Bright Sword: From Northwest Shanxi to Changjin Lake, a Hundred Battles, a Hundred Victories

Chapter 6 Trial
About half an hour later, the group finally arrived at the village and met up with Chen Ming.

Upon arrival, they saw a group of puppet soldiers, strung together by ropes, carrying away the corpses of villagers.

Seeing this, the soldiers of the district squad knew that this was another atrocity committed by the Japanese devils, and their hatred for the Japanese devils grew even stronger.

"Damn little Japs!"

"Ugh!"

Upon entering the village, Dafei immediately reported back to Chen Ming.

"Captain, what are these traitors doing here?" Dafei asked in confusion.

"I had them move the villagers' bodies so we could bury them all," Chen Ming explained.

After Dafei left, he began to arrange for the more than thirty captured puppet troops.

Among the thirty-odd people, there were certainly traitors who aided and abetted the evildoers and harmed their own compatriots, but there were also some who followed the crowd, still had a conscience, and only became puppet soldiers out of necessity to survive.

What Chen Ming needs to do is find the traitors who aided and abetted the evildoers; these people will definitely be put on trial.

Although there is a rule against killing prisoners of war, this is a rule, but it can be done after a trial.

As for the puppet troops who could still be saved, Chen Ming planned to temporarily recruit them into his ranks after conducting an assessment.

The situation is difficult now, and we must unite all forces that can be united to resist the invaders.

Under Chen Ming's arrangement, the group of puppet army prisoners were interrogated separately, and they were made to cross-identify the crimes of others.

Chen Ming said that as long as the accusations against other people are true, they may receive a lighter or reduced sentence.

Tempted by this offer, the scattered puppet soldiers, not daring to guarantee that others wouldn't implicate them for meritorious service, began to falsely accuse others.

Ultimately, based on the cross-examination of the confessions of a group of puppet army prisoners, Chen Ming identified the prisoners who were hiding among them and aiding and abetting the evildoers.

There were twelve people in total, and these twelve people were represented by bright red dots on the map in Chen Ming's mind.

The other captured puppet troops were represented by white dots.

"So this is the hidden function of the three-dimensional combat map? It can distinguish between enemies and friendly forces," Chen Ming murmured.

There are currently four different colored dots on the map.

Red represents the enemy, green represents our side, and blue represents our allies, like the villagers who are close to their troops.

The last white dot likely represents the neutral party, like the captured puppet troops who no longer intend to be hostile to the district squad.

Since they are still prisoners of war and not considered friendly, they are represented by a neutral white dot.

After figuring out the ingenious use of the map, Chen Ming was in a good mood. He no longer had to worry about Japanese spies infiltrating the team and could maintain the team's purity.

Chen Ming also gained more confidence to recruit and reform prisoners of war who still had value.

After identifying the puppet troops who were helping the Japanese to harm their compatriots, Chen Ming dragged them out and tied them up at the village entrance where the villagers' corpses were laid out.

He was going to try these traitors who aided and abetted the evildoers here, in front of the dead souls of the entire village and the surviving mothers and children.

This is to comfort the villagers who died in the war, and to comfort the mother and son who are left alone in the world.

"Sir, please don't kill us! We know we were wrong! The Japanese devils forced us to do it!"

"Yes, the Japanese devils have done all sorts of bad things. If we don't obey their orders, we'll be the ones who die."

"I really know I was wrong! I don't want to die!"

Chen Ming looked coldly at the twelve puppet soldiers who were still begging for mercy and said:

"You don't know you're wrong, you just know you're about to die."

Chen Ming felt no pity for these traitors who helped the Japanese invaders harm their compatriots and massacre villagers.

Their actions were more despicable than those of the invaders.

The Japanese devils are not human, they are beasts, and these people are even more beastly than beasts.

"Dafei, help those two fellow villagers over here," Chen Ming said to Dafei.

"Yes." Dafei nodded and went to the villager's courtyard to help the mother and son, who were exhausted from crying, over.

When the mother and son heard that the comrades of the district squad were going to publicly try the traitor who had committed many evils, they mustered their strength and followed Dafei over.

When the mother saw the puppet army platoon leader who was tied up, her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

She clearly remembered that it was this beast who suggested to the Japanese that if they rested in the village, some villagers might tip off the Eighth Route Army.

Thus, the Japanese launched a brutal massacre.

Looking at this culprit, she wished she could eat his flesh and drink his blood.

So, taking advantage of the soldiers' inattention, the mother quickly grabbed a bayonet from the pile of captured guns and rushed straight towards the puppet army platoon leader.

"Big sister, please don't kill me! It was the Japanese devils who forced me to do this!"

The puppet troops were terrified when they saw women with bloodshot eyes and bayonets charging at them. They were so frightened that they defecated and urinated involuntarily.

However, how could a woman blinded by hatred possibly listen to his explanation?

She stabbed him more than twenty times, crying as she did so.

Only after the puppet army platoon leader stopped moving did he suddenly throw away his bayonet.

"Comrades of the Eighth Route Army, please execute me. I have killed someone."

The woman knelt down and spoke to Chen Ming.

"mother!"

The woman's son hugged his mother and cried.

In the simple mindset of our people, killing someone means paying with one's life, even if the other party is a wicked and deserved to die as a puppet soldier.

Seeing this, Chen Ming quickly helped the woman up and gently comforted her:

“Our district squad and the Eighth Route Army are both armies under the leadership of the Party, armies that stand up for the people, so how could we blame you?”

"On the contrary, I should thank you for bravely wielding your sword against the enemy. It is because of people like you that our military and civilians are united and will drive the Japanese devils out of our homeland sooner or later."

The woman stared blankly at Chen Ming, noticing that he not only didn't blame her but also comforted her.

After a long while, she pulled her son over and brought him in front of Chen Ming.

"Comrades of the Eighth Route Army, I want my son to fight the Japanese devils with you."

Seeing the woman's sincere request, Chen Ming sighed.

“Fellow villager, this is the only son left in your family. People die in war. If he also sacrifices himself, your family line will end.”

Chen Ming really couldn't bear to take this ten-year-old child into the team.

He couldn't guarantee that the child wouldn't be sacrificed in future battles, and even Chen Ming himself couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't be sacrificed in some future battle.

He was prepared to sacrifice himself at any time and accepted that day with equanimity.

"Comrades of the Eighth Route Army, I have no home left. Please let my son come with you. Otherwise, my son and I will not survive after you leave," the mother continued to plead.

Chen Ming fell silent.

Indeed, with the Japanese invasion, the country was destroyed and the family perished. The home of this mother and son had been ruthlessly destroyed by the invaders.

With no able-bodied person in the family, and no one to help them, it would be difficult for this widow and her child to survive in this chaotic world where human life is as cheap as grass.

He pleaded to have his son join the team, hoping to give his son a chance to survive.

"From now on, our district team will be your home, and we will always be your support," Chen Ming said.
"You don't need to join the army, but you can come with us and do things like taking care of the wounded and cooking, okay?"

"Thank you, thank you, comrades of the Eighth Route Army."

When the woman heard that Chen Ming had agreed to let them come along, she immediately tried to kneel down to thank him, but Chen Ming stopped her in time.

(End of this chapter)