Courtyard Houses: Longevity Since the War of Resistance

After leaving Zhalang Village, looking at these bastards, I decided to give them a break. As long as the Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold didn't exceed a company, I'd sit down to the side and say, "You guys figure out how to fight yourselves, I'll keep things under control."

This is going to be quite lively.

Zheng Dapao and Lei Dachui are the epitome of direct action.

"I'll get a submachine gun, and Da Chui will get a submachine gun; together, we'll make our business bigger and stronger."

Qian Lai and Lu Guang, two technical experts, often argued until they were red in the face.

"Your measurement is inadequate; the turret can't withstand it."

"What do you know? Without this dosage, there's no harm."

The others watched silently, and each time the argument subsided, they would look expectantly at Ye Qiao. This girl was truly capable; she had the potential of a commander. She memorized the map after just one glance and then picked up a twig and started drawing on the ground.

"Use Lu Yuan's high ground for cover, while Liu Hou and Lin Zhi circle around from the back of the mountain. Once they've created chaos inside, Zheng Dapao and Lei Dachui will lead their men in a frontal assault."

Okay, that's pretty professional. I nodded and let them do what they wanted.

And you know what? After a few rounds of practice, these kids have all made progress in their own ways.

That night at Green Field Gully, Liu Hou and Lin Zhi quietly took care of a group of people, showing none of the nervousness they had felt the first time they did it.

Lu Yuan's Type 38 rifle was incredibly accurate. Even with the searchlight off, he could still take down enemies one by one in the dark, providing perfect cover.

Lu Guang was a real gem. At Lijia Tai, the Japanese set up heavy machine guns on the top of the pillbox in a very tricky position, and the bullets were so heavy that the kids couldn't even lift their heads.

Just as I was about to make my move, I saw Lu Guang crouch down and slip behind a broken wall. He pulled out several parts from his satchel: an iron pipe, a spring, and a bicycle chain he'd somehow gotten his hands on. His hands flew as he assembled them, and in no time he'd created a strange-looking device.

He inserted a bomb into the iron pipe and pulled the spring mechanism. With a muffled bang, the device, carrying the bomb, arced through the air and landed squarely on the top of the pillbox.

boom!!!

The heavy machine gun, along with half of the tower's roof, was blown off.

Of course, there were times when things went wrong. When they attacked Baimayi, they calculated that the Japanese reinforcements would take twenty minutes to arrive. But less than ten minutes later, they heard the sputtering of a three-wheeled motorcycle outside.

"Oh no, we're all trapped!" Jia Zhen's voice changed. I stood up, dusted myself off, and grabbed a light-handled rifle in each hand.

The two machine guns obeyed my every whim, like my own fingers. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat, two streams of bullets crossed, and the Japanese reinforcements went underground to complain.

Having learned their lesson, they should say that Ye Qiao is now more cautious in formulating plans, taking all sorts of unforeseen circumstances into account.

Jia Zhen's ears became a living radar. Zheng Dapao could throw grenades with the flair of a mortar, and Lei Dachui could empty three magazines of a machine gun without switching shoulders. Leng Xing was elusive, and Bai Su smeared all sorts of medicine on her bullet casings; if you were grazed by her bullets, you were dead.

If you let them fight like they did when they first left Langu County, I reckon one of them could easily take on three.

The name of Zhengui resounded throughout Yangchang County.

The fighting here was going more and more smoothly, and the Japanese garrison in Yangchang County couldn't sit still anymore. The commander, Takeuchi Jiro, was a beast.

That morning, there was a commotion at the village entrance. When I went over to take a look, my heart sank. It was Little Stone from the neighboring village, covered in blood, lying on the millstone, clearly dying.

He was still clutching a few bullet casings tightly in his hand. These were collected by the children, and they could be traded with the army for salt, matches, and candy. The arsenal was also short of these bullet casings.

Before Little Stone breathed his last, he uttered a few words: "Dog Egg...they..."

Less than half a day later, the news arrived.

That beast Takeuchi Jiro arrested more than a dozen children who were collecting bullet casings and hung them on the city wall of Yangchang County like sausages!

The notice read in black and white: Trade the head of the ghost-suppressing person for a child, one head for one child, and kill one child every day for the next three days.

The special forces team was in an uproar. Zheng Dapao's eyes were bloodshot, and he roared that he was ready to fight to the death.

"You damned Japanese devils, you inhuman bastards, I'll chop off their heads and use them as chamber pots!" Several men shouted as they headed out the door.

"Stop!" I shouted, halting them.

Looking at the bloodshot eyes of these kids, I gritted my teeth and said, "Takeuchi is playing a dirty trick on us, just waiting for us to get desperate and run into the line of fire."

"We can't just abandon the rescue, Commander!"

"That's impossible," he said, walking up to the map and pressing his finger heavily on Yangchang County.

"He's playing dirty tricks, I'll play an even bigger one with him, Song Jiahao!"

