While Liu Wumei, the female bandit leader, and her entourage rushed to Hekou Village in a carriage, in order to reduce unnecessary trouble on the way, Wu Zijian specially sent two cavalry to chase after them to open the way. Therefore, after they arrived at Hekou Village, they passed through the defensive positions of the Guanmen Mountain Pass very smoothly.

As soon as she abandoned the carriage and horse and entered the Guanmen Mountain Pass, Liu Wumei made a decision, she personally took two bodyguards to hurry to the cottage first, and the elderly master, the weak cousin and another bodyguard did what they could in the back.

At this moment, the supreme commander sitting in the defense of Hekou Village and the Guanmen Mountain Pass is already the new chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army detachment, Li Tianlin; But it was Lu Dajiang, the commander of the third battalion, who came forward to arrange Liu Wumei and others, that is, the former commander of the 8th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Xu Brigade. But when he listened to the two cavalry reports sent by the detachment commander Wu Zijian, he was also worried about the safety of Wei Xin, the commander of the second battalion, and immediately released Liu Wumei; And in the form of a relay, three soldiers were also sent to escort Liu Wumei and the three of them to go first - the mountain road leading to the Black Stone Cliff from here, on the way through the periphery of the Hongxing Gorge defense area, the Tang instructor of the third battalion (that is, the Tang instructor of the 8th company of the second battalion of the Xu brigade) led the 9th company to deploy in that area, and Lu Dajiang was afraid of causing branches.

About half an hour after Liu Wumei left the Guanmen Mountain Pass Defense Area, Wu Zijian and several cavalrymen arrived on flying horses; At that time, the master of the Black Stone Cliff Bandit Gang and the other three people had not yet left.

Seeing the detachment commander go out in person, Lu Dajiang, the commander of the third battalion, was greatly pleased, and after a brief report on the situation, Wu Zijian instructed him to strengthen his vigilance, and went directly to the newly built camp of the second battalion in the mountain pass to find Li Tianlin.

Li Tianlin, who has always had a fiery temper, has been deeply aware of his increased responsibility since he became the chief of staff of the detachment, and Wu Zijian has had two deep talks and admonitions with him, so he has been quite calm and serious recently. Even so, after the meeting, Wu Zijian vetoed the motion of the new chief of staff to go to the Black Rock Cliff bandits' nest in person.

"Tianlin, it's not that I can't believe you - the defense of Hekou Village and Shankou is very important, the Japanese have just suffered a loss on the Tongpu Road, and they may organize retaliation at any time, you must be nailed here and strictly defended! As for the Black Stone Cliff, there shouldn't be any chaos, I'll take someone to take a trip, and I'll go back when I get Wei Xin safely. ”

Since the second battalion commander Wei Xin had already brought a squad of soldiers to Heishi Cliff two days ago, the second battalion is currently under the command of Deputy Battalion Commander Sun; Although Wu Zijian couldn't say anything about the chaos, he still ordered Deputy Battalion Commander Sun to gather the 5th Company of the 2nd Battalion, bring two light machine guns and a few flower machine guns, and hand them over to him to take away.

Before he was about to set out, Lu Dajiang hurriedly came to report that the three masters of the Black Stone Cliff Bandit Gang were preparing to leave and follow in the footsteps of Liu Wumei; He suggested that the master should be temporarily detained under unknown circumstances: the scheming master is the copycat Zhi Duoxing, and the girl named Xiaoju is the close relative of the female bandit leader, with these two people in his hands as hostages, if anything happens to Wei Xin's side, his own situation will be more proactive.

Wu Zijian, the new detachment commander, thought for a few seconds, and finally did not adopt the suggestion of the third battalion commander - in any case, the Eighth Route Army is a regular anti-Japanese army after all, and if it takes hostages, it is no different from bandits and robbers who rob homes and houses.

