After a flurry of activity, all the more than 800 people in Gaojia'ao Village were gathered into the threshing floor at the entrance of the village.
The Japanese and puppet soldiers all held rifles with bayonets in their hands, pointing at the surrounded people.
Five or six light machine guns and heavy machine guns were placed at the commanding heights around the threshing floor, with their muzzles pointed at everyone with murderous intent.
Within the encirclement, the cries, curses, and arguments of the common people were heard.
"Da da da……"
The heavy machine gun next to the Japanese captain suddenly fired, and bullets flew into the sky against everyone's scalps.
Although no civilians were killed, the harsh gunshots still frightened everyone. The threshing floor, which was bustling just now, suddenly became quiet.
"Wang Sang, tell me!" The Japanese captain was very satisfied with the result. An unnoticed sneer flashed across his tense face. He stared at the puppet battalion commander beside him and ordered.
"Yes, Taijun!" the puppet battalion commander nodded and bowed in response, with a very flattering expression.
Then he stood up and said: "Folks, I don't even say that everyone knows the purpose of Taijun's coming! According to the agreement, 50% of the grain harvested in the autumn should be handed over to Taijun as a year's grain tax for everyone!"
"We have calculated that the entire Gaojia'ao Village has more than 1,600 acres of fertile land. According to the agreement, fifty kilograms of grain will be paid as grain tax for each mu of fertile land. The whole village will have to hand over 80,000 acres of grain to Taijun. I don't know.
Are you ready?"
Although the Eighth Route Army had asked them to prepare food before, and promised that the food would be returned to everyone within a month at the latest. But when it came time to actually give the food, everyone couldn't help but feel heartache, and some even showed despair on their faces.
expression.
You must know that most people in the village only have more than one acre of grain land per capita. Even if they don't pay a pound of grain, the total harvest will not be enough to survive for the next year. But in front of them, the Japanese are about to leave half of it as soon as they open their mouths.
This means that the whole family will be without food for at least half a year. If the Eighth Route Army cannot fulfill its promise, the whole family will be ruined by next year!
Therefore, after the puppet battalion commander finished speaking, the entire threshing floor was still silent and without any movement.
"Why, you didn't understand? Do you want me to say it again? Or you all contacted the Eighth Route Army and all the food was given to the Eighth Route Army!" Everyone's reaction made the puppet battalion commander very angry and shouted with a frown.
This time, there was finally movement in front of me!
An old commoner stood up and said: "Sir, I am the head of this village. To be honest, although today's grain harvest is bumper, the whole village only has more than a thousand acres of land. If half of the grain is given away,
The Imperial Army, there is simply not enough food left for everyone to eat until next autumn’s harvest!”
"I hope that the chief can be accommodating and allow Taijun to harvest less grain from us. Even if one acre of land is harvested less than ten kilograms of grain, the whole village of Gaojia'ao will be grateful to the chief!"
The harvested food will be the army's rations for the next year.
If you take too little, you will definitely be the one who will be hungry. The puppet battalion commander refused without thinking.
"No, one acre of land has 50 kilograms of grain, a total of 80,000 kilograms of grain. You can't miss even one kilogram of grain!"
For the sake of food, the puppet battalion commander also became ruthless at this time and directly threatened: "Give everyone a minute to think about it. If there is no movement yet, then don't blame us for being polite and go directly to the village to find food yourself!"
"The food must be all in the village. If the imperial army is allowed to do it themselves, the imperial army will definitely take away more than 80,000 kilograms of food. You must think carefully!"
Seeing that everyone had not responded, the puppet battalion commander continued to threaten: "I know that some of you must have been instigated by the Eighth Route Army and hid all the food. But I want to tell you, this time the imperial army came to ask for food and it was not just talk.
It is said above that the imperial army will never give up without getting the food, and everyone can see from the current posture of the imperial army. For the sake of food, if the food cannot be taken away, the imperial army will definitely kill people!"
"We are all Chinese. I don't want any of you to be killed by the imperial army just for a little food. So, I hope you will consider it carefully."
The Japanese captain seemed to understand the last threat from the puppet battalion commander.
As soon as he finished speaking, he said something in the guard's ear.
Then four Japanese soldiers rushed into the encirclement, used bayonets to forcibly capture two women carrying children, and then pointed the black muzzles at their heads.
"Taijun, please calm down. Let's prepare food now. They are all women and children. They have never seen the world and will be frightened. Please let them go!" Everyone's dream of reducing the food tax standard was shattered.
The old village chief was also frightened by the Japanese arresting people as soon as they arrived, so he quickly stood up and answered.
"Yo Xi!" The tense expression on the Japs Captain's face quickly relaxed. With a wave of his hand, the four Japs exited the encirclement.
The grain was all prepared in advance. It took less than half an hour to pile 80,000 kilograms of grain onto the threshing floor, which was as high as a hill.
"Taijun, 80,000 kilograms of grain is just a little more than that. It has just been harvested. However, if you want to transport all this grain back in big trucks, you will need at least fifty big trucks."
"Contact the garrison at the stronghold and go to the baggage force to deploy fifty big baggage trucks to transport food!" The captain, who had not expected that the entire operation would go so smoothly, made a decision immediately after being shocked.
Then he continued: "The task given to me by the brigade headquarters is 1.5 million kilograms of grain, and the gap is still very big. I decided that today we will continue our efforts and capture another village!"
"The first squadron of the first squadron will stay. Wang Sang, one of your men will stay behind to protect the food!"
"When the carts of the baggage troops arrive, protect the baggage troops to transport the food back to the stronghold, and then protect the baggage troops to join me in the next village!"
"Also, the Eighth Route Army is likely to send troops to attack us and take back the food. Therefore, these Chinese people cannot be released until the food is transported. They are all gathered here to serve as our hostages!"
On the top of a mountain ridge one kilometer away, Xiong Changhe was holding a telescope and staring motionlessly at the threshing floor at the entrance of the village.
The main force of the Japanese army retreated, while the remaining troops continued to stare at the villagers and protect the food...
Xiong Changhe saw everything clearly.
"Battal Commander, there are only more than a hundred Japanese and puppet troops left, and most of them are puppet troops. Why don't you rush over now, kill them, take back the food, and rescue the people!" There must be impulsive subordinates under the impulsive commander.
.Compared with Xiong Changhe, the fighting character of the commander of the first battalion and the first company is almost the same!
After understanding Wang Ping's thoughts on this battle, Xiong Changhe no longer had the previous impulse.
He glared at the other party fiercely and cursed: "What if you accidentally injure the common people? Are you here to apologize for the common people's lives?"
"When they were robbing food in the village, the Japanese came back and thought that the people in the village had something to do with the food being robbed. They asked the people again what they should do if they wanted food."
"This..." The first company commander was asked directly and was speechless.
But after hesitating for a moment, he still frowned and asked: "Batalion Commander, when will we attack and get the food back?"
"Wait, the reconnaissance team has been out for two hours, and news should come back soon. As soon as the reconnaissance team comes back, we will start taking action!"
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