War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1638: Damo Patriarch’s Mighty Power Shocks the Heaven

Deep in the forest, Wei Ran and others lay on the horse's back, trying to reduce their body area as much as possible and trying to avoid the bullets coming from behind.

At this moment they didn't dare to fight back at all. They just hoped to run faster and faster as possible, hoping to put a long enough distance between themselves and the pursuers behind them. They also hoped that the wind would blow and snow soon!

  But as he ran, the distance between the pursuers behind him increased somewhat, but Qiu Yongwen fell off his horse without any warning!

"Yongwen!"

"elder brother!"

Wei Ran, who was riding at the end of the horse, and Yong Wu, who was running side by side with Yong Wen, were the first to notice something was wrong and shouted out.

"Run quickly!"

Yong Wen fell to the ground and screamed with all his strength, "I can't do it anymore. The bullet has pierced my stomach. Run. Run!"

As he spoke, Yongwen turned over with difficulty and lay on the thick snow. He tremblingly pulled out the two box guns that had been attached to his waist, and lowered the nose of the machine gun according to the method he learned from Hu Bazhi before setting off, and aimed at the direction they came from.

"Dad and Mom, Yongwen has avenged you!"

Qiu Yongwen screamed with difficulty, "Run! Run! Run! Yongwu, lead them to run!"

"Yongwen!"

"Second brother!"

Boss Qiu and Xiao Si'er shouted in panic and struggled to get off the horses of Zhao Jinyu and Wei Ran.

"run!"

Yongwu, who was already crying, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone, run! Don't let my brother die in vain! Run! Run! Run!"

"drive!"

Zhao Jinyu, whose eyes had already turned red, shook the reins vigorously and ran first with Boss Qiu, who was riding in front of him and covering his mouth hard to prevent himself from making any sound.

"drive!"

Wei Ran also shook the reins vigorously, while at the same time holding down Xiao Si'er who was lying on the horse's back.

"drive!"

Hu Bazhi and Unakan shouted at the Japanese army horses that had just stopped to run again. With the sound of horses' hooves trampling the snow, they were getting farther and farther away from the lonely figure behind them, and finally both of them were swallowed by the darkness.

"Da da da da——"

On a cold moonlit night, the dense gunfire from the box guns made all the survivors tremble involuntarily.

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Accompanied by the chaotic but extremely intensive sound of counterattacks, the dense gunfire unique to the box gun came to an abrupt end.

The pursuers also lit up their hastily extinguished oil lamps one after another, and continued to chase along the horseshoe prints on the snow like maggots clinging to bones.

A ravine, a ridge, the remaining people rode their horses and galloped in the dark. From time to time, they would look up at the Big Dipper hanging in the sky, and the rest was left to the horses whose eyesight was much better than that of humans.

They ran like this for more than half an hour at a risk of their lives. The horses they were riding were already exhausted and out of breath, and their speed was getting slower and slower.

If they continue like this, it won’t be long before they are caught up!

  At this desperate moment, on the hilltop far ahead, there was a loud bang and a bunch of red rockets suddenly rose up!

"Run that way!"

Hu Bazhi didn't know what he was thinking of. He shouted at the top of his lungs and slapped the horse hard on its butt.

Without time to ask any more questions, everyone grabbed the reins and ran in the same direction.

  It was only a distance of two or three hundred meters. Just as the people on horseback reached the foot of the ridge where the sky-high monkey rose, they heard shouts coming from the surrounding woods!

“The mighty Bodhidharma shakes the heavens! The mighty Bodhidharma shakes the heavens! The mighty Bodhidharma shakes the heavens!”

Amid the increasing roars, people came out one by one, some riding horses, some riding mules, some driving reindeer sleighs, some driving mule sleighs, and some driving donkeys and skis.

These people, who were obviously dressed as bandits, held their fists over their left shoulders and weighed them from a distance, then shouted with full energy, "The mighty Bodhidharma is mighty and shakes the heavens!"

