Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

"You must be Brigade Commander Zeng. Our army commander is in the village. Sir, please wait a moment. I'll ask Erwaer to call our army commander and I'll take you in first."

A middle-aged man excitedly spoke to Zeng Jiwen, and turned to speak to a young man in his early twenties beside him.

"Erwazi, go call the commander and tell him the Eighth Route Army commander is here."

The young man called Erwazi looked at Zeng Jiwen with excitement, nodded immediately and ran into the village to call Commander Li.

After saying that, the middle-aged man led Zeng Jiwen and his group slowly into the village.

On the road, Zeng Jiwen looked at the man, who was carrying a Zhongzheng rifle on his back, a bag of bullets hanging on his body, and a pipe on his chest.

So as they walked, they asked the middle-aged man, "Hey brother, you look quite old, right? Where are you from?"

When the middle-aged man heard Zeng Jiwen say this, he immediately became careless and shook his head.

"Commander Zeng, please don't say that. My name is Li Tiejun and I'm from Guangyuan. You can just call me Tiejun. How can a commander call me Big Brother?"

"Haha, Brother Li, we in the Eighth Route Army believe in equality between officers and soldiers. You're so much taller than me, so it's only natural for me to call you Brother."

After saying that, Zeng Jiwen continued, "Brother Li, I see you're not young anymore. Why are you still joining the army? What will happen to your family at home?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Officer Zeng, to be honest, I'm alone now. My parents passed away early, and I raised a child in my early years. Later, I went to Shanghai to study."

"In 1932, when the Japanese were causing trouble in Shanghai, I joined the army. As a result, I died. When my wife heard the news, she was very sad and passed away not long after."

"Later, as you know, the damned Japs came again. I wanted to avenge my child, so I signed up. After all, if I killed one, it wouldn't be a loss. If I killed two, it would be enough. I avenged my child."

Zeng Jiwen fell silent when he heard this. "Brother Li, I'm sorry to ask about your sad story."

"It's okay. It's been a long time. I've let it go. Now I just want to focus on beating the Japanese."

"As a child, you have blood. As a father, you can't embarrass your child." The middle-aged man waved his hand nonchalantly and said gratefully,

"We brothers have to thank Commander Zeng for saving our lives. If Commander Zeng hadn't sent people to save us, we would have died long ago."

Zeng Jiwen shook his head and said that there was no need to do so. They were all Chinese troops, so how could they just stand by and watch them die?

The middle-aged man disagreed, "Commander Zeng, you're too polite. The fierce fighting in Xuzhou has spread to us. No one in the Central Army looks down on us and treats us as cannon fodder. If we run into those people this time, I'm afraid we're finished."

As they talked, they gradually walked into the village. At this time, Commander Li of the 47th Army came with the main generals of the 47th Army and hurriedly walked up to Zeng Jiwen.

"Brother Jiwen, I'm sorry for being late in welcoming you. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Haha, brother, we've been apart for a long time and I'm so happy to see you again today. How can I say I'm being disrespectful?"

After saying that, everyone started to greet each other enthusiastically. Seeing this, the middle-aged man prepared to leave.

After seeing this, Zeng Jiwen hurriedly called the guard, took out a pack of confiscated Japanese cigarettes from the guard, and quickly said to the middle-aged man.

"Brother Li, please wait a moment."

After saying that, he stuffed the cigarette into Li Tiejun's hand, which made Li Tiejun feel at a loss. Zeng Jiwen explained.

"Thank you, Brother Li, for accompanying us to the village. I see that Brother Li has been smoking this pipe for a long time. Try this, little devil, it would be a waste not to smoke it, you must accept it!"

After that, he forced Li Tiejun to accept it before letting him go. After this was done, Zeng Jiwen and his party followed Commander Li to a temporary civilian house that was used as a reception room of the 47th Army.