under fire

The crescent moon hangs in the sky.

The fleeing platoon leader, along with more than twenty of his men, ran through the misty fields, heading north.

Occasionally, gunshots were heard from far behind.

Everyone in the group ran out of breath.

"The Eighth Route Army is chasing me all the time... Do they have a grudge against me?" After running a few more miles, Platoon Leader Zhi slowed down.

"I've thought about it for a long time and I roughly know the reason..." one of his subordinates interrupted.

"Say it."

"There were many Eighth Route Army soldiers fleeing north. They dispersed and marched together. We should have just run ahead of the Eighth Route Army..."

"Oh my God..." When Platoon Leader Zhi thought of the dense crowds of Eighth Route Army following him, he almost collapsed to the ground again.

“Getting rid of them... is easy too..." the squad leader muttered as he reached out to steady the platoon leader.

"Hurry up and tell me..."

"If we run faster and turn east or west, we will miss the Eighth Route Army..."

"Run faster? Can you see who among you brothers can run faster?"

"Besides this, I have another way..." The squad leader was helpless. He thought that after failing to warn the company commander outside the village, he should run away immediately!

Run as far as you can. This idiot platoon leader even wants to wait until the Eighth Route Army leaves before going back.

"What can I do? If you keep me in suspense, I'll make you pay!" The platoon leader was angry.

"The Eighth Route Army didn't dare to light torches when they were escaping, and they took the small paths in the fields. We just had to take a risk and lie in the ditch on the ground. As long as we were not too unlucky, the Eighth Route Army, who were eager to escape, would definitely not be able to find us..."

"That's a good idea!"

...

boom…

Beep…

Li Laosi, who was in charge of the rear guard, led more than 20 people to engage in a firefight with the pursuing devils and the pioneers of the autonomous army...

The speed of both sides is very fast...

The sporadic gunshots sounded different to different people.

In the darkness, the traffic officer in charge of the prisoners' thoughts kept shouting: "The Eighth Route Army treats prisoners well. Those who are willing to join the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese will follow us. Those who are not willing will stay on the ground and receive three dollars. You can leave after this matter is over..."

More than 30 captured security forces were carrying stretchers and supplies, looking at each other.

I feel bitter but no one expresses it.

The Eighth Route Army did not fire a single shot, but seized nearly a full array of guns, ammunition and supplies left in the village...

Now I'm spending a hundred bucks...

Also from the captured...

What's the difference between this and robbery?

Without a gun, you will definitely be killed if you go back.

For a moment, the future felt bleak.

"Hey, which village are you from?" The courier began to chat with the scattered puppet soldiers.

"My village is Xilou."

"How many people are in the family?"

Eleven people volunteered to join the Eighth Route Army...

I heard the courier report to Hu Yi.

Liu Yuanqing stared at the divisional courier as if he were a monster: "How did you convince them to join the Eighth Route Army?"

The traffic officer replied with a proud smile: "We will publicize to them the policy of the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese invaders with the military and civilians as one family, and tell them about the bad things the Japanese invaders have done over the years..."

"Those who don't want to stay, are you going to let them go later?"

"Let go? Who told you that?" The traffic officer curled his lips.

"You're going to keep it and not let it go? Is that possible?" Liu Yuanbiao raised his hand and made a gesture of wiping his neck.

"That's not the case. I'll do some ideological work on them for another three to five days and I guarantee that every one of them will be willing to stay." The traffic officer said proudly, "I don't want those I don't like!"

"So powerful? Can you teach me how to..."

"Of course you can..." The courier suddenly lowered his voice: "Our deceased political commissar was amazing. He convinced the captives to take up guns and fight the enemy in half an hour." Liu Yuanqing suddenly felt that this boast was true.

However, this puppet army thing is really a strange thing.

When their opponents are strong, they are as weak as chicks.

If their opponents are ordinary people, they are as strong as tigers and lions.

In terms of combat effectiveness, the puppet troops trained by the devil instructors far surpassed the ordinary Eighth Route Army guerrillas.

Grassroots commanders have all learned basic tactics and are much stronger than guerrillas who only know how to launch ambushes and sneak attacks.

Even an ordinary puppet soldier can shoot better than the guerrillas because he has more bullets during training.

Unfortunately, they often cannot defeat the guerrillas.

Not long after.

Liu Yuanqing lay on the stretcher. "...Where are you from?"

