In the biting cold wind, two army horses and two sledges dragged by mules and reindeer trampled on the thick snow in the primeval forest, walking leisurely against the snowflakes mixed in the wind and snow.
At this time, it had been a night and half a day since they separated from Tian Xiaohu and others, but according to Wei Ran's estimation, they had only traveled less than 40 kilometers at most.
"Have a rest"
Hu Bazhi said after climbing over a mountain ridge again, "The animals can't move anymore."
"Brother Wei, is Shiyi really in danger?" Zhao Jinyu stopped and asked in a worried voice.
"If we can get there before the traitor's false information is sent, there should be no danger."
Wei Ran replied cautiously, "And I'm just guessing. It remains to be seen whether the traitor will, or whether he dares to betray Shi Yi."
"Then we have to hurry up..." Zhao Jinyu muttered to himself before turning over and dismounting.
After a brief discussion, Zhao Jinyu waved his saber and chopped off the branches at the bottom of a pine tree. Hu Bazhi, with the help of Wei Ran, unfolded a bundle of canvas and built a tent around the pine tree that could at least block the wind.
Snow tent.
At the same time, Unakan also moved a sack of fodder to feed everyone's livestock.
"Brother Wei, Jin Yu, you go and find some firewood around and come back. Find more, you will have to burn it on the way."
Hu Ba pointed out that he had already taken out his bow and arrows, "I'm going to see if there are any wild animals nearby."
"I'll go too," Unakan said, already pulling out his skis.
Hu Bazhi did not refuse. He stepped on his skis, picked a direction at random with a gun and quiver on his back, and ran away with Unakan out of sight.
"Brother Wei"
Zhao Jinyu asked while chopping dead branches with his saber, "Do you think we are deserters again?"
"Again?" Wei Ran, who was holding an ax in his hand, was stunned for a moment.
"Last time we escaped through the white mountains and black waters."
Zhao Jinyu suppressed the pain in his heart and said, "So after I followed my brother-in-law to join the cavalry, I thought I would never be a deserter again.
But I didn’t expect that our cavalry company...that cavalry regiment, we were the only ones to survive, and now we just arrived here..."
"It's totally wrong for you to think that way."
Wei Ran swung his ax vigorously and chopped down the thick, dry tree branches while explaining, "We were all injured at the beginning, and we will be a burden if we stay."
"Squad Leader Xiaohu was also injured," Zhao Jinyu retorted stubbornly, "But he..."
"Yes, he is injured, but if you stay, won't it be a burden? Or, can you fight the Japanese if you stay?"
"I've recovered from my injuries and still..."
"Did your trip to Shanxi delay your fight against the Japanese?" Wei Ran asked again, causing Zhao Jinyu to fall into silence.
"Who told me in the first place that where to fight the Japanese is not to fight?"
Wei Ran dragged the cut tree branch back and said, "Or do you want to be lazy and die in the Shaying River? It's easy to die, but it's hard to survive and continue to fight the Japanese."
Seeing that Zhao Jinyu was still silent while waving his saber vigorously, Wei Ran continued, "And establishing a contact channel is nothing like fighting head-on..."
"Bang!"
Before Wei Ran could finish his words, a gunshot suddenly sounded from the direction where Hu Bazhi and Unakan disappeared.
Almost subconsciously, Wei Ran looked at the sledge left by the two of them, "Did they bring guns just now? Long guns!"
"Brother Hu brought a bow and arrows but not a spear, Unakan did!" Zhao Jinyu had already pulled out the box cannon from his waist as he spoke.
"broken!"
Wei Ran dropped the ax in his hand before he finished speaking. However, before he could run to the biting horse, he pulled out the Japanese carbine. With another gunshot, a bullet fired accurately.
On the trunk of the birch tree where the horse was tied.
"Throw the rattle out of your hands!" a rough voice shouted from far away.
"We've entered a bandit's den." Zhao Jinyu said in a low voice.
"Throw it away first and see where it comes from." Wei Ran responded in a low voice, and at the same time, he happily took out the box of cannon and threw it at his feet.
"It's picked from the top of the sky!" Another shout came from the distance.
"What is Dingtian?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously in a low voice.
"hat"
While Zhao Jinyu was speaking, he had already taken off his hat and hung it directly on the branch of the tree beside him.
"Turn around!" Someone shouted from behind the tree in the distance.
Hearing this, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu looked at each other and turned around one after another. A moment later, two men with guns came over from a distance.
Just looking at the clothes of the two people, Wei Ran couldn't help but be stunned. In the snowy field of these nine cold days, the two people were wearing tattered clothes with cotton exposed everywhere.
When he got closer, he even saw that the hands and faces of these two people were covered in large and small patches of frostbite. Even the jingle shoes and skis on their feet were in tatters.
