War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1593: Explosion in the Bandit's Nest

On the other side of the ridge next to Langcaozigou, a young girl wearing a flowery cotton jacket and a flowered headscarf was running in panic towards the top of the ridge in the flying snow.

At this time, the boots on one of her feet had fallen off, and her body was covered with white snowflakes. Her rapid breathing made this young girl like the small trains in the mines that the Japanese had robbed, constantly exhaling large clouds of mist.

Less than 50 meters behind her, a man wearing a mink coat, a nine-dragon belt on his chest, and a mink hat was using his legs to control the tall black horse under his crotch and followed slowly.

This young man with a bandit-like face held a pair of women's-sized boots in his left hand, which was wearing a black lambskin glove. In his right hand, he held a Dagu-made pistol with a shuttlecock on his shoulder. In his mouth, he also had a cigarette with sparks coming out of it.

Slightly half a horse's length behind him was a young man dressed in almost the same way.

As for the difference, this one looks a little younger, but his physique is a little stronger. Not only that, looking at his face, he seems to have some Russian blood.

In addition, although he was riding a tall black horse, he was holding a "Baigeman submachine gun" that also came from the Dagu Factory. Even fixed on his chest was a leather ammunition bag that could hold 6 50-round magazines.

If Wei Ran saw these two, he would probably suspect that they were weapons salesmen sent by Dagu Factory, who were going to act like hooligans in the deep mountains and forests before going to Cao Dazhanggui's lair to complete their annual KPI.

Of course, if Hu Bazhi or Tian Xiaohu saw these two guys, they probably wouldn’t even need to get close. Just from the two black horses, they would be able to recognize that they were the eldest and second sons of Cao, the shopkeeper.

To be honest, the shopkeeper Cao was not very good. He had amassed 20 wives of various tastes, but he only had two sons. Moreover, the second son was born to a White Russian dancer he bought.

As for the rest, some of them simply cannot give birth, or all they give birth to are girls, or even two girls in one birth.

It was for this reason that the shopkeeper Cao loved his two sons very much, especially the eldest son Cao Yanwen. Not only was his mother a lady from a wealthy family who was abducted, but the son born to him was also exceptionally handsome.

Naturally, although this favored eldest son was just under 20 years old, he often took his "miscellaneous younger brothers" to do despicable things such as "receiving Guanyin", "fracking" and "firing rows of artillery".

In fact, these two guys who were so bad to the core even dared to cause trouble to their half-sisters. After all, they knew that their father, who was the king of the mountain, didn't care about those money-losing goods at all. They also knew that as long as they didn't touch opium and didn't cause trouble for the Japanese and the puppet army, their father would cover for them even if they caused a big disaster.

For example, this time, the two brothers personally led people to surround a village yesterday and brought back a few beautiful girls after careful selection. However, they did not expect that when they reached their own mountain, one of them broke the rope and ran away.

They didn't expect that the girl would run to Langcaozigou. Of course, what the brothers didn't expect was that there were more than just wolves in Langcaozigou.

"Bang bang bang!"

Cao Yanwen, the eldest son of the Cao family, raised his rifle with one hand and fired a burst of shots at his head, urging with a playful smile, "Run! Keep running, the Langcaozigou is ahead!"

Hearing this, the girl in front of the two brothers, who had lost one shoe, gritted her teeth and continued to run towards the top of the mountain with all her might in the snow that almost covered her knees.

She was not a child from a wealthy family. She had often followed her parents into the mountains to hunt and chop wood since she was young. Naturally, she had heard of the name and horror of Langcaozigou.

Of course, she also knew that the two big black horses would never be able to climb up such a steep slope. Even if they dared, the two beasts would not dare to do so, and if one of them stumbled, they would surely fall to death.

  This is also my only chance to escape!

just

Even if the two horses couldn't catch up, the bullets might still catch up, and she didn't have the confidence that she could outrun the wolves that might appear around her at any time!

Even so, the girl ran even harder. She would rather feed herself to the wolves than be abused by those bandits!

