On the first night of the Lantern Festival, the clock just struck 12 times, and in a small village in the west of Lin'an City, everything was silent.

Due to the invasion of the Japanese invaders, the precious gunpowder needed to be used to make mines and explosives packages, coupled with the chaos of the war and the panic, the situation of firecrackers set off by every household during the ordinary Spring Festival was almost extinct.

Several black-clothed people walked into the village, and several vigilant earth dogs at the entrance of the village barked wildly, and the person leading the way in front whispered to the people who followed: "Mr. Du, the two commissioners have been waiting for a long time, please here!" ”

"Quick, keep up!" Lieutenant Colonel Du Ziqi, chief of staff of the Intelligence Section of the New Second Army, tightened his padded jacket and whispered orders to several subordinates.

When he came to the door of a farmer's house, several stout men walked out of the house, and the leader kicked the barking earth dog aside, arched his hand, and welcomed Du Ziqi and others into the house.

It was cold outside, and the temperature in the ventilated room was not high.

With the help of the light of the kerosene lamp, Du Ziqi nodded at the welcoming crowd standing in the room, and said politely: "Everyone, it is now the Lunar Lantern Festival, and here, on behalf of our military seat and all the officers and soldiers of the New Second Army, I would like to pay tribute to the brothers of the New Fourth Army for a good old age!" ”

"Commander Wu is famous, and the new Second Army is full of heroes from top to bottom, and we are really honored to be blessed!" A middle-aged man in a robe lifted his glasses on the bridge of his nose and said with a smile.

Du Ziqi glanced at the middle-aged man carefully and asked, "Dare to ask, but Mr. Zhang Fenglan?" ”

"It's down there!"

Zhang Fenglan nodded with a smile and stretched out his hand to invite Du Ziqi and the others to sit down.

Du Ziqi shook hands with Zhang Fenglan excitedly, and said with a sigh: "Our military commander Wu specially called me to explain to me that after seeing Mr. Zhang, he would express his greetings to Mr. Zhang. He said that if it weren't for Mr. Zhang, he might have died in Shangrao Prison. ”

Zhang Fenglan sighed when he heard it.

When he first met Wu Ming nine years ago, he was still down-and-out and unknown, and in the next few years, this gentleman rose like a comet, from teaching captain, battalion commander, regiment commander, brigade commander, division commander, and army commander all the way to promotion, and now he has become a well-known anti-Japanese hero in the whole country, and the savior of the nation, I have to make Zhang Fenglan sigh that the world is changeable!

Du Ziqi let go of his hand and said with a smile: "Your army is now reorganized into the New Fourth Army, and in the future, on the battlefield of resistance against Japan, our two departments can work together to drive the Japanese devils out of China!" ”

"Thanks to Commander Wu's care, the New Second Army has repeatedly formed a formation to eliminate the Japanese army on the frontal battlefield, including many main divisions, which made the Japanese invaders frightened, and it is really the first strong force to resist Japan! Whether it was Yan'an or the newly established Yangtze River Bureau, the top leaders of our party believed that General Wu was a patriotic general and a good friend of our party and our army, and that the wounded and sick guerrillas who remained in the Soviet area after the Long March of the Central Red Army relied on the medicine provided by Commander Wu to save their lives. ”

Zhang Fenglan's words were by no means hypocritical, he was facing a desperate situation at the beginning, and it was Wu Ming's kindness to rescue him to tide over the difficulties.

Du Ziqi is the intelligence leader of the New Second Army, he is busy with affairs and has little time, so he immediately got down to business and asked: "I don't know what is important for Mr. Zhang to ask me to meet?" ”

Zhang Fenglan coughed lightly, pointed to the middle-aged man with thin cheeks next to him, and introduced: "Mr. Du, this is Mr. Chen sent by the Yangtze River Bureau. ”

"Mr. Du, hello, since the resumption of contact with the New Fourth Army, the top level of our party is very grateful to General Wu for his selfless assistance. The grace of dripping water should be reciprocated by the spring, if there is anything you need our help in the future, please feel free to speak! Mr. Chen spoke very politely, with a bookish air in his expression.