Seeing these people slow down a little and follow them, a few more people on horseback came over, ripped off the black cloth covering the oil lamp in their hands, revealing the oil lamp covered with a red glass cover, and shouted in unison, "Follow the red light! The shallows can't trap the swimming dragon!"

"Follow the red light! Shallow water won't hold a swimming dragon back! Follow the red light! Shallow water won't hold a swimming dragon back!"

Amid the unison of shouts from all over the forest, the dozen or so red lights suddenly dispersed and rushed in different directions.

At the same time, another man came up on a horse, clasped his fists, and said amid the noisy shouts from the surroundings, "Everyone follow me! I guarantee that the King of Hell will not be able to find his way home!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately urged their horses to catch up with this man of unknown origin, and let him run away along a ravine in the direction where the red lights disappeared.

Behind them, the bandits riding on horses and driving sleds also dispersed in an instant, either climbing up the ridge, or going into the valley, or disappearing after a few turns in the woods, leaving behind only a series of intricate sled tracks, and a string of horse hoof prints, mule hoof prints, and even donkey hoof prints that no one knew who they belonged to.

"I don't know which Red Flower Pavilion's chief asked for help. I'll do it another day."

Before Hu Bazhi could finish his words, the man leading the way in front of him said, "We are all here in Hezi. I won't let a small favor go unnoticed. Let's go on the fast track!"

Before he finished speaking, he pointed in a random direction with the whip in his hand, and then rode his horse in another direction.

"The mountains remain unchanged, the water flows forever! The one who burned the pot dry is missing two fingers, and we will repay each other when we meet again in the future!"

Hu Bazhi raised his voice and made a promise to the figure, and also shouted "Master Bodhidharma is mighty and majestic", then he rode his horse and led everyone to run in the direction pointed by the man with the whip.

They ran less than a hundred meters in the direction of the other party's finger, but saw several people on horseback waiting for them.

In addition to the horses they were riding, each of these people was leading a mule, and the shelves carried by the mules were tied with several bulging sacks.

Before everyone got close, these people clasped their fists in a friendly manner, raised them over their left shoulders and weighed them, then rode their horses into the woods, leaving only a few honest and docile mules and others being led away.

"Do you know who saved us?" Zhao Jinyu asked in a low voice while picking up the reins of a mule.

"When the Anti-Japanese United Army was here, even the black soil was dyed three feet deep red by the Anti-Japanese United Army!" Hu Bazhi also picked up the reins of a mule and said gratefully, "Let's go! We will definitely meet again in the future!"

Hearing this, Wei Ran and Una Kan, who were also full of doubts, stopped asking questions. They each picked up a mule rein and held it tightly in their hands, urging the horses to run faster.

After running in the forest for more than half an hour, they climbed up a ridge. Wei Ran stopped his horse and said, "Xiao Si'er, go to Brother Hu's horse."

"What about you?" Hu Bazhi and Zhao Jinyu immediately asked nervously, "What are you going to do?"

"Don't be nervous." Wei Ran pointed to the top of his head, "I'll go to the tree to see if the Japanese are chasing us."

As he spoke, he had already rode his horse to Hu Bazhi's side and asked him to pull over Xiao Si'er, who was crying with snot bubbles all over his face. Then he handed the mule's reins to Hu Bazhi to help hold it.

Then, under the gaze of everyone, he came to the foot of a pine tree, stood up on the horse's back, and climbed into the crown of the pine tree.

After climbing up for nearly 20 meters in the dark, Wei Ran looked down, found a thick enough branch to sit on in the moonlight, then took out the huge Schneider telescope from the metal book, mounted it on the branch, and looked in the direction they came from.

The cold moonlight covered the snow-covered forest. In this cold and temperatureless moonlit night, faint red lights flickered in the forest. They were like fireflies, attracting the dim lights behind them and running in all directions of this primeval forest.

From time to time, the red lights would go out, and the dim flames behind the red lights would stop in a daze after moving forward for a while, or change direction and continue chasing, or return the same way, or stop where they were and no one knew what they were busy with.