Lieutenant Ma, who was carrying the stretcher, answered honestly: "My family is in the countryside. When I was working in the city, I married into my wife's family and became a live-in son-in-law..."

"How did you become a puppet soldier?" Liu Yuanqing seemed to be chatting.

"When I was little, my family sent me to the county town to study. After I graduated from high school, I used my connections to find a job in the county police force."

"It's pretty good to have a job in the police force."

"Later, the Japanese invaders came. I didn't want to be a puppet policeman and help the Japanese invaders. Unfortunately, no one was willing to abandon the fields and ancestral home that my family depended on for survival. I left a servant to look after the house, and my family hid in the countryside. It happened that the captain of the police force who was unwilling to surrender formed an anti-Japanese team, and I joined them because I had nothing better to do.

I fought against the devils for half a year, but I didn’t expect that there were spies in the team. Then the team was surrounded by the devils. The captain refused to surrender and was shot by the devils. I was still young at that time. I had no choice but to surrender and became a prisoner because I was the backbone of my family. Later, my family got the news. I almost lost everything and asked the chairman of the maintenance association to intercede for me in the Imperial Army. I was able to save my life. After writing a letter of repentance, I joined the Imperial Army…”

Liu Yuanqing smiled and said, "Your experience is quite rough... But, in fact, you can still keep your life even if you don't ask for help, because the devils need people to work for them."

Ma Gan smiled bitterly: "When I was imprisoned in the concentration camp, I didn't know so much. I just hoped to survive. At that time, I really just wanted to survive and I would do anything."

"Uh...what family did you marry into?"

"My father-in-law and his ancestors were all engaged in the silk business..."

"The silk business isn't doing well these days. By the way, how many people are there in your family?"

"Eight people, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, two sisters-in-law, and my two sons with my wife..."

"How much can you earn per month?"

"It used to be six dollars a month in French currency, but now the devils have changed to military notes to pay salaries, twelve dollars a month..."

"Military notes are worthless... Tell me, how much extra money can you make as a company commander in a month?"

"About thirty or forty yuan..." The muscles in the arms of the man carrying the stretcher were tense, and he wanted to strangle Liu Yuanqing who was lying on the stretcher and asking questions.

"I treat you as a friend, so don't treat me as a fool." Liu Yuanqing sneered, "Your subordinates have already explained the situation of your regiment clearly. If you dare to conceal it again, do you believe that I will immediately treat you as a traitor and execute you on the spot?"

Ma Gan was a little mad: "When I'm lucky, I can make more than a thousand yuan a month, when I'm unlucky, I can only make three or four hundred..."

"It seems that you really don't want to answer?"

Ma Gan gritted his teeth and said: "I have a kid in the city, and I need money... so I went to Tianjin with some brothers to make some money..."

"Haha, since you don't want to tell the truth, let's change the subject..." When Captain Ma was thinking about how to get away with it, Liu Yuanqing took the initiative to change the subject: "Then tell me, why don't we see sorghum fields in the places we are passing now?"

The hemp stalk leader was stunned for a moment, then heaved a sigh of relief: "When the canal flows through here, the water volume is still good. This area was less affected by the severe drought the year before last. Although sorghum is drought-resistant, its yield is low. It is a waste to plant sorghum in irrigated land..."

“Are there any fish in the river?”

"There was a severe drought the year before last. The amount of water in the river has dropped significantly, and there are far fewer fish and shrimp in the river than before..."

"Well...how do we collect taxes and send conscription to maintain the government?"

"Taxes were collected per capita in the form of grain money, and Yao labor was provided by each family, mainly to build watchtowers and dig blockade ditches..."

"Compulsory education in the Republic of China requires all children to study for free. What is the situation of schools and teachers?"

"After the Japanese invaded, primary and secondary schools lost their source of funding from the Nationalist government, most of the teachers left, and the schools were basically abandoned... In addition, the Japanese invaders gradually forced primary and secondary schools to increase Japanese language teaching. The villagers had little awareness of education, so most of the original primary and secondary school students simply stopped going to school..."

Liu Yuanqing asked about the local situation from time to time.

I never asked Captain Ma about the deployment of the Japanese troops for the mopping-up operation. Ma Gan, the puppet army captain, is not a simple person...

Next, I should tell him about the horrific and cruel things the Japanese have done!

Such scenes of communication with prisoners could be seen everywhere in the marching troops.

Time keeps passing.

The team finally came to a small river and slowly stopped. (End of this chapter)