Chapter 1 Oath (Part 2)

"In this internal election of the Black Stone Guerrillas, there were 17 attendees and 17 voters. All votes were valid votes. Comrade Zhang Songling was a slight advantage over Comrade Zheng Juemin and was elected." When the Red Beard loudly confirmed that Zhang Songling was elected as the deputy captain of the Heishi Village, warm applause immediately sounded in the tent, including Lao Zheng, who had just lost the election, and he took the lead in congratulating Zhang Songling with applause, without any intention of losing his election.

Several brothers who had lived and died with Zhang Songling many times clapped and worked very hard. They all firmly believed that Zhang Songling was younger and had a short time to join the team, but he was more suitable for the Red Bearded Team and then led the team to the end of victory. After all, after Zhang Songling arrived, everyone had tasted the fruits of victory after he got. Before that, although the guerrillas had won many victories, they never won as happily as Zhang Songling participated in the command.

"Next, let us continue to give warm applause and welcome Deputy Captain Zhang to say a few words to everyone." Red beard's hand gently pressed down, and then continued to announce loudly.

"Bao, bao, bao." Applause was like thunder, and every guerrilla backbone turned his eyes to Zhang Songling's face, with encouragement and expectation in his eyes.

"I, I" Zhang Songling blushed and bowed to everyone, feeling grateful and shocked in his heart. At the same time, several other flavors rushed over, tangling and rolling in his chest, making him unable to remember what to say. Just when he was dizzy and unable to find the southeast, northwest and north, a messy footsteps suddenly came from the door of the tent. Immediately, a cold wind pushed the door and entered, "Report to the captain of the brigade, Battalion Commander Zhou, who was the leader of the Jinsui Army, came to our camp with two companies of cavalry. According to the mobile post, his team is less than five miles away from here, and he will definitely arrive within twenty minutes."

"How could it be him, did the sentry see clearly?" "How come there are so many people in two companies?" "Who is on duty tonight, why didn't he come here by himself?" The backbone's faces changed color, and they didn't care about listening to Zhang Songling's inaugural speech. They turned their heads and asked loudly.

The young soldier who came to report was overwhelmed by the question. After a while, he responded stammeringly, "I, I don't know, Captain Xiao Zheng asked me to come and report. He had already brought a small team of soldiers to meet him. I guess he was almost in a fight with Battalion Commander Zhou at this time."

Hearing this, everyone became more anxious and became more and more unprofessional in their words. "This guy must have no good intentions." "Grandma, we were in danger, but he refused to save him when he was dead. Now he still wants to take advantage of the situation."

"Everyone, calm down, show some masculinity, don't let Zhou Heizi underestimate it." Amid the chaotic discussion, the captain Wang Huzi's words were like a magic needle in the sea, which made everyone's heart hanging in their throats instantly find the fulcrum.

"He, he, he is probably here to demonstrate." Everyone was no longer as panicked as before, but they still dared not think about the purpose of Zhou Heichang's arrival this time. More than three months ago, the Japanese and puppet troops launched a sneak attack on the guerrillas. According to the watch and mutual assistance agreement between the Blackstone Guerrillas and the Jinsui Independence Battalion, Hongbei immediately sent a telegram for help to Zhou Heichang after getting the exact news. However, until the guerrillas were forced to stay away from the desert and had to hide in the desert for a while, Zhou Heichang's independent battalion still had no statement. Not only did they not launch a feint attack on Heichang County as agreed in advance to restrain the Japanese and puppet troops, they did not even reply to Redbeard.

At this moment, the severe winter has arrived on the grassland. The guerrillas, which had just suffered a major setback, struggled to survive in the cold wind and blizzards, but Zhou Heichang suddenly rushed over with more people with twice the strength of all the guerrillas. If he said that he just wanted to express his condolences to the guerrillas, do anyone with normal intelligence have the courage to believe it?

"Xiao Zheng has already come to meet, but the gun has not been fired yet, which means Zhou Heitan does not plan to meet us. Since he does not plan to meet us, whether he comes alone or brings the team, he is all guests of our guerrillas. We masters cannot lose our courtesy." The eyes quickly swept across everyone's faces, and the red beard continued to say slowly.

