Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

Since it was already midnight when Zhang Yuntian returned to Heiyun Village last night, he was extremely tired and decided to have a good sleep since he couldn't do anything at night anyway.

The cock crowed three times.

The sky gradually began to turn white. Recently, the first platoon had been training the soldiers, so the wake-up call was blown especially early.

Zhang Yuntian rubbed his sleepy eyes and suddenly remembered that he had important information to report. He immediately became much more energetic. After getting dressed, he ran to find Lin Qiang in a hurry.

After searching around, Zhang Yuntian finally found Lin Qiang at the training ground. He pulled Lin Qiang over, who was training new recruits, and said quickly, "Platoon leader, good news! Besides my fellow countryman, there's also an old friend in Laiyuan County who has directly expressed his intention to join us."

Then, Zhang Yuntian recounted everything that happened yesterday and how Xu Lang sent someone to tell him the decision.

After hearing this, Lin Qiang didn't show much joy. Instead, he asked with some doubt: "Do you think this is true or false?"

Lin Qiang had every reason to doubt this matter. After all, the continuous losses inflicted on the Japanese during this period of time were very likely a smokescreen deliberately released by the Japanese in revenge.

Zhang Yuntian didn't hesitate. He trusted Xu Lang very much. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to see him alone. He even dared to directly reveal his identity: "Platoon Leader, if you ask me, I definitely trust Xu Lang."

Then, he told Lin Qiang about Xu Lang and how he went from being a member of the anti-Japanese war team to becoming a traitor and a running dog.

As for the matter of Xu Lang's family, he himself did not mention it, so it was even less likely that Zhang Yuntian would know about it.

After a long moment, Lin Qiang put down his rifle, dusted himself off, and said, "Come on, accompany me to meet this Xu Lang."

"what?"

Zhang Yuntian thought he had misheard and exclaimed, "Platoon Leader, you're going to the county town?"

"Why, you can go to the county town, but I can't?"

"That's not it."

Zhang Yuntian quickly explained, "The county's defenses have been very tight lately. If Xu Lang hadn't covered for me, I wouldn't have been able to leave the county. Platoon Leader, leave this to me. It's too dangerous!"

"Stop talking nonsense. Are you going or not? If not, call Hu Zi and ask him to go with me."

Lin Qiang also knew that it was for his own good, but he went to the county town not only to meet the other party, but also to try his luck and see if he could meet another person he wanted to recruit.

"It's no use even if Hu Zi goes!"

Helpless, Zhang Yuntian had to find Hu Zi and borrow a Mauser pistol and two magazines from him.

The team had no horses, but they did have a few donkeys, which Zhao Dezhu brought to the base when he was evacuating the people.

During the time since arriving at the base, the donkeys did not have to grind the mill or do any work. Every day someone cut fresh grass to feed them, and combined with bran, in just a few days, the donkeys grew a lot of fat.

When Zhang Yuntian saw Lin Qiang leading two donkeys, he didn't know what to do for a moment.

"What are you standing there for? Let's get going!"

Lin Qiang was the first to climb onto the donkey, holding a small thin stick as a whip: "Hold on tight, it's canned beef tonight, I don't want to miss dinner!"

The four-legged donkey can indeed travel much faster than a two-legged person. It only took Lin Qiang and his companion half the time to reach the gate of the county town.

It was still Xu Lang's team that was in charge of the inspection at the city gate, which made Zhang Yuntian feel relieved. He was worried that they were not Xu Lang's men, and they would not be able to bring guns in and would not be able to deal with any emergencies.

Although he had some memory of the county town, this was the first time that Lin Qiang saw the county town during the Anti-Japanese War.

There was a squad of puppet soldiers at the city gate checking the people entering the city. There were two Japanese soldiers in the guard post nearby, smoking and laughing, pointing and talking at the decent women entering the city.

Next to the sentry box was a simple defensive structure made of sandbags, with a Type 99 rifle on top, but no one was in charge of it.

Maybe it was because of Xu Lang, the puppet soldiers in charge of the interrogation were just pretending, saying fierce words, but in fact they didn't even take a look at what the people were carrying.

Even when the Japanese were not paying attention, they let the people in quickly without even asking any questions.

There were many people entering the city, but the inspection was very quick and soon it was Lin Qiang and the other person's turn.

The Japanese happened to notice this, and the puppet soldier had to pretend to be angry and asked in a vicious tone: "Stop, what are you doing? What are you doing in the city? Are you visiting relatives or friends, or doing business?"

