Chapter 39: Let’s Pull Off One More
“Let him go?”
The deputy brigade commander was stunned. “Brigade commander, you’re really not going to do anything? Aren’t you worried that Li Yunlong and Ding Wei will be wiped out by the enemy?”
“Not doing anything, not doing anything, not doing anything.” The brigade commander waved his hand repeatedly and said, “The Ninth Brigade and Fourth Brigade’s mechanized troops have all come out. How am I supposed to manage that? Am I supposed to throw in the 772nd Regiment and 771st Regiment too? What’s more!”
The brigade commander changed the subject here: “What’s more, you know Li Yunlong well enough. He never suffers a loss in fighting wars. I believe he will turn danger into safety.”
“Brigade commander, do you really believe what you’re saying?” The deputy brigade commander didn’t believe it anyway. He didn’t believe Li Yunlong’s two legs could outrun the wheels of mechanized troops.
“I believe it. I believe in him, Li Yunlong.” The brigade commander was now in a tough spot and could only grit his teeth. “The ancient saying goes, don’t use someone if you suspect them; don’t suspect someone you use! Since I sent him, Li Yunlong, to stir up trouble over there with the Japanese invaders, how he does it is his own business. We’d better prepare to fool the traitors into getting sugar.”
“The problem is…” The deputy brigade commander wanted to say more.
The brigade commander interrupted: “The bigger mess Li Yunlong makes, the angrier the Japanese invaders will be over there. The reward will keep increasing. With such good conditions, if we can’t gather enough sugar, wouldn’t that be a waste?”
“Yes, brigade commander.” What else could the deputy brigade commander do? He could only stride away.
Once the deputy brigade commander left, the brigade commander dropped the pretense, looking annoyed. “Li Yunlong, oh Li Yunlong, you boy had better come back alive for me. Otherwise, this mess won’t be easy for us to clean up.”
……
“Old Ding, you boy deliberately charged into the county town, right? What did you loot from there?” Li Yunlong was leading his troops in withdrawal, leaving together with Ding Wei’s side.
Li Yunlong wasn’t blind, of course. He had seen Ding Wei’s troops enter the county town to loot profits.
“Li Yunlong, what’s this? You didn’t deliberately charge in?” Ding Wei said suspiciously. “You, Li Yunlong, could enter that county town, but I can’t?”
“I really didn’t go in on purpose. It was that kid Da Biao… Never mind, never mind. Whether on purpose or not doesn’t matter anymore. My luck wasn’t great here. I only looted a banquet.” Li Yunlong said to Ding Wei.
Who knows which dog traitor was holding a banquet at the Juxian Tower. Old Li happened to catch it.
Sure enough, over ten tables of food were all packed up and brought back.
“Not bad, Old Li. This banquet you looted is perfect to eat as a late-night snack.” Ding Wei laughed.
“Stop laughing. What did you loot?” Li Yunlong asked.
“Luck was decent. Ran into a money house and foreign firm run by the Japanese invaders. We weren’t polite. Didn’t leave a single hair for the Japanese invaders.” Ding Wei’s tone carried a hint of complacency.
Li Yunlong’s eyes immediately widened at this. “Old Ding, you boy have dog’s luck. How much money did you specifically snatch?”
This money was exactly what our logistics desperately needed.
Logistics had set a rule there: a certain amount of money could be exchanged for one hell cannon.
If things went badly, Ding Wei might have earned enough money himself and exchanged for the cannon himself.
“No time to count now, but there are at least several thousand silver dollars. As for paper money, several large boxes.” Ding Wei was still very grateful. “Old Li, I still have to thank you. If you boy hadn’t accidentally charged in, I really wouldn’t have gone in.”
“My goodness, several thousand silver dollars, several large boxes of money. Haven’t we gotten rich?” Li Yunlong had never seen so much money before.
“Regiment commander, the road ahead is blocked by heavy Japanese invader troops.” At this moment, the vanguard came to report.
“No problem, we anticipated it. Push the hell cannon over here for me.” Li Yunlong was very calm.
The hell cannon quickly got into position.
Boom!
One cannon shot blasted over, directly blowing a huge gap in the Japanese invaders’ defensive line. The Independent Regiment and New First Regiment’s light and heavy machine guns and grenade launcher mortars all fired together, very easily breaking out of the encirclement.
“Old Li, blow up this bridge too.” Although Li Yunlong and Ding Wei had led their troops to break through smoothly, the Japanese invaders were still biting at their heels. After crossing a bridge, Ding Wei suggested blowing it up.
“You scheming advisor are thinking the same as me. Blow up this bridge, and the pursuing troops can’t cross.” Li Yunlong nodded and immediately ordered men to place explosives.
Boom!
With a huge explosion, the bridge was destroyed. The Japanese invader pursuing troops were blocked on the other side of the river, cursing furiously.
Even if the Japanese invaders’ mechanized troops arrived, they wouldn’t be able to cross the river.
“Old Li, let’s head back.” Ding Wei said.
They’d attacked the county town and made such a big commotion. The brigade commander’s assigned task could be considered completed.
“No way. Old me only looted one late-night snack from attacking the county town. Does that make sense? No, old me can’t go back so meekly!” Li Yunlong shook his head, refusing to go back. “Old me wants to do one more job.”
“One more job? We’ve already hit the county town and made quite a stir. The task is done. Let’s hurry back.” Ding Wei’s tone was serious. “We’ve already pissed off the Japanese invaders. If luck is bad and we run into a large batch of them, they won’t beat us to death?”
“Don’t worry. The place I’m taking you to doesn’t have many Japanese invaders.” Li Yunlong was confident.
“So where do you want to hit?” Ding Wei asked.
“Just follow me.”
“Fine. I want to see what this one more job of yours is.” Ding Wei led his troops and continued following Li Yunlong.
……
“Captain, the Eighth Route Army has broken out. They got away.” A puppet army battalion commander came to report to Hirata Ichiro.
Slap!
Hirata Ichiro slapped the puppet army battalion commander across the face and berated, “Are you all rice buckets? Are you all useless? With so many men, you let the Eighth Route Army escape?”
Facing Hirata Ichiro’s berating, the puppet army battalion commander wanted to say, we’re rice buckets and useless, but aren’t you?
They let the Eighth Route Army charge into the city and loot your money clean, and you have the nerve to call us useless?
Of course.
But the one in front was his master. How could a dog argue with its master?
The puppet army battalion commander clutched his slapped face and explained, “Sir, we couldn’t stop them. The Eighth Route Army’s heavy cannon has terrifying lethality. You didn’t see it, but one shot took out half my battalion. Tell me, what were we supposed to block with? Once that opening was blasted, the Eighth Route Army’s light and heavy machine guns and mortars all fired over together. We hadn’t even reacted before they were gone without a trace.”
Slap!
Hirata Ichiro slapped the puppet army battalion commander hard across the other cheek. “Are you an idiot? You knew the Eighth Route Army had heavy cannons, and you still let your troops bunch up?”
“Sir, I didn’t let the troops bunch up. I didn’t!” The puppet army battalion commander explained. “My troops were dispersed in ambush. Who knew that heavy cannon would collapse the mountain, burying half my battalion underneath.”
“Even so, couldn’t you catch up when the Eighth Route Army ran?” Hirata Ichiro still raged. “They expended energy attacking the county town, while you were waiting for the enemy at ease. And you still couldn’t catch them?”
