The War of Resistance Against Japan: Starting with a Calm View of Life and Death

Only the sound of the wind remained on the threshing floor.

Time seemed to stretch out.

It took a full seven or eight breaths before Zhou Jindong suddenly raised his head!

"Brother Yuan!"

"Yes!" Wang Yuan straightened his back almost subconsciously and replied.

"Immediately! Assemble all team members!" Zhou Jindong spoke rapidly. "Split up and tell the villagers that they only need to bring the necessary food and warm clothes!"

"Retreat to the cave in the back mountain immediately! Tell the villagers we'll come back after we've wiped out the traitors! Everyone must leave the town within half an hour!"

"Understood!" Wang Yuan didn't hesitate for a moment, turning around and shouting to his team members behind him, "Zhu Zi! Did you hear that! Go and notify every household immediately! Hurry! Run! Tell everyone that more than a hundred puppet troops are coming at us soon! Evacuate as quickly as possible!"

Without a word, Zhu Zi and his men took off running towards the town, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Folks, be careful! More than a hundred Japanese devils are coming at us! Retreat to the back mountain!"

Zhou Jindong's gaze fell on the eleven Japanese prisoners who were tied up.

If a workman wants to be good, he must first sharpen his weapon.

He felt it necessary to sharpen his sword before the battle.

"Su Zhan! Come here!"

Su Zhan shuddered in fright and hurriedly ran over, saying eagerly, "Captain Zhou... Captain Zhou..."

Zhou Jindong pointed to the eleven prisoners on the ground and said to Su Zhan, "You, be my translator. Make it clear to them, I don't have time to waste words with them! Give them two options!"

He paused, then instructed Su Zhan, word by word: "First option: Work for our guerrillas! Pick up your guns, turn them around, and shoot the puppet troops behind you! As long as you obey, I'll spare your lives after the battle and give them a way out! Second option: Die now!"

Su Zhan quickly translated for Zhou Jindong to the group of prisoners in Japanese.

The prisoners reacted in different ways after hearing this.

The two prisoners who first revealed the information showed a hint of wavering in their eyes.

The scarred prisoner and several other Japanese soldiers who were clearly not good people immediately shouted angrily.

Although his hands and feet were bound, he struggled and cursed loudly, calling the traitors and Chinese pigs.

Zhou Jindong ignored the curses and walked up to the scarred prisoner, looking down at him.

He pulled the captured pistol directly from his lower back.

With a practiced flick of his thumb, he cocked the hammer, making a crisp "click," and the dark muzzle of the gun was pressed directly against the center of the scarred prisoner's forehead!

The sensation of the gun barrel touching the skin instantly stiffened the scarred prisoner's body, and his pupils dilated to their limit due to extreme fear!

The profanities he was still uttering were instantly choked back down.

"select!"

Su Zhan quickly shouted in Japanese, "Choose! Choose now! To live or to die?"

The scarred prisoner's forehead veins bulged. He gritted his teeth, his eyes fixed on Zhou Jindong. Finally, he squeezed out a single word through clenched teeth: "I'd rather die than be a coward!"

"Bang!"

Gunshots rang out without delay!

The scarred prisoner's impassioned speech came to an abrupt end.

His head snapped back, revealing a black hole the size of a peanut on his forehead, from which red and white substances splattered onto the snow beside him.

His body slumped down, his eyes filled with astonishment.

Until the moment of his death, he still couldn't understand why the person opposite him was so decisive!

On the snow, all was quiet except for the sound of the wind.

Minister Li frowned involuntarily upon seeing this scene, but seeing the town ravaged by the Japanese, he said nothing.

He even gestured to Liu Meng, who was standing next to him, to keep quiet as well.

He was also eager to see what choices the Japanese would make in the face of life and death, on a battlefield where it wasn't a fight to the death!

Zhou Jindong didn't even glance at the fallen corpse. He slightly moved the muzzle of his gun and steadily pointed it at another prisoner who had been shouting and cursing along with Scarface.

The prisoner was completely stunned as he watched his companion die instantly, his brains splattering onto his face.

"select!"

Zhou Jindong's voice remained cold and concise.

"I surrender! I surrender! I'll obey! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

The prisoner broke down, tears streaming down his face, and screamed with all his might.

Zhou Jindong moved his gun away and pointed it at the next prisoner who had just been stubborn.

"select!"

"Surrender! Surrender! We'll surrender and get to work!"

"I surrender too! Don't shoot!"

The other two prisoners who had been cursing earlier were also terrified. Looking at their companion's still convulsing corpse and the glaring red stain, they no longer dared to show any courage and started shouting in broken Chinese.

Su Zhan turned his gaze to the two prisoners closest to him. One of them was the Japanese soldier who revealed the information about the puppet army under Zhou Jindong's questioning, and the other was the short man who had been hesitating all along.

Zhou Jindong's gaze swept over them; his gun wasn't pointed at them, but the pressure he exerted was immense.

"And you?"

Su Zhan learned to answer quickly and asked the question directly on behalf of Zhou Jindong.

For some reason, he felt that his back seemed to have become much stronger.

This feeling... how should I put it... it's really not bad!

The two men exchanged a glance, then looked in horror at the scarred Japanese soldier's corpse on the ground. Finally, they both lowered their heads and replied in voices barely audible: "Surrender...work..."

The remaining five men, unsurprisingly, also quickly chose to surrender.

"Very good!" Zhou Jindong put away his pistol and smoothly put it back into the holster on his lower back.

His gaze swept over the ten prisoners who had chosen to surrender, and he said calmly:

"Su Zhan, tell them that since they've chosen this path, they must prove their worth. Anyone who dares to play tricks or deserts their post..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the prisoners with an almost tangible intensity. "That guy who couldn't tell the difference between the king and the prince is a perfect example! And I'll make him suffer an even more gruesome death!"

Su Zhan quickly translated Zhou Jindong's words, embellishing them, which made the ten prisoners tremble again.

Zhou Jindong turned to Wang Yuan and Wang Quan: "Yuan-ge, Quan-zi! Untie them! Quan-zi, you take two men and keep a close eye on them! Anyone who makes a move, shoot them on the spot!"

Wang Yuan and Wang Quan immediately stepped forward and quickly untied the prisoners' ropes.

"Su Zhan!" Zhou Jindong saw that the Japanese prisoners all looked relieved and felt it was necessary to add an extra layer of security. "Tell them that if they want to live, they have to offer a pledge of allegiance."

He pointed to the scarred Japanese soldier's corpse. "Make them pick up their rifles with bayonets fixed. One bayonet for each of them, to give their ungrateful comrade a proper send-off!"

After hearing Zhou Jindong's words, Su Zhan showed an expression of "I knew it," and quickly translated the words again.

The ten Japanese prisoners of war, without any hesitation, obediently picked up the rifles handed to them by Wang Yuan and the others, and lined up to begin "practicing" bayonet techniques.

It was only at this moment that Zhou Jindong suddenly realized, "Oh no!"

They were so focused on taking down the Japanese prisoners as quickly as possible that they forgot to avoid being seen!

His actions just now were all seen by Minister Li, the highest-ranking officer in the military!