Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

The sound of firecrackers bid farewell to the old year, and the fireworks welcomed the new year. After a sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner, the fighters in various guerrilla bases also organized their own Spring Festival parties.

Of course, there are singing, opera, crosstalk and clapper talk, Shandong clapper talk and storytelling respectively performed "Wu Song Fighting the Tiger" and "Wu Song Going to the Market" and of course, there are also performances by the local gong and drum team...

In short, under the protection of the guerrillas, the 3rd Core Regiment, and the Pingdong District and County Brigade, the Japanese did not dare to cause trouble during the New Year, and everyone could celebrate the Spring Festival in peace.

The only regret is that due to resource limitations, the Liangjia Village base (also known as the Pingdong District base) did not have large-scale fireworks displays, and even fewer double-kick firecrackers. At most, small firecrackers were set off at the doorstep. Although it was so cold, the children in the base were very happy and had a lot of fun.

In order to celebrate the arrival of the New Year, Comrade Li Yuexuan was not idle either. Instead, he took the workers to the mortar shooting range and test-fired 4 shells for four newly-made mortars, which added some atmosphere to the New Year...

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the people in the base area got up early and opened the door. Those with elderly people in the family waited for the younger generation to come up and pay New Year's greetings. The younger generation in the family also gathered together as a family unit, and the brothers of the same family paid New Year's greetings to the elderly in the village. When people of the same age met on the street, they would congratulate them and say "Happy New Year", which was considered a greeting.

Seeing the children in the village imitating the adults in greeting each other, Li Yuexuan suddenly remembered a song called "Congratulations". When he first heard this song, he thought it was a song for the New Year, but later he found out that it was a song to commemorate the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

Congratulations... I guess it means congratulations on surviving to victory in this war!
"Peregrine, let's go and wish Grandma Sun a happy new year!" Zhao Danian's words interrupted Li Yuexuan's thoughts. So, he tidied up his brand new camouflage uniform, followed Zhao Danian and Zhu Xingyu, and walked to Grandma Sun's residence in the backyard.

Because the guerrillas' headquarters was located here, few people usually visited Grandma Sun's house. But today, on the first day of the new year, the sentry at the gate received an order that the children of the village could come in at will.

Of course, Grandma Sun is not an old lady who stays in the backyard. She is a strong old lady whose favorite thing to do every day is to wander around the village with a stick that looks more like a weapon than a crutch.

The old lady could be seen in the workshops in the village, the factory sheds at the entrance of the village, and the wheat fields and sweet potato fields outside the village. The two places she went to most often were the graves at the foot of the ancestral grave mountain in the west, where the Japanese were buried. Sakata Nobutsu was lying in one of the graves. The other place was the hillside where the fallen comrades were buried.

In the old lady's words: I am over 60 years old, and I may not be able to get up one day, so I will go and see her first, talk to the old man, and talk to the children...

In the main room at the backyard of the Liang family compound, Li Yuexuan saw Grandma Sun, whose hair had turned completely white. Although Grandma Sun's hair had turned completely white, she was still strong and looked at the children who were paying New Year's greetings with a kind face.

"Granny Sun, Happy New Year! Congratulations!" Zhao Danian took the lead and several cadres greeted the New Year together.

"Hello, comrades! Hello, everyone!" Granny Sun stood up, let Zhao Danian sit on the armchair on one side of the eight-immortal table, arranged Li Yuexuan and the others on the long bench on the west side, and Hongniang brought a cup of water, which was filled with honey water. "Granny Sun, you are too polite. We have bothered you for another year. Thank you for your support to our team!" Zhao Danian said with a bow.

"You're welcome, aren't you?" Granny Sun had a stern face, but she couldn't help but smile again: "As long as you are willing, you can stay as long as you want! You say it's disturbing, but with you living here, all the women and children in our village feel at ease! With you here, we don't have to worry about the Japanese invaders coming to kill us, and we don't have to worry about starving because of the loss of the harvest. The children followed the team and had a lot of food in the team."

"The most important point is that you are really killing the devils and protecting the people! Moreover, you buried so many devils at the foot of the ancestral grave mountain, offering blood and food to our ancestors. Our entire village and clan are grateful for your kindness! By the way, Captain Zhao, you have been in our Liangjia Village for a few years, right?"

"We came here in the spring of 27, and have lived here ever since!" Zhao Danian knew that the old lady had more to say, so he looked at her after he finished speaking.

"Yes, if you count the days, it's almost been 4 years! At that time, you had more than a dozen people, four or five guns, and you had everything you needed! But after all these years, our team has more than 2000 main forces, and the militiamen's equipment is better than yours!" Granny Sun sighed and suddenly changed the subject: "From what you said in the meeting, don't you plan to recruit new soldiers next year?"

"Yes, based on the resources of the base we have as well as our training and combat resources, our current military strength has reached its peak! Therefore, we do not plan to add any new recruits next year!" Zhao Danian said in a very affirmative tone, saying something that everyone knew.

"Then..." Granny Sun hesitated for a moment and said, "Can you give me a favor and recruit two extra soldiers?"

After Grandma Sun finished speaking, without waiting for Zhao Danian to respond, she shouted to the outside of the door: "Liang Weiguo, Liang Weimin, come in!"

"Here they come!" Accompanied by a very childish young voice, two very young men walked into the house and stood on the east side of the door.

"These two are the children of my third and fourth sons." Granny Sun nodded to Zhao Danian and the others, with a firm look on her face, and continued, "When my old man led a group of boys to fight the Japanese pirates, they were only 12 years old, still babies! Now, they have grown to 16 years old and have become big boys! So, I plan to send them to the team and follow the main force to kill the devils!"

"This..." Zhao Danian knew these two children. He often trained with the team, but everyone just thought they were just kids playing around. But in the blink of an eye, the kids have grown into young men... Zhao Danian thought about this, turned his head and looked at Zhu Xingyu, then said, "As far as I know, there aren't many males left in your Liang family, right?"

"Including them, there are only three of us! They are old enough to follow the team and kill the enemy. The youngest is only 6 years old this year!" Granny Sun said, "I know what you mean, but the sons and daughters of my Liang family are not afraid of death! Besides, the blood feud must be avenged personally!" (End of this chapter)