The boat that Song Jiliu and the others were sitting on drove slowly, and finally came to the river in the center of the city. On the starboard side of the ship, there is a large green park, lined with large stone buildings with colonnades. On the port side is a filthy and grey slum, factories and warehouses, huddled together in a heap. The river is full of all kinds of ships: Japanese warships, gunboats, coal steamers, sailboats, freighters, barges, flat-bottomed cargo ships, and so on.

Between these boats and the crevices of the riverbank, many small boats are parked. The small sampan boat can swim freely with a slung at the stern. There was a constant cacophony of sounds from the docks—shouts and trumpets, wheels turning, chains grinding, whistles, the thud of cargo falling on shore or on cargo ships.

"Ah, this is our big Shanghai!" Song Jiliu sighed again, half of which was excitement and half fear.

It was only at this time that Song Jiliu left the deck with Gao Yulin, Shao Zhuquan, Dong Jinliang, Wang Tao, Zheng Jingzhou, and Boss Lu.

On the street, a large group of porters were already busy up and down the gangplank and the cargo hold. As they moved, they made a rhythmic trumpet sound, and on their shoulders were elastic bamboo poles, with a heavy burden hanging from each end.

Song Jiliu sniffed the air on the dock, it was really strong, turbid and thick, with the smell of muddy water, garbage, sweat, oil smoke, incense, and the smell of baking food on the nearby charcoal stove. All around them was the clamor of porters, the cries of hawkers, the rattling of overweights, and the creaking of pulleys.

In the distance, only a few officers on board and Japanese military police with large guns stood silently, observing the noisy scene with absolute authority. In addition, there is an official wearing a uniform like Gao Yulin.

Gao Yulin nodded to him with a big grin, and then flicked the fake mustache with his fingers upward.

The five of them climbed into the three rickshaws, the car and the driver on Gao Yulin and Shao Brewing Spring were thin and muscular, but they were too thin and weak, could they drag these two customers? But he lifted the bar, threw himself on the bar, exhaled, snorted, and pulled the car away.

Shao Brewing Quan looked at his two calves, and saw that there was nothing mysterious except for the skin of the legs and the tense muscles, and he was steadily dragging the car and walking briskly. The balance of the car was wonderful, and every time he stepped out of his two calloused bare feet, his body leaned up and down against the bars. Let this fact speak, we Chinese people are really a hardworking and brave nation.

At this moment, the rickshaw was bumped into an alley with uneven roads and many people. In the shadow of makeshift tents and large oil-paper umbrellas on either side, squatting sits shavers and vendors selling fruits, vegetables, and sweets. The stalls were surrounded by bargaining male and female customers, fighting for this and that, shouting wildly, spitting and chewing on something.

The coachman's feet stepped into a round pile of dung, splashing up the steaming slag. In fact, it's all the result of the invasion of the little devils.

Not far ahead, there was a faint roar of people. Song Jiliu, who was sitting next to him, writhed hard. He pulled a pocket watch out of the small pocket of his pants, opened the lid, and squinted at it.

"Half past ten," Song Jiliu whispered, "It's time to arrive." ”

Comrade Gao Yulin felt strange and glanced at Song Jiliu, but he didn't give any explanation, and sat down firmly, only the two red lips twitched under the stubble mustache, revealing a puzzled smile.

The dull roar grew louder and clearer.

Suddenly, the alley suddenly opened up, and open fields sprang up, where citizens were crowded. The women had babies strapped to their backs, the men wore long robes, and the coolies and children, some on the shoulders of their parents, all stared intently at the center of the clearing, laughing and laughing in their shrill or hoarse voices.

Near the center, Shao Brewing Spring also saw a few little devils wearing straw hats and copper basin hats.

The rickshaw stopped. "You can see it when you stand up," Gao Yulin said arbitrarily and loudly. "It's a game played by the locals with the imps, and we can see it all here."

"What are they doing?" Comrade Shao Brewing turned to Gao Yulin uneasily and asked. He was a little confused, and a vague cloud appeared in his mind, as if it was a bad omen symbolizing fear.

