Courtyard Houses: Longevity Since the War of Resistance

There weren't many Japanese soldiers in Majia Town. The reason was that it was too close to Langu County and was strategically abandoned. Otherwise, given the prosperity of Yangchang County, there wouldn't be so few people.

The twelve of us disappeared into the darkness, like twelve deadly messengers, the Black and White Impermanence.

"Split up." I gestured. "Remember, this is your first real combat mission. Go all out and do what you're supposed to do. I'll be behind you."

Qian Lai led Lu Yuan and Liu Hou towards the ammunition depot.

This kid was born to handle explosives. He swaggered toward the warehouse door, deliberately making a commotion.

"Who's there?" The two sentries at the door immediately became alert.

The moment their attention was drawn, Lu Yuan on the rooftop pulled the trigger of his crossbow, and a sentry fell to the ground. Almost simultaneously, Qian Lai lunged forward, his dagger precisely piercing another sentry's heart.

Liu Hou quickly climbed the poplar tree next to the warehouse, nimbly jumped into the courtyard, opened the gate from the inside, and let the two people in.

Inside the warehouse, the other guards were all fast asleep. The three men split up and, with swift strokes, dispatched the Japanese soldiers to meet their maker in their sleep.

"Pick the best ones," Qian Lai said in a low voice.

They changed into the Japanese soldiers' equipment, organized all the usable weapons, and then quietly left the warehouse to continue clearing out the Japanese soldiers in other areas.

The progress on Lu Guang and Jia Zhen's side is also going smoothly.

Jia Zhen pressed his ear against the wall of the communications room and listened for a while, then made a three-pointing gesture. Lu Guang understood, took out a few small tools from his pocket, and gently pried open the door bolt.

The two slipped into the house. Three Japanese soldiers were dozing around the radio. Lu Guang and Jia Zhen attacked at the same time, their daggers piercing the throats of two of the soldiers. But the sound woke up the third soldier, who saw a knife fly in and pierce his head.

I intervened. These two are still too inexperienced, and they're basically just support, so a few mistakes are to be expected. Lu Guang looked at me, looking embarrassed. I pointed to the table, and he quickly understood, cutting off all communication between the entire Majia Town and the outside world.

Leng Xing sneaked into the officers' quarters alone and lay in wait in the shadows of the corridor for a full ten minutes, figuring out the sentries' patrol routes and shift changes before taking action.

The first sentry was slit in the throat at the corner, the second was pinned to the wall with a throwing knife at the stairwell, and the third had his neck snapped.

Leng Xing's every move was terrifyingly precise; even assassins can be artists.

Bai Su and Lin Zhi were hiding in the woodpile behind the kitchen. Lin Zhi peeked out and observed for a while, then turned back and whispered, "There's only one Japanese cook chopping vegetables and another Japanese helper fetching water."

Bai Su nodded, and while the workers were carrying buckets of water out, she applied some medicine to Lin Zhi's needle, and then Lin Zhi accurately shot it into the cook's nape. The man collapsed to the ground without uttering a sound.

When the helper returned, Lin Zhi slipped out from behind the door and lightly slashed his throat with a dagger.

Zheng Dapao and Lei Dachui, two strongmen, chose the most direct method. They ambushed two Japanese soldiers in a narrow alley, waiting for them to pass by before launching a surprise attack. Zheng Dapao grabbed the last soldier by the neck from behind, while Lei Dachui punched the other to death.

Song Jiahao and Ye Qiao worked together to clear out the scattered sentries. Ye Qiao had an excellent memory and remembered every sentry post clearly. She pointed to the sentry on the top of the granary, and Song Jiahao climbed up the drainpipe, covered the sentry's mouth from behind, and gently slit his throat with a dagger.

Everything was happening quietly, but they were still novices and were bound to make mistakes. When Lin Zhi was dealing with a Japanese soldier, he lacked experience and stabbed the wrong spot with his dagger, failing to kill him instantly and instead getting the dagger stuck in the soldier's ribs.

