Chapter 116 New Revenge
Shang Zhen and his men lay in the woods and looked down the mountain. They really saw a group of people moving along the foot of the mountain.
The team was wearing khaki uniforms, and they were undoubtedly the Japanese army.
But were the Japanese troops really searching the mountains? The answer is obviously no.
The mountains and forests are so vast that even if there were thousands of Japanese soldiers, let alone hundreds, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find dozens of them. What's more, there were only more than a hundred Japanese soldiers at the foot of the mountain.
At this time, the telescope that Wang Laomao seized from the Japanese army came in handy.
Wang Laomao had already raised his telescope and started looking down the mountain.
At this moment, they on the mountain heard faint shouting coming from the bottom of the mountain.
Of course, the shout was not from a Japanese, but from a villager. There were three villagers who were held at the front by the Japanese army. They were all wearing gray-black clothes, which were out of place with the khaki uniforms of the Japanese army.
"Everyone, come out quickly! The Imperial Japanese Army won't kill anyone. Just tell us where those Northeastern troops are hiding."
Just that shout made Shang Zhen and the others frown. Are they going to witness the birth of a traitor with their own eyes?
"He was forced to do it!" Shang Zhen said softly after a moment, and then he blurted out "Not good!" He turned around and said anxiously to the person beside him, "Go back and get a few people to watch over those people. Don't let them make a sound!"
At this time, Shang Zhen had already figured out that the Japanese army was not searching the mountain at all. They were clearly using the three civilians in front as bait to force them out.
There was no need to ask about those three old men; they must be the ones the middle-aged man mentioned who had returned to the village to check on the situation.
A total of four people should have returned. When they saw that their houses were burned, one of them ran back to the mountains to report the news. The other three people stayed in the village and were then captured by the Japanese army. As for whether the Japanese army stayed in the village directly after burning the houses, or came later, it no longer matters.
Shang Zhen's judgment was undoubtedly correct. He had to ensure that the ordinary people on this mountain would not be tempted by the Japanese army.
Just now Chen Hanwen said that the Japanese army came to search the mountain. Shang Zhen and the others wanted to find out what was going on, so they naturally rushed over here.
When they were leaving, Old Leader Huo asked two people to watch over the common people and not let the Shaanxi people leave easily.
It now seems that the two soldiers are unable to keep an eye on the civilians.
If any of the common people lose their patience, like that middle-aged man, all they have to do is shout and summon the Japanese army, and then those common people will be dead!
If Shang Zhen initially felt guilty about the village being burned down by the Japanese army, his guilt disappeared when he saw the devastated state of the middle-aged man.
Either the middle-aged man was short-sighted or the common people were petty, Shang Zhen felt that if there was a traitor in this village, it must be that middle-aged man!
Just as Qiu Bo and his four companions crawled back and ran under the cover of the woods, the villager below was still shouting at the top of his lungs: "Brothers of the Northeast Army, uncles of the Northeast Army, I beg you, please come out! There are eight people in my family, with elderly and children, and they all rely on me to work and support them!"
The villager's voice sounded hoarse and trembling. He was obviously very scared. No one knew how long he had been shouting.
"If you don't come out, the Japanese will chop off one of my arms! They also said that if you don't come out, they will chop off my other arm!
If you don’t come out, they will chop off my legs. Please, please come out!" the man shouted desperately.
But in this situation, how could Shang Zhen and his team get out? Shang Zhen and his team couldn't possibly go and rescue the three villagers captured by the Japanese army.
As for the reasons, first, with their current military strength, they are definitely no match for the Japanese troops at the foot of the mountain, and they will suffer heavy casualties.
Second, even if they attacked the Japanese troops at the foot of the mountain regardless of casualties, what would happen to the civilians left behind in the mountains? If they ran away, all the civilians would be captured by the Japanese army, including the elderly, children, women and children.
The middle-aged man had never seen the Japanese kill people, so of course he would not cry until he saw the coffin. However, Shang Zhen and the others understood that since they had sneak attacked the Japanese artillery position yesterday, the Japanese army retaliated by massacring dozens or even hundreds of civilians. Was that a big deal?
The man shouted at the top of his lungs, while the Japanese soldiers behind him looked vigilantly into the mountains and forests.
Shang Zhen and the others helplessly lay in the woods and listened quietly. They were really helpless.
"These bastards won't chop them to death with Japanese swords in front of us, right?" Hu Zhuzi whispered.
But Hu Zhuzi had just said this when Wang Laomao turned around and glared at him fiercely.
What time is it now? Is there any place for you to speak? Hu Zhuzi shut up.
Hu Zhuzi was just a little rash in his actions. If he were to cause something else at this time, it wouldn't just be a case of getting angry, but of being arrested!
The villager led the Japanese army around the foot of the mountain, and the direction they were heading was exactly where the villagers had been hiding before.
But they didn't know where the villagers hid last night, but they estimated that they were not too far away, either on the adjacent hills, or not far away in between.
Finally, when the villager and the Japanese army disappeared from Shang Zhen and his team's sight, they got up and ran back.
When they ran to the place where they met those people, they saw that they had already gathered together, and their faces were all pale.
Even the middle-aged man who had asked them to pay for the house sat on the ground obediently with his hands on his shoulders.
"I hit this bastard with the butt of his gun!" Qiu Bo took the initiative to explain when he saw Shang Zhen and the others coming back.
After saying this, Qiu Bo glanced at the middle-aged man again. When the middle-aged man saw Qiu Bo's ferocious eyes, his body began to tremble again.
There is no doubt that the people were frightened. Their location was actually not far from where the Japanese army passed, and they must have heard the villager's shouting.
However, the reason they were frightened was not just the shouting of the Japanese soldiers and the villager at the foot of the mountain. Qiu Bo and his men had already opened the safety of their guns and pointed their guns at the civilians.
As for why Qiu Bo and others did this, is there any need to ask?
If any villager dared to speak out at that time, Qiu Bo and his men might not have opened fire, but it was obvious that they had already intended to kill!
Again, they are the Chinese army, but they are not the local soldiers who appeared later!
The scene was cold and silent. When the wind blew, a few dead leaves that had not fallen from the trees collided with each other, making a rustling sound.
The weather was cold, and the faces of Shang Zhen and other Northeast Army soldiers were also cold, and the hearts of the people were probably also very cold.
Shang Zhen couldn't tell whether what they did as soldiers was correct. He was just a soldier at the lowest level. If he could understand the relationship between the people and the army, then based on his awareness, he would no longer be an ordinary soldier.
As an ordinary soldier, he could never transcend his background and environment.
This silence lasted for an hour before Wang Laomao said, "The Japanese must have gone somewhere else. Let's go and see if we can pick up an arm."
Note: Dai'er, in Northeastern dialect, means a person who is stupid and stupid, but the tone is heavier and contains some insults.
Lao Zhe’s new book is on the shelves today, and five chapters will be updated for three consecutive days.
To borrow the words of the street performers, at home you rely on your parents, outside you rely on your friends, those with money support you with money, those without money support you with your presence, thank you for your courtesy.
