Chapter 5: On the Front Line (Part 4)

The wild lamb meat smells very strong, and when chewed in the mouth, it reveals a strong oily aroma. It's very delicious, and it has a slight salty taste, which makes everyone smile. What's even happier is that there is such a guy as Hu Fengshou who is good at hunting in the team, at least there is no need to worry about food supply in a short time. The possibility of success of the entire rescue operation has increased invisibly, and the mountain road is no longer so boring.

"Wild lamb meat isn't the best yet!" Consciously showing a big face, Hu Fengshou walked and whispered to everyone to show off his rich hunting knowledge, "There is a bird in our hometown that looks as big as our fists. The weight is no more, no less, just half a catty. We all call it stupid! I am particularly frightened, but I don't know how to see the road when I take off. He often hits the trunk of a tree head-on. When I was very young, I used to go with my eldest brother and second brother to look for their nests, and when I found them, I drove them into the woods. You don't even have to hit them with slingshots, just wait for them to hit the trees on their own! ”

"Just blow it!" Everyone didn't believe Hu Fengshou's words at all, it was obvious that if there were such stupid birds in the world, they would have been caught and extinct. Hu Fengshou died to the end, holding his neck, and protested in a low voice: "You haven't been to my house, how do you know if you haven't?" Back then, Lao Tzu followed Ji Daring to ...... in Chabei" (Note 1)

As if he had violated some taboo, the battalion commander Gou pricked up his eyes, and his gaze was as cold as ice in a winter morning. The second half of Hu Fengshou's words were stared back into his stomach, he lowered his head, and muttered unconvinced: "I just said that there is a stupid half-catty in our hometown, and I didn't mention anything else!" Besides, we were fighting devils back then, not ......"

"Go ahead of your head, and then be foolish, be careful to attract the devil!" The officer Lao Gou glared at Hu Fengshou fiercely again, and shouted angrily in a low voice.

Hu Fengshou shrugged his shoulders and ran to the front of the line with dried mutton on his back. Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling also suffered from the pond fish because they were too close to Hu Fengshou, and they were rewarded by the battalion elder Gou alone, and ordered in a low voice: "Eat, you know how to eat." When you have diarrhea after eating, you don't have to save people. Let me go to explore the way, and by the way, learn a few real skills from Lao Hu! ”

Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling looked at each other aggrievedly, and went to chase Hu Fengshou with their companions. The three of them formed a vanguard, and slowly slipped down the hill along the path of herding sheep in a zigzag shape, walking and walking, Hu Fengshou suddenly made another gesture and quickly squatted behind a big stone.

"What's it again?!" Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling rolled to the same boulder, and then probed their heads and looked out. The path made a sharp 90-degree bend in front of it, turning from south to north. Along the right side of the road, a wide broken slope appeared. And under the broken slope, there was a faint cry.

"It's a little devil!" Hu Fengshou's face became extremely hideous because of anger, "It's harming the people, you two don't move here, I'll take a look at the slope!" ”

"Hmm!" Shi Liangcai and Zhang Songling nodded in agreement, set up the box cannon, and were ready to provide cover for Hu Fengshou at any time. The latter, like a leopard, crawled out from behind the boulder with his hands and feet, quickly approached the broken slope, grabbed the branches of a low wild apricot, and slowly poked out half of his head.

In the direction of the broken slope is a large village. Hu Fengshou hurriedly glanced at it and saw more than a dozen rows of courtyards. They are all typical Hebei houses, with each household facing south, and the horizontal width of the house is much greater than the longitudinal depth. There are a lot of vegetable beds in the yard, and the green leaves are verdant.

When he was supposed to hide under the cucumber stand to escape the heat, there was no one in the yard. All the villagers were running towards the north entrance of the village, carrying large bags and small wrappers and carrying pots and pans. At the south entrance of the village, there were three devil soldiers, carrying the chickens and ducks they had just snatched, with flat-ended bayonets, shouting and chasing after them. They were all elated, as if they were playing a very interesting game.

Among the villagers, there are many sturdy men, some carrying sacks on their backs, some carrying cabinets on their shoulders, and some even carrying iron pots for cooking. The bits and pieces of the whole body added up to hundreds of pounds, and they didn't slow down their escape at all. And those women and children who are relatively thin are crying and holding men's hands, lest their husbands or fathers see them as a burden and throw themselves to the three little devils behind at the critical moment.

"Which one is the little devil singing again?" I don't know when, the battalion commander Gou has sneaked to Hu Fengshou's side, patted the latter's shoulder, and asked in a low voice.

"See for yourself!" Hu Fengshou twisted his face to the side and responded in a trembling voice.

The battalion commander didn't have time to pay attention to the other party's tone, poked his head and quickly looked down the broken slope. I just saw a devil catch up with the elderly villager who had fallen behind, and without mercy, he stabbed the bayonet in the back.

"Ahh The devil laughed and overtook him, and the blood on the bayonet was dazzling.

