In the spring of 1943, it was warm and cold.

Major General Naojiro Amaya, the supreme commander of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army, who had been repeatedly attacked in the course of several military operations in the Dahongsan area, launched a frenzied revenge in the Gyeongjong area for the sake of shame.

Just after the Spring Festival, after the Japanese army was carrying out a sweep and defeated a Kuomintang army, they found many villagers hiding there in a place called Luotigou, so they set up machine guns and mortars on the top of the hill and swept wildly, and more than 300 unarmed villagers fell in pools of blood.

In another place, Xialiuwan, 59 villagers were bloodied by the Japanese army, and even two babies under the age of one were torn in half. Since then, the place has been uninhabited.

Liao Jiachong, a small village with no more than 10 households, the Japanese army heard that it had taken in the wounded and sick of the New Fourth Army, and after a team of devils searched for it to no avail, they became angry and buried all 8 men, young and old, alive, and all the women were humiliated. Since then, Liao Jiachong has become a "widow chong".

The devils' sweep and the looting of the Kuomintang recalcitrant army caused heavy losses to the New Fourth Army and its affiliated guerrillas in the Jingzhongjing area, and the "Qiqi Newspaper" printing house and field hospital hidden in the Nanshan base area were forced to be transferred, and more than 10 wounded and sick were killed by the Japanese puppet army in the process of transfer, and five of them were seriously wounded and stoned to death by the puppet army's stone mill. Even the bandit Zhou Laoqi, who had been entrenched in the Nanshan area for a long time, had no choice but to lower his shelf and lead two regiments with a total of more than 1,000 people to take the initiative to defect to the 3rd Army Division of the New Fourth Army to seek incorporation and become the 5th Special 5th Brigade of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army.

Zhou Laoyu's official name is Zhou Liangyu, who is insidious and cunning, and is a character who blows on both sides and has milk. For a long time, it has been the king of the mountains in the southeast mountains of Xiangnan, Maliang and Shipai in Xiangxi, and the people are fished and fleshed. After the Japanese occupied Zhongxiang, he first took refuge with the Japanese and became a traitor. Under the repeated blows of the New Fourth Army, he felt that it was difficult to gain a foothold, and he switched to the Fifth Theater of the Kuomintang and was assigned to the 10th Column. Perhaps it was because he did not get the high-ranking officials, guns, ammunition, and food he wanted after joining the ranks of the Kuomintang, and in addition, there were many factions within the Kuomintang, and the Third Advance Column of the Fifth Theater was even more eyeing him, and almost wanted to annex him, so in desperation, he had no choice but to change his court again and defect to the name of the Nanshan 3rd Army Subdivision of the New Fourth Army.

The top brass of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army were reluctant to accept Zhou Laoxiao, a team born from bandits and a mother who had a milk and was a mother, but considering that this contingent was the armed forces of the Chinese themselves after all, and in line with the principle of putting the united front and the interests of the nation first, they finally decided to incorporate Zhou as the special 5th Brigade of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army, with two regiments under it, each regiment equipped with two battalions, appointed Zhou Laoxiao as the brigade commander, and sent a political commissar for their brigade level, as well as the director of the brigade political department. A series of political work cadres, such as the head of the propaganda section, want to step up the transformation of this special contingent.

Zhou Laoqi, who had served as the captain of the traitor brigade of the Japanese puppet army and the commander of the Kuomintang column, was also extremely reluctant to defect to the New Fourth Army in his heart, and a group of brothers under him, the "Eight King Kongs", were even more opposed. Years of bandit career have made this gang develop a murderous and aggressive character. Although they have no culture, they are all good at kung fu, excellent marksmanship, and are accustomed to a life of unrestrained and drunk. In their opinion, what is the fastest way to get money and things? That's a robbery, of course! What is the most worry-free and fastest way to live? That, of course, being a bandit! Not to mention eating meat in a big bowl and drinking wine in a big bowl, you can also taste women's meat every once in a while. Originally, I defected to the Japanese and the Kuomintang, although I was not as free as being a bandit, but in fact it was similar to being a bandit, eating, drinking, prostituting and gambling, abducting and cheating, and no one above would interfere with you. And now that they have taken refuge in the New Fourth Army, the situation is very different, because they have long heard that the Communist Party has too many rules and too strict discipline, and it is not allowed to steal, rob, play with money, smoke a lot, and especially not play with women, what is the difference between this and being an ascetic, and what is the meaning of being a man?

