Deserter from War

Chapter 40: Search team

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The day finally dawned, and everyone in Songjia Village stayed awake all night. It was not until the noise began to be heard in the village that the old woman and the child carefully opened the door that had been kicked in the night before, and found four large bags of grain stacked by the door. They could not help but be delighted. The child ran to the gate and saw the villagers heading to Mr. Song's house, or coming out of the gate that had disappeared with grain on their backs, with happy faces. It seems that sometimes being robbed is not a bad thing.

Hu Yi and his companions had already been walking in the mountains. Last night, they entered the home of Mr. Song, took out all the salt and food in the kitchen, opened the granary, and carried dozens of kilograms of food in a long cloth bag. They searched Song Ming's body and found a large-eyed pistol with more than 20 bullets and 15 silver dollars. Then they left Songjia Village overnight, found a valley in the leeward side and slept in the open air, and set out to the north again at dawn.

Luo Fugui was still unwilling to give up even though he was carrying so much food on his back. He caught two chickens in the backyard of Mr. Song and tied them around his waist with a rope. He wanted to change his clothes, but they were too small for him, so he had to give up the idea. He still did not leave Hu Yi and the other two, because he was similar to Hu Yi, and he did not know where he could go or what he could do. He had no ideals and just wanted to make a living. Since the three of them did not object, he would just follow the Eighth Route Army.

The Czech light machine gun is now on Hu Yi's shoulders. Today is different from the past. Now Hu Yi really doesn't want to let go of this machine gun. One is because he likes it and the other is to save his life. It has a different use. Hu Yi has carefully checked it. The bandit's machine gun has not been used many times. Although it looks old due to neglect of maintenance, the barrel and the bolt are basically not worn. It is old on the outside and new on the inside. He is satisfied, very satisfied. He doesn't feel heavy when carrying it on his shoulder. On the contrary, it is lighter than empty-handed.

Xiao Hongying followed closely behind Hu Yi, playing with the big-eyed pistol in her hand. She didn't want this gun at all, but Hu Yi forced it on her because Xiao Hongying always thought that the Mauser pistol was the best. This big-eyed pistol was too ugly, and the handle was too thick, so it was difficult for her to hold it with her small hands. She needed two hands to hold it. The magazine could only hold seven bullets, which was too few. The range was not far, only seventy or eighty steps at most.

Hu Yi had come into contact with this gun when he was studying at the Military Academy. Chinese people call it "Big Eyed Gun". It is an American M1911, which is rare in China, so bullets are hard to get. This is the only drawback. But this gun is a good gun, solid and reliable. The .45 large caliber can really kill with one shot. This is probably the most powerful handgun in close combat. Give it to the little girl, in case she can't take care of her at a critical moment, so that she can use it to save her life.

Ma Liang had always been reserved about the fight against the local tyrants. Out of trust and respect for Hu Yi, he participated without hesitation, but he did not regret it. Although he blew up the gate and killed a guard, the poor people in the village had food. At this time, food was life, so it was worth it. Fifteen dollars were distributed by Hu Yi at that time, four dollars for Luo Fugui, four dollars for Xiao Hongying, four dollars for Ma Liang, and three dollars for Hu Yi. At this time, Ma Liang held the four dollars in his pocket, thinking about buying a notebook and a pen someday to learn to read.

Near noon, when the sun was high in the sky, a team was walking from north to south on a small path in the valley. The team wore two different types of clothing, with a squad of Japanese soldiers leading the team and a platoon of puppet soldiers following. They were euphemistically called a "search team", but in fact they were just a small team to rob food.

Recently, the Japanese were conducting a cleanup in the mountains, and the supply pressure was great, so they sent out many search teams to collect food everywhere. The search teams were all lightly equipped, gave up machine guns and grenade launchers, and brought a few more sacks for convenience. Some puppet soldiers said that there was a Songjia Village to the south of this road, so this search team came along the way.

The mountains in this area were all bare, so in order to be able to adapt to the situation, Hu Yi asked the four people to leave the path in the valley and walk on the ridge on one side, and let Ma Liang, who was quick and clever, walk ahead to explore the way. When they were about to walk out of the north end of the valley, they suddenly saw Ma Liang running back in a hurry.

"Brother, there are Japanese soldiers on the road ahead. Forty or fifty of them, heading south."

