Bright Sword's Bloody War of Resistance

Chapter 887 Survivors

At dawn, a raging fire broke out in Matou Village, illuminating half the sky red. The screams of women and children seemed particularly mournful against the backdrop of the Japs' crazy laughter.

There was a field of wheat drying in the village. The Japanese gathered the women and children together and then poured gasoline on the bodies and wheat.

"Yoshi, let the Chinese know what will happen if they dare to resist!"

Fumio Kojima's face was wrapped in bandages, with a blood stain on his nose, but the anger on his face had not yet subsided. The other Japanese soldiers were excitedly appreciating the beautiful scenery before them.

There was an unpleasant burnt smell in the air. The military doctor who had just bandaged Kojima Fumio covered his mouth and nose, and a look of pity appeared on his young face.

"Mr. Aono, it seems that you are not a qualified imperial soldier. You don't need to be merciful to the Chinese. You just need to use cruel means to intimidate them, just like in Manchukuo!"

"You really should learn more from your predecessors. Without their hard work, the Empire's surgical medicine would not have progressed so quickly!"

Qingye Yanghui lowered his head and responded, perhaps with a kind heart: "Sir, I always believe that doctors should treat diseases and save lives, not conduct live experiments. As for soldiers, they should not involve ordinary people without weapons in the war!"

Upon hearing this, Kojima Fumio flew into a rage and grabbed Aono Hiroki by the collar: "Stupid, pedantic!"

"They are armed Chinese forces that may threaten the lives of the Imperial Army at any time. I want to eliminate the possibility that the Empire's policy in North China is too conciliatory. Otherwise, how could the situation be so deteriorating?"

Qingye Yanghui's face turned red, but he still tried his best to refute, pointing at the figure struggling in the sea of ​​fire: "But those women and children are innocent, why do you do this?"

At this time, there was a large amount of blood oozing from Fumio Kojima's nose, and his eyes revealed an unconcealable ferocity, like a devil. He slapped Aono Hiroki in the face with two loud slaps.

"Baga, they deserve to die, put away your cheap kindness!"

In the end, power triumphed over kindness in one's heart. Aono Yoki lowered his head silently: "Hi!"

"Sir, please don't get angry, otherwise it will make your injury worse. The weather is hot now, and it is very easy to get infected. Once..."

The fire at Matou Village was so loud that it soon attracted the attention of the cavalry regiment.

"It's the direction of Dajishan!"

"Logically, the local government should have evacuated the people long ago. Why are the Japanese making such a fuss?"

"That's possible, there might be some who haven't left yet, report to the company commander immediately!"

The cavalry regiment of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Column was divided into two parts. Political Commissar Qin Fuwen led one part to conduct reconnaissance in Dahou Township, southeast of Shangqiu. Yesterday, at the request of the 14th Brigade, the unit went east to Xiayi area to scout the movements of Japanese reinforcements.

At night, the Cavalry Regiment and the 14th Regiment of the 4th Brigade fought fiercely with the Japanese reinforcements for a while and then both withdrew. Han Mengzi, the commander of the th Company of the Cavalry Regiment, led his troops to stay near Qingfeng Mountain in Xiayi to continue reconnaissance.

The 14th Cavalry Company contacted the regiment headquarters, and the cavalry regiment headquarters contacted the th Brigade headquarters. After several rounds of communication, they learned that the villagers of Matouzhai in Dajishan had not evacuated.

After daybreak, a small unit from the 14th Regiment of the 4th Brigade managed to reach Daji Mountain. The fire in Matouzhai had been extinguished, but thick smoke was still rising.

Afterwards, two soldiers went up the mountain to scout, and the remaining soldiers found a secluded place to rest.

"Hey, none of the people in Matou Village are good people. When we were paying taxes and grain to the Japanese puppet army, they relied on the large number of guns in their hands to force the other villages to pay the lion's share!"

"The Nationalist Army came, and then they colluded with the Nationalist Army, allocating the quota of able-bodied men to our other villages. I was kidnapped in the first place!"

"Damn it, this is what you deserve for doing so many bad things!"

The instructor stood up and kicked him, his sharp eyes piercing: "Hu Wenquan, stop talking nonsense. Is this what an Eighth Route Army soldier should say? Go back and wait for your punishment!"

