Red Army Grandma

  Wang Dacheng did not participate in the construction work of Zhushan Town. Since Zhang Tianyou took over as the mine leader, Wang Dacheng was withdrawn from the mountain and given a special task by Luo Yi to establish an intelligence system on the outskirts of Zhushan Town.

  The importance of intelligence is self-evident to Luo Yi, who has studied many war histories. The northwest of Jiangxi Province is currently in a tug-of-war between the Nationalist Army and the Red Army, and Zhushan Town may be drawn into conflict at any time. Luo Yi requires Wang Dacheng to establish enough informants outside Zhushan Town, including Tongzhou and several surrounding county towns, so that once the situation changes suddenly, they can provide early warning to the strike regiment as soon as possible.

  Wang Dacheng was the most suitable for intelligence work in the shock regiment. He handled matters carefully and was willing to think. Luo Yi told him about his idea of setting up an intelligence system, and he completely understood it. He took two soldiers, Jiang Fangyong and Peng Lihu, out of the mountain and began to develop informants village by village and town by town.

  The main targets of Wang Dacheng's development of line personnel were the owners of miscellaneous goods stores or restaurant bosses in various towns. According to Luo Yi's standards, these people must have a certain foundation in the local area and have relatives and friends. In this way, the assault team does not need to worry about them betraying themselves, and can use their relatives as leverage when necessary. Each line personnel can receive a reward of one dollar per month from the assault team, and if they provide valuable intelligence, they can also receive additional rewards. The risk is non-existent, as the current identity of the assault team is a security team, and the Nationalist Army will not make a big fuss about the shop owner providing intelligence to the security team. The Red Army is currently busy with the fifth anti-encirclement campaign and cannot afford to deal with local security teams. Moreover, they have strict discipline and will not easily harm civilians.

  Wang Dacheng has a set of ways to observe people. After entering a store, he first pretends to buy something and then takes the opportunity to chat with the owner. Through conversation, he can basically judge the owner's attitude towards life. If the other party meets the conditions for being an informant, Wang Dacheng will directly state his intention and invite them to join.

  Many shop owners were confused by Wang Dacheng's words and asked strangely: "You are a security team from Zhushan Town, why do you care about the passing troops around here?"

  Wang Dacheng smiled and replied, "In these chaotic times, it's always better to know more things ahead of time. Our boss is from Southeast Asia and has a timid personality, so he wants us to gather more information."

  The shop owners were relieved, took the big silver dollar prepaid by Wang Dacheng, and promised that as long as there was any wind or grass movement, they would definitely record it and wait for the soldiers of the raid camp to come and collect. This job of sitting at home and getting paid is very acceptable to most people, and Wang Dacheng's work in building an intelligence network has achieved quite a bit.

  That day, Wang Da-cheng led two attendants out of a town and was walking along the mountain road towards another town when they suddenly heard a burst of gunfire coming from ahead.

  "Take cover." Wang Da Cheng ordered cautiously.

  Three men crouched down in a bush by the side of the road, opened the safety on their rifles and observed the direction from which the shots came.

  In a short while, a gasping girl ran over from the front of the road, with disheveled hair and holding a shotgun. Not far behind, three Nationalist soldiers were chasing after her, shooting at her as they chased. However, they seemed to prefer capturing the girl alive, so they kept firing at the ground where she was running, aiming to stop her escape.

  "It's the Red Army." Jiang Fangyong whispered to Wang Dacheng, everyone could see clearly that the girl was wearing the gray uniform of the Red Army.

  Peng Lihu asked: "Wang Ge, should we save this girl?"

  Before Wang Da Cheng could respond, the situation on the road had changed. The female Red Army soldier was shot in the leg while running and fell to the ground. She gritted her teeth against the pain, rolled onto her back, and crawled into a roadside ditch, using the roadbed as cover, and fired her rifle at the pursuing soldiers.

  "She's been hit. Can't escape now."

  "Seize the day."

  Nationalist soldiers shouted and charged over, firing their guns at the female Red Army's hiding place, suppressing her so she couldn't lift her head.

  As the enemy troops rushed to the front, the female Red Army could no longer hide. She suddenly stood up, raised her hand and fired a shot, hitting the Nationalist soldier who was charging at the forefront. The man fell to the ground with a thud. Before the female Red Army could turn her gun around, two other Nationalist soldiers had rushed in front of her. One of them cursed and swung his rifle butt, striking the female Red Army's head, causing her to faint immediately.

  "Save people, fight!" Wang Da Cheng ordered.

  The three rifles of the assault team fired simultaneously, and a National Army soldier fell to the ground. Another soldier saw that things were not going well and didn't care about the female Red Army soldier on the ground either, dragging his gun and running towards the wilderness. Two out of their group of three had already died, he didn't know how many people the other side had ambushed, so he still chose to retreat as the best option.

  Wang Dacheng and two others ran out from behind the bushes, chasing after the National Army soldier. The National Army soldier was quite talented at escaping, deliberately choosing to run in the densest areas of trees. Wang Dacheng and his men fired several shots at him but missed, and the National Army soldier disappeared into the woods in a flash. Seeing that they couldn't catch up, Wang Dacheng called back two soldiers and came over to the female Red Army soldier's side.

  "It's really a Red Army." Jiang Fangyong said, looking at the female Red Army's uniform.

  "What should we do?" Peng Lihu asked Wang Dacheng.

  Wang Dacheng said: "Let's take her back first and talk about it later. If we leave her here, she'll definitely die."

