cicada

More than two hours ago.

Zuo Zhongju found a backlit position on a mountain ridge and lay down. He raised his binoculars and followed the convoy several miles away.

Gui Youguang and Wu Chunyang lay on both sides in the same posture, closely monitoring the movements of the road and nearby mountains and forests.

Behind the three of them, the Nanyang Consolation Group and Xu Enzeng also remained silent and lay on the ground. They were also covered with a simple camouflage net made of leaves and branches by a small military agent.

"Team leader, do you want people from the Hancheng Party Headquarters to drive our car to the border area to lure the enemy out? Why don't we go directly to the garrison and let them escort us or return directly to Chang'an?"

Perhaps because he was bored with waiting, Gui Youguang lowered his voice and asked a question. While speaking, he scratched the itchy head of his head that was pricked by the camouflage hat.

Without this hat, the enemy would be able to see the reflection even a few hundred meters away. It is not known whether someone was exposed because of this during the Huangpu Eastern Expedition.

However, Gui Youguang was more concerned about action than having an itchy head. Yesterday, he noticed that the whereabouts of the convoy were leaked, so Zuo Zhong asked him to drive to the residence of the party director in Hancheng.

After meeting the party director, Zuo Zhong used the excuse of going to Gaowan Town to pick him up and ordered him to take people to drive the vehicle to Gaowan Town early this morning.

What's the point of doing this?

Instead of fishing, it would be better to ask the local garrison to escort them to the border area. It would be better to bring a few cannons. He did not believe that anyone would dare to attack the heavily armed regular army.

Zuo Zhong ignored this guy and continued to observe the cars on the road. With his bald wisdom, it was difficult to understand his plan, but Wu Chunyang answered Gui Youguang's question.

"How do you know whether the local garrison has been infiltrated? The enemies hiding in the dark are the most terrifying. We can't trust anyone here.

It is also unsafe to return secretly. What if there are assassins along the way? The enemy will not fail to consider this, so the only solution for now is to move forward. "

"So that's it, then"

"Stop talking, there's a situation."

Gui Youguang was about to speak when Zuo Zhong whispered to him. He quickly lowered his head and raised his binoculars to look at the road.

A convoy traveling at high speed in the distance was blocked by a tree that suddenly fell down. The drivers stepped on the brakes and the distance between the cars, which was originally about 50 meters, was instantly shortened.

The next second, Czech-style dull gunshots rang out halfway up the mountain on both sides of the road. The crossfire formed by two tongues of flames swept across the convoy, and the Hancheng Party members on the car suffered heavy casualties.

After firing a round of machine gun bullets, a dozen attackers wearing northwest military uniforms emerged from the woods, covering each other and surrounding the convoy in a battle formation, firing from time to time with automatic firearms in their hands.

It can be seen that the tactical movements of this group of people are very standard, and their marksmanship is also very accurate. It only took less than two minutes to completely control the situation.

This scene made Mr. Chen stunned, and then he suddenly turned his head and stared at Xu Enzeng. After blocking the road to complain, he naturally felt that this was another frame-up trick by the Fruit Party.

When Xu Enzeng saw this, he shook his head very fast. He would not dare to attack the Nanyang condolences group unless he had the courage to do so. Even if he dared, the Zhongtong operatives did not have such professionalism.

On the other side, after the attackers took control of the scene, someone took out photos and compared them one by one with the prisoners.

After a few minutes, the other party angrily took out his pistol and fired several shots, executing the party director and his men who bullied men and women in Pingshi Fish and Meat Township on the spot.

Speaking of which, the director is also an old reactionary expert. His hands are stained with the blood of the people and he acts very domineeringly.

But when he saw "Team Leader Xu" in the attendant's room, the other party was like seeing his owner's dog. He was so positive that he took someone to drive "on the road" before dawn.

Turning his attention back to the scene, after dealing with the prisoners, one of the attackers walked up to his companion, picked up the microphone of some device behind the man, said something, and then led the team to retreat to the west.

"Walkie-talkie!"

Zuo Zhong softly uttered three words. He didn't expect to see this thing in the northwest. Most people have probably never heard of it, let alone using it.

