What a beautiful white lotus

They hurried on the road without resting all the way, and arrived near Echeng that night.In the war zone, they did not dare to enter the city at will, and the towns were guarded by the Japanese army, so they parked their boats near the reed marshes, and then went ashore to rest.

Before going to bed, they discussed tomorrow's actions.

The Japanese-occupied areas are all nearby, and the national army did not dare to be aboveboard when transporting guns. According to reports, tomorrow they will disguise themselves as a group of fishermen and cross the river by water, so there will not be too many people.But no matter how few people there are, there must be more people than Ye Rongqiu and the others. Even if Ye Rongqiu and the others include the two boatmen, the Zheng brothers, there are only six of them.The most ideal situation is of course that they can grab this batch of guns and take them as their own, but if such a battle occurs here, the nearby Japanese troops will definitely be alarmed.They don't want to have a direct conflict with the national army, and their intelligence is very limited. Everything has to wait until tomorrow to play by ear, and the task is very difficult.

Even Xiao Zhao, who has always been heartless, was frowning.Xiao Zhao said: "There are guns, why don't you use them to fight devils, and save us from spending so much effort."

Ye Rongqiu said: "People's hearts are not in harmony." In fact, he himself can understand the Sichuan army stationed in southern Hubei.The Sichuan army is not directly descended from Chiang Kai-shek, and although its status is much better than that of Gu Xiuge's back then, it is still not loved by parents.In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, part of the national army, especially the local troops, did their best to fight devils. After all, it was their hometown that was occupied by the Japanese.

However, after a long time, everyone found that it was not a matter of a day or two, or even a year or two, to drive out the devils. The team that fought the devils had already been wiped out. The mentality of those people is naturally different.Not to mention the fact that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are at war, that is, the various factions within the Kuomintang are all on their own and even fight each other. Fighting devils is not a national event, but it has become their own business. "Friendly troops" who are miles away will not lend a helping hand to you.If you want to survive, you can only preserve your own strength.Coupled with the instructions above, some generals are only willing to focus on suppressing "bandits", but deliberately avoid the Japanese edge.

When Ye Rongqiu said that the hearts of the people were not in harmony, it was not a bitter accusation, but a sigh.Why didn't he think like this back then?Others went to the front line to defend their family and country to die, but he only wanted to protect his own little family.Didn't you push yourself, how many people have such great feelings?Ye Rongqiu certainly hoped that fewer generals like Gu Xiuge would die, but if they hadn't all died in battle, I'm afraid the situation in China today would be even more difficult.

Zhou Shujuan came over: "Go to rest early, your body hasn't recovered yet."

Ye Rongqiu nodded, lay down on the grass and fell asleep.

The weather in southern Hubei in July is very hot and humid, and the grass is full of insects. He can hear the chirping of cicadas on the trees, the chirping of birds in the forest, and the rustling of grass under the wind. .However, it was these voices that made him feel that the world was extremely quiet.

Under such silence, he fell into a deep sleep.He had a dream. On the green hill under the sun, he walked leisurely up the hill.He suddenly saw the black dog standing on the hillside ahead, so he ran towards the black dog happily.The black dog stretched out his hand to him, so close to him, it seemed that he could touch it just by stretching out his own hand.He stretched out his hand without hesitation, but it was a little short.He continued to walk up, but it was still a little short.He moved closer to the hand stretched out to him wholeheartedly, the sun was shining on him very warmly, even if he was only one step away, he never thought of giving up.

Yes, it's close at hand.

In the early morning, he was woken up by Xiao Zhao.

Zhou Shujuan distributed some dry food and water, and then they hid in the reeds and waited quietly.

At around ten o'clock in the morning, they saw a fleet of ships approaching slowly from the front.

Zheng Shui asked Zhou Shujuan: "Is it them?"

Zhou Shujuan narrowed her eyes and observed carefully.The other party came with two boats, and there were not many people on the two boats, and there were only ten or twenty people in total.Looking at the clothes, they look like ordinary people, but no one will act in military uniform in the Japanese-occupied area, so it doesn't mean anything.

Xiao Zhao suddenly came up and said excitedly: "I saw old Guotou, it's them, the information is indeed correct!"

