I fought guerrilla warfare in the Yimeng Mountains during the Anti-Japanese War

The team headed straight for Fei County, preparing to go to Dingzigou from Fei County and then return to Mengshan. Less than halfway through the journey, six trucks carrying ammunition came back to meet them. Wang Hanqiang ordered all the laborers to throw the food onto the trucks. Although these laborers had suffered a lot and were very tired, they really couldn't bear to march with 30 kilograms of food on their backs. Fortunately, the trucks arrived and most of the team members' food was also loaded on the trucks. The rest was easy. Three team members took turns carrying it. It was only 50 kilograms of food, which did not delay the march at all.

At 4:30 in the morning, we arrived at Fei County and left behind 30,000 kilograms of food. The team felt more relaxed and rested for half an hour. Each person was given two boxes of canned food. The poor puppet army laborers had been with the Japanese for two or three months and had never eaten a single can of food. The two boxes of canned food tasted like delicacies from land and sea. The Japanese really did not treat these people as human beings!

It was six o'clock in the morning, and it was daybreak. The guerrillas had a habit that they would never crowd into the main road when marching at daybreak. The trucks went first, and the horse-drawn carriages pulled a long team, separated by a certain distance. The rest of the troops all went to the fields, far away from the road to prevent bombing by the Japanese army.

The Japanese army did not take this regiment seriously, and they also understood that the fall of Linyi was a matter of time. Whether it would be sooner or later depended on the strategic plan of the Yimeng guerrillas. If it was gone, it was gone. Other places did not matter. The only thing to do was to keep the Jinpu Line. There was more than a month before the southern offensive, and transportation on the Jinpu Line was particularly important.

The team arrived at Dingzigou at eight o'clock and dropped tens of thousands of kilograms of food and a large amount of supplies. The rest was easy. There were enough trucks and horse-drawn carriages, and the personnel traveled lightly and headed towards Mengshan.

At the foot of Mount Meng, a big pot has been set up and tents have been built, just like the last time new recruits signed up. However, the grassland is not suitable for training now. The grass is too deep, probably because it has absorbed a lot of nutrients. Ordinary foxtail grass and red grass have grown to half a meter deep. A battalion coming down from the mountain is harvesting them. It would be a waste if they were trampled, but it would be top-quality fodder if they were cut and dried to feed horses in winter.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the truck team arrived. More than a thousand people on the mountain all came down. The supplies needed to be moved, and it was not appropriate to let the soldiers of the Second and Third Regiments transport them. Before the trucks had finished unloading, another horse-drawn carriage arrived. However, the tens of thousands of kilograms of food carried by these carriages did not need to go up the mountain. The transport teams of the First Regiment and the Guard Regiment were already on the way and were recruiting soldiers. The food they had brought before was definitely not enough, so now was the perfect time to transport it away.

There began a welcoming and seeing off procession at the foot of Mount Mengshan. The Guard Regiment came and went, the First Regiment came and went, the Second and Third Regiments also left after escorting the puppet army labor team. The noisy scene became quiet. More than 1,500 puppet soldiers stood on the freshly cut grass, feeling a little nervous. Although they had eaten two cans of food in the morning, the strong smell of meat wafting from the more than 20 large pots around made them hungry again!

Chen Feng sent off all the teams. It was almost eleven o'clock. He walked towards the puppet army and labor team alone. He was very conflicted when he received the news last night. He didn't want to use the puppet army, even if they really surrendered. But after reading the report from Wang Hanqiang and others carefully, he changed his mind. The labor team, the construction team, and the cannon fodder team dressed in the skins of puppet soldiers all knew the attitude of the Yimeng guerrillas towards traitors. Since such people dared to come to Mengshan, why didn't he dare to use them?

"My fellow laborers, I am a cold gun."

A group of laborers saw this man welcoming and seeing off guests like a high-ranking official, but they did not expect that he was the highest-ranking official here, Leng Qiang. No one was unfamiliar with this name. He was the person who stood over the heads of all the devils and looked down upon them. The words "labor brothers" calmed the uneasy hearts of the group of people. Although they had been through the skin of traitors, they had never considered themselves to be traitors.

"It's getting late, I'm sure everyone is hungry. The food is ready, let's eat first! After we finish eating, we can talk about joining the team."

