You are ordered to support the War of Resistance against Japan; China enters Level 1 combat readines

Old Sun was awakened by a commotion.

He turned over, not wanting to get up, but the noise outside grew louder and louder; some people were running, some were shouting, and some children were crying.

He got up cursing and sneered, then slipped on his shoes and went out the door.

The alley was in chaos. Several people were carrying a door panel and running this way. A person was lying on the door panel, his face was burning red, and his mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Old Sun went over to take a look and saw it was Old Zhou, the carpenter from the next alley. He had been perfectly fine that morning and had even greeted him.

"What's wrong?"

The man carrying the door panel didn't have time to answer and hurried past. Several more people ran over from the other side, their faces pale, shouting things like "Doctor!" and "Help!"

Old Sun stopped one of them and asked what was wrong.

The man, panting, said, "I don't know. Many people have fevers, some are vomiting, some have diarrhea, and some... some are even vomiting blood."

Old Sun's heart skipped a beat as he remembered the young woman who had come to ask for hot water that morning.

He walked toward her house, and before he even reached the door, he heard crying coming from inside.

He pushed open the door and went in. He saw his wife sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a child in her arms. The child's face was flushed red, his lips were purple, and he was covered with two quilts and was still shivering.

There was a basin on the ground containing vomit, which was white and looked like rice water, but with traces of blood.

The young woman's husband stood by, pacing anxiously, saying that they couldn't get a doctor to come because something had happened in the east of the city, and the doctor was too busy.

Old Sun said, "Then hurry up and invite them from another street."

The man said that other streets had also experienced similar incidents, with people everywhere having fevers, but there were only two or three doctors, and they couldn't possibly see everyone even if they ran themselves ragged.

Old Sun stood there for a while, unsure of what to say.

He walked out of his wife's house and stood in the alley for a while.

The streets were in chaos. Some people were running east, some were running west, some were carrying patients to seek medical treatment, and some were carrying things and walking out, not knowing where they were going.

News came from the city gate that someone wanted to leave the city but was stopped, because they were afraid of bringing the disease out.

Chaos also broke out at the arsenal; many people had fevers, and the factory ordered a halt to production and sent them home.

Another hour passed, and the old Chinese medicine doctor from North Street was finally invited.

He was carrying a medicine kit and was being helped by a young man as they jogged over, panting heavily.

He first examined the young woman's child, felt his pulse, looked at his eyes, and then looked at his tongue. His hands began to tremble.

He then went to see Old Zhou next door, the owner of the tofu shop, and the pancake vendor at the city gate.

After reading the last one, his face turned as white as paper, his lips trembled, and he couldn't speak for a long time.

When someone asked him what was wrong, he didn't answer.

When asked again, he still did not answer.

Finally, pushed to the limit, he managed to squeeze out a few words through gritted teeth: "This illness... seems... seems to be..."

He dared not say it.

But someone else spoke for him.

The doctor at the arsenal's medical clinic came from Beiping (Beijing). He had studied at a medical university and had seen more than the old Chinese medicine doctors.

After examining several patients, he emerged with a livid face.

He only said one sentence: "It's the plague."

The news spread like wildfire.

Plague! Those two words were like two pebbles thrown into the crowd, making people dizzy and disoriented.

Some people collapsed on the spot, some covered their mouths and ran to the side to vomit, some cried and shouted that they wanted to leave the city, and some ran home without saying a word, packed their things and prepared to escape.

A large crowd had gathered at the city gate, making a ruckus and pushing and shoving with the sentries from the arsenal.

The sentry dared not fire, nor dared he release the man; the two sides were locked in a stalemate, and the situation escalated.

The security chief's face turned white then green, then green then white again, his hands trembling so much he couldn't even light a cigarette.

He ordered someone to quickly notify the troops and to isolate the patients.

How can we quarantine them? Who will do the quarantine?

Everyone in the family has a fever; there's someone on this street, someone on that street, you can't even count them all.

Before nightfall, news arrived from Jinan.

The same thing happened over there; several people have developed fevers and vomited blood.

Then came Huxian County, then Licheng County, then Hexian County...

One after another, like dominoes falling, more than a dozen counties, large and small, in southeastern Shanxi were all infected with the plague almost overnight.

There were hardly any people left on the streets of Zhicheng.

Every household closed their doors and sealed the cracks in their windows with strips of paper, but it still couldn't keep out the fear.

Some people were crying inside, some were cursing inside, some were praying to Buddha inside, and some were waiting to die inside.

The people at the city gate dispersed; no one wanted to run out anymore, because they didn't know where to go if they did.

News of the epidemic is coming from all directions; it seems like the entire southeastern Shanxi is in turmoil.

It was completely dark when Old Sun sat alone under the jujube tree, looking at the stars in the sky.

The stars are still the same stars, shining brightly, just like yesterday, just like the day before yesterday, just like in those hard days before.

But he felt that the stars looked a bit cold tonight.

Outside the courtyard wall, someone ran past; the footsteps were hurried and far away.

Then someone else ran past, their footsteps becoming more hurried and farther away. Then all sound ceased; even the dogs stopped barking.

Zhicheng was as quiet as a ghost town.

. . .

The news reached the Eighth Route Army headquarters late at night.

The kerosene lamp had been burning all night, its wick covered in a thick layer of black