Songhu: Never Give Up

This battle was probably the easiest one that Li Jie had ever fought. The 1st Battalion hadn't even deployed its forces yet, but he had already destroyed the bandits' will to resist with just a dozen mortars and infantry guns.

It was so easy that he couldn't believe it. How could these bandits have the courage to resist him?

"Captain Li, we've caught the person you wanted. This female Japanese soldier attempted to commit suicide by taking poison after being captured, but was knocked unconscious by our men. Do we need to wake her up?"

Gan Zhongqiang, the captain of the reconnaissance battalion, did not disappoint Li Jie. They caught Tanaka Yunko by lying in wait.

Li Jie finally became interested and signaled Lao Gan to wake up the female devil. After Tanaka Yunzi woke up, she understood and knew that it would not be easy to die now, so she said calmly in Chinese:
"It's worthless for you to bring me here alive. You're not the kind of soldier who's interested in women."

Li Jie was stunned at first, then he chuckled and said:

"It seems that you really understand us Chinese. You may not believe me, but I don't want to capture you alive. It's my brother who misunderstood.

Of course he was right to stop you from swallowing the poison. As an aggressor, you deserved to die at our hands.

Now that we are here, let’s just go through the process!

Are you willing to surrender?"

Tanaka Yunko sneered contemptuously and watched Li Jie's clumsy performance. In her opinion, the Chinese were so boring and hypocritical, saying one thing and thinking another. She would never surrender to the lowly Chinese.

"Mr. Commander, when have you ever seen a Japanese willing to surrender? Give it to me!"

Li Jie looked at Tanaka Yunzi with a calm gaze, as if he was looking at a dead person. He turned to Gan Zhongqiang and said:
"The procedure has been followed. If you don't want to surrender, then chop him off."

Tanaka Yunko watched the two Chinese people performing and thought it was so uncreative. It was a shame for her to be captured alive by these two brainless Chinese people.

Gan Zhongqiang picked her up like a chicken and threw her to the ground. He then signaled others to find him a Northwest Army broadsword.
Since Captain Li wanted to chop her off, the most suitable weapon would be the ghost-head knife. Tanaka Yunzi struggled to get up from the ground and looked at Gan Zhongqiang's performance with sarcasm. These Chinese people are born performers.

Then he said contemptuously:
"Chinese, don't waste your time on me. You will get nothing from me."

Gan Zhongqiang took the ghost-head knife expressionlessly, and then said to Tanaka Yunzi:
"Little devil, now on behalf of our compatriots who died tragically at your hands, I declare your death. Is there anything else you want to say?"

Tanaka Yunko said coldly:
"Your Majesty, the Emperor is great! The holy war will surely win!"

When Gan Zhongqiang raised the sword high, Tanaka Yunzi sensed something was wrong, because he smelled the breath of death and saw the strong murderous intent in Gan Zhongqiang's eyes;
The Chinese were not putting on a show. The ridiculous person was her. She took herself too seriously. The Chinese were really just putting on a show. They would execute her when it was over.

Although she no longer cared about life or death, she felt very uncomfortable with the feeling of being completely ignored. The Chinese people didn't care whether she surrendered or not, they just found an excuse to kill the prisoners. She subconsciously asked:
"why?"

Gan Zhongqiang said calmly:

"This is what you deserve. This is the fate of an aggressor. Everyone has the right to punish him."

"Which unit are you from?"

Tanaka Yunko finally asked the doubts in her heart. She regretted going to Canglong Village. It was not worth it to sacrifice her life for a bunch of trash. She still had a lot of things to do, but her life was already in countdown. The feeling of being summoned by the god of death was really bad.

"Guerrilla column!"

There was a flash of fear in Tanaka Yunko's eyes. She met someone she shouldn't have met.

She almost watched the sharp knife chop off the neck that she was so proud of. Her eyes rolled on the ground along with her head, and fear instantly filled her eyes. It turned out that she was also afraid of death.

"Good knife!"

Gan Zhongqiang found that it felt really good to chop off the Japanese' heads with a big knife. No wonder the Chinese people like to sing "Chop the Japanese' heads with the big knife". This feeling cannot be expressed in words. He has already fallen in love with this way.

Just as Gan Zhongqiang was enjoying this unique pleasure, a yellow dog suddenly jumped out and took away Tanaka Yunko's head. Even the Chinese Pastoral Dog came over to avenge his revenge.

At the 1st Battalion Field Command, Captain Mu Tiezhu came in excitedly and said to Li Jie excitedly:
"Captain, I've made a fortune. I accidentally discovered a treasure trove of bandits. It's full of gold, silver and treasures, dozens of boxes."

Li Jie looked at Mu Tiezhu with envy, and then said jokingly:

"Old Mu, why is your luck always so good?
There were only two Japanese flags seized in the whole of China, and you took them all. You can even find treasures by poking a bandit. What the base lacks most right now is valuable things."

Mu Tiezhu smiled innocently and said:
"My mother told me that I lack gold in my five elements, so I can always pick up gold when I herd cattle for my employer." Li Jie is Mu Tiezhu's old company commander. They have fought side by side since the first Battle of Songhu. There are not many old brothers like him. They are true friends for life and death, so they speak casually and know each other well.