Every guerrilla backbone who was swept by his eyes nodded silently. Yes, no matter how many people Zhou Heikang brought to him, as long as both sides had not taken action, he would be the "guest" of the guerrillas. Everyone who is the masters did not turn the guests away anyway. Otherwise, it would only make the other party look down on the strength of the guerrillas and their subsequent actions became more and more fearless.

"The captain made sense. The more we were at this time, the more we had to take the airs of the master." Zhang Songling was the first to clarify his thoughts and took the initiative to stand up and share the worries of Hongbei. "I think so. Captain Zhao and I each brought a cavalry team to the gate of the camp to welcome Zhou Heitan. The three of us are old friends. We can say more directly. Team Wang and everyone in the camp slaughter sheep, and boil water. Zhou Heitan came to see us from all the way to the wind and snow. We have to get him a bite of hot food no matter what."

He deliberately bit the words "long far away" and "snow against the wind and snow". Everyone was old guerrillas. As soon as he heard it, he knew that the new deputy captain pointed out the opponent's disadvantages. Indeed, there were more people in the independent battalion, but after rushing hundreds of miles in a row on heavy snow, he must be at the end of his strength at this moment. If he really started, Zhou Heitan might not be able to make much cheaper money when the guerrillas were well prepared.

"Okay, I think this arrangement is good." The captain of the brigade nodded with praise and expressed his appreciation for Zhang Songling's proposal. "The task of welcoming guests will be left to you and Lao Zhao. I will arrange other things. Lao Zheng, go and call everyone up. Lao Feng, please find a few people and ride a horse to send a letter to the villagers who are taking refuge in the two oasis nearby, so as not to wait for the camp to be lively and accidentally scare them. Xiao Zhou, you will take a few people to catch sheep, Lao Zhang, and leave it to you to boil water, and then order a few more bonfires in the camp. We don't have enough tents on hand, and the guests are coming from all the way. The reception of roasting fire to drive away the cold can always be done."

The more calm the two captains were, the more at ease the two men felt, and they all agreed loudly, turned around and went out to execute the order.

While everyone was busy, Hongbei stood up and sent Zhao Tianlong and Zhang Songling to the tent. While walking, she whispered to discuss with the two of them to decide on some specific details. After the two of them were sent to the camp gate, the entire "hospital" plan was basically improved. In addition to the previous arrangement, there were several "consider" preparations, so as to try to make the guests feel at home.

Two cavalry teams had already gathered at the door and stood on standby. Zhao Tianlong and Zhang Songling solemnly saluted Red Beard, then jumped onto the horse's back and "Go." With a low urging, more than 20 horses opened their four hooves and rushed into the wind and snow in the sky like flying.

The desert area lacks hills and trees to cover it, the north wind is cold and hard, and the rice-like snow hits people's faces, as if it is cut by a knife. However, Zhang Songling's heart is so hot, as if there is a ball of flame buried inside. He is the deputy captain of the Black Stone Guerrillas. Just over ten minutes ago, the brothers handed over the Black Stone Guerrillas to him through secret ballots. Everyone believes that he can pass on this foundation and believe that he can lead the entire guerrillas to regain their strength and create glory again.

Although he only joined the guerrillas for a short period of one year and a few months, everyone believed that he was even more important than Lao Zheng, who had fought side by side with everyone in the guerrillas for more than ten years. He could not and dared not let down this trust, even if he gave everything he had done for it.

How to deal with Zhou Heichang's sudden arrival became his first kick after he became the deputy captain. If he kicked it out, his future work may be smooth sailing. If he accidentally sprained his leg on this threshold, he may be able to have a huge discount in the eyes of everyone. In the future, even if the Red Team and Zhao Tianlong support are fully supported, his performance in speaking will be greatly reduced, and his future work will also add many variables and difficulties.

Just thinking in a mess, I suddenly heard Zhao Tianlong shouting in his ear: "Don't be too anxious. I understand Heizi's character, and his nature is not bad."

