War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1639 Preparing to Cross the River

During the day, the life-saving snow kept falling, and it finally completely covered up the traces left by Wei Ran and others along the way.

During the day, Yongwu had nightmares all the time. He woke up again and again, and woke up the others as well. But he just wiped away his tears and lay down again. No one knew what he dreamed about.

Towards evening, the neighing of mules and horses made Hu Bazhi, who was in charge of the last sentry, tremble and rush out of the tent.

Soon after, Wei Ran, Zhao Jinyu and Unakan, who heard the noise, woke up one after another and hurriedly followed out.

With the last bit of daylight, they clearly saw a big white mule running up the ridge alone.

"Is it your mule?" Wei Ran was the first to react and asked.

"Yes, that's it! I thought the Japs had killed it."

As Hu Bazhi spoke, he excitedly ran to the side of the mule, took off his dog-skin hat, and helped the big mule pat the ice and snow off its body. "Now that we have another mule, I think we can run faster."

"It's almost getting dark, why don't we set off now?" Zhao Jinyu suggested.

"Go, go."

Unakan also said, "With so many animals, we may be able to complete the rest of the journey in two days."

"I have no objection," Wei Ran stated his attitude straightforwardly.

"Then let's set off now!" Hu Bazhi made the decision immediately.

Having said that, the preparations before departure will still take some time.

Because of this, by the time they had packed their bags and filled their stomachs with food, it was already completely dark, but the snowflakes falling from the sky did not seem to be any smaller.

Without further delay, Wei Ran took Xiao Si'er on his biting black horse and asked him to help pull the reins of a mule.

Similarly, Zhao Jinyu brought along Boss Qiu, and Hu Bazhi brought along Qiu Yongwu, and they were all given the task of holding the mule's reins.

Unakan was still walking in the front. After everyone dressed warmly, they left the ridge in the dark and continued on their journey in the biting wind and snow.

That night, they did not encounter any gangs, let alone the Japanese or traitors, and even the terrain gradually became flat. In addition, they changed horses and sleds, so they traveled a lot that night.

When it was almost dawn in the second half of the night, after they followed Unakan across a frozen river, they saw large tracts of wasteland along the way.

After letting the mules and horses rest for a while and feeding them some fine feed, everyone continued on their journey, preparing to travel further before daybreak.

"How far are we?" Hu Bazhi asked Unakan on horseback.

“It will take at least another day.”

Unakan pointed ahead and said, "Run a little further and rest after we get into the mountains and the forest."

Naturally, everyone had no objection. Besides, the snow had not stopped yet, so it was a good time to get on the road.

They ran like this for about an hour, and when it was already dawn, Unakan finally led them through a wasteland and once again entered the deep mountains and forests covered with red pines.

It can be seen that when they arrived here, Una Kan also became alert. She did not stop immediately after entering the forest. Instead, she slowed down with everyone and climbed over one ridge after another until the snow stopped falling overhead and the cold sun rose above the treetops. Only then did she find a leeward valley and stop.

“Let’s take a break here.”

Unakan said tiredly, "If we leave this forest for another night, we will almost reach the Heilongjiang River. However, the road ahead will be difficult to travel. There are Japanese troops guarding the outside of the forest."

At this point, Unakan suddenly raised his hand and pointed in a direction after tying up the mule and horse. "Uncle with the big beard is buried over there. I left in a hurry, so I just buried him with snow. I don't know if the devils found him."

"Let's go and take a look together," Zhao Jinyu, Hu Bazhi and Wei Ran said in unison.

"Come with me," Unakan sighed and walked in front.

Under her leadership, Wei Ran and the other two as well as the three brothers of the Qiu family all followed, and soon after, they stopped beside a pine tree.

The pine tree had been burned to the point where only the black trunk remained. Nearly two meters above the ground, a headless body, also burnt black, was tied upside down with wire.

"I buried him under the tree when I left."

Unakan covered his mouth and said in panic, "Where's his head? Where's the bearded uncle's head?"

"It was the Japanese who did it," Hu Bazhi said with clenched fists and gritted teeth.

"Another account." Zhao Jinyu also clenched his fists.

"Untie him."

Wei Ran sighed, raised his camera while speaking, and pressed the shutter button towards the corpse on the tree.

After putting away the camera, he climbed up the broken branches of the pine tree, and after carefully feeling around between the bearded man's body and the trunk, he finally found three Soviet lemon grenades tied to the tree with wire between his lower back and the trunk.

There was a thin iron wire tied to the safety pin of the grenade, and the wire passed through Cui Da Huzi's spine.

Pulling out the iron wire that was almost frozen in the corpse bit by bit, Wei Ran unscrewed the iron wires on Cui Da Huzi's body one by one and sent him down carefully.

In this cold cave, the only thing they could do was to find a place sheltered from the wind, dig a large enough snow pit, and bury the headless body of the bearded man in it.

