War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1597 Surrounded

"boom!"

Amidst the flying snow, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot, a gangster who risked his life to escape from the bandit's lair on a mule was shot in the back before he could understand what was happening, and fell straight off the mule's back.

Almost at the same time, a loud whistle and a lifelike sound of horses and donkeys were heard from the woods not far away.

  The mule that was carrying a person and running across the frozen stream didn't even understand what was happening, it just ran away happily, snorting!

At the foot of the mountain ridge, at the junction of the woodland and the frozen stream, Zhao Jinyu, who had just been imitating the brays of horses and donkeys, easily grabbed the reins of the mule and tied it to the branch of a birch tree. By the way, he also checked the saddle bag on the mule.

"Bah! You poor bastard beard!"

Zhao Jinyu cursed and spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm. In the sack were only two small bags of concentrated feed for the mule and a bag of coarse salt.

The only thing that was somewhat useful was the tattered mattress under the saddle, which was made of either wolf or dog skin.

Such an achievement was really insignificant for him, a new soldier who had just joined the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces.

But he didn't know that, not to mention the saddle and the mules he had just lured over, even this canvas sack and the small bags of concentrated feed inside it were supplies that were urgently needed this winter for the anti-Japanese fighters led by his elder brother Zhao Jinge.

On the ridge behind him, Tian Xiaohu, who was riding on a pine branch, put down the telescope he had been holding. "It seems to have hit me directly in the back."

"I accidentally hit it off target"

Under the tree, Wei Ran reloaded a bullet into the Japanese cavalry rifle in his hand and said without apology, "Wait a little longer, there will definitely be bandits coming to report the news. If that happens, I will kill animals instead of people."

"What a nice animal it was. It's such a waste to kill it." Tian Xiaohu muttered regretfully.

This place was only two or three hundred meters away from the ridge where they had said "hello" to the bandits with a grenade launcher. However, because of the obstruction of the previous ridge, the bandits on the top of the mountain had no chance of hitting them unless they came down the mountain.

  As for going down the mountain, only a fool would go down in a swarm. Wouldn't that just be waiting to be eaten by the "Anti-Japanese Allied Forces"?

However, the pass not far from this ridge was the only way for them to go down the mountain to seek help from Cao Dazhanggui and the Japanese.

In other words, no matter which secret door or path the bandits used to leave their lair, they would always pass through this Y-shaped frozen stream.

Although this stream is four or five meters wide, the water depth is less than one meter even in summer.

By the way, this stream was dug in the forest by Xu Laocai specifically for gold panning.

As the weather gets colder, the water surface is frozen and covered with a thick layer of snow, which has become a natural highway in the forest.

As long as we walk upstream along this stream, we can not only leave the forest and pass the Temple of the God of Wealth to the main road, but also go around to the secret camp of the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces from the other side.

It is also for this reason that whether it is the Japanese or the bandits, if they want to cause trouble for the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces camp, they will choose to go through here.

As for Langcaozigou, it is not impossible to go there, but it is a long and roundabout way. In other words, the Anti-Japanese United Army would take the risk of going there in order to avoid trouble and being seen.

This was also the main reason why the young master of the Cao family was certain that Hu Bazhi would not be able to inform the Anti-Japanese United Army before the Japanese arrived.

Fortunately, at least at this moment, it seemed that even God was on the side of Wei Ran and the other three.

Although the snow has not stopped yet, it has become much lighter and even the wind has died down, which has naturally improved visibility a lot.

On the treetop, Tian Xiaohu once again raised the telescope and aimed it at the bandit's nest in the distance. Although he couldn't see the situation in the bandit's nest because of the obstruction of the mountain ridge, he could see a small section of the road that was the only way down the mountain.

Under the mountain ridge, on the frozen stream, Zhao Jinyu turned over and rode on the big mule he had just seduced, shouted at it to run to the corpse that was not yet completely cold, and leaned over to take a look.

“There’s still something there”

Zhao Jinyu nodded with satisfaction, turned over, and quickly stripped the bandit of his cotton robe, dog-skin hat, boots on his feet, and cotton cloth muffs on his hands. Then he pulled out a worthless seven-nail box from his waist.

After rolling these things up and stuffing them into the saddle bag, Zhao Jinyu put the corpse in a kneeling position according to Wei Ran's previous request. Then he made three snowballs and placed them on the top of the corpse's head and on both shoulders - this was just to satisfy Wei Ran's bad taste.

