What the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army was most worried about in advance was that he did not completely tell the truth to the Jin army's regiment commander Tian, stating that the detained bandits were carrying a large number of standard military weapons. And now, the other party has pulled out this joint. Faced with the questioning of the chief of staff of the 570 regiment, Xia Lianshan could only be vague; Suddenly, his gaze stayed on the second lieutenant of the Jin army - at this moment, he was about ten meters away from the second lieutenant of the Jin army who had been communicating with the chief of staff of the 570 regiment just now, and the other party's beard and the handle of the machete tied with red silk on his back and shoulders touched his memory: Isn't this the bearded second lieutenant of the Jin army that the second battalion of the Xu Brigade encountered when they ambushed the Japanese cavalry in Dawangyu?!

This sudden discovery made the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army overjoyed, and hurriedly rushed to the other party:

"Dude, don't you recognize me? We fought the Japanese cavalry together in the small elm mountain next to Fengdian County! ”

Li Mancang was stunned, he still remembers the battle of Little Elm Mountain, but there were many people in the Eighth Route Army that day, and he failed to remember Xia Lianshan, who was still the deputy commander of the infantry company at that time. However, hearing what the other party said, it suddenly aroused his great dissatisfaction with the Eighth Route Army team - after the end of the Dawangyu ambush that day, the second battalion of the Xu Brigade of the Lin Division not only picked up many guns and equipment of the dead brothers of the Jin army company where Li Mancang was located, but even once tried to snatch the weapons of the surviving Jin soldiers, which led to a fierce confrontation between the two armies on the spot. What's more, Li Mancang believed that the Eighth Route Army team also took away the intelligence staff of the 12th Brigade Headquarters of the Jin Army, who was seriously wounded, when they retreated! Of course, he did not report this to the prefect when he returned to Wencheng.

"Well, it's you!" Li Mancang stared at Xia Lianshan with a pair of squinted eyes: "What, you Eighth Road is starting to join forces with the bandits now?" ”

Before Xia Lianshan could answer, the chief of staff of the 570 regiment came over and intercepted the conversation first, and he asked the second lieutenant platoon commander of the brother regiment how many weapons carried by the Black Stone Cliff bandits had been seized this time. Li Mancang thought about it, and simply said to lead everyone over to have a look. As a result, in the village office, two piles of trophies, including Zhongcheng, Hanyang-made, and firecrackers, were presented in front of everyone's eyes.

"There is also a machine gun, now my men have taken it and used it, it is set up in the northeast corner of the village, in case this gang of bandits come to seize people, if a few commanders are interested, you can go with me again!" Li Mancang calmly introduced.

The chief of staff of the 570th Regiment nodded his head and asked the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army: "This gang of bandits is so well-equipped, don't your army know about it?" Two hundred oceans, hehe......"

Of course, Xia Lianshan knew the total amount of money and property taken out by the bandits of Black Stone Cliff in order to rescue his own people, and the detachment commander and the second battalion commander had set up a large ambush from it, but this insider could not admit it anyway: "Well, Chief of Staff, the bandit forces of Black Stone Cliff once extended a helping hand when our department was pursued and suppressed by the Japanese army, and it can be regarded as a meritorious fight against the war, and I ask your army to open up to them at this point." ”

"What help? These bandits have beaten devils? The second lieutenant of the Jin army stared at a pair of cowbell-like eyes, and said unceremoniously: "Do you know that the bandits broke into Mai Village in the middle of the night, killed five people at once, and raped several women, and the money they robbed was even more incalculable. If I hadn't happened to lead this platoon of my subordinates to Mai Village to collect grain, I am afraid that the whole village would have to be washed in their blood! I don't believe that this kind of bandits, who have harmed the people and lost their conscience, will help you Eighth Route Army fight devils?! Speaking of this, Li Mancang was almost furious.

The regimental chief of staff of the 570 regiment had a smile on his face and watched quietly, without saying a word. He first wanted to use the mouth of the second lieutenant platoon commander of the brother regiment to extinguish the momentum of the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army, and then try to profit from it.

Xia Lianshan, who was robbed of white, turned red and black for a while, to be honest, he didn't expect that the subordinates of Liu Wumei, the female bandit leader, would do such a hurtful deed in Maicun. In the face of the bearded platoon commander of the friendly army, who was full of righteous indignation, he had lost the courage to continue to defend and sue for peace.

The chief of staff of the 570th Regiment saw that the time had come, so he patted Li Mancang on the shoulder with a smile, praised and encouraged him and his subordinates for their heroic behavior in protecting the territory and the people, and then turned to the cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army:

"Company Commander Xia, the bandits have indeed created a deep sin, and they only took out two hundred oceans to atone for their sins, not to mention that our Second Lieutenant Li didn't agree, even I, the middleman, felt that I couldn't get by. It's not as good as this, we will detain the bandits first, please go back and discuss with the head of the Black Rock Cliff Cottage again, and you have to let all parties have an explanation! ”

Things came to this point, Xia Lianshan, who came to the door in a hurry, also felt helpless, so he had no choice but to agree first, and turned back with a platoon of cavalry and a cart escorting the ocean and grain.

The chief of staff of the 570th Regiment, who was cunning and cunning, proposed to Li Mancang in front of the officers and men of the Eighth Route that these captured bandits be immediately escorted to Pingquan County with weapons.

Xia Lianshan understood that this was to say something to him—the other party warned the bandits of Black Stone Cliff on the side not to use force to rob people.