Xiao Zhao's eyesight is the best, he pointed to the second boat, Ye Rongqiu and the others saw an old man standing on the side of the boat, looking at the figure, he seemed to be really old Guotou.

Zheng Shui asked, "What should we do now?"

Zhou Shujuan was silent.There are not many people in the national army transporting guns, because they also want to avoid the eyes and ears of the Japanese, so they can only take risks.But even if there are not many, the number of them is four times that of them. It is impossible to fight recklessly, only to outsmart them.

Zhou Shujuan suddenly pulled the two brothers Zheng Shui and Zheng Yu over and whispered something to them.

After a while, their boat sailed out from the reed marsh and approached the two boats coming from a distance.

The other party noticed that someone was approaching, and immediately began to whisper, looking at the people on the boat vigilantly.Zheng Shui steered the boat unhurriedly, while Ye Rongqiu and Zhou Shujuan sat on the boat and adjusted the fishing nets, looking like real fishermen.

"Hey, I haven't seen it before, which village are you from?" Zheng Shui shouted towards the opposite side.

The people on the opposite side looked at each other, and one replied, "It's from Jinsha."

Zheng Shui approached them by rowing a boat, and asked, "Fisher?"

When those people saw Zheng Zhengshui and others approaching, they all put on a vigilant posture.A few of them stuffed their hands into their waists, as if they wanted something. At this time, the old Guo Tou gestured to them to signal them to calm down, and then stood on the side of the boat and smiled: "It's fishing. Where are the brothers?" ?”

Zheng Shui said, "We deliver goods."

During the conversation, the two boats got closer and closer. The boatmen of Lao Guotou and his two boats intentionally rowed the boats aside, but Zheng Shui relentlessly approached them with the water.

Zheng Shui asked, "Is your harvest good today?"

Old Guotou was already a little displeased, he laughed and said, "It's okay, it's okay."

Zheng Shui glanced at Ye Rongqiu, and Ye Rongqiu got up and asked, "What fish did you catch?"

Old Guotou got impatient, picked up a fish from the bamboo basket, shook it, and said: "We still have something to do, we'll go back first, let's talk about it next time.

Zheng Shui and the others were already very close to each other's boat, and Zheng Shui even stretched out his oars to hit Lao Guotou's boat, causing their boat to shake.

The two national troops rushed forward, posing as an attack, Zheng Shui withdrew his oars in fear: "What are you doing?"

Old Guo frowned: "You guys!"

Ye Rongqiu hurriedly said: "I'm sorry, you really have something to do, so I won't delay you." After he finished speaking, he nodded to Zheng Shui, and Zheng Shui rowed the boat back, away from Lao Guotou's boat.

They were just about to retreat when they suddenly heard a person behind Old Guo exclaim: "Why is this boat leaking?"

Ye Rongqiu and Zhou Shujuan looked at each other and smiled knowingly.Just now when they were dealing with Lao Guotou and the others, they sent Zheng Yu, a good swimmer, to dive under the water and dig a hole under one of Lao Guotou's boats.Zheng Yu doesn't talk much, but he is very reliable in his work. As expected of being raised on water, he hasn't even changed his tone for such a long time.Originally, the old Guotou and the others were not so careless. No one noticed when they swam close to their boat. It was because Zheng Shui and Ye Rongqiu distracted their attention by talking to the old Guotou and the others. They also caused the ship to shake when working underwater, but they thought it was caused by Zheng Shui's ship approaching.

Zheng Shui quickly leaned the boat towards Lao Guotou's boat again: "Oh, why did it get flooded? Why don't you move your things to our boat? We're not in a hurry, so I'll give you a ride."

One person on the boat quickly waved his hands and refused: "No, no, just leave it alone and go back."

Zheng Shui pretended to be extremely enthusiastic: "What's the matter, your boat is leaking. You are all Chinese, so why not help?"

Ye Rongqiu and Zhou Shujuan chimed in: "That's right, where are you going?"

Zheng Shui also stretched out his oars to hook Lao Guotou's boat.

Because of the chaos they caused, Zheng Shui, who had successfully cut through the bottom of the boat, swam away without anyone noticing.