"Ah,." The wind was too strong, and Zhang Songling only heard the last half of the sentence, was stunned, and responded loudly with a loud voice, "What did you say, who is not bad in nature."

"I mean Zhou Heicang. He was just unfortunately the son of the horse thief, so he had to continue to be a horse thief. In fact, he was not a traitor or evil person, not like a yellow beard." Zhao Tianlong turned his head and shouted at Zhang Songling's ear with his body.

"Oh,." This time, Zhang Songling finally heard it clearly, and at the same time he felt a little confused. "Then do you think he is doing something? You are afraid that our team will suffer too much loss, so you will send us troops and supplies," he said.

"That won't be. I guess he's a little involuntarily." Zhao Tianlong thought for a while and continued to defend Zhou Heichang's strange behavior. "Think about it, he is now the battalion commander of the Kuomintang, the commander of the top regiment, the brigade commander, and the division commander. If anyone has any bad intentions, even if he is not happy, he will have to deal with it."

"It's possible, but it's not bad for us to make more preparations." Zhang Songling nodded and expressed partial agreement with Zhao Tianlong's judgment. It was not the first time he had dealt with Zhou Heitan. He also had some understanding of this person's character, was loyal, committed, and had a little bit of boldness. To some extent, these can be regarded as advantages. As for the shortcomings, the most awkward and most worrying thing is that this person has some officials in his bones. If someone in the upper class of the Jinsui Army really used high officials and generous salaries as a temptation to encourage him to stab the guerrillas in the back, as long as the price was sufficient, this person would definitely not show mercy.

"It's definitely worth preparing. Grassland is where my brother pays attention to strength. Without strength, everything is useless. But when you meet, don't rush to question him first. Let me pretend to be confused with him for a while and hold him to a high position. Let him see how he has the nerve to slap himself in the mouth." Zhao Tianlong nodded and continued to discuss with Zhang Songling.

"Just do it according to your own ideas, give me a look when needed." Zhang Songling has always trusted his good friend without reservation and agreed to the other party's request very readily.

The two brothers discussed while walking. Time passed quickly without realizing it. In a blink of an eye, dim lights flashed in the wind and snow in front of them. Then dozens of war horses covered with ice tumors galloped out of the snow curtain. First, a general wearing a yellow-green military uniform and a scarlet cloak was the famous black beard, Zhou Heichang, the commander of the independent battalion of the Shanxi Sui Army.

Immediately afterwards, more than a dozen war horses rushed to the front. Zheng Hongqi, the captain of the second squadron, sat upright on the horse's back with more than a dozen brothers under his command, gritted his teeth and raised his chest. His thin military uniform was frozen by the wind and snow, and he was harder than iron armor.

"Let the road be opened and welcome our guests." Zhang Songling shouted without hesitation, ordering the cavalry to dodge to the left and right sides, and welcome the distinguished guests from afar with the cavalry.

"Yes." The cavalry following him and Zhao Tianlong were the only remaining elites in the guerrillas. They agreed at the top of their voices and immediately turned the horse's head to give up a wide enough passage to the "guest". Then, with Zhao Tianlong and Zhang Songling as the center, they automatically formed two straight columns on both sides of the passage, standing on both sides, waiting for the "guests" to review.

The followers behind Zhou Heichang immediately became nervous and pressed their hands with leather gloves quietly on their waists. Zhou Heichang gave the order and pulled out the knife and confronted the guerrillas.

Before Zhou Heitan could give instructions, Zhang Songling shouted "Salute." He shouted again at the top of his throat. He took the lead in pulling out the Cossack sword and lifted it flat in front of him, with the tip of the knife and the bridge of his nose. "Salute." The cavalrymen repeated loudly, and according to the demonstration of their own deputy captain, they also pulled out the Cossack sword, held it in front of him, and shook it out of the steel corridor in the wind and snow.

It was obviously the first time Zhou Heikang was treated with such courtesy. The expression on his face immediately became unnatural. He quickly pulled the reins of the war horse, slowed down his pace, and then bowed in front of his chest with both hands, and greeted loudly: "Brother Long, fat man, what are you doing? I haven't seen you for a few days. Are our brothers so disagreeable?!"
Chapter completed!