under fire

Chapter 1328 Army and People

Dawn is swaying in the wind and rain.

The old man Zhao has lived for more than 50 years, and the heavy rain with hail in summer has never lasted so long in his memory.

I have been worrying about the sorghum and corn fields in the field.

At daybreak, wearing a bamboo hat and a raincoat made of patched canvas that was discarded at the station, he went out of the village with a hoe on his shoulder.

From time to time on the railway not far away, the rattling sound of train wheels and railroad tracks, together with the humming roar of the locomotive, broke the solo of the heavy rain.

As the train went away, there was only the sound of raindrops hitting the fallen sorghum leaves, and the surroundings became deadly quiet.

The more quiet it is, the more irritated Zhao Laihan is.

Everywhere you can see, there are stretches of sorghum fields lying on the ground, with broken branches and leaves.

I have always been lucky in my heart, and even hesitated to go around my own field.

Maybe my daily prayers to God played a role?

From a distance, I finally saw that nearly half of the sorghum in my dry land on the mound fell, and the sweet potatoes in the field seemed not to be affected much.

let out a sigh of relief

One-third of the land could not support a family, so in desperation, they also rented out two acres of irrigated land from the Guo family, a big landlord.

Braving the wind and rain to move forward...

Old man Zhao's heart sank. The two acres of sorghum planted in the well-watered land rented from Guo's family fell more than half, and the remaining sorghum didn't survive.

Trembling hands and feet, sitting on the muddy ground...

"Goddamn thief, this is a posture of not wanting to live!" Cried heart-piercingly.

Getting up like crazy, seeing the crops in Tsukuda's field...

There was no luck in the storm.

This day can no longer be passed, and I shouted again: "God, why are you so cruel to me?"

The Guo family is a tyrant in Zhangnan, and the land rent must be paid on time, otherwise, the Guo family's servants will make life worse for those who do not pay the rent.

Old man Zhao had lost hope in his eyes, and he was slowly sitting in the rain-soaked sorghum field like a walking corpse, holding the broken sorghum pole in his hand, without saying a word, hoping to connect it.

Tried countless times without success

Even though the big raindrops slid down from his forehead and into his neck, he didn't seem to feel that there was really no way out.

Tang Dagou was in a very unhappy mood, and someone was barking like a dog early in the morning.

In such a heavy rainy day, you can bump into such an old guy. Judging by his appearance, he is probably a poor jingle-ringing guy.

The old man stood in the rain, just blocking the movement of the soldiers led by Big Dog and Crazy Yang!
"Platoon leader, do you want to go over and ask this old man? Although he is poor, he may know something about the railway."

"That's right, you see he's wearing a canvas raincoat that's used on trains to keep out the rain."

"so what?"

"This time we are building a railway, at least find some people who are familiar with the situation to guide us!"

"It makes sense. At such an old age, he must be frequently active in this area. He at least knows the basic situation of the railway, and even knows the patrol rules of the devils and puppet troops..."

"I also think that the elderly must be much clearer than us"

"What the hell are you two talking about so much nonsense? The one named Gong sounds nice, but where is the underground traffic officer? I haven't even seen a single ghost until now."

"The puppet army devils have been arresting people everywhere these two days, how do I know where he is?" The soldiers of the county brigade were dissatisfied with Dagou's attitude.

"What the hell Gong Shaofeng said he knew the people from the traffic team, so tell me, where are the people from the traffic team?"

"Aren't you talking nonsense? I don't know if the captain can contact the traffic team..."

While talking, another train passed by in the distance...

"What the hell is a devil's armored train!"

"Do you really know what an armored train is?" The soldiers of the county brigade were stunned for a moment.

"What the hell is a train equipped with iron armor and heavy artillery..."

"Big dog, tell me in detail..." a soldier asked...

"Why don't you understand"

"If you don't want to say it, I'll ask that old man, maybe he knows..."

"Hey, old man, we are the Eighth Route Army, what are you doing here?"

Seeing that someone appeared in the pouring rain, although he felt strange, Uncle Zhao's brows did not relax in any way.

I always feel that the world is unfair to me.The food in the family can only last for a day or two at most, and there is no way to live on this day.

The soldiers who came to ask questions were ignored at all.

"Hey, old man, why do I ask you something?" The big dog soldier who came over in the rain had a temper again. He didn't look at the common people seriously before, and his experience with the villagers in the wine station was quite strange.
It's not very polite to speak.

Being called an old man...Old Zhao is not in the mood to care about this person's politeness, and being able to survive is his only hope now.

But now that all hope has been shattered, he feels... There is nothing in this world to be nostalgic for.

I originally thought that a heavy rain would bring hope, but it turned out not only no hope... but despair.

My mind started to be confused: These guys came looking for me with guns on their backs...

The Guo family must have sent someone to collect land rent...

"You vampires, old man, I'm with you today..."

Old man Zhao holds a hoe in his hand, and when he swings it, he wants to fight Tang Dagou desperately...

...

After the storm, the blockade ditch was filled with water.

No one was seen three or five meters away.

There was a lot of voices on the Minghe Iron Bridge.

Plain rivers are not violent.

The water has risen steadily and is already level with the bottom of the bridge.

"All evacuate!" This is the devil's engineer's order in a low voice.

Amidst the chirping footsteps, the armored train stopped at the south of the bridge blew its whistle and started slowly.

The steam locomotive pulled three trains of armored carriages to the south along the railway that seemed to be floating on the river.

The railway bridge was no longer passable, and the ghosts who lived on the island all year round, of course, knew the ins and outs of this sudden summer storm.

There are speculations that this heavy rain will continue until it gets dark today or early tomorrow morning.

Walking in a long procession on the railway, devil engineers in raincoats lead the team, followed by peasants in canvas and coir raincoats, the sound of chaotic footsteps is louder than the sound of wind and rain.

Finally arrived at the train station, the crowd scattered into the various stations of the station.

The railway armored patrol car parked in the maintenance workshop lights up a beam of light, starts slowly, and performs routine patrols.

Several maintenance workers buried the corpses of the devils in the well-dug pits, and they gathered together and whispered together: "Hey... Shangfeng wants us to destroy the railway, God do us such a big favor..."

"The goal this time is to paralyze the railway line for at least half a month to prevent the devils from crossing the Yellow River... Listen to the devil's engineer, what kind of storm is this heavy rain, and it can last for a day at most..."

"Don't talk too much, wait for Brother Lu to come back and make plans..."

A figure passed through the wind and rain, greeted the puppet soldiers standing guard, and hurried into the workshop.

He took out a white cloth strip and tied it on his left arm, and then began to assign tasks: "The Eighth Route Army has destroyed the devil's railway telephone line. The attack time is scheduled to start at eleven o'clock and will end before dawn tomorrow."

"The armored patrol car has been solved, and the car is full of explosives, but now the wind and rain are too heavy, and the devils and puppet troops guarding the bridge have forbidden anyone to go to the Zhanghe Bridge. It is too difficult to blow up the Zhanghe sedan chair..."

"you sure?"

"The problem is the Minghe Bridge. The river is so high that it will overflow the bridge in an hour at most."

In the wind and rain, the densely packed men were shirtless, carrying ropes, wooden bars, hand hammers, wrenches and other tools to dismantle the rails.

"on!"

More than a dozen rickshaws dragged heavy tools, creaking and approaching the railway line.

A squad of "pseudo-army" patrols spread out to guard on the half of the railway with a missing track.

"The movements are quicker..."

(End of this chapter)