The God of Land is not a great god, so there are few big temples dedicated to the land. They are all very small, and most of them are simple and rustic in style. They are either built under a tree or by the roadside. They are usually built with two stones as the wall and one stone as the roof, in a simple "磊" shape, which is the temple.
This is the small temple, sitting alone beside a small road. Bluestones more than half a person's height are used as the temple walls, and a bluestone is used to cover the roof. Couplets are written on both sides: There is a temple but no monks, the wind sweeps the floor, there are more incense sticks than candles, and the moon lights the lamps.
At noon, a young man in dirty and old clothes came walking along the path. He looked simple and had no special features. He was carrying two baskets of rags on his shoulders. He walked slowly past the small land temple. He turned his head casually to look at the small temple on the side of the road and walked past it without stopping.
In a dense forest, there were more than a dozen people sitting or lying down to rest. What was strange was that these people were divided into two groups, several dozen meters apart, with six people on one side and more than ten people on the other.
The six are Hu Yi, Su Qing, Luo Fugui, Xiao Hongying, Wu Shitou and Li Xiang.
It was a quiet morning, with the occasional breeze blowing through the leaves overhead, making a pleasant rustling sound. If you prick up your ears and listen carefully, you can sometimes hear a low humming sound, very subtle and a little muffled, as if it were blocked.
Xiao Hongying was lying on her back in the grass, holding a straw in her mouth, blinking her eyes, looking at the blue sky between the leaves. Luo Fugui was hunched under a tree not far from her, muttering in a low voice: "My God, I am really impressed. They carried it for half a night on the road, and they are still so energetic now. They are too addicted to it. I can't stand it. It makes me panic..."
Xiao Hongying didn't respond to this, so Luo Fugui couldn't help but move closer to her: "You heartless and wicked thing, are you pretending not to hear, or are you really not upset?"
Xiao Hongying still didn't react, Luo Fugui grabbed a handful of grass and threw it at the little girl: "You little brat, I'll teach you to act again"
"Oh, that's annoying!" The little girl finally sat up, pulled out two pieces of rags from her ears, and asked with a frown, "What did you say just now, annoying mule?"
Looking at the two pieces of cloth, Luo Fugui's eyelids drooped: "I didn't say anything, I didn't say anything, you are amazing, now not only do I submit to them, but you too."
Not far away, Su Qing, who was sitting under a tree, looked very bad. Yesterday at midnight, Hu Yi led Ma Liang and Liu Jianqiang to capture a knocked-out Japanese soldier and handed him over to Shi Cheng's squad. At the same time, they were given a ridiculous order: the Japanese soldier must be kept alive. Su Qing immediately understood that Hu Yi was blatantly instigating them to abuse the prisoners and vent their anger. It was too inhumane. He raised objections on the spot, but no one responded. At the same time, Hu Yi, this despicable guy, threatened Su Qing to terminate the investigation mission of the 9th Platoon, so he kept silent.
So Shi Cheng and his men made a simple stretcher on the spot, tied up the Japanese soldier and stuffed him in, and excitedly carried him on the road. They used fists, knives, sharpened branches, stones, all kinds of tools, and all kinds of tricks along the way. They took turns carrying the stretcher. If they found that there was too much bleeding, they would quickly sprinkle salt on him, bandage him, serve him attentively, and resolutely carry out the platoon leader's order to keep him alive and well.
Su Qing was about to collapse. The real reason for her to remain silent was actually the bodies of the people in Qingshan Village. However, as a political worker, she had to express her attitude at that time. This was a principle. Unfortunately, the weak moans of the abused were too torturous. She had been driving on the road for half a night and listening to them for half a night. She didn't expect that they were still continuing. Hatred, conscience, humanity, and principles formed a painful war in her mind.
"Enough." Su Qing raised his head and looked at Hu Yi coldly: "This must end. Let them end it now."
Hu Yi sat under another tree not far away, looking calmly at the bright fields outside the woods: "Killing the prisoners is not a good idea. I don't want to violate discipline. My idea is... to try to carry him back to the regiment and get another reward for meritorious service."
"What's the difference between what you do and the devils? They are beasts, do you want to be a beast too?"
"Even if we are not beasts, they will not treat us as human beings. So why should I care whether I am a beast or not? Who am I being a human being for?"
"you-"
Su Qing was speechless and didn't want to talk to the scum Hu Yi anymore. He stood up suddenly and walked towards the first team's position which was several dozen meters away.
Liu Jianqiang hated this feeling, hated the stickiness, hated the color of blood, but he couldn't help wanting to hate it again, to feel the sticky blood again, perhaps, to experience the indescribable excitement and stimulation afterwards.
At this moment, Shi Cheng was not there. The nine people from the first squad gathered around the stretcher, staring at Liu Jianqiang squatting beside the stretcher with their eyes wide open. Their methods were nothing compared to this guy. This runny nose was too...