He hated to see Mu Tiezhu being so proud, so he immediately retorted:

"I heard from Captain Liu that the lump of gold was lost that day, so you are not destined to have gold. After counting, hand all the gold over to the branch."

Mu Tiezhu knew this would be the result. He got angry when Liu Xiaoqi was mentioned. Not only did he expose his shortcomings in front of the old company commander, but he also tried to snatch his wife from him. He held a grudge when he lost, so he said bitterly:
"Liu Xiaoqi is just making up stories about me. You don't have to take what he says seriously."

Li Jie couldn't help laughing after hearing this. The news of these two funny guys fighting for a wife in the village had already spread throughout the camp. It was said that it was Old Yue who spread the news.

Li Jie was too old in the guerrilla column. Mu Tiezhu knew he could not gain an advantage by arguing with him, so he changed the subject and said:

"These bandits are too weak to fight. They ran away before the infantry even charged. They run faster than rabbits in the mountains.
The brothers were exhausted trying to capture prisoners, but they only captured more than 1. The rest ran away. What should we do? "

Seeing that Mu Tiezhu was talking about serious matters, Li Jie stopped joking and said:
"It's a good thing to be able to run in the mountains. Such soldiers are just suitable for mountain warfare. They must be carefully selected. All bandit leaders must be rejected and treated as traitors and executed on the spot.

The other minions will be educated first and then recruited, and they will be made to fight the devils to atone for their sins!"

There are few people who have been bandits for a long time who do not have blood on their hands. It is unrealistic to kill them all, so we can only kill the leaders and recruit most of the minions.

Although this battle was fought easily, their work was not yet done. The bandits gathered in Canglong Village were only a small part, and the majority were still in various mountain villages.

Now is the time when they are in chaos. We must strike while the iron is hot and wipe them out before the bandits select a new leader, otherwise we will be in trouble.

Then the 1st Battalion attacked from all sides in company units, and under the leadership of the captured minions, they captured the mountain strongholds of all sizes scattered across 72 Hills one by one;
Not only did they seize a large amount of property, they also captured more than 5 bandits. After eliminating some of the old, weak and sick, they obtained more than 3 strong bandits.

These people are all on the edge of a knife, very familiar with the local terrain, and have close ties with the locals. They are a very good source of soldiers, and dying on the battlefield against the Japanese is their best fate;

If they can survive, they will grow into qualified soldiers and live a decent life after atonement.

The banditry in 72 Hill was finally eliminated. When the local people learned about it, they came to express their gratitude with drums and gongs. The landlords and gentry also came to curry favor with them by carrying cattle and sheep. The 1st Battalion finally won the recognition of the local people.
Li Jie took the opportunity to call together local gentry to discuss and promote the policy of rent and interest reduction. After witnessing the guerrilla column's thundering methods, they were extremely unwilling in their hearts, but they still had to accept it because they were powerless.

Fortunately, the guerrilla column wiped out the local banditry, saving them a large amount of protection fees, and they lived a relatively peaceful life. The loss was actually not that big, so there was no need to get into trouble.

The Yimeng Mountains are a land-scarce region with many mountains. The people's lives were already difficult, and the landlords collected 8% of the rent. In addition, they had to pay various taxes, so their lives were very hard.

In good years, people have little to eat, but in bad years, it is common for a family to go hungry and have to sell their children.

When the guerrilla column arrived, they not only wiped out the banditry, but also forced the employers to reduce the rent to 50%, which was equivalent to giving them a way to survive.

The Chinese people are so simple. They will support whoever gives them a way to live, and oppose whoever makes it impossible for them to survive. This is the will of the people.

Tanjiagou, Songling Village

The villagers could hardly believe their ears. The boss actually announced in public that the rent would be reduced to 5%, and there was no need to pay imperial grain. When did "Liu Baopi" become so humane?

"Old Five, do you really think that Liu Bapi has changed his character? Ugh!

He wanted to scrape off a layer of oil from the land, but it was all thanks to the guerrilla column that supported us poor people. Liu Bapi’s good days are over.”

"Sister Lanhua, I heard that your husband joined the guerrilla column. You will be very powerful in the future. Liu Bapi will have to avoid you when he sees you."

Sister Lanhua blushed after hearing this. Her husband did join the guerrilla column, but it was not glorious to say it out loud. He joined the guerrilla column after being caught as a bandit, and she was too ashamed to talk about it.

The fifth wife disagreed, because her brothers were also very powerful, so she continued:

"My brother is the same. He is now wearing the guerrilla uniform and it's so exciting!

Now there are matchmakers coming to my house, and pretty girls from all over the village are trying to marry my brother.
Sister Lanhua, you have to keep an eye on your man, he is very popular! "

Everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter after hearing this. Three women make a drama, and a dozen women getting together to sew shoe soles is like a happy meeting.

Under the locust tree at the east end of the village, a group of women were chattering and teasing Sister Lanhua. Sister Wu saw a group of soldiers coming from a distance, and her face suddenly changed with fear, and she screamed:
"This is terrible - the soldiers are coming!" (End of this chapter)