War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1594 Old Man Cao’s Awesome Son

"It's the devils!"

At the edge of Langcaozigou, Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu made the same judgment almost at the same time.

"Did the explosion come from your house?" Tian Xiaohu walked straight up to the second young master Cao and asked.

However, perhaps the kick from Miss Hongxia just now was too strong. At this time, the Second Young Master Cao was still kneeling on the ground, holding his crotch and throbbing in pain. Looking at his painful appearance, he was about to turn into the Second Young Miss Cao.

Turning his head to look at Young Master Cao, whose legs were trembling as Wei Ran pressed the barrel of a gun against his upper jaw, Tian Xiaohu shook his head helplessly, "Forget it, let's leave here first. Brother Wei, Brother Hu, tie them both up and stuff their mouths."

Before he could finish his words, Wei Ran had already reached out and grabbed Young Master Cao's chin, lifting and pulling it. With a crisp sound of the joint clicking, Young Master Cao burst into tears in pain. His chin swung back and forth uncontrollably, so that Miss Hongxia, who was standing opposite him, could almost see his throat.

He casually pulled out a handful of pine needles and stuffed them into Young Master Cao's mouth. Wei Ran once again used his back to cover himself to put away the box gun, and then skillfully pinched open the unfortunate guy's elbows.

Amid the guy's distorted screams, Wei Ran took a Japanese leather belt handed to him by Tian Xiaohu and tied it around Young Master Cao's mouth to prevent him from pushing the pine needles out of his mouth.

"Bring me another belt."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, Miss Hongxia had already pulled a belt from the sled and handed it to Wei Ran.

Without any discussion at all, Wei Ran tied Young Master Cao's wrist tightly to the harness of the big white mule.

Now, as long as he failed to catch up with the hardworking big white mule, his dislocated elbow would undoubtedly be pulled painfully.

After a final inspection of the body of Young Master Cao, Wei Ran did not untie his Kowloon Belt. He just took out a pistol from his arms, took a look at it, and handed it to Tian Xiaohu who had just picked up the Nagant revolver of Young Master Cao.

Then, he took out a pair of slippers from the young master's arms and handed them to Miss Hongxia.

"Brother Wei, please take a look at him."

While Miss Hongxia was putting on her shoes, Hu Bazhi called out, "Second Young Master Cao has fainted."

"fainted?"

Wei Ran looked back at the pale-faced Second Young Master Cao and quickly called upon Hu Bazhi to help lift him onto the sled.

Miss Hongxia also came over curiously at this time, and returned the dog-skin hat to Hu Bazhi, "Is he going to kick me to death?"

"Well, Miss Hongxia, please lead the mule for me." Wei Ran, who was about to unbutton the pants for the second young master Cao, said with a smile.

The strong-limbed girl seemed to realize something belatedly. She ran to the mule that Wei Ran was in charge of with a red face and picked up the reins skillfully.

Without any further delay, Wei Ran did not even take off his skis. He sat sideways on the edge of the sled, unbuttoned the pants of the second young master Cao, casually pulled out a Japanese bayonet from the side, lifted up his cotton pants with the back of the knife and took a look inside.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

Wei Ran couldn't help but be amazed, and then he couldn't help but glance at the girl Hongxia who was helping to lead the mule behind him.

"What's the matter?" Hu Bazhi, who was driving the coach, asked curiously.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought I was kicked by a horse."

Wei Ran grinned and explained, "The double yolk egg was kicked to pieces. If he wants to survive, he will probably have to cut it."

"hiss--"

Hu Bazhi and Zhao Jinyu, who was walking in front of the sled leading two black horses, both took a breath. On the other side of the sled, Young Master Cao, who seemed to be cursing a second ago, immediately became silent.

However, Tian Xiaohu, who was leading the mule and walking in front, said as if he had expected it, "Brother Hongjiang's kicking skill can break two bricks."

"I can't compare to my brother, so I just practiced some tricks blindly." Miss Hongxia said modestly, a little shyly.

After a short and strange silence, Tian Xiaohu asked, "Brother Wei, the second young master won't die for a while, right?"

"I won't die, but I don't think I'll survive if time passes."

At this point, Wei Ran asked, "Should we run first or hide first?"