The sentry let out a scream that instantly shattered the tranquility of the night.

"Enemy attack! Enemy presence!"

The entire stronghold was like a hornet's nest that had been poked, and it immediately erupted into chaos.

"Send the signal! Shrink the defensive line!" I shouted in a low voice, knowing that the test had come. Song Jiahao, who was not far away, immediately understood and quickly ran to the pillbox to send out our alarm signal, or rather, the signal for a full-scale attack, with a light.

I picked up the lightly armed machine gun I had just captured and began firing single shots. The rhythmic gunfire echoed through Majia Town. With each shot, a target inevitably fell.

The machine gun was transformed into a sniper rifle.

"My goodness!" Zheng Dapao couldn't help but mutter.

Most of the few remaining enemies fell to my gun, and the rest were killed by my teammates.

Majia Town was liberated.

The next morning, in the open space in the center of town, all the surviving captured puppet troops were gathered, anxiously awaiting their fate.

I activated my Insightful Eyes, and my gaze slowly swept over the group of soldiers. Information appeared above their heads, clearly indicating the true nature of each person: whether they were forced into military service, whether they possessed a conscience, or whether they were accomplices to tyranny, preying on the people.

"He, him, and him," I pointed to six of his puppet army leaders, "drag them out and execute them."

Without a word, Lei Dachui and Zheng Dapao dragged them out of the crowd like chickens, and several gunshots rang out in the distance. The remaining puppet soldiers trembled with fear, their faces ashen.

I walked up to a young puppet soldier, and he was so frightened that he almost collapsed to the ground.

"What's your name?"

"Reporting...Reporting to the sir, my name is Wang Hou."

"Wang Hou," I said, staring into his eyes, "I'm giving you a chance. Take the rest of the men and maintain order in the town for now, while we wait for our main force to take over. Can you do that?"

Wang Hou was stunned, then nodded excitedly, "Yes! We definitely can! Sir, we're also from China. We had no choice before; my mother was captured by them, and if I didn't do it, they would kill her!"

"Remember what you said today." My voice turned cold, my gaze sweeping across the faces of each puppet soldier like a blade. "Majia Town, if I can take it once, I can take it a second time. If anyone dares to disobey and harm the villagers, those people just now will suffer the same fate!"

"We wouldn't dare! Absolutely not!" the puppet soldiers swore in unison, almost kneeling down.

After leaving them to maintain order, I led the Ghost Squad and left Majia Town with brand-new weapons and ammunition, amidst the grateful gazes of the townspeople.

"Next stop," I said, gazing at the distant mountains, "Zhaliang Village. It's time to meet those bandits who only pick on the weak."

Zhaliang Village is situated on the mountainside of Pobudaizi Mountain, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. The village walls are three zhang high, and two machine guns are mounted on top of them.

"Commander, this stronghold is not easy to attack," Qian Lai said, holding up his binoculars.

"A direct assault definitely won't work." I carefully observed the layout of the stronghold. "Qian Lai, can you make a few high-explosive explosive charges?"

"No problem!" Qian Lai's eyes lit up. "Give me two hours."

"Lu Guang, could you make a simple catapult?"

Lu Guang thought for a moment: "Using trees outside the village should work."

An hour later, the two makeshift catapults were set up. Qian Lai also prepared five extra-large explosive charges.

"Let's begin," I ordered.

Two specially made explosive charges flew in a famous arc towards the village gate, and with a deafening roar, the heavy wooden gate was blown to pieces.

"Someone is attacking the mountain gate! They have cannons! Run!"

"Stop running around like the hell! Grab your weapons! Guard the breach! They can't get up here because we have machine guns!" A bandit leader on the stockade wall roared hoarsely, reacting with surprising speed, clearly not a rabble.

"Watch out! These bandits are well-equipped!"

The bullets hit our bunker, pinning Zheng Dapao and Lei Dachui down so they couldn't lift their heads.

"Commander, their stuff is tough!" Qian Lai shouted, his voice full of surprise.

