War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1612: Going to Kill Demons

“Shhh—shhh—shhh—”

With a slightly harsh friction sound, the water-soaked whetstone sharpened the slightly rusty saber over and over again.

Compared with the anti-Japanese broadsword in the metal book, this saber is only slightly narrower in blade, slightly shorter in handle, slightly thinner in thickness, and slightly longer in length.

Compared with the common cavalry sabers of the same period, it is much wider and thicker.

It is almost conceivable that with the high speed of a galloping horse and the weight of the knife itself, as long as it does not slip out of the hand, even if it is not so sharp, it is enough to chop off all the monsters that block the way.

Even other cavalry sabers of the same era would most likely break if they collided with this thick-backed, wide-bladed saber.

With all these advantages, there are naturally disadvantages. The excessive weight will limit the flexibility of the knife, and flexibility must be compensated by other conditions, such as more brutal fighting.

"squeak"

The half-open door was pushed open from the outside, and Zhao Jinyu and Li Sui'an walked in one after another.

"Brother Wei, there is a mission tomorrow. Do you want to participate?" Li Sui'an asked directly.

"Participate" Wei Ran also gave a straightforward response.

"Don't you ask what the mission is?" Zhao Jinyu said, taking out a few pieces of letter paper and an envelope and placing them on the only table by the window.

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't matter what the task is." Wei Ran, who was still sharpening his saber, replied indifferently, "What are you doing? Helping you write letters home?"

"Where?"

Li Sui'an explained with a smile, "Jin Yu set a rule for the spy company that everyone must write a suicide note. If they don't survive, they must write a letter to their families."

"I don't need it. I don't know if I wrote it."

Wei Ran stopped sharpening the knife halfway through his speech, picked up the towel on the washbasin stand next to him, wiped his hands carefully and said, "You'd better write a letter. I know who to send it to."

"I didn't have time to ask you when I was taking a shower. Did you send out all those letters?" Zhao Jinyu asked while helping to clean up the table.

"without"

Wei Ran shook his head. "I looked for several houses but couldn't find it. Later, I followed Wangchuan and the others to escape."

"Where are the letters?"

Zhao Jinyu asked nervously, his eyes subconsciously looking at the extra cowhide Japanese backpack in the room. He had also recognized it as the backpack that Wei Ran had been using after he seized it.

"Look for yourself; it's all there."

Wei Ran took out the pen from his pocket and after a moment's hesitation, he wrote on the letter paper, "This letter came at a good time. God helps Huang Zhong succeed."

After writing only this sentence, Wei Ran put the pen cap on and folded it in half.

"Is it finished already?" Li Sui'an, who had just taken the saber from the wall, asked in surprise.

"Write"

Wei Ran hesitated for a moment when he was about to answer this question. After a little hesitation, he lit the folded letter with a match and threw it into the earthen stove that was originally blocked by blue bricks.

"Forget it. After thinking about it, there's nothing to write, so forget it."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he waited until the folded piece of letter paper was completely burned before he blocked the stove with bricks again.

Originally, he planned to send a letter to the family of Xuqing Bookstore to bring them hope.

The reason why he burned the letter was not because he was worried that it would not be delivered, but because he was worried that if it was really delivered, it would bring them unexpected danger.

  Sure enough, this era is full of despair

Wei Ran sighed silently, and then heard Zhao Jinyu exclaim, "These photos are really well taken!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran secretly gave his living ancestor a thumbs up. He had noticed this when he stuffed the photos into the letters just now.

The photos in the lunch box included not only individual photos of each anti-Japanese fighter of the First Guerrilla Team, but also all the group photos taken at that time. Moreover, the number of photos developed was enough for everyone in the group photo to have one photo and some extra.

Not only that, he even found in these photos the photos taken in Teng County that year of the brothers Li Sui'an and Li Hexian, as well as the photos of Li Sui'an and his father who ran Cangbinzhai.

“I have developed several of those group photos.”

Wei Ran continued, "I stuffed individual photos and group photos of each person in the letters I sent them, and the extra photos are all yours.

There is also Wangchuan, which contains the photos I took of you, your brother, and you and your father. "

"real?!"

Li Sui'an asked in surprise, and quickly put down the saber and whetstone he had just picked up, wiped his hands roughly and moved to the edge of the kang.

“This is true!”

Li Sui'an exclaimed, quickly picked out those photos, and excitedly shared the photos and memories related to each other with Zhao Jinyu.

"Don't just chat with the two of you"

While the two were not paying attention, Wei Ran took out the British Army's canteen from the metal book and shook it, "I still have some wine here, which I stole from Brother Hu's house. Do you want to drink some?"

"You have all this?!"

Zhao Jinyu immediately slapped her thigh, climbed onto the earthen kang, and took out three small ceramic wine bowls from the kang cabinet, and also brought out a plate of fried peanuts that came from nowhere.

"Just one cup per person. We have important things to do tomorrow." Li Sui'an reminded him, holding up a photo of him and his father in Cangbingzhai.

"Fill it up quickly!" Zhao Jinyu urged.

Hearing this, Wei Ran smiled, turned on the kettle, and filled the three small bowls with the sorghum wine that he had stolen from Hu Bazhi's house.