Walkie-talkies seem to be very common in later films and TV dramas, especially in Anti-Japanese War dramas. They were equipped by the Soviet Army, the Japanese Army and even the grassroots troops of the underground party. This is completely nonsense.

At the beginning of the year, the technical department of the military command imported two newly finalized SCR-536 walkie-talkies from the United States for research, which cost a total of US$5000!

In order to raise this fund, the printing presses for replica Japanese yen were almost out of stock, and it was difficult to get enough Japanese yen to exchange for US dollars.

But I have to say that this thing is really easy to use and can keep the two teams talking in real time, but the communication distance is relatively short, up to 5 kilometers in the Yuyuan area and about 3 kilometers in the mountains.

This shows that the attacker must have accomplices nearby. With such a sharp weapon, all routes from Hancheng to the border area may be blocked by the opponent.

Even places further away are under the surveillance of the enemy. They are just waiting for them to fall into the trap. This is troublesome!

Looking at the attacker disappearing in the dense forest, Zuo Zhong thought for a moment and turned to look east. A few dozen miles further in this direction was Zhichuan Ferry, and the other side was the Japanese territory.

Maybe they have to take a risk.

..............................

Zhikawa Ferry.

Located to the west of the Yellow River, with mountains and valleys to the north and vast plains to the south, it has been a transportation hub from the northwest to North China since ancient times.

Even during the war, the road leading to the ferry was busy with traffic. Mule carts transported grain from Mizhi, coarse cloth from Guanzhong, and salt from Qinghai to Jin Province and even the entire North China.

In order to drain the supplies in the Kuomintang-controlled areas and reduce the supply of the fruit army, the Japanese on the east coast were happy to see the results and opened the door to convenience.

As long as the caravan paid taxes and provided sufficient benefits, the Japanese troops on the dock didn't even bother to search and let them all go.

This is not to say that the Japanese underestimated the enemy, but the combat effectiveness and fighting will of the Guo army were "reassuring". Compared with this, the level of vigilance at the dock at the junction of the Japanese-occupied area and the border area was much higher.

After the attackers retreated, Zuo Zhong and the consolation group put on civilian clothes and shoes and walked eastward along the mountain road for most of a day, arriving at a mountain col a few kilometers away from Zhichuan Ferry.

Mr. Chen and others were a little surprised by the continuous flow of carriages and horses on the road below. They did not expect that the commercial exchanges on the front line were so developed.

"Team Leader Xu, have the government and the Japanese reached an agreement to exchange what they have?" Watching a dozen mules and carriages go away, Mr. Chen still couldn't hold it back and asked Zuo Zhong in a low voice, with a very calm expression on his face.

As a businessman, he didn't think there was anything wrong with doing this. If he could exchange some unimportant commodities for supplies urgently needed for the war, it would be considered a good deal.

"this."

Zuo Zhong didn't know how to answer. Could it be that seeing that there was money to be made, the leaders of the Second War Zone also joined in these businesses and resold military rations and even weapons and equipment to the Japanese-occupied areas.

In fact, not only in Shaanxi Province, but also in places bordering the Japanese-occupied areas, similar behaviors have always existed, and they are getting more and more intense.

After all, smuggling is the innate skill of military officers, and there are few people in the army who do not do it. If those who do not do it are arrested, nine out of ten are underground parties.

After hemming and hawing for a long time, Zuo Zhong said vaguely that this was the fault of local officials, then found an excuse to walk away and called Wu Chunyang aside.

"If there is a suitable caravan, we need to borrow a skin to go to the other side, walk north for a while and then cross the river to Yanchang County, where the bandits are den, otherwise we may not be able to escape.

You have seen what happened just now. Those people are definitely elite. They are also wearing northwest military uniforms and have walkie-talkies, so they can accurately grasp the itinerary of the condolences group.

There must be spies from the other side in the mountain city, the second theater or the bandit's nest. The previously agreed route cannot be used anymore and one must escape from the enemy's encirclement. "

This is what Zuo Zhong thought of after seeing the attackers - to go from the Japanese-occupied area to the border area.

Regardless of whether the people ambushing the convoy were Japs or not, the other party would never have imagined that they would do this.

