War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1586 Not enough

The windward side of the hill next to the dugout is almost back-to-back with the other side of the mountain with the cave.

Hu Bazhi, who was drunk, dug away the snow and with the help of Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu, who were well fed and drunk, he struggled to move away a stone as big as a car tire from later generations.

Behind the rock is a narrow cave that slopes upward and is barely big enough to fit a motorcycle.

This cave was exceptionally dry. Not only was the ground covered with a thick layer of grass and a tattered leather mattress, but there were also two oil lamps placed closest to the cave entrance.

"When my mountain dog was still alive, this was his kennel. He was a good dog."

As Hu Bazhi spoke, he stuffed the furs and other items that he couldn't take away into the doghouse, saying, "No one knows whether we can survive this trip. If something unexpected happens, whoever survives can come back here and get some items that can be exchanged for money and escape."

"Don't say such depressing words, we can all survive!"

Zhao Jinyu, who was sweating profusely after a dog meat feast, helped push the big rock back to its original position and said, "I haven't made enough money yet. I can't die without killing a hundred or eighty devils!"

“You’re right”

Wei Ran, who was also helping, echoed, "Even if I die, I have to kill a hundred or eighty devils before I die."

"Then let's kill a hundred or eighty of them first!"

Hu Bazhi said as he covered the big rock with snow. He then took off his dog-skin coat and swept it back and forth across the snow several times. After easily clearing the traces, he said, "Let's go! Let's go to the God of Wealth Temple now!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu immediately put on hand muffs and followed Hu Bazhi as they left while cleaning up the footprints.

At this moment, in addition to the warm fur coats, the three of them also each carried a Type 38 rifle on their backs. On their belts were four ammunition boxes, which contained all the rifle bullets they had captured.

Not to mention, the three men each had a pistol in their arms - although the box gun in Zhao Jinyu's arms was not worthy of being called a pistol, and although Wei Ran's box gun was only nominally in his arms.

Not counting the Japanese backpack that Wei Ran fixed on his chest, the three of them also carried a sack on their backs that Wei Ran had modified using sack pieces in the Russian style. In addition to some of the gasoline and lunch boxes they had seized, they also carried a lot of dried meat.

Hu Bazhi, who was particularly good at living, not only brought an extra lunch box of salt and confiscated tobacco, sugar, canned food, etc., but also asked Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu to help, each of them carrying a bundle of wolfskin blankets to ensure that they would not freeze to death.

Some people bring it with them, and naturally some people don’t.

At the door of Hu Bazhi's shack, Hu Bazhi used his animal traps and two Japanese grenades to set up a perfect door-opening kill. Wei Ran even used the iron sand gun that Hu Bazhi didn't intend to take, the remaining 20 kilograms of black gunpowder, and even a pot of gasoline and 30 kilograms of rusty iron sand, and made a simple incendiary and lethal dual-purpose bomb in the cave.

Even Zhao Jinyu helped bury more than 40 traps in the snow around the shack that were big enough to break a tiger's claws.

As for who enjoyed this surprise in the end, Hu Bazhi, who had no intention of returning, had never thought about it.

Let Hu Bazhi lead the way, the three of them crossed over ridges and bypassed ravines, and rushed to the Temple of the God of Wealth in Gaoliangtun overnight.

It was said that the journey was only 20 miles, but in reality the three of them walked in circles for most of the night. Just as day was about to dawn, they finally crossed a frozen ditch in the increasingly heavy snow and wind.

"That's the route the devils always take."

Hu Bazhi, standing in the middle of the ditch on his skis, pointed with his ski poles at a stone bridge not far away. "That bridge was also built by Xu Laocai. Even though it's made of wood, it's actually very stable. Not only can donkey carts and horse carriages pass through it, but even the Japanese's cars can pass through it."

Hu Bazhi turned around and pointed to a rare brick-and-tile house not far from the river and next to the woods, and said, "That's the Temple of the God of Wealth. When Xu Laocai was panning for gold in this river, he picked up a gold nugget as big as a goose egg. He became rich because of the gold nugget, so he donated a temple to the God of Wealth there."

