It was past five o'clock in the evening, and the sky was getting darker and darker. However, the heavy snow did not stop for a moment, and it fell more and more rapidly. Xu Xiangde held the steering wheel and stared ahead with all his concentration, but it became increasingly difficult to see the road ahead clearly.
I drove on this small road half an hour ago and finally got rid of the Japanese army's march. However, the direction of this road continued to the northwest, deeper and deeper into the inland of the Liaodong Peninsula.
Xu Xiangde looked at the odometer, calculated it, and said:
"We are now in the center of the Liaodong Peninsula. Now the distance to the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea is almost the same."
Wu Yanbin lowered his head, looked at the map with his flashlight, and said:
"Brother Xu, if we drive 40 to 50 kilometers further, we will reach Gaizhou. Gaizhou is right on the Bohai Sea. Why don't we ask the Dongjiang Fleet to send a ship to the Bohai Sea to pick us up?"
Xu Xiangde released his foot from the accelerator, slowly pulled the truck to the side of the road, and turned off the engine. He leaned on the steering wheel, buried his face and said nothing.
"Brother Xu," Wu Yanbin said, "are you tired? Come on, let's change. You come over here and rest, and I'll drive."
Xu Xiangde raised his head again, leaned on the backrest, and shook his head:
"No. We can't go any further."
Wu Yanbin was startled and said anxiously:
"Brother Xu, no, we have to go! When it gets dark, we'll turn on the car lights. When you get tired of driving, I'll take over for you! But we can't stop here! Let's kill the Japanese soldiers in that class first, and then
We killed the two Japanese military police, and now the Japanese army may have found the bodies and are looking for us!"
Xu Xiangde glanced at him and said slowly:
"Nonsense, I didn't say we would stop here for the night. We must leave. What I said is that we can't drive towards the Bohai Sea anymore. Bring us the map."
Wu Yanbin handed over the map, and he also leaned over and shined a flashlight on it. The two of them put their heads in front of the map, with the head of a big wolf dog between them, sticking out their tongues, and looking at the map as if they understood something.
"Look," Xu Xiangde said, pointing to the map, "there is only one railway in the Liaodong Peninsula, which is the Shenlv Line, the railway from Shenyang to Lushun. After entering the Liaodong Peninsula, the Shenlv Line runs along the coast of the Bohai Sea.
. And there are several important places along the line: Yingkou, Gaizhou
, Wafangdian, Pulandian, Jinzhou, Lushun. Now along this railway line, the Qing army must be heavily concentrated, with frequent military trains going back and forth. If we go in that direction, aren't we going to plunge into the arms of the Qing army...
I said, we still have to find a way to go southeast, and we still have to go to the Yellow Sea."
Wu Yanbin sighed:
"Brother Xu, there are Japanese troops to our south! We just walked with that division for a while!"
"Yes, but there should be only one division, and according to our observation, that division is marching in a straight line and has not spread out yet. In other words, although there is a division's strength, it only focuses on going deep quickly, and the troops along the way are
The place has not been occupied yet, so we..."
Suddenly, Xu Xiangde's eyes were fixed on the big wolf dog's face and he stopped talking.
The big wolfdog showed its ferocious expression again, bared its snow-white fangs again, and let out a deep growl from its throat.
Wu Yanbin was startled and immediately turned off the flashlight, and then both of them had pistols in their hands.
"Is it a human or an animal?"
Wu Yanbin said nervously in a low voice.
Xu Xiangde slowly leaned down, pulled the strap under the seat, pulled out the submachine gun as silently as possible, and put it on his shoulder.
At this time, both of them heard a slight sound of stepping on the snow from behind. From what they heard, they were very tiptoeing and very alert.
Xu Xiangde patted the big wolf dog and told it to keep quiet. He listened for a moment and spoke as quietly as possible.
"Listen to the noise... It should be something big... It's definitely not a wolf or a wild boar... In the old forests of the Northeast, there are only two animals that can be so sneaky... The first is the tiger, and the second is the human."
Wu Yanbin lowered his voice nervously:
"Could it be a bear?"
"It's not a bear... a bear wouldn't be so careful... besides, it's time to hibernate..."
The big wolfdog between the two became more and more nervous. Although he no longer made any noise, his teeth were fully exposed and his muscles were tense.
