It was another night, and the moon was full, like the fifteenth, or maybe the sixteenth, shining brightly like a big oil pancake against the night sky, making people salivate. There was faint moonlight all around, seemingly bright but actually dark. The grass leaves did not sway, and occasionally frogs croaked. A village was ahead, with fields and people.
On the map, to the east of Luoye Village is Dongluo Village, and further east of Dongluo is a place called Xiangmo. Hu Yi guessed that Xiangmo was here, which belonged to the northeastern part of Meixian County. Because of Li Youde's barrier, the 9th Company came here for the first time and was resting by the path under the moonlight.
A figure came out of the village and hurried along the path. The soldiers in the bushes did not react because the person was Lao Qin, the instructor of the 9th Company.
Hu Yi stood up and stretched hard, then walked onto the moonlit path and faced Lao Qin, asking: "Did you find out?"
"I couldn't even knock on a single door!" Qin You's tone was clearly dejected.
"Since Commander Qin can't do anything about it, then let's... go home?"
"I say... do you really think this is a joke? Do you believe me..."
"Uh... I was wrong."
"I'm at my wit's end. You go ahead and fight."
Under the moonlight, a smile could be seen flashing under the brim of Hu Yi's hat, and then he suddenly raised his voice: "Tian Sanqi. Chen Chong."
Two figures suddenly stood up from the grass at the bottom of the road: "Yes."
"Take your people and surround this village!" Then he waved to the other side: "The rest of you follow me into the village!"
There was a gust of grass shaking, and nearly a hundred soldiers stood up in the fields on both sides of the path. They quickly split into three groups, one to the left, one to the right, and the other drove straight into the village.
After a while, all of a sudden, there was a commotion in the quiet little village. Torches were lit and footsteps were bustling. Behind the chairman of the maintenance association, there was a soldier holding a gun. He stood in the threshing ground in the middle of the village with a sad face and desperately beat the gong. He shouted in a hoarse voice over and over again: "Everyone come out, come out! Everyone, come out and gather! Hurry up..."
Whether they were still sleepy or frightened, they carried the elderly and children and hurried out to the village. When they heard the president's shouting, they knew it must be the Imperial Army. They hurried to the threshing ground with their families and huddled together. Only then did they realize that the uniforms of the soldiers holding torches were all gray. They were neither the Imperial Army nor the Security Army. It was the first time they had seen them. However, no one dared to speak, and even the children did not dare to cry. No matter who they were, a gun was a gun!
Not only the villagers were confused, but also the guild leader holding the gong was confused. A group of soldiers suddenly barged in and forced him to gather the villagers without explanation. He didn't know who the leader was until now. Seeing that everyone was almost gathered, he shrunk his neck and looked around. He saw a tall man nearby, who looked like Marshal Tianpeng descended from the earth and had an official appearance. So he stretched his neck and said to him, "Look, would you like to tell me the situation? Tell me the purpose of your visit?"
"Tell me about the situation?" The bear looked at the group of terrified young and old people in the bright torchlight, and squinted his eyes: "It's time to talk." Then he took two big steps to appear under the torch, coughed hard, and accidentally coughed up phlegm, which he spat directly at his feet. He raised his toad eyes and frowned; "Don't be afraid! Ah. Gather everyone out, for no other reason than to search the village for the Eighth Route Army!"
Well, it's the same words again. The villagers were trembling in their hearts. You still have the nerve to say don't be afraid? It's you who are afraid!
"Ah?" The president didn't expect that this was also with the imperial army? He quickly lowered his head and asked, "Then your army is..."
"What do you care who I am? Stay away!" The bear ignored the president's questioning and said to the crowd, "Tell me, whose house is that unlucky guy hiding? Does anyone know? Hmm?"
At this time, another soldier walked into the arena, strode straight up behind the bear, kicked the bear hard and made it fall over, and shouted angrily: "Get out of my way!"
The moment he was kicked, the bear knew who kicked him. Although the force was not light, the kick was not in place and he failed to knock him down. It was obviously the inexperienced Lao Qin! So he stood up again, patted his butt and turned back: "Since I have called everyone out, don't I have to explain? It's good that you are here. You tell me. You tell me. I can't just leave."
Looking at the terrified faces in the torchlight, Qin You blushed with embarrassment. What to say? Nothing to say! He didn't expect that Hu Yi, the bastard, would really use this most direct method, leading the soldiers to search the whole village door to door!
