Li Jing, a native of Lijia Village, Sanqiao County, is 28 years old this year.

The young man lost his father, the mother and son depended on each other, extremely filial, and learned to work as a carpenter.

When he was twenty years old, he went to work as a carpenter in another village. His mother went to the town to sell eggs, and met the tax collectors. Since her mother's eggs were not sold and she had no money to pay taxes, the tax collectors wanted to take her small box of eggs, and a dispute ensued.

His mother, who had been in poor health, was killed by a tax collector who hit her head with the butt of a rifle.

Li Jing was extremely sad and indignant when he learned about it, and after burying his mother, he carried an axe and waited alone in the town for two days, and finally hacked the two tax soldiers to death on the street at noon on the third day.

Since then, he has lived a wanted fugitive career and wandered the rivers and lakes.

Two years later, thinking that the rumors had passed, he couldn't help the pain of his thoughts and worried about the safety of his parents' graves, so he secretly returned to his hometown.

Unexpectedly, the families of the two tax collectors who were hacked to death by him learned that he had returned, and reported to the official. Fortunately, one of his relatives worked in the security corps and secretly notified him and let him escape.

Desperate, and didn't want to live a wandering life anymore, in a fit of anger, he fell into the grass and took refuge in a group of bandits in Baige Mountain next to Qinglong Mountain.

Clever, experienced, and well-skilled, he soon became a small boss...... It was during this period that he and Luo Yingjie met through the introduction of his cousin Li Hua. The two hit it off at first sight and soon became brothers.

Two years later, under the pretext that the former boss was rape, plundered, and was a party to the trouble, which was extremely nonsense for the bandits, he killed the boss and took the position of the big boss himself...... Luo Yingjie generously admitted that he was also involved at that time, and the purpose was to wait for Li Jing to get the position of big boss and pull this team into the revolutionary ranks.

In the following years, Li Jing not only saved Luo Yingjie's life twice, but on one occasion he personally led people to rescue the surrounded guerrillas. It is conceivable how good the relationship between the two sides is.

Later, with the help of Luo Yingjie, Li Jing cleared out several small bandits in the surrounding area and controlled the north of the previous smuggling trail (the south was controlled by the bandits of Jigongzhai), which greatly increased Li Jing's strength.

And Li Jing is also a draught who does not forget to dig wells, and his white pigeon village can almost be said to be a permanent point for the guerrillas, and the two teams have joined forces to resist the encirclement and suppression of the Kuomintang army many times.

And in these days of mutual contact, Li Jing wanted to join the guerrilla brigade, but Luo Yingjie didn't want to incorporate them.

First, Li Jing's team was too similar to the way bandits fought in battle: they fought with the wind, and each of them scrambled to grab like a tiger pounced on a sheep, but when it was not easy, they ran faster than a rabbit. This kind of bandit's fighting characteristics have penetrated deep into the bone marrow of this team, and Li Jing himself has corrected it many times, but in the end it has been in vain.

Second, what is even worse is that in the atmosphere of this bandit team, the atmosphere of freedom and unrestraint is very serious, from top to bottom, and Li Jing alone can change it. Even, Luo Yingjie tried to absorb them at the beginning, but as a result, the bandits resisted from bottom to top, not only had a precursor to turning their faces, but also almost brought the guerrillas badly. In addition, Luo Yingjie led the guerrillas to run around, how could he have time to devote great efforts to training them and correcting this unhealthy trend, so he could only use cooperation between the two sides instead of co-compiling ...... This is also the safest compromise method adopted by Luo Yingjie and Li Jing after many contacts, and it is also discussed by the two: the two have agreed that this will be a temporary garrison of the guerrillas, and when the guerrillas grow, or when the main force of the Red Army comes, everyone will discuss the matter of Li Jing's men joining the Red Army according to the situation.

After listening to Luo Yingjie's introduction to this person's family history, Zhang Qingshan faintly had a feeling: This Li Jing, even if he is so eager to join the guerrillas, and tries his best to help the guerrillas, the purpose is probably not as simple as Luo Yingjie said, at least, judging from what Luo Yingjie said, in what he did, at least there was the factor of 'leaning against the big tree to enjoy the shade'.

The reason is very simple: Li Jing has a mortal enmity with the Kuomintang government, and the fact that his mother was beaten to death by Kuomintang tax soldiers on the street is a difficult hurdle to overcome. But the Kuomintang was powerful, and if he wanted to be his mountain king for a long time, he had to find a relatively strong ally, and the communist guerrillas were favored by him. Because, in his opinion, although the Communist Party has only one guerrilla brigade here, the Communist Party also has troops, so it is a way to survive if he defects to the Communist Party.

Otherwise, would he really look at Li Hua's face, and just make such a desperate effort to save Luo Yingjie and them many times?

In addition, while he paid lip service to actively joining the guerrillas, his subordinates turned against it, which is a typical double-facedness: on the one hand, he wanted to maintain a certain relationship with the guerrillas for the sake of the future, but on the other hand, he secretly encouraged his subordinates to vigorously oppose it, so that he could come forward to be a good person, or to win more private interests in the future. Otherwise, he really didn't even have this bit of control over his subordinates, and I am afraid that he would have been overthrown by his subordinates long ago.

