War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 218 Sailing the Boat
In the depths of the silent reeds, Uncle Zhou frowned after listening to Wei Ran's recounted information, and asked after a long time, "Boy Wei, at this time the puppet soldiers, traitors and even little devils in the city are looking for you. You definitely can't go back, what are you going to do next?"

"Beat devils" Wei Ran gave an answer without even thinking about it.

The other three people on the small platform looked at each other, Uncle Zhou said after a moment of silence, "Shoutian, you take Wei boy back first, and find a fortress to live in to avoid the limelight."

"Father, what about you?" Zhou Hopu asked.

"I have to go to the pier and keep watching," Uncle Zhou replied without thinking, "If Qiu Ermazi is not messing around, we have to find out the time for the sweep."

"I'll go with you!" Zhou Hopu and Han Shoutian said in unison.

"Shoutian, don't go, you have a leg injury, go back to take care of it first, and pass back the information that Wei boy asked."

Uncle Zhou thought for a while, and then continued, "Hopu, you go to the wild ducks and wait. If I find out anything by then, I will rely on you to pass the news back."

Zhou Houpu and Han Shoutian looked at each other, then nodded reluctantly, "Father, then you have to be careful."

"Don't worry." Uncle Zhou waved his hand indifferently, "Okay, don't waste time, I'm leaving now."

"wait first"

Wei Ran, who had been silent for a long time, grabbed Uncle Zhou, picked up the pistol, pulled out the magazine and looked at it, then turned the handle of the pistol and handed it over, and said seriously, "This pistol is small in size, and it has a It's also convenient, take self-defense."

Uncle Zhou was stunned for a moment, then happily took the pistol and put it in his arms, "You are quite generous."

"It's all about beating devils, what's yours and mine."

As Wei Ran spoke, he opened the hard cowhide satchel in his hand, took out two gold bars and the scavenged paper tickets from it, and handed them over, "Uncle Zhou, if you need these, take them away, anyway, they are Qiu Ermazi Sent."

Uncle Zhou quickly waved his hand, and took out the box gun that he also got from Wei Ran last night, "These are not usable, and you can take this gun back to Captain Zhao, they will definitely use it. Wei Boy, do you have any objections?"

Wei Ran hurriedly replied, "What can I say?"

"Okay then, go back quickly!"

After Uncle Zhou finished speaking, he handed the rattan box he had brought back to Hopu, jumped on the small wooden boat that had just sent him over, followed the channel where Wei Ran and others had just arrived, and disappeared in the dense reeds in the blink of an eye. inside.

Finally, looking at the direction where Uncle Zhou disappeared, Wei Ran said, "I won't go back now, Brother Hopu, I'll wait with you for Uncle Zhou's return, and the two of us can take care of each other."

"Then I won't go back either," said Han Shoutian who didn't want to leave at all.

"You have to go back"

Wei Ran and Zhou Hopu said in unison, and before Han Shoutian could open his mouth, Zhou Hopu added, "Brother Wei's hard-won news must be sent back quickly so that everyone can prepare in advance. In case the devils really organized a raid, just from the The wheat recovered from the field must be snatched by them."

"This..." Han Shoutian hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded, "Then, be careful."

"Take all these things with you, save those bottles and jars for me, and you can watch the distribution of the rest."

While speaking, Wei Ran took out the camera from the hard leather bag and hung it around his neck, then put all the other things into the satchel and handed it to Han Shoutian.Seeing this, Zhou Houpu next to him put in the box cannon that he had been holding in his hand even though his face was filled with reluctance.

Han Shoutian took the satchel, then picked up a bullet casing hanging on the platform pillar, put it to his mouth and blew it gently a few times.

The not-so-sharp whistle echoed in the dense reeds. In less than five minutes, an old man who seemed to be five or sixty years old came over with a wooden boat.

