On the way back to the military police headquarters, General Matsuda did not accuse Himada Yoshihiro of his cowardice. Among the Japanese soldiers, he was one of the few real standard soldiers, and he did not advocate massacre of innocent civilians.

Matsuda is a strong-willed person and has always maintained a high degree of trust in Hamada Yoshizhi. Seeing that Hamada Yoshizhi was a little depressed, he said: "Hamada, the meeting was not going smoothly, as expected, don't be too eager to achieve success in how to eliminate the Taohuashan guerrillas. You must continue to study strategies against the Taohuashan guerrillas, strengthen intelligence work, and master as much information as possible about Gao Jiu and others.

Now, the Yellow Army has encircled and suppressed the Eighth Route Army in the northeast and eastern part of Shandong, and has not yet mobilized a large number of troops to encircle and suppress Taohua Mountain.

Wait for another chance. Once the Huang army can withdraw a large amount of troops, I will try my best to persuade the army commander and Chief of Staff Haneda to mobilize heavy troops to attack Taohua Mountain.

The area of ​​Taohua Mountain is not too large, so you should be able to find Gao Jiu's nest. As long as they lose their nest, they will lose their foothold in Taohua Mountain. When they become bandits, it will be relatively easier to deal with them."

Hamada Yoshihiro was very grateful for General Matsuda's understanding and support. He said sincerely: "Thank you, Commander. Hu Zi will definitely do his duty and fulfill his mission."

Taohua Mountain.

Gao Jiu judged based on various circumstances that the Japanese army would not launch a large-scale attack on Taohua Mountain for the time being. However, Gao Jiu did not dare to be careless at all. He knew that the Japanese army's large-scale attack on Taohua Mountain would come sooner or later, and he must seize this relatively peaceful time to strengthen the construction of Taohua Mountain.

Gao Jiu instructed to continue to increase the construction of light and dark firepower points on the mountains around Taohua Mountain. After so many fortifications were built, a large number of manpower was needed to defend.

In order to solve this problem, Gao Jiu planned to withdraw the militias from various villages around him to the mountains when the war began, allowing them to enter the fortifications, free up the main force of Taohua Mountain to engage in mobile combat.

In order to let the militias become familiar with the fortifications in Taohua Mountain as soon as possible, Zhang Quan arranged for militia captains from each village to visit the areas they were scheduled to defend, and took turns to organize militias from each village to Taohua Mountain to familiarize themselves with the use of fortifications in advance.

After making these deployments, Gao Jiu always felt that there was still some problem. He was worried that if the main forces of the Taohua Mountain guerrillas were surrounded by Taohua Mountain and relying solely on fighting with the Japanese army, they would sooner or later be eliminated by the Japanese army.

He hoped to have a secret passage. When the Japanese encirclement was formed, he could quietly transfer the main force to the enemy's back and catch the Japanese army off guard.

That morning, Gao Jiu called Liang Baoguo, who was responsible for the construction of Taohua Mountain. He asked, "I used to arrange for you to find a new exit in Taohua Cave. Are there any gains?"

Liang Baoguo said: "Jiu Ye, we have searched for all the places we can find in the Taohua Cave. Even a sink with a size of a bowl, we have conducted a careful inspection, and there is really no other exit."

Zhang Quan said: "Yes, Master Jiu, I have organized someone to knock on the walls of the cave. They are all solid and I have not found any other empty space."

Gao Jiu once thought of making another passage from the mountain to the outside of the mountain, but the cave was surrounded by hard rocks. It was unimaginable to make a passage that could jump out of the Taohua Mountain defense circle.

Gao Jiu was also a little discouraged, and he said, "Brother Baoguo, you go and do your business first."

Liang Baoguo did not leave immediately. He said, "Jiu Ye, there is no exit at all. The underground river in the cave may lead to the mountains."

Gao Jiu had thought that since the underground river could pass through the cave, there would inevitably be a passage, and the river surface was not exposed around, so this underground river might have a long passage that could lead to the outside of the mountain.

Gao Jiu once planned to enter the underground river for exploration, but the straight line distance from the exit of the river outside the mountain is about 6 kilometers, and I can't guarantee that this underground river just leads directly to that river.