"What happened next?" Zhao Jinyu couldn't help but ask.

"There's no later"

Hu Bazhi sneered and led them to the Temple of the God of Wealth while saying, "Within two years of donating the Temple of the God of Wealth, Mr. Xu's family fortune was completely squandered by his son on the gambling table, and his eldest son also got addicted to opium. In less than five years, he became destitute.

Later, a fortune teller said that Mr. Xu was a fool. How could the gate of the Temple of the God of Wealth face the ditch and the bridge?

The water in this river represents wealth, and the people coming and going on the bridge also represent wealth. All this wealth goes into the mouth of the God of Wealth, so how can Xu Dabangchui have a share? "

"Which direction should we go?"

Zhao Jinyu muttered, "Are we going to let the God of Wealth face the ditch? That would be all the leftovers of the God of Wealth."

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you talking about? Watch out, the God of Wealth may eat you too."

Hu Bazhi said unhappily, "Whether we can get a fat guy in this business depends on the blessing of the God of Wealth."

"That's true," Zhao Jinyu nodded, "Then I'll kowtow to the God of Wealth!"

“Etiquette is indispensable”

Although Hu Bazhi said this, it did not stop him when he was still forty or fifty meters away from the Temple of the God of Wealth. He pulled out the box gun from his waist, pulled the bolt and loaded the bullet - just like Wei Ran.

"Watch Here"

Wei Ran gently patted the Type 38 rifle that Zhao Jinyu was carrying, then took off his own rifle and sack and placed them on the skis.

"Are you walking in front or behind?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"Brother Wei is good at shooting, so let's go around to the back," Hu Bazhi said in a low voice, "I'll make some noise in the front."

"Row"

Wei Ran agreed indifferently, went into the pine forest next to the Temple of the God of Wealth, and circled around to the back of the Temple of the God of Wealth.

This so-called Temple of the God of Wealth has only three tiled houses with courtyards in front and back. The front courtyard has a door but no door panel. Although the back courtyard has no door, the mud brick wall is only about 1.5 meters high at the top, so you can easily see the inside clean at a glance.

Without even waiting for Hu Bazhi in front of him to make any noise, Wei Ran had already put away his gun and skis, pushed himself over the low earth wall with both hands, crouched down and walked quickly to the back door of the Temple of the God of Wealth, squatted against the wall and listened for a moment, then quickly leaned over to take a look inside and quickly shrank back.

When he leaned forward for the second time, he could see clearly that a large part of the tiles on the top of the statue of the God of Wealth, who was facing away from him, had collapsed. After years of wind and rain, the God of Wealth's clay and wooden skeleton had been exposed.

I looked around carefully. These three tiled houses were neither too big nor too small. There were a lot of pine needles and dry grass on the walls on both sides. There were also traces of bonfires and "kitchen waste" such as chicken bones and feathers in front of the statue in the middle. Obviously, someone had stayed here before.

"Don't eat meat that is not grown on the road, just the south mountain and the north mountain."

"Stop shouting, come in, there's no one here!" Wei Ran shouted as he took out his gun and skis.

Not long after, Hu Bazhi peeked out from the gate of the courtyard. When he saw Wei Ran waving at him, he walked in with Zhao Jinyu, carrying Wei Ran's sack and gun.

“This is a great place to set up an ambush.”

Wei Ran couldn't help but say before the two of them put down their things, this is indeed a good place. As long as they do something to the wooden bridge, the devil will be trapped here.

By then, whether it was the Japanese devils or the puppet army, if they wanted to follow them into the woods, it would just be the perfect opportunity for the three men to fight guerrilla warfare with them.

  If they chose to cross the frozen ditch, not to mention that the open surface of the ditch would make them sitting ducks, their vehicles wouldn't be able to pass through it, right?

