War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1630: Despair of not seeing the light

In the cave, beside the kang, Wei Ran, who had just helped Miss Hongxia straighten her broken bones, did not rush to treat the festering wound. Instead, he searched in the cave and finally found a gas lamp.

Fortunately, the lamp is filled with calcium carbide, which is much brighter than a kerosene lamp when it is lit.

By the time he had prepared the crucial lighting fixtures, the surgical instruments had almost been steamed.

Not daring to delay any further, Wei Ran injected Hongxia with an anesthetic that might have expired, waited for a moment, and then started working.

Under the blazing white light, as the festering wound was cut open, a foul odor wafted to the face, and Unakan, an Oroqen girl who was peeking at the side, couldn't help but reveal a hint of fear.

After a brief hesitation, the girl walked away and danced alone the ancient shamanic dance, which was used for prayer.

At the same time, Zhao Jinyu also found a large bowl, poured the melted snow water into it, broke off a few ginseng roots and threw them in, then patiently boiled it.

While Wei Ran was busy, the festering wound was cut away bit by bit with dead and rotten flesh, and was carefully sutured. Finally, it was bandaged with gauze dressings that had just been steamed and a makeshift splint was put on.

"I'm fine here," Wei Ran said.

“I’ll be fine soon too.”

As Zhao Jinyu spoke, she had already brought over half a bowl of ginseng soup, and then opened the tin box containing the Angong Niuhuang Pills.

It was not until this time that Wei Ran noticed that this small iron box actually contained four wax balls wrapped in paper boxes.

After pinching out a wax pill, Zhao Jinyu broke open the pill wrapped in gold foil and threw it into the ginseng soup, stirring it. At the same time, she said in advance, "I'm not a medical student, so I don't know if this is the right way to eat. I just copied what my brother-in-law did when he saved my sister."

"Hey, let's try it out."

Wei Ran, who also did not know Chinese medicine, said, "You saved me back then, and you can definitely save Miss Hongxia this time."

"Try it"

Zhao Jinyu, who had no confidence at all, sighed, asked Wei Ran to help Miss Hongxia up, and poured the half bowl of medicine into her little by little.

"It all depends on her luck from now on."

Zhao Jinyu put down the bowl and sighed, "What kind of trouble has happened to her? Where are Brother Hu and squad leader Xiaohu?"

"Just now I saw a few animal skins that looked like they were taken off a few days ago. I guess they didn't go far."

Wei Ran said as he looked at Unakan who was still dancing, no, maybe it should be said that she was "dancing the gods", "What is she doing?"

"She probably believes in shamanism."

Zhao Jinyu was much more confident this time. "My grandmother also believed in shamanism when she was alive. This is a shaman dance."

“I hope it helps.”

Wei Ran muttered something, then said, "I'll go check out the situation outside."

"Okay, I'll keep an eye on her." Zhao Jinyu waved her hand and said.

After turning off the gas lamp, Wei Ran carried an oil lamp and walked around the Unakan where the shaman dance was still going on, and walked out along the narrow tunnel that seemed to be formed naturally.

This tunnel, which is less than one meter wide, is unexpectedly long, and there is a turn every now and then.

After walking around like this for nearly a hundred meters, this natural tunnel gradually became much wider, and there were even a few feeding troughs made of logs placed along the edge.

Next to the trough, there was a pile of hay for livestock to eat and a salt brick tied to the side of the trough.

Wei Ran picked up a grass stem at random and poked at the edge of a pile of feces. Although the surface of this pile of manure, which was not sure whether it was horse manure or mule manure, was slightly dry and hard, the inside was still barely "fresh".

  It seems that he didn't leave for long.

Wei Ran threw away the grass stem, stood up, and continued to walk out. After turning another corner, he finally saw the entrance to the cave.

Compared with the space inside the cave, the entrance is only one person high and barely one meter wide.

Pushing open the wooden door made of planks, animal skins and pine bark nailed on the outside for camouflage, the first thing he saw was two pine trees thicker than waist growing less than two meters away from the cave, and between the two pine trees, there was a snow-covered mound that looked about two meters high.