  The female Red Army soldier was shot in the leg and hit on the head with a rifle butt, and had lost consciousness. Wang Dacheng found a first-aid kit on a dead Nationalist soldier's body, tore out some gauze to bandage the woman's wound, then put her on his back. Jiang Fangyong and Peng Lihu picked up two rifles from the Nationalist soldiers on the ground as well as the female Red Army soldier's shotgun, and followed Wang Dacheng back to Zhushan Town.

  "Luó Zǐ, we rescued a female Red Army soldier, what do you think we should do?" Wang Dàchéng carried the female Red Army soldier back to the assault regiment headquarters, found an empty room and settled her in, then reported to Luó Yì.

  Female Red Army? Luo Yi's heart was stirred with excitement. After all, he was born in New China and grew up under the red flag, having an instinctive sense of reverence for the Red Army. Having traveled through time for so long, dealing with bandits every day, now he finally got to see the Red Army. A female Red Army soldier from this era, if she could survive until liberation, would be a national treasure, a first-class figure! She should be considered a Red Army granny by now!

  "Go, take me to see."

  Arriving at the temporary accommodation for the female Red Army, Luo Yi looked at the still unconscious female Red Army and frowned, asking: "What's going on? How did she get hurt like this?"

  "She was chased by three National Army soldiers and got shot."

  "What about the National Army?"

  "She killed one, we killed one, and another ran away," said Wang Dacheng.

  Luo Yi asked nervously: "The one who ran away, did he recognize your identities?"

  Wang Da Cheng shook his head: "This time we went out, wearing casual clothes. I reckon he's probably thinking that he was ambushed by the Red Army and wouldn't think of us being on top."

  "Alright," Luo Yi nodded and said. "Quickly get someone to find a doctor to come and give her an examination, see where she's hurt."

  In the town, there was a Chinese medicine doctor, Le Jialin, who was invited over by someone. The doctor examined the female Red Army soldier and confirmed that she had mainly suffered leg injuries with excessive blood loss, plus a severe head injury, which led to her coma. The bullet in her leg had already exited, fortunately without hitting any bones. The doctor prescribed some internal and external medicines, saying that as long as she rested for a few days, she would recover. Luo Yi gave him two big oceans (a large sum of money) and said: "Thanks for today's matter. However, if what you saw gets leaked out, do you know what the consequences will be?"

  Dr. Lang was startled and hastily said: "Captain Luo, don't worry, as a doctor, the most important thing is to keep patients' secrets. I didn't see anything today."

  Luo Yi smiled and said: "That's good, then I won't have to search for it."

  After Lang Zhong left, Luo Yi instructed Wang Da Cheng: "Arrange someone to decoct medicine for her and think of a way to get her to drink it later. Go to the town to find an aunt to come and change her clothes, wipe her body clean, and then help her apply the medicine. Arrange two people to stand guard at the door, without my order, no one is allowed to contact her. Also, if she wakes up, don't let her out of this door."

  "I understand." Wang Dacheng replied.

  "Also... let the kitchen prepare something nutritious... uh, get a chicken and stew some soup to nourish her."

  Wang Dacheng laughed and said: "I didn't expect that I would pick up a lady and have to take care of her like this."

  "Alas, saving a life is better than building many temples."

  Wang Dacheng called over two soldiers and arranged for Luo Yi to take over, then walked with Luo Yi towards the battalion office. As they walked, Wang Dacheng asked Luo Yi, "Luozi, have I caused trouble for the assault battalion?"

  Luo Yi patted Wang Dacheng's shoulder and said: "No, this thing is done very well."

  Two people came to the battalion office, Le Jialin and Lu Shuangyong were waiting there. Le Jialin closed the door and said: "Luo Zi, what do you plan to do with this female Red Army? We have nothing to do with the Red Army. If we provoke the Red Army, I'm afraid it will be unfavorable to us in the future."

  Luo Yi pretended to say: "I've only heard of the Red Army, but I don't know what they're all about. Is there anyone who understands and can tell me?"

  Lu Shuangyong said: "The Red Army is known as the army of the poor, fighting against local tyrants and distributing land. I've heard that they have strict discipline, care for the people, and are indeed very welcome among the poor. In previous years, the Red Army had sent someone to contact our family, wanting us to join the Red Army, but my father thought the Red Army had too many rules and couldn't bear it, so he didn't agree. However, my father has always admired the Red Army, saying they kill the rich to help the poor, and their soldiers are very brave in battle, with combat effectiveness far surpassing that of the National Army."

  Luo Jialin said: "I heard that the Red Army had a very hard time, they beat up the local tyrants and wanted to divide the property of the local tyrant's family among the poor people, leaving little for themselves. So the big landlords felt unacceptable."

  Luoyi said: "In that case, the Red Army is still pretty good. Now that the Red Army is in trouble, we can help if we can."

  Actually, Luo Yi asked Lu Shuangyong and others for their opinions just to find an excuse. As a person who crossed over from the 21st century, it would be strange not to help the Red Army after seeing them.

  Wang Dacheng looked at Luo Yi with a thoughtful expression and asked in a low voice, "Luo Zi, you're not thinking of leading us to join the Red Army, are you?"

  Luo Yi smiled and said, "It's not that serious. However, becoming allies with the Red Army isn't impossible either. We've all seen the virtues of the National Army, and since the Red Army is about killing the rich to help the poor, we're basically like-minded. As for joining the Red Army, let's not consider it for now, I couldn't take their rules anyway. I still think the days of drinking from big bowls and dividing gold with a large scale are more enjoyable."