The three-eight caps they held in their hands were also in tatters, and one of them even had half of the gun stock missing. What's even more worrying is that these two people looked like they were only seventeen or eighteen years old!
"Which hilltop guy?"
One of them asked, but the other picked up the box of cannons dropped by Wei Ran and the other two, and eagerly started rummaging around on Hu Bazhi's sledge.
Before Wei Ran or Zhao Jinyu could answer the question, the young man turning the sledge exclaimed, "Guitiaozi's leaves!"
"We are not bandits, let alone devils." Zhao Jinyu said.
"If you're not a bandit or a devil, how could you still be a member of the Anti-Union Alliance?" The young man holding the gun said with a sneer as he took the box of cannon handed to him by his companion.
"Why can't we be anti-Union people?" Zhao Jinyu couldn't help but say.
After a while, Wei Ran also noticed that two more young men who looked about the same age were walking over with the same tattered rifles, holding Hu Bazhi and Unakan with helpless expressions.
"I told them that we were members of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, but they didn't believe me." Hu Bazhi said with a smile on his face, pointing far away.
"I just said it, but they don't believe it either." Zhao Jinyu spread his hands helplessly, and then asked, "Are you the Anti-Union?"
"Of course we are members of the Resistance Alliance!" the young man holding the gun responded without thinking.
"Whose soldiers are you?" Wei Ran also asked, and at the same time he couldn't help but look at the two young men who were pointing guns at Hu Balizhi and the two.
Their condition was not much better. They had tattered coats and hairless fur hats, and one of them had lost his ears, replaced by a large patch of frostbite.
"we are..."
"Xiao Si, shut up!"
The young man who pointed the gun at Wei Ran scolded his companions, "You said you are also members of the Resistance Alliance, but whose soldiers are you?"
"Zhao Jinge's first guerrilla team," Zhao Jinyu said.
"Fuck your mother's bitch!" shouted the young man who pointed the gun at Unakan, "stop lying to us!"
"Do you know Tian Xiaohu?" Hu Bazhi asked.
"Brother, who is Tian Xiaohu?" the man who was busy picking up the gun and turning over the sledge asked in a low voice.
"Never heard of it," the young man who pointed the gun at Wei Ran and Wei Ran responded in a low voice. At the same time, he couldn't help but shiver in the cold wind blowing in his face.
"Have you seen Zhao Jinge?" Zhao Jinyu asked patiently.
"Why... why haven't I seen it before?" The young man called Xiao Si'er said loudly, "We also fought ghosts with them..."
"Xiao Si, shut up!"
The leader scolded again, "Search!"
Hearing this, Xiao Si'er immediately stepped forward, first searched Zhao Jinyu's body and took away his Nine Dragon Belt and the box cannon from the Li brothers hidden in his arms. Then he walked up to Wei Ran.
, while taking off his Jiulong belt, he said doubtfully, "Brother, I think this person must be one of Te Niang's devils. Why aren't his leaves fastened to the crotch?"
"Little brother, you can't be so dirty when you curse."
Wei Ran said helplessly, "You can say I'm a shit-eating dog, but how can you say I'm a Japanese?"
After saying this, not only Unakan, who was pointed at the gun, couldn't help laughing, but even the two young men pointing at her and Hu Bazhi couldn't help laughing.
"Stop smiling so playfully!"
The leader pointed his gun directly at Wei Ran, "Tear off the leaves on your body!"
Hearing this, Wei Ran slowly opened the zipper of his one-piece flight suit and let the young man named Xiao Si'er inspect it.
"No sound"
After the boy finished speaking, he had already walked to Hu Bazhi's side, and also took off his Kowloon belt, and also took off his dog-skin coat for inspection.
"Brother, what should we do with that girl?" Xiao Si'er said in embarrassment.
"I'll do it myself"
Unakan shook his head helplessly, and regardless of whether these young men agreed or not, he unbuttoned the skirt of the leather robe and showed off the leather waistcoat underneath.
"Tell me, are you bandits or traitors? Where did you come from?" the young man at the head asked.
"What if we really are resisting the alliance?" Zhao Jinyu asked patiently.
"We have never seen such well-dressed anti-league soldiers," the young man with only one ear couldn't help but say.
"How do you guys prove that you are members of the Anti-Union Alliance?" Hu Bazhi suddenly asked.
"Why are we not the Anti-League!" Xiao Si'er suddenly said with dissatisfaction.
"Why aren't we the Anti-League?" Hu Ba pointed and asked, successfully leading the other party into a dead end.
"Why are you trying to imitate me?" Xiao Si complained impatiently, but for a moment he didn't know how to refute.
"Shut up, little four!" the other three young men shouted almost in unison.
"Since we can't prove that we are members of the Anti-League, I think it's better to sit down and take stock..."
"Why can't you prove it?"
