After confirming that the little devil had really retreated, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the next thing that was most important and urgent was the aftermath...... As for whether the little devil will come again, Li Jing feels that it should not be so fast, but it is still necessary to strengthen the guard and increase vigilance.

There were too many dead, and many of the bodies of the two devils were washed away by the river, and these had to be fished up for burial.

Li Jing directly asked the reinforcement company he brought to be stationed in the commanding heights of the back mountain, and mobilized all the militia, some to salvage the corpses, some to bury the corpses, but more to help the doctors and nurses rescue the wounded...... It is not that Li Jing favors one over the other, but because the situation requires him to distribute it in this way: In the end, soldiers are soldiers, absolutely stronger than the militia, and the commanding heights are too important, in order to ensure everyone's safety to the greatest extent at the same time, but also to carry out all kinds of aftermath work in an orderly manner, then the control of the commanding heights must be firm and breakable.

Therefore, it is convenient to control the overall situation by placing military personnel on the commanding heights. And whether it is buried or salvaged, it requires a lot of manpower. In this way, we can save a lot of labor from each other.

The people of Majiapo Village, more than 10 miles away, were extremely worried about whether their homeland would be destroyed the moment they heard the sound of gunfire, whether the soldiers had suffered heavy casualties, and what was the outcome of the battle...... In short, everything that needs to be worried about in war, they are worried.

Even, because some people are separated from their families for a while, and because they are not allowed to talk to each other and move around at will for the sake of hidden safety in the forest, they cannot find their relatives in a short time, and they are even more worried about whether their families are safe.

And the most worrying thing is that when the gunfire ends, everyone forms a unified question mark: how will the victory or defeat?

When the herald brought the news that 'the little devil has been beaten away, everyone can go home', the cheers were thunderous, and everyone smiled excitedly. Screaming and jumping, comforting each other, encouraging each other, and, of course, expressing gratitude to the militia and fighters......

Then, without urging, everyone hurried down the mountain.

When I came to the shoal downstream, I saw more than 20 soldiers with guns on their backs and pennies standing side by side in the water, salvaging the bodies that had rushed down from the upstream, and there were three carriages next to them, which were already loaded with five or six corpses.

An old man stepped forward and asked who the corpses were.

When he learned that these corpses were all two devils before his death, the old man waved his cane angrily, and stepped forward to whip the corpses, but the soldiers hurriedly stopped and dissuaded them.

Subsequently, I don't know who spat on the corpses of these two devils first, and then, as long as the villagers pass by, they will spit on the corpses of these two devils, and many villagers persuade the militia not to salvage them, so let these two devils feed Wang Ba, and they will never be able to live forever. It can be seen how angry he is at the behavior of the two devils who act as tigers and harm their compatriots...... The Chinese pay attention to the importance of human death and regard it as etiquette. However, for some wicked people who have done too much harm, everyone will continue to extend their hatred for them—this is human nature and the inevitable result of the development of civilization.

The militiamen ostensibly agreed, but they continued to do their jobs.

Don't the militiamen have no hatred for these two devils? Absolutely not.

Think about it, if a playmate who grew up together since childhood was killed by two devils or little devils in battle, he didn't have any sense of grief and indignation?

No way!

However, the militia is also half a soldier and understands the principle of obedience to orders, so no matter how sad and indignant they are, orders must be carried out.

The villagers saw from a distance that there was no smoke in the village, and when they looked closely, their houses did not seem to have been destroyed by the war, and they immediately breathed a sigh of relief...... In fact, neither the bombers nor the shelling of the little devils deliberately targeted the buildings in the village. Coupled with Li Jing's desperate resistance, the little devils did not attack the village, so that the village suffered almost no losses. Of course, the dozen or so big pits that were blown out at the foot of the back mountain and a few vegetable patches that were blown up do not count.

Then, the villagers were immediately shocked by the many scenes of carrying the wounded or corpses.

Especially when they saw the hundreds of corpses lined up in the open space, everyone was extremely moved.

The villagers have basically never seen a big battle, although there have been bandits who have attacked the village before, but the two sides together have killed a dozen or so people at most, just this, and the villagers have always deeply engraved this hatred, for example, Li Jing's incident back then.

However, the scene of a dozen or so people dying in total is nothing compared to the scene of hundreds of corpses side by side in front of him. In particular, the degree of shock to the senses is incomparable.