"No wonder they're so arrogant. Looks like they've been double-crossing quite a bit; they probably robbed someone's transport convoy. Jia Zhen, command is yours now. Contain them head-on! Lu Guang, continue bombarding the stockade walls with the catapults to suppress fire! Everyone else, fire freely, wait for my signal!"

They quietly circled around to the side of the village, where there was a near-vertical cliff. The bandits, as expected, thought the terrain was too dangerous to cross and had not set up any guards.

I used the Cloud Ladder Leap technique, leaping onto the cliff in a few bounds and landing on the stockade wall. My landing point was right behind the machine gun emplacement, where two bandit machine gunners were intently firing at the gate.

Two bullets, and I'll give each of them a beautiful idea for their minds.

The bandits were dumbfounded. How did this person get in?

They were stunned, but I acted swiftly, picking up the still-warm Czech-made pistol, turning it around, and firing it at a few bandits not far away who were operating grenade launchers and firing their guns frantically!

Da da da! Da da da!

With precise short bursts of fire, the bandits fell like wheat being cut down.

"Charge!" Hearing the machine gun fire stop, the special forces soldiers rushed in like tigers descending a mountain.

Lu Guang used artillery to clear the way for them, a simplified version of combining artillery and infantry.

The outcome of this battle was a foregone conclusion.

The special forces soldiers worked together seamlessly. Leng Xing was skilled with his throwing knives and had excellent marksmanship. Even more accurate than him was Lu Yuan, who took down several bandits carrying grenades. Zheng Dapao and Lei Dachui each carried a machine gun to keep the line.

Victory is in hand!

"Count the spoils!" I stood in the center of the village.

The weapons confiscated by the team members included a large number of old and miscellaneous guns, as well as more than 100 well-maintained Type 38 rifles, two Czech light machine guns, a grenade launcher, and a considerable amount of matching R-army standard ammunition.

"Commander, look at this." Ye Qiao handed over a blood-stained document bag containing half a torn military map and several tattered pages of documents, on which the words "18th Route Army Group," "Transportation Team," and "Action Plan" could still be vaguely seen.

My voice was icy cold. "These bastards not only harm the people, but they even dare to attack anti-Japanese armed forces! Beasts!"

"Commander, we've found their warehouse, inside!" Qian Lai ran over, his face not looking too good, and he hesitated to speak.

"Speak." I had a premonition that something was wrong.

"It's filled with all sorts of things—silk, cotton cloth, grain, pots and pans, you name it. It's obviously been looted from the surrounding villages. There's also a cellar next door. Why don't you go take a look?"

I followed him to a stone house in the backyard of the village, where a strange smell, a mixture of mold and decay, hit me.

Pushing open the heavy wooden door, a dark and damp cellar came into view. The sight before me made me clench my fists instantly.

In a corner of the cellar, a dozen or so women and children, dressed in rags and emaciated, huddled together like frightened rabbits, their eyes vacant. They burst into tears when they saw our military uniforms.

On the other side, in a haphazardly dug pit, there were piles of white bones and not-yet-fully-decomposed corpses, swarming with flies, a truly nauseating sight.

"You beast!" Zheng Dapao, who was following behind me, roared, his eyes instantly turning red. Even Leng Xing, who was usually calm, had a gaze so cold it could freeze someone to death.

At this moment, Ye Qiao and Jia Zhen brought over a trembling old man.

"Commander, this is the village's accountant; he's confessed everything." Ye Qiao handed over a thick ledger, her voice filled with suppressed anger.

"These damned bastards not only robbed us, but also kidnapped and abducted people. If they couldn't pay the ransom, the men were beaten to death and thrown into the pit, while the women and children were kept here, abused, and sold."

I flipped through the ledger, where each entry recorded their countless blood debts.

"What about those bandit prisoners?" I closed the ledger, my voice as cold as ice.

"They were all tied up in that open space. Only one leader remained. 26 people surrendered, and the rest were all dead." Ye Qiao remembered it very clearly and saw it clearly.

I walked up to the group of bandits who were tightly bound. Some of them were still trying to argue.

