At dawn, a raging fire broke out in Ma Touzhai, turning half the sky red. The screams of women and children seemed particularly sad against the background of the maniacal laughter of the Japanese.
There was a place where wheat was drying in the village. The Japanese gathered women and children together, and then poured gasoline on their bodies and the wheat.
"Yo Xi, let the Chinese people understand the consequences of daring to resist!"
Kojima Fumio's face was wrapped in a bandage, and there was a blood stain on his nose. The anger on his face had not subsided. The other Japanese soldiers were excitedly admiring the beautiful scenery in front of them.
There was an unpleasant burnt smell in the air. The military medical officer who had just bandaged Fumio Kojima covered his mouth and nose, with an unbearable look on his young face.
"Aono-kun, it seems that you are not a qualified imperial soldier. You don't need to be merciful to the Chinese people. You only need to use cruel methods to scare them, just like in Manchukuo!"
"You really should study more like your predecessors. Without their hard work, the empire's surgical medicine would not have progressed so fast!"
Aono Yoki lowered his head and replied, perhaps because he still had good intentions in his heart: "Sir, I always believe that doctors should treat diseases and save people, and should not conduct in vivo experiments. As for soldiers, they should not involve the war on unarmed ordinary people.
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Kojima Fumio was furious when he heard this, and stepped forward to grab Aono Yoki by the collar: "Stupid, pedantic!"
"They are armed Chinese armed forces who may threaten the lives of the imperial army at any time. I want to cut off any possibility. The empire's policy in North China is too soft. Otherwise, how could the situation have been allowed to deteriorate to this point?"
Aono Yoki's face turned red, but he still tried his best to retort, pointing to the struggling figure in the sea of fire: "But those women and children are innocent, why are they doing this?"
At this time, a large amount of blood seeped out of Fumio Kojima's nose, and his eyes showed an unconcealable ferocity, like a devil, and he slapped Aono Yoki on the face with two loud slaps.
"Baga, they deserve to die, put away your cheap kindness!"
After all, power defeated the kindness in his heart. Aono Yoki lowered his head silently: "Hi!"
"Sir, please don't get angry, otherwise your injury will worsen. The weather is hot now, and infection is very easy to occur. Once..."
The fire in Ma Touzhai was really big, and it quickly attracted the attention of the cavalry regiment.
"It's in the direction of Daji Mountain!"
"It stands to reason that the local government has already evacuated the people, so what are the devils trying to do?"
"That's not possible. If there is no guarantee that anyone will leave, the company commander will report it immediately!"
The cavalry regiment of the Hebei, Shandong and Henan Column was divided into two parts. Political Commissar Qin Fuwen led one part to conduct reconnaissance tours in Dahou Township, southeast of Shangqiu. Yesterday, at the request of the 14th Brigade, the troops headed east to the Xiayi area to conduct reconnaissance on the movement of Japanese reinforcements.
At night, the Cavalry Regiment and the 4th Regiment of the 14th Brigade fought fiercely with the Japanese reinforcements for a while before they both withdrew. Han Mengzi, commander of the fifth company of the Cavalry Regiment, led his troops to stay near Qingfeng Mountain in Xiayi to continue reconnaissance.
The Fifth Cavalry Company contacted the regiment headquarters, and the cavalry regiment headquarters contacted the 14th Brigade Headquarters. After several communications, they learned that the villagers in Matou Village in Daji Mountain had not evacuated.
After dawn, a small unit of the 4th Regiment of the 14th Brigade rushed to Daji Mountain. The fire in Ma Touzhai had subsided, but thick smoke was still rising.
Afterwards, two soldiers went up the mountain to conduct reconnaissance, and the remaining soldiers found a secluded place to rest.
"Hey, no one in Ma Tou Village is good. When we were paying taxes and grains to the Japanese and puppet troops, they had so many guns in their hands that they forced several of our other villages to pay the bulk of the taxes!"
"When the national army came, they turned around and colluded with the national army again. They allocated the quota of strong men to several other villages among us. I was kidnapped in the first place!"
"Damn it, if you have done too many bad things, you should have this retribution!"
The instructor stood up and kicked him, and said with sharp eyes: "Hu Wenquan, stop saying sarcastic words. Is this what an Eighth Route Army soldier should say? Go back and wait to be punished!"