At this time, there was a noise in the rear compartment, and a slight vibration spread along the car body.
"Going into the trunk."
Xu Xiangde whispered.
At the same time, the soft sound of stepping on the snow slowly came from behind to the front.
"More than one..." Wu Yanbin gasped nervously, "It should be someone..."
Xu Xiangde leaned against his ear and whispered:
"Get the gun ready. Let's put the dog down first, and then we'll roll out of both doors at the same time."
"good!"
Xu Xiangde patted the big wolf dog hard, and at the same time put his left hand on the car door handle, and slowly unlocked the door. He glanced at Wu Yanbin, and gently pushed the car door open a crack. The big wolf dog rushed like an arrow.
Going down, there was a roar, followed by people's screams, followed by a scuffle and repeated calls for help. At the same time, two or three other voices also screamed and ran this way together.
Xu Xiangde and Wu Yanbin pushed open the car door at the same time, rolled onto both sides of the road, and lay in the snow nest, aiming their guns.
There were several people on the other side, but their attention was attracted by the wolf-dog. They were all yelling and screaming to help the person who was jumped by the wolf-dog escape, and they didn't even notice that there were already two guns pointed at them behind them.
None of those people had guns, they only had branches and sticks in their hands, and they were beating the big wolf dog on the back. The big wolf dog roared, aimed at the man who fell on the ground, and bit him. The man screamed and shouted for help. Several times
Everyone speaks Chinese.
"Okay, don't move!" Xu Xiangde stood up slowly, holding a submachine gun and ordered, "Raise your hands...Xiao Wu, turn on the flashlight and shine a light on them."
The few people were shocked and turned around. Seeing the two men aiming their guns, they quickly raised their hands.
The man on the ground was still struggling with the big wolf dog, letting out a series of screams. Xu Xiangde shouted to stop the wolf dog. The man groaned, in shock, and sat on the ground breathing heavily.
Wu Yanbin took out his flashlight and took a photo of those people. Both of them were surprised.
There were four people in total, all wearing Qing army uniforms. All of them were unkempt, haggard and thin, and some of their clothes were stained with blood. The one sitting on the ground had his sleeves torn to pieces by wolves and dogs, and there were still wounds on his chin and arms.
There was constant bloodshed. The four men were all privates and privates, and there were no officers.
With a "crash", a bunch of things fell out of one of them's military coat. Wu Yanbin looked at it with a flashlight and saw several cans. These cans were in their trunk.
Xu Xiangde said in a deep voice:
"Where are the rest of you?"
The four people looked at each other, and then one of them hesitated and said:
"Sir...sir, please spare my life. We were very hungry, so we had no choice but to steal..."
"Let me ask where the rest of you are!"
Xu Xiangde shouted loudly and pulled the bolt of the gun. In fact, he didn't know if it was just these few people or if there were accomplices nearby who were deliberately trying to deceive.
Sure enough, the Qing soldier was startled and said quickly:
"Sir, have mercy, sir, have mercy. There are a few brothers who can't walk anymore and are resting in the back... A few of us saw this man parked a car, so... we came over to take a look..."
"Where did you lose? Why don't you even have a gun?"
This question made several Qing soldiers burst into tears and began to cry loudly. They said one sentence to another, and soon Xu and Wu understood it clearly.
…
It turned out that they were from the 24th Division of the Qing Army. They were all from Henan and Shandong. They were transferred from the Central Plains Theater to the Northern Corps at the end of last year. They were captured by the Japanese army two days ago. As a result, the Japanese army never gave them food.
They also drove them to march in the old forest. They were cold, hungry and tired, and many brothers fell down.
They died. As a result, last night, the Japanese army drove more than a thousand of them into a mountain col. Suddenly, they fired several flares, illuminating the mountain col, and then several machine guns rang out. These more than a thousand people
The people were tired, hungry, too weak to crawl, and were killed almost immediately.
At that time, there were still some people who could run, but they couldn't run very far. The Japanese released wolf dogs and killed all those who ran. More than a thousand people were blocked in the mountain col, and not one person could escape.
Didn't run out.
Most of the more than a thousand people were shot to death in the first round of shooting. Then the Japanese fired a few more flares, and several machine guns pointed at the corpses and fired them several times. There were probably too many corpses, and the Japanese
That is to say, they fired a few times without going down to mend bayonets one by one. Then, the Japanese withdrew.