"arrive!"

"We didn't bring a radio this time. You're fast on your feet, so get back to Langgu County immediately and have the political commissar assemble the troops. Set up camp outside Yangchang County! This time, we're not going to fight guerrilla warfare; we're going to wipe out their stronghold!"

"Yes!" Song Jiahao took the letter and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Ye Qiao!"

"arrive!"

"Take everyone and wait for backup outside the county town."

"yes!"

Finally, as I gazed at the outline of Yangchang County, a cold smile crept onto my lips.

"Didn't Takeuchi want to see the demon-suppressing demon? I'll go see him right now."

A battle of wits!

I don't eat beef, you know that?!

He found a secluded spot and stored all his weapons into his system space.

Then I transformed into a merchant and mingled in the crowd entering the city. The puppet soldiers guarding the gate, with cigarettes in their mouths, pushed and shoved the people entering the city, and no one gave me a second glance.

He wandered around the city until dark, figuring out the exact location of the R Army headquarters. In the dead of night, he climbed over the courtyard wall and headed straight for Takeuchi's residence.

The old Japanese devil Takeuchi was looking at a map under the lamp. Hearing the noise, he looked up, but I had already flashed behind him and delivered a chop to the back of his neck. He collapsed to the ground without even uttering a sound.

I tied him up tightly, gagged him, hoisted him onto my shoulder, and silently crept up the city wall.

At two in the morning, even if the Japanese soldiers and puppet troops guarding the city insisted on staying on duty, they would just stare blankly at each other, waiting for their shift to be changed. I twisted their necks one by one.

In less than five minutes, all the guards on the city wall had silently met their demise.

We quickly pulled the children up one by one. They were shivering from the cold, but they were all very strong, biting their lips to keep from crying out. Using the prepared basket, I carefully lowered them down the city wall one by one. Ye Qiao and the others saw this and rushed over.

After the children were all safe, I carried Takeuchi and slid down the city wall.

I hate myself for not having the Foresight skill. I had planned everything perfectly, but I never expected a puppet army leader to emerge from the corner with his pants down, looking like he had just come back from urinating.

He rubbed his eyes groggily, finally making out Takeuchi on my shoulder and the empty castle walls.

"Come...come someone!" he shouted in a hoarse voice.

I raised my hand and shot him right between the eyebrows, but the bastard's fingers twitched before he died, and the gun in his hand went off!

The bullet, by sheer chance, struck the little boy next to Bai Su.

"Damn traitors!" I cursed angrily. Chaos erupted on the city wall as Japanese soldiers and puppet troops, awakened by the gunfire, rushed up the wall. My eyes reddened, and I pulled out my Type 96 pistol, firing a burst at the wall.

Da da da da da da da

One after another, the Japanese soldiers who had just peeked out fell down, and the rest were so frightened that they shrank back and dared not show their faces again.

We quickly retreated to a safe area, and Bai Su immediately knelt down to check the child's injuries. Blood was gushing from the child's chest, and his face was deathly pale.

Bai Su tore open his clothes and pressed hard on the wound with both hands, but blood still kept gushing out from between her fingers.

"The commander was shot through the heart and lost too much blood," Bai Su's voice trembled with tears, "I can't save him..."

I pushed Bai Su away and used the Thirteen Ghost Needles technique. The silver needles pierced the acupoints with precision, but his heart was pierced. I could only barely protect his heart meridian and stop the bleeding, but his breathing became weaker and weaker.

"Uncle War God," the child whispered weakly, his eyes exceptionally clear, "am I... going to die?"

My hands didn't stop; the fourth needle pierced the skin precisely. "Don't talk nonsense! With your uncle here, even the King of Hell can't take you away!"

A smile appeared on the child's pale face: "I believe you. Mom said that when you lead the heavenly soldiers and generals to drive away the Japanese devils, then I can... I can go to school..."

With each word he uttered, a trickle of blood oozed from the corner of his mouth.

I inserted the silver needles faster and faster, the seventh needle, the eighth needle... but the pulse I felt through my fingertips grew weaker and weaker.

At this moment, the other team members also gathered around, each of them gritting their teeth.

Lei Dachui slammed his fist into the tree, causing the leaves to fall in a flurry.

"Commander, what's the next step?" Leng Xing's voice was as cold as ice.

Looking at the dying child in my arms, then at the dark, imposing city walls of Yangchang County not far away, I said, slowly and deliberately:

"Let's have twelve of us and surround this county town!"

"Qian Lai, Lu Guang!"

"exist!"

"Lay mines on all the main roads leading to the county town, both real and fake, so that the Japanese reinforcements can't advance an inch!"

"Understood!" The two immediately turned and left with the demolition equipment.

"The rest of the people arrived when the political commissar led the main force."

I looked up at the swaying black shadows atop the city wall, and thought, "Blood debts must be paid in blood!"