"Eat, eat quickly. After eating, hurry up and start. The superior leader said that the Black Stone Guerrillas have more guns than people. When everyone arrives, almost everyone can get a 38-large gulf." Two platoon leaders, who are about the same young as Fang Guoqiang, also waved their arms and loudly comforted the soldiers' restless hearts.

When they heard that they had guns to take over when they went to the Black Stone Guerrillas, the soldiers became more and more enthusiastic. The brief military and political training of more than three months had already made their perception of the Japanese devils go from fear to looking straight or even contempt, and their specific understanding of the war against Japan also rose from protecting their own families to defending the entire Chinese nation.

In such an exciting atmosphere, the dumplings prepared by the cooks were of course poured into their stomachs without even having the taste. After about twenty minutes, the latest soldier also had breakfast. Su Xing and Zhang Jiyun came together and spoke for two minutes to see everyone off. Fang Guoqiang thanked the leaders on behalf of all the cadres and soldiers for their concern, then waved his hand hard and shouted: "Go to set off." More than 60 people lined up in four columns, singing "On the Taihang Mountains", and rushed to the battlefield quickly.

"The red sun shines all over the East, and the God of Freedom is singing in love. Look, thousands of mountains and valleys, copper and iron walls, and the anti-Japanese war fire burning on the Taihang Mountains." When people were full of vitality, they basically didn't feel tired. They walked and sang. At a march speed of nearly 40 kilometers a day, in just a few days, the team officially entered the Modong grassland area, and the more they walked, the more they were, the more they were, the more sunny they were on each face, (Note 2)

For many cadres and soldiers who grew up in farming areas, they really couldn't realize their emptiness before they saw the grassland. The sky above their heads turned into a huge circle without realizing it, and the earth under their feet was endless. In addition to themselves and their companions, there was no living person, and there were few animals. Only the residual snow in early spring scattered in the withered yellow wilderness like shells, and reflected the colorful purples and reds.

The wind is very strong, but the air blowing in the nostrils is sweet, the temperature is very low, but the sunlight on the body is as warm as a hot spring coming out of the ground. Walking between the colorful world, people want to sing louder without realizing it. However, Fang Guoqiang and the two platoon leaders had to order everyone to restrain their voices. The nearby area was so empty that it was almost empty that there was no obstruction at all. The singing could easily come out of sight. If some hostile forces were alarmed, the soldiers of the two platoons were almost bare-handed and had no power to protect themselves.

The more cautious they were, the more troubles followed. When it was almost evening, more than a dozen men riding horses in sheepskin suddenly jumped out of the horizon along the sunshine. Seeing Fang Guoqiang and others moving forward in line, they were slightly stunned at first, and then, their legs were squeezed into the horse's belly, and they rushed towards the crowd like wolves.

"Don't panic, keep the team on the spot. Comrades with guns in their hands stand in front, and comrades without guns use their backpacks to prepare a tripping rope." Fang Guoqiang is no longer the rookie three years ago. He immediately took out a wooden box cannon imitated by an underground workshop from his waist, put out the striker, and aimed steadily at the person rushing to the front of the horse team.

The two platoon leaders and six squad leaders left the line at the same time, lined up beside Fang Guoqiang, each of which picked up a Hanyang Zao with only five bullets, aimed at the uninvited guest who was rushing closer and shouting sternly: "Who, stop, get closer, we will open fire."

"Yeah, I'm quite brave." Unexpectedly, the other party was also a tough guy. The leader of the uninvited guest who led the team was stunned and slowly grabbed the mount. "Which aspect of you are? You don't even recognize the banner of "Sai Rengui". You dare to go to the grassland to play wild."

"Boy, put down your gun quickly and wait for our boss to deal with it. Otherwise, don't blame grandpa for being ruthless." What followed was a guy holding the battle flag with both hands, quite strong. No matter how strong the wind in the air was, he could not blow the flagpole in his hand.

Fang Guoqiang looked carefully and found that he saw a "Xue" with a large bowl of mouth on the battle flag held by the other party. It was a pity that the boss at the front had a face that looked too dark, which was more than 100,000 miles away from Xue Rengui, the jade-faced and white-robed robe in folk legend.

He was hesitating whether to show the Eighth Route Army's banner and suppress the other party's arrogance, suddenly, the voice of the traffic officer Lao He came from behind, "Damn Xue's gown, you'll get itchy butt after being fucked for a few days, right? I'm from the Black Stone Guerrilla Brigade. If you have a genitals, come here to try it."

"Damn it, you dare." Sai Rengui was scolded and his eyes turned black. He lowered his head and was about to take the horse to commit murder. He suddenly saw Lao He's familiar face, and was stunned for a moment, and quickly pulled the reins of the war horse tightly. "He, Mr. He, why are you? This, this really flooded the Dragon King Temple. The whole family refused to recognize the whole family."

