Chapter 5: Pure Child (Seventh Middle School)

Whether Kawata Kiyoshi and Shirakawa Shiro were forced by reality or did it deliberately after careful consideration, it had to admit that this move really hit the guerillas. The Blackstone Guerrillas, who had just recovered from the attack last winter, had no ability to fight head-on with Japanese devils of the same size, and the guerrilla logistics supply could not support a moderately intense head-on battle.

To a certain extent, whether it can withstand the Japanese invaders of the same scale in the defensive war is an inescapable hurdle in the process of the evolution of the guerrilla areas to the anti-Japanese base areas. During the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japan, countless guerrilla teams fell one after another invisible gully, and blood dyed the picturesque mountains and rivers red.

Due to the communication conditions of that year, no matter the experienced Red Beard or the keen-minded Zhang Songling, they did not know that in the Central Plains, many guerrillas had suffered similar setbacks due to their excessive development momentum. They could not draw useful experiences and lessons from their peers in time to avoid disasters. They even knew very little about the situation of the civil war at that time and could not make any preparations in advance. So when the test suddenly came, they had no other choice except to meet them without hesitation.

‘If I were not so anxious to open up wealth for the guerrillas back then, even if the movements of several trade fairs were not so big, I would not have paid such a big price.’ In the late 1990s, looking at the Crescent Lake, which had a total of four-fifths smaller than that of the past, Zhang Songling’s eyes could not be taken away for a long time. The setback that year hit the Black Stone Guerrillas too heavy. It was so heavy that more than 60 years later, as a witness, he was often awakened from nightmares. However, all the past has become the past, and the result is painful or unacceptable, it cannot be changed, and it is even more impossible to reverse time and start over.

John Zhang, who accompanied his grandfather to revisit his hometown, was very interested in the stories told by his grandfather. However, he grew up watching Hollywood blockbusters and American soap operas since childhood, and he could not understand why the guerrillas, even though they knew that the strength was very different from the enemy, still followed the steps that the Japanese were predicted in advance. "If you left the vendors behind and retreated alone, what would the consequences be? Japanese devils, I mean, the Japanese army in those days would really shoot at the people unscrupulously? Did they really not care about the international public opinion at that time?"

"Don't speculate on the Japanese devils of that year by human behavior." Zhang Songling was always unwilling to blame his grandson, who was close to the Banana Man. Although he was very helpless at the time, he was very helpless. "Even now, when the invaders massacred the local people, they rarely had any concerns. Just like the American army in Iraq, although under the banner of liberating the local people, in fact, the Iraqis who died in their hands are no less than those who died in Saddam's hands!"

Influenced by memories, this statement was a little deeper, and even a little contrary to John Zhang's perception. In the latter's eyes, he saw more about how democratic and prosperous Iraq was after its reconstruction, and how excited the media around the world was when the dictator of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was judged.

Of course, some reporters revealed that American soldiers killed innocent people in Iraq indiscriminately, but these reports will never make headlines and will not attract too much attention. Only when they prove the fairness and necessity of public opinion supervision will they be deliberately taken out as evidence. When Zhang John's thinking was deeply affected, he heard his grandfather's words, he was full of indignation, blushed and murmured to defend: "That's what you imagine. There were indeed several massacres, but after being exposed by reporters, the murderer was taken back to the country for trial. The military also promised that he would try his best to avoid similar incidents."

"Is it really only a few times, those that have not been revealed." Zhang Songling shook his head and sneered loudly. Influenced by his personal experience, he had no good impression of all aggression. Whether he used the banner to expel dictators or establish a common prosperity in Greater East Asia, "the crimes exposed by newspapers are always the tip of the iceberg. More crimes are either deliberately covered up by the invaders or deliberately ignored by the media. Anyway, no one except the conquered themselves will care about the pain they endured."

John Zhang was speechless. His understanding of the world was too different from his grandfather. He had a limited understanding of the war more than 60 years ago. In his limited exposure to several Chinese-made anti-Japanese war films, works that explored the humanity of the invaders were also the preference of "new" directors. As for the Chinese people who fell under the sword of the Japanese, they did not attract much attention anyway. They were not relatives of the director and screenwriter. The cold and noble new directors and screenwriters were really not interested in wasting precious film on them.

"I don't know what the Japanese are like now, grandpa." Seeing the confusion in his grandson's eyes, Zhang Songling sighed softly and added patiently, "I only know that most of the Japanese devils back then were beasts, and even worse than beasts."