In the imagination of the villagers, whether one dies or a hundred, it will be death, and there will not be much difference, but all this in front of them makes them deeply feel the cruelty of war. I felt that these strangers came hundreds of miles to defend their homeland, sacrificed, but they didn't even know their names, and even, they didn't know their names, but everyone knew each other's other common names, and it was precisely because of this title that these warriors who died in battle would come so without hesitation, throwing their heads and spilling their blood to protect the villagers.

The name is - compatriots!

The villagers who came from afar stopped their steps, watched silently, felt silently, and thought silently.

In the end, I don't know who cried first, and then, everyone cried...... The villagers didn't know that some of these corpses that were covered by sheets or white cloths, or even just covered their faces because of insufficient fabrics, were little devils and two devils, and they thought they were all soldiers of the assault regiment or militia.

In fact, when the militia gathered the corpses, they also distinguished between them: the sacrificed of their own people aside, and the enemy aside. However, because they are all covered by fabric, and the villagers do not know how to distinguish from the clothing, they misunderstood.

When Ma Hongji saw that the villagers had returned, he instructed the housekeeper to call all the people from the village protection team in Majiapo Village, and then, everyone stood aside together, waiting for the villagers to come back, and then Ma Hongji led everyone to the front of the villagers and shouted: "The people of Majiapo Village are listening to me." I, Ma Hongji, as the head of Majiapo Village and the patriarch of the Ma family, order you, but all the people of Majiapo Village, kneel down and kowtow to me in front of the bodies of these warriors now. ”

After speaking, Ma Hongji took the lead himself, turned around and kowtowed to the one hundred and ten sacrificed warriors.

It was his butler, who saw that some people actually kowtowed to the pile of corpses next to him, and immediately shouted angrily: "What are you doing? The people here are the warriors who fought bloodily with the little devil and the second devil to the end in order to defend our village, and finally died heroically." The people over there are all little devils and second devils, what are you doing kowtowing to them? Do you want to rebel?"

Only then did everyone come back to their senses, and they didn't dare to look at people at all in shame, so they quickly turned around and followed Ma Hongji to kowtow to the one hundred and ten warriors who had sacrificed.

"Folks, I won't say much superfluous, I'll just say a little bit...... Ma Hongji kowtowed three times, then stood up and turned to the villagers and said: "These sacrificed warriors are not related to us, and they are not invited by us at our expense, but why do they still do this? I think it is only because of one point, that is, we and they are both descendants of Yan and Huang, and we are Chinese of the same root and clan." And those over there are all invaders, our common enemy, which is why they are so obligated to help us...... Now, they have sacrificed, but we have to let these warriors, whether they are sacrificed or alive, know that their blood will not be shed in vain, their lives will not be in vain, and their spirit will not be dissipated...... Therefore, I decided to build a grave for these warriors first, and after defeating the little devils, one in our village will be counted as one, and we must contribute money and efforts to erect a big monument to these warriors. Not only the names of these sacrificed warriors, but also the names of all the warriors who participated in the battle to defend our Majiapo Village today, as well as the causes, processes and results of this battle, must all be engraved on it. Not only to commemorate their contributions, but more importantly, to let our children and grandchildren remember everything that happened today, remember the shame brought to us by the enemy today, and inherit the last wishes of these warriors...... Therefore, I declare that from today onwards, as long as there is still one person alive, no matter where or what he does, but every year on this day, he must climb back to worship these warriors, otherwise, he is not a person from Majiapo Village, and he is not worthy of being a villager of Majiapo Village, let alone a person! At the same time, from today onwards, we people of Majiapo Village will resolutely follow the Eighth Route Army Assault Regiment to fight devils and kill traitors. ”

Li Jing silently watched, listened, and felt, but the corners of his mouth were slightly upturned, and his eyes were full of relief: Comrades, your sacrifice was not in vain, and your blood was not shed in vain......

Many years later, when the descendants of Majiapo Village remembered Ma Hongji's words, they would rush back every year today to participate in the worship of these martyrs in the whole village, which was very lively, and even developed into a well-known tourist scenery: it not only greatly increased the income of local residents, but also was an excellent platform for revolutionary commemoration and education and publicity......

After kneeling, the villagers hurried home to put down their belongings, and then men, women, and children spontaneously went out to help carry the corpses, bury the corpses, rush to transport the wounded, and take care of the wounded...... However, there is one thing that is very touching: no one takes the lead, let alone organizes, but the villagers all spontaneously wear filial piety bandas on their heads and tie a white cloth around their left arm. The left arm is tied with a white cloth, indicating that a loved one has died, and the head is wearing a filial piety handkerchief, which can only be found at the funeral of parents, but in this way, the villagers express their inner gratitude, expressing a certain determination and faith.

......