Although these people were salivating at the smell of meat, they really didn’t want to eat! Should they accept it or not? They couldn’t enjoy their meal without any confidence.

"Don't be nervous, I can tell you responsibly that as long as you have not oppressed the people, as long as you don't have any innocent lives on your hands, as long as you want to follow me to fight the Japanese, I will not let your trip be in vain."

"Now listen to my orders, line up, each person gets two cans, go line up at the kitchen, one box of rice and one box of meat and vegetables. If it's not enough, you can add more. Make sure you are full. Clean the cans after you finish eating. Then gather the team and we will talk slowly."

A group of people felt relieved. Bullying the people? They were the ones being bullied. Who has lives on their hands? Who dares to come here if they really want to kill people? A long line formed. The group of people were surprised to find that, except for this cold gun, there were only a dozen people on the mountain. Like them, they all received canned food boxes for meals, and the cold gun captain was no exception.

The meal was fragrant rice, and the vegetables were pork belly and Chinese cabbage. There was not much cabbage, and every worker wanted to get more meat, but they found that apart from a few Chinese cabbage leaves and a little soup, the rest of the can was all meat. I don't know if we eat like this every day after joining the team. If so, wouldn't that be a god's life?

There were two lunch boxes, and the grass was a little too hot, so everyone sat on the ground under a big tree. The sound of eating suddenly rang out, and Chen Feng also joined the eating team. He didn't let the cook serve the dishes, but served himself half a box of rice and a box of vegetable and meat soup. He had not been active recently and had gained some weight, and it was a good opportunity for new recruits to come, so he had a chance to exercise.

The laborers around felt embarrassed when they saw that there were only vegetables and broth in Leng Qiang's lunch box. They wanted to give the captain a few pieces of meat but were afraid that the captain would dislike it.

"Don't look at me, you guys eat well, if it's not enough, there's more. I'm on a diet recently and I don't dare to eat big fish and meat."

Lose weight? Why are these two words so new? However, the man sitting opposite me is as quick as the wind. Some strange ideas and actions must be new things, which a rough man like me cannot understand. I can't ask too much, because asking too much will make me look old-fashioned.

"Little brother, what's your name? Are you married?"

A thin young man was a little reserved and put down his lunch box directly after listening.

"Don't put it down, just chat, eat and talk."

The young man picked up the lunch box again. After a while, he had almost finished the meat and vegetables and half of the white rice. He poured the remaining broth into the white rice. The thin young man replied:

"Reporting to the sir, my name is Xu Shulei, I am only sixteen years old this year, and I am not married yet."

"Don't call me a big shot, just meet me, the captain. How did you get into the labor team at the age of sixteen? Have the Japanese ever bullied you?"

"I was caught by the Japanese when I was selling eggs on the street. They snatched away my basket of eggs and threw me into the construction team. I didn't know how to build a wall, so they forced us to pull carts and move bricks every day. If we didn't work hard, we would be whipped."

Ground eggs? Chen Feng almost spit out a mouthful of rice. Potatoes are called ground eggs, a special name in the Yimeng Mountains. It is very appropriate.

"Did you want to join the guerrillas yourself, or were you forced to do so?"

Xu Shulei suddenly became nervous.

"Captain, no one forced me. I just hate the Japanese devils. They implemented collective responsibility on us. If one person escaped, the entire construction team would be beheaded. Several people in our village have been beheaded. We talk about it every day. The Yimeng guerrillas will definitely not let the Japanese devils do evil. They will definitely come to rescue us. We all swore a solemn oath that if they really rescued us, we would join the guerrillas to kill the devils. No one would go back on their word."

Xu Shulei became more and more excited as he spoke:

"Captain, we are really not puppet soldiers. More than ten days ago, the Japanese forced us to wear the skins of puppet soldiers and live outside the Japanese military camp every night. Our regiment commander said that the Japanese wanted to use us as cannon fodder. I thought about running away, but I didn't dare to. If I ran away, more than 40 people in our construction team would be beheaded."

Chen Feng patted Xu Shulei's shoulder to comfort him. What a miserable puppet army! Fortunately, he made a mistake and let Wang Hanqiang bring him back.