By the light of the oil lamp, he could vaguely see the branches of the bushes on the mound that had not yet been buried by the snow.

Wei Ran even suspected that this mound might have been artificially piled up to block the view, otherwise how could it have buried the tree nests at the bottom of the two tall pine trees.

I don’t know where Hu Bazhi and the others have gone. Now we can only wait for Miss Hongxia to wake up. Before that, maybe we can get the animals and sleds from the other end of the mine over here.

Wei Ran thought secretly. He had just noticed that there was nothing decent to eat in the cave where Hongxia was hiding except some dried meat.

Thinking of this, he also took a step back, closed the thick wooden door again, turned around and walked back.

All the way back to the end of the cave, Unakan was still devoutly dancing the shaman dance for blessing, while Zhao Jinyu was fiddling with various weapons on the ground.

"Where did you find all this?"

Wei Ran asked curiously, the most common weapon in this pile of weapons was the Type 20 rifle of the Japanese army, in addition there were also the Golden Hook rifle, the Ma Sihuan rifle, the Liao rifle, as well as a few box guns and the Dagu factory's machine guns, all together there were more than rifles.

“Just found it out of the box over there.”

Zhao Jinyu raised his hand and pointed to a wooden box leaning against the wall not far away, as well as a pile of animal skins that he had moved to the side. He frowned and said, "Many of these guns are rusted and have no bullets."

"It seems like they are having a hard time." Wei Ran sighed and then expressed his thoughts.

Looking at Unakan who was still dancing and praying, Zhao Jinyu nodded, "Then let's go back now. Unakan, you take care of Miss Hongxia."

Hearing this, Unakan, who had been muttering something, opened his eyes and looked at the two of them, then closed his eyes again.

"Go, go."

As Zhao Jinyu spoke, she climbed up the ladder and returned to the window that was deliberately left above her head.

The two of them crawled back into the rock crack, one in front of the other. Then, they made some noises in tacit understanding, and then turned off the kerosene lamp, hiding in the darkness and secretly observing Unakan in the cave outside.

Obviously, Zhao Jinyu also did not completely believe the Oroqen girl.

They observed silently for nearly 20 minutes. Seeing that Unakan was still dancing the shamanic dance devoutly, the two looked at each other, quietly re-lit the oil lamp, climbed down the crack, and quickly returned to the other end of the abandoned mine along the original route.

Not daring to delay any longer, the two men extinguished the charcoal fire in the clay stove, led all the animals out as quickly as possible, and carried out the sled and the things they brought and harnessed them.

"I don't know how to control a deer," Zhao Jinyu said in embarrassment.

"It's okay. I will."

Before Wei Ran finished speaking, he had already sat on the reindeer sleigh, "I'll leave the rest to you?"

"Row!"

Zhao Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief, tied the two war horses to both sides of the mule sled, and shouted at the mule to run.

They left Langcaozigou in the wind and snow, and walked around in the deep mountains and forests for several times. It was more than an hour later when they finally found the hidden cave.

Fortunately, by the time they drove the animals in and tied them up, moved everything including the sled in, and returned to the end of the cave, Unakan, who was already out of breath, was still dancing the shaman dance devoutly.

"Isn't she going to stop?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"They will not stop until they are exhausted. I don't understand that either." Zhao Jinyu also answered in a low voice, "I don't believe this, so I don't really understand. Brother Wei, do you have anything to eat? I haven't eaten for a whole day."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? There's food. Wait for me."

As Wei Ran spoke, he took out an untouched lunch box and placed it on the clay stove. Then he walked to the kang and reached out to touch Miss Hongxia's forehead.

"The fever has really gone down!" Wei Ran exclaimed, and Hongxia, who was lying on the kang, seemed to slowly open her eyes because of the touch on her forehead.

"Yes, Brother Wei."

Hongxia glanced at Wei Ran, then at Zhao Jinyu who was running over, and Unakan who had stopped dancing and was running over breathlessly, and muttered weakly, "Brother Jinyu is here too, why is Unakan here too? Am I in the underworld?"