At this time, the quick-response people on the old Guotou boat had already noticed that something was unusual.A few people ran to protect the goods on the ship, and a few people ran to the side of the ship and waved their oars to open Ye Rongqiu's boat and prevent them from approaching.Those impulsive ones have already drawn their knives and sticks, staring at Ye Rongqiu and the others, ready to strike at any time.

Zheng Shui looked surprised when he saw the knives and sticks in their hands: "What does this mean?"

The two sides fell into a stalemate for a while.

Suddenly, there were two strange cracking sounds from the grass on the shore, and two bullets hit another fishing boat of the national army, making two holes in the board of the boat.

For a moment, the national army disguised as fishermen was stunned.

When the bottom of the boat was gouged, although they realized that something might be wrong, no one dared to draw a gun yet.After all, this is a Japanese-occupied area, and there are Japanese soldiers patrolling and "mopping up" nearby. Once they shoot, the Japanese devils are likely to be summoned, and things will become difficult to deal with.

The one who fired the gun was Xiao Zhao who was lying in ambush in the grass.Ye Rongqiu and the others naturally had the same worries as the national army, and they were even more afraid of alarming the Japanese devils than the national army.The rifle used by Xiao Zhao was refitted by Ye Rongqiu, and it has been silenced. Although it is impossible to completely make no sound when shooting, it can reduce the sound of the gun a lot. Xiao Zhao wrapped the barrel of the gun with wet clothes when shooting. It also reduced the gunfire a lot. If the devils were not nearby, such noise would not cause irreparable consequences.

Taking advantage of the panic and daze of the national army, Ye Rongqiu quickly gestured to Zheng Shui to retreat first.They pretended to be flustered and bluffed and shouted: "The devil is coming! It was the devil who shot! Run!" While shouting, Zheng Shui rowed the fishing boat into the reeds.

Several national troops lost their clues for a while.They felt that Ye Rongqiu and others were very suspicious, but Ye Rongqiu's yelling played a role in confusing them, making them also worry that the person who fired the sniper on the shore was a Japanese devil.

The Sichuan army did not fight devils in the past two years, and their generals even said, "Only fight the New Fourth Army and not the devils." However, this does not mean that the national army will coexist peacefully with the Japanese devils.The reason why the Sichuan army is unwilling to fight the devils is nothing more than to preserve their strength. If the devils find out about their smuggling of arms, their peaceful days will come to an end.

Zheng Shui had already rowed the boat into the reed marshes. Several people were hesitant to chase, and the leader said: "Don't chase, the delivery is important!"

Of their two ships, one had the bottom of the ship gouged, and the other had two holes hit by bullets, but these two holes were insignificant and did not hinder the normal running of the ship.So the leader of the national army said: "Hurry up, move the things to another ship!"

Ye Rongqiu and the others have pushed into the reeds.Through the dense reed leaves, Xiao Ma observed the anxious national army in the middle of the river, and asked Ye Rongqiu, "Commissar, let's go grab it."

Ye Rongqiu shook his head: "No, we will pick up the leak."

After all, the national army has more people than them, and the ships are larger than them. If there is a real confrontation, it cannot be said that there is no chance of winning, but it is still relatively dangerous.And when it comes to a critical moment, the national army will not be beaten honestly, and if they make a scene and attract the Japanese devils, it will be a consequence of losing both sides.Ye Rongqiu now expects that they can't fit all the guns in one boat, so they will definitely sink some things into the river.Moreover, Ye Rongqiu was always unwilling to fight with people who were also Chinese soldiers.

Xiao Zhao crawled back, jumped onto the boat, raised his gun, and waited for Ye Rongqiu's order.Ye Rongqiu signaled him to be safe and not to be impatient, if the situation of the national army was too optimistic, he would ask Xiao Zhao to make up for a few cold shots.

Just as the national army was carrying things in a hurry, Xiao Zhao suddenly shouted nervously: "Commissar, look quickly, someone is coming from the opposite mountain!"

Ye Rongqiu looked in the direction of his finger, and the blood on his face instantly retreated: "Oops, the devil is here!"