What the hell is this for?

Zhao Jinyu muttered to himself for a while, then climbed onto the "horse", shouted at the big mule and ran back to the woods under the ridge.

As the three men waited patiently, about ten minutes passed. This time, two bandits riding mules came down the mountain, running in this direction for their lives.

"Here it comes, a double yolk egg!"

Tian Xiaohu, who was in the treetops, had already picked up the Type 38 rifle on his shoulder and was ready. At the same time, he said, "Only one person will be left. You fight first."

"Can"

Wei Ran responded indifferently and waited patiently for a moment. The moment the two men riding mules appeared in his sight, he immediately pulled the trigger!

"boom!"

After the gunshots, a cloud of blood burst out from the neck of the big mule ridden by the bandit running in front, and he also fell into the snow like a big dog eating shit.

Behind him, another bandit saw that the situation was not good, so he immediately lowered his body, almost sticking to the mule's body and whipping it with all his might, urging the big animal under him to run as fast as it could!

"boom!"

Wei Ran raised his gun and casually fired a second shot, urging the other bandit to whip the bandit harder.

"boom!"

Before the bandit who fell off the mule could get up, another bullet accurately blew off the dog-skin hat on his head. This shot came from Tian Xiaohu.

"Grandpa, please spare my life!" The bandit who brought the news knelt on the snow with his hands raised high.

"Raise your head!" a voice shouted from behind him.

Without any hesitation, the bandit straightened his back and raised his hands higher.

It was also through this action that he clearly saw that in the snow not far away, there was a man lying in the snow with a bullet in his back and a snowball on his head and shoulders. He clearly remembered that the other party had gone to inform the shopkeeper before him.

Before he could figure it out, the weapons on his body were taken away by the people standing behind him. Then, he saw their eldest young master actually walked up to him, bent down and picked up his dog-skin hat.

However, when the young master turned around, he realized that he was not their young master at all and he had never seen him before!

"Do you know me?" Tian Xiaohu said, patting the dog-skin hat in his hand clean and putting it back on the bandit's head.

"I recognize them," the bandit said, nodding and bowing. "I recognize the set of leaves on the upper row of the guitar."

"It's your eldest young master's, or it's your second young master's."

Zhao Jinyu said, showing the box gun he was carrying to the other party, "Do you recognize this Xiangzi?"

"I know him," the bandit said immediately, "our young master."

“Just knowing each other is enough”

Zhao Jinyu said, throwing the reins of the mule he had just seized to the other party, "Go and deliver a letter to your shopkeeper Cao. If you want his son to live, bring 500 catties of white sorghum, 200 catties of vermicelli, 50 catties of tobacco leaves, and 100 sets of cotton clothes in exchange. If you still can't see anything or anyone by noon, have you seen that person?"

Looking in the direction of Zhao Jinyu's finger, the bandit saw his companion kneeling again.

"By then, the ones kneeling here will be the two young masters and the more than one hundred bandits in your kiln."

"Yes, yes, yes! We will definitely convey the message!" said the bandit, and hurriedly climbed onto the mule without its saddlebag.

"Wait, who let you go?"

Zhao Jinyu cleared his throat and asked, "How many Japanese invaders just went to your village?"

"There are more than 200 of them." The bandit replied quickly, "and there are more than 100 Imperial Army soldiers."

"That's all?"

Zhao Jinyu suppressed his panic and muttered something according to the script Wei Ran had given him in advance. Then he said, "Tell your boss Cao in code that our commander Zhao said that if he is willing to help eat these devils and puppet troops, the two young masters can return alive, and the seized items and property will belong to you, and Xiangzi will also give you half."

After a short pause, Zhao Jinyu continued, "If Manager Cao agrees, then we will use the sound of our artillery fire as a signal and you can start the fight as soon as it starts. If you don't agree, you will just be fed to the wolves along with the devils! Get lost!"

"We will definitely pass on the message!"

Before the bandit could finish his words, he had already swiftly mounted his mule and disappeared without a trace.

Can this fool Manager Cao?

Zhao Jinyu couldn't help but mutter something again. When the bandit completely disappeared from his sight, he immediately ran back to the ridge and informed Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu of the information he had obtained.

"A squadron of Japanese soldiers, plus a hundred puppet soldiers?"