"You are still alive," Wei Ran and the other two said in unison, and Una Kan burst into tears.

“Still alive.”

Hongxia was a little disappointed. She looked around and said blankly, "Brother Xiao Xiaohu, and... where's Brother Hu?"

"Where did they go?" Wei Ran asked.

“I don’t know.”

Hongxia fainted again and lost consciousness before she could finish her sentence.

"it's okay no problem"

Wei Ran saw the panic and despair on Unakan's face, and immediately comforted her, "Let her sleep for a while, she will wake up when she has had enough sleep."

"I just don't know where squad leader Xiaohu and Brother Hu are," Zhao Jinyu muttered worriedly, and then asked, "Brother Wei, how did Miss Hongxia get the injury on her leg?"

“Not a gunshot wound”

Wei Ran guessed, "The fracture seems to be from a fall. When I was cleaning the wound just now, I found some wood stubble in the wound on her calf."

"Before Miss Hongxia wakes up, it seems we can only wait for the two of them to come back so that we can know what happened." Zhao Jinyu said helplessly.

"I continue"

“Save your energy”

Wei Ran stopped the Oroqen girl who was about to continue praying and said, "Unakan, can you tell me about the letter that Big Beard Cui asked you to deliver?"

"It would be better to explain the cause and effect as well," Zhao Jinyu added.

After a moment's hesitation, Unakan sat down on the kang, took off the hat on his head and said, "A few months ago, Shopkeeper Yang contacted Zhao Jinshan, and my father was responsible for helping Shopkeeper Yang deliver the letter."

"How did you get to know Shi and Manager Yang?" Wei Ran asked.

"More than ten years ago, my father helped Manager Yang to collect leather materials. Many leather materials in our tribe were sold to Manager Yang. My father and Manager Yang have a long-standing friendship.

Later, Manager Yang took over the family business, and especially after they moved to Boli, the head manager asked my father and I to follow Manager Yang and obey her orders.

"So that's what happened." Wei Ran nodded, "Let's continue talking about Cui Da Huzi."

Turning his head to look at Wei Ran, Una Kan paused and continued, "About two months ago, Big Beard Cui came, and Shopkeeper Yang asked us to take Big Beard Uncle to find Zhao Jinshan."

"And then something happened halfway?" Zhao Jinyu couldn't help but ask.

"no"

Unakan shook his head. "Uncle Beard stayed there for only a few days, and Shopkeeper Yang asked us to escort him back across the river. Not long after we crossed the river, the devils started chasing us."

At this point, Unakan paused and continued, "After Uncle Beard got into trouble, I rushed here with the letter he gave me, and then I met Brother Wei."

"A letter from Big Beard Cui."

"I will hand it over to Hu Bazhi or Tian Xiaohu personally." Unakan was still wary.

"What do you think?" Zhao Jinyu turned her head and looked at Wei Ran.

"At least Shiyi is fine"

Wei Ran said calmly, "Otherwise the Japanese would have found this place long ago. Now we can only wait and see what Hu Bazhi and squad leader Xiaohu say when they come back."

"This is the only way," Zhao Jinyu sighed helplessly.

"Eat something first."

Wei Ran took the initiative to change the subject, "Eat as much as you want. I even picked up half a pork on the way here."

"You are so lucky." Zhao Jinyu shook her head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Una Kan, who knew the inside story, secretly rolled his eyes and said, "Aren't we going to find Hu Bazhi or Tian Xiaohu?"

"Need not"

Wei Ran waved his hand, picked up the lunch box on the clay stove and handed it to Zhao Jinyu, "When we came here, the clay stove was still on fire, not to mention Miss Hongxia was still here.

I guess they can't go far, so let's wait, maybe they will come back after daybreak."

Hearing this, Unakan could only suppress his anxiety and sat on the edge of the kang, looking at the sleeping Hongxia girl with worry.

Signaling Zhao Jinyu to eat quickly, Wei Ran also found a wooden stool to sit down and secretly sorted out the whole context of the matter.