The bayonet in his hand was not sharp enough, and Liu Jianqiang cut and tore the skin carefully. He removed a piece of blood-sticky skin the size of a matchbox and placed it at his feet. This was only the seventh piece, far less than the number of corpses.
He raised his arm to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and re-grasped the bayonet, preparing to continue cutting upwards along the wound, when a cold voice came from behind: "Liu-Jian-Qiang-"
Hearing the sound, his hands trembled and he almost cut his fingers. He quickly wiped the Japanese soldier with the bayonet and stood up awkwardly.
"Didn't you say you were going to stand guard with Ma Liang?" Su Qing asked as he approached.
Liu Jianqiang held the bayonet, stepped on several pieces of bloody skin with his feet, hung his head and said nothing.
Su Qing glanced at the Japanese on the stretcher, raised his eyes hurriedly, tried not to look anymore, suppressed the churning in his throat, and said sternly: "End this now, now" Then he turned and walked away, disappearing among the leaves.
Shi Cheng came back, took off the two broken baskets on his shoulders, and said to Su Qing who was walking towards him hurriedly: "I have checked, the statues in the land temple have been smashed."
Su Qing sighed deeply and sat down against the tree beside him.
"What does this mean?" Hu Yi asked her.
"It means... the situation is critical, and this location is used for the last time. Something happened in the city."
Hu Yi thought for a moment and said, "First of all, let me make it clear that the Ninth Platoon will never enter the city. You, too, cannot enter the city."
Su Qing knew what Hu Yi was worried about. Although she was anxious to know the answer, she had no intention of risking going into the city. After a moment of silence, she said to Hu Yi, "No need to go into the city. We are going to go to another place, and maybe everything will be clear."
"Where?"
"Xiaojiao Village."
Xiaojiao Village is located in the northeast of Meixian County, not far from the county seat, and is an ordinary village on the plain. Speaking of this Xiaojiao Village, Class 9 had visited it before. When they first met Dr. Zhou, the first village they went east from the T-junction was Xiaojiao Village. Class 9 and Zhou Wanping met for the first time on the small road outside the east end of that village.
Su Qing finally came to Xiaojiao Village, because this village is the waiting contact point in case of special circumstances. The traffic organization in the county town and the independent regiment have a segmented single-line contact. The collected intelligence is sent out of the county town by a special traffic officer to the land temple, and then taken out by the traffic officer who has died and sent back to the independent regiment. They do not know each other, do not meet or communicate, and are only responsible for their own section of the road. The members of the organization in the city do not know the specific location of the independent regiment. Once this contact line is broken or a special situation occurs, the city will send someone to wait in Xiaojiao Village. Sooner or later, the independent regiment will send someone here to restore contact with the city. Of course, this special waiting place is only known to a very few core figures, and it will not be activated until the critical moment.
The medicinal material devil died after more than nine hours of special care. If it weren't for Su Qing's stern voice, it might have taken longer. The final execution method was beheading. The head was buried deep in the mud pit in the woods, and the body was randomly discarded at the edge of the woods. Shi Cheng and his men did this to make this devil a headless ghost even after death, so that he couldn't even see hell. Maybe his body would eventually be found and sent back to the devil's hometown, but his dog head must be deeply rotten in this thick mud, forever.
The first squad of the ninth platoon can be used. Although only one devil's dog life can not comfort the souls of hundreds of innocent lives in heaven, at least the brothers of the first squad can release their anger and sadness, calm down, and not lose their heads at the critical moment. This is a major event involving the entire ninth platoon. Hu Yi dare not take it lightly and say a few nonsense to appease the matter. It must be treated as a disease, so there is a "medicine".
This is the enemy-occupied area, near the county town, under the eyes of the devils, so we dare not show off. We hid in the woods and rested until it was completely dark, and then the 9th platoon set off to Xiaojiao Village.
The crescent moon hangs high in the sky, and the hazy Xiaojiao Village is silent in the moonlight. There seems to be smoke, fog, and haze, lingering vaguely. It seems... The last time I came here, the village was like this.
A nimble figure hurriedly ran under the moon, and finally stopped in front of a tall soldier: "Brother, there is nothing unusual outside."
"Shicheng, lead your people into the village from the south. Go steadily and don't panic. We will cross once in the middle of the village."
"clear."
Ten figures raised their guns, rushed into the open space under the moonlight, and headed towards the south of the village.
"Machine gun in the middle, Snotlout in the rear."
The tall soldier took off the rifle hanging on his shoulder, held it horizontally in his hand, loaded the bullet with a clatter, and took the lead, walking along the path to the west side of the village entrance. The other seven figures consciously found their order, followed the leading soldier slowly, and walked in a line, accompanied by a few gun bolt sounds, towards Xiaojiao Village under the moonlight...