Anyway, after analyzing a series of factors, Zhang Qingshan felt that this Li Jing was probably a difficult guy to deal with, and he had to be careful when he contacted him.

And now, looking at Luo Yingjie's praise of Li Jing, it is obvious that Luo Yingjie was dizzy by Li Jing. However, now Luo Yingjie has to rely on Luo Yingjie to help in many aspects, Zhang Qingshan feels that it is better not to break the relationship between the two for the time being, and find an opportunity to talk about it in the future, otherwise, it will leave Luo Yingjie with the impression of a villain, which is not conducive to unity, and is not conducive to future work.

Besides, in case he thinks wrongly, Li Jing actually really wants to join the guerrillas, then, what he says now, he is really a villain, and people see jokes, this is not the calmness and city government that a regiment commander should have...... Zhang Qingshan can think of so much and can rationally restrain his inner impulses, which shows that he has indeed matured a lot, and he looks like a head of the regiment.

"What do you two say, you are so happy to say, come, tell me too. ”

Hu Yingze probably had a very good time talking to the group of guerrillas, and had been communicating with them along the way, no, even if he came over at this moment, it could be clearly seen that he was brisk.

"It's nothing, it's just that Lao Luo said that he is a sworn brother who wants to join us, but the people under him are strongly opposed...... Lao Luo, you tell Lao Hu about your brother's situation. ”

"Good!"

Immediately, Luo Yingjie told the matter again.

After listening to this, Hu Yingjie nodded with a smile and said: "Lao Luo, listening to what you said, this Li Jing is still very good, find time to contact him, see his own thoughts, and see why his brothers are so resistant to co-optation...... We are the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party, not our current friendly army, and we can be justifiably strong. Therefore, this kind of thing cannot be forcibly co-opted, still less brutal, but must be clearly explained to them, do a good job in their political and ideological work, and let them sincerely join the revolutionary ranks. Lao Zhang, Lao Luo, do you two say that is the truth?"

Based on Zhang Qingshan's understanding of Hu Yingze, Hu Yingze used to speak very incisively, even if he was verbose, he was not so verbose. But he is still so verbose now, which can only explain one problem: Lao Hu also heard that although both sides have used each other to achieve a win-win effect, this Li Jing may not be as active as he seems to join, but has his own little abacus. In this way, Hu Yingjie is naturally very disgusted with this kind of two-faced person, and his evaluation of him is brushed aside, but he says a lot of nonsense in a wordy manner.

Luo Yingjie didn't know if he understood it, anyway, Luo Yingjie at this time nodded his head and agreed.

Zhang Qingshan also smiled and nodded, but looked at Hu Yingze directly.

Sure enough, taking advantage of the opportunity of Luo Yingjie bowing his head and washing his handkerchief, Hu Yingze winked at Zhang Qingshan, pouted, and then left after saying a few more words to the two.

As an old partner, Zhang Qingshan naturally understood the meaning of Hu Yingze's eyes.

After talking to Luo Yingjie for a while, he found an excuse to leave and went to find Hu Yingze.

Hu Yingjie sat not far from the shore, and saw the soldiers playing barefoot in the stream, enjoying this rare and cheerful time, and his face involuntarily revealed a heartfelt sense of happiness.

Zhang Qingshan sat down beside him, looked at him with his eyes, touched Hu Yingjie with his hand, and asked with a smile: "Old Hu, what are you looking at? ”

"Lao Zhang, you say, if there was no aggression, no war, no oppression, and the soldiers enjoyed the beauty of peace more, what kind of scene would it be?"

"Yes, what kind of happy life should peace and freedom without oppression?" Zhang Qingshan sighed along with Hu Yingze's semantics, but the next sentence changed sharply: "But, aren't we doing revolution just for the sake of the toiling masses of the world to live such a happy life?"

Hu Yingze smiled and nodded, and looked at the cheerful and frolicking warriors again.

Zhang Qingshan also looked at it.

For a while, the two of them lost interest in talking, just watched quietly, enjoying the happy time that belonged to everyone.

However, they are soldiers in the end, and for soldiers, such a happy time is extremely precious, but it is easy to wear down the will.

No, after watching it for a while, Zhang Qingshan first came back to his senses.

touched Hu Yingze and asked in a low voice, "Old Hu, what do you think of the Li Jing that Lao Luo just said?"

"Although I haven't had contact with this Li Jing yet, from Lao Luo's mouth, I feel that this Li Jing is a fox, and a fox who loves to play smart. Lao Zhang, what do you think?"

Zhang Qingshan smiled and didn't speak. But as an old partner, Hu Yingze naturally understood his smile, obviously agreeing with his own opinion.

"But, Lao Hu, it doesn't matter what kind of fox he is, anyway, I just lead the troops to fight and fight wits and courage with him, that's your responsibility. ”

Hu Yingze didn't argue, but after glancing at Zhang Qingshan, he said with a smile: "I don't have any intention to play these false things with him, anyway, we communists are the best at smelting such people, as long as he joins in, I guarantee that it won't be long before I can let him be reborn." ”

"That's okay, when the time comes, I'll just watch the show. ”

The two looked at each other and smiled, understanding each other.

Half an hour later, the troops continued their departure.

When the sun was about to set, the assault group finally came to the destination - Qinglong Village under Qinglong Mountain.

......