It seemed like he was interrogating, but in fact he was giving Lin Qiang and the other two an excuse. As long as they made up a random reason, they could enter the city smoothly.

Just as Zhang Yuntian was about to speak, he saw Lin Qiang stretch out his right hand and make an eight gesture.

“Baka…!!! Baka!”

The puppet soldier's eyes widened, and after cursing, he winked at Lin Qiang and cursed, "Don't get in the way here, get out of here!"

The puppet soldier was afraid that the Japanese would discover anything unusual, so he kicked Lin Qiang after cursing him. As if he was still not satisfied, he hit the black donkey's butt with the butt of his gun.

The black donkey felt pain and dragged Lin Qiang into the county town.

In a deserted corner, Zhang Yuntian kept wiping the sweat off his face and asked in shock, "Brother...Brother Qiang, what were you doing just now!?"

"Don't panic, look at you, you look like you just took a bath."

Lin Qiang was not panicked at all. He dared to make that gesture under the eyes of the Japanese, all thanks to the Eye of Insight awarded by the system.

As early as when he was queuing, Lin Qiang noticed that several puppet soldiers had loyalty codes on their heads, and there were more than sixty of them!

Lin Qiang didn't know how to explain this phenomenon. He could only attribute it to the fact that Xu Lang had agreed to join his team, but had not returned to the base yet.

Otherwise, it’s impossible to explain what’s going on.

Lin Qiang found a tea stall on the edge of the city and gave the stall owner two silver dollars, asking him to help watch over the two donkeys.

The stall owner happily took the silver dollar and said he would definitely take good care of it.

After dealing with this matter, Lin Qiang did not go to meet Xu Lang immediately, but wandered around the place where people gathered to set up stalls.

After walking up and down the street twice, Zhang Yuntian initially thought Lin Qiang was going to buy something. However, when he realized that Lin Qiang was just looking for something, he couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Qiang, what are you looking for?"

"Find someone."

"Looking for someone?"

Zhang Yuntian asked, "Who is it?"

"you do not know."

Lin Qiang thought for a moment and then said, "I don't know him either, but in a sense I do know him, except that he doesn't know me."

The more vague the words were, the more curious Zhang Yuntian became. What kind of person could make Lin Qiang take such a big risk to come and look for him in person?

That’s right, now Zhang Yuntian finally understood why Lin Qiang came to the county town. Meeting Xu Lang was not the main purpose, finding talents was the real purpose.

After searching for the person twice without success, Lin Qiang decided not to continue looking. This time he was just trying his luck, and after all, he didn't expect to really find the person.

Just as he gave up the search and was about to cross the street to leave, he accidentally glanced and saw the person he was looking for.

The man did not choose to sell rice in a place with a lot of traffic, but instead chose a corner. The advantage of this was that he could avoid being harassed by the Japanese and traitors, but the disadvantage was that it was not easy to sell.

This can be seen from the full bags in front of the man, and he has not opened his business yet.

"He is indeed here!"

Lin Qiang muttered something and then walked over quickly.

Lin Qiang squatted down in front of the man, grabbed a handful of rice and looked at it carefully in his palm. But when he reached for the other bag, the man said to him: "Both bags of rice are the same. If you want to buy it, buy it. If not, don't mess with it!"

Zhang Yuntian was about to teach the guy a lesson when Lin Qiang stopped him. He asked curiously, "Why? Others can touch this rice, but I can't?"

The man said disdainfully, "That's right. I'm afraid you'll dirty this white rice. You're dressed like a real man, and you're carrying all sorts of stuff. You're obviously a traitor and a running dog!"

Zhang Yuntian was startled by these words. He looked around subconsciously and when he found that no one noticed, he secretly moved the two pistols on his waist.

"I don't like hearing this anymore."

Lin Qiang stood up, covered his exposed gun with his clothes, and said, "Why do you think that anyone who carries a gun and dresses well is a traitor and a running dog?"

"Aren't you a traitor and a running dog?"

Lin Qiang smiled and replied, "Not really."

The man was stunned, then lowered his hostility and asked, "Who are you?"

Lin Qiang smiled slightly, made the same gesture again, and said, "Your name is Duan Peng, right? This rice is sold at this price. I'll buy it all for you. Don't be so quick to refuse. Use the money to buy medicine for your mother's illness. Consider it my filial piety."