"It's okay!" Du Ziqi waved his hand disapprovingly: "The military seat told me that it is not easy for the brothers of the New Fourth Army, and we will definitely help if we can!" ”

Zhang Fenglan and Mr. Chen glanced at each other, and Mr. Chen spoke: "This time, Lao Zhang and I invited Mr. Du to come, the main purpose is to thank General Wu for his friendship to us on behalf of our party. ”

"However, we do have some difficulties now, the New Fourth Army has not long been reorganized, and there is a shortage of various medicines and medical equipment, and our party hopes that your army can help solve some of them. After the reorganization of the New Fourth Army was completed, it immediately went to the Japanese-occupied areas to launch large-scale raids and harassment operations. However, after three years of arduous guerrilla warfare, our weapons and equipment are now extremely rudimentary, even if the rifling is smoothed out in Hanyang, most of the troops can only use one or three people, and there is a shortage of grenades and mortars, and we very much hope to get the help of General Wu. ”

After Mr. Chen finished speaking, he looked at Du Ziqi with blazing eyes.

At the beginning, the Red Army had bought medicine from Wu Ming, and although now the Red Army in Jiangnan has been reorganized into the New Fourth Army and transferred from underground to aboveground, there are still many restrictions on the purchase of medicines and weapons and equipment, and the price is extremely high. At present, the representatives sent by the Yangtze River Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the liaison officers of the New Fourth Army all hope that the New Fourth Army can cooperate with the New Second Army.

"Regarding the drug transaction, our military seat instructions can be handled in accordance with the previous transaction method, and we will not set up any obstacles!" Du Ziqi coughed lightly and said: "But if we need to provide **** standard weapons, we can only say sorry for the time being, because we are more than willing and not enough!" ”

"Of course, if your army is not so picky about weapons, we can provide a batch of Japanese-made weapons captured on the battlefield, including Type 38 rifles, crooked machine guns, grenadiers, etc. Due to the fact that our ammunition production line is being remodeled, matching bullets and grenades are not available for the time being! ”

"There's no point in buying it without bullets! Don't you have an arsenal, why can't you sell us standard weapons and ammunition? ”

Mr. Chen was in a hurry and said what was in his heart.

Zhang Fenglan pulled Mr. Chen's sleeve, and Mr. Chen realized that he was speechless, smiled a little embarrassedly, and arched his hand: "I'm too anxious, please don't be surprised by Mr. Du!" ”

"Mr. Chen is right, our New Second Army does have an arsenal!"

The Maoliangwu Arsenal is a semi-open secret, Du Ziqi generously admitted it, and then said: "The fact that we can't support your weapons and ammunition for the time being is not because our military seat is reluctant, but because our arsenal is now empty. Some time ago, during his inspection of Quzhou, Chairman Chiang made a special visit to the arsenal...... Chairman Chiang asked us to transfer a large amount of weapons and ammunition to Xuzhou to support the Central Plains battlefield. In addition, your army's intelligence department must also know that our new Second Army has run out of weapons and ammunition after continuous operations, and we are currently in the process of a new round of expansion, so we cannot even fully satisfy ourselves, let alone sell them to the outside world. As for the ammunition of the Japanese equipment, the caliber of the bullets does not match the weapons we are equipped with now, and we have imported some machine tools and production lines from Shanghai before, and after modification, we can produce matching bullets, but it will take time. ”

"Okay!"

Mr. Chen sighed helplessly.

Zhang Fenglan thought for a while, pulled Mr. Chen to the side and discussed in a whisper, and when he came back, he said: "I'd rather have weapons and other ammunition than no weapons, it's a big deal that we go to rob the Japanese army's arsenal, or hijack the Japanese military train that transports weapons and ammunition...... We are ready to introduce all the Japanese-made weapons of your department, and I don't know the price ......."