"So... you are the superior?" The president was about to bow to the newcomer who had no official appearance at all.
Qin You quickly raised his hand: "I'm not. Tell everyone not to worry, there is no officer here." Then he quickly turned around and left the light range.
From then on, the space in front of the threshing ground remained empty, and no one showed up to explain, which made the villagers even more confused.
…
Near an intersection in the village, Wu Shitou stood there with a torch in his hand. A maid was sitting cross-legged on the millstone next to him with her Type 44 carbine across her arms. Tang Dagou was standing on the other side, grumbling.
"Why don't you let me join the search? Do I still need to stand guard in this place?"
"Who said you were on guard?" Xiao Hongying pouted unhappily, "I still want to walk around! Old Qin insisted that I watch you! It's annoying!"
"Look at me? Why are you looking at me?"
"What do you think? I'm afraid you'll be tempted!"
"… "
Suddenly, heavy footsteps were heard at the intersection. A figure turned around the intersection. Xiao Hongying immediately raised her eyebrows and said, "Stop!"
A passerby stopped. He was Comrade Luo Fugui, who also looked at the little red tassel on the millstone with displeasure: "Are you sick or blind?"
"Stop talking nonsense. I'm asking you, did you go into the compound over there just now? Why did you go in again after it was searched? Why are you staring at me? It was the fox that asked me to pay attention to you, do you think I wanted to? Tell me the truth, did you catch chickens again?"
"How is that possible? Look at me, I don't have that."
"Big Dog, search him. Maybe he broke the chicken's neck and stuffed it in his bag!"
"Hey? Hey, hey? You big dog, how dare you..."
After a while, the intersection became quiet. Four people, big and small, gathered motionless around the millstone, including Wu Shitou who was holding a torch. He was also standing by the millstone, staring at it stupidly. On the millstone stood a tiny chick that had just hatched from its shell a few days ago. Its fur was fluffy with a yellow velvety color, and its beak was tilted in fear as it stared stupidly at every pair of stupid eyes that were staring at it.
…
The most direct method is of course the most effective. As expected, a wounded man was found in the village. Ma Liang removed the bandage on the spot without saying anything. It was a gunshot wound!
Hu Yi immediately gave the order for the Ninth Company to disband and notified the villagers to disperse. Without mentioning which house the wounded were found from, they carried them directly out of the village and did not stop until they were two miles away from the village.
"Who are you?"
"Didn't I tell you that I'm from the Autumn Wind Guerrilla Brigade? Are you... from the Independent Regiment?"
"Autumn Wind Guerrilla Brigade." Hu Yi handed the torch to Ma Liang beside him, squatted down beside the stretcher, stared at the bloody wound on the wounded man's leg that had not been rebandaged, and nodded without any emotion: "I know you are from the Autumn Wind Guerrilla Brigade even if you don't say it."
"You know?"
"I'll only give you one chance. Where are your people now?"
The wounded man said sadly: "Shili Dang. Maybe... he is still..."
A sudden burst of extreme pain caused the wounded man to sit up reflexively, his sick face completely distorted with pain, because Hu Yi's fist hit his wound hard.
"Why!" These three words were truly spoken by the wounded man with gritted teeth, his tone venting not only anger but also pain.
"It seems... I have to give you a second chance." Hu Yi curled up his bruised fingers and clenched them into fists again. The wounded man saw the murderous intent in his subtle movements, so he lowered his head, remained silent for several seconds, and suddenly said: "I will not answer any more questions."
The second extreme pain came as expected, causing the whole body to tremble violently! The wound was hit hard again, with more force than the previous punch. Although the wounded man stubbornly did not want to make a sound, he still could not control the opening and closing of his throat.
"That's enough!" With a loud shout, Lao Qin appeared under the torchlight. He looked at the expressionless Hu Yi with a face full of righteous indignation, took a few deep breaths, and finally said, "Can you give him a quick death?"
"Thank you." The wounded man still did not look up and spoke in a low voice.
However, Hu Yi remained indifferent: "Now, it's the third chance."
However, the wounded man continued to keep his head down, muttering to himself: "I only regret... not being with them..."
However, Hu Yi did not throw a third punch...
It wasn't that Hu Yi couldn't do it, but he suddenly realized that this wounded man... seemed to be a real person... There was a kind of sadness after loss, which could not be acted out...