"Come on! Have a drink first!"

Zhao Jinyu couldn't wait to pick up the wine bowl and clink it with Wei Ran and Li Sui'an, then put it to her lips and took a sip.

"call--"

Zhao Jinyu exhaled, "Finally I get to drink Brother Hu's wine again!"

Before Wei Ran and Li Sui'an could put down their wine bowls and say anything, Zhao Jinyu threw a few peanuts into his mouth and took the initiative to suggest, "Brother Wei, how about giving these letters to me?"

"What do you mean?" Wei Ran asked with a smile, and also picked up a few peanuts and put them into his mouth.

"About 200 of our cavalrymen left suicide notes."

Zhao Jinyu said seriously, "We are in a business where we have to risk our lives. It's not safe to leave these things here. If Brother Wei still trusts me, why don't you give these letters to me? When my sister sends someone to deliver Sister Shiyi's letters, I will have them take them back to my sister.

I will write a letter back then and ask my sister and Shiyi's caravan to find out the address on the letter. If they can find the person, I will send the letter."

At this point, Zhao Jinyu sighed, "I'm afraid. I'm afraid if I send it too late, I won't be able to find the recipient."

"Thank you for your help then," Wei Ran said happily.

Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu's face lit up immediately, and he quickly picked up the wine bowl and said, "Come on! Brother Wei, I'll toast you a glass!"

"There's only this one glass, drink it sparingly." Li Sui'an reminded as he picked up the glass.

"After we finish our business tomorrow, come back and we'll continue drinking!"

Wei Ran patted the wine jug beside him and said, "When the time comes, drink it all! Come on! Cheers!"

"Done!"

Zhao Jinyu and Li Sui'an responded in unison, clinked their glasses with Wei Ran's, and then raised their heads to drink up the whole glass.

Putting down the empty wine bowl, Zhao Jinyu also pulled out a cowhide backpack from the kang cabinet. After opening it, he put the letters in Wei Ran's bag into his bag.

"Where in Shanxi did your sister get married to?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"Yonghe County"

Zhao Jinyu replied, "When you get to Yonghe, just mention the old Ma family, the cattle, horse and sheep dealer by the Yellow River, and any of them can take you to the right place."

Before he finished speaking, he took out a small yellow croaker from his bag and threw it into Wei Ran's bag, "I just saw that the silver dollars in the letter are still there. I'll give you a small yellow croaker as a gift. Don't let Brother Wei misunderstand that I am greedy for the Yuan Datou in the envelope." "Who are you humiliating?"

Wei Ran shook his head in annoyance, picked up the small yellow croaker and threw it back into Zhao Jinyu's bag. There was no use for him to keep this thing.

“Take these photos with you too.”

Before Zhao Jinyu could say anything, Li Sui'an put the photos that Wei Ran had taken of him, his father and his third brother Li Hexian into an envelope and threw it into his bag.

"Not leaving one?" Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu asked in unison.

“No need,” Li Sui’an smiled, “Maybe he will die someday.”

"Too"

Zhao Jinyu nodded in agreement, and continued to tie up her backpack while making a promise, "If you die, I will wait until I drive away the Japanese and return to Sichuan to announce your death."

"You should survive first before we talk about this."

Li Sui'an took out a pack of cigarettes, popped out three and gave them to Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu, "If you die, I will also serve in the Anti-Japanese League in your place."

"Can't you two just chat and survive?"

Wei Ran forced a smile and asked, "Or tell me how we're going to play tomorrow?"

"simple"

Zhao Jinyu threw his backpack back into the kang cabinet and explained, "We will set out before dawn. After crossing the river, we will wait for the enemy to come. If we see the enemy, we will send a small group of cavalry to fight them and then run away, leading them to the Yellow River."

"Then what?" Wei Ran asked.

"As long as they come this way, they'll be ready to eat."

Li Sui'an followed up by saying, "We will set up our machine guns on the river bank. Once they start firing, the Japanese will be killed or wounded. By then, they won't bother chasing us. They will definitely dismount and build fortifications on the spot to prepare for a counterattack."

"ran"

"Then our main force will take advantage of their dismounting time to charge directly into the battle formation. When the distance is about the same, we will fire a round with our box cannons. When we are close, we will switch to sabers. One or two rounds will be enough to finish them off. It's very easy."

"Brother Wei, don't panic when the time comes."

Li Sui'an reminded him, "By then, even if you can get your horse to run with the main group, you can kill a few people just by hitting them. Just don't fall behind."

"Don't worry." Wei Ran picked up the saber and whetstone again, and made the assurance seriously and with expectation.

Since the topic has come to this, Zhao Jinyu and Li Sui'an, who had also started sharpening their knives, began to teach Wei Ran various techniques and precautions of horse riding combat, as well as the characteristics and weaknesses of the Japanese cavalry.

During this casual chat of imparting experience, the three of them also polished their sabers until they were exceptionally sharp and gleaming.

At the same time, Wei Ran also noticed that at this time, whether it was Zhao Jinyu or Li Sui'an, the handles of their sabers were all made of wood wrapped with red cloth strips. None of them looked like the saber he saw in later generations. There were not even any words engraved on them.