"There should be devils nearby."

Wei Ran said as he compacted the snow. As long as the three grenades exploded, the surrounding Japanese would definitely hear it. "I think we should take a rest and then continue running. We should run as far as we can while it's still daylight."

"Let's go, go back."

As Hu Bazhi spoke, he pulled out the pipe from his waist, placed it together with the tobacco pouch next to the bearded man's grave, and casually scooped up a handful of snow to cover it.

The others looked at each other silently, turned around, and followed Hu Bazhi back to where they tied their horses.

They lit the brazier and roasted a few sweet potatoes. Then they took out their water bottles or lunch boxes, filled them with snow and placed them on the edge of the brazier.

"If we keep running like this, when will we get there?" Zhao Jinyu asked while feeding concentrated fodder to a few animals.

"If we can reach the edge of the woods today, we can cross the river in the second half of the night."

Unakan replied, "No matter how far we walk during the day, we must stop before leaving the forest. There are many devils outside the forest on the other side."

"What do we do after we cross the river?" Hu Bazhi, who was warming himself by the fire, suddenly asked, "How do we find Captain Zhao after we cross the river?"

"Captain Zhao is not here, but Zhao Jinshan is waiting on the other side."

Unakan said, "After crossing the river, walk downstream along the river bank and stop when you see the island in the middle of the river. Zhao Jinshan is waiting for you in the forest facing the island in the middle of the river."

"Where is Shiyi? Where is Yang Shiyi?" Zhao Jinyu asked again.

"Manager Yang is in Boli, which is far away. It takes several days to walk downstream along the river to get there. But there are no Japanese soldiers there, so we just need to avoid being interrogated by the Russians." Unakan replied, "Brother Jinshan knows where Manager Yang is."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent again, sitting around the only brazier, each thinking about their own thoughts.

After resting for only about an hour, everyone forced themselves to get on their horses again despite their fatigue. Led by Unakan, they found an icy river in the primeval forest and continued walking step by step towards the northeast.

However, this time, Hu Bazhi suggested that Qiu Lao Da and Xiao Si'er learn how to ride horses. The task of teaching them how to ride horses was given to Zhao Jinyu and Qiu Yongwu. As for himself, he fell to the end of the team unknowingly.

"Brother Wei"

Hu Bazhi, who was riding on horseback, looked at the horse team in front of him, and after a moment's silence, he said, "If we encounter the devils, what if we two brothers stay here?"

"Okay," Wei Ran agreed happily, "Actually, I can just stay here by myself."

"One of you is not enough"

Hu Bazhi shook his head and said, "Let's both stay here and let Unakan and Jinyu take the three Qiu brothers across the river."

After a moment's silence, Wei Ran nodded and said, "Okay."

"Let's find a chance to take a picture later?"

Hu Bazhi said excitedly, "When Qiu Lao Da and Xiao Si Er learn to ride horses, we will do it, just like you and Jin Yu did when they were cavalrymen."

"Okay," Wei Ran agreed with increasing difficulty.

“I’ve already made money.”

Hu Bazhi smiled and said, "I have killed many devils in these years. I have avenged my parents, my wife and my unborn child, and I have made a lot of money.

That's right, I haven't finished taking revenge for others. Do you still remember Brother Li Hai and Brother Shen Baoying? "

"Remember." Wei Ran nodded with a sigh. How could he not remember?

“We are living now, all for them.”

Hu Bazhi smiled and said, "Xiao Hu and I have been counting, and we are still 26 short. We have finally avenged them. What a pity!"

"What a pity?" Wei Ran asked subconsciously, but he looked straight ahead and did not dare to look at Hu Bazhi who was running side by side with him.

"We have almost 30 members in our team now. If we include the Qiu brothers, we will have more than 30 members.

But even if we don’t count the debt owed by the Qiu brothers, Xiaohu and I have calculated that we still need to kill more than 400 Japanese devils to recover our investment.”

Hu Bazhi thought with a frown, "This little devil owes too much debt. I don't know when the debt collection will end."

"Soon." Wei Ran "predicted" in a pale voice.

"After we kill all the Japanese, if I'm still alive, I'll go back to that shack." Hu Bazhi looked at Wei Ran and asked with a smile, "Do you still remember my shack?"

"Remember"

Wei Ran forced a smile and replied, "I hid a lot of things when I left there."

"yes"

Hu Bazhi looked up at the cold sun hanging in the azure sky and said with longing, "I'll raise a few good dogs by then, and maybe find a wife and have some fat boys and girls."

"Is there anything you like?" Wei Ran said as he took out a wine gourd that he found in the bag given by the bandits yesterday, unscrewed it and handed it to the other party.

"That's a lie." Hu Bazhi laughed dumbly, took the wine gourd, took a sip and gave it back to Wei Ran. "You keep it."