"What's that mass grave they were talking about just now?"

Tian Xiaohu was not in a hurry to answer Wei Ran's question. Instead, he asked the key words he had just heard from the young master of the Cao family.

Subconsciously looking at Wei Ran who had just got off the sled and was now riding on skis to chase Zhao Jinyu and the two black horses in front, Hu Bazhi hesitated for a moment and then told him everything that had happened in the mass grave before.

"So, the Japs can't find the murderer and are planning to target Manager Cao?" Tian Xiaohu asked with great joy.

"The mass grave was originally the territory of Cao, the great manager." Hu Bazhi's answer indirectly confirmed Tian Xiaohu's guess.

Just as the two of them and Miss Hongxia, who was walking at the end, subconsciously looked at Young Master Cao who was tied to the big white mule, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu focused all their attention on the two big black horses.

These two horses were quite large, and the harnesses they used looked luxurious enough. On the horse that Young Master Cao rode, in addition to the horse box sticking out of the leather gun bag, there was also a heavy leather telescope box and an unlit horse lantern on the other side.

When he opened the telescope box, he didn't expect that inside it was a Soviet 840 wide-angle telescope with a sickle-hammer mark.

This thing is not the common 6X30. Those who are qualified to use it are generally senior commanders of the Soviet Red Army.

In addition, the horse's saddlebag was filled with concentrated feed for the horse, some dry food for humans, a large lump of salt, and even a pipe, a smoking lamp, and a tin box of opium.

“This gun is really short.”

Just at this moment, Zhao Jinyu also pulled out a gun from the leather gun bag of another black horse and exclaimed in admiration.

Turning his head and taking a glance, Wei Ran immediately recognized that it was a Type 44 cavalry rifle produced by the Japanese.

Without any discussion, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu switched positions and took the rifles from each other. The latter couldn't wait to pull out the horse box and looked at it with curiosity.

Compared to Zhao Jinyu, Wei Ran only took a rough look at the degree of wear on the rifling after taking the gun, and then focused all his attention on the horse, trying to find something valuable from it.

The items on this horse were generally the same as those on the other horse, except for the different weapons in the gun bag and the lack of binoculars.

He flipped through the saddlebag in desperation. Apart from food and drink for humans and horses, there were no pipes, cigarette lamps, or tobacco pastes. However, there was a leather tube that looked about the length of a chopstick and the thickness of a wrist.

  After opening the buckle of the leather tube, Wei Ran's eyes lit up when he saw what was inside. He really found something interesting!

He pulled out the contents of the leather tube and unfolded it, and the expression on his face became even more interesting.

This is a piece of thin canvas less than one meter square. Various colored lines are drawn on the light yellowish and whitish cloth, with a few handwritten Russian words sporadically marked in between.

However, those words were just things like "brown bear", "tiger", "wolf pack", "swamp", and "rabbit hole".

  At first glance, this seemed to be just a hunting map. But Wei Ran was keenly aware that this thing could cost the life of the second young master Cao if it was not handled properly.

If it's done well, maybe I can kill Manager Cao and take over his bandit business at the same time!

This Second Young Master Cao is not simple

Wei Ran glanced in the direction of the sled, took the canvas and found Tian Xiaohu, who had just finished chatting with Hu Bazhi about the "mass grave incident", and told him his guess.

"Can he wake up?" Tian Xiaohu asked while looking at the canvas.

"Now?" Wei Ran asked.

"Wait a minute, don't let him die."

Tian Xiaohu said, but handed the mule reins to Wei Ran, and turned to Hu Bazhi, "Brother Hu, we have to find a place to hide from the wind. Do you know where there is enough space for so many of us?"

Hearing this, Hu Bazhi couldn't help but frown, and even subconsciously looked back and forth.

They now had four mules, two horses, two wounded men, two prisoners, and a large amount of ammunition and equipment, not to mention five living people.

The only place he could think of to hide so many people was his own dugout and cave.

Just at this moment, Young Master Cao, who had not dared to speak just now, was humming and ahing as if he wanted to say something. His eyes were looking back and forth at the cloth in Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu's hands.