With such doubts in mind, Wei Ran, after sharpening his saber, followed Li Sui'an's guidance to get some concentrated feed to feed the biting black horse. When he returned to the west wing again, he immediately fell asleep on the kang under the influence of alcohol.

By the time he, Li Sui'an, who was snoring loudly, and Zhao Jinyu were awakened by knocks on the door, it was already dark outside the paper-covered windows.

"Who is it?" Zhao Jinyu asked first.

"it's me"

Outside the door, Captain Ma's groom Bai Yuguang said, "Brother Jinyu, it's time to set off."

Upon hearing this, Wei Ran and the other two immediately got off the kang and responded in unison, "I understand."

Lighting three oil lamps as quickly as possible, Zhao Jinyu tied his loafers to his feet with leather ropes and said, "Brother Wei, take your guns and horses to the threshing ground, where I took you to wash the horse during the day."

"Row!"

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already put on his riding boots, picked up the Nine Dragon Belt, saber and the Type 44 cavalry rifle without bullets in one hand, and carried the oil lamp in the other hand, and was the first to get out of the west wing.

Following the same path he had taken during the day, he returned to the backyard. Wei Ran, who had already put on his Nine Dragon Belt and carried a gun, quickly prepared the saddle, jumped on his horse and headed straight for the threshing ground.

When he arrived, there were already about one or two hundred cavalrymen waiting in formation on the threshing floor. Without exception, all of them carried muskets on their backs, held sabers in one hand and an oil lamp in the other.

In addition, he also noticed that the cavalry in the front row of the queue had extra nine-dragon belts and box guns on their waists. Some of them even used two box guns, and two of them used hand-held machine guns.

"Wei Ran, come here!"

Captain Ma greeted him, and Wei Ran immediately urged the black horse under his feet to walk to the side of Captain Ma.

“This is Wei Ran”

Company Commander Ma held the oil lamp next to Wei Ran's face and said, "You must have seen him during the day. From today on, he is a member of our special forces company. Let's kill the devils together!"

"Qiang! Qiang! Qiang!"

The cavalry company numbered about two hundred men, and all the cavalry responded by striking their stirrups with their sabers.

"set off!"

Before Captain Ma finished speaking, his groom Bai Yuguang rode ahead and was the first to leave the threshing ground.

Almost at the same time, the others blew out the lanterns and stuffed them into their saddlebags.

"Brother Wei, come here."

Zhao Jinyu called out to Wei Ran, who immediately blew out the oil lamp and urged his horse to move forward.

Soon, the only light left in the night was the faint light from the lantern hanging on Bai Yuguang's horse in the front and the sound of horse hooves, which was not very obvious but extremely frequent.

It was not until this time that Wei Ran realized that the horses ridden by the cavalry of this special forces company were actually moving forward in a "walking" manner.

Most of this so-called horse-walking is not something that horses are born with, but is acquired through training.

The most famous walking horse among them is the horse in the statue of Horse Stepping on Flying Swallow in later generations, which is the so-called walking horse.

This way of moving forward is not only comfortable for the rider and less prone to fatigue, but is also quieter than running.

Wei Ran never expected that this special forces company had trained all their horses to be running horses.

He never expected that the biting black horse under his butt, after running foolishly for about a hundred or two hundred meters, actually "engaged in the differential lock" and switched to "walking horse mode" like a horse learner.

At this moment, the cavalry unit became quieter, and the surrounding cavalrymen, including Ma Jintao, Zhao Jinyu and others, were secretly amazed.

They themselves knew how much effort they had put into training their mounts to master the technique of riding silently, and they knew even more how difficult it was to tame the big black horse that was originally intended to be sold as a stud.

It was also for this reason that this cavalry company composed of soldiers from various nationalities including Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui, Han, Salar, Dongxiang, and Baoan, tacitly accepted Wei Ran from the bottom of their hearts within this short distance of a few hundred meters.

Amid the dense but not noisy sound of horse hooves, this silent cavalry company followed the oil lamp in the front. Under the increasingly bright morning star, wearing the last ray of night and the newly condensed dew, they silently crossed the slow-flowing Yellow River.

"Uu——"

Not long after walking along the river bank, Ma Jintao rode his horse to the front of the horse team, stopped Bai Yuguang who had deliberately slowed down, and shouted at his horse to stop.

“This is it”

Ma Jintao reined in his horse, looked around and ordered, "Send the signal!"

Hearing this, Bai Yuguang immediately took out a flashlight from his bag, turned it on, and shone a flickering light signal towards the other side of the river where they came from.

A moment later, a faint, barely visible light appeared on the other side of the river in response.

After Bai Yuguang put away the flashlight, Captain Ma said, "Brother Wangchuan, everyone, come back alive."

"Pistol Team! Follow me!"

Li Sui'an shouted and started riding his horse.

Following his order, Zhao Jinyu and the more than 40 cavalrymen in the company, who were additionally equipped with box guns and two machine guns, rushed out.

Without any hesitation, Wei Ran lightly shook the reins, urging the biting horse under his butt to catch up.

(End of this chapter)