Obviously, whether Zhao Jinyu couldn't wait for the contact person at the place where the letters were exchanged, or Cui Da Huzi was chased by the Japanese, this could only mean that someone leaked the news.

  And just like he said just now, it is unlikely that Yang Shiyi really wants to sell them out, so she will just lead the devils to the abandoned mine in Langcaozigou. Now it depends on what Hu Bazhi and the others say when they come back.

Wei Ran lit a cigarette while thinking and looked at the situation in the cave again.

The living conditions here were definitely terrible. There was dust all over the ground, slightly choking smoke from burning wood, the faint smell of horse manure and urine wafting from the direction of the cave entrance, and the stench from the tanned animal skins being dried during the drying process. Even the fleas he had accidentally seen on Hongxia's body when he had just cleaned her wound, all hinted at how difficult their lives were.

But even so, even though he couldn't find anything to eat in this cave except dried meat and coarse salt, there were still pairs of boots and a set of clothes made of animal skins hanging here.

  I just don't know how many people live in this cave.

Before Wei Ran could figure out these questions, a slightly strong cold wind blew in from the direction of the cave entrance.

Suddenly, both Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu realized that someone had come in!

After just a glance at each other, the two of them asked Unakan, who was confused, to hide behind the stretched leather.

A moment later, they heard someone cough loudly from the direction of the cave exit, and said loudly, "There is heavy snow and wind outside the broken door. Who is this God of Wealth?"

"Brother Hu, it's us! Zhao Jinyu!" Zhao Jinyu, who was hiding behind a pile of leather, was the first to speak, "Brother Wei is here too!"

"Jin Yu! Brother Wei?!"

Hu Bazhi, who was hiding in the cave tunnel, let out a cry of surprise and strode in. Then he saw Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu, who stood up from their hiding places one after another, as well as Unakan who was wearing a roe deer horn hat.

"Oh My God!"

Hu Bazhi slapped his thigh in delight, "Why are you here! You are here! I missed you so much!"

Before he finished speaking, Hu Bazhi, who was wearing a fur coat, a dog-skin hat and a full beard, had already hugged Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu.

Before the three of them separated, Tian Xiaohu also walked in carrying a bag.

"Brother Wei! Jin Yu!"

Tian Xiaohu loosened the rope, and shook hands with Wei Ran and Zhao Jinyu excitedly, and asked excitedly, "When did you come? Why did you come?"

“It’s a long story.”

Zhao Jinyu asked first, "Where are you going?"

"Here comes the robbery," Tian Xiaohu and Hu Bazhi said in unison.

"Sister Hongxia is injured. We plan to go to the county town and kidnap a Japanese doctor who can perform surgery. However, we need a good citizen certificate to enter the city. It just so happens that Sun Dazhang is recruiting people recently, so we will ambush her on the way and get a few good citizen certificates to use."

As he spoke, Tian Xiaohu threw the bundle on a solid wooden table and opened it. In addition to some silver dollars and Japanese banknotes, the bundle also contained a stack of at least twenty good citizen certificates.

"I just treated Hongxia's injury. She also took medicine and her fever has subsided."

After Wei Ran finished speaking, he glanced at Unakan who was hesitant to speak, "Let's wait a while before reminiscing about the past. Unakan, let's talk about business first."

  Hearing this, Tian Xiaohu and Zhao Jinyu all looked at Unakan, who promptly took out the envelope with three beautiful feathers attached to it that he had previously taken out of the roe deer horn hat!

"The letter that Big Beard Cui asked me to deliver before he died."

As soon as Una Kan finished the first half of the sentence, Tian Xiaohu and Hu Bazhi's eyes widened. "Before he died, he asked me to hand the letter to you personally."

"What happened to Big Beard?" Tian Xiaohu asked hesitantly as he took the letter.

"He was being chased by the Japanese. My father and I failed to protect him." Unakan said guiltily.

"Read the letter first," Wei Ran reminded with a sigh, "We'll talk after you finish reading the letter."

"it is good"

Tian Xiaohu responded, took a deep breath to suppress his nervousness and worry, tore open the envelope and pulled out the letter.