The leading young man said, "We are the Anti-League! But you guys..."
"We are also members of the Resistance Alliance"
This time it was Zhao Jinyu who spoke, "I asked you to hand over my gun. If you are not a coward, let me show you something."
"What do you want to take?" the young man at the head asked warily.
"my saber"
Zhao Jinyu pointed to the saber that was stabbed not far away, "You don't dare to do this? You can't shoot accurately, right?"
"You are stupid..."
"Shut up, little four!" The leading young man didn't give the little four a chance to speak at all, "Stand back and stay away from them."
Hearing this, Xiao Si'er was very obedient and stepped back a distance. The leader then said to Zhao Jinyu, "Take it, we want to see what kind of tricks you can make."
Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu smiled, bent down to pick up the saber, untied the leather rope wrapped around the handle, and then unfolded the rag wrapped on it.
Seeing this, not only the young men with guns looked over subconsciously, but even Wei Ran was attracted.
When the outermost layer of rags unfolded, a touch of red appeared on the handle of the knife.
Carefully unfolding the red cloth, Zhao Jinyu held it up with his hand and asked, "Since you and Zhao Jinge have fought against the Japanese together, you should know this flag, right?"
"Knowing...knowing...knowing!"
The young man in the lead had just finished speaking, but his nose was sore and tears were streaming down his face. The gun they were holding also hung down and slipped from his hand onto the thick snow.
"You...you are back"
The young man with only one ear left wiped the tears rolling down his face, which was also covered with frostbite, with his frostbitten hands and said guiltily, "We are sorry for you. We failed to take good care of those wounded.
They... they're all dead."
"What's going on, what on earth is going on..."
"Jin Yu, let them go to the tent to warm up first." Wei Ran said, "Also, let them put on the Japanese cotton-padded clothes we captured."
"Yes, yes!"
Zhao Jinyu reacted, stuffed the flag in his arms, and quickly called on the young men to get into the tent, where the brazier was lit.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But how big can that tent be, and how can it accommodate so many of them?
The leading young man seemed to have noticed this, and he hurriedly bent down to pick up their broken guns, and wiped his tears carelessly, "If you can trust us, go to our place to have a rest."
"Alright"
Hu Bazhi was the first to say, "Can you also return the Xiangzi to us?"
"Yes, it must be possible." The young man in the lead responded with a smile and scratched the back of his head.
Everyone took back their weapons and equipment. Unakan called on the four young men to put on the Japanese clothes they had captured before. The three Weiran people took apart the tent they had just set up and rolled it up, along with the brazier and the newly chopped tent.
All the firewood was loaded back onto the sledge.
"Come and sit on the sledge!"
Hu Bazhi called to the young man who had just put on clothes to get on the sledge, "How to go?"
"That direction!"
The young man in the lead raised his finger and pointed in the direction, "Keep walking, cross a bridge and then go east."
"Is there anyone else there?" Wei Ran asked as he got on his horse.
"No, there are only four of us left." The leader clenched his fists when he said this.
Everyone looked at each other and tacitly suppressed the curiosity in their hearts and did not continue to ask.
They galloped along in silence, and when the young man in the lead waved them to stop, a pine tree as thick as two people could hug each other was already lying next to them.
When the leading young man called Wei Ran and others to tie the animals to the branches of the pine tree, the other three young men had already worked together to lift the trunk near the root, revealing a door panel that was almost completely buried in the snow.
Less than one meter wide, there are dirt steps extending downward diagonally.
"Come in and warm yourself up," the young man in the lead greeted warmly.
Hearing this, everyone followed each other and bent down to get in.
Although the entrance is indeed not that big, the inside is really not small, especially the large pit that takes up half of the space. It can sleep at least ten people without any problem.
And in the remaining half of the space, the innermost half of the space is filled with chopped firewood.
Next to the firewood, there were two large water tanks placed against the wall. One of the water tanks contained ice and snow that was almost split open, while the other contained strings of dried mushrooms tied with hemp ropes.
Look at the clay stove connected to the earthen kang. There is a broken pot on it. In the pot there is a stewed boneless pheasant and a few wild mushrooms that have become extra plump because they have absorbed the soup.
"Get on the kang, it's warm."
While greeting everyone, the young man in the lead picked up the kettle leaning against the clay stove, dug out a pile of coarse porcelain bowls from the pile of firewood, and poured a bowl of hot water for everyone.
"Do you usually live here?" Wei Ran asked, touching the thick layer of pine needles and urala grass spread on the kang.
"Yes, this is the nest that our village dug several years ago to help the Anti-Japanese Federation."
As the young man with only one ear spoke, he lit the pine oil candles hanging on the only two wooden pillars in the den.
At the same time, the other young man who was guarding the door and the young man known as Xiao Sier closed the door panel again, leaving only a ventilation hole about the width of a palm at the top.
