I used the Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword) to fight the Japanese.

"So many! Do the Japanese have any important places around here?" Man Cang was also surprised. A pillbox with a dozen or so Japanese soldiers was already a large stronghold. Ordinary ones only had a few. There must be a reason why the Japanese valued this stronghold so much.

"I don't know! At the time, it was just a small team leader; it was too classified information for them to access," Da Zhao said.

"Alright! I'll find out more later and save Hu Zi first." Man Cang secretly noted down the name of the pillbox.

Soon the group arrived near Mafang Village. They hid the carriage in the poplar grove at the village entrance and, led by Fujimoto Huang, entered the village. Every household was asleep, and the village was quiet. Fujimoto Huang led everyone to lie down in front of a mud-walled courtyard.

This is a small courtyard enclosed by earthen walls. The main house is a mud-brick house, and to the east are two thatched houses with a tall chimney standing against the gable wall, which is obviously the kitchen. At this moment, the light is still on in the room at the west end of the main house, and the courtyard is quiet.

"This is it. Let's go in and see what's going on." The gate wasn't latched, so Da Zhao pushed it open with a creaking sound.

Seeing no movement in the courtyard, Da Zhao stepped inside, followed closely by the others. The Qingquan and Qingshui brothers stayed at the door to keep watch.

"Is Tiger back?"

Just then, the main door opened, and an elderly woman with gray hair stood in the doorway holding an oil lamp. Startled by the large number of people entering the courtyard, she retreated several steps, nearly falling.

Manxiang hurriedly stepped forward to support the old lady and began to comfort her, saying, "Don't be afraid, ma'am. We are all Tiger's friends. Fujimoto Huang brought us here."

She then pointed to the dog beside her. The old lady clearly recognized the dog, and after glancing at Fujimoto Yellow and then at the others, she breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"Come in, everyone, it's cold outside." With Manxiang's help, the old lady placed the oil lamp on the table in the main room and invited everyone inside.

There were only four or five chairs in the main room. Mancang and Dazhao entered the room, while the others remained in the courtyard on guard.

"Auntie, Tiger told you, didn't he? We're brothers who fought the Japanese together. What happened to Tiger?" Mancang sat down opposite the old lady and asked softly.

"Alas...it's all the fault of the Japanese devils!..." The old lady sighed as she recounted what had happened.

After Hu Zi was captured, his wife, fearing repercussions from the Japanese, returned to her parents' home, leaving the elderly couple to live in the courtyard. Without a strong laborer, the Japanese and their collaborators stopped bothering them, and life was relatively peaceful.

Just a few days ago, Hu Zi came back, and the old couple were overjoyed to see their son! They had a lively family reunion dinner, and the next day Hu Zi went to his wife's house to pick her up, even buying two pounds of meat at the market to take with him. Everything went smoothly, and the young couple returned that same day. The family of four discussed packing their things and moving back to Tianma Village with Hu Zi to live their lives.

The elderly couple couldn't bear to throw away their old belongings, so they spent three days sorting through them, packing up a huge pile of things: the cooking pot, the wood-chopping axe, the wheat-harvesting sickle. With so much stuff, the old man told Tiger to go to the market to buy a donkey cart. But shortly after Tiger left, disaster struck!

The village headman led two drunken Japanese soldiers into the house. He shouted for Tiger's wife to come and drink with the two soldiers! How could this family agree? In the past, the village headman had often led the Japanese soldiers to harm the people. Now that Tiger's wife had returned, he was here to do something bad again!

Tiger's father grabbed his long-stemmed pipe and smashed it over the head of the village chief's head, cursing him for being inhuman and leading the Japanese to harm the people, saying that his whole family would die sooner or later!

The two women immediately started fighting. Seeing this, Tiger's wife didn't dodge anymore. She grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed the village head! The two Japanese soldiers on the side saw that Tiger's wife was pretty and their eyes lit up. They raised their rifle butts and smashed them hard on the heads of the two men!

The old woman and the woman couldn't withstand this and were knocked unconscious on the spot! Tiger's wife was dragged away from the yard by two Japanese soldiers, still shouting "pretty girl!" Right after, the village head spat on the ground and left, cursing!

As soon as the Japanese soldiers left, the old woman was dumbfounded. She cried and moved the old man back onto the kang (a heated brick bed) before going to the market to look for her son.

Tiger had just bought a carriage and was heading back when he encountered his weeping mother on the way. He learned of the accident and pulled the old woman back with him. He jumped off the carriage and ran straight to the headman's house. Two servants tried to stop him, but he kicked them away in a few moves, which immediately alerted everyone in the courtyard.

Upon seeing that it was Hu Zi causing trouble, the village headman immediately ordered a dozen or so servants to grab wooden sticks and surround him. The well-trained Hu Zi was exceptionally fierce; he seized a servant's stick and fought his way through, taking down five or six servants before being subdued by the crowd. Soon, Hu Zi was bound hand and foot and put on a carriage, which the village headman personally escorted to the Japanese to collect his reward!

……

After listening to the old woman's story, everyone was filled with righteous indignation and righteous fury. The village head was a real scoundrel! In order to curry favor with the Japanese, he was driving the villagers to their deaths! A typical die-hard traitor!

"Auntie, you and Uncle should go back to the village with our brothers first. Leave Tiger's matter to us. Don't worry, we will definitely rescue Tiger whole!" Mancang checked the old man's body and, seeing that he was only unconscious, decided to have Third Master take the two of them back to the village first.

"This...this won't do! Tiger was sent to the Japanese by that damned village headman, how can you people possibly fight them?...His father is still unconscious..." The old lady was at a loss, with the family members either unconscious or struggling, she really didn't know what to do!

"Don't worry, Auntie, we'll definitely bring Tiger back! You go back to the village with Uncle first and find a doctor to take a look at him. Leave the rest to us, don't worry!" Manxiang said, carrying the old man on his back and walking out, with Dazhao supporting the old lady as they followed closely.

After seeing the two elders off onto the carriage and watching them disappear into the night, the group returned to the courtyard to discuss their next move.

"Brothers, Tiger has probably been sent to the pillbox by that village headman. It won't be easy for us to take down the Japanese pillbox with just the few of us. This is going to be a tough battle, so everyone be prepared!" Mancang said solemnly to his brothers.

"Fight! We're not afraid of fighting the Japanese. If Tiger is captured, none of us will feel at ease until we rescue him!" Da Zhao said fiercely.

"We came out here to fight the Japanese devils, we're not afraid of danger! Let's fight!"

"We're already here, it would be a huge waste not to rescue them!"

"Fighting the Japanese and saving people, Tiger is our brother!"

"Alright! Brothers, if we're of one mind and working together, we can win this battle! So, let's spend the night at the village head's house!" Seeing that no one was backing down, Mancang felt a little more at ease. No matter what, they had to take down this die-hard traitor first. Once they understood the situation, they believed they would find a way to deal with it!