However, Zhou Laoqi, who is also a bandit, is much more insidious and cunning than everyone, and his consideration of problems is much more far-reaching than that of everyone. As a big boss, in addition to doing no evil, he is more concerned about ensuring that his team can survive, he knows that the heroes of the troubled times come out of all directions, and if there is a gun, he is the king of grass, what benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and faith, what is shameful and backbone, all of them pull his mother's winter melon eggs. Lao Tzu has a team, what fragrant and spicy can't be eaten? What kind of girls can't play? So for the survival of this team, he first recognized the Japanese army as his father, and then recognized the Kuomintang as his mother, and now he has turned back and recognized the New Fourth Army as his ancestor. As long as the New Fourth Army no longer makes trouble for itself and does not break up its own ranks, it can still get the support and protection of the New Fourth Army in the face of the Japanese and the Kuomintang.

For Zhou Laoqi, a guy who went back on his word and was not trustworthy, Major General Naojiro Amaya of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army began to prepare to directly send troops to exterminate him. He called Kurokawa Masao, the head of the Special High School: "Zhou Laoqi, a treacherous guy, has now taken refuge in the New Fourth Army, it seems that this rotten shrimp can still be used, so that he can ferment in the stomach of the New Fourth Army and toss and toss." ”

Kurokawa is ambitious: "Hey! We'll arrange it right away. ”

The 5th Division of the New Fourth Army's Nanshan Base Area, the special 5th Brigade station, Zhou Laoqi's eyeliner set up in Zhongxiang County, a trade innkeeper with eyes and hands, took the opportunity to send supplies to the troops to come to Zhou Laoqi's room, he first handed over 500 oceans to Zhou Laoqi, and then lowered his voice and said: "The New Fourth Army is not having a good time, right?" Kurokawa Masao Daizoto, I will bring you a letter, there is no future in following the New Fourth Army, as long as you know your way back and turn back, the Imperial Japanese Army will appoint you as the commander of the Jingzhong Garrison Brigade regardless of your previous suspicions, and the guns, ammunition, and military rations of the troops will all be provided by the Imperial Army, which is better than the drill ravine where you are now hiding in Tibet, isn't it? ”

Having lived a hard life in the ravines all day long, Zhou Laoqi, as the brigade commander, actually couldn't stand it anymore. In particular, the political work cadres sent by the New Fourth Army have been tireless in conducting political education and discipline education for the troops all day long. He was worried that sooner or later, this kind of education would brainwash the troops, and the armed forces that he had managed to pull up would be naked and disintegrated, and he would lose a lot of money. It's just that he was desperate in the previous stage and had to stay in the ranks of the New Fourth Army to survive. Now, the Japanese have taken the initiative to extend an olive branch to him regardless of their previous suspicions, and since ancient times, he believed that having milk is his mother, how can he not be moved?

Thinking that he had betrayed the Japanese in the early stage, Zhou Laoqi still felt unsteady in his heart, and he asked: "Just submit to them?" Isn't there anything else strings attached? ”

The owner of the warehouse: "Since Brigade Commander Zhou promised to return to the Japanese Imperial Army, he naturally has to serve the Imperial Army, in fact, there is no big task, as long as the Imperial Army sweeps the Nanshan Base Area, you can respond as an internal officer." ”

Zhou Laoyi's uneasy heart calmed down a little: "It's that simple? They're not going to take the opportunity to destroy us, are they? ”

The owner of the warehouse took out a letter of appointment from the cloth bag and handed it to Zhou Laoqi, which read: Zhou Liangyu is hereby appointed as the colonel of the Hubei Jingzhong District Garrison Brigade of the Nanjing Government. "Brigadier Zhou, don't worry about it now!"