"Who is a family with you?" Old He, who was polite to everyone along the way, seemed to have suddenly eaten gunpowder, and he didn't give the other party a good look. "No matter how hard I can't control my lower body, I can't fuck you, little girl. Tell me, what do you want to do? Do you think that Master Hong is gone and our Lamagou is easy to bully, right?"

"No, no, no! Misunderstanding, this is really a misunderstanding." Sai Rengui didn't dare to retaliate at all, and his hands were swaying like a windmill, and he repeatedly explained, "Don't misunderstand, I really didn't see you in the team just now, I'll leave now, I'll leave now. You'll see Mr. Long and Mr. Zhang, don't."

"It's too late, I'm scared and I want to escape. It's not that cheap!" The traffic officer Lao He took a few quick steps, stood in front of Sai Rengui's horse, and said with a lip: "How to compensate, you know yourself, don't let me spit out again."

"I know, I know, don't be angry, don't be angry." Sai Rengui flew off the horse, nodded like a three-grandson who had a lot of debt, raised his hand to remove the two box cannons hanging on his body and the bullet belt tied to his waist, and handed them respectfully to Lao He. "These are authentic German goods I bought on the black market in Shenyang a few years ago. I have long wanted to send them to Master Long. I saw you Master today, and I just asked you Master to take them away by the way, so that I won't let me go for another trip, which makes Master Long annoyed. Please, please, please, please."

"That's all." The traffic officer Lao He curled his lips and responded very dissatisfiedly.

"Brothers, the guys in my hands are all Lao Shui Lianzhu, Master Long, Master Long and Master Zhang, who are not at all." Sai Rengui was so distressed that he still swallowed his anger and explained.

Seeing that Lao He's face was about to turn dark again, he took a step back and quickly added loudly, "Otherwise, you always think that the things on us will not taint Long Master's eyes. Even if you take them away, we will count them as our New Year greetings to Long Master."

"You know what you know." The traffic officer Lao He shrugged his shoulders and put Sai Rengui's reins, "I keep the water pearls for you, but you must remember the rules set by Master Hong during his lifetime. First, you are not allowed to trade within 200 miles of the Crescent Lake. Second, the protection fee is not allowed to exceed 20% of the goods, otherwise, you will wait for Master Long to come to talk to you."

"Yes, yes, we will never violate the rules of Master Hong. Don't worry, why don't we make a living on the grassland, and we will never do anything about fishing in the dry pond." While nodding and bowing, Sai Rengui hung the box cannon behind the saddle, and together with his mount, he "donated" to the Black Stone Guerrillas. Then, without waiting for the order of the traffic officer Lao He, he trotted a few steps, jumped behind his minions, and reached out and slapped his horse's butt, "Why don't you leave quickly, wait for Master He to send us?"

The minion, who had been scared, shivered, quickly turned his horse's head hard, and took Sai Rengui and his companions, and disappeared under the distant horizon at a speed twice as fast as before.

Witnessing a farce of being arrogant at first and being respectful at the last. All the cadres and soldiers, including Fang Guoqiang, were stunned. It was not until Sai Rengui and other bandits disappeared that they slowly recovered and turned their eyes to Lao He, the trafficker who was leading the tall horse, "Uncle He, just now."

"A group of small thieves who make a living by robbing the road and collecting protection fees." The trafficman Lao He responded indifferently as if he had just driven away a group of flies, "I was defeated by our guerrillas. I recently knew that our guerrillas had no strength to deal with them for the time being, and wanted to take the opportunity to come out and make a vote."

"Then what?" Everyone pointed at the tall horse that Lao He held, not knowing where to ask. Since the bandits knew that the guerrillas were seriously injured, they should be more courageous. Why did they see Lao He still panic like a mouse when they saw a cat?

"Let them go." The traffic officer Lao He obviously misunderstood everyone's meaning, smiled, and explained patiently, "We have no way to wipe out such people for the time being. As long as they don't do anything to kill people and rob, we can only let them have a few more days of freedom first. After the Japanese are killed away, the surroundings will be settled, and they will naturally be dealt with slowly."

Everyone was stunned again when they heard this, and then a sense of pride suddenly arose in their hearts, "Uncle He, is this far away from the Lama Grotto? We have to walk like this for a few days before we can get there."

"And," the traffic officer Lao He looked around and responded with a smile, "It's almost four hundred miles away, it's almost time. It's time to walk like this for another four or five days. Who can ride a horse? Jump up and adapt quickly. From tomorrow, we will find a few brothers who can ride horses and take turns riding it as scouts. Although our guerrillas have a good reputation, we can't always be killed by others to find them."

Note 1: Seiko watches, the most common military watch for the Japanese army during World War II, were cheap but strong and durable. As a trophy, it was very popular among grassroots cadres of the Eighth Route Army. However, the middle and superior Japanese officers prefer to buy Swiss watches privately to show their identity.
Chapter completed!