She thought so, but Young Master Cao didn't think so. If this "Guanyin" that he had worked so hard to bring back was fed to the wolf, wouldn't all his work last night be in vain?

Thinking of this, he raised the rifle again, aimed at his head, pulled the trigger randomly, and fired a string of bullets.

"Brother, what are you doing?" asked the second son of Cao who was following behind him, "Why not just capture him and bring him back?"

"No hurries?"

Young Master Cao snorted, spit out his half-smoked cigarette, relit one, and said expectantly, "Let her run, and when she can't run anymore, bring her back to our father and let him take good care of her."

"Big brother is really thoughtful," the second son of the Cao family flattered him expectantly, and the former also showed a proud look as he expected.

"But brother, what if she runs into Langcaozigou?"

"What else can we do?"

As Master Cao spoke, he loaded ten bullets into the rifle in his hand, threw the magazine aside and said, "How can we two brothers be afraid of those wolves? Don't worry, as long as the fighting starts here, Zhang Paotou will definitely come over."

"Then let's"

"Let's go around and block her from the front!"

As Master Cao spoke, he revealed a cruel smile full of anticipation. He urged his mount to circle slowly and catch up with her, muttering in the cold wind, "It's not bad to let the wolves tear her apart."

"Those are the two stupid sons of Cao Da, the shopkeeper."

On the top of the ridge, Hu Bazhi, who had just climbed up, lay down behind a pine tree, covered his mouth and nose with his hands, and said confidently to Wei Ran who was lying beside him, "It can't be wrong, the two wicked guys from the Cao family each have a big black horse. There is no village in this area that has not been harmed by them. They are as hateful as the Japanese devils!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who also covered his mouth and nose, let his sight pass through the flying snowflakes and trees, and barely made out the two figures riding horses and turning away.

"Why don't these two young masters even bring a guard?" Wei Ran asked curiously after a moment.

"If what Brother Xiaohu said is correct, and Manager Cao's hilltop is nearby, then this place is their doorstep. Who would be so foolish as to come here and ask for trouble? And looking at the weapons they have, they can probably protect themselves even if they run into a tiger."

"What are your plans?"

Wei Ran asked in a low voice. At this time, the girl who was climbing up in a panic was only twenty or thirty meters away from the two of them.

“The One Who Was Saved”

Hu Bazhi paused and said, "There were girls in our village who were harmed by them. When my wife was alive, if my grandfather had not had some friendship with their father, I'm afraid she would have been kidnapped by these two bastards."

"Kill them?" Wei Ran asked more directly.

Hearing this, Hu Bazhi, who was about to agree subconsciously, held back and suppressed the impulse in his heart. "It seems that they don't plan to continue chasing. After rescuing her, we should take her away from here as soon as possible. There is no need to conflict with Manager Cao, so as not to cause trouble for the team."

Hearing this, Wei Ran's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. This Hu Bazhi was actually calmer and more thoughtful than he had imagined.

A moment later, the girl who was fleeing in a hurry climbed up the ridge using her hands and feet, and leaned against the trunk of a birch tree. She gasped for breath and looked behind her in fear.

Although the two beasts did not catch up with her, she knew that at this moment she was surrounded by wolves in front and tigers behind. If she went back, she would enter a bandit's den, and if she went forward, she would enter a wolf's den.

  I'd rather feed the wolf!

The girl gritted her teeth, leaned against the tree trunk to bend the foot that had lost its shoe, rubbed off the cold snow on her other leg, and then tremblingly took off her headscarf and wrapped her foot.

Changing to the other foot, the girl took off the loafers with the laces pulled out, knocked them against a tree and put them back on. She then untied her hairband and used them as shoelaces to barely tie the only remaining loafer tightly.

However, before she could stand up again, she found that a man dressed in dreadlocks had walked up to her!

"I'll fight you!"

As the girl spoke, she slammed the birch tree hard, turned around and ran in the falling snow - towards the wolf's den!