"In this way, I asked the commander of the 5th company to draw out a squad of soldiers and accompany that old thing with them! When the time comes, it depends on the situation. Li Tianlin suddenly said on the side. This method can be called the best of both worlds, which can not only secretly control the bandit master under the pretext of escorting all the way, but also not hurt the peace and not lose the identity of the Eighth Route Army in terms of face.

Wu Zijian grinned, patted the chief of staff on the shoulder approvingly, and said that he would do as he said.

When Liu Wumei, the female bandit leader, was anxious and desperately hurrying, and when the leader of the Eighth Route Army mobilized troops and chased forward, the Black Rock Cliff Cottage that they were worried about together did not appear as imagined saber-rattling, but was peaceful and unfazed.

Wei Xin, the new commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army detachment, came to "worship the mountain" with gifts, and from the very beginning, he was accepted and even entertained by the three masters who temporarily presided over the affairs of the cottage, which not only surprised Liu Wumei and Wu Zijian, who were not present, but also surprised the person concerned, Wei Xin.

At that time, the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army, who had arrived at the gate of the Black Stone Cliff Cottage and waited for nearly twenty minutes, had already had a bad premonition, but then he was surprised to see that the one who opened the door of the cottage and came forward to greet it was the black donkey of the three masters!

The two of them exchanged pleasantries with hypocrisy, and the black donkey told the truth about the absence of the big boss, and at the same time warmly invited Wei Xin to enter the village, saying that he would do his best for the big boss.

Wei Xin couldn't help but hesitate in his heart - the female bandit first went out of the mountain to Wencheng, he knew about it and received it in Xiping Village; But I never expected that after such a long time, Liu Wumei and her party had not returned. In this regard, the black donkey's explanation is: The big boss may want to take his cousin to play in Wencheng for a few more days.

The black donkey in front of him was a ruthless and unruly bandit in Wei Xin's impression, and he was even more prejudiced and even malicious towards the Eighth Route Army, including himself. But at this time, this guy actually smiled and somewhat revealed Qu Ying's flattery, and Wei Xin couldn't help but be suspicious.

However, after all, he sent a detachment to give gifts on behalf of Xu Brigade Guanmen Mountain, although the big boss was not there, if he didn't dare to enter the door, he would not only lose his courtesy, but also let the black donkey be looked down upon. Thinking of this, Wei Xin followed the style of the rivers and lakes, arched his hand towards the black donkey and others, and led a squad of soldiers into the gate of the village in a big way.

It's not the first time I've come to the cottage, and when I walked along the stone steps that rose step by step to the Juyi Hall, Wei Xin, who was hugged by the front and back, made up his mind: since his righteous sister who was a big boss was not there, then there was nothing to talk about with the black donkey who was temporarily in charge of the affairs next to him, at least he couldn't talk about the adoption - not to mention that he couldn't be the master of such a big thing, just because of the evil that the black donkey had done to the Eighth Route Army in the past, this guy categorically refused to agree to the integration.

What made Wei Xin particularly entangled was the two three-eight big covers, which were contained in a shallow black lacquered wood box at the moment, and were carried into the cottage by two soldiers. If according to the meaning of the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army, he did not see the big boss, and the two fast guns were not given as gifts. The problem is that the target of this shallow black box is too conspicuous, and the shrewd and cunning bandits may have already understood that it is a gift sent to the door; If you take it away like this when you say goodbye, you will inevitably end up with a ridiculed handle.

After repeated contradictions, when the group sat down in the most elaborate Juyi Hall in the cottage, Wei Xin still ordered his subordinates to open the box. Two shiny Type 38 rifles wrapped in red satin, lying side by side in the box, and with the golden bullet bridge clips, they are very beautiful.

The black donkey didn't expect that Commander Wei of the Eighth Route Army would come to the door with such a thick gift, and there were only a few of the 38 big covers in the equipment of the cottage, and there were few bullets. This really made the bandits smile. But until the banquet began, the commander of the Eighth Route Army, who gave this gift, still did not clarify his intentions.