Wei Ran waved his hand to refuse the wine gourd offered by the other party, "While the weather is good, I will go to the front to take a picture of you."

After saying this, he urged his biting horse to catch up with Unakan who was in the front as if fleeing.

After being taught by Zhao Jinyu and Qiu Yongwu, and riding on relatively docile mules, after a few hours, Qiu Lao Da and Xiao Si Er had already learned how to ride quite well.

After hearing that they were going to take pictures again, and that they would take pictures in the cavalry style, the three Qiu brothers finally forgot the sadness in their hearts for a while. They let Zhao Jinyu, who was dazed for a moment, direct everyone to line up and let Wei Ran take a picture of them.

"It's a good time to take a break."

After taking the photo, Unakan said, "If we go any further, we will be out. There are many devils outside the forest. Let's wait until the second half of the night before we go."

Hu Bazhi and the others naturally had no objections. They followed Unakan to leave the frozen river and go into the woods, where they found a sheltered location and set up their tent.

"When you run again, you must leave all the useless things behind."

Unakan said without waiting for the brazier to be lit again, "Feed the horses well later. If we can't cross the river in the second half of the night, I'm afraid that many of us old people will not survive."

After he said this, everyone fell silent. Obviously, just like the arrangements Hu Bazhi had made in advance when he found Wei Ran alone not long ago, everyone had actually realized that what was waiting for them next would be a life-and-death ordeal.

In the silence of the crowd, the brazier was successfully lit, and precious coal was pressed on the firewood collected along the way.

As the charcoal gradually turned red under the scorching fire, the tent, which was barely big enough for everyone to lie down, became warmer and warmer.

"I'm going to feed the animals. Unakan, can you come over and give me a hand?" Zhao Jinyu said abruptly.

"Row"

Unakan didn't take it seriously. He got up and followed Zhao Jinyu out of the tent.

"You three"

Hu Bazhi suddenly said, "Boss Qiu, Yongwu, and Xiao Si'er, as the captain, I will give you three a task."

"What mission?" Boss Qiu said as he left.

"The most important task for this trip is to escort Comrade Zhao Jinyu and Comrade Unakan across the river."

Hu Bazhi said seriously, "But you must have heard Unakan say before that even if we cross the river, we still have to walk for several days."

Seeing Boss Qiu nod subconsciously, Hu Bazhi continued, "The task I'm giving you three is to follow Zhao Jinyu across the river."

"Captain, do you mean you don't plan to cross the river?" Boss Qiu reacted after leaving.

“It doesn’t matter if I can’t get through it.”

Hu Bazhi said, "I mean, what if, what if we can't get through? When we reach the other side of the river, Comrade Zhao Jinyu and Comrade Unakan will rely on the three of you to protect them."

Without waiting for Boss Qiu to say anything, Hu Bazhi continued, "Boss Qiu, you have brains, Xiao Si'er is an accurate shooter, and Yongwu knows how to treat illnesses and injuries. With the three of you protecting them, Zhao Jinyu and Unakan will definitely be able to complete the mission."

"What about you?" Yongwu asked.

"It's okay for us"

Hu Bazhi said confidently, "I have been hunting with my father and grandfather since I was 7 years old. How can we be outdone by the Japanese in hiding in the mountains and forests? If we plan to run, the Japanese will never catch up even if they have two more legs."

Seeing that Boss Qiu was hesitant to speak, Hu Bazhi said seriously, "Zhao Jinyu is a brainless fool, and Unakan is a woman. These two need someone to protect them. I feel relieved to leave them to you three brothers."

"Why don't you and Brother Wei escort them?"

Yongwu said, "If something happens, we three brothers will..."

"Nonsense!"

Hu Bazhi hit Yongwu's head lightly on the back and said, "Can we trust you three with this? We will have to come back to rescue you when the time comes. If things go wrong, we will all die on the river bank."

"What about you guys?" Xiao Si'er stubbornly asked the question that Yongwu had just asked.

"Brother Wei, you speak." Hu Bazhi righteously put the blame on Wei Ran.

"You are anti-Japanese fighters, right?" Wei Ran asked back.

"Yes, we have been like this for a long time." Boss Qiu replied as he left.

"A soldier's duty is to obey orders"

Wei Ran followed up with a reply, "Since you are soldiers of the Anti-Japanese United Army, you must obey orders and do whatever you are told. If I explain everything to you, will we still be able to fight this war? Captain Hu and I have our own arrangements. What's wrong with that? Do we have to explain everything to the three of you? Are you Commander Zhao?"

"us."

Seeing that Boss Qiu didn't know what to say for a moment, Wei Ran continued, "In short, if you think of yourself as Anti-Japanese Allied Forces fighters, you should obey Captain Hu's orders. He ordered the three of you to follow Zhao Jinyu and Unakan across the river, so you followed them across the river. Even if you die, you have to run to the other side of the river before dying! Now answer me, are you Anti-Japanese Allied Forces fighters? Did you obey orders?"