What's interesting is that not only the sidecar of the motorcycle that Wei Ran rode back is placed at the stern of his boat, but also four wheels are hung on both sides of the wooden boat, and under the buttocks of this very simple and honest old man, there is also a motorcycle sitting on it. seat.

The old man wouldn't dismantle that motorcycle in such a short while, would he?Wei Ran looked at the other party's full boat with a strange expression, thinking secretly.

"Uncle Hammer, did you finish the demolition so quickly?" Han Shoutian asked Wei Ran's doubts.

"Our old brothers have already dismantled several steamboats of the brats, how troublesome can this be?" The honest old man tapped his cigarette, "Are you planning to go back?"

"Yes! And hurry up." While speaking, Han Shoutian had already jumped onto the boat with a cowhide satchel in his hands.

"Then you sit still"

Before the honest old man called Uncle Hammer could finish his sentence, he got into the reed marsh again with the fully loaded boat.And Wei Ran, who was still sitting on the platform, couldn't help but picked up the camera, and pressed the shutter on the back of the fully loaded boat.

What he didn't expect was that before he put away his camera, two small wooden boats emerged from the reeds. One of these two boats contained the frame of the motorcycle, and the other contained the disassembled engine. class parts.

Sitting on the small platform watching the freshness, Wei Ran took a picture of them one by one. The shirtless old men on the boat and wearing only a pair of shorts were not stage-frightened, and waved enthusiastically to Wei Ran. The joy that can only be seen when the crops are harvested is clearly on the face.

"What can we do with sending those things back?" Wei Ran asked Zhou Houpu curiously until the boats had gone far away.

Zhou Houpu untied the boat tied to the edge of the platform, and waited for Wei Ran to jump up and sit still. Then he propped the boat forward slowly in the reed marshes, and explained naturally, "There are many uses, and the worst is the worst." You can make some big blades, or simply make it into iron sand, and return it to the little devil with a big stick, anyway, it won’t be a waste at all.”

"Have you ever beaten a devil?" Wei Ran asked curiously.

"I want to fight devils, but I have never even beaten traitors."

Zhou Houpu said with a bitter face, "Shoutian and I are tasked with taking care of my father, and they said that it's just a different division of labor. I see, they just don't want me to fight devils!"

"There's definitely a chance," Wei Ran reassured. His return mission this time included assisting Zhou Houpu to complete the ambush mission, so he naturally said it firmly.

"If only it was what you said"

Zhou Houpu sighed, with puzzlement and depression on his wheat-colored Chinese character face, "I can hit wild geese with a big lifting pole very accurately, the boat is also fast, and the water is no worse than them, just look at it." Why don't you come to me?"

Hearing Zhou Houpu's complaints in his ears, Wei Ran's small boat traveled through the reeds for a long time before he finally saw the light of day and entered a four or five meter wide channel hidden in the reeds.

Zhou Houpu tied the bamboo pole to the side of the small wooden boat, and after sitting down facing Wei Ran, he waved the oar skillfully, and rowed forward along the intricate channel.

At noon at the end of June, the water surface was warmed by the sun, and the people on the boat were also oily.As the boat moved forward, the reeds on both sides gradually disappeared, and the water became more and more open.

Gradually, a lotus lake with the size of several acres appeared on the water in front of the boat.On the green lotus leaves, you can occasionally see one or two small frogs, or birds that cannot be named.

Zhou Houpu picked up a sickle from under his feet, cut off a few lotus leaves with two swipes, and then cut off a few plump lotus pods.

Wrapping a few lotus pods in one of the lotus leaves and handing them to Wei Ran, Zhou Hopu continued to roll the boat across the lotus lake, and by the way, guided by Wei Ran's words, changed the topic to the previous raids by the devils.

In Zhou Houpu's words, what Wei Ran heard was very different from what he learned about the Yanling team in later generations.

In Zhou Houpu's mouth, those Yanling team members who either have "Uncle" or "Bo" or "Brother So-and-so" after each name, almost every one of them has a blood feud with the devil.

