Bright Sword: Japs, times have changed

When Duan Peng saw the gesture made by the other party, he realized that the other party's identity was different from what he had guessed. He was not a traitor or a running dog, but a soldier of the Eighth Route Army.

He just didn't expect that the other party even knew his name, which made Duan Peng's guard, which had just been lowered, rise again: "How do you know my name?"

"I know more."

Enough time had been wasted, so Lin Qiang said bluntly, "Come with me to fight the Japanese and take your mother to the base. You can take care of her at any time. There are some medicines at the base that may be able to alleviate her condition."

Seeing that Duan Peng didn't respond, Lin Qiang continued, "Whether you agree or not, I'm going to buy all the rice."

After saying that, he left a purse on top of the bag and said, "There's a tea stall on the street with two black donkeys. Put the rice on the tea stall and tell the owner that the donkeys' owners asked you to put it there. If you're willing to follow me to fight the Japanese, go back and get your mother and wait for me at the tea stall. Remember, you only have three hours."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Qiang took Zhang Yuntian into an alley and, led by Zhang Yuntian, went to meet Xu Lang.

To be honest, Lin Qiang was not sure whether Duan Peng was willing to join the Eighth Route Army. In the TV series, Li Yunlong dealt with the other party with just one sentence, or because he was so famous and his heroic deeds in fighting the Japanese had long been spread among the people.

As for Duan Peng, Lin Qiang could only take a try-it attitude. Even if he stayed there and kept arguing with him and reasoning with him, if the person didn't want to, then he just didn't want to.

If he was willing, he would definitely do as Lin Qiang said and wait for Lin Qiang and the others at the tea stall.

Duan Peng is a master who can compete with monks, and he is not inferior to Monk Wei in fighting. Lin Qiang must strive for such a talent, and Duan Peng is related to an important plan of his.

The two men shuttled through the alleys, trying their best to avoid the Japanese and puppet troops patrolling the streets.

They didn't stop until they came to a coffin shop. Zhang Yuntian walked in first, found the shopkeeper and said, "Uncle Zhang, I'm here to see you again!"

Uncle Zhang looked over when he heard the voice. Seeing it was Zhang Yuntian, he smiled happily. "Yuntian, why are you here again? You didn't buy anything this time, did you?"

"No."

Zhang Yuntian opened his hands, indicating that he had brought nothing with him. "Didn't you tell me that if I come back to buy something, you'll hit me with that ruler. So how can I dare to buy anything?"

After a few pleasantries, Zhang Yuntian introduced: "Uncle Zhang, this is Lin Qiang I told you about last time."

"Hello, Uncle Zhang!"

Lin Qiang greeted the old man very politely.

"Hello!"

Uncle Zhang shook his body, stretched out his hands and held Lin Qiang's hands. In just a moment, he burst into tears and said, "Comrade Lin, thanks to you, if it weren't for you, our Zhang family's only child would be finished. If you hadn't brought Yuntian back to the right path, I wouldn't be able to face my ancestors after I die!"

After saying that, Uncle Zhang pretended to kneel down to thank Lin Qiang.

This scared Lin Qiang a lot. As a junior, he could not bear such a great gift. He used his arms to hold Uncle Zhang back and prevent him from making the next move.

"Why are you still standing there? Let Uncle Zhang sit down!"

Seeing that Zhang Yuntian was unmoved, Lin Qiang said unhappily, "You want me to be struck by lightning when it thunders, right?"

Zhang Yuntian laughed and came over to help Uncle Zhang sit down.

Lin Qiang squatted down and said hurriedly: "Uncle Zhang, this has nothing to do with me. It was Yuntian who was lurking near the Japanese. He happened to meet my team and joined us."

After much persuasion, Uncle Zhang finally gave up the idea of thanking Lin Qiang. Just as he was about to ask what the purpose of coming here was, Zhang Yuntian took out a piece of red cloth and hung it on the sign outside the door.

"Xu Lang comes to visit Uncle Zhang every day. This is what I asked him to do. With Xu Lang around, Uncle Zhang hasn't been harassed by the devils and other puppet troops in the county town."

Zhang Yuntian paused for a moment, sighed, and said, "I hope Uncle Zhang can enjoy his old age in peace."

While the two of them were drinking a cup of tea, someone else came to the coffin shop. Lin Qiang thought it was a customer, but when he stood up, he found that it was a puppet soldier wearing yellow uniforms.

"Huh? Who are you?"

Zhang Yuntian quickly stood up and introduced, "Brother Qiang, this is Xu Lang."

Then he introduced him to Xu Lang: "Xu Lang, this is Lin Qiang I told you about. He is also my platoon leader."

"Platoon leader?"

This questioning made Lin Qiang's hand, which he had stretched out with a smile, freeze in mid-air.

