The duel was fought in front of Commander Zhao's grave, and 100 villagers from Yezhuyu, dozens of cadres and staff members of the county and township governments, as well as comrades from the Provincial Foreign Affairs Office and more than a dozen elderly men and women from the Japanese search group gathered around to watch.

Not only were there living onlookers, but Ono Jun's skeleton and Commander Zhao's heroic spirit were silently watching this duel that spanned centuries and was seventy years late.

The sword used by Hashimoto Takayoshi is a family heirloom sword, his grandfather used this knife in the Russo-Japanese War, his father also used this knife when he was a guard captain at the South Manchurian Railway Co., Ltd., and later this sword called Takanomaru was passed to Takayoshi, and he traveled to the Chinese battlefield with him, beheading one anti-Japanese element after another, and Commander Zhao died under this knife.

Ono looked solemn, took out sake and white silk to help his adoptive father wipe Tachibana no Maru, the crisp wine flowed through the blade, and the round liquid beads rolled down the sharp blade, Hashimoto Takayoshi showed a sacred color, wiped the knife with white silk, and recited a mournful Japanese tune in his throat. The group of Japanese looked at their elders with reverence and remained silent.

Hashimoto is already a dying old man who is nearly 100 years old, but at this time he miraculously stood up, and walked a few steps steadily, Ono pious helped him take off his suit, untie his tie, roll up his cuffs, and tie a white cloth belt painted with the rising sun on his forehead, the old Hashimoto held a cold and shining knife in one hand, stood straight, let the mountain wind blow the placket, his expression was impassioned, at this moment he seemed to return to seventy years ago, he was still a high-spirited military police captain, wearing a yellow tweed Zhao Wu military uniform, white gloves, yellow riding boots, The blue knife belt is majestic and heroic.

Over there, Lao Chengtou took off his bare sheepskin jacket, revealing a close-fitting white cloth shirt, a big black belt wrapped around his waist, crotch-free pants and black cloth shoes, and a big knife brushed a knife flower in his hand.

A burst of passionate singing rang out, "The big knife is cut down on the head of the devils, the brothers of the armed forces of the whole country, the day of the war of resistance has come!" It was Liu Ziguang who led the group to sing, at this time he had completely become a spectator, not that he didn't want to make a move, but that he felt that this duel belonged to the old man, and he should not and was not qualified to interfere.

With the singing, there seemed to be a fire burning in the hearts of every Chinese present, and some young people from the county and township governments also sang along, only Secretary Zhang and Deputy County Governor Tang showed displeasure on their faces, they have always been the focus of attention and were ignored on such occasions, but there was no way but to try to suppress their anger and think about how to deal with the aftermath.

At the beginning of the duel, the lame Hashimoto Takayoshi did not at all look like a disabled person, not even like an old man who was nearly a hundred years old, but like a mad devil, he held his katana in both hands, and rushed at his opponent with a fearless attitude like his comrades in Mukden, at Lugou Bridge, in Nanjing, in Changsha, in Guadalcanel and Iwo Jima.

Lao Chengtou's majesty has not diminished, he shouted and waved his knife to meet him, the two knives collided together, and the stainless steel katana made by the Japanese master who has been handed down for hundreds of years and the ghost head knife made by the crude blacksmith shop in the mountains rubbed countless dazzling sparks, and the onlookers exclaimed, this is not a scene in the movie, but a real cold weapon duel.

The bridge itself, which has been in a wheelchair all the year round, has long been chaff, and after a few rounds of stormy attacks, he is a little tired, holding Tachibanaru panting, and there is a used syringe in his shirt pocket, no one knows that Old Hashimoto's strength comes from a drug injection that he secretly took just now.

The struggle of the dying beast is dangerous and deadly, but after all, it can't fight the experienced old hunter, and the wild boars in the mountains are not a problem, not to mention a dying old man, after the teasing Hashimoto was out of breath, the old Cheng turned the back of the knife and knocked it on Hashimoto's wrist, Tachibana no Maru came out of his hand, and was copied by him in his hand, and the two knives were raised simultaneously: "Hashimoto, surrender!" ”

Hashimoto scolded: "Yaga! Still swooping up, Lao Chengtou passed by him, and gently slashed his chest with a captured Japanese knife, and then the two stood with their backs to each other, and there was silence around them.

The white shirt on Hashimoto's chest was cut open, and he who was still like a demon just now became extremely calm at the moment, from the war madman Hashimoto Shaosa to the familiar old Mr. Hashimoto.

He asked calmly: "Cheng Sang, I know that you are a sharpshooter in my head, but you hit me in the thigh?" ”

Lao Chengtou said: "I lost your egg and hit your head again, but I hit the leg by mistake, a coward like you who kills women and children is not worthy of being a grandfather." ”

Takayoshi Hashimoto suddenly realized and bowed slightly: "Ariado, mine understands." Then a stream of bloody arrows flew out of his chest, and the whole person knelt on the ground, facing Commander Zhao's tombstone, and his facial features began to slowly stiffen.

Hashimoto died, at the hands of the old partisans, in front of the enemy who had haunted him all his life.

Ono ploughed and fell to his knees, crying bitterly, and other Japanese also knelt down, but the Chinese present were silent, each with their own hearts, Lao Chengtou killed a Japanese friend, this is a foreign-related criminal case, the above blame down, from the leaders to the spectators, no one can get out of the matter.