After the Japanese soldiers left, dozens of surviving people crawled out from the pile of corpses. Most of these dozens of people were shot and injured, but their vital parts were not injured and they would not die for a while. But in this ice and snow
He was shot, and his body was bleeding profusely. Even if he survived for a while, he would never be able to climb out of this mountain col. There were only about twenty Qing soldiers who were lucky enough not to be shot, hiding under the corpse. They were the real lucky ones, supporting each other.
Escaped.
They had no weapons, no food, and no idea where they were. They did not dare to walk along the road for fear of encountering the Japanese army again. They could only help each other and walk into the woods. During this day, half of the brothers fell.
Now there are only the last ten alive, and the six can hardly walk. Only the four in front of me have decent physical strength and can hold on for the time being.
…
Xu Xiangde and Wu Yanbin looked at each other and nodded. The situation was as they expected. The massacre by the Japanese army was a common phenomenon, not just one place.
Xu Xiangde asked Wu Yanbin to take out the medicine box from the truck, first treat the Qing soldier who was bitten by the dog, bandage the wound, and then said:
"Xiao Wu, take two brothers over and bring the rest of them over. I'll wait here."
Wu Yanbin knew what he was doing, so he took out another submachine gun from the trunk and put it on his shoulder, and pointed at the two big Qing soldiers:
"Take me there. We have food in the car. Call all your brothers over. Let's eat first."
Several Qing soldiers were surprised and happy, and agreed repeatedly. Two Qing soldiers stayed, and the two Qing soldiers took Wu Yanbin into the forest.
The two remaining Qing soldiers looked at Xu Xiangde, and one of them mustered up the courage to ask:
"Sir... are you... are you the Ming army?"
Xu Xiangde nodded.
The two Qing soldiers were overjoyed and immediately knelt down on their knees and cried bitterly:
"Sir...you are here...we are finally done...we want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, please take us in..."
"Sir... the brothers died so miserably, you must avenge the brothers... fucking destroy little Japan..."
Xu Xiangde looked at them and said:
"Don't kneel down in a hurry, let me tell you first, the Ming Dynasty did not invade Liaodong, just the two of us. The Ming Dynasty will now use all its strength to deal with your Qing army, and will not break up with Japan. But whether there will be a war in the future, I also say
No. The two of us are soldiers sent by the Ming Dynasty official to Liaodong.
As observers, the Ming government suspected that the Japanese army had massacred prisoners of war on a large scale, and specially sent us to investigate on the spot. This matter was also officially approved by Japan, but now the Japanese are secretly hunting us. If you want to follow us, you may
More dangerous."
The two people hesitated for a moment, looked at each other, and then cast a longing glance at the back of the truck. Their stomachs kept growling, and they also knew that there was a large car behind them, all full of delicious food. At least they would not be able to follow them.
starve.
The two Qing soldiers nodded at the same time and said loudly:
"Sir, we are not afraid! There are only two of you, it is too dangerous! We have ten brothers who can protect two officers! If you encounter little Japan, just go with them!"
"Yes, let's fight them! I've finally crawled out of the dead, and I'm still afraid of danger..."
Xu Xiangde sneered in his heart: If these wimps were so smart, how could they have been captured by the Japanese army or crawled among the dead? He knew that most of them wanted to follow him and have a good meal along the way, but there were only two of him, and he was in a weak position.
A single person is weak. If we really encounter a battle again, we have a better chance of winning with a few more people. Although
Although these ten Qing soldiers have no weapons, they do carry two pistols, two rifles, two submachine guns, and a captured Japanese light machine gun. If there are more people, these weapons can be used simultaneously.
It shows its power. There are a lot of canned biscuit rations in the car, and even a dozen people can eat them for several days.
"Okay," he nodded, "I'll take you with me. The Japanese like to kill prisoners of war, and you have seen this with your own eyes. If you encounter the Japanese again, you will do whatever I tell you to do, and everyone must fight their way out.
There is a way to survive. Once you get on our Ming Dynasty ship, you can go to Ming Dynasty."
The two Qing soldiers happily knelt down and kowtowed again, saying:
"Thank you for your kindness, sir! You guys will be cows and horses in this life, leading horses and riding on them, and making grass rings..."