The company commander hurriedly tried to smooth things over and suppressed the instructor: "Hu Wenquan, there are many comrades who have experienced the same thing as you. Are you the only one who would complain?"

"If you didn't know the local situation and could be of some use, I would have sewn your mouth shut!"

Hu Wenquan shrank his neck and shut his mouth obediently. The company commander moved closer to the instructor.

"Instructor, your criticism is correct, but you also have to take the feelings of your comrades into consideration. Although Hu Wenquan defected from the Nationalist Army, he usually performs well and fights bravely!" "Those who come from the mountainous areas are all good candidates for the army. In particular, the column headquarters has issued a special document to train and promote more officers and soldiers from northern Anhui and eastern Henan!"

As he was speaking, a soldier staggered over from the mountain path.

"Company commander, instructor, more than 700 people in Matou Village died, not a single one survived!"

The crowd fell silent, and finally the instructor spoke up: "Let's go, at least bury the bodies of our fellow villagers!"

They all went up the mountain together. The village was full of traces of the Japanese invaders' rampage. The bodies of the young and strong men were lying on the ground in all directions, and only scattered debris could be seen at the site where the Japanese army had set fire.

Just as everyone was burying the bodies, there was a sudden cry from a courtyard in the village.

"In the well!"

Hu Wenquan opened the wooden cover on the well, looked down, and found two figures floating in the water.

"Company commander, instructor, there are two people alive in the well!"

"Quick, pull the person out!"

Finally, Hu Wenquan went down into the well and fished the two people out. When they came up, he found that they were two children, the older one was 12 years old and the younger one was only 5 years old.

Hu Wenquan patted his wet clothes, stared at the two children and said, "Damn it, if I knew they were Ma Daqi's children, I wouldn't have gone down!"

The younger child didn’t understand what had happened in the village, and ran towards his home crying. After turning around and not finding anyone, he came back to look for his brother.

"Brother, where are our father and mother?"

The older child pointed at the leader's body lying on the ground and said slowly, "Our father and mother are dead. We have no home anymore!"

The younger child shook his father's body and cried loudly, and his older brother pulled his younger brother up from the ground.

"Why are you crying? Can crying help you avenge your parents?"

The soldiers conducted a thorough search of Matou Village but found no survivors.

"There were more than 700 people, but only two children survived? What do the officials in Xiayi do for a living? Why don't they allow the people of Matou Village to evacuate?"

Zhou Weihan slammed the telegram on the table with an extremely unpleasant look on his face.

Luo Benzhong on the side also had a unhappy expression on his face. He was in charge of the work of the Northern Anhui base. Before leaving the Northern Anhui base, he specifically reminded the people in the war zone to evacuate, but the cadres in Xiayi did not report the problem of Matouzhai to their superiors.

"Commissioner, I have learned about the Ma Touzhai issue. It is very representative in northern Anhui!"

"These mountain strongholds, represented by Ma Touzhai, have existed for at least a hundred years from the late Qing Dynasty to the present. They are called mountain dwellers, but in fact they often come down the mountain to rob the common people, and they have many grievances with the local people!"

"After our army advanced into northern Anhui, we incorporated many similar villages and resettled the ordinary mountain dwellers there, but Ma Tou Village did not trust our Eighth Route Army!"

"For example, among the cadres in Xiayi, there are many locals. They must have grievances with Matou Village, so they must have emotions during work!"

Zhou Weihan only had a general understanding of the situation in northern Anhui and eastern Henan, and his understanding was certainly not as detailed as Luo Benzhong's.

After hearing Luo Benzhong's explanation, Zhou Weihan looked at him with dissatisfaction: "Aren't they just bandits?"

"We can't kill them all with one blow. After the Japanese troops arrived, Matou Village built a stronghold to protect itself, which also played a role in protecting the country and the people!"

Zhou Weihan sighed: "There is a long way to go in cadre construction. During this campaign, we must properly resolve the problems in northern Anhui and eastern Henan!"

"Lao Luo, report the Ma Touzhai incident to the bases in northern Anhui and eastern Henan. The county governments involved in the war zone must re-verify the local situation. Everyone must evacuate!"