Du Ziqi said cheerfully: "In view of the good cooperative relationship between the two sides, we can provide you with a 20% discount of the market price." At present, we have more than 8,400 Type 38 rifles, 100 machine guns with crooked handles, and 50 grenadiers......"

Mr. Chen's eyes lit up and he said loudly: "We all want this...... However, we are a little short of funds, can we delay the payment for a while? ”

"No problem!"

Du Ziqi did not hesitate at all: "I really don't have the money to exchange materials, just like the drug transaction, we will not set up any obstacles to this." However, there is one point, Dai Li's secret service will soon be upgraded to the Military Command Bureau, and the personnel and materials will be strengthened. During Chairman Chiang's inspection of Quzhou, we had a very unpleasant quarrel with the New Second Army, and the military commander's spies kept a close eye on us, and we had to keep our transactions secret. ”

"Absolutely!"

Zhang Fenglan said: "We also have a headache for the pervasive party affairs investigation department and the special agents of the special service department, in order to ensure safety, we can find that the situation is not for us to choose a date or choose a place to trade separately, if necessary, we can even cancel the transaction, and we will definitely not let you suffer!" ”

Du Ziqi was very satisfied: "This is very good, and I believe that our military seat will also be happy with the cooperation between our two sides." ”

Mr. Chen nodded with satisfaction and asked, "Now that the Japanese army in Central China is attacking everywhere, and southern Anhui and western Zhejiang are all under the Japanese army, how should our two armies cooperate?" ”

"That's how we think about it...... The New Fourth Army has been fighting guerrilla warfare in Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan and other places for a long time, and is very good at attacking and harassing behind enemy lines, and your two armies can carry out a series of cooperation in the Japanese-occupied areas, and our army will send regular troops to go deep behind enemy lines to assist your army in fighting the Japanese puppet army, and all the weapons and ammunition obtained will be owned by your army. Du Ziqi asked with a smile.

"That's great!"

Commissioner Chen couldn't help but clapped his hands, and at this time, the New Fourth Army was concentrating in Yansi, Huizhou, southern Anhui, and Qiliping, Hong'an, Hubei, and the whole army was extremely short of all kinds of materials, especially weapons and equipment. Now hearing Du Ziqi's generous words, Mr. Chen was excited, got up and came to Du Ziqi, stretched out his hand and shook it tightly, and said emotionally: "I really thank General Lu Xie Wu, Xie Lu Xie is the brother of the New Second Army!" ”

"You're welcome, everyone will be a brother in the future, this is what we should do!"

After speaking, Du Ziqi looked at his watch, quickly offered to say goodbye, and then disappeared into the night with someone.

To achieve such tremendous results today, Commissioner Chen couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart, and said excitedly to Zhang Fenglan: "I think Wu Ming can be won over, and now that the second KMT-CPC cooperation has begun, the anti-Japanese united front has been initially formed. We must fully develop the strength of progress, strive for the strength of the middle, and isolate the stubborn force. ”

"Wu Ming is not a descendant of Chiang Kai-shek, it can be seen from Du Ziqi's words that Chiang Kai-shek does not trust the New Second Army, and the two sides are full of contradictions, but the New Second Army has made great achievements, is unique in the **** system, and has a good impression of us, which is a very rare progressive force. I want to call the Yangtze River Bureau, and I must actively strive for Wu Ming to throw himself into the arms of our party! ”

"I agree, Wu Ming was born in a poor peasant family, has a clear understanding of the old society, and has come to today's position entirely by diligence and opportunity, which is indeed a rare amount of progress!"

Zhang Fenglan smiled, although he knew that this was unrealistic, but he did not pour cold water on Commissioner Chen. He has a very complicated mood about Wu Ming, he had many exchanges with Wu Ming during the nutrition of Changshan University before, and Wu Ming has his own views on the future of the country and the nation, some of which are even very extreme, and it is difficult to win them over.

However, Wu Ming's patriotic heart is not fake, and under the current overall situation of resistance against Japan, the two sides can indeed cooperate sincerely and exchange what they have, and the New Fourth Army may gain huge benefits from it.