The spring is cold and cold, and withered and yellow weeds cover the ditches and hills near Songjiagou. Looking around, it looks dilapidated and desolate.
A patchwork of gray-tiled houses are located in a hilly area, surrounded by sparse bamboo forests and bare groves, and large areas of plowed fields.
This is an extremely ordinary small village in Jiangsu, with a population of less than a hundred people. Although it is only less than half a day's journey from the busy Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it is not too far.
But most of the people in the village have been living here for generations, working from sunrise to sunrise, and many people in the village have never even been to the nearby Jieshou Town.
Although the Japanese and puppet troops previously controlled the Gaoyou area, the Japanese and puppet troops had limited strength and weak control over the vast rural areas.
There are more than a hundred villages like Songjiagou with a population of more than 100 people in this area, and the Japanese and puppet troops would only go to these villages when collecting food.
Every time the Japanese and puppet troops went to the countryside, they would transport cartloads of grain away in sacks. These unarmed villagers dared not speak out. Who allowed these Japanese and puppet troops to have guns in their hands?
However, since the Northern Jiangsu Corps moved south from Huaiyin and fought two battles with the Japanese in Gaoyou and Jiexian, the Japanese were suppressed in the area near Gaoyou.
Songjiagou, together with the surrounding Mianduo, Yanggou Village, Huangjiazhuang, Pujiazhuang, Daxian Temple, etc., became the control area of the Northern Jiangsu Corps.
The defense line of the Northern Jiangsu Corps is located in the south close to Gaoyou, so the Yangjiagou area has not been harassed by the Japanese and puppet troops for a long time.
Although the Northern Jiangsu Corps also collected grain, it did not collect much. It was only 30% of each household's harvest that year. Compared with the Japanese raids, it was already many times better.
Moreover, when the Northern Jiangsu Corps collected military rations, it did not ignore villages like Yangjiagou. Instead, the Northern Jiangsu Corps took the lead and asked the villages to jointly defend themselves and form a militia and self-defense force.
These militia and self-defense forces were all brought to Jieshou for military training. Although they used guns that had been eliminated by the Northern Jiangsu Corps, they were still lethal.
Generally, when encountering bandits and bandits, the militia and self-defense forces of each village will fight together. If they cannot fight, the Northern Jiangsu Corps will send regular troops to encircle and suppress them to protect the territory and the people.
Since Yangjiagou was included in the control area of the Northern Jiangsu Corps, not only the local gangs have disappeared, but the Japanese and puppet troops have also disappeared for a long time. The lives of the villagers have returned to their original peaceful state, as if this was not a period of war.
But recently, the atmosphere has suddenly become tense again, that is, a group of ferocious little devils have infiltrated and are attacking and causing destruction everywhere.
This little devil appears and disappears erratically, but his actions are extremely cruel and ruthless. Two villages were attacked by this devil in a row, with dozens of people killed and injured.
With this ferocious bandit attacking everywhere, Yangjiagou, which was originally peaceful, became panicked. No one knew when this band of bandits would appear.
Although every village now has a militia and self-defense force for joint defense, the weapons of the militia are very inferior. They can serve as a deterrent against bandits and bandits, but they are completely useless against little devils.
Although the militia and self-defense forces look majestic, they are still ordinary people after all. Facing these ruthless and ruthless devils who come and go like the wind, they feel guilty and are still full of fear of the devils.
On a small hill outside Yangjiagou Village, two militia sentries wearing shabby jackets held 79 rifles in their hands and patrolled the surrounding fields and rivers with vigilant eyes.
Although they were afraid of the ruthless little devil, they could not leave because the village behind was their home, and their wives, children, and children were all here.
Now they can only pray that they will not be targeted by the Japanese. They know in their hearts that if they are really attacked by the Japanese, the so-called joint defense militia will definitely be late because everyone is afraid of the Japanese.
"who!"
The sentry bolt suddenly heard a noise in the grass behind him, his hair stood on end, and he hurriedly turned around and pulled the bolt.
When another sentry heard Shuanzi's shout, he was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat. He thought that the Japanese who were sneak attacking were coming, so he also pulled the bolt of his gun and turned it around with the bullet loaded.
"Captain - you scared me to death. I thought it was the Japanese who came to you."
After Shuanzi turned around with the gun in hand, he found that the person who came was not the Japanese, but the captain of their Yangjiagou militia team. The frightened Shuanzi lowered the muzzle of his gun, patted his chest and let out a long breath.
"Shuanzi, don't yell blindly next time. See it clearly before yelling."
The other sentry was also very frightened. He put down his gun and complained somewhat reproachfully.
"Is there anything going on?"
Seeing that the two sentries responded very quickly, the Yangjiagou militia captain was very satisfied. He walked up the hill with sparse vegetation, looked into the distance and asked them.
Sentry Zhuanzi put the 79 rifle on his shoulder again and replied: "There is not even a human figure."
"You must not be careless. If there is any situation, fire a warning shot immediately. These devils are ruthless. If they come over, we, Yangjiagou, will be in trouble." The militia team leader of Yangjiagou warned.
"Captain, don't worry, we will never be lazy." Sentinel Shuanzi assured.
"Well, keep your guard up. The troops from the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps will arrive in two days, and the Japanese won't dare to be so arrogant."
"When will the troops from the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps come?"
When they heard that the Jiangsu North Corps was sending someone over, the two sentries showed joy on their faces and asked hurriedly.
The Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps had previously inflicted heavy losses on the Japs at the head of the border. Moreover, the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps had good military discipline and never disturbed the people. This made them have a good impression of the Northern Jiangsu Corps and regarded it as their backbone.
"They have already sent a message. They have been here in the past few days. Let us pay more attention to the traces of the devils. As soon as they arrive, the good days of these little devils will be over."
Obviously, the news of the coming of the Northern Jiangsu Corps made the militia captain feel a lot more at ease. He was indeed under a lot of pressure these days and was always worried about the Japanese attacking them.
"Great, they are finally coming. This time we must teach the little devil a harsh lesson."
Sentry Shuanzi and another sentry were very happy. They hated the little Japs and couldn't wait for the guerrilla troops to send people over to kill the infiltration of Japs.
"Captain...Captain, someone seems to be coming over there."
While the three of them were talking, sentry Shuanzi saw a group of people walking over in the distance on a winding field road out of the corner of his eye, and he immediately became vigilant.
"Could it be a Japs?"
Another sentinel, Gou Sheng, turned his head and looked at the small black dot in the distance, his teeth trembling a little because of fear.
"It's too far away to see clearly."
The militia captain looked at the group of people walking towards us in the distance, and his expression suddenly became serious.
"Gou Sheng, hurry up and inform the people in the village to move and let all the militiamen gather here." Without knowing the enemy or ourselves, for the sake of safety, the militia captain decided to let the people in the village move first.
"Yes!" Sentinel Gou Sheng knew that the situation was urgent. He immediately grabbed his rifle, turned around and ran towards the village in the mountain col.
Seeing the sentry Gou Sheng running towards the village, the sentry Shuanzi with trembling arms turned his attention to the militia captain: "Team... Captain, why don't we move too."
"Let's check the situation first." Although the captain's face turned a little pale, he still managed to keep his composure and did not run away immediately: "Stop being so frightened and get down."
"oh oh,"
Shuanzi then hurriedly crouched down behind a pile of grass, took out the rifle, stared at the group of people from far to near, and his nervous palms became sweaty.
But in the village behind them, there was already a roar of gongs and drums, and the quiet village suddenly became chaotic like boiling water. The villagers were hurriedly preparing to move and escape.