Good things never go out, but bad things spread thousands of miles. Liu Heitan and his group of traitors disguised themselves as officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu guerrillas and carried out bloody killings in various places in the name of dealing with traitors.
In order to arouse the hatred between the local people and the Northern Jiangsu Corps, Liu Heitan and others specially selected and killed the highly respected people in each village. Many patriots who supported the Northern Jiangsu Corps were also massacred.
For a time, people in this area were panicked and the news was trembling. All the people who had previously supported the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps turned their backs and began to hate the Northern Jiangsu Guerrilla Corps.
Because they are all in rural areas, the Northern Jiangsu Corps did not send troops to station, but only led the establishment of militia joint defense and self-defense forces.
Under the massacre by Liu Heitan and others disguised as guerrillas, the militia joint defense and self-defense forces that originally supported the Northern Jiangsu Corps also turned against them and pointed their guns in the direction of the Northern Jiangsu Corps.
The local people and militiamen who were kept in the dark did not know that the so-called "guerrillas" who were killing people in various villages were just fake. They were a group of traitors who were specifically trying to sow discord between the Northern Jiangsu Corps and the people.
In this era of backward communication methods, the people suddenly became hostile to the Northern Jiangsu Corps, so much so that the intelligence network established by Yang Ling and others based on local people was paralyzed.
Because the relatives and neighbors of these local intelligence officers were also killed later, and their hatred blinded people, they did not think of reporting the situation to the Northern Jiangsu Corps and asking for an explanation.
Because Japanese infiltration troops appeared in this area, combat companies drawn from the combat units of the Northern Jiangsu Corps also entered this area to prepare for the encirclement and suppression of the Japanese and to conduct actual combat training.
However, when these combat companies entered this area, they discovered that something was wrong with the atmosphere.
"Why does it feel so lifeless? I didn't see anyone along the way." Some brothers were puzzled.
The brothers still maintained good military discipline when entering this area, but the road there was deserted, and not even the salesmen were seen.
"It's such a cold weather, I guess everyone is warming up by the fire at home." Some brothers said nonchalantly.
Although it is already February, the wind is still biting, and many brothers are not surprised by this.
"No, no, didn't you notice that there were a lot of new graves on the way here?" Some brothers still felt something was wrong.
One brother nodded as if recalling: "It seems so. We saw probably more than ten of them."
"Could it be that there's a plague here?"
One brother suddenly thought of something, and his face turned pale. The eyes of the brothers around him were so frightened that it seemed possible.
In this era of lack of medical treatment and medicine, plague is synonymous with death. Once infected, it will lead to death and no life.
Many times after a battle, there will be a plague because there are too many rotting corpses, so that the Japanese would not dare to easily enter the area where the plague occurred.
"What nonsense are you talking about? Where did the plague come from in the middle of winter!"
Hearing the brothers talking in surprise, Captain Sun Liang felt a shudder in his head at the brother who brought up the topic.
After hearing the words of company commander Sun Liang, the brothers' expressions softened. They had heard that the plague occurred in hot weather, but they had never heard that the plague also occurred in the winter.
Although Captain Sun Liang, the company commander, felt that there should be no plague in the winter, he also felt that something was wrong in this area. He couldn't tell what was wrong specifically.
"Platoon leader!" Company Commander Sun Liang shouted to the back.
"have!"
A second lieutenant platoon leader with a square face hurriedly ran over from behind and stood at attention in front of Sun Liang.
"Take a few brothers to the front to have a look and see what's going on, and find a guide by the way." Sun Liang told a platoon leader.
"yes!"
As the platoon leader spoke, he called on a few brothers from the team, then took them out of the team and went out for reconnaissance.
Company commander Sun Liang, on the other hand, led his team and walked slowly behind. They were here to encircle and suppress the Japanese infiltration troops, so they maintained their battle formation.
Soon, the platoon leader who went out for reconnaissance came back from the front with a frustrated face.
"what's the situation?"
Looking at these dejected brothers, Sun Liang also felt that something was wrong and stepped forward to ask.
"We have a village ahead. According to the map, it should be called Yangjiagou..." the platoon leader reported.
"Let's go, lead the way. We will camp in Yangjiagou tonight." When he heard that there was a village ahead, company commander Sun Liang was very happy and wanted to greet him.
But the platoon commander stood still and said, "Company commander, let's camp somewhere else tonight."
"Why?" Company Commander Sun Liang's face was full of doubts.
"We wanted to enter the village, but the villagers stoned us and said we were not welcome." One brother couldn't help but say.
"Huh?" Company Commander Sun Liang frowned.
Their Northern Jiangsu Corps has always had a good relationship with the people in this area, so why would something like this happen now?
"Did you not explain our identities clearly?" Company Commander Sun Liang quickly turned his attention to these brothers and asked.
"We told you that they were even more vicious, and some people rushed out yelling and holding kitchen knives..." There was a row of people with grievances on their faces.
Sun Liang looked at the brothers who went to investigate: "That's strange. Have you done something harmful to nature?"
"Company commander, you're wrong. We didn't know what was going on. As soon as we arrived at the entrance of the village, they rushed out and wanted to kill us. We had no choice but to run back." A platoon leader explained.
After hearing the platoon leader's explanation, company commander Sun Liang also felt that the situation was a bit unusual, too unusual.
"Come on, let's go over and have a look. Maybe it's a misunderstanding."
Now that they were on their property, company commander Sun Liang finally decided to go over and take a look at the situation.
Soon, the brothers of this company were walking towards the village in a mighty manner. But before they got closer, they heard the sound of gongs and drums in the village in the distance, and a large group of people rushed out with kitchen knives and hoes.
"Ready to fight!"
Seeing so many villagers rushing out in an angry manner, the second platoon leader was also startled and tried to pull out the shell gun from his waist.
There was a crashing sound of gun bolts being pulled, and the brothers felt as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
"Fighting is nothing, put down the gun!"
Seeing the brothers loading ammunition, company commander Sun Liang cursed: "Didn't you see that they are all unarmed fellow villagers? What do you want to do?"
"But they have weapons in their hands..." the second platoon leader explained aggrievedly.
"They are just kitchen knives and carrying poles, what are you afraid of?" Company Commander Sun Liang gave the second platoon commander a big roll of his eyes angrily.
"Stay here and don't move. I'm going to ask. I'm afraid there's any misunderstanding."
After company commander Sun Liang gave instructions to his brothers, he straightened his clothes and strode toward the entrance of the village.
"To protect the company commander——"
The platoon leader winked at the two brothers behind him, and they all hurriedly grabbed their guns and followed.
"Get out of here, we don't welcome you in Yangjiagou!"
Before company commander Sun Liang even approached, the villagers holding kitchen knives and poles shouted angrily.