Tian Xiaohu was also a little confused for a moment, but soon, he rubbed his face vigorously, "Then we have to lure them over here!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran sighed silently. A few of them might be able to attract these three or four hundred enemies, but it would be impossible for them to survive the pursuit of so many enemies.

Zhao Jinyu obviously thought of this as well. The young man also rubbed his face and said expectantly, "I wonder how many people I can kill."

"Be prepared!"

After Tian Xiaohu finished speaking, he climbed up the tall pine tree again. The ridge was peaceful again. Even from the direction of the bandit’s den, no one was sent out to die. After about an hour, Tian Xiaohu in the treetop suddenly said, “Here they come!”

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who was smoking against a tree, immediately put out his cigarette, and he and Zhao Jinyu picked up the grenade launcher beside them, and then each picked up a grenade and prepared themselves.

"Coming"

In the treetops, Tian Xiaohu raised his binoculars and warned, "The group walking in the front seems to be a gang, it seems that there are only Cao Dazhang and his four pillars, it's over, they probably don't have the courage to fire at the Japanese.

The ones behind are the puppet army, and the ones at the very back are the Japanese! Wow! A bunch of mule sleds! There seem to be cannons on them! No, something is wrong!"

"What's wrong?" Wei Ran looked up and asked.

"I roughly estimated that there are definitely less than a hundred Japanese soldiers, but there are about a hundred puppet soldiers!" Tian Xiaohu exclaimed, "Oh no! Not all the Japanese soldiers are here! They must have divided their forces! The captain might still be in danger!"

"You have to fight too, come down quickly!"

While Wei Ran was speaking, he had already stuffed the grenade into the barrel.

A moment later, Tian Xiaohu climbed down from the tree and raised his Type 38 rifle to load the bullet. "The Japanese must die, and so must Manager Cao. We kidnapped his son, and this is a big grudge. If he survives, he will definitely bring his gang to cause trouble for us."

"Can you hit the target?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"no problem!"

As Tian Xiaohu spoke, he had already placed the gun in his hand on the branch of a birch tree.

At the same time, Wei Ran finally saw the large group walking back along the frozen stream through the gaps between the trees.

Soon, the large army was getting closer and closer, and finally stopped in front of the bandit who was kneeling on the ground, covered with a layer of snow.

"let's start"

Before Wei Ran finished his words, he and Zhao Jinyu beside him had already pulled the trigger of the grenade launcher at the same time.

"BOOM! BOOM! BANG!"

As soon as the two grenades were fired, Tian Xiaohu also fired a bullet, then swung the rifle in his hand over his shoulder and picked up two grenades.

"Boom! Boom!"

Almost at the same time when Cao Dazhanggui was shot in the chest and fell off his horse onto the snow, two grenades exploded in the middle and rear section of the team. At the same time, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu each stuffed the second grenade they had just picked up into the gun barrel.

"Boom! Boom!"

As soon as the two shots were fired, the shell in Tian Xiaohu's hand was also stuffed into the muzzle.

"Boom! Boom!"

After two more explosions, two grenades produced by the Japanese army exploded in their own troops.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Before the fourth round was even fired, the Japanese counterattack came first, and the surrounding trees also shook off the snow under the impact of bullets.

Wei Ran and the other two who were lying on the snow did not stop or retreat. They fired the fourth and fifth round of grenades despite the bullets flying overhead.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Just at this moment, the Japanese on the opposite side also threw grenades, and the closest one to them was probably less than 20 meters away.

"Last round! Prepare to retreat!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he stuffed the grenade in his hand into the barrel, and pulled the trigger quickly at the same time as Zhao Jinyu.

"Boom! Boom!"

Two more grenades flew out, and without even waiting for them to explode, Wei Ran called out to Zhao Jinyu to run behind him while crouching. At the same time, Tian Xiaohu picked up the schoolbag that had few lethal grenades left, turned around and followed the two of them.

"Boom! Boom!"

There were two more explosions coming from the Japanese side, but Wei Ran didn't know that the shot he fired only killed four or five Japanese soldiers. On the contrary, the last shell that Zhao Jinyu fired in a panic failed to hit the Japanese, but happened to hit the sled that was "ridden" by the only Type 92 mountain cannon!

Unfortunately, Wei Ran and the other two had no time to turn back to confirm the results of the battle. They jumped off the ridge for their lives, rode on horses or mules, and started to retreat in the direction where they had buried the bullets while firing indiscriminately.

