For seven or eight days, there was an endless stream of carts from villages in Qingle County to the county seat to receive grain, and the Japanese army also used trains to transport grain to the freight yard. Although most of the grain transported in the later period is miscellaneous grains, and even mixed with a lot of bean dregs and wheat bran for feeding livestock, in the year of poor harvest, you can survive if you can stutter, who cares whether the food is eaten by people or chewed by horses?

Perhaps in order to reflect the fair attitude of a bowl of water, whenever the grain transported was mixed with wheat bran and bean dregs, the Japanese soldiers in charge of distributing the grain would relax the amount of food distributed, and sometimes they would give a few Japanese tickets to the village leaders who came to receive the grain with their fellow villagers, and kindly told them that they could use these Japanese tickets to buy foreign fire, foreign oil, fine cloth, and refined salt in the newly opened shop next to the Japanese military police headquarters in Qingle County!

In addition to distributing food to the villagers, the Japanese army also took it seriously to set up maintenance associations in the villages. After the principals of each village received the grain with the villagers, a newly made big wooden plaque would immediately be put on the grain cart by the white leper and the soldiers of the Imperial Army. The ink on the wooden sign is written on the words of the maintenance association of a certain village, which is obviously the handwriting of the shopkeeper who was forcibly arrested by the Japanese army to deal with the errand.

In the villages that received the signs, within two days, there will definitely be soldiers of the Imperial Association Army leading the way, leading the Japanese army into the village on the 35th and 50th. After entering the village, the Japanese soldiers who had always killed people and set fire to steal food had all changed their appearance. Instead of checking the population, as the village leaders feared, they scattered and wandered around the village. In addition to the officers who led the team, the Japanese soldiers who were usually fierce and vicious either took out handfuls of candy wrapped in colorful green candy paper from their pockets and stuffed them into the hands of the children, or rushed to help the villagers in the village carry water and chop firewood. Although the language is incomprehensible, it can be seen that people bow deeply, but it is very much that those who rarely go out of the village subconsciously bow and return the courtesy......

Coincidentally, Jiro Yukikure and Masao Iwasato, who led the team into the village, also had a kind smile on their faces. After finding the principal characters in the village, he responded with polite greetings freely, and the piggybackers also personally helped to hang the signboards of the maintenance associations brought back by the villages to the door of the ancestral halls of each village, and then pulled the principals of the villages who did not dare to dodge and could not dodge to take a photo, and then went home after bowing politely for a while.

In addition, all the villages received two gongs and seven or eight white cloth armbands with the word "maintenance meeting" written on them from Iwasato Masao, who had broken into the village. Although Iwasato Masao explained with a smile that the village maintenance associations would sound the gong to warn them after seeing the Eighth Route Army, and then send those maintenance committee members wearing white armbands to the nearest turret to report the news, the principals of each village all saw the deep murderous intent behind that smiling face from Iwasato Masao's smiling face......

- When receiving food, almost everyone saw seven or eight corpses that had been blown to pieces with tall wooden poles. According to the words of the Japanese, if you become a Shunmin, you will naturally be able to receive food, but if you dare to play tricks and play tricks on the Japanese behind your back, it can only be a dead end! If you don't believe me, these laborers who secretly sift grain from the sand are role models!

Although everyone understands that the Japanese trick is to give a stick first and then two sweet dates, but looking at the corpses that were blown to pieces, and then touching the bulging grain bags that were transported back to his home in a cart, Fang Laoqi, who was in charge of the barnyard kiln, still muttered in his heart......

If you think about it carefully, the barnyard kiln is not a village at all. There are seven or eight households, less than 30 people, and they rely on those palm-sized stone fields outside the village to grow some crops to survive. After working hard in the fields all year round, I don't get as much serious food as the barnyard that grows. There are not many people in the village who can live in a grass house, and more than half of the people can only live in the shallow cave dug out of the mountain, so they got the place name of the barnyard kiln.

When receiving food, Fang Lao, who was timid and cowardly on weekdays, bit his teeth more than ten times, and then he had the courage to report the household registration of 20 households and the number of 60 people, and used the only big car in the village to run several times to bring back the grain. The thirty people in the whole village were divided according to the number of people, and Fang Laoqi didn't care about the villagers at all, but only cared about carrying the grain allocated to his own name back to his own very dilapidated grass house.