……

Secretary Zhang didn't say a word, and took the county leadership team to turn around and leave, leaving only the head of Gao Township and the county public security director to carry out the aftermath work, the police of the county bureau wanted to handcuff Lao Chengtou and pull him away, and Lao Chengtou was also willing to bow to the law, but the villagers of Wild Boar Yu disagreed, it was natural to kill people to pay off debts and pay money, if Lao Chengtou should give Hashimoto the old devil his life, then what about the hundreds of lives that Hashimoto owed before? Could it be that it is written off?

The comrades of the county public security bureau could not convince these law-blind people even if they said it bluntly, and they did not dare to forcibly lead people, but they could see that there were more than a dozen strong stick boys among the villagers with fierce eyes and wooden sticks and shovels in their hands.

Surprisingly, Ono did not take Hashimoto's body away, but knelt on Lao Cheng's face and kowtowed politely, saying Please take care of my father's corpse, when I heard the translation, everyone's eyes were going to pop out, what do the Japanese want to do, leave the old devil's body and don't be afraid of the village dog to cut it?

Lao Chengtou nodded solemnly and agreed: "You can rest assured that you will go back, I will not mess with the corpse, so I will bury him in front of Commander Zhao's grave." ”

Ono Komto again, and then put the skeleton of his biological father Ono Jun into a plastic bag and carried it away, and the police of the county bureau also left the Wild Boar Valley after receiving the assurance of Lao Chengtou, and the small mountain village that had been noisy for a day finally returned to calm.

The dusty memories were awakened, and the villagers solemnly set up a table in front of the graves of the slaughtered ancestors, offering wine and food and three incense sticks to the deceased, and at the same time, the body of Takayoshi Hashimoto was placed in front of the offering table, and Lao Chengtou held a bowl of spirits and tears in his eyes: "Lord, mother, big, dog baby, copper lock, Xiuxiu, I will avenge you today!" ”

After that, a bowl of wine was spilled on the ground, and all the villagers also cried, Liu Ziguang and others stood solemnly, and they also stepped forward to salute their ancestors with a bowl of wine, this is a rare patriotic education, the young men no longer laughed and played foul words, but their eyes were solemn, their manners were decent, and they seemed to be immersed in the earth-shattering feat of the old man Cheng's sword.

Liu Ziguang said to Lao Chengtou: "Old man, don't worry, everything has me." ”

Lao Chengtou smiled freely and said: "I have a clear conscience, I don't care if the township and county judge me, anyway, the revenge of the villagers and Commander Zhao has been avenged, even if I die, I have the face to see them." ”

Someone proposed to throw the body of the old devil of Hashimoto to the wild dog, and said that the *** head should be chopped off and placed on the offering table in front of Commander Zhao's grave, but Lao Chengtou just said lightly: "When the person dies, the account is settled, I promised that people would not abuse the corpse, and it doesn't count if you can't talk." ”

So everyone's respect for Lao Chengtou deepened.

Without further ado, Liu Ziguang led the brothers out of the mountains overnight, back to Jiangbei City to help contact friends in the media and judicial circles, they first rushed to Tianjie Township, and then took a car to the county seat, on the winding mountain road saw more than ten pillars of light shining on the opposite side, only to find that it was the county public security police car, and a green truck, which was full of armed policemen with loaded guns.

"It's not good, they're going to catch Old Man Cheng!" Zhuo Li slammed on the brakes and stopped on the side of the road, and was about to hit the steering wheel to go back, but was stopped by Liu Ziguang.

"What do you want to do?"

"Go back and save people!"

"Look clearly, this is the armed police, a whole car of eighty-one bars! It's up to a few of us to save it! Even if you are rescued, what can you do, let the old man follow you to the end of the world! ”

Zhuo Li hated the steering wheel and said, "Then see if they can arrest people?" ”

Liu Ziguang said: "The old man is above board, and he is not afraid of shadows, so I have to poke him into the sky to see who can't hold on." ”

……

Returning to Jiangbei overnight, Liu Ziguang took stock of his network, but sadly found that there were few that could really come in handy, Jiang Xueqing was just a celebrity on the city's TV station, Li Kun was only a developer in a small place, and he only had tens of millions of liquid funds in his hands, Song Jianfeng was a business-like and law-enforcing person, and there was definitely no hope of looking for him, and Mayor Zhou is now Director Zhou, which is useless, the only reliable point is Deputy Commander Luo of the Military Region, but that is the relationship between Uncle Guo, and he can't speak.

The next day, Liu Ziguang arranged a lawyer and called Zhou Wen again, who said that the public security went into the mountains last night to detain Lao Chengtou, and he is now in the county detention center, Lao Hashimoto's body was also taken to the county hospital for an autopsy, and the expert group of the Provincial Public Security Department and the Municipal Public Security Bureau was already on the way.

Liu Ziguang said: "Zhou Wen, you help me think of a way, no matter what, you have to keep this old anti-Japanese hero." ”

Zhou Wen said: "It's difficult, he killed foreigners, and the people from the provincial department intervened, and this is not the most fatal." ”

Liu Ziguang asked: "What is the most fatal?" ”

Zhou Wen sighed: "When he did this, he slapped Secretary Zhang in the face in public, no matter what the court's verdict is, Lao Chengtou doesn't want to spend his old age in peace, you may not have heard a famous sentence of Secretary Zhang, whoever makes him uncomfortable for a while, he will make whoever is uncomfortable for a lifetime." ”

Liu Ziguang said: "Who does he think he is? The Empress Dowager Cixi has the capital to say such a thing, what qualifications does he, a district and county official, have to say such cruel words. ”

Zhou Wen smiled bitterly: "In Nantai County, Secretary Zhang's authority is greater than that of the Empress Dowager Cixi. ”