Chapter 39: Those who disturb the people will kill

(... Now everyone seems to say that the discipline of the Kuomintang army is poor, and the Kuomintang army in the movie is like a bandit... During the war period, some local armed forces that are included in the combat sequence of the Kuomintang army will certainly disturb the people, but many of the regular troops I know are very strict in discipline; like the direct line of the Central Army, the direct line of the Gui Army, etc., if the officers and soldiers commit serious crimes of disturbing the people, they will be beheaded... Excerpted from "Grandpa's Memories of the War of Resistance")

A noise came into his ears, and Cao Xiaomin woke up in a daze. As before, as long as he could see Jiana in his dream, he would refuse to wake up... "Bang!" A gunshot made him, who was still lingering on the edge of the dream, suddenly bounce up like a conditioned reflex. He ignored the pain on his body and picked up the armed belt with a pistol and the 38-shaped cover engraved with fifteen regular characters and rushed out.

"What's going on?!" Cao Xiaomin sorted out the armed belt on his body, took out the m1911a Browning pistol that Xie Jinyuan gave him when he left and walked towards the crowd.

There were soldiers and refugees. The crowd surrounded the boss and a yellow cow died in the middle. The three crying people desperately shook an old man covered in blood and shouted desperately, and it seemed that they were not alive.

"It's okay, sir..." A defeated soldier who later joined the team smiled awkwardly with a box cannon in his hand: "Brother, isn't there any way? We have a lot of people and there is not enough food here... The old man didn't let the cattle kill, and even came over to bite me. This, the gun went off..."

Suddenly, Cao Xiaomin raised his hand and pointed the gun in front of him: "Who are you? You said, are you going to fire or shooting!"

The defeated soldier was probably a small leader. As soon as several soldiers rushed up, they were immediately hit by at least a dozen rifles. The bayonet on the gun directly broke their uniforms. The group of soldiers brought out by Cao Xiaomin were all people who rolled over from the dead. Can the defeated soldiers be arrogant? The two rushed up and unloaded the defeated soldiers and the gun that fired. Several soldiers were kicked to the ground and squatted.

"Brother...ah, brother, sir... I'd like to ask the sir to show off my best..." The leader of the defeated soldier was timid: "Brother, aren't you watching everyone have enough food... This cow is planned to pay for it..." He saw Cao Xiaomin's face getting ugly, and he pointed at him without any intention of putting down his gun, and his face began to turn blue.

"Yes! It was my shot! It was my shot! It was my bet that I wanted to steal the cattle!" The murderer shouted at Cao Xiaomin with a fierce look: "I have a kind of shooting, let's see who the brothers here are convinced! I'm for all the brothers!... I'll tell you again, don't think you, a lieutenant, can I control me, I'm a major!" He saw that Cao Xiaomin had no further action and shouted: "Our brothers rushed here from the northwest to fight the Japanese, and didn't even stutter, so they couldn't argue!? This old man was looking for death by himself!" He stared at the people crying on the ground and said: "We have a lot of people, and we don't care about these ungrateful ones. Everyone took the cows to clean and cook them, so let's forget about this..."

Cao Xiaomin still didn't put down his gun, and pointed it straight at his eyebrows: "The Northwest Army? Major? Where is your officer uniform? Want to escape and change into the clothes of a soldier?" His gun, his eyes made the perpetrator, who claimed to be a major, dared not speak anymore, and a look of fear gradually appeared on his face... Now everyone seems to say that the Kuomintang army has poor discipline, and the Kuomintang army in the movie is like a bandit... During the war period, some local armed forces that are included in the Kuomintang army's combat sequence will of course disturb the people, but many of the regular troops I know are very strict; like the direct line of the Central Army, the direct line of the Gui army, etc., if the officers and soldiers commit serious crimes of rape and murder, they will be beheaded... Cao Xiaomin remembered a memory of his grandfather. Now he encountered such a thing, would he kill people?

"I know one of the Northwest Army, my surname is Cheng; I saw with my own eyes that he killed at least a dozen Japanese devils, and he was a hero!" Cao Xiaomin saw the officer who had changed his clothes and fled, and his words tightened: "But you are a fucking grandson!"