Of course, neither Wei Ran and his two companions nor the Japanese or puppet soldiers who were chasing after them noticed that with the death of Manager Cao, the four pillars of his group took advantage of the chaos to leave the frozen stream, sneaked into the surrounding woods, and disappeared completely.

Not to mention the bandits' little calculations, although Wei Ran and the other two escaped, the Japanese who were lured here were extremely cautious. Under the cover of grenade launchers, they drove the puppet troops they brought with them to attack the deserted ridge from the front. At the same time, they also sent out a small team of Japanese to make a detour from the side.

As Wei Ran expected, after the Japanese had played these three tricks and successfully occupied the mountain ridge where there was no one, they immediately sent a team to chase them along the horseshoe prints left by the Japanese and successfully detonated those ground bullets.

For a moment, after a series of muffled sounds and sporadic gunshots in the mountains and forests, a series of screams rang out.

During this series of tricks, Wei Ran and the other two stopped again, dismounted as quickly as possible, set up their grenade launchers, and fired three rounds of grenades behind them at the maximum range.

After a series of explosions or no explosions but only smoke and fire, Wei Ran and the other two got on their horses again and ran towards an unknown direction under the leadership of Tian Xiaohu.

As expected, after this provocation, the Japanese devils behind them really caught up with the puppet troops.

At the same time, some Japanese soldiers and puppet troops rushed to the bandit's lair with the wounded.

"One more round!"

Seeing that the pursuers behind him were once again left far behind and even blocked by the trees and could not be seen at all, Wei Ran dismounted again, set up his grenade launcher and once again fired a smoke bomb that was purely for scaring ghosts.

Almost at the same time, Zhao Jinyu and Tian Xiaohu each opened fire indiscriminately with their guns at the enemies behind them whom they could not see at all, just to keep them following them.

"How many shells are left?" Wei Ran asked as he climbed onto his horse again.

"There are still five bombs that can be exploded, and three flares."

Tian Xiaohu, who was responsible for carrying the shells, immediately replied that before this, Wei Ran had already taught them how to distinguish different grenades.

“It should work”

Wei Ran gained some confidence. Although the snow was much lighter, it was still impossible to see clearly as long as the distance was 300 meters away, even without the obstruction of the trees.

This undoubtedly gave them considerable confidence. As long as they maintained this distance and firepower, the Japanese behind them would most likely continue to chase them, and they also had a great chance of escaping alive.

"How about we get closer and beat them up?" Zhao Jinyu impulsively came up with a bold idea.

"Come any closer!"

Before Wei Ran could speak, Tian Xiaohu expressed the latter's concerns, "The Japs like to contain the enemy from the front and outflank them the most. They may have come around from the side at this time. Let's run and get past this obstacle first!"

"Go quickly"

Seeing that Zhao Jinyu wanted to say something, Wei Ran reached out and slapped the other's horse on the butt, urging the black horse to run again.

However, as the saying goes, what you fear is bound to come to you. When the three of them finally climbed up the ridge on horseback, they suddenly saw that on the opposite hillside, there was actually a large group of Japanese devils and a small number of puppet troops climbing up in a skirmish line!

"It's over there!"

  Just at this moment, a puppet soldier walking in the front discovered them first, and raised the rifle in his hand while shouting!

"Bang! Bang!"

Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu, who was less than a second late, each fired a shot and hit the puppet soldier's chest one after another!

"Run!"

Wei Ran had no time to cover up, so he put away the box gun in his hand and slapped the dazed Zhao Jinyu on the butt of the black horse again!

"Snapped!"

This crisp slap immediately made the black horse run! Zhao Jinyu also almost subconsciously lowered his body and lay on the horse's back, pulling the reins at the same time, making the horse run back under the ridge.

Almost at the same time, the Japanese and puppet troops on the other side of the ridge also opened fire one after another, causing the trees on the top of the ridge to shake off large pieces of snow, which also raised a snow curtain for the three of them.

"Where are you running to!" Wei Ran, who was also riding his horse wildly, asked loudly.

"Go forward!" Tian Xiaohu responded loudly, "Keep some distance first!"

"Do you think there are gangs waiting for us ahead?!"

Zhao Jinyu's sudden reminder had already made Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu's hearts sink to the bottom - they were very likely, no, almost certain, that they had been surrounded by enemies with an absolute numerical advantage!

(End of this chapter)