War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1598 The Dark Horse

“It seems we can’t go out today.”

Zhao Jinyu, who was riding a horse, saw that Wei Ran and Tian Xiaohu were silent, and guessed the reason.

"Get out!" Tian Xiaohu said, but he pulled the reins and stopped.

Seeing this, Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu also hurriedly stopped.

While catching up with the reins, Tian Xiaohu took out the letter from his arms and handed it to Zhao Jinyu, "Take this letter and give me your grenade launcher."

"What are you going to do?" Wei Ran immediately realized that something was wrong, and Zhao Jinyu also retracted his hand the moment before taking the envelope.

"Don't waste time"

Tian Xiaohu directly stuffed the letter with feathers into the saddlebag of Zhao Jinyu's horse, "Hurry up and give me the grenade launcher! I'll cover you as you get out. Those gangs are not resistant to explosions. Once I break the encirclement, you'll immediately run down the mountain.

As long as we leave the encirclement, you can continue to use the grenade launcher to blow up those bastards, and I will take the opportunity to run away. "

"Okay, give me half of the grenades!" Wei Ran agreed very happily at this time.

Seeing this, Tian Xiaohu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly took off the Japanese backpack containing all the grenades.

However, before he could open it, Wei Ran suddenly leaned over and grabbed the backpack!

"Hey! You"

"You guys run outside, I'll cover you!"

As Wei Ran spoke, he shouted at the black horse under his butt to run forward, and at the same time shouted loudly, "I have a way to get out. After you escape, just hide!"

"No."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Wei Ran didn't give them a chance to continue speaking, "Run! Run! We don't have many chances! Run!"

Gritting his teeth, Tian Xiaohu shook the reins vigorously and shouted at the dazed Zhao Jinyu, "Run! Run!"

Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu looked at Wei Ran in panic, gritted her teeth and whipped the horse's butt hard, urging it to run wildly in the snow-covered forest.

The three of them once again distanced themselves from the enemy who had just climbed up the ridge behind them. Wei Ran, who was riding a horse in the front, was also paying attention to the situation ahead at all times, and at the same time adjusted the range of the grenade launcher in his hand to the shortest.

Soon, before they could see any human figures, the three of them heard shouting and cursing coming from the front.

Obviously, the bandits responsible for blocking them were just doing their job but not putting in any effort, and it was clear that they did not want the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces fighters to break out from the direction they were responsible for.

Or to put it more bluntly, these gangs just want to get this year's dividends and go home to hibernate. Who on earth would want to die for the Japanese in this snowy and icy place?

While pulling the reins, Wei Ran also shouted, "Squad Leader Xiaohu! Switch horses with me! Hurry up! Jin Yu, give me the box gun you just seized! Quick!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already jumped off his horse, opened the Japanese backpack, took out a grenade and stuffed it into the grenade launcher.

"Must survive!"

As Tian Xiaohu spoke, he jumped directly from the mule's back to the black horse's back. At the same time, Zhao Jinyu handed Wei Ran the seven-nail box gun that he had borrowed from the bandit who had reported the news not long ago.

"Quick! Run! As the young master of the Cao family, use slang to tell them not to shoot!"

  While Wei Ran was reminding them, he had already pulled the trigger of the grenade launcher hard!

"Boom! Boom!"

After the explosion that happened very close to each other, the shouts of the gang members on the opposite side suddenly turned into screams of panic.

Wei Ran didn't care about that. He stuffed the second lethal grenade in and immediately deflected the shot slightly and pulled the trigger.

"Tum! Tum! Tum!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

  Three more lethal grenades were fired in succession. With only the last lethal grenade and the last three lighting lamps left, Wei Ran immediately switched to a hand-held submachine gun and pulled the trigger on both sides of the backs of Zhao Jinyu and Tian Xiaohu who were galloping on their horses!

Under his life-threatening suppression and the bandits' sporadic, even symbolic, counterattacks, Tian Xiaohu and his companion, who had been shouting something in jargon, at least seemed to have managed to escape successfully.