The heavy snow has caused the snow in the ditch to be almost half a meter thick. As long as the Japanese's means of transportation can be destroyed, they can slowly march back, and they will still have to fight guerrilla warfare at that time.

The question now was whether the Japanese would come and when. Before he could speak, Zhao Jinyu had already asked this question.

"They will definitely come."

As Hu Bazhi spoke, he took out a handful of incense sticks from his arms, lit them, and gave them to Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu. Then he bowed respectfully to the God of Wealth, inserted the incense sticks into the incense burner, and then continued with confidence, "Whether it is the mines or forest farms controlled by the devils, they all need manpower. At this time of year, the gangs on the various hilltops are preparing to go down the mountain to hibernate. These people are all great laborers!

You just wait and see. Once the snow stops, the gangs that have received their dividends will have to go home immediately. By then, even if the Japanese soldiers don't plan to take action, the traitors and puppet soldiers will surely be eager to get their hands on them." At this point, Hu Bazhi snorted and said sarcastically, "If it's two days later, those gangs with fatter pockets will spend all their money on opium and brothels."

"Those traitors are not afraid of offending others."

"offend?"

Hu Bazhi shook his head and said metaphorically with particular clarity, "The wild dogs in the mass graves only dare to eat people when they gather together. If it is alone, do you think it dares to show its teeth? Don't take off its mouth!"

"Maybe they are really scared, so they will definitely bring the Japanese to calm the situation." Wei Ran looked up at the God of Wealth and muttered to himself.

"Just wait," Hu Bazhi said, "Once the snow stops, the Japs will surely come."

"Shall we wait here?"

Zhao Jinyu asked, and at the same time, he couldn't help but look up at the roof. This place was windy from all sides, and he would probably suffer for his age if he kept waiting like this.

“No need to wait here”

Hu Bazhi obviously had a plan in mind. "I'll bring you here to get to know the place. Come with me. Let's go to Gaoliangtun and find a place to hide."

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu hurriedly picked up their belongings, followed Hu Bazhi out of the Temple of the God of Wealth, and went straight into the nearby woods.

They skied through the coniferous forest, which was also covered with heavy snow, for nearly 20 minutes. When they came out again, a dilapidated mountain village had appeared in a valley ahead.

This small mountain village hidden in the valley only has about a dozen or twenty households at a glance.

However, none of the chimneys of these houses had smoke coming out. Instead, many of them had obvious signs of burning, or had simply collapsed, leaving only a circle of low ruins that were almost completely buried by the snow.

“It happened at the beginning of this spring.”

Hu Bazhi led the two of them to the village and said, "There are 18 households and 71 people in Gaoliang Village. No one escaped. The men were sent to the mines, the elderly and children were locked up in the house and shot to death with machine guns, and the women... Alas!"

"Why?" Zhao Jinyu asked in surprise.

"why?"

Hu Bazhi smiled miserably, stopped skiing and explained, "Revenge, revenge for the previous ambush of the Japanese by the Anti-Japanese Alliance nearby."

"Just because of this?" Wei Ran asked in surprise.

“That’s enough.”

Hu Bazhi sighed, pushed hard on his ski poles, and led them to the gate of a fenced yard that looked relatively intact.

Pushing open the half-open wooden door, the three of them noticed the claw marks on the snow almost at the same time. At the same time, they each took out the pistol in their arms.

Fortunately, when I pushed the door open and entered the yard and walked into the low adobe house, there were no wild beasts inside. However, on the earthen kang in the east room, there were several human skeletons with traces of being eaten by wild beasts.

On the moldy, dusty and tattered bedding, there were still black stains left by the oxidation of blood.

"Come over here," Hu Bazhi called out in a hoarse voice and was the first to go into the west room.

There was also an earthen kang on this side, but in the "swinging cart" hanging from a rope from a wooden beam, there was a baby who had already turned into bones and still exuded a slight stench of corpse.

"How about we change one?"

Hu Bazhi didn't even finish his words before he covered his mouth with his hand and rushed out with Zhao Jinyu.