"Look." Comrade Song Jiliu's round black eyes lit up slightly, and the hand holding Gao Yulin's arm involuntarily clenched.

Shao Brewing Quan turned around and saw the fourth person, who had just been blocked by the crowd and had only appeared at this moment. I saw that he was holding a heavy knife in both hands, and the sunlight was shining on the edge of the Oriental knife, and the cold light was pressing.

The crowd held their breath, as if frozen, and even the baby did not dare to make a sound. In this moment of deathly silence, Shao Brewquan's heart pounded, and he stared in disbelief at the two men in the posture, at the kneeling yellow man, at the grim-faced, sculptural executioner.

At this moment, the executioner raised his arms and grasped the hilt of the knife with both hands, the sharp blade in the air. An arc of light was drawn and slashed down. When the blade slashed into the neck of the kneeling man, Shao Brewquan only heard a slight click, and a head rolled off.

When the body fell to the ground, crimson blood spurted out of the neck like a spring. The headless body lay across the ground and spasmed and twitched, like a fish bouncing and struggling desperately on the embankment.

At this moment, the crowd erupted in a deep, contented, ecstatic roar. Suddenly, the crowd merged into an unstoppable stream of people, swarming towards the corpses, men, women, and children scrambling to reach for their hands in pools of blood. Blood was still pouring out of the section of the neck.

Shao Brewing Quan suddenly trembled and couldn't stand anymore. The rickshaw shook, and Shao Brewquan almost fell. So, rickshaw: "Hey! He exclaimed, "What are you doing?" Can't be careful? ”

After the rickshaw finished speaking, he sat down cautiously.

"The beheading was a Japanese who had violated a military order." In Gao Yulin's voice, the sudden anger just now disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a satisfied and nonchalant tone. "Before you leave Shanghai, it's enough for you to see. Do you still want to come to work? ”

Shao Brewing Spring didn't answer, Gao Yulin laughed, and Song Jiliu's rickshaw driver urged: "Hurry up." ”

The coachman was tiptoeing over people's heads, trying to keep the balance of the car, his mouth wide open, and he was nailing it there with relish.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! Song Jiliu clapped his palms impatiently and urged him again.

The rickshaw driver shook his head reluctantly, turned the front of the car, put his body on the bar, and pulled the car up.

"See them put their hands in the blood?" Shao Brewing Quan asked, "Shanghainese people believe that the blood of little devils will bring good luck. In fact, it was not the hand that reached in, it was the Yuan Datou they were holding in their hands. Don't see it, do you? They believed that blood would bring luck to Yuan Datou, and Yuan Datou would make their lives a little better. ”

Gao Yulin was still silent, but Shao Brewing Spring didn't seem to care and said, "Of course, they will also have blood on their hands!" He added thoughtfully: "However, they are also concerned about anti-Japanese resistance and survival!" ”

Behind them came another rumbling, drunken, ecstatic roar. Shao Brewquan remembered that before leaving the base area, Minister Cai Changfeng took him to watch the farming competition, and the crowd roared like this. Ah, the base, what a distant holy land!

"There are still good-looking ones over there," Gao Yulin turned his face, nodded and said, "I can see it all morning." He took a cigarette out of his breast pocket, and when he lit the fire, his two large hands wrapped around the cup and carefully surrounded the match. Smoke one? ”

"Don't smoke? You take it easy. You see, after the head was cut off, it was hung on a pillar here. He looked around, pale blue smoke coming out of his pouting mouth. Look, there's three heads. ”

At this time, in the general manager's office of the Ronghua Company at the Cangzhou Hotel on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, the boss Zhang Jianliang was instructing the general manager Ye Wenjin: "The comrades from Lunan may have arrived, you should help them secretly first, but you are not allowed to contact them first, just in case." ”

"How many people are they?"

"Five or six people. Thou hast called twelve or thirteen comrades to protect them secretly. ”

"Okay! Let them secretly protect one comrade for every two people! ”

"It is important to pay attention to the first person they contact and help him secretly when he is in danger."

"I'll arrange it."

[Serialized, stay tuned...]

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