Spy Wars: Return of the Red Luan

"Mr. Ye, there's no need to be modest. The fact that you were able to provide us with supplies right under the noses of the Japanese fully demonstrates your capabilities."

"Most importantly, you actually managed to pull off a switcheroo in the Japanese stronghold and rescue Old Yin. The brothers are amazed!"

"Oh? Old Yin?"

"Based on this alone, the brothers are absolutely certain that Mr. Ye is one of our own!"

"It seems Brother Guan knows Yin Fengwen?"

"Hehe, it's more than just knowing each other. You might not know, but at least half of our group are of Korean ethnicity. They are like brothers with Lao Yin, and have lived and eaten together for many years."

"Ha, this Yin Fengwen, I put him in charge of your supplies, and he didn't even mention his relationship with you. He's really tight-lipped."

"You can't blame him for that. You switched him with a fake, made him wear a mask and change his name. He didn't want to acknowledge us, but you have to understand, there are too many people in our group who know him well. We can recognize him just by his walking posture."

"Now all the brothers regard Lao Yin as a great hero. The things that happened in Shanghai were really awesome. One general and two lieutenant generals, it was unprecedented."

"In that case, it saves me the trouble. I don't need to explain anything anymore?"

"Just tell me, how do I do it!"

"How to do it, you should actually have a sense of it, brother. Back in Beiping, when Ye Fei and Brother Hanqing had their secret talks, they had already decided on a plan: to leave two teams in Manchuria, one was your regiment, and the other was Gao Shuguang's police force."

"Unfortunately, according to the intelligence Ye Fei obtained, Brother Gao was killed the day after the incident, and the original police force was either dead or scattered."

"Therefore, it is still a bit difficult for our independent regiment to complete this task on its own."

"We need to first gather some of the Red Party guerrillas here and fight together with the Korean resistance army."

"That's not necessarily true; it depends on where you plan to attack."

"Brother, do you mean there are other surprises? Are there still some of your former Northeast Army troops in the Northeast region that haven't been withdrawn?"

"There were some, but they had no supplies and their units were disbanded by the commander, leaving them homeless and wandering ghosts."

"In addition, the Japanese were relentlessly pursuing us, and most of our troops were in worse condition than we were, with many even having already fled to other countries."

"Here, I have a map. Take a look, brother. We're here now, at the border. Across from here are Jilin and Harbin. This is our destination. How many people can we gather from here to here?"

"The Battle of Harbin failed in January, and the city had already fallen to another country."

"I know Ma Zhanshan's troops are here?"

“At that time, we were with Lao Ma’s troops. We wanted to persuade him to retreat eastward according to your telegram instructions. Lao Ma believed that going east meant North Korea, and going further east meant the sea, so there was no way out. Therefore, we went westward.”

"To the west is Qiqihar. Qiqihar was occupied by the Kwantung Army at the end of last year, wasn't it?"

“Yes. But further west, there is Su Bingwen’s Northeast People’s Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army, and Lao Ma wants to get closer to Su Bingwen.”

Su Bingwen was a member of the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army. Chen Jiehua had no recollection of him; there was very little knowledge about the Northeast Anti-Japanese War.

"What a pity about Ma Zhanshan."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Let's split up and try to gather as many troops as possible to assemble in Shulan."

"Shulan? Shulan is a transit station on the Chinese Eastern Railway. It has now been occupied by the Kwantung Army, and there is at least a regiment of Japanese soldiers there."

"It's alright, we won't attack Shulan or enter the county town. We'll meet at Ping'an Village, which is past the Beihetao area of ​​Shulan. The latest meeting time is July 13th, and we won't wait for anyone later."

"Are there any special customs over there?"

"My men have prepared heavy weapons and standard light weapons for us there." Chen Jiehua and Guan Yuheng, the company commanders of the Independent Regiment, agreed on the specific meeting point and the rendezvous code before splitting up to proceed.

They went to find the remnants of the former Kwantung Army, and they went to find a man named Zhao Zihe. According to the information given by the section chief, Zhao Zihe's troops had been operating along the Shulan to Wuchang line, and their base was in Shanhetun.

Chen Jiehua and Jin Zhenji acted together, disguising themselves as brother and sister. They traveled along mountain roads, riding in mule carts, and arrived at Shanhetun three days later.

Shanhetun was desolate; you couldn't see anyone even in broad daylight. It was only after much difficulty that we asked someone that we learned that it was too close to Shulan, and the Japanese soldiers from Shulan frequently came to harass us. Those who could escape had all fled north.

Northwards, to Wuchang County? Wouldn't that be even worse?
Just as Chen Jiehua was wondering whether to head north to Wuchang County, he suddenly saw a marker at the corner of an earthen wall. West? To the west were mountains and forests. Had they gone into the mountains?

"Alright, fellow villager, thanks a lot. Sister, let's head north to look for her too."

Chen Jiehua pulled Jin Zhenji along the official road and ran north. After running a few hundred meters out of the sight of the fellow villager from Northeast China, he pulled Jin Zhenji west and turned into the mountains.

"Get down."

"I know I need to lie down; I know it better than you do."

"Hey, what else do you know?"

"I know you suspect that fellow villager is a Japanese spy, so you pretend to head north and wait here to see if any Japanese come?"

"You only know one thing. Regardless of whether that fellow villager is a Japanese spy or not, we don't need to go north anymore, nor do we need to wait here. What's the point of waiting here? To kill Japanese soldiers? Or to go back and kill that fellow villager?"

“Let’s go. I know their approximate location, but I’m not familiar with the mountain roads. You lead the way. They should be heading west into the mountains. Based on your experience, figure out roughly where they might be.”

"You knew they went into the mountains?"

"Yes, I saw their markings."

"Head west, into the mountains, let's find a mountaintop to take a look."

Chen Jiehua followed Jin Zhenji through a forest and climbed westward to a small mountain peak. "There is a hunter's path over there. Let's follow that path."

Sure enough, following the hunter's path into the mountains, they saw another marker on the bark at a fork in the road: "Turn right."

"Another mark? This one?"

"Just go, don't ask any more questions."

"I don't care to know, young lady."

After crossing two mountain ridges, Chen Jiehua finally saw a different valley, a valley that was clearly inhabited.

"Jeong-hime, don't go any further, rest here for a while."

"Young man upstairs, we'd like to see Zhao Zihe."

Because Chen Jiehua discovered two hidden sentries.

"Who are you? How did you find this place? What do you want with our commander?"

"Young man, we can't tell you who we are, what we want with your Commander Zhao, or how we found this place. But we can tell you that we recognize your secret mark."

As they spoke, two sentries were already standing guard at a distance, guns at the ready. The guns were... well, let's just say they were unsightly. Neither of the sentries possessed a real gun. Given these circumstances...

(End of this chapter)