"Grandma's!" The battalion commander Gou poked out the box cannon and wanted to give the little devil a shuttle. But after estimating the distance between the two sides, he gritted his teeth and retracted the box cannon. It's too far, beyond the effective range of the box gun, and shooting rashly will not only not kill the devil, but will reveal everyone's whereabouts.

"Those cowards!" The object of Hu Fengshou's anger was not Lao Gou, but the men who fled for their lives at the north entrance of the village. No less than fifty sturdy men, even if each of them took off their pants to pee, they drowned three little devils. But they actually allowed their fathers and villagers who had fallen behind to be stabbed with bayonets by devils, and no one dared to look back.

"You, Lao Zhu and Lao Huang, went around the front and ambushed on the side of the road. Take advantage of the little devil's inattention and catch him off guard! "The battalion commander Gou estimated the comparison of the strength of the enemy and us, and quickly made a decision." I took the others straight down from here and blocked the little devil in the back. If you can do without guns, try not to use them. Lest you summon a large army of devils! ”

"Hey!" Hu Fengshou agreed, bent over, and quickly ran down the sheep grazing path. Zhu Laofu'er and Huang Xiaomao followed. Watching the backs of the three disappear from the next bend in the path, Lao Gou untied his backpack and took out a dirty rope from inside.

Shi Liangcai silently ran forward and helped Lao Gou tie one end of the rope to the root of a wild tree with a thick bowl. Then he pulled hard a few times, and did not feel the loosening of the roots, so he quietly threw the rope down the broken slope.

The slope is steep and covered with a variety of wild trees and grasses, making it very lush. The devil soldiers were busy chasing the people again, and no one found the ropes hanging down. Silently counting the hundreds and tens, and making sure that the little devil had no time to take care of this side, the officer Lao Gou thrust the box cannon into his waist, grabbed the rope, and ran down like a tanuki.

A few frightened wild pigeons flapped their wings and flew into the sky, screaming loudly from their mouths. But their voices were so small that they were nowhere near the cries of the north entrance of the village. The three devil soldiers did not feel the danger at all, and continued to run after the villagers with bayonets and sheep.

"Keep up!" Shi Liangcai saw that Lao Gou had dived safely to the bottom of the slope, grabbed the rope, and the second one flipped down. Several other team members silently followed, and one by one they disappeared from the broken slope. Zhang Songling was arranged in the last position, looked down a few times, held his breath, and quickly slipped down the rope.

A few bushes of unknown wild trees and countless piles of gray-white guano flashed past their eyes, followed by patches of gray-green moss. Further down, he saw a frightened viper, poking its triangular head out of the burrow, hissing and spitting its core at it. Before he could be afraid, the poisonous snake had disappeared from his eyes, and Shi Liangcai reached out his arm from behind and held him firmly in his arms. "Be careful, don't make a fuss!"

Zhang Songling nodded vigorously, turned around, and gave Shi Liangcai a grateful glance. The group crept silently along the wild trees under the broken slope to the village, past a dense sorghum field and then a green watermelon field. The fellows who hid in the melon shed had already seen them, and they were so frightened that they covered their mouths with their hands, and cold sweat was rolling on their foreheads.

Zhang Songling glanced at this person with disdain, followed in the footsteps of this companion, and continued to touch behind the devil. Several times, he thought that the devils had discovered the group, but it turned out to be a false alarm. These beastly inferior things are completely immersed in chasing and killing, unaware of the threat coming from behind.

The ranks of villagers who had fled up the mountain road suddenly stopped, and then dispersed in a hurry. Several middle-aged women with small feet were crushed by their own people and fell on the stones on the side of the road, their heads bleeding. If the devil soldier swoops over like a fishy fly when he smells fish, his mouth will let out a beastly grin. The next moment, Hu Fengshou's figure suddenly emerged from behind another stone, and the dagger was as fast as lightning.

In an instant, a ghost soldier who was running at the front was wiped out of his neck. A fountain of blood splattered out of the old high. Another devil soldier picked up a bayonet and stabbed Hu Fengshou. Before his arm could exert his strength, Zhu Laofu's dagger flew over and hit him in the throat.

"Ahh The last ghost soldier was completely frightened, dropped the chicken and duck hanging on the gun, turned around and ran wildly. "Give it to me!" Shi Liangcai strode up to meet him, flew up with a kick, and kicked the devil's 38 big cover away. Then he grabbed the little devil's arm and pulled it hard, threw the other party up directly, and threw it heavily on the stone on the side of the road.

"Poof!" The devil soldier opened his mouth and spurted blood. Shi Liangcai stepped on it again, crushing the person's throat directly into the trachea.

Note 1: Ji Da'er, Ji Hongchang's nickname. Feng Yuxiang's old department, in 1933, organized the Chahar People's Anti-Japanese Allied Army, and recovered Duolun, Baochang and other places from the Japanese invaders. Subsequently, the Kuomintang central government joined forces with the Japanese army to exterminate it on the grounds of violating the national policy. After the remnants were absorbed, about a division of troops was transferred to Sun Lianzhong's command. In 1934, Ji Hongchang was arrested in the French Concession and soon taken to Beiping, where he was shot for treason.