The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

After his family passed away, on a dark and stormy night, Li Youcai seized an opportunity, sneaked into the landlord's house, and murdered the landlord's entire family. Amidst the frantic barking of the dogs in the yard, Li Youcai strode up the back mountain, where darkness soon engulfed him.

Li Youcai, who originally intended to go to Xing'an to find his relatives, was dragged into the warlord's army halfway there. He tried to sneak away several times but was caught and beaten half to death by his ruthless superior. Li Youcai killed the superior who had always bullied him and joined the uprising.

Under the enemy's relentless encirclement and suppression, the troops suffered heavy losses and finally decided to move towards the Central Soviet Area. Because the enemy spread rumors that the Red Army killed people and robbed women on sight, the villagers in the villages along the way hid in the mountains. After participating in a blocking battle, he was wounded and fell behind the troops. He wandered into the deep mountains and was fortunately found by the villagers, thus saving his life.

Having the opportunity to return here, Li Youcai settled his troops and then led them out of the mountains to find the people who had saved his life years ago. His reasons were twofold: first, to express his deepest gratitude; and second, to seek their help in providing cover and medical care for the wounded and sick.

As the saying goes, "Flowers planted with care may not bloom, while willows planted unintentionally may thrive." Unable to find his benefactor, Li Youcai unexpectedly encountered Zhang Hongmei, who was gathering firewood in the mountains, while he was out buying grain. At that moment, Zhang Hongmei was feeding water to a wounded Red Army soldier. Thanks to the efforts of Li Youcai's guerrilla medic, the unconscious soldier awoke. It turned out that after being wounded and separated from his unit, he had been found by local militia and beaten to the point of near death, then abandoned by the roadside.

The seriously ill soldier awoke but died shortly afterward. With his last strength, he said:

"Comrades, please save our comrades who have been captured by the militia! Those militiamen are all beasts!"

“I recognize those militiamen; they’re from the Yan family compound in our Tankou Village.”

Zhang Hongmei suddenly said from the side:

"I was so scared that I hid in a pile of weeds when they were robbing the Red Army soldiers."

At dawn, Li Youcai's guerrilla team arrived at the gully where Xu Wenqing and his men were located. They received news from the guerrilla team that a stray soldier had been captured by the security force of Tankou Village. Xu Wenqing decided to launch a surprise attack on the Yan family compound in Tankou Village to rescue the captured soldier.

On the march, they received intelligence that several Red Army soldiers who had fallen behind had been captured by a platoon of security forces and imprisoned in a small village along the way.

These security regiment officers and soldiers, mostly lacking the training of regular troops, not only plundered civilian property under the pretext of capturing Red Army soldiers in the areas the Red Army passed through, but also tortured every Red Army soldier they captured to pass the time during the transport journey, showing no mercy whatsoever to the fact that they were of the same nation and race as them.

These platoon-sized security search teams are a common sight in southern Anhui. Wherever the Red Army passed through, they inevitably wreaked havoc.

For these white dogs, who were also hated by the local people, capturing a stray or wounded Red Army soldier was naturally a cause for celebration. Even if they couldn't capture a single Red Army soldier, they could still plunder all the wealth that the people had painstakingly accumulated from this so-called military operation.

Some officers and soldiers were so inhuman that they even committed acts similar to raping respectable women. Describing their actions as bandits is undoubtedly the most apt description.

Watching his soldiers still whipping the Red Army soldiers who were almost covered in wounds, the security regiment platoon leader, sitting on a tree stump, laughed and cursed:

"Alright, that's enough for now. If you kill them or beat them so badly they can't walk, you'll either have to pay me back my reward money or carry them on your back."

Just as the six security soldiers were standing crookedly in the courtyard, two reluctant soldiers came out and opened the gate. To their surprise, they saw a young man whose foot seemed to be injured as he walked, desperately limping away towards the edge of the village.

Upon realizing that their opponents were likely wounded Red Army soldiers, the two soldiers, as if injected with adrenaline, roared:

“There are Red bandits who just ran past here. Two brothers, come and help us. We'll block this bastard from both sides. He has a leg injury, so he can't run fast.”

Upon hearing that there were Red Army soldiers, even the platoon leader of the security regiment couldn't sit still. He immediately abandoned the reluctant soldier who was left to guard the area, drew his pistol, and, with the other three soldiers, quickly gave chase after the wounded Red Army soldier after learning the direction he had fled.

It's important to know that the bounty for capturing one Red Army soldier was five silver dollars, and capturing more would lead to a promotion. For each search party that went out, capturing one more Red Army soldier meant an extra reward and an extra opportunity for promotion.

To the platoon leader's surprise, when he led two soldiers into the alley, he found no trace of the supposed wounded Red Army soldiers. He called to his other pursuing men to inquire about the situation, but even after shouting himself hoarse, he received no response.

What began to frighten him even more was that, theoretically, he still had more than ten men in the village. Why, after shouting several times, hadn't he heard a single one of them respond?

It's bad; they've fallen for a diversionary tactic.

Realizing something might have happened in the courtyard where the five Red Army soldiers were being held, he quickly led his soldiers back to the courtyard. Just as he turned into the courtyard of the house where the prisoners were being held, the platoon leader sensed a figure in front of him.

Before he could even react, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist holding the pistol, which involuntarily fell to the ground. When he realized he'd been attacked, he saw blood gushing from the throats of his two subordinates.

Just as he realized he had been ambushed, the young man in Red Army uniform said with a cold and ruthless expression:

"You all deserve to die."

Seeing Xu Wenqing's murderous intent, the security platoon leader shamelessly knelt down, clutching the bleeding wound on his wrist and begging for mercy:

"Grandpa Red Army soldier, spare my life!"

These guys all used the same title when begging for mercy, but Xu Wenqing showed no interest in it, saying:

“Being your grandfather is so bad that I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep at night and it will shorten my lifespan. Now stand up and come with me to the courtyard where my brothers are imprisoned. Whether you live or die depends on whether my brothers are willing to spare your dog’s life.”

Tiger, standing nearby, picked up the platoon leader's dropped pistol and handed it to Xu Wenqing, who also felt lucky. Logically, even the White Army's rifles were rarely standardized these days, yet this security regiment platoon leader possessed a Mauser pistol, commonly known as a "box cannon." Kicking the platoon leader's mournful expression, He Zhengdao also saw the two security regiment soldiers on guard at the village entrance finally rushing over.

Staring at their platoon leader, whose head was being held at gunpoint by Xu Wenqing, the two sentries were at a loss. Just as they hesitated, Xu Wenqing coldly addressed the security regiment platoon leader:

"Tell your men to lay down their weapons right now, or I'll blow your head off."