War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1634: Pointing to the Head of the Orchid

On the ridge, the big black horse obediently hid its strong body behind a pine tree that was so thick that two people could hug it. However, it did not forget to stick out its big head and curiously looked at Wei Ran who was also hiding behind a pine tree not far ahead.

"boom!"

Amid the clear sound of gunfire, Wei Ran, who was hiding in a tree hole, didn't even look at the Japanese soldier who was hit in the crotch by a bullet and was rolling down the mountainside screaming. He reloaded the bullet, aimed at the shin bone of a puppet soldier and pulled the trigger again.

Another gunshot was heard, and the puppet soldier screamed and rolled to the bottom of the slope.

Not bothering to see how the Japs treated the wounded differently, Wei Ran let the Japs and puppet soldiers shoot bullets at the pine tree where he was hiding. He himself had already crawled back and hid under another tree, and pulled the trigger again at the Japs who were climbing up under cover to outflank him.

"boom!"

After the gunshots, another Japanese soldier fell down, holding his thigh. Wei Ran changed his position again, taking advantage of the time difference while the enemy was climbing the slope to inflict casualties on them.

Continuous shooting emptied the bullets in the carbine. Seeing that the Japanese had already run halfway up the mountain, Wei Ran decisively stood up and retreated again. He rode his horse and ran down from the other side. He disappeared before the Japanese climbed to the top of the hill, leaving only a series of horseshoe prints behind them.

After walking for about four or five miles in this kite-flying manner and climbing over several small hills, the Japanese and puppet soldiers finally stopped chasing them and instead chose a place on the top of a slope to sit in a circle and rest - they even lit a bonfire.

Seeing this, Wei Ran, who had been riding a horse, just smiled, shook the reins to control the horse to continue to move forward slowly, and climbed over a hill again. He also lit a fire and fought with them.

But in fact, as soon as the fire started, he immediately climbed on his horse again, circled around behind the pursuers, followed their ski tracks and returned to the mule sled he had killed not long ago.

There was nothing valuable on the sled except a wolfskin mattress. However, he did not pick and choose. He simply picked up the mattress with his carbine, rolled it up and tied it behind the saddle, then continued to walk back boldly along the Japanese's tracks.

Not long after, he saw several Japanese soldiers who were wounded by him.

However, these Japanese soldiers who were deliberately arranged in a tic-tac-toe shape were already dead, and the valuable items on their bodies had been almost all taken away. On each corpse, there was only a ponytail helmet, a useless steel helmet, and some braided boots that were rarely valued by the locals.

The puppet soldiers who dug it up were too lazy to bury it with snow. Instead, they left a sentence on the snow next to it: "The Anti-Japanese United Army has passed through here, and their descendants will never stop." They were particularly skilled in putting the credit on the Anti-Japanese United Army fighters, who they didn't even know existed or not.

With a silent smile, Wei Ran made some identification and then followed slowly along the ski tracks left by the suspected fleeing puppet army.

He believed that these puppet soldiers who had already made plans could definitely help him escape the search.

Sure enough, after following these marks for just two hills, Wei Ran saw a mountain trail with traces of ski boards still on it.

After looking at the direction in which the puppet army was fleeing, he slowly dismounted and put on his skis. He then took out a few leggings from his backpack and tied them together. He let the horse pull him in the opposite direction, and he used the skis to cover up the horseshoe prints.

After running in this way for more than half an hour, Wei Ran took off his skis and got on the horse again. He increased his speed and went into the woods all the way north to find the big river that Hu Bazhi mentioned.

As the black horse galloped tirelessly, they crossed one ridge after another and finally saw a snow-covered ditch. They also saw the remaining horse hoof prints and sled prints on this east-west ditch.

  I don't know if Zhao Jinyu and Unakan escaped.

Wei Ran muttered to himself, urged his horse to chase the mark all the way east for about four or five miles, and then followed it into the woods.

They had been riding a horse and following the sled in the woods for less than ten minutes when Wei Ran suddenly tightened the reins, stopping the biting horse.

He realized something was wrong. Less than 10 meters in front of him, the sled had obvious signs of turning, and there were several sets of footprints around it. He even saw a pair of hand muffs that he had personally sewed for the Qiu brothers not long ago lying on the snow!

Something happened to them!

Wei Ran immediately looked around vigilantly, but in this vast mountain forest, there was nothing else except a series of marks left by Hu Bazhi's mule sled that led to an unknown destination.

  Is this a result of meeting someone else?

Wei Ran pondered secretly, and after a moment of hesitation, he gently pulled the reins, allowing the biting horse and the sled print to distance themselves from each other, preparing to catch up with them at a distance of five meters and in almost parallel fashion.

