Courtyard House: I only wiped out 30,000 Japanese pirates

After listening to the translator's retelling, the fear on He Dajun's face gradually faded, replaced by a renewed fighting spirit rekindled by his master's reassurance.

He puffed out his chest, his voice laced with a fierce, clenched-teeth tone: "The Japanese are right! What kind of skill is it for these thugs to hide in the shadows! I must kill more resistance fighters, serve the Imperial Army, and avenge our fallen puppet army brothers!"

Sasaki looked at his face, which had turned red again, and a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

He reached out and patted He Dajun on the shoulder, saying that this was the He Dajun he knew.

Then he said that a batch of new weapons would be delivered to the steel mill tomorrow, and that He Dajun should lead a group to receive them, as the puppet army's equipment needed to be updated.

He Dajun bent down and repeatedly agreed. When he left the office leaning on his wooden cane, his face still had that murderous expression on it.

Only after he walked back to the wooden house and closed the door did his expression slowly fade. He leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh, and tapped his fingers lightly on his knees.

……

He Dajun was returning home later and later each night, sometimes at one or two in the morning, and sometimes at three or four in the morning.

Bai Ling waited in the darkness until he climbed over the wall into the courtyard, then boiled some hot water for him to wash his body and changed his dressing.

He Dajun usually only sleeps for three hours on the kang (a heated brick bed). At seven o'clock in the morning, he stands in the courtyard with a wooden stick, urging the workers to get up and go to work.

Yi Zhonghai looked at him and felt that the man's eyes were getting more and more bloodshot, but his spirits were getting better and better, like a tiger that had just hunted a pack of wolves in the deep mountains.

Yi Zhonghai didn't understand why he thought this way. He only knew that he was increasingly afraid to look He Dajun in the eye.

With the traitors nearly wiped out, He Dajun changed his strategy and began bombing the Japanese army camp.

This time, he was no longer satisfied with just the bomb depot and barracks; he started bombing the officers' quarters.

He redeemed a timed fuse in the system and placed the explosive charge on the windowsill of the officers' dormitory in advance, detonating it after the Japanese officers were asleep.

This bombing killed seven officers, including a lieutenant colonel who was on leave.

Sasaki was in his office when he heard the news. He had broken the pen in his hand, and the ink splattered onto the documents on the table, creating a large dark blue stain.

He threw down his pen, looked up at Suzuki standing in front of the desk, and squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth: "Should we kill the puppet troops, or the Imperial Army?"

The storm lasted for more than a week, and He Dajun killed more and more people, from dozens to hundreds, from Japanese soldiers to officers, from Japanese soldiers to puppet troops, from traitors to businessmen who actively helped the Japanese.

His defense-breaking score increased from over four million to over ten million. He had so many points in the system that he was too lazy to count them. He only knew that he could exchange them for more and more outrageous things.

He donned a second golden amulet and continued his more ferocious actions.

Besides killing traitors and Japanese soldiers, he also distributed leaflets everywhere. The leaflets contained only one sentence: "Those who offend our Great Xia, though far away, shall be punished." The leaflets were signed "The Loyal and Righteous Army of Great Xia".

He Dajun made up the name on the spot, but Lao Yang and his group took it and used it. In less than half a month, it spread throughout Beijing.

The common people were talking about it in private, saying that the Great Xia Loyal Army was an organization that specialized in killing traitors. They would kill whoever was a traitor or a Japanese soldier.

They fought until everyone knew that the Great Xia Dynasty still existed and had not perished.

He Dajun told Bai Ling that killing so many traitors and Japanese devils had two major benefits. First, it would muddy the waters of Beijing.

The Japanese are now in a state of utter chaos. On one hand, they have to deal with attacks from resistance organizations; on the other hand, they have to deal with the panic caused by the constant assassinations of their officers; and on the other hand, they have to deal with the increasingly serious centrifugal tendencies of the traitorous class.

Those traitors who used to vie to be dogs for the Japanese are now keeping a low profile. Some have even started secretly communicating with the resistance organizations, saying that they were forced into it before and will never do it again.

Secondly, it gave all the people of Great Xia a shot in the arm. After the defeat in the Battle of Shanghai, the theory of national subjugation spread in the city. The Japanese took the opportunity to spread propaganda everywhere, saying that Great Xia was about to perish and that everyone should become obedient citizens.

Now that the Japanese are being bombed every day and traitors are dying one after another, the people are finally no longer panicking.

Someone in the teahouse said, "See, I told you the Great Xia Dynasty was still around."

Someone whispered to the person next to them, "The Japanese army camp in the south of the city was bombed again last night, and dozens of soldiers died."

These words are passed from one mouth to another, word by word, without the need for radio or telegram, only a glance, a gesture, or a sentence.

Every night in the courtyard, He Dajun could hear people whispering in the alley, "The Loyal Army has made another move," their tone carrying a sense of relief that had been suppressed for a long time.

For He Dajun, "Killing is not the goal; making the Japanese devils afraid and putting the people of Beijing at ease is the real purpose."

Since He Dajun transmigrated to this era, he has been thinking about one question: How many Japanese soldiers can one person kill? The answer is that he can kill a lot, but no matter how many he kills, he can never kill them all.

The Japanese army had millions of soldiers; even if he killed them all until he died, he couldn't possibly kill them all.

What truly saved this country was not how many Japanese soldiers he killed, but how many people he made believe that the Japanese were not invincible, and how many people, even in their most desperate moments, retained a shred of courage and were willing to continue resisting.

This is the core purpose of all his actions.

For the next week, he continued to attack the Japanese soldiers under the guise of the "Great Xia Loyal Army".

By day he was a henchman captain leaning on a wooden stick; by night he was the war god of the Great Xia Loyal Army.

Both lists were growing longer: one was the list of traitors in the puppet army commander's ledger, which was getting shorter and shorter; the other was the list of the dead on the desk of the Japanese military headquarters, which was getting longer and longer.

Sasaki's ashtray had to be emptied three or four times a day. Yagyu Kazuo's successor, Tanaka Daisuke, went through all the Special Higher Police's files but still couldn't figure out who the Loyal Army was.

One afternoon, He Dajun walked with a wooden stick to Old Chen's douzhi (fermented mung bean juice) stall at the east end of Nanluoguxiang.

Old Chen was washing dishes when he saw He Dajun coming over. His expression was somewhat complicated, but he moved faster than usual and immediately ladled out a bowl and handed it to him.

He Dajun took the bowl and found a small dish of free pickled vegetables at the bottom.

He paused for a moment, then looked up at Old Chen.

Old Chen smiled somewhat embarrassedly and said that Captain He had worked hard.

He Dajun didn't ask why; he probably guessed it.

Old Chen's younger brother was a member of the puppet army. Recently, He Dajun transferred him back to the city from the camp near the city's outskirts, and he was no longer in charge of the outer patrols.

Old Chen may know that He Dajun secretly helped him, or he may not know that the extra bowl of salted vegetables was for Captain He.

Old Chen just didn't know that He Dajun was killing a real traitor.