With a silent sigh, Wei Ran took off the warm bearskin gloves on his hands, took out the Robert camera, changed to a suitable lens, and pressed the shutter button towards the small corpse.

After putting away the camera and putting on the gloves again, he took down the swing that was used to prevent wild animals from taking the child away, carefully picked up the light and weightless bones in the swaddling clothes, and gently placed them on the dusty kang.

After looking around, Wei Ran found a rusty kitchen knife in the main room, returned to this room, dug a hole in the dirt with great difficulty, and buried the little body in it.

By the time he walked out of the low adobe house again, carefully closed the two wooden doors, and tried in vain to fasten the bolts from the outside, Hu Bazhi and Zhao Jinyu had each left a pool of vomit filled with the smell of alcohol on the white snow, and were squatting at the gate of the yard smoking their pipes.

"Go, go."

Wei Ran casually grabbed a handful of snow and rubbed the bearskin gloves on his hands, then walked out of the lifeless fenced yard in silence.

"Do you think we can still drive those Japs away?" Zhao Jinyu asked angrily, his tone unclear and filled with despair, powerless despair.

"can"

Wei Ran gave his answer in a hoarse voice, but neither Zhao Jinyu nor Hu Bazhi obviously believed this answer.

Subconsciously looking around at the small village called Gaoliangtun, Wei Ran shook his head helplessly. If it were him, at this time and in this situation, how could he believe that he could completely drive the devils away?

In silence, the three of them walked on the thick, crunching snow and moved to another courtyard, finally finding a relatively clean house.

After a busy period of work, they lit a fire in the stove connected to the kang, and placed the lunch box, which had been frozen into a lump of ice, in an iron pot filled with snow to slowly heat it up.

"You two go to sleep first."

Wei Ran spoke first, "Brother Zhao just escaped and needs to rest. Brother Hu drank a lot last night. I'm the only one free, so I'll take care of it."

Hu Bazhi and Zhao Jinyu did not refuse. After expressing their gratitude, they could not wait to wrap themselves in the wolfskin blanket they brought with them and lay down on the dusty but gradually warming up earthen kang. Soon they began to snore.

In the main room, Wei Ran sat on a bench by the stove, took off his boots, and patiently toasted the boots, the grass and the foot binding inside them. Then he put them back on and filled the pocket warmer with extra oil. Then he tucked the Type 38 rifle under his armpit, bent down and walked out of the room, wandering in the village like a lonely ghost in the heavy snow.

After an unknown amount of time, he found an adobe house filled with a faint stench.

The fence in front of the house had collapsed, and the earthen wall was full of holes caused by bullets.

Walking to the door, all I could see were scattered bones, tattered clothes, and clumps of gray hair, a rattle with bullet holes, and a crutch still tightly grasped by the dry bones.

He bent down and picked up a skull with some scalp still on it. This skeletonized human head was only the size of a small coconut shell, and there were two extremely conspicuous bullet holes next to the empty eye sockets.

After putting the baby's skull back in its place, Wei Ran silently took out his camera, half-knelt at the door, found an angle that was low enough and close enough, aimed at the piled up broken bones, and pressed the shutter.

He tried to walk into this adobe house where countless wronged souls hid, but found that there was no place for him to stand. The ground, the stove, even the stove chamber where the iron pot had been removed and the kang hole, every corner was filled with broken bones and remaining grenade fragments.

Finally, he discovered something.

Behind the half-open door, there were eight traditional Chinese characters written in black due to oxidation of blood: "Blood debt paid with blood! Recover our country!"

He could almost guess that this should be the last words written by an old man who could read and write by biting his finger before the Japanese opened fire on this place.

  Did Zhao Jinyu also see these words? That's why he later carved those eight words on his saber?

Wei Ran subconsciously looked back in the direction he came from, stood up with the help of the cold door frame, closed the door, turned around, and left with the Type 38 rifle in his hand.

"Killing only a hundred or eighty people is not enough," Wei Ran muttered vaguely, and the gun in his hand was tightened.