Knowing that this guy seemed to have something to say, Wei Ran, after getting Tian Xiaohu's nod of agreement, skied around to the big white mule, first untied the belt on his face, then took out the pine needles that had been stuffed in there, and then, amid his screams, fixed his dislocated jaw.

"Let me go, give me a chance to live."

Young Master Cao looked at Wei Ran in fear, massaging his sore jaw joint with his shoulder and said, "I know a place where we can hide you. No one can find you, not even my father."

"Don't do it"

"How can you promise that you won't lead us directly to your father?" Wei Ran asked before Zhao Jinyu finished speaking. "Old man, if I tell a lie, you can kill me." Young Master Cao said with his neck stiff.

"You want more conditions than just survival, right?" Wei Ran asked with a smile.

"Let him die"

Young Master Cao simply looked at the second brother lying on the sled, the second brother who was about to die.

"Is it far from here?" Wei Ran asked.

"It's not far, just two packs of cigarettes at most." Young Master Cao said immediately, "But you have to go back."

Tian Xiaohu saw Wei Ran looking at him, and after a slight hesitation, he nodded, "Let's go, let's go back now!"

"Kill him now," Young Master Cao bravely put forward a new request.

“Let’s talk about it when we get there.”

Wei Ran patted the other person's swollen cheek with a smile, and the latter shuddered subconsciously and stopped insisting, and obediently led them back.

Led by Young Master Cao, the group left the path, crossed the ditch where the snow was waist-deep, and then climbed up the slope on the opposite side.

However, what worried Wei Ran was that after such a long time, except for the explosions and sporadic gunshots he heard at the beginning, there was no sound of gunfire from the direction of Cao's lair, but the snow was getting heavier.

After walking sideways on the opposite hillside for about 15 minutes, Young Master Cao led them to an inconspicuous valley and turned in a different direction, but then stopped immediately.

"To the right of that big rock"

Young Master Cao pointed with his chin to a large rock that was almost covered with snow not far away. "Dig away the snow. There is a door panel. The key is in my boot."

Without any instructions, Zhao Jinyu, Hu Bazhi and Miss Hongxia started to work together and clear the snow with skis.

At the same time, Wei Ran handed the telescope to Tian Xiaohu, and they both observed the surrounding situation.

However, the wind and snow were so strong at that time that visibility was less than 50 meters. All they could see was snow and the vague undulations of the terrain.

Soon, the snow was cleared away, and a door panel was revealed.

This so-called door panel is nothing more than a reinforced iron fence door that is no more than one meter wide and two meters high.

The gap on the fence gate is only as wide as a fist, and pieces of wood are tied horizontally with wire.

The iron chain that locked the door, which was as thick as a wrist, was wedged directly into the mountain by a railway spike, and the other end was locked to the iron door with a greasy big lock.

"What is this place?"

Zhao Jinyu asked as she took off Young Master Cao's leather boots and found a copper key hidden in the interlayer.

"Abandoned Mine"

Young Master Cao did not hide anything, and took the opportunity when Zhao Jinyu opened the door to say, "I robbed a red ticket two years ago, and her father told me this place in order to redeem her. He said that Xu Laocai once mined nugget gold here, and he was the miner who smashed stones for Xu Laocai at that time."

"Then what?" Miss Hongxia asked subconsciously.

“And then stabbed him to death.”

Young Master Cao replied indifferently, "That old guy is really lying to me. You'll know when you go in and see for yourself."

Before he finished speaking, Zhao Jinyu opened the iron gate. Hu Bazhi was well prepared and took out the captured flashlight from his arms and shot a beam of light into the cave.

The space inside is not very spacious, with a height of barely two meters and a width of at most one and a half meters. Whether on both sides, above the head or even under the feet, one can see clear traces of artificial excavation, as well as a "许" character as big as a washbasin on the rock wall on one side.

"I'll go in and take a look first."

As Tian Xiaohu said this, he was about to take the flashlight from Hu Bazhi's book.

"I'll go. You have to lead the way for us." Before Hu Bazhi finished speaking, he was the first to walk in with a flashlight in hand.

As everyone waited anxiously, he came out with a flashlight in hand, waved to everyone and said, "Come in, Young Master Cao didn't lie to us."

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran lit the kerosene lamp, then untied the belt on Young Master Cao's wrist, and was the first to go in with him on his shoulders.