"You mean, if you don't stand in front of the Japanese army and the Japanese devils, they will kill all the vendors." Zhang John still couldn't believe the judgment made by his grandfather, but when he heard that the old man's breathing had become very heavy, he decided to ignore the assumptions he had put forward before and go directly to the next topic, "Then how long have you blocked, and have the vendors evacuated safely in the end?"

"It didn't stop it for too long, but the Japanese's goal of this battle is to completely destroy us. Therefore, as long as we are not dead, the Japanese will not care about chasing others." Zhang Songling sighed again, his eyes and soul passed through the mist on the lake, and returned to the summer sixty years ago. That day's experience was one of the deepest memories in his life, no less than the morning of Hulu Island and the dusk of the wife. Even if he reached the end of his life in the future, he turned into a wisp of blue smoke and a jar of ashes, those memories would not disappear, and he could see dreams and wake up.

The battle officially started at 2:13 pm. What the Japanese did not expect was that even though the total force was only one-tenth of theirs, Hongbei still did not choose to defend herself on the spot. Instead, she ordered Zhao Tianlong and Zhang Songling to lead all the cavalry around her to take the initiative to fight.

"I don't care what you two use. In short, try to get entangled with the Japanese as long as you can. I will lead the rest of the people to organize a second line of defense by the lake. Before dark, the Japanese cannot leave the lake by any means." Before leaving, the Red Beard grabbed the reins of the mounts of Zhao Tianlong and Zhang Songling, and whispered that behind the cavalry were countless panicked faces, although Zhang Shouling and Lao Qiu, Hebei, and other influential old martial arts worlds, Having taken the initiative to help stabilize people's hearts, the housekeeper and Mei Lin sent by the little prince Baiyin also vowed to promise the vendors that they could be brought to a relatively safe place, but the order of the vendors' retreat was still very chaotic. All the people who came to the bank of Crescent Lake were not rich merchants. If many of them threw away the goods in their hands, they would lose all their capital. What was waiting for the whole family after they returned would be fate that was left on the street.

He was reluctant to leave the goods and had not received any military training. Of course, the vendors could not withdraw quickly. They spent most of their time complaining and lamenting, and even complained about Red Beard's failure to predict the enemy's plane first. However, Red Beard was neither angry nor defended himself. After letting go of Zhao Tianlong and Zhang Songling's reins, he turned his eyes to the vendors around him, clasped his fists and apologized to everyone: "Blame me, it's true that I'm blamed for this matter. I'm not considering it well and preparing, so I have implicated everyone. But now it's not the time to say these words. The Japanese car will arrive soon. Everyone should follow Master Meng and Young Master. He can find a way to escape for everyone."

Most vendors were very reasonable and understood that the guerrillas had tried their best to join the brigades and donkeys, but there were also some people with hot tempers and impulsiveness who saw the red beard proactively admit their mistakes, but instead stopped and looked at each other with a disgusting face, "Leaving, it's not as easy as you said. We didn't feed our animals, and the carriage didn't have time to clean up."

"Yes, no matter how fast we run, we can still run over the Japanese car. But you, the old man, will jump on the horse's back later and "rubbing" it will disappear."

"Captain Zhao and Captain Zhang have led the cavalry to meet him. What else do you want?" Zheng Xiaobao and other guerrillas were furious when they were spoken, raised their eyes and asked loudly.

"If you like to leave, the Japanese will come here later and see who will let go."

Hearing this, some vendors felt even more aggrieved. They pointed at Zheng Xiaobao with their fingers and said angrily: "If you don't have that diamond, don't take care of porcelain work. Since you can't beat the Japanese, why bother to trick us here?"

"That's right, we came here just after you said that we could ensure everyone's safety. Now, all the things we said were eaten by dogs."

"You are making trouble."

"You guerrillas don't keep their word."

The more noisy the people were, the higher the voices they said, the less they could not speak. When Red Beard heard it, he couldn't say a word of apologies he wanted to say. He pulled Zheng Xiaobao with his hand, then pulled several other young team members who were arguing with the vendors, and whispered, "Shut up, load the old customers with me, whoever fights with others, I will punish him."

"They are unreasonable." Zheng Xiaobao and others protested in a low voice. After all, they didn't want to push the red beard. They swallowed their anger and helped the vendors tie up the goods. They lost the partner of the quarrel. The resentful vendors no longer had the interest to continue to speak coldly. They stomped their feet and jumped onto the truck. At the same time, they secretly swear in their hearts that they would never be fooled by the Tujiao Route Army in their life, and would never step into the Crescent Lake Market again.
Chapter completed!