In other words, if a person enters the water, he has to dive for at least 6 kilometers in the water, which is absolutely impossible for ordinary people, and even Gao Jiu is not very brave to try.

Has Gao Jiu done anything about exploring caves before? He carefully recalled similar science and education films he had seen. After seeing those expedition teams diving into the underground river, they would encounter new caves on the way. He guessed that the passage through the underground river flowing through Taohua Cave could not have been so narrow, and maybe there would be new caves on the way, so he decided to try it.

Gao Jiu said, "Let's go! Let's go to the underground river together."

Everyone followed Gao Jiu to the underground river in the cave. Everyone saw that the underground river flowed through the cave, less than a foot of the water exposed, and it was dark below and looked very creepy.

When Gao Jiu rescued Ouyang Xue, he dived under the Daqing River for a long time; when he used a bomber to hit the Yujiang Bridge, he also had a long dive, so he decided to make a try.

When Gao Jiu expressed his thoughts, everyone's faces changed drastically. They were worried that Gao Jiu would have problems. Gao Jiu was the backbone of Taohua Mountain. Without Gao Jiu, Taohua Mountain Village would be over sooner or later. Everyone advised Gao Jiu not to take risks.

Everyone was very sincere in their attitude and were very worried about his safety. Feng Xiucai was so anxious that he almost cried. He said, "You can't take this risk. If you have a few things, what should we do?"

Speaking of this, his tears really flowed out.

Everyone was already very nervous and heavy. When Feng Xiucai cried, everyone couldn't help but burst into tears. Jia Liu simply started to burst into tears.

Gao Jiu was moved by the friendship of everyone, but he smiled on his face: "What are you doing? Why are you crying like a mourning? I understand everyone's worries, but once the Japanese soldiers come to besiege Taohua Mountain, if our main force cannot jump out in time, Taohua Mountain will sooner or later be captured by the Japanese, and everyone will be dead.

I thought that this underground river must lead to the outside of the mountain, and everyone has seen it. The Taohua Cave in our current current is uneven. I think the cave that this underground river passes should be the same, and there will definitely be empty inside.

Even if we can't get outside the mountain, it is a way out to pass through the underground river at a critical moment and withdraw the people from Taohua Mountain to the cave in the middle of the mountain.

Don’t worry, after I get into the water, I will stay under the water for a while. If I can’t see a new cave, I will come back directly.”

Everyone wanted to persuade him again, but Gao Jiu said decisively: "Okay! This matter is settled, let's start preparing."

Everyone started to work together and prepared two flashlights for Gao Jiu that had passed the waterproof treatment. He tied a thin rope around his waist and hung two bells on it. He agreed that as long as Gao Jiu went to a safe place, he would pull the rope to notify everyone so that everyone could rest assured.

Gao Jiu got into the water, and everyone watched him enter the water and soon disappeared. Everyone was very nervous and stared at the water surface, fearing that they would never see Gao Jiu again.

Gao Jiu entered the water and illuminated it with a flashlight, and found that the water here was about 1.5 meters deep. He stood at the bottom of the water, and his nose could just be exposed to the water. He walked forward about four or five meters and found that the top of the cave in front was drooping, all submerged in the water. He dived into the bottom of the water and swam forward.

He swam forward in the water for five minutes, but there was no hole in it, so he had to continue swimming. The more he swam, the colder he felt, because such a long distance had already exceeded the ability of ordinary people to hold their breath. Even if there was an empty place in front, probably no one else could swim except Gao Jiu.

Gao Jiu continued to swim forward, and about nine minutes later, the cave in front was exposed to the water.

Gao Jiu breathed hard, and felt that the air was still fresh. So he pulled the rope around his waist and shook it hard.

In the Peach Blossom Cave, everyone stared at the water. It had been seven or eight minutes since they saw that Gao Jiu was still not moving, so everyone couldn't help but worry. Fortunately, everyone knew that Gao Jiu had the ability to stay in the water for at least half an hour without breathing, so there was no excessive panic.