Under the birch tree, Wei Ran, whose head was soaked by the snow that had fallen from the tree, watched helplessly as the girl turned around and ran into Hu Bazhi's arms.

"We are not gangsters"

Before the girl could scream, Hu Bazhi said quickly, "We are from the Anti-Japanese United Army. Come with us and we will help you escape."

"Are you from the Anti-Japanese United Army?" The girl was stunned for a moment, and a hint of excitement and subsequent vigilance appeared on her face.

“We are truly soldiers of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces”

Hu Bazhi said as he opened the gun box, pulled out the box gun and stuffed it into the girl's hand, "We are not lying, our team is over there."

"Do you know Song Hongjiang?" The girl looked at the gun in her hand and asked while returning it to Hu Bazhi.

"I don't know him"

When Hu Bazhi took the gun, he also took off his own dog-skin hat, patted it on his feet, and handed it to the girl, "Wear it as a shoe, or you will freeze to death."

After a slight hesitation, the girl took off the headscarf she had just wrapped around her feet, wrapped Hu Bazhi's dog-skin hat around her feet as shoes, and tied them tightly with the headscarf.

Seeing the girl standing up again and looking at him, Wei Ran took the initiative to answer, "I don't know her either. We have only joined the Anti-Japanese Alliance for less than two days. Come with us quickly. There is an old soldier there. He may know her. By the way, what is your name?"

"Song Suhong Su Caixia, my name is Su Caixia." The girl said a name that was obviously made up on the spot.

Without pointing out the other party's little thoughts, Wei Ran winked at Hu Bazhi, and the two of them took the girl who looked only about seventeen or eighteen years old, following the ski marks they had made when they came, and walked towards Zhao Jinyu and the other person who were about a hundred or two hundred meters away at the foot of the mountain.

It would probably take them less than half a minute to run down this distance on skis, but the girl they rescued or picked up couldn't run that fast, especially since the snow halfway up the mountain was more than half a meter thick with one foot, so her speed was naturally slower.

"Come! I'll carry you!"

Hu Bazhi squatted down as he spoke, "We have to get out of this Langcaozigou quickly."

Hearing this, the girl with pigtails who called herself Su Caixia gritted her teeth and said, "If you dare to lie to me, I will scratch your eyeballs out."

Hu Bazhi was not vague. He took out his butcher knife from his boot and handed it to the girl. "If I lie to you, you can stab me in the neck."

Upon hearing this, the girl took the knife and held it in her hand, then she lay on Hu Bazhi's back with peace of mind.

Although the girl was very wary, with Hu Bazhi carrying her on her back, the process was much faster. In less than two minutes, they reunited with Zhao Jinyu and Tian Xiaohu.

"What's going on?" Tian Xiaohu asked.

"Escaped from the two beasts of the Cao family"

As Hu Bazhi spoke, he glanced at the extra wolf skins on the sled. These were the ones that Tian Xiaohu and the other man had just taken off. He couldn't help but wonder how many fur hats could be made from these wolf skins.

"You are the daughter of Uncle Song from Niupan Village? Sister Hongxia?" Tian Xiaohu asked hesitantly after taking a closer look at the girl with pigtails. "Do you know me?"

The girl with pigtails who had just gotten off Hu Bazhi's back asked in surprise, and then slapped her thigh, "Oh! Oh my God! Is it Brother Xiaohu? I didn't recognize you!"

"It's me!"

Tian Xiaohu nodded quickly, "Sister Hongxia, what's going on?"

"What else can it be!"

The girl called Sister Hongxia returned the knife to Hu Bazhi and replied angrily, "Last night, the two beasts from the Cao family surrounded our Niupan Village.

They took away 100 kilograms of vermicelli and two pigs, and finally kidnapped my and Uncle Sun’s two daughters. My father and Uncle Sun were both beaten by them.”

Wiping her eyes vigorously, Sister Hongxia said, "Before I was tied up, I hid a piece of broken porcelain. I rubbed the rope all the way until it broke. I took advantage of the time when the gangs took a break after passing Sidaowan and ran away. At this time, I guessed that the two girls from the Sun family also ran away."