Seeing this, Wei Ran immediately picked up the grenade launcher at his feet and fired the last lethal grenade behind him. Then he put the only three remaining lights in his arms, put the grenade launcher on his back, turned over, rode on the panting mule, and began to move horizontally along the mountainside.

While running, he tied a cloth rope to the seven-nail box trigger he had just borrowed from Zhao Jinyu, and tied the other end to the saddle in preparation.

"Da da da!"

While moving, he pulled the trigger of the submachine gun in his hand and fired randomly to the side, directly emptying the remaining bullets in the magazine.

After running for a long distance, he steered the mule past a lush pine tree and pulled the reins to stop.

He straightened up and leaned forward to grab the branch of the pine tree. As he climbed up, he also loosened the seven-nail box cannon that was tied with a cloth strip.

"boom!"

Under the effect of gravity, the seven-pin box gun fired a bullet, and the mule was startled. It jumped on the spot, then spread its hooves and started running wildly.

But as the mule galloped, the box gun that was only tied with a cloth strip also fired bullet after bullet with a "bang bang bang" sound as it bumped along, and one of the bullets even hit the mule's thigh - this undoubtedly increased its running speed.

But at the same time, Wei Ran had already deftly climbed up to the crown of the pine tree by stepping on the branches, pressing his body tightly against the trunk, eliminating his own outline.

He had no confidence that this method could help him avoid the attack, and for this reason, to be on the safe side, he replaced the magazine of the Dagu Factory-made submachine gun in his hand with a new one.

In less than 15 minutes, he heard the shouts of the Japanese and the puppet soldiers. A moment later, he even saw with his own eyes a small group of Japanese on sleds or skis following the horseshoe prints to the tree, and then followed the horseshoe prints all the way down.

After waiting patiently for a moment, Wei Ran risked his life to climb down from the tree, stepped on his skis as fast as he could, and ran towards the top of the ridge against the marks left by the Japanese.

He reached the top of the ridge safely. He hid behind a pine tree and observed carefully until he was sure that there were no enemies blocking them on the other side of the ridge. Then he climbed to the highest point of the ridge as quickly as possible.

However, he did not rush to escape. Instead, he took out the grenade launcher again, stuck it upside down on the ground, then took out a flare and stuffed it in, and decisively pulled the trigger!

"Tom!"

After firing the flare to announce his position over his head, Wei Ran took out a Japanese grenade from his pocket before putting the grenade launcher on his back again. He pulled out the safety pin, knocked it hard on the grenade launcher, and then threw it out with force.

"boom!"

The slightly dull sound of the explosion was exchanged for shouts from the Japanese, puppet soldiers and bandits everywhere in the woods, but Wei Ran had already stepped on his skis, and took advantage of the slope to lower his body and slid down quickly - in the opposite direction of Zhao Jinyu and Tian Xiaohu.

"boom!"

Seeing that they were about to reach the foot of the mountain on this side of the ridge, Wei Ran took out his box gun and fired another shot towards the top of his head, as if he was afraid that the enemies behind him would not be able to catch up.

After running like this for more than half an hour, Wei Ran finally stopped shooting to attract the enemy. After roughly determining the direction, he began to run in circles towards the vicinity of Langcaozigou.

It was the only place where he had a chance to see Hu Bazhi, Zhao Jinyu, Tian Xiaohu and others again. It was also the only terrain he was familiar with and his only chance of survival.

Behind him, the Japanese, puppet troops and bandits were still chasing him along the sled tracks he left behind.

If there was a drone flying high up at this time, it would find that the bandits chasing them were getting fewer and fewer.

Some of the cruel and ruthless ones even had the courage to chase and suddenly draw their swords to stab to death a puppet soldier or Japanese devil who passed by them. After skillfully stripping the valuables from their bodies, they stuffed the bodies into a tree hole, turned around and disappeared into the deep mountains and forests on their skis.

Wei Ran didn't know about this situation at the moment. Even if he knew, he was too lazy to analyze whether those bandits were helping him or were just doing it for their own benefit.