The guests and hosts drank a few glasses of wine in a humble manner, and Wei Xin talked about the establishment of the Xu Brigade Guanmenshan Dispatch Detachment and the joint night attack of the Kuomintang and Communist armies on the Nantongpu railway line. The bandits didn't understand or be interested in the changes in the number of the Eighth Route Army, but the news that the national army was fighting the Japanese puppet army in Tongpulu shocked them who lived in the mountains.

"Chief Wei, the Eighth Route Army and the Central Army are both heroes who resist Japan, and the brothers admire them from the bottom of their hearts!"

The black donkey sincerely took a few small leaders to stand up and toast Wei Xin again and again, and the atmosphere of the banquet tended to be warm. Unexpectedly, after these bowls of wine, the black donkey said with an embarrassed face that something unspeakable had just happened, and begged Chief Wei to stand up for the cottage. This finally made the commander of the second battalion of the Eighth Route Army understand the reason for the great change in the attitude of the bandit leader who has always been on good terms with the Eighth Route Army - a man from the Black Stone Cliff went out to the mountain to rob a few days ago and was captured on the spot by the national army garrison outside the mountain!

A total of 38 people were sent out of the mountain, carrying a Lewis light machine gun and 20 military-standard rifles, led by a big leader named Iron Hand, from the southern foot of Guanmen Mountain.

The time to go out of the mountain was carefully chosen on the day when Liu Wumei and her party just went to Wencheng - because the big boss had reached an agreement with the Eighth Route Army, the cottagers would no longer go out of the mountain to rob houses in the future, so this operation should be hidden from the big boss.

In the eyes of Black Donkey and others, the natural meaning of being a bandit is to burn, kill, and plunder, otherwise it is better to go home and farm. However, what made them feel a headache was not only the rules and regulations of the big bosses, but also the fact that the direction of the mountain raids in the past was at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, but now the two mountain passes at the western foot have been stationed and controlled by the Eighth Route Army.

Guanmen Mountain is a big mountain that runs north-south, and the northern foot is full of cliffs, which cannot be entered and exited; In the east, it is connected with the steep Taihang Mountains, and there is no oil and water to fish; In the west and south of the mountain, there are not only mountain passes out of the mountain, but also many villages outside the mountain pass. The Black Rock Cliff Cottage is located in the north of Guanmen Mountain, so the bandits have always been accustomed to coming out of the mountains from the closer western foothills to rob.

But the current situation is different, the Eighth Route Army completely occupies the two mountain passes at the western foot of Guanmen Mountain, and if the black donkey wants to hide from the big boss to send people out of the mountain, he can only run long distances in the direction of the southern foothills.

Listening to the stumbling narration of the three masters, Wei Xin couldn't help but recall the last time the second battalion of the Xu Brigade retreated from Xiping Village to Guanmen Mountain, he led the 7th Company to get lost in the mountains, and it was the Black Stone Cliff bandits who wanted to go to the southern foot of the mountain to step on the point - but now, how did the bandits appear at the southern foot of Guanmen Mountain, as the bandits said, the "national army"? !

"It's the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, and my brothers didn't go far from the mountain when they bumped into the soldiers of the 12th Brigade in a village!" The black donkey's next narration solved Wei Xin's mystery.

Solo 12th Brigade! This large group of rout soldiers who escaped from Fengdian and Wencheng actually arrived at the foot of the South Mountain of Guanmen Mountain, and the steps of escape cannot but be said to be far enough. After listening to all this with interest, and looking at the bandits who were looking at him, the battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army Detachment suddenly smiled coldly, and asked with a tiger face:

"The three masters, you are not small, you disobey the rules set by the big boss, go out of the mountain to rob without authorization, according to the family law, what crime should you be guilty of?!"

As soon as these words came out, the originally peaceful atmosphere of the banquet in the Juyi Hall suddenly became tense.