Just like Wei Ran didn’t know whether those extinguished red lights had successfully escaped or were caught.

But he saw very clearly that in this cold moonlit night, there was no red light coming in their direction, nor any dim lights chasing them. He didn't know that after chasing those red lights for a long time, as those red lights in front of them disappeared, their horses and mules pulling sleds were successively trapped by animal traps that were strong enough to break their bones!

This was just the beginning. As more and more Japanese animals had their legs broken by animal traps, the strange screams and cold gunshots from all directions around them became more and more frequent!

Gradually, in Wei Ran's telescope, the oil lamps that looked like living targets went out one after another, but the sound of cold gunfire in the forest never stopped.

At a certain moment, the Japs who once acted as hunters began to gather and began to suppress the surroundings indiscriminately with machine guns, grenade launchers, and even the ancient volley gun formation.

But even so, more and more cold guns were fired at them from all around. Even along the way these devils came, there were already traps set up to kill bears and tigers!

"Brother Wei! What did you see?!" Zhao Jinyu, who was riding on horseback under the tree, shouted.

"The Japanese stopped chasing us and started to huddle together. Even their lanterns were extinguished." Wei Ran said in surprise, "It seems they are surrounded. The fighting is going on fiercely."

"Who saved us?" Everyone under the tree couldn't help but wonder.

However, this place was neither the area where Hu Bazhi had been active before, nor was it the forest that Unakan was familiar with. Even the fourth and third brothers of the Qiu family had never been here. Naturally, no one knew who was the master of this forest.

"Don't look at it, come down and leave quickly."

Hu Bazhi called out, "Go a little further, slow down and let the horses rest, and go as far as you can tonight."

"I'll be right down." Wei Ran took one last look, put away the telescope, and climbed down again carefully in the dark.

Riding on the horse again, Wei Ran took the mule reins handed to him by Hu Bazhi and walked at the back as usual. At the same time, he reached out and touched the two sacks on the left and right of the mule.

Unfortunately, apart from being able to see that there were a lot of things in the sack and that the mules were strong, he had no idea what was in the sack.

Gradually, the only sound left in the moonlight was the crunching sound of horses and mules' hooves stepping on the snow.

Gradually, the howling of the cold wind was heard in the moonlit night, and hidden in the sharp wind were the cries of Boss Qiu, Yongwu, and Xiao Si'er.

Walking and walking, walking and walking, I don't know when, the moon above my head was finally covered by dark clouds. I don't know when, the cold wind gradually mixed with more and more big snowflakes.

Finally, as the sky grew brighter, Unakan led them to stop on the top of a ridge covered with pine trees.

"Let's rest here," Unakan said, "The wind and snow are getting stronger and stronger. It may cover our footprints."

"Then take a break."

Hu Bazhi looked with pity at Yongwu who was riding on Wei Ran's biting horse, sighed silently, turned over and got off the horse, and then helped Xiao Si'er who had been lying on the horse's back down.

After they tied up their horses and mules, Wei Ran winked at Ambassador Qiu, and then pointed at Yongwu, whose eyes were red.

The latter nodded, took Xiao Si'er in one hand and Yongwu in the other and walked to a pine tree in the distance. He pulled some pine needles and spread them on the snow, then sat down side by side and whispered something.

Wei Ran and the other three looked at each other, then each took off the two heavy sacks on the mule and started searching.

The first sack was filled with concentrated feed for livestock.

The second sack contained two wolfskin blankets, a blue cloth bundle, and half a bag of sweet potatoes. The mule led by Unakan had no sweet potatoes in one of the sacks, but it did contain a roll of light canvas with Japanese words printed on it.

What Zhao Jinyu and Hu Bazhi found was a small bag of coal and a copper brazier with some ashes. What Qiu Yongwu found in the sack on the mule was a large bag of frozen fish.