"It's okay. At worst we can hide on the back of the mountain and wait for them to pass. Let's go and see the situation first." Hu Yi calmed the nervousness of the three people around him and led them to run towards the hill in front.

After lying on the top of the hill and observing for a while, the team got closer and I could finally see some details. There were 14 Japanese soldiers leading the team, followed closely by 32 puppet soldiers, all of whom were lightly armed, and it seemed that each puppet soldier had a sack hanging on his body.

Hu Yi had fought many battles, so he had no idea where this group of Japanese soldiers were coming from. Luo Fugui, who had watched from the side for a while, understood and said, "Hey, this is a search team. I've seen them many times near Black Wind Mountain. It's okay, we can just hide here and wait for them to pass by."

Ma Liang asked without thinking, "Search team? What do they do?"

"What are they doing? They're here to steal food. Didn't you see those puppet soldiers have sacks hanging from their bodies? They're used to carry food. Damn, it looks like they're heading to Songjia Village."

Ma Liang's eyes widened instantly: "What? Grain robbers? This, this, we just opened a large granary for Songjia Village, and now it's going to benefit the Japanese?" After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Hu Yi: "Brother, we can't do a good deed for nothing, you have to think of a solution!"

Xiao Hongying echoed: "Yes, we can't let them get away with it."

Without waiting for Hu Yi to speak, Luo Fugui spoke first: "This silly girl is stupid, are you, Ma Liang, stupid too? Count how many fingers you have, and then look at how many people they have. Do you want to die?"

Ma Liang was choked by Luo Fugui's words, but he was unwilling to give in: "They have more people, and we have machine guns now, right? Even if we can't defeat them, we have to make them lose some skin, right?"

Luo Fugui grinned: "Machine gun? There are two magazines of bullets in total. How many people can be knocked down if you fire them all? And then you will be chased by them alive. Do you understand? Cool down quickly, kid."

Ma Liang was speechless. Xiao Hongying glared at Luo Fugui and said, "Mule, you are a coward. We in the Eighth Route Army are not afraid of this. At most, I, your aunt..."

Luo Fugui raised his hand towards Xiao Hongying and said, "Okay, okay, you are just a unreasonable god. You are awesome, okay?"

Hu Yi was struggling. Of course, hiding like this was the safest option. However, since he became a soldier, this was the first time he robbed the rich to help the poor. He might end up robbing the rich to help the Japanese. This was really painful, but he would not lose his mind because of his many years of war experience. He grabbed the machine gun in his hand and sighed, "We can't fight. We have too few bullets and can't suppress them. Once they stick to us, there are only bare mountains nearby, with no shelter or obstacles. It will be difficult for us to escape."

Hu Yi's words were both weighty and reasonable, and Ma Liang was speechless. Luo Fugui immediately agreed: "Did you hear that? What the boss said is reasonable. We should hide quickly."

Xiao Hongying was originally very excited because of her first participation in the "fight against local tyrants" operation. Now that it was about to fail, she was very unhappy. She looked at Luo Fugui angrily, gritted her teeth, and said to Hu Yi: "Fox, I still have bullets, do you think they are enough?"

After saying that, Xiao Hongying opened the shoulder bag she had been carrying with her, pulled out a canvas bag from it, opened it and placed it on the ground.

Oh, my goodness, this little girl is really good! Hu Yi and the other two were stunned. The open canvas bag was filled with a variety of bullets, shining with copper light under the sun.

Hu Yi had long guessed that the little girl had some private goods in her bag, but he didn't expect that she would be willing to take it out at this moment. Looking at Xiao Hongying's big eyes full of pleading eyes and her pigtails swaying stubbornly in the mountain breeze, Hu Yi surprisingly had an urge to satisfy her.

He reached out and touched Xiao Hongying's head: "Girl, pick out all the 792 rifle bullets."

Listening to Hu Yi's words, did he agree to fight? Not only Xiao Hongying, but even Ma Liang suddenly became excited and immediately came over to help pick the bullets.

Luo Fugui's eyelids drooped, and he thought: Even if she is your own daughter, you wouldn't say such nonsense. Oh, it's over, I should find an excuse to hide first. I have so much food on my back, and two chickens hanging on it. Look at the bare yellow earth around me, where the hell can I hide