At this time, the bell rang, which meant that Gao Jiu had found the next exit of the underground river, and everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

However, everyone felt that this had no practical significance. After diving for so long, no one in Taohua Mountain did not have this ability. Everyone wanted Gao Jiu to come back simply and stop exploring, so they pulled the rope hard, wanting to notify Gao Jiu to give up this exploration.

Who would have thought that after they pulled it a few times, the rope was actually loose. It seemed that Gao Jiu untied the rope there. Now, everyone had no choice but to wait patiently for Gao Jiu to come back.

Gao Jiu then swam forward and found that the cave in front was getting higher and higher, the water surface here became wider and the water level lowered. He simply climbed up the river bank and continued to walk forward.

Not long after, Gao Jiu saw a cave with extremely wide space in front of him. He took photos everywhere and found that the space here was very large. Although it was not as good as the main cave of Taohua Cave, the visual area was more than 2,000 square meters.

The cave is very dark, but the air is very fresh, which means that at least some gaps in this cave lead out of the mountain.

Gao Jiu has no time to survey the cave now and continue to walk along the water flow. When he arrived ahead, the cave became narrower and narrower, and the river continued to flow into a narrow cave.

Gao Jiu really wanted to continue exploring, but he was worried that if he had been here for too long, it would make the people in the Peach Blossom Cave anxious. So he returned.

In the Peach Blossom Cave, everyone was staring at the water nervously, and finally saw Gao Jiu's head revealing from the water.

Everyone hurriedly pulled him out of the water and wrapped him in a thick towel.

Gao Jiu said: "About ten minutes from here, there is a large cave that can accommodate thousands of people."

Zhang Quan said regretfully: "It's good to be the boss, but unfortunately, no one of us can swim through except yourself."

Gao Jiu smiled and said, "Can living people still suffocate urine? We can ask the arsenal to process a closed iron cabinet. I will first install a winch there. At that time, our people will hide in the iron cabinet and pull it over there. Isn't it enough? In such a short time, the air in the iron cabinet is enough for everyone to breathe."

When Gao Jiu said this, everyone became excited.

Wang Zhankui said, "Master Jiu, this is great. If we can't hold on in the future and quietly crawl through the bottom of the water, the Japanese will have no choice but to do anything to us."

Everyone was also talking and their emotions were very high.

Gao Jiu said: "I didn't have time to check the cave I had just been to. We will now notify the arsenal to process this iron cabinet. Then, more people will check the cave, and maybe we can find the exit, so that we will have an extra channel to save our lives."

Jia Liu immediately said, "Master Jiu, I'll go to the arsenal." After that, he ran away in vain.

Gao Jiu said: "I asked someone to prepare some dry food for me. I will continue to explore the cave now and see where this underground river leads to?"

Everyone disagreed, saying that after the iron cabinet was completed, some people would gradually explore it step by step.

Gao Jiu was unwilling to make everyone worry, so he agreed with everyone's opinions. He put on his clothes, walked out of the Peach Blossom Cave with everyone, and returned to the Juyi Hall.

Processing a sealed iron cabinet is very easy for the arsenal. Soon after, a tin cabinet that can accommodate four people at the same time was processed.

Du Shengxi personally brought three special forces into the iron cabinet and tried to hold his breath inside.

They stayed in the iron cabinet for 15 minutes before they started to feel a little breathing, so they knocked on the iron cabinet and the people outside let them out.

Gao Jiu was thinking about continuing to explore the final exit of the underground river. He immediately ordered people to prepare. Everyone carried the iron cabinet into the Taohua Cave and came to the side of the river. Gao Jiu first sneaked into the river with a thick rope.

Du Shengxi, Jia Liu, Ning Wen, Ning Wu, got into the iron cabinet and brought some tools. Everyone tied the rope to the iron ring outside the iron cabinet, shook the rope hard and notified Gao Jiu.

Gao Jiu pulled the rope hard. Although the iron cabinet was heavy, because of the buoyancy in the water, Gao Jiu was able to pull the iron cabinet through this underground cave more easily.

Next, everyone used the iron cabinet to travel back and forth several times and transported more than 20 people including Zhang Quan. They took out the flashlight from the iron cabinet and scattered to find the exit of the cave.
Chapter completed!