If he had the energy, he would like to figure out whether Zhao Jinyu and Tian Xiaohu survived.

But in reality, how could he have more energy at this time? Even if there were not so many people chasing him, don't forget that the main force chasing him was either riding mules or sitting on mule sleds, unlike him, who relied entirely on his two legs to move forward.

With his breathing becoming increasingly rapid, Wei Ran climbed up a ridge again on his skis and with his ski poles, and then he rushed down the slope on the other side of the ridge without taking a rest. He was waiting, waiting for the snow to fall heavily enough, or for the wind to become strong enough. If neither of these happened, he could only wait for it to get dark as soon as possible.

Looking back behind him and then at the top of his head where snowflakes were still falling, Wei Ran stopped beside a birch tree after his skis had run out of inertia from sliding down the ridge. He held onto the trunk and panted heavily.

"boom!"

"Snapped!"

As the sound of gunfire behind him reached his ears, a palm-sized crater exploded on the trunk of the birch tree that Wei Ran was holding onto.

Subconsciously shrinking his body, he had to run again, trying to increase the distance between the two sides as much as possible before the enemy who had just climbed to the top of the ridge behind him rushed down.

In this seemingly endless race, time passes slower and slower.

Wei Ran had no choice but to change direction again just before he was about to return to Langcaozigou and continue to venture deep into the mountains and forests.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the snowflakes falling from the sky became much larger. Soon after, even the strong wind that carried the snowflakes became much stronger, especially when the wind was blowing from behind!

Soon, his figure was completely covered by the wind and snow. He even used his ski poles to prop up the hem of his dog-skin coat, turning himself into a kite without a rope to gain extra power!

With this small advantage, he changed direction several times and finally got rid of the pursuers behind him.

But at this moment, he had almost lost his way.

Even so, he did not stop, but tried his best to slide towards Langcaozigou under the cover of the wind and snow.

Before he knew it, the sky above his head, with snowflakes still floating, was getting darker and darker. The hand warmer in his cotton jacket was gradually no longer releasing extra heat. Correspondingly, Wei Ran felt colder and colder.

Wei Ran took off the anti-snow blindness glasses that Hu Bazhi had given him and put them in his arms. He looked around, stepped on his skis to the side of a thick pine tree, put away his skis, and carefully crawled in.

He took out his anti-Japanese sword and chopped some branches to expand the space. After spreading all the chopped branches under his feet, he immediately took off his dog-skin coat and removed the Japanese backpack on his back.

In addition to a lunch box of frozen braised pork rice, this life-saving bag also contained a pot of gasoline that was taken from the Japanese truck in the mass grave, two Japanese canned food, the Japanese knife that was used to perform surgery on the wounded, some Japanese candies and a few packs of cigarettes, and half a Japanese marching blanket to fill the space so that the things inside would not sway around.

Wei Ran first put two candies into his mouth and tried to calm himself down. He immediately poured a cup of gasoline, carefully poured it into the extinguished arm warmer, relit it, and put it back into his arms again.

This was not the end. He then tore off a piece of the Japanese military blanket and used it as a scarf to wrap most of his face and neck, and then put on the thick dog-skin hat again.

After waiting for a while, he cut off some strips of cloth to use as wicks and placed them in the Japanese-issued aluminum cup which still had half a bowl of gasoline left in it and lit it. Then he took off the lid of the lunch box and put some snow in it and placed it on top.

Taking advantage of this rare moment of rest, he was also thinking about his current situation.

There is no doubt that rushing back to Langcaozigou as quickly as possible is the best option. But I don't know whether Zhao Jinyu and Tian Xiaohu survived, and whether Hu Bazhi delivered the message.

It is certain that although they were surrounded, it also shows that the Japanese were really attracted here.

In other words, the camp of the First Guerrilla Team should be safe for the time being. This is probably the only good news that can be confirmed.

  At least the supplies weren't damaged.

Wei Ran muttered to himself, leaned against the cold tree trunk, and waited patiently for the ice and snow in the lunch box lid next to him to melt and boil. By the way, he took off his boots and untied his foot bindings and patiently dried them.