"What's going on?" After waiting for less than a minute, Hu Bazhi couldn't help but ask, "Xiao Hu, tell me what's going on?"

"General Zhao is not dead. He has successfully retreated to the Russian side."

Tian Xiaohu handed the letter to Wei Ran and whispered, "The captain asked us to gather the soldiers as soon as possible and be ready to reunite with them at any time."

"Meet up? How?"

Hu Bazhi said dejectedly, "We have lost contact with Sister Shiyi's people. We don't know where to go and how to meet up with them."

"What did you just say?" Zhao Jinyu asked in surprise, "You guys also cut off contact with Shiyi?"

"broken"

It was Tian Xiaohu who answered this question, "Not long after Cui Da Huzi left with the people arranged by Shiyi, the person she arranged to contact us was captured by the devils.

We guessed that the guy had defected to the Japanese. When Sister Hongxia went to ask him for information a few days ago, she was almost blocked by the Japanese.

When she was trying to escape, she was forced to jump into a ditch and barely survived. "

"Didn't I read in the letter that you guys went to Wang Yachen's unit?" Zhao Jinyu pointed around and asked, "Why..."

"It was originally over there, but Big Beard Cui led us over there."

Tian Xiaohu sighed and explained, "Later, we got a message that Commander Zhao was coming back, so we left and planned to continue to follow Commander Zhao to fight the Japanese. Who would have thought!"

"General Zhao suffered heavy losses. Your brother's last letter to us told us to hold our troops in place."

Tian Xiaohu sighed, "Big Beard Cui couldn't wait, so he followed Shiyi's people to the north. Not long after he left, something happened to the people arranged by Shiyi, and then Sister Hongxia also had an accident. I didn't expect Big Beard to..."

"Before he died, the bearded uncle asked me to tell you something"

Unakan said at this time, "We must preserve our strength and hope, and not do anything that will end in disaster.

He also said that it was necessary to establish a liaison line that would be managed by the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces fighters themselves, and Zhao Jinshan was waiting on the other side of the river to meet up with the comrades in charge of the liaison.

After a long silence, Hu Bazhi asked the most fundamental question, "What should we do now?"

"How many people are left after you leave Wang's tribe?" Wei Ran asked before Zhao Jinyu spoke.

"There are less than 30 people now, all of whom have been developed in the past few years."

Tian Xiaohu said, "I am the team leader, and Brother Hu is the deputy team leader. The Japanese have been searching the mountains so intensively these years that we dare not gather together. We are all scattered in the nearby hills. There are also a few people hiding in the kiln of Sun Dazhang."

"Speaking of this, why did you move here?" Wei Ran continued to ask.

"Langcaozigou is still too close to Sun Dazhang's territory."

Hu Bazhi explained, "That old guy would just go hunting if he has nothing to do. We are afraid of running into him and causing unnecessary trouble. That old guy licks the devil's asshole so well!"

"This place has a good view and the cave entrance is hidden. Even if we are discovered, we can still escape and let Sun Dazhang help take the blame." Tian Xiaohu also added.

"Let's get down to business."

Zhao Jinyu said, "I think we should get back in touch first, since my second brother..."

"Before that, we have to kill the one who defected to the enemy."

Tian Xiaohu said, "Although he doesn't know the location of Langcaozigou, he has seen many of us. If we don't get rid of him, many people will suffer."

"Where is he?" Wei Ran asked.

"Where's Mulan?"

Tian Xiaohu said, "He is the shopkeeper left by the Yang family to run the leather and mountain goods business. We have to kill him before we can do anything else."

"So we have to go into the city?" Wei Ran asked.

"right!"

Tian Xiaohu pointed to the certificate of good conduct on the bundle and said, "We snatched the certificate of good conduct, firstly to hire a doctor for Sister Hongxia, and secondly to kill the traitor to prevent more people from suffering."

"What a coincidence"

Wei Ran pointed to a half pork leg and other items randomly placed not far away, "These things were also snatched from the gangs that were preparing to gather together."