As long as they move fast enough and covertly enough, by the time the other party reacts, they will have already reached the border station.

Wu Chunyang thought for a few seconds, countless information flashed through his mind at high speed, and finally stopped on a document. He immediately answered in the affirmative.

"Yes, the intelligence collected by the bureau shows that a division commander's caravan in the second theater will transport a batch of equipment and supplies to the Japanese on this day every month.

If nothing else happens, the caravan will pass by here in another five hours, cross the river and head north to Daning. On the other side of Daning is Yanchang County.

The time and route are suitable. If everything goes well, we will be able to have breakfast at the bandit's lair tomorrow morning without the attackers having time to stop us.

What's even more advantageous is that the director of the military quarters department in charge of the convoy and his spouse's family are all in the mountain city. They can use this to blackmail the other party and get him to cooperate.

Mr. Chen and the others can pretend to be accountants and stewards, as long as they don't speak with a Nanyang accent, and we can pretend to be drivers and guards. "

A caravan transporting equipment and supplies is good.

After thinking about it, Zuo Zhong agreed with Wu Chunyang's opinion. In this way, the weapons he carried could be hidden in the cargo. Even if the Japanese made a sudden inspection, they could be fooled.

After looking at the time, he ordered everyone to find a place to rest and wait for the arrival of the caravan.

From selecting the target to determining the action plan, it took the two men less than 5 minutes. The whole process seemed simple, but it was based on a large amount of intelligence.

Without sufficient and accurate information, and without Wu Chunyang's familiarity with the local situation, it would be impossible to achieve such ease.

While everyone rested, Zuo Zhong, Wu Chunyang, and Gui Youguang further improved the action steps to minimize the possibility of exposure.

The sun sets in the west, and the number of pedestrians and vehicles on the road gradually decreases.

A caravan doing serious business would not choose to travel at night. The bandits in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces are not vegetarians. No one wants to spend the night in the wild. The risk is too high.

But darkness is the best cover for the smugglers. Not long after nightfall, a huge convoy of mules and horses drove slowly with torches, and the noise of people and horses was endless.

"coming."

Wu Chunyang stood at the edge of the mountain col. Using the light of the torch, he quickly found his target among the convoy and turned to Zuo Zhong beside him.

Zuo Zhong looked at the long queue below, nodded slightly, and then gave another instruction.

"Well, you should take a few brothers with you. Pay attention to safety and ask the munitions director to be more responsible. Otherwise, the heads of his family of 25 will be in danger."

Who dares to sell weapons and equipment to the Japanese? What kind of good thing can he be? He has no psychological barriers to threatening such a bastard.

Wu Chunyang led the people out of the mountain col. Gui Youguang and other agents took out their weapons and occupied the favorable terrain, ready to engage in firefights with the caravan's guards at any time.

If the target doesn't care about the lives of the whole family and wants to go all the way to the dark side, then they have to use bullets to talk to each other.

However, the director of the Military Supplies Department who led the team was obviously not the kind of person who wanted money rather than his life. After chatting with Wu Chunyang who blocked the road, especially after seeing the military commander's ID, he knelt down on the spot.

"Sir, I will cooperate. I will definitely cooperate. Please let the whole family go."

The military command is more of a deterrent to these smugglers with military backgrounds than the military justice department.

The Military Justice Department still needs to find evidence when investigating a case, and everything must be discussed, but the Military Command only needs a list of names to arrest and execute people. If they say they are killing people, they are really killing people.

As for killing people and silencing them, the Director of Munitions did not even think about it. With so many people in the caravan, it was impossible to keep it secret. Once the matter was leaked, it would be called death without a burial place.

The other party's reaction was completely as expected by Wu Chunyang. He immediately released a trace of goodwill and said that as long as he cooperated with the action, the past would be forgotten.

Smuggling, to put it another way, can also mean disrupting the financial order in enemy-occupied areas. Not only is it not a fault, but it is a meritorious service.

Using both hard and soft tactics, the director of the munitions department hurriedly drove away all the entourage. Zuo Zhong saw this and went down the mountain to take over the caravan. The convoy started again and continued towards Zhichuan Ferry.

(It’s cold, please keep warm)