Bright Sword's Bloody War of Resistance

Chapter 868

The weather in July was hot and stuffy, and the breeze that finally came made it even more uncomfortable, as if we were in a steamer.

Even in this situation, the officers and soldiers of the 16th Brigade still worked under the scorching sun to reinforce the fortifications outside Shangqiu City. Beads of sweat as big as beans dripped onto the ground and evaporated in the blink of an eye.

Most of the people and merchants in the city were evacuated to northern Anhui. The entire Shangqiu city seemed empty, and there were no patrolling Eighth Route Army soldiers on the streets.

The only thing that often appeared on the streets was the carriages responsible for supplying water to the soldiers outside the city. Each carriage was loaded with two bathtubs for wealthy families to take a bath, and several buckets were sandwiched in the gaps, which really made full use of the space in the carriage.

Most ancient cities were built near water sources, or on important transportation routes or in places with rugged terrain. As an ancient city, Shangqiu City is surrounded by a moat, forming a natural defense system.

There is an extended urn city outside each of the four city walls, which is 10 meters high and 5 meters wide. According to convention, stomping walls and lookouts are built on the city walls. There are corner towers at the four corners of the city walls, and a battlement protruding from the wall in the middle.

However, Shangqiu's 瓮城 is quite unique, with a rare twisted gate, that is, the exit of the 瓮城 is built on the side and is not in a straight line with the main city gate.

The soldier in charge of delivering water went out of the Gongchen Gate on the north side, drove the carriage westward and went out of the small gate of the city wall.

There was a row of thatched huts along the outer city wall, which were used as a temporary resting and summer shelter for the soldiers who were building fortifications. Neatly arranged guns were leaning against the wall, with a military uniform hanging on each gun, but there were few people on them.

"Where are you, why don't you take a break in this hot weather?"

"What? They're all bathing in the river, and you leave us here watching the guns!"

"Okay, drink it, there's plenty of water. But if the sun shines on it for a while, the coolness will be gone!" The soldier who delivered the water left a cart of water and drove the cart towards the moat.

The moat was extremely lively, with crowds of people both in the river and on the shore, all of them shirtless and wearing only shorts.

"Hey, aren't these the comrades from the motor battalion? How did you suddenly become horsemen? It's really unfair to you. We are in good health, so it's okay for us to drink some water from the moat!"

The person who was speaking was sitting cross-legged on the shore with a playful look on his face. He looked like an official.

The leader of the motor vehicle battalion was called Chang Hongbao. The two were old acquaintances. "Damn Liu Shengdong, we worked so hard to bring you water, and you guys are playing in the water here. I'll turn around..."

"What are you doing? Don't you see how many people are in the river? This is an order from the police. Hehe, you are dumbfounded, right? Look at who is over there?"

Looking in the direction of Liu Shengdong's finger, Chang Hongbao was really dumbfounded. He saw Zhou Weihan, Li Yunlong and others also soaking naked in the river.

As a native of Hunan, Zhou Weihan often plays in the water in summer. However, Li Yunlong, who came from Dabie Mountains, is a landlubber.

Li Yunlong sat in the water with his buttocks, but his hands were grasping the grass on the shore: "Old Zhou, it's normal for the soldiers to cool off in the water, why are we joining in the fun?"

"What do you mean? Have you been the brigade commander for so long that you've become estranged from the soldiers? Are you starting to put on airs?" Zhou Weihan glanced at Li Yunlong and dived into the water. After more than thirty seconds, he emerged on the other side of the moat and swam back.

Seeing Zhou Weihan coming back, Li Yunlong hurriedly explained: "That's not what I meant. You can't just accuse me."

"Hehe, it's best not to have this idea. Never separate yourself from your comrades below, and don't alienate yourself from the people. Always be alert!" Zhou Weihan played two games, and then sighed: "The power of the people is great!"

"During the evacuation of Shangqiu residents, we discovered a nest of Japanese spies hiding deep inside. We found them based on clues provided by ordinary people. Comrades from the prefectural committee are continuing to dig deeper!"

Li Yunlong was shocked when he heard this and stood up straight immediately: "Is this true? How come I didn't know about it?"

"Don't make a fuss. Shangqiu is the base of the Japanese and puppet troops. It's normal to have a few hidden agents there!"

Although Zhou Weihan said this, in fact the Japanese agents discovered this time were obviously unusual.

According to clues provided by the public, this person is a rickshaw driver. He is kind and behaves himself on weekdays. Like other drivers, he pays a share of the bill to the rickshaw company, eats from a big pot, and sleeps in a large bunk bed.

But the owner of the car dealership was an old hand and didn't notice anything wrong at first. But after getting to know him for a long time, he found out that this guy knew some Kung Fu and the calluses on his hands showed that he had held a gun, so he became suspicious.

From then on, I kept a closer eye on him. Later, I discovered that he often picked up business in front of the pseudo-government office. The boss introduced him to drive a special car for a wealthy family, but this guy actually gave up the job to someone else.

The boss thought about it for a long time and determined that this guy must be an undercover agent, definitely one of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Although he became a good citizen under the rule of the Japanese, he still had a patriotic heart and did not report it.

Until the Eighth Route Army recaptured Shangqiu, the Eighth Route Army posted notices in the city, asking the people to report those who committed evil deeds, oppressed the people, or worked for the Japanese and puppet troops.

The drivers were very resentful of the boss of the rickshaw shop. The boss was worried that he would be implicated. He thought that at least he had protected the undercover personnel, and that he was indirectly making contributions to the country, so he explained the whole matter to the Eighth Route Army.

The person in charge of the reception was from the Shangqiu Prefectural Committee. He knew very well that there was no need for his own people to hide, and that the person might be a member of the Military Control Commission. As a result, he brought the person back and interrogated him, only to find out that the guy was a Japanese.

"Japanese? Is this little devil crazy? Shangqiu was the territory of the little devil before. Could it be that the little devil has the habit of keeping an eye on his own people?"

Li Yunlong was puzzled after hearing this. Zhou Weihan laughed and said, "If the person in charge of this matter was from the army, he would probably have gotten away with it. Fortunately, the comrades from the Shangqiu Prefectural Committee have experience in lurking and saw through the trick!"

"Following the investigation of the driver, we uncovered four people in total. One of them worked for the puppet government, and the other three were also among the people. The driver was the liaison officer of the hidden team, responsible for delivering messages!"

"These people were lurking in Shangqiu last winter, so they are unusual!" Zhou Weihan's eyes were deep and no one knew what he was thinking.

As he was speaking, Yang Bo came over quickly, followed by a comrade: "** member!"

"Zhou**, I'm Wang Zhiguo from the Investigation Department of Shangqiu Public Security Bureau. The leader of the Japanese hidden team has given me an important piece of information!"