"Bang!" The gun fired, and the bullet directly hit the head of the person in front of him, and spilled out from the back of the deceased's head with a bunch of blood, which scared his followers behind the deceased to the ground! Except for the very thin blood stars spilled on Cao Xiaomin's face a few points, there was no blood splashing out in front of the deceased. It was not until the body fell blood that suddenly gushed out like a spring, dyeing the ground near his head and face red...

"Brothers, why do you want to fight against Japan?" Cao Xiaomin's voice was not loud, but everyone could hear the silent scene clearly. "Because the Japanese do not treat us Chinese as human beings, because we don't fight them away, they will harm our people and our fellow villagers... If you do this yourself, will you be different from the Japanese do?! There are many military orders, and I don't know which ones you remember. I will reiterate one; who dares to harm the people and kill them!"

The families of the three deceased rushed to Cao Xiaomin and shouted to the sky and kowtow desperately.

After dealing with this matter, those who should pay compensation should pay compensation should pay compensation; Cao Xiaomin personally dressed up mourning for the elderly, and it was already evening when everyone buried the murdered elderly man, and the day was wasted.

Because of the death of a person, the people began to be a little afraid of these soldiers, and everyone was not as close to them on the road. Although they knew that Cao Xiaomin was a good official and a Qingtian master who protected the people, he was in military uniform after all. After all, the refugees with dim expressions made way out when they saw Cao Xiaomin who had returned from wearing incense and filial piety for the elderly.

The place they came to dark last night was a very small village, with only a dozen households in total; they did not have more surplus grain to sell to these soldiers and refugees, and the food they bought was enough for everyone to drink porridge for two days. Although there was one more cow, it would only take one or two more days.

Many ordinary people went to the nearby area to pick wild vegetables, and the mountains were full of people; because it was autumn, there were not many wild vegetables, and the refugees nearby had at most a few small elders, malan heads, purple clouds, wild onions, etc., and they were cooked in one bite... The hillside that fell into their eyes was leeing, and there were still many green onions; a quiet and peaceful village made the war uneasy.

"Company Commander Cao is a hero!" said the short man who came up to say hello: "I have never seen any officer of the Kuomintang army who can control the lives of the people..."

"How do you speak!" Several officers and soldiers of the 88th Division around Cao Xiaomin were dissatisfied. The education they had always received was the Three Principles of the People who love the country and the people. They always regarded themselves as soldiers' standards. Seeing the dwarf belittle the Kuomintang army, they looked very resentful.

The short man quickly apologized and bowed to apologize, and then came over to Cao Xiaomin and said, "Sir, I think you can't move for a while. You'll be a little far away from Suzhou. It's even more troublesome if you are caught up by the Japanese. Otherwise, the superior's troops will be here for a few days to cultivate. Let's go to Suzhou to inform the shopkeeper and ask him to come?"

Of course this is good! Cao Xiaomin was worried about how to take this large group of people to Suzhou. He couldn't bear to leave the wounded. He always thought of those who carried him back to the hospital from Luodian, and the white bones and rotten corpses along the way.

Soon, they reached an agreement: the gun dealers went back to find their boss and traded here within three days, and the gun price was reduced to 800 yuan per person.

After sending off the arms dealers, Cao Xiaomin walked back to the command center, the only mountain temple with tiles covering his head; the soldiers and most of the refugees I saw along the way did not enter the private houses, trembling in the north wind, and felt extremely sad: soldiers are also human beings! They have military laws that cannot disturb the people, but these defeated wars are full of the kind of injuries that are not considered injured in their eyes. Can soldiers who torture people to sleep in the middle of the night with hunger?

"Tonight, let everyone go to the leeward side of the mountain temple and light a bonfire to keep warm! Don't worry about violence or not!" Cao Xiaomin gave the order. Anyway, it is better to be exposed to a battle than to die of cold and starvation! Now he realized that many disciplines and common sense in theory should be nonsense in actual combat. Sometimes, even though he knew that he shouldn't do that, he still had to do it because there was a more urgent need for survival. This is the real battlefield!
Chapter completed!