"Your village..."
Before Wei Ran could finish his words, the leading young man sighed, "Except for the four of us, all the living people have entered the human circle. In fact, not many survived, almost all of them are dead."
"What's going on?" Zhao Jinyu couldn't help but ask, "By the way, I haven't asked yet, what are the names of these little brothers?"
"We are both from the same village, both have the surname Qiu, and both have the surname Yong."
The young man in the lead introduced, "My name is Qiu Yongyi, and the three of them call me Qiu Boss. The one with only one ear is called Qiu Yongwen, and the one who doesn't talk much is called Qiu Yongwu. They are brothers. The youngest one is called Qiu Yongbiao.
, just call him Xiaosier."
"Let me introduce you too."
Zhao Jinyu cleared his throat and said, "My name is Zhao Jinyu, and I am the younger brother of Zhao Jinge and Zhao Jinshan. This is Hu Bazhi, now the deputy captain of the first guerrilla team..."
After Zhao Jinyu introduced everyone one by one, Hu Bazhi and Unakan stood up almost at the same time, and said almost at the same time, "I have frostbite ointment on my sledge, let's... come together."
After saying that, the two people had already stepped towards the small door, untied the rope that tied the door panel and squeezed out one after another.
"Boss Qiu, what's going on today?" Zhao Jinyu asked with a smile.
"Isn't this...isn't this a flood that has washed away the Dragon King Temple?"
Boss Qiu said with a slight embarrassment, "Bu Xue has just been a little bit younger, and we brothers are thinking of going out to see what we can pick up or grab something to eat.
We are walking towards the place where we set our traps before it started snowing, and I can see you from a distance.
We, we thought we were going into the mountains to capture Commander Zhao's gang again, and seeing you riding horses and pulling animals, we thought that if we could capture them, we could at least have a few good meals."
"We haven't had anything serious to eat in several days," Xiao Si'er, who was sitting by the clay stove, continued.
"Shut up, little four!" Brothers Yongwen and Yongwu said in unison but with a hint of helplessness.
"My sister is telling lies..." Xiao Si'er, who seemed to have an overly honest personality, couldn't help but muttered.
"Xiao Si'er is right," Boss Qiu said slightly embarrassed, "We are just..."
Before he could finish his words, Hu Bazhi had already walked in with a lot of things and put them on the kang.
Among these things were a deerskin blanket that seemed to belong to Unakan, a Japanese lunch box that belonged to someone unknown, and weapons, bullets, and even backpacks and knitted boots that had been previously seized from those Japanese.
"Unakan is afraid that these little brothers will be embarrassed, so he will go around and see what he can hit."
Hu Ba pointed out that he had already opened the Japanese lunch box and said at the same time, "Brother Wei, you and Jin Yu can see if you can find anything edible or useful in the Japanese backpack. Boss Qiu, please take care of what you have on your body."
Take off your clothes and I'll apply some chilblain ointment on you."
“This is great”
Xiao Si'er, who was still open-minded, was the first to agree. Without waiting for the other three to agree or refuse, he had already taken off the Japanese cotton-padded clothes he had been given to wear before, and then took off the tattered jacket underneath, revealing his naked body.
A skinny body that is not very clean, and frostbite that can be seen everywhere on this body.
"Xiao Si'er, how old are you?"
Hu Bazhi asked before Boss Qiu and others tried to say anything. At the same time, he picked up a Japanese spoon from the tray of the lunch box. After opening the tray, he scooped out two tablespoons of solidified fat from the bottom and threw it away.
On the lid of the lunch box, place it on the edge of the clay stove and slowly heat it.
"16"
Xiaosier replied while scratching the frostbite on his body and the red envelope that seemed to be bitten by fleas.
"How old are you?"
Hu Bazhi continued to ask, "Boss Qiu, tell me first, how old are you?"
"17, what happened?" Boss Qiu asked in confusion.
"We are both 17," Qiu Yongwen, who had already unbuttoned his cotton-padded coat but didn't know whether to take it off, replied.
"They have to be given a bath or at least a good wipe."
As Wei Ran spoke, he put aside the few Japanese towels he found, "Besides, there are fleas in this shack, so we need to kill them too."
"I have to shave the heads of all their brothers. The long hair has been felted." Zhao Jinyu said, and he took out an old-fashioned razor and a piece of soap from a Japanese backpack with satisfaction.
"Heat the water," Hu Bazhi said with a smile.
"What are you doing?" Boss Qiu subconsciously took a few steps back.
"You four should take a shower and put on new clothes."
Hu Ba pointed and patted the several 38-shaped covers placed on the kang, "As long as you take a bath, shave your head, and apply frostbite ointment, these xiangzi will be yours."
"Really?! Then I'll wash it!" Xiao Si'er was the first to respond.