The company commander hurriedly tried to smooth things over and pressed the instructor down: "Hu Wenquan, there are many comrades who have suffered the same thing as you, but you are the only one who can complain?"
"If it weren't for the fact that you understand the local situation and can play some role, I would have to sew your mouth shut!"
Hu Wenquan shrank his neck, shut his mouth obediently, and the company commander moved closer to the instructor.
"I say instructor, your criticism is right, but you must also take into account the emotions of your comrades. Although Hu Wenquan transferred from the National Army, he usually performs well and fights bravely!"
"The people who come out of these mountainous areas are all good soldiers. Especially the column headquarters specially issued a document to train and promote more commanders and fighters from northern Anhui and eastern Henan!"
While talking, a soldier staggered over from the mountain path.
"Company commander, instructor, more than 700 people in Ma Touzhai are dead, not a single one is left alive!"
The crowd suddenly fell into silence, and finally the instructor said: "Let's go, at least bury the bodies of the fellow villagers!"
Everyone went up the mountain together, and the stronghold was full of traces of the Japs' rampage. The corpses of young men were lying on the ground. Only scattered wreckage could be seen in the place where the Japanese army set fire to the place.
Just as everyone was burying the body, crying suddenly came from a courtyard in the village.
"In the well!"
Hu Wenquan opened the wooden cover of the well and looked down, only to find two figures floating in the water.
"Company commander, instructor, there are two alive in the well!"
"Quickly, get the person out!"
In the end, Hu Wenquan went down into the well to fish them out. When he came up, he found that they were two children, the elder was 12 years old and the younger was only 5 years old.
Hu Wenquan patted the wet clothes on his body, stared at the two children and said, "Damn it, if I knew they were the children of the Ma Daqi family, I wouldn't have gone down!"
The younger child still didn't understand what happened in the village, so he ran towards his home crying and fussing, walked around in a circle without finding anyone, and then came back to look for his brother.
"Brother, where is our father and our mother?"
The eldest child pointed to the leader's body lying on the ground and said slowly and leisurely: "Our father and mother are both dead, and we will have no home in the future!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! The younger child shook his father's body and kept crying. The elder brother pulled the younger brother up from the ground.
"Why are you crying? Can you avenge your parents by crying?"
The soldiers conducted a detailed search of Matou Village, but no survivors were found.
"There are more than 700 people, but only two children survive? What do the cadres in Xiayi do for food? Why not let the people in Ma Touzhai evacuate?"
Zhou Weihan slapped the telegram on the table, his expression extremely ugly.
Luo Benzhong's face on the side was also ugly. He was responsible for the work in the Wanbei base area. Before leaving the Wanbei base area, he specifically warned the people in the war zone to evacuate, but the Xiayi cadres did not report the problem in Matouzhai to the superiors.
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"Comrade **, I have some knowledge of the Ma Touzhai issue. It is very representative in northern Anhui!"
"These mountain villages, represented by Matou Village, have existed for at least a hundred years from the late Qing Dynasty to the present. They are said to be mountain people, but in fact they often go down the mountain to rob ordinary people, and they have a lot of grievances in the local area!"
"After our army moved closer to northern Anhui, we integrated many similar villages and resettled the ordinary mountain residents in other places. However, Matouzhai does not trust our Eighth Route Army!"
"For example, among the cadre groups in Xiayi, there are many locals. They must have a grudge against Ma Touzhai, so they must have emotions at work!"
Zhou Weihan only had a general understanding of the situation in northern Anhui and eastern Henan, and was certainly not as detailed as Luo Benzhong.
After hearing Luo Benzhong's explanation, Zhou Weihan glanced at him dissatisfied: "Isn't that a bandit?"
"You can't kill them with one shot. After the Japanese army came, Ma Touzhai formed a stronghold to protect itself, which also played a role in protecting the environment and the people!"
Zhou Weihan sighed and said: "There is a long way to go in building cadres. During this campaign, we must properly solve the problems in northern Anhui and eastern Henan!"
"Lao Luo, report the Matouzhai incident to the northern Anhui and eastern Henan base areas, and the county governments involved in the war zone must re-verify the local situation, and everyone must evacuate!"