Soon, the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion, armed with live ammunition, set off in two columns. They headed straight for the location of the Xiaodao Club at the junction of Guannan and Huaiyin with murderous intent.
"What are they going to do?"
At this moment, the officers and soldiers in the recruit training camp are finishing the day's training, resting and preparing for dinner.
Seeing that the troops nearby were fully armed and dispatched, they all came to the edge of the camp and stood on tiptoes to watch.
"What are they doing? Are they fighting?" Recruit Zhang Hai asked the recruit Wu Hao next to him with doubts.
Recruit Wu Hao said thoughtfully: "I see how murderous they are, and they are probably going to fight someone."
"But it's almost dark..."
While they were discussing, company commander Liang Xiaoshan came over, called the brothers over and announced the news.
"Brothers, I just received news that people from the Little Sword Society have kidnapped more than ten of our brothers. Chief Yang has already led a battalion of brothers to rescue them!" Liang Xiaoshan's voice was loud and full of anger.
After Zhang Hai and the other recruits heard what the company commander Liang Xiaoshan said, they all suddenly realized.
They were more moved, thinking that if they were bullied outside, their superiors would stand up for them. Being able to stay in such a team, they suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of pride in their hearts.
Liang Xiaoshan continued: "Our main camp has gone out, and Huaiyin is empty of troops. In order to guard against enemy sneak attacks, the detachment headquarters has ordered that the new barracks will also enter wartime status tonight. After dinner later, go to the military supply office to collect bullets! So!
Just in case something unexpected happens.”
When the recruit company commander Liang Xiaoshan announced the order to his brothers, all the troops staying in Huaiyin received the same order.
It is a troubled time now, and the nearby areas are raging with war. Although Huaiyin is peaceful, who knows whether there are undercurrents surging under this calm.
Zhang Liechen, the deputy detachment leader who stayed in Huaiyin, put all units into wartime status and raised the alert level in order to prevent unexpected events.
For a time, machine guns were mounted on bunkers made of sandbags everywhere in the new and old camps. There were also many armed patrol officers and soldiers in Huaiyin City. The local residents seemed to smell the smoke of gunpowder.
When Yang Ling led the team to march towards the area where the Little Sword Club was located, it was a different scene at the Shiban Village stronghold of the Xiaodao Club.
Shiban Village is a small village with only a hundred households. It is located beside a gurgling stream. If there was no war, it would be a paradise.
However, since the Japs brought the war to Jiangsu, government officials fled in large numbers, water bandits, bandits, stragglers and chaotic anti-Japanese armed forces also rose up one after another, and Shiban Village was also affected.
Nowadays, there are many forces in this area, and they are not subordinate to each other. While fighting against the little devils, internal strife is also very serious.
After all, to survive in the cracks of various forces, you need food and money, and the war caused all the young people who grew crops to join the army, and a lot of crop fields were abandoned.
Although this northern Jiangsu region has been a land of plenty and a prosperous trade zone since ancient times, it is now in chaos, with depression everywhere and not enough food to eat.
In addition, the Japanese and puppet troops often went to the countryside to seize grain, and guerrillas from all walks of life also had to requisition grain. Businessmen who were struggling to make a fortune also hoarded food. The result was that the local people were in dire straits.
The Xiaodao Society was originally a small feudal and superstitious gang. In such turbulent years, it took advantage of the situation. They used the slogan of uniting to protect themselves and quickly developed and expanded in Shandong and Jianghuai areas.
Because of their feudal and superstitious nature, they were easily bewitched and controlled indirectly by the Japanese and puppet troops, and they often attacked the guerrillas.
The guerrillas were too late to protect themselves under the brutal siege of the Japs, and they hated but could do nothing about the powerful local gangs who took advantage of the situation to rob them.
Who told the government to have withdrawn to Chongqing? The result of the loss of prestige was chaos at the lower levels. Gangs such as the Xiaodao Society had no concept of the country or the government.
Therefore, the anti-Japanese troops are not taken seriously. For their leaders, developing power and making money is the most important thing. Even if they cooperate with the Japanese and puppet troops, it doesn't matter.
Fortunately, the control of the Japanese and puppet armies over rural areas was still relatively weak. The formation of many puppet armies remained on paper due to lack of money, so they implemented a tolerant policy towards the Xiaodao Society and others and tried their best to win over them.
The Little Sword Society and the Japanese and Puppet Army are almost inseparable. The Japanese and puppet army do not go to the territory of the Little Sword Society, the Big Sword Society, the Red Spear Society and other forces, and they do not take the initiative to provoke the Japanese.
The Xiaodao Society and other gangs successfully prevented the Japanese and puppet troops from persecuting local villages, and also won more gang members, so their power grew like a snowball.
With the expansion of their sphere of influence, gang organizations such as the Little Knife Society have shifted from covert to overt. They formulate rules and collect local taxes, money and food.
If the local residents disobey, the punishment will be even more cruel. In the process of development and growth, the nature of the Xiaodao Society has changed from the original nature of the association to protect themselves, and it has become an evil force in the local area.
This time, Yang Ling planned to unite hundreds of various large and small forces under the banner of the Northern Jiangsu Anti-Japanese Federation, break the boundaries of region and territory, unite to fight against Japan, and reduce internal friction between each other.
Most of the armed forces went to fight against Japan, so they all agreed. After all, fighting under the General Assembly, you can also get weapons and equipment supplies and training from instructors, so why not do it.
But for gangs like the Little Knife Society, which although they used the banner of resisting Japan, were actually enriching their own pockets to develop their own strength, Yang Ling's actions undoubtedly violated their interests.
Therefore, after the Little Knife Club in Huaiyin sternly rejected Yang Ling's invitation, in order to give Yang Ling and the others a blow, they also detained the brothers who went to contact them, and planned to take advantage of the situation to rob them and get some money.
The Little Knife Society has now developed and grown, with their power in several provinces, which has made them very swollen and no one takes them seriously.
And taking advantage of the situation to rob them was something they were familiar with. In their minds, Yang Ling's third guerrilla group was not a regular army, nor was it strong, so it didn't matter if they offended them.
And another advantage is that although Yang Ling and the others are not regular troops, they are troops under the government, which means they are rich. If they don't take the opportunity to extort money, how can they be willing to do so.
Almost all the people in Shiban Village were bewitched by the Little Sword Society to join. They drank the "divine curse" and claimed to be invulnerable. Because of their large numbers, the surrounding forces did not dare to provoke them.
But they should never pay attention to Yang Ling's heads. You must know that Yang Ling can't get rid of the sand in his eyes.
It is also a kind of self-protection for you to join forces to protect yourself and engage in superstition. As long as you don't surrender to the puppet army and join the Northern Jiangsu Anti-Japanese Association, it doesn't matter to him.
But if he hurt his brothers who had followed him all the way and survived the bloody battle, then he couldn't tolerate it. He couldn't tolerate that his brothers didn't die on the battlefield, but died in the hands of the so-called anti-Japanese armed forces.