"Mr. Sun has been a real help," Zhao Jinyu couldn't help but tease.

"Can't"

Tian Xiaohu and Hu Bazhi couldn't help but agree, and then laughed out loud as if trying to find joy in the midst of misery.

“I haven’t eaten pork in years.”

Hu Bazhi looked at the half-sliced ​​pork with envy, "When we celebrated the New Year here before, each of us only got a flying dragon. At that time, we couldn't even find salt."

"Now Sister Hongxia can also replenish her body."

Tian Xiaohu also breathed a sigh of relief, "Brother Wei, Sister Hongxia..."

"As long as he wakes up and doesn't have a fever anymore, there won't be a big problem." Wei Ran's cautious answer was enough to make Tian Xiaohu and Hu Bazhi breathe a sigh of relief.

"How have you been these past two years?" Zhao Jinyu's sudden question caused Tian Xiaohu and Hu Bazhi to fall into silence.

After a long time, Hu Bazhi lit his pipe, puffed on it and sighed, "It was difficult. The Sun sisters died. After they died, the three of us fought guerrilla warfare for a long time. We ambushed on the road every day. When we saw the devils, we fired a few shots from a distance, regardless of whether we hit them or not. We ran away after shooting.

I was hungry most of the time. The mountains were full of Japanese invaders, and I didn’t dare to use a gun when hunting. Sometimes when I was really hungry, I would just chew on tree bark and make some grass root soup.

"Later, Big Beard Cui found us."

Tian Xiaohu smiled and said, "He led us to gather a lot of scattered soldiers, and then took us to Wang's army to continue the struggle."

However, when it came to this, both Hu Bazhi and Tian Xiaohu suddenly fell silent.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Jinyu asked cautiously.

"The soldier who took us to Wang's unit hanged himself after delivering us."

Hu Bazhi forced a bitter smile and said, "That's right. I can't see any way out, so how can I hang myself?"

"Isn't it that we can survive if we beat the devils?" Zhao Jinyu said subconsciously, "Will we survive if we beat the devils away?"

"yes"

Hu Bazhi looked at the clay stove in the distance and muttered, "Once, we ambushed outside a circle of people and killed two devils. Guess what happened?

Damn the devils! The next day, they hung a row of corpses outside the human circle, a total of 20! All of them were old people and children picked out from the human circle!"

“We really thought there was no way out.”

Tian Xiaohu also smiled bitterly, "Wherever the Japanese are attacked, the people nearby will definitely suffer.

If we killed one Japanese soldier, they would pull ten people from the nearby circle of people and kill them and throw them to the place where we killed Japanese soldiers. Later, we didn’t dare to kill any more.”

"Is this the frustrating life you have been living these years?" Zhao Jinyu asked hesitantly.

"yes"

Tian Xiaohu laughed at himself and said, "Although I can read a few words, I don't have the ability to lead troops. Not to mention the two of us, even Cui Da Huzi can't do ideological work.

So we thought, if we can contact Commander Zhao, or your brother, that would be great, at least we would have a backbone and know what to do next."

"Stop talking about these disgusting and unpleasant things."

Hu Bazhi waved his hand and changed the subject, asking expectantly, "Brother Wei, did you deliver all those letters back then? Did anyone reply?"

"I am sorry"

Wei Ran opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know how to answer this question.

"I'll cook for you!"

Realizing that he had brought up a topic that was out of the question, Hu Bazhi quickly said, "I haven't eaten pork in years. Here are some dried twigs, vermicelli, and white wine! There's even a bag of flour! I'll make you some pork and vermicelli stew!"

"I'll go get the other fighters!"

Tian Xiaohu also said, "It's just right that you two are back, let's celebrate the New Year all over again! Brother Wei, do you still have your camera? You have to take another photo for us!"

"I'm here!" Wei Ran said quickly, "I'll definitely take pictures for you!"

"I'll be back as soon as I go!"

Before Tian Xiaohu finished speaking, he had already run towards the cave entrance as if escaping.

  just

What are you running away from?

Escape from the despair of not seeing the light?