"Now is not the time to reminisce. Let's leave first." Wei Ran reminded while putting away the white cloth used for camouflage.

"That's right! Sister Hongxia, you..."

Tian Xiaohu looked around and said, "Go sit on the sled."

"Where's my brother?"

Sister Hongxia asked while sitting on the sled that Hu Bazhi was driving.

Wei Ran clearly saw a flash of panic on Tian Xiaohu's face as he turned his back to Sister Hongxia. Then he untied the reins of the mule and replied, "Squad Leader Zhao Jinshan from our third squad took him to contact the Russians."

Then he pointed at Zhao Jinyu and said, "This is our team leader, and the younger brother of our squad leader. His name is Zhao Jinyu. The one driving the sled is big brother Hu Bazhi, and the one at the back is big brother Wei Ranwei. They just joined our team today."

"I just thought they were also gangsters," Sister Hongxia breathed a sigh of relief.

"So your name is not Su Caixia?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Song Hongxia, my name is Song Hongxia."

The girl with pigtails explained openly, "I was afraid that someone would recognize me and arrest me to threaten my brother. It doesn't matter if I feed the wolves, but I can't delay my brother from fighting the Japanese."

"Let's put the matter of fighting the Japanese aside. I don't think the two beasts from the Cao family will..."

"boom!"

Before Hu Bazhi could finish his words, a gunshot was heard from a ridge not far ahead. Immediately afterwards, a bullet crater was created on the edge of the sled that Hu Bazhi, Hongxia and the two wounded were riding on.

"Whatever you fear will come true," Hu Bazhi muttered unhappily.

In fact, not only him, but everyone had guessed that they would most likely run into the two young masters of the Cao family, after all, the mule sled was far less fast than their horses.

"Throw away all the horn!"

Accompanied by a shout, another shot was fired. This time, the bullet hit the trunk of a birch tree next to Wei Ran.

"Master Cao, Second Master Cao, it's windy and snowy, please lend me some space." Tian Xiaohu said as he raised his hands and turned around.

"Stop talking nonsense and throw away all the rattles!" Another shout came from the beam, "My telescope is watching you!"

"Take down your gun to show your sincerity," Tian Xiaohu said as he took off his weapon and hung it on the mule.

Hearing this, Hu Bazhi first pulled out the box gun from his waist and threw it onto the sled, while at the same time he hid the food-cutting knife into his sleeve without leaving a trace.

"How about we kill him?" Zhao Jinyu asked in a low voice.

"Don't make trouble," Wei Ran reminded in a low voice, "They are charging with machine guns in their hands."

Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu clenched his fists, reluctantly took out the box gun and hung it on the mule beside him.

A moment later, one of the two black horses also ran down from the ridge.

As they got closer, everyone recognized that this was the second son of the Cao family. Unlike before, he was holding the horse box gun in his hand. Obviously, his eldest brother had thrown all the dangerous work to him.

"Brother! Come down! We are all acquaintances!"

After the second young master finished speaking, he pointed the horse box rifle in his hand at everyone.

"Second Master Cao, please draw a path." Tian Xiaohu glanced at Cao Da who was riding a horse not far away, but the words he said seemed to imply that the one who really had the final say seemed to be this "Chuan'er".

The second young master Cao just snorted disdainfully, "Tian Xiaohu, who do you think you are? Even if your captain comes here, he has to be polite to my eldest brother."

Just as he finished speaking, the eldest son of the Cao family, carrying the submachine gun that belonged to his younger brother, drove his big black horse down from the ridge and finally stopped.

"It's really amazing that they are all acquaintances!"

As the young master spoke, he leaned forward and looked down, "Tian Xiaohu, Hu Bazhi! How did you two get together? What's going on? Hu Bazhi? Are you going to stop guarding the gate for my father and prepare to join the Anti-Japanese United Army?"

"Master Cao, would you please spare us?"

Hu Bazhi clasped his fist and weighed it on his left shoulder, "For the sake of my grandfather and..."

