  Qin Yang stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down, below was a dark abyss that seemed to have no bottom. A wave of icy cold wind blew over, causing him to shiver with cold.

  I estimated the distance between the two sides, it's probably several dozen meters. The length of the climbing rope on my body is not enough at all, and there are no trees or fixed objects on the other side. It seems that sliding over is impossible.

  He observed carefully and found that the road was not completely collapsed, near the rock wall, there were still about ten or twenty centimeters of width left, but it was unknown whether it was solid or not.

  Qin Yang stretched out his foot and stepped on it, using force to trample it. It looked like there was no problem. In fact, the place close to the mountain wall, even if it collapses, will form a lower and narrower cross-section, which is generally more secure.

  Qin Yang took a deep breath and pressed his body against the rock wall, lifting his foot onto that ten-centimeter-wide "path".

  From a distance, Qin Yang looked like a gecko, his body tightly attached to the rock wall, moving slowly forward.

  The sun shines over from the top of the western mountain, stretching its shadow very long.

  He carefully stuck to the rock wall and moved forward, after more than ten minutes of effort, Qin Yang slowly approached the end of the cliff. Looking at the road surface not far away, his heart fell, and with one more step, he could set foot on the mountain road over there.

  It happened in an instant unexpectedly.

  His foot landed on a piece of weathered rock, which was already loose to begin with. When Qin Yang's 80-plus kilograms of weight pressed down on it, the rock immediately cracked and fell off.

  "Ah!"

  Qin Yang let out a cry of surprise and fell down towards the foot of the cliff.