Opening the blue cloth bundle, Wei Ran burst out laughing. In addition to a palm-sized wine gourd and a stack of good citizen certificates, the bundle also contained a large pancake wrapped in straw paper. In the pancake, in addition to half a pickled cabbage, there were two unpeeled pickled duck eggs, a greasy chicken drumstick, a string of dried chilies and two silver dollars.

He almost subconsciously guessed that perhaps a bandit on a certain hill noticed that several people were being chased by the Japanese in his sphere of influence, and that he might have received the news just in time for dinner.

Be it conscience, kindness, or perhaps simply the "professional ethics" of a professional bandit who wanted to make some money from the Japanese.

The bandit leader collected some good citizen certificates from his minions which they had no use for at all, and arranged for someone to pack some dinner for them, put a few silver dollars in it, and instructed the people who were supposed to pick them up to prepare an extra animal and corresponding supplies and deliver them to them. By the way, he also lured away the Japanese soldiers who were chasing them.

The truth may be like this, or there may be another hidden story, but no matter what, those gangs saved them and carefully helped them prepare food, drink and bedding.

  Unfortunately.

It's a pity that Qiu Yongwen didn't survive.

With this regret that could only be buried deep in their hearts, everyone suppressed their gratitude in the bottom of their hearts.

This land may have traitors, puppet soldiers, and bandits like Sun Dazhang Panzi who are willing to work for the devils.

But this black land has never lacked anti-Japanese fighters like Hu Bazhi, ethnic minority hunters like Unakan, ordinary people like the Qiu brothers whose families were destroyed and only left with national hatred and family feuds, and even more so, bandits who dared to kidnap the Japanese!

Just as Hu Bazhi said, this piece of black land was once dyed three feet deep red by the Anti-Japanese United Army!

While daydreaming, everyone unfolded the roll of thin canvas that Unakan had found, and under the command of Wei Ran, they built a tent around a pine tree that was big enough for all of them to hide in.

They each carried the wolfskin blanket they had found and went into the tent to spread it out. Hu Bazhi and Zhao Jinyu were busy feeding the animals. Wei Ran chose another tree and climbed up to the treetops. He once again set up the large telescope to observe the surrounding situation.

Unakan called Qiu Lao Da and the other two into the tent and asked them to help light the brazier while comforting Yongwu who had been crying all the way.

Soon, as the flames in the brazier began to flicker, the three young men who had been sad all the way reluctantly ate something, then huddled together on a wolfskin blanket, wiped their tears and fell asleep with difficulty.

Soon, Hu Bazhi and Zhao Jinyu also returned to the tent, followed by Wei Ran.

"Did you see anything?" Hu Bazhi tore off half of a hot pancake and handed it to Wei Ran and asked.

"no"

Wei Ran shook his head. "I didn't see anything. There were only mountain ridges all around. Fortunately, I didn't see any Japanese soldiers."

"There's no one behind you, right?" Unakan asked worriedly.

"no"

Wei Ran shook his head, then took a big bite of the food in his hand, and said incoherently while chewing, "I'll be on guard."

"I'll do it for you," Zhao Jinyu said as a matter of course.

"Then let's go"

Wei Ran spoke first, "Brother Hu and Una Kan will stand guard next time we have a break."

"Okay," Hu Bazhi replied absentmindedly.

"We have to protect the three of them from now on."

Zhao Jinyu lowered her voice and said, and the other three people subconsciously looked at Boss Qiu and the other two who were already asleep.

"Let's each take one."

Hu Bazhi came back to his senses and said, "An extra horse will help carry the things, so it can run faster."

"Then it's settled." Zhao Jinyu looked at Yongwu, whose eyes were still filled with tears. "Even if it's their turn, it's not their turn yet."

"yes."

Hu Bazhi, with a dazed look on his face, was also looking at Qiu Yongwu who was trapped in a nightmare. No one knew what he was thinking.

　I had something to do during the day and I don’t know if I can come back on time, so I coded it in advance.

　　(End of this chapter)