Looking at the grain that Fang Laoqi carried back, Fang Laoqi's daughter-in-law suddenly got out of the dirty quilt on the kang, and shouted to Fang Laoqi with bright eyes: "Have you brought back all the grain?" What kind of food did we get? ”

Taking a heavy breath, Fang Laoqi reached out and grabbed a gourd and gourd scoop from the missing water tank, scooped a full scoop of cold water into his stomach, and then whispered to his daughter-in-law: "I don't want food, all the wheat bran that I exchange with others!" ”

Surprised, her mouth grew up, and the daughter-in-law of Fang's old family suddenly shouted in a thin voice: "What? Wheat bran? On weekdays, you can't play a stuffy fart with three bars, and you are also confused at this juncture?! What else do you think you can do?! Why can everyone share the grain, but our family can only get wheat bran? No, you can get me food back! You don't want me to go quickly......"

pushed aside the daughter-in-law who pounced and tore him, Fang Laoqi reached out and scooped another scoop of water to his mouth: "You know a fart!" According to the number of people, a person can eat a maximum of 20 catties of food, even if he boils thin soup every day, how many days can he eat? can be replaced with wheat bran, even if it is mixed with some serious grain to make wheat bran dry food, it is enough for our family to eat for a long time! The girl is in charge of the house, you can't count this little account, you can breathe more than a blowtorch, and there is no use for it! ”

asked Fang Laoqi to ridicule a few words fiercely, and the daughter-in-law of Fang Laoqi's family, who was pushed to the side, was very unconvinced and whispered: "Didn't you say it, can the Japanese still distribute food later?" Besides, the sign in front of our house is hung in vain? Give them the Japanese to carry the work, and they don't want to pay the wages? Didn't the Japanese say when they came to our village that as long as they saw the Eighth Road, they would strike the gong, and then put on the armbands and go to the fort near the left, and they would give a lot of rewards! ”

Pouting disdainfully, Fang Lao drank half a scoop of water in his hand in one gulp, and then wiped his mouth with the dirty sleeve: "You believe what the Japanese say?" People have guns in their hands, and they said that they will send you food today, and tomorrow they will turn their faces and deny their accounts, and you can still bite people?! When I saw the eighth road, I struck the gong and went to the turret to report the news...... Why don't you have a gun in your hand? When I went to Tujia Village to hold a meeting of 100 villages, I saw it with my own eyes, and people also had machine guns and box guns in their hands! ”

"So what can we do? Or...... I took off the sign of the maintenance meeting, so as not to let the eight roads see it and cause trouble again? ”

"What are you picking?! This maintenance meeting, Balu knew about it early in the morning. Although he didn't say anything in the explanation, it was secretly a matter of opening one eye and closing one eye. As long as you don't really help the Japanese on errands, you won't be too lazy to take care of it......"

As if he felt that he was talking too much, Fang Laoqi casually threw the gourd scoop into the half-empty water tank beside him: "Why am I talking to your old lady?" Hurry up and cook the pot! After this whole day's hard work, I didn't hit my teeth, and I was so hungry that my heart was close to my back! ”

Seeing his daughter-in-law obediently squatting behind the stove to light the fire, Fang Laoqi, who had been tired for a day, casually pushed the dirty quilt on the kang to the corner of the kang, and then lazily leaned on the pile of quilts: "The way of this world...... Whoever has a gun in his hand is the uncle, and no one can afford to offend! Anyway, when we see everyone, everyone will lose their smiling faces, and no one will be offended, so that this day can be a little cleaner...... After eating in a while, take the guy who is doing the work and go out with me! ”

Squinting at her eyes that were smoked with tears from the smoke of firewood and grass, Fang Lao's daughter-in-law raised her head in surprise: "What are you doing when you go out after eating?" On this cold day and dark night, there is no work in the field? ”

"There's nothing else in your head, it's all wheat bran! Don't leave food at home, hide it outside! Otherwise...... Even if the devil doesn't rob and doesn't levy the eight roads, then the people in the village come to the door to borrow food, what else can you say? If you don't borrow it, it can't be said, but if you borrow it, it hurts, but it's better to have nothing at home, and no one can pick up a drop of oil and water......"

Before he finished speaking, a series of chaotic footsteps sounded outside the door. didn't wait for Fang Laoqi, who heard the footsteps, to stand up from the kang, and a voice with a lowered voice came from outside the door: "Fellow, open the door!" ”

As if a scorpion had stung his buttocks, Fang Lao suddenly jumped up from the kang, and rushed to the next to a few pockets of wheat bran that were still in the middle of the house, and while playfully dragging a few bags of wheat bran towards the pile of firewood and grass piled up in the corner of the house, he answered the door with a trembling voice: "Who ...... Who? ”

was still holding his voice down, and the voice outside the door was obviously a little kind: "We are the Eighth Route Army, and we went on a mission overnight, and we got lost here!" Fellow, please open the door and let us come in to rest and drink saliva? ”

Frantically stuffing a few bags of wheat bran into the firewood and straw pile in the corner, Fang Lao twisted his head and whispered to the door: "This dark night...... Who knows who called the door...... Ladies and gentlemen outside the door, I, a poor family, don't even have a place to put my feet in, or ...... You're tired of walking a few miles to the south, where the village is big and you can find a place to rest and eat......."

