After listening to the report of the cavalry company commander who returned from the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army, the commander of the Xu Brigade suddenly felt tricky - on the issue of allocating the bandits' ransom, his initial decision was obviously too hasty, and he underestimated the appetite and reaction of the Jin army.

Moreover, what made Wu Zijian even more worried was the sudden appearance of the bearded second lieutenant Li Mancang of the Jin Army, and it was not difficult to judge from Li Mancang's venting words before Xia Lianshan left, this person was extremely sure that Xiao Junping, the intelligence staff officer of the Eighth Route Army, had taken away the 12th Brigade of the Independent Army. Thinking of the disappearance of Staff Officer Xiao that the commander of the cavalry company, Xia Lianshan, had gone to Pingquan County last time, and that the commander of the 12th Independent Brigade and the commander of the 570th Regiment had asked him about the disappearance, Wu Zijian had a bad premonition more and more.

"I really didn't fight the fox and provoked a commotion," the captain of the Guanmenshan detachment of the Xu Brigade sighed while patting his thigh: "Earn less ocean is second, if we pull out our enemy captain because of this incident, it will be troublesome!" ”

Because the task was not completed well, Xia Lianshan was ashamed, but he had nothing to do, so he could only stand in the detachment headquarters and watch Wu Zijian pat his thigh.

"By the way, if you don't mention that bearded Li Mancang, I almost forgot about him!" The detachment leader changed his words: "The big knife that the old guy danced in his hand is different from most people's machetes, thick and heavy, the head of the knife is not curved and curved, it is oblique and flat, and you know that it is a weapon that is played by a practitioner at a glance!" ”

"Detachment leader, let's quickly think about how to deal with the ransom!" The cavalry company commander interrupted the other party's excitement with a sad face.

Unexpectedly, before Wu Zijian could respond, the cotton door curtain was lifted, and Liu Shu, the political commissar of the detachment, walked in, and when he heard Xia Lianshan's last words at the door, he asked:

"What ransom? What are you doing? ”

Xia Lianshan was taken aback - this matter was carried out from the political commissar from beginning to end, and he didn't expect to be arrested at this moment! For a moment, he stammered and poked in place, not daring to say anything.

Wu Zijian, who was also caught off guard, turned his brain faster, and he got up enthusiastically while sitting behind the table and beckoned Liu Shu to come over:

"Political commissar, it's a coincidence that you came, Squire Guo from Lihuapu Village just gave us a box of tea, and I'm planning to send someone to send it to you, come and taste it!"

Liu Shu, who usually likes to drink tea, walked to the table, picked up the box of tea from Fujian, looked at it, and nodded: "It's good tea, it's rare - what ransom?" What did you two just discuss? ”

This time, Wu Zijian was also silent, looked at his cavalry company commander with his eyes, and motioned for the other party to leave quickly. But the political commissar of the detachment watched the fire and immediately turned his head to stop Xia Lianshan, who was about to lift his legs and leave.

"What ransom? I recognize Squire Guo from Lihuapu, what is he doing in Xiping Village? Is it what ransom he is going to pay? Ransom what? ”

Under Liu Shu's series of questioning, the captain of the Xu Brigade was also confused, and in a hurry, he couldn't make up decent nonsense to prevaricate the other party, so he had to briefly recount the matter of the Black Stone Cliff Gang in Guanmen Mountain.

The political commissar of the detachment, who listened with anger, finally roared when Wu Zijian finished the last sentence: "It's too unusual!" We are a revolutionary team, and you, the leader of the detachment, have done the same thing as bandits! Do you have the discipline and conscience to let the dog eat!? ”

Although Liu Shu's words were difficult to hear, Wu Zijian was weak after all, so he scratched the back of his head, and weakly defended that he also agreed to be the middleman in order to be able to smoothly integrate this bandit army.

"This kind of bandit who plagues the common people, what are we doing with the Eighth Route Army? Let them ruin the reputation of the Xu Brigade Guanmen Mountain Detachment!? Liu Shu reluctantly scolded: "As a detachment leader and a member of the Communist Party, you also help the bandits as a middleman, and you still want to make a fortune from the so-called ransom!" Where is your party spirit? If the inside story of this matter is known to the Kuomintang Jin Army, where will the face of the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army go?! ”

Although Wu Zijian's face was still restless, his expression was already quite embarrassed - now he regretted more and more that he had waded into the troubled waters of the Black Stone Cliff Gang. In front of Liu Shu, it was the first time for him to appear so weak-hearted.

In the end, the political commissar of the detachment made a final decision, demanding that Wu Zijian immediately send someone to return all the so-called ransom to the Black Stone Cliff bandits, and the other party would send someone to negotiate with the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army. In desperation, Wu Zijian had no choice but to push the boat down the river to agree, and immediately arranged for someone to re-throw this hot potato to Wei Xin, the commander of the second battalion.

"Also, let Battalion Commander Wei bring a message to the bandits - the Xu Brigade Detachment of the Eighth Route Army has a limit to their patience, and advises the bandit gang to disband as soon as possible, otherwise, sooner or later, the Eighth Route Army will completely wipe them out and never suffer in the future!" The commissar finished his final summary and sat down at the table angrily.

Xia Lianshan, the commander of the cavalry company, had already received the order and ran away, Liu Shu looked at Wu Zijian across the table—this guy was surprisingly cooperative and obedient today, which is really rare—and raised the tea box in his hand and asked, "Old Wu, what did Squire Guo from Lihuapu do when he didn't stay in the village to carry out land reform and went to Xiping?" Just to deliver tea? ”

This topic finally made the expression of the commander of the Eighth Route Army, who had been embarrassed, natural, and he straightened out his thoughts and talked about the Gaomiao Village tragedy that happened to the relatives of Squire Guo.