"Okay, okay," Xu Xiangde waved his hand, "Where were your more than a thousand people killed? How far away? Do you remember the road?"
…
Soon, Wu Yanbin really came with six other Qing soldiers. The six men staggered, supported each other, and gritted their teeth and walked this way. It seemed that they were really dying. They probably heard this.
Only when you have something to eat can you muster up the last bit of strength to persevere.
Xu Xiangde asked Wu Yanbin to open a few boxes of cans and packs of field rations for them. The ten Qing soldiers devoured the food without even raising their heads. When they choked, they picked up a handful of snow and stuffed it into their mouths. It seemed like they had never seen anything like this before in their lives. It's like eating.
At the same time, the two took out the radio and contacted the Dongjiang Fleet. When they encountered the situation of the survivors of the Qing army, they fell into the agreed code word. They quickly made it clear.
According to the accounts of those Qing soldiers, the Japanese massacre was not far from here. Xu Xiangde planned to go there first to take a look and take photos and videos. After all, only one massacre was photographed before, which was an "isolated evidence" and could not be proved. The universality of massacres. But the nature of more than one massacre scene is different.
As for which direction to go next, I really don’t have any idea at the moment. The Qing army is heavily concentrated in the northwest, and the Japanese army is spreading in the southeast. You can’t go to the northeast, which is the hinterland of Manchuria, leading to Shenyang and Jilin. Direction.Southwest...
A Qing soldier corporal next to him suddenly said:
"Sir, why don't we keep walking southwest to Lushun! I heard that the Lushun navy guys have long wanted to surrender!"
Xu Xiangde glanced at him:
"Surrender to whom?"
"Dang...dang...of course I want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty!"
"How do you know?"
"Hey, our army has been talking about it for a long time. Now that the Lushun fleet can no longer sail out, we must either surrender to Japan or surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Do you think that the left side will surrender and the right side will surrender? Who doesn't want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty?"
Xu Xiangde frowned and asked:
"Why do you want to surrender to the Ming Dynasty?"
"Sir, Ming Dynasty is famous for surrendering soldiers. No matter which army it is, brothers want to surrender to Ming Dynasty as long as they have a chance. Besides, didn't Ming Dynasty also offer a price? Which level of surrender rewards? How much money would a fool have to pay to surrender to the Japanese!"
Xu Xiangde smiled and said:
"Then what if the Japanese also offer a heavy reward?"
The Qing army corporal was stunned and said:
"A big reward? At most, it's for those who are officers. The soldiers below still don't get a penny! We just need to go to Lushun and tell the guys in the navy about the Japanese killing and surrendering soldiers. Damn it, even if they are cheated by them, Even if the officials want to surrender Little Japan, it’s not up to them!”
Another Qing soldier sighed:
"You think it's too easy. With so many thousands of soldiers killed and surrendered, who would believe it? Just what we can say?"
The Qing army corporal retorted:
"That's not necessarily true! Don't forget that this is Lushun! During the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese massacred the city in Lushun! Damn it, the court has been covering it up all these years and won't let it be mentioned... The Japanese killed the surrendered soldiers , If you tell people in other places you won’t believe it, but if you tell people in Lushun, they will certainly believe it!”
When he said this, the other Qing soldiers all said yes.
Xu Xiangde and Wu Yanbin also looked at each other and nodded. They still have photos and films of the massacre. They just need to find a place in Lushun to develop them.
Xu Xiangde said:
"Well, that's right. It's just that if we go further, we will reach the area controlled by the Qing army. How do we get to Lushun? Well, the two of us will pretend to be the Qing army. You are our subordinates. We were separated on the battlefield. Now Returning to Lushun headquarters with important information taken from the battlefield."
Several Qing soldiers immediately agreed:
"Okay! We are willing to cover sir!"
Xu Xiangde smiled and said:
"Very good. Listen carefully. If you really cooperate with us and make a great contribution this time and help the Lushun fleet return to the Ming Dynasty, then we don't need to say more. After returning to the Ming Dynasty, you will naturally be promoted to a higher rank. You will not need to do so for the rest of your life.
I’m sad.”
The ten Qing soldiers were trembling with excitement, some nodded, some kowtowed...