After a short rest, Wei Ran drank the boiled water that was then placed on the snow to cool it down in small sips, put on his skis again, packed up all his things immediately, stepped on his skis again and continued to move towards the direction of Langcaozigou that he remembered.

However, what he didn't expect was that this time, after he had been running on his skis for less than an hour, the snowstorm that had helped him hide his whereabouts before became stronger and stronger, so that he completely lost his way shortly after crossing a ridge.

Shaking his head helplessly, Wei Ran gritted his teeth and walked for another half an hour before finally finding a corner sheltered from the wind.

He chose another pine tree that was thick enough. After crawling into the tree nest, he took out the anti-Japanese sword again, chopped off the extra branches around it in the dark and stuck them into the snow at the edge. Then he cut off more thin branches and laid them under his feet.

Before he took out the sailor bag from the metal book, he noticed that there seemed to be faint lights flashing in the woods in the distance.

  Hey!

Are you going to run into the encirclement again?

Wei Ran was startled and quickly put away his weapons and equipment, then put on his skis again and observed carefully.

Soon, he noticed that the light did exist, but there was only one.

After thinking it over, he finally lowered his body and skied carefully to shorten the distance between the two sides. At the same time, he gradually saw clearly that it was a horse, a horse with a lantern hanging on the saddle, a black horse!

broken!

Wei Ran felt a chill in his heart and hid in the shadow of a tree, observing carefully.

There were a lot of miscellaneous things hanging on the horse's body. In the area illuminated by the oil lamp, there was a figure with his back to him, busy building a shelter between three thick pine trees that were closely connected and arranged in a triangular shape.

After a slight hesitation, Wei Ran took advantage of the cover of wind and snow and continued to carefully narrow the distance between the two sides.

Soon, when he had gotten to the other side of the black horse that he was so familiar with, he was sure that this horse was the one he had given to Tian Xiaohu, especially the gun bag, which even contained the Japanese cavalry rifle.

  But looking at the person who was still busy on the other side of the horse, Wei Ran could be sure that the other person was definitely not Tian Xiaohu, and even less likely to be Zhao Jinyu. This person was much stronger than them!

After a moment's hesitation, he quietly put the skis on his feet and the ski poles in his hand back into the metal book, then walked over with the box gun in his hand. Before the other party turned around alertly, he pressed it against the back of his head and lifted off his dog-skin hat, revealing a flower-mouthed pistol hidden there.

"Raise your hands," Wei Ran reminded.

After a slight hesitation, the man slowly raised his hands and turned around at Wei Ran's signal.

After glancing at the other person's face covered with frozen beard, Wei Ran first took away the other person's box gun, and then pulled out the second flower-mouthed pistol from the gap between his Kowloon belt and his body.

Finally, he touched his lower back and said to Wei Ran, who had already turned behind him, "Take out the dagger in your boots or sleeves."

After a moment's hesitation, the man flicked his sleeves and a Japanese bayonet flew out and stabbed into the compacted snow at his feet.

"There's no blue in my boots," the bearded man said, raising his hands again.

"Where did the horse come from?" Wei Ran took a step back and asked, hiding his body behind a thick pine tree.

"Picked up"

"Where did you pick it up?"

“Abandoned by the fleeing Anti-Japanese Allied Forces”

"Where are the anti-Japanese fighters who fled?"

"Dead. Shot to death."

"Where did he die?"

"Dead in the woods"

"Can you find it?"

"I can't find it. The wind is strong and the snow is heavy. The lost line has slipped off the track."

"Where did those things come from?"

“It was also lost by the Anti-Japanese United Army.”

“You’re not telling the truth”

“Every word is true”

The bearded man with his back to Wei Ran said, "All the outlaws in the world are one family. If you don't mind playing the piano, why don't you sit down and talk to me? We might be family members."

"Okay"

Although Wei Ran said this, he did not put away his gun, "Go ahead and build your shack. It's freezing cold, so I won't help you.