Liu Shu also kept his eyes on the tea box at first, looking a little careless, but listening to it, his expression couldn't help but become solemn, and he looked up at Wu Zijian, who was gushing endlessly, and his eyes became more and more round: This is indeed a horrific tragedy of destroying the village and destroying the door!

"Didn't the bandits do it? Is there a problem like the bandits in the area of Gaomiao Village? Or is it the case of the bandits of Black Rock Cliff who wandered to the west of Tongtong Pulu? Didn't they just plague the people in Mai Village? ”

In response to the various questions raised by the political commissar, the detachment commander patiently answered and judged them one by one, and finally got the other party to agree to rule out the possibility of banditry committing crimes.

"I have already sent several members of the enemy team to personally reconnoiter the scene of Gaomiao Village to see if they can find useful clues. This matter is related to the reputation of the Anti-Japanese Army, and the Japanese puppet regime must not be allowed to arbitrarily transfer and smear it! Wu Zijian said indignantly.

Hearing the detachment leader mention the enemy engineering team, Liu Shu couldn't help but move in his heart: "During my departure from the base area, you sent the two captains of the enemy engineering team to Wencheng to build an underground intelligence station, and also took away a large number of gold bars and silver dollars for funds!" What's going on over there now? You let Xiao Junping, who was a Kuomintang officer, be in charge of so much money, can you be reliable? ”

Of course, Wu Zijian knew the political commissar's prejudice against Xiao Junping, so he didn't dare to tell the fact that the 12th Brigade of the Jin Army had realized that he had retained Xiao Staff Officer, lest Liu Shu become more and more annoyed.

"Commissar, regarding Captain Xiao's loyalty, you can rest assured. Besides, there is also the vice-captain Chen Xuanzhu taking care of it. ”

"Chen Xuanzhu?" Liu Shu shook his head gently: "That's a solid eye, he is not Xiao Junping's opponent at all, I am very worried about this." Lao Wu, I have no objection to your order to build an underground intelligence station in Wencheng, because after all, it is the base camp of the Japanese army in this area, and if we can grasp the movements of the Japanese army at the first time, it will also be beneficial to the security of our base area. However, it is still unknown whether this underground intelligence station can shoulder its responsibilities and whether it can play its role. Our detachment has this little bit of family background, if Xiao Junping is brought to Wencheng and lost, how will he live in the future? This is a real problem that cannot be avoided. ”

At this moment, perhaps in response to this conversation with the political commissar and the detachment commander of the Eighth Route Army detachment, a soldier suddenly came from outside the door to report: The enemy engineer team in Wencheng has sent someone back.

The hearts of the two detachment commanders jumped at the same time: I really said that Cao Cao Cao will arrive!

The comer was one of the members of the enemy team lurking in Wencheng, and was sent back by Xiao Junping to report. In addition to the progress of the construction of the underground intelligence station, the focus was on the operation launched by the enemy engineering team at the Wencheng railway station in order to cooperate with the joint operation on the Tongpu railway line, but unfortunately this operation aimed at stealing the arms from the freight yard of the Japanese railway station was not carried out in the end.

Liu Shu, who listened to the report of the operation, showed anxiety and disappointment on his face at this time, and even faintly showed a look of disdain. His inner thoughts were: he took a lot of risks, and in the end he didn't even enter the Japanese army's freight yard, let alone steal any munitions; It seems that the enemy engineering team is under the command of the former staff officer of the Jin army, and it is not more than Erer!

However, the content of the report of the enemy engineer team aroused serious concern of Liu Shu and Wu Zijian: on the night of the operation, the enemy engineer team members on the way to retreat encountered a small force of the special service company of the 391st Regiment of the Central Army near the Wencheng Railway Station Square, and assisted them in blocking the pursuit of the Japanese puppet army. After the incident, there was an explosion at Wencheng Railway Station, and the intensity was limited; It is suspected that this small force of the special service company of the 391st Regiment was responsible. However, because the two sides broke up after a short joint attack, they did not have time to ask the other party about the purpose of the operation to enter Wencheng.

Wu Zijian's first reaction after hearing this was that his main force and the 391st Regiment of the Central Army were fighting jointly on Tongpu Road as planned, and the small groups of men and horses on both sides actually met by chance in Wencheng City and also joined forces, which was very good.

Unexpectedly, political commissar Liu Shu was far less optimistic than him. According to the scene reported by the enemy engineer team, it can almost be concluded that this small force of the 391st Regiment led by the commander of the special service company has premeditated to infiltrate Wencheng, and Xiao Junping, the captain of his own enemy engineers, recklessly revealed his identity to the other party, which to a certain extent has buried hidden dangers, which is very likely to have an adverse impact on the subsequent hidden work.

Wu Zijian disagreed: "Zhao Mutou, the commander of the special service company of the Central Army, I heard it when I was a guest in the 391st Regiment, and it should be a favorite general under Qin Zhongxiao. Commander Qin was able to send him into Wencheng before the war, obviously after careful consideration. Captain Xiao actually bumped into him during the operation, which can be regarded as providence, maybe, the two of them can still cooperate in the future, which is a good thing! I will let the communication platoon go to the big elm mountain to fly the pigeon and pass the book, and ask Qin Zhongxiao about the specific situation. ”

Liu Shu was startled, hurriedly stopped, and repeatedly said that it was not possible - the underground intelligence station of the enemy engineering team in Wencheng was top secret, and it must not be rashly reported to the so-called friendly troops, once the news leaked or even spread, it would pose a huge threat to the lives and safety of the hidden personnel of the enemy engineering team!

Wu Zijian was stunned.