Mr. Zhou hurriedly put away the letter of appointment, and then said to the owner of the warehouse: "Please tell Mr. Kurokawa that since the Imperial Army sincerely cooperates with me, I, Zhou, will live up to my mission and serve the Imperial Army with all my heart." ”

From then on, Zhou Laoqi, commander of the 5th Special Brigade, who had already made up his mind to defect to the Japanese, began to plot to change his course. He knew that it would be impossible for him to defect to the Japanese again without a greeting gift, and he was a little reluctant to prepare a decent gift of gold and silver treasures, so he started the idea of more than a dozen political cadres sent by the New Fourth Army. He knew that the rank of these cadres was not low, especially his partner brigade political commissar Xie Wei was the deputy commissioner of the Xiangnan Administration and the secretary of the Jingzhong County Party Committee, as well as the director of the brigade political department, three section chiefs, and two regimental political commissars. With this meeting gift, I don't have to worry about the Japanese not giving themselves high-ranking officials.

In the blink of an eye, in September 1943, in order to urge Zhou Laoqi to lead the Special 5th Brigade to defect to the Japanese as soon as possible, the Japanese army dispatched troops from all the strongholds in the Jingzhong area to carry out a large-scale sweep of the Nanshan base area of the New Fourth Army again. Zhou Laoqi felt that the time was ripe, so he stepped up the pace of taking refuge in the Japanese again.

September 14 coincided with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the weather was sunny. Although the devil's sweep caused panic among the people, Xiao Jiachong, where the headquarters of the 5th Special Brigade was stationed, still showed a rare festive atmosphere, and Zhou Laoqi, commander of the 5th Special Brigade, hosted a banquet at home for Xie Wei, political commissar of the brigade, and Du Bangxian, director of the political department.

In fact, Xie Wei and Du Bangxian were already aware of the possibility of Zhou Laoqi defecting to the enemy again, and urgently reported the situation to the Xiangnan Administration and the Military Division, suggesting that preventive measures should be taken. It's just that they didn't know that the personnel sent out had been intercepted and killed by Zhou Laoqi's hardcore brother, Cao Zijun, the commander of the spy company, on the way. Xie Du and the others, who had no idea, knew that it was a Hongmen banquet for Zhou Laoqi's warm invitation, but in order to stabilize each other, they still had luck and generously went to the appointment.

The guests had already come to the door, but the host had not shown up for a long time. Xie Wei and Du Bang first realized that the situation was not good, and were about to leave, when suddenly more than a dozen heavily armed personnel rushed out of the wings on both sides of the dining room and detained the two without saying anything.

Brigade political commissar Xie Wei resisted and reprimanded loudly: "Who are you? How dare you be rude to Lao Tzu! Go and get your brigade commander and see how Lao Tzu cleans up your bunnies! ”

At this time, the leader of Zhou Laoqi's guards came over and replied, "I'm sorry, my big political commissar!" What kind of bullshit New Fourth Army, living like an ascetic all day long, Lao Tzu didn't want to do it for a long time. People go to high places, water flows to low places, and Brigade Commander Zhou is going to take us to find another way, so you'd better be honest and don't embarrass us. After speaking, he instructed his subordinates to tie up Xie Wei, the political commissar of the brigade, Du Bangxian, the director of the political department of the brigade, and Xie Wei's guards.

At the same time, Zhou Laoqi, who had completely torn off his disguise, commanded his henchmen, the commander of the brigade's special service company and the commander of the 1st Battalion of the Seventh Regiment, led his troops to surround the guard platoon assigned to Xie Wei by the New Fourth Army, and killed the guard platoon leader, instructor, and two squad leaders with random guns, and disarmed all the rest of the personnel; He also detained several section chiefs, staff officers, and political commissars of the Seventh Regiment of the brigade political department sent by the New Fourth Army. The commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Regiment led a team to attack the Southwest District Squadron of the Xiangnan Military Subdivision of the New Fourth Army, killing the squadron leader and disarming and seizing the rest of the personnel, including the district leaders.

So far, all the political workers and guards selected by the New Fourth Army to the Special 5th Brigade, except for Zhang Lie, political commissar of the Eighth Regiment, and his guards who were secretly let go by regiment commander Lu Chunyang, the rest of the personnel were killed or taken hostage by the rebels led by Zhou Laoqi.

After the incident of Zhou Laoqi, commander of the 5th Special Brigade, betraying his word, defecting to the enemy, and killing and detaining political work cadres sent by the Communist Party, he shocked central Hubei and the southwestern region. The commander of the 5th Division of the New Fourth Army was furious and ordered Jiang Hong, the commander of the Dahongshan Guerrilla Independent Brigade, to immediately go out of the mountain and rescue the people detained by the rebels at all costs and completely exterminate this gang of bandits.