Xu Lang glanced at him, shook his hand, and said with a smile, "I'm sorry, it's just that Yuntian never mentioned your position. I always thought you were the regimental commander, or at least a company commander."

Lin Qiang smiled slightly: "I'm sorry to disappoint you, I'm just a platoon leader."

The other party's behavior made Lin Qiang subconsciously think that he was looking down on him, so he spoke with sarcasm.

Xu Lang knew that he was the one who was disrespectful first, so he didn't fight back. Instead, he took the initiative to apologize: "Platoon Leader Lin, let's have tea instead of wine to make up for my recklessness just now."

"Serious words!"

Lin Qiang also realized that he had misunderstood and drank it all in one gulp. "Let's stop talking nonsense. We'll have plenty of time later. I'll get straight to the point. This time, I'm here to discuss your surrender. Once confirmed, we must implement it as soon as possible."

This kind of thing cannot be delayed too long, especially under the eyes of the Japanese. It will easily reveal clues and be discovered by the Japanese.

Xu Lang also knew that he couldn't delay for too long, so he didn't say anything nonsense: "Don't worry, Platoon Leader Lin, I've already made preparations and can leave at any time. However, there are still a lot of supplies in the camp, and my brothers can't take them all away."

These supplies took Xu Lang a long time to prepare and took a lot of effort to collect. He originally wanted to use them as a stepping stone to join the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army.

Among this batch of supplies, many were cotton and medicines purchased privately in the county town. Xu Lang had spent a lot of money to buy them at that time. Whether because he was reluctant to spend money or for other reasons, he didn't want to throw away this batch of supplies.

Hearing this, Lin Qiang and Zhang Yuntian looked at each other and laughed at the same time.

Xu Lang was confused and asked, "What are you laughing at?"

Lin Qiang suppressed his laughter and replied, "Don't worry about this matter. Yuntian and I came here on donkeys. You can find two carts to load it up and we can transport it out in the evening."

"Snapped!"

Xu Lang clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Great!"

"No need to go at night, the supplies have already been loaded. We'll just lead the donkey over, harness it, and we can leave the city directly. Don't worry about the two devils at the door, just give them a few silver dollars."

Zhang Yuntian felt that it was a bit risky to leave the city openly like this. He was about to express his opinion, but when he saw that Lin Qiang didn't say anything, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Lin Qiang had no concerns. Since Xu Lang was so confident, he didn't bother to stop him. "Okay, let's do it now?"

"no problem!"

Xu Lang said to Zhang Yuntian, "Yuntian, you know where my camp is. Go get the donkeys and I'll go notify the brothers to gather."

"Okay! See you at camp then!"

…………

On the way to the tea stall, Zhang Yuntian wanted to speak several times, but when the words came to his lips, he couldn't say anything.

Lin Qiang noticed his expression and guessed what he wanted to say, but because of his status, he didn't say it out loud. So Lin Qiang simply spoke for him: "Are you trying to say that it's unsafe to act rashly like this?"

"Yes."

With the topic opened, Zhang Yuntian no longer hesitated and said bluntly, "Platoon Leader, this isn't your style. Ever since we entered the city, you haven't been as cautious as you were in previous operations. I have to doubt your decision this time."

Lin Qiang didn't feel any dissatisfaction with Zhang Yuntian's doubts. Instead, he looked at him with a bit of appreciation: "You're right, but the situation this time is different. I can't explain the specifics, but one thing is certain, you can always trust me."

After Zhang Yuntian's concerns were dispelled, the two of them returned to the tea stall they had been to before.

The boss was not there at the time, but Lin Qiang saw a figure that made him very happy.

"Duan Peng, on behalf of the first platoon, I welcome you to join us!"

In addition to Duan Peng, there was an elderly woman with a slightly pale complexion beside him. I guess this was the mother that Duan Peng was always worried about.

Duan Peng also smiled and shook hands with Lin Qiang, saying, "Platoon Leader, I may be a rough man, but if you ask me to kill the devils, I will definitely not hesitate!"

"it is good!"

Considering the next action, Lin Qiang asked Zhang Yuntian to go to the market and buy a donkey cart at a high price, and put all the belongings that Duan Peng brought on it, including two bags of rice.

"Duan Peng, you know Black Cloud Village, right?"

Duan Peng nodded and said, "I know."

"That's the team's base. We still have operations in the city. You should take your mother back to the base first."

Lin Qiang didn't give Duan Peng a chance to speak. He said bluntly, "You are now a soldier of the Eighth Route Army. You must learn to obey orders. There will be plenty of such operations in the future. The most important thing now is to bring your mother back to the base safely."

"Yes!"

Duan Peng gritted his teeth, pulled the donkey cart and walked towards the city gate without looking back.

Lin Qiang retracted his gaze and said to Zhang Yuntian, "Let's go to Xu Lang's camp!"