But at this moment, a "bang bang bang" sound suddenly came from behind a pine tree not far away.

When Wei Ran subconsciously looked over, a shout came from behind the pine tree, "Who is the man with the golden skin and colorful hanging flat willow tree?"

"I don't understand slang, I'm busy on my way, if you have to fart, hurry up!"

Wei Ran answered in a pretentiously arrogant manner, and at the same time confirmed again that the skill he had learned from killing those Japanese devils with his bare hands had nothing to do with this jargon.

Obviously, the person hiding behind the pine tree didn't expect to run into such a "greenhorn", so he reacted for a moment, and then said awkwardly, "Friend, are you looking for the ones on the sled?"

"Several on what sledge?"

As Wei Ran was speaking, he had already put away his bearskin gloves under the cover of his saddle bag, pulled out his box gun and shouted impatiently, "I don't understand what you are saying, come out and fight if you dare!"

"If you have the guts, just shoot!" the man hiding behind the pine tree said confidently, "If we attract the Japanese, no one will get anything out of it. The big one and four small ones on the sled must also die!"

After saying this, Wei Ran also noticed that there were knocking sounds coming from behind several pine trees around him, and several rifles were also extended from behind the trees where snow had fallen.

After a moment's hesitation, Wei Ran put the box gun in his hand back into the Nine Dragon Belt and said, "Come on, what do you want to do?"

"What do you want?"

The man hiding behind the tree snorted, "Throw away the rattle! Let's string some leaves together."

"Can you speak human language?"

Wei Ran said back in an even more vicious tone, "I've already told you I don't understand jargon, what are you talking about?"

As soon as these words were spoken, there were uncontrollable sneers and contemptuous comments such as "What a fool!" from behind a few trees in the distance.

"We asked you to drop your gun and get off your horse. We like your clothes and want to exchange them with you." Another bandit explained with glee.

"What should I do if I give it to you?" Wei Ran said unhappily.

"Stop talking nonsense! Come down quickly!" another bandit shouted impatiently.

Looking at the gun muzzles pointed at him, Wei Ran knew that the other party would most likely not dare to shoot, but he also knew that he probably wouldn't be able to escape at all.

Thinking of this, he quickly jumped off the horse, and at the same time, he secretly took away the hand warmer in his arms under the cover of the horse, and slapped the biting horse on the belly.

Fortunately, the horse was smart enough. Before Wei Ran could stand firm, it ran back amid the screams of the surrounding bandits.

"Hey, hey, hey! Stop it quickly!"

Wei Ran shouted hastily, like a villain complaining first, "That horse is so expensive! It can be exchanged for 10 small yellow croakers!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the bearded men who had already raised their guns subconsciously quickly raised the muzzles of their guns.

"Third brother! Take some brothers and chase the horses!"

The bandit who spoke first greeted him, and then shouted to Wei Ran, "Throw away the gun in your hand! Take off the Kowloon belt! Take off the hat! Hurry up!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran, who still had an anxious look on his face, smiled in his heart, simply took off his hat and threw it away, then pulled out his box gun and threw it on his hat, and then obediently took off his Kowloon belt.

Until he turned around with his hands raised in response to the shouts of the bandits around him, a bandit wearing a black cotton jacket and black cotton pants with a red belt around his waist finally came over, holding a box gun.

“If you don’t want to die, put this on your head,” said the bandit, throwing a black cloth bag to Wei Ran.

"What are you planning to do?" Wei Ran asked as he took the black cloth bag.

"Why are you talking so much nonsense!" said the bandit, pulling out a Japanese bayonet and pressing it against Wei Ran's stomach.

Seeing this, Wei Ran obediently put the black cloth bag over his head, and a smile that he had been holding back finally appeared on his face.

He let the bandit tie his hands behind his back with a cloth strip, and then he felt him all over again. He took off his Kowloon belt full of bullets and said, "This fat guy is right in the middle of the sea! I'm afraid he's going to be a fire starter!"

As the bandit spoke, he put the Nine Dragon Belt on his shoulders amid the festive cheers coming from behind him.

A moment later, Wei Ran was pushed onto a sled. Then he realized that his legs were tied at the knees with ropes. The sled started moving with a whip sound.

"Where are you taking me?" Wei Ran asked.

"If you say one more word, I'll unbind my feet to gag you."

After the bandit sitting next to him finished speaking, he hit him on the top of the head neither lightly nor heavily, which made a crisp sound, and as expected, it attracted the laughter of the other bandits around.

Wei Ran didn't understand what the bandits said in jargon. However, he didn't care at all. He just knew that he was getting closer and closer to Hu Bazhi and the others.

Of course, these bandits probably had no idea what kind of dangerous thing they had taken back.