The cavalry company commander of the Eighth Route Army, who was full of shame, turned over and got on his horse, looked at the second lieutenant platoon commander of the Jin Army condescendingly, and finally vented: "Platoon Commander Li doesn't seem to be very friendly to the Eighth Route Army?" Don't forget, the last time your army was chased by the Japanese cavalry and ran around in the Little Elm Mountain, it was our Eighth Route Army who came to the rescue of you! With that, he shook the reins, and the horse took the lead and drove away.

This moment suddenly touched the sore spot of the platoon commander of the Jin army - the melee in Dawangyu of Little Elm Mountain was indeed a company of the Jin army being chased by the Japanese cavalry, and the Eighth Route Army team of the Xia company commander who was ambushed on the mountain beam rushed down to kill the Japanese army, thus saving the remnants of the Jin army.

"So what!?" Li Mancang, who was also stimulated and ashamed, shouted unwillingly at the back of the cavalry team of the Eighth Route Army who had begun to leave: "You have taken so many good guns, all of them are from our brothers who have died in battle!" One of our staff officers at the brigade headquarters was taken away by you! ”

The chief of staff of the 570 regiment on the side was shocked: He had also heard about the mysterious disappearance of Xiao Junping, an intelligence staff officer of the brigade headquarters, on the eve of the fall of Fengdian. Now he actually spit out such an inside story from the mouth of the second lieutenant platoon commander of the brotherhood regiment in front of him!

"What's going on? Staff Officer Xiao was taken away by the Eighth Route Army? Why didn't you report to the brigade earlier? The chief of staff of the 570th Regiment raised a face and questioned Li Mancang quite seriously.

The bearded second lieutenant never thought that this sentence blurted out by him in a hurry would be caught by the chief of staff of the brotherhood! He had the intention of prevaricating perfunctorily, but the other party pressed forward step by step, until he threatened to send him to the military justice department of the brigade headquarters for justice, and Li Mancang reluctantly said the situation at that time.

"!" When the chief of staff of the 570th Regiment heard this, he scolded and scolded: "The Eighth Route Army is really bold, it dares to hijack the intelligence staff of friendly troops at will, this is a naked rebellion!" ”

After repeated reports, on the evening of the same day, the headquarters of the 12th Brigade of the Independent Brigade called the headquarters of Yan Xishan, the commander of the Second War Zone, in the mountains southwest of Shanxi, accusing the First Brigade of the Eighth Route Army's Forest Division of the First Brigade of hijacking the intelligence staff of the headquarters and plotting against him.

Of course, Tian Mingda, the commander of the 570th Regiment, still set up an ambush, and did not report to the brigade commander that the Eighth Route Army was entrusted by the Black Rock Cliff bandits to negotiate the payment of a ransom and release them: he wanted to keep this bamboo pole that was sent to the door and knock it hard.

And Li Mancang was reprimanded on the spot by the chief of staff of the brother regiment because of this dusty old incident, and was subjected to the verbal threat of "not knowing what to do, and being complicit in rebellion", and the momentum was inevitably a lot decadent, so in terms of how to deal with the bandit prisoners in the future, he no longer seemed so tough, and promised the chief of staff of the 570th Regiment with all his might: temporarily hand over the bandit prisoners to the other party, and he would take them back to the 570th Regiment's camp in the northern suburbs of Pingquan County to be detained, so as to prevent the Black Stone Cliff Bandits from sneaking up on Maicun and robbing people.

"Don't worry, brother," seeing that the bearded ensign had succumbed, the chief of staff of the 570th Regiment also became kind: "You led people to capture these bandits, and the credit for protecting the territory and the people must be recorded in your name." Let's wait for the reply from the Eighth Route Army, and at least we will force them to go out of the oceans with the bandits of the Black Rock Cliff for a few hundred more oceans, otherwise we won't be able to deal with these weapons and equipment captured by your brothers! But you have to remember that don't let your commander know about this deal, after the ocean gets it, there will naturally be your generous share, including your brothers in this platoon, will not fall through - as long as you keep your mouth shut for me! ”

The upright and strong platoon commander of the Jin army never thought that he would be dragged into this dirty-looking deal. But now it is difficult to ride a tiger, so I have no choice but to agree with my conscience.

In Longwan Village, Tian Mingda, the head of the 570 regiment, was happy. He analyzed that the Eighth Route Army did not hesitate to use a cavalry company commander to intercede for a group of bandits, and it was obvious that there was a deep connection between them.

"His grandmother's all said that the Eighth Route Army was born as bandits, and sure enough, they got involved with the bandits in the mountains so quickly!" At dinnertime, Tian Mingda, who was holding a wine cup with the chief of staff, counted excitedly: "That's fine, Lao Tzu doesn't care if he is a soldier or a bandit, as long as there is a white ocean to earn, we will open the door to welcome guests!" ”

While speaking, he used chopsticks to pick up the braised Yellow River carp on the plate - in late spring, the Yellow River carp is definitely a rare thing, and it is not easy for the Jin army commander to get fish.

The chief of staff stretched out his chopsticks behind the regimental seat, and at the same time whispered a suggestion:

"This matter must be kept secret, but we must also be prepared to leak the news, and as a last resort, we will arrest the bearded platoon leader of the 569th Regiment and be a scapegoat!"

Tian Mingda nodded approvingly, and the two touched the wine cup, raised their necks, and killed the wine.