"Please spare us, sir! We were forced into this!"

"We've never killed anyone, we're just trying to make a living."

I ignored their cries and said directly to Ye Qiao, "Help everyone out of the cellar so the villagers can identify them."

An hour later, when the tormented women and children, as well as the nearby villagers who had been brought to identify the bandits, saw the group of bandits, their pent-up fear and hatred erupted instantly.

"It's him! He killed my father!"

"That scarred man, he violated my daughter!"

"Sir, please do us justice!"

Cries and accusations filled the air.

The facts are undeniable, and the evidence is irrefutable.

My gaze swept over this group of heinous bandits, and I felt no pity whatsoever. To forgive such inhuman beasts who ravage the people would be to be cruel to the people.

I turned to the Ghost Suppression team members, whose eyes were also burning with rage, and gave my final order: "The evidence is conclusive, their crimes are unforgivable. Drag them all away, don't waste bullets, execute them! Leave no one alive!"

"Yes!" the team members responded in unison.

An elderly woman with a full head of white hair walked forward shakily with a cane, trying to kneel in front of me, but I quickly stopped her. I always remember that I am a soldier of the people.

The old woman cried out, tears streaming down her face, "Sir! Justice! Let me go see! My son and daughter-in-law have been killed by them, and I, this old woman, am left to watch them lose their heads!" Her words were like a fuse, instantly igniting everyone present.

"Yes! Let's go take a look!"

"Sir, I want to skin that bastard alive with my own hands!"

"My daughter died a terrible death, I must avenge her!"

Looking at my fellow villagers who had suffered so much, I understood. At this particular moment, the public trial and execution were not only punishments, but also the greatest comfort to the living, and a necessary ritual for rebuilding order and justice.

I responded loudly, "Fellow villagers! These beasts will pay for their blood debts with blood today! Those who want to see, come with me! Those with blood feuds, you are allowed to take revenge yourselves!"

My words were like a pardon, and the crowd erupted in a long-suppressed roar.

The open space was quickly cleared, and the twenty-seven bandits, who were tied up like dumplings, looked ashen-faced and were forcibly forced to kneel in a row by the team members.

The people surrounded them in layers, their eyes filled not with fear, but with the eagerness and joy of finally getting revenge.

"Execute!" I commanded.

Zheng Dapao and Lei Dachui led the charge once again, their broadswords whistling as they fell, two heads rolling to the ground, blood splattering. The first burst of cries and cheers erupted from the crowd; the cries were filled with pent-up grievances, the cheers with boundless pain.

Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man rushed out, clutching a wood-chopping knife in his hand, his eyes fixed on a scarred bandit.

"Give me back my parents' lives!" he roared, his movements less like slashing people and more like chopping wood, one strike, two strikes, three strikes... He was like a madman until his teammates pulled him back. Only then did he collapse to the ground, bursting into heart-wrenching sobs.

A silent woman walked up to another bandit. She neither cried nor shouted, but simply took out a pair of scissors from her bosom and stabbed the bandit repeatedly, each cut filled with deep-seated hatred.

The scene was bloody and brutal, but no one backed down.

This is the most primal and direct expression of justice by the common people; it is a silent roar of anger. The execution of every bandit is accompanied by a chorus of cries of release and a sigh of relief that Heaven has eyes.

When the last bandit was killed by the hoe of an old man who had lost all his relatives, the open space was first deathly silent, then filled with a chorus of weeping.

Looking at this land soaked in blood and tears, and at my fellow villagers finally avenging their grievances and supporting each other, I said to my team members in a deep voice, "Do you see this? This is the meaning of our battle. We are not just killing the enemy, but also seeking justice for millions of them, justice to live!"

We left behind some food and valuables and escorted the villagers down the mountain.

In the distance, the flames burning Zhalang Village were more intense than ever before. The fire not only burned down the bandits' lair, but also seemed to dispel some of the gloom that had accumulated in the hearts of everyone present for many years.

The thirteen-person team silently set off again, each person's steps more determined than ever.