Some of their families died in the raids of the little devils, some of the villages where they grew up were massacred by the little devils, and some of them were forced to death by the traitors who worked as tigers. Some had their homes burned down, their stoves smashed, and even a few acres of reed fields were robbed.

Gradually, the fresh and juicy lotus seeds in Wei Ran's hands became no longer sweet when they were thrown into his mouth, only bitterness was left in his mouth, but he clearly remembered that the bitter lotus core had been peeled off just now.

At some point, the particularly beautiful lotus pond had been left behind, and not far in front of the empty water they were about to pass through, a large swamp of reeds appeared again.

The not-so-big wooden boat carried two people, drifted along the edge of the reeds, and finally turned into a channel.

Continuing forward along this channel, Zhou Hopu, who had his back turned to the direction of travel, retracted the oars, untied the bamboo poles on the side of the boat and gave a strong push, and dexterously steered the small wooden boat under his feet into the reed marsh again.

While the scorching sunlight overhead was blocked by the dense reeds, the surrounding temperature dropped slightly.And Zhou Houpu, who was punting the boat, also made a gesture of silence to Wei Ran.

The boat paddled silently in the reeds for less than ten meters, and a channel less than half a meter wide quietly appeared.

After walking along this channel with countless forks along the way for a long time, I also turned an unknown number of forks in the middle, and finally there was an empty water surface in front of me that could barely turn the boat around.

Vigorously inserting the bamboo pole in his hand into the mud at the bottom of the water, Zhou Hopu pointed behind him, and made another gesture of silence.

After Wei Ran nodded, Zhou Hopu took out a little devil's lunch box from the wooden box between the two of them.On the tray of this lunch box were a few finger-thick black incense sticks and a box of matches; fish.

He took out two pieces of pancakes and a piece of pickled vegetables and put them on the lotus leaf he picked earlier, and handed Wei Ran a smoked fish as an extra.Then Zhou Houpu picked up a stick of incense and lit it, and inserted it into a small hole on the side of the boat.

As the lingering green smoke began to disperse, Zhou Houpu was not in a hurry to eat, but continued to take out a roll of thin hemp rope tied with a fishhook from the box, and casually hooked up a little bit of corn tortilla crumbs, After throwing it into the water, he tied the other end to the waist of a reed.

After finishing all this, he picked up the pancake and took a bite, then tore off a piece of pickle and threw it into his mouth.

The two finished their simple lunch in silence, but Zhou Houpu was not idle, but grabbed a piece of black mud-like thing and a small bamboo pipe more than ten centimeters long from the small box that served as a stool. .

Under Wei Ran's puzzled gaze, Zhou Hopu rubbed the mud briefly, and then skillfully stuffed it into the hollow bamboo tube.It wasn't until black mud came out from the other end of the bamboo tube that he picked up another thinner bamboo tube and quickly pushed it from one end, and a stick of incense was squeezed onto the wooden board between the two of them. .

"Is there any more?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice, pointing at the two bamboo tubes in the opponent's hand.

Zhou Houpu nodded, and took out two matching bamboo tubes from the box and handed them to Wei Ran.

Taking over the bamboo tube, Wei Ran followed the example of the other party and also grabbed a piece of black mud. Although this thing looks like mud, it is like dough with a little bit of toughness in the hand.Just rubbing it a few times, Wei Ran's hands were stained dark brown, and at the same time, he could smell the faint scent of medicine.

"This incense stick can not only repel mosquitoes," Zhou Houpu explained in a low voice, "When the stick was raised to fire the gun, it was used to ignite the gunpowder of the fire door."

"You did it all?" Wei Ran asked in a low voice.

"How can it be? Every family can do it." Zhou Houpu shook his head and continued to be busy with the work at hand.

While the two were busy, the sun above their heads moved westward little by little, and the incense sticks on the side of the boat were also lit one after another, until at dusk, there was a faint and clear gunshot outside the reeds!

(End of this chapter)