It seemed that he didn't expect Fang Laoqi to ask himself to eat a closed door, the lowered voice outside the door hesitated for a moment, and then opened his mouth again: "If it's inconvenient for fellow villagers, we won't force it!" It's just that...... Look at the chimney in your house is smoking, should you be cooking in a pot? Let's bring some fine grain here, so I borrowed a fire from your fellow villager to make porridge and drink? Don't use your firewood in vain, let's give money! ”

As if he was afraid that Fang Laoqi would not believe what he said, the crack in the door shook slightly, and a shiny ocean had been thrown in through the crack in the door, and it happened to roll to Fang Laoqi's feet......

Picking up the ocean that rolled to his feet in disbelief, Fang Lao bit the ocean hard, looked at the clear gums left on the ocean, and then looked at his daughter-in-law who was squatting behind the stove and looked at the wheat bran porridge that had just boiled in the cauldron, gritted his teeth fiercely, walked to the door in two steps, and removed the deadbolt in three or two......

With a cold wind crashing into the room that was not too big, several strong men with five short statures standing outside the door also flashed into the house with agility, but forced Fang Laomi, who was standing at the door, to take several steps back one after another, and staggered and sat on the kang.

The backhand closed the door that was very leaky, and a strong man with a short figure who walked at the end scanned the room that was not too big at all, and after confirming that there were only Fang Laoqi and Fang Laoqi's daughter-in-law squatting behind the stove with a frightened look on her face, he took two steps forward and stood uprightly in front of Fang Laoqi, who was sitting on the edge of the kang.

Although it is already dark, the poor family has no habit of lighting the lamp at all, and has always been on the kang when it is dark, and it can be regarded as accumulating some lamp oil.

With the faint light of the fire shining from the stove, Fang Laoqi looked at the five short-sized strong men who stood in front of him with some horror, and whispered in a trembling voice: "This ...... This good man ......."

Facing the frightened Fang Lao, the strong man who obviously had a foreign accent and was wearing an old Eighth Route military uniform said in a low voice: "Fellow, don't be afraid!" We are the Eighth Route Army...... We don't bully the common people! ”

Nodding subconsciously, Fang Lao supported himself on the edge of the kang and hugged his fist towards the strong man who spoke to him: "Yes, yes...... I've seen the Eighth Road, your Eighth Road Commander Li, and Captain Li of the Qingle County Martial Arts Team, I've seen them all, they are all kind people, don't bully our people! What are you doing....... Where's the fight? ”

A glimmer of light flashed in his eyes, and the strong man with a short figure replied with a low smile: "We are going to Qingle County to carry out a mission, and it was dark and we took the wrong path, so we broke here." Fellow, what is this place? Have any of our other comrades been here? ”

Although the strong man didn't answer the question, he didn't hear anything strange at all, but he just took care of himself and answered the words of the strong man: "This is a barnyard kiln, the place is too small, and you haven't been here for eight ways." But when I went to Tujia Village to attend the Hundred Villages Conference, I saw your Commander Li.......

With a look of doubt on his face, the five-short-stature sturdy man asked in a low voice, "Have you seen our Commander Li?" Can't you? Where did you see Commander Lee? What does Commander Lee look like? ”

"Isn't that still in Tujia Village? You Commander Li are ......."

Halfway through the words, Fang Laoqi suddenly closed his mouth, and changed the topic with a smile: "I just took a few looks from afar, I really don't remember what Commander Li looks like!" You're still in a hurry on this dark day, I'm afraid you're hungry and thirsty, right? I'm going to cook for you......."

Almost rushing to the stove, Fang Lao stared at his daughter-in-law who was squatting behind the stove: "What are you doing sitting stupidly?" Why don't you go out and get some hard firewood and come back to light the fire? When I went to the big bolt's house next door, I said that there was a distinguished guest at home, and asked the big bolt's house to take out the white flour to make dry food! ”

Looking at Fang Laoqi who was blinking at him in confusion, Fang Laoqi's daughter-in-law slowly stood up in confusion: "In this dark day, where can I go to hold hard firewood?" This is next door....... Isn't the Fang Erhe family next door? Who is the big plug in his family? ”

Closing his eyes in despair, a thick wry smile suddenly appeared on Fang Lao's deflated face: "You stupid old lady....... It's really full of wheat bran in the melon seeds in my head......."

As soon as the words fell, a cold barrel had already slammed into the back of Fang Lao's head. Before Fang Lao's daughter-in-law screamed, two strong men with short stature had already pounced on the stove and unceremoniously pressed Fang Lao's daughter-in-law face down to the ground......