After walking about five or six meters into the cave, there is a turn. The space is slightly larger, about 20 square meters. There are some old mining tools discarded around, and even a thermos-sized ceramic statue of the God of Wealth. The small incense burner in front of the statue is still full of incense ash.

In addition, this small space is covered with traces of excavation and two narrow mine tunnels that lead to unknown locations.

He glanced at Young Master Cao inconspicuously, and sure enough, his eyes seemed to be wandering in the direction of one of the mine tunnels.

"What's in that mine tunnel?" Wei Ran asked abruptly, almost bringing the oil lamp close to Young Master Cao's face.

"Nothing, nothing." Young Master Cao replied in a panic.

Hearing this, Wei Ran smiled, and waited for the rest of the people and the mules and horses to come in. He tied the young master who was trying to play tricks back to the harness of the big white mule and blocked his mouth.

After saying hello to Hu Bazhi and others who were preparing to carry the wounded, Wei Ran borrowed a flashlight and carefully entered the narrow mine tunnel.

But soon, he retreated. The mine tunnels were interconnected, and he knew, or rather, Young Master Cao knew, that there was a way to escape here, and it was even possible that there were weapons for counterattack hidden here.

When he hunched over and returned to the small space that looked like a living room, the two wounded soldiers on the sled and the second young master Cao had already been carried in. At this time, everyone was busy carrying in the Japanese soldiers' backpacks, cotton clothes, cotton shoes and other supplies on the sled.

"What's in there?" Zhao Jinyu asked curiously.

"The young master probably wants to escape from there."

Wei Ran glanced at the eldest young master Cao, then walked over to the unconscious anti-Japanese fighters and checked them. Seeing that they were still alive and breathing evenly, he walked to the second young master Cao, pulled off his pants and observed him. He then took out the small knife that he had used as a scalpel and gently cut a not-so-big wound on the second young master's testicles. Then he broke off a small piece of the eldest young master's opium and smeared it on the wound.

There was no follow-up treatment at all. After waiting for a while, Wei Ranjing successfully used two slaps in the face to wake up the scheming but rootless Second Young Master Cao.

"Second Young Master Cao"

Wei Ran waved his hand in front of the boy, then changed to Russian and asked with a smile, "If you wake up, we can talk about the map."

After just a quick look around, the Second Young Master Cao tried to check his crotch but was hit in the chest by the barrel of a gun. He then happily lay back on the ground and asked calmly, "Did you really do anything about the mass grave?"

"Is this important?" Wei Ran asked back. He had already seen that the Second Young Master Cao was a smart man, much smarter than the eldest young master.

"unimportant"

The second young master Cao smiled and said, "It doesn't matter who did it. Was that the gunfire from the Japanese just now?"

"Yes." Wei Ran was particularly tolerant and gave the answer that the other party wanted to know.

"It looks like my dad will have to take the blame for this."

Having said that, the second young master Cao did not seem to be panicked. In fact, not only him, but even the eldest young master did not seem to care about the matter. It was as if... as if he was certain that the Japanese would not do anything to their bandit father.

  Is it

Wei Ran was startled, and he grabbed the second young master by the collar and pulled him up, staring into his eyes and asking word by word, "Boss Cao wants to give up the Anti-Japanese Alliance's camp to save his life?"

Before he could finish his words, undisguised surprise flashed across the second young master's eyes, but then a smile appeared on the face of this young second-generation bandit, a smile that became brighter and crazier.

"Haha! Hahaha! Hahahaha!" The second young master laughed more and more crazily, even slapping the dusty floor hard, laughing until big tears came out.

"Don't be silly"

Wei Ran let go of the other person's collar, "Your balls are gone, and you can only be the second lady of the Cao family from now on."

After saying this, the Second Young Master Cao's wanton laughter came to an abrupt end, and then he looked fiercely at Miss Hongxia who was busy moving things in not far away.

"Kill her and my brother"

After a moment of silence, Second Young Master Cao continued in Russian, "I have a way to prove my father's guilt, and I also have a way to keep Captain Zhao and the others alive."

"How much sin did this old man Cao commit to have two such awesome sons." Wei Ran muttered with a strange look on his face.