"Yes!"

Boss Qiu and the other two gave their answers subconsciously.

"In that case, I'll leave them to the three of you." Wei Ran pointed his thumb in the direction outside the tent, "Once we get to the other side, there will be other tasks for you."

"What mission?" Xiao Si'er asked subconsciously.

"Don't ask if you shouldn't"

Wei Ran said seriously, "Once we reach the other side, Zhao Jinyu will give you new orders."

"What are you going to do then?" Boss Qiu couldn't help but ask.

"We are going to look for the bandits who helped us yesterday."

Seeing Hu Bazhi about to speak, Wei Ran could only continue to make up lies, "When the time comes, we have to find a way to convince them to fight against the Japanese, and we also have to find a way to send back the things we robbed from the bandit's den. There are a lot of things to do.

Come on, take a break. After we cross the river, we will all rely on you three brothers to protect them."

"But."

"Where do you get so much talk?"

Hu Bazhi asked impatiently, "We are here to fight the Japanese, not play house with mud. How can we fight the Japanese without casualties? We will need you in the future, but now your mission is to protect them both across the river!"

"Are you three scared and want to run away?" Wei Ran asked deliberately.

"We are not afraid of death!" Yongwu said first.

"That's right! We are not afraid of death!" Boss Qiu and Xiao Si'er also said.

"Since you are not afraid, then complete the task." Wei Ran asked with feigned contempt, "You can't even complete this kind of task, right?"

"What's so difficult about this!" Xiao Si'er, who was the first to be led astray, immediately said dissatisfiedly. However, Boss Qiu and Qiu Yongwu looked at each other. Obviously, they had realized something.

"Before crossing the river, keep this matter secret from the two of them," Hu Bazhi added, "From now on, the three of you will be Captain Zhao Jinyu's soldiers."

When the topic came to this point, Boss Qiu and Qiu Yongwu didn't know what to say, and finally could only nod with difficulty.

After a while, Zhao Jinyu and Unakan went into the tent one after another. They tacitly did not talk about anything related to crossing the river. They just took out various foods and put them on the brazier.

After days of rushing around, this meal was particularly tasteless. It was also the only meal that everyone and even every mule and horse ate as much as they could.

After filling their stomachs, the task of keeping watch was handed over to the three brothers of the Qiu family, while the other four lay by the fire and closed their eyes.

However, these four people did not point it out, but they all knew clearly that the other three were not asleep.

In comparison, the Qiu brothers were young and carefree. Except for Xiao Si'er who was on guard, Qiu Lao Da and Qiu Yongwu all fell asleep soon after they had their meals.

Amid the sound of wind and snow that never stopped outside the tent, Wei Ran finally fell asleep with difficulty after enduring for who knows how long.

When he was woken up, the wind and snow were still blowing outside the tent, but the sky had turned pitch dark.

This was undoubtedly good news, but the bad news was that everyone heard the shrill wolf howls.

"It's time to go," Unakan said, "just leave everything you don't need here."

"Take the mules. All the mules."

Hu Bazhi, who seemed to have woken up a long time ago, said, "While you were sleeping, I made a few straw men. I'll tie them to the mule. They might be useful if we encounter an accident."

"Okay," Unakan agreed readily.

Without much delay, everyone got out of the warm tent and saw a straw man piled under a pine tree not far away.

This so-called straw man is nothing more than a rough human shape made of pine branches. Even a blind person can see that something is wrong if you look at it from a close distance. But from a distance, especially in this kind of horrible weather, it is undoubtedly extremely confusing.

"Boss Qiu, you ride this Japanese horse and see how well you have learned to ride a horse." Hu Bazhi said first. In this way, except for him, everyone else was riding a military horse.

"Brother Hu, you..."

"This big white mule has been with me for several years," Hu Bazhi patted the mule's neck affectionately, "I'm going to work hard next time, but I feel at ease riding it."

Hearing this, Zhao Jinyu, who was about to say something, closed his mouth. In the dim light coming through the tent, he looked at Unakan, and the latter nodded at him seriously.

Taking advantage of the last bit of time before departure, everyone worked together to tie the other straw men made by Hu Bazhi to the backs of the mules that had been emptied of their loads. They even hung lighted lanterns on the carriages of the mules and covered them with cloth.

There is no doubt that when necessary, as long as the cloth covers are torn off, these mules will be the best targets to attract fire.

"It's time to go," Hu Bazhi said before he had already ridden on the big white mule.

"drive!"

Unakan simply whipped the horse's butt lightly, and rushed out of the primeval forest and into the frozen Heilongjiang River with the anti-Japanese fighters who trusted her, as if they were going to die.

(End of this chapter)