"Look at you, you're numb!"

This Cao Dagongzi was like a dog that could turn hostile at any time. He raised the submachine gun in his hand, put his finger on the trigger and said, "Stop talking nonsense! You guys are so bold that you dare to snatch the Douhuazi that my two brothers like. I'm going to shoot."

"Brother, brother, don't worry."

The one who spoke was the second son of the Cao family. He put the horse case into the leather gun bag next to the saddle, then got off the horse, pulled out a Nagant revolver from his arms and pressed the hammer, walked to the side of the mule on the snow, patted the guns on it and said, "Brother, look, these are all the Japanese's Type 38 rifles, and there are also grenade launchers!

Do you think those who died in the mass grave were the result of a deal between Hu Bazhi, Tian Xiaohu, and their captain?"

"If you hadn't told me, I would have forgotten about it!"

Young Master Cao also became interested after hearing this, "Xiao Hu, where did these hard-to-get things come from?"

"Master Cao, you can't touch these rattles."

Tian Xiaohu reminded with a gloomy face, "When our army commander blames you, I'm afraid even Cao Dazhang can't protect you. We have always kept to ourselves. If we blame you for these things."

Before he could finish his words, Young Master Cao panicked for a moment.

Just as Tian Xiaohu knew that he could not open fire to escalate the conflict at this time, Young Master Cao also knew which people even his father could not offend.

"Brother, at worst we can feed them all to the wolves. Who would know it was us who did it?"

The second son of the Cao family fanned the flames while checking everyone for weapons, "With so many guns, even if we sell them secretly, we can get a lot of money."

Seeing that his brainless eldest brother seemed to be regaining his composure, the second son Cao fanned the flames again, "But, we two brothers are willing to give your captain some face."

As he spoke, he had already walked to Miss Hongxia's side, poked her lower back with the barrel of his pistol and said, "But this red ticket must go back with us, Tian Xiaohu, is this considered giving you face?"

"Oh, yes! What Lao Er said is correct!"

The eldest son of the Cao family came over with a gun in hand, and said with a gloating look, "Xiao Hu, I have given you enough face. If you feel that this face is not enough, why don't you grab the mule and take your people to talk to my father?"

"Master Cao is determined not to let us go."

  "Boom!" Tian Xiaohu hadn't finished his words when a sudden explosion was heard in the distance! The explosion came from the direction of Cao Dazhanggui's lair!

This sudden noise not only interrupted Tian Xiaohu's unfinished words, but also made the two young masters of the Cao family look over subconsciously!

"Oh!"

  Miss Hongxia seized the opportunity, and kicked Mr. Cao in the crotch with a kicking posture!

At the same time, or even earlier, Wei Ran suddenly reached out and grabbed the bolt handle of the submachine gun in Young Master Cao's hand. At the same time, with the cover of Young Master Cao's back, his left hand took out the box gun and directly stabbed the muzzle into Young Master Cao's mouth, firmly pressing against his upper jaw!

"Ow!"

It was not until the teeth of the eldest son Cao hit the extra gun barrel in his mouth that the second son Cao let out a distorted scream that was not like a human voice!

Only less than a second later than Miss Hongxia, Hu Bazhi, who was closest to her, had already grabbed the wrist of the Second Young Master Cao and twisted it. The revolver was immediately let go and smashed into the thick snow.

At the same time, Tian Xiaohu also rushed to Wei Ran's side, and almost seamlessly removed the magazine from Mr. Cao's submachine gun, then bent his fingers and took the gun away.

He had just put the magazine and submachine gun back together when Zhao Jinyu had already grabbed the reins of the two black horses.

"Master Cao, what do you say now?"

Wei Ran asked with a smile in his ear, and without waiting for his answer, he kicked him lightly on the knee, easily making him kneel down in the thick snow.

"boom!"

Just at this moment, another explosion was heard from the direction of the bandit's lair across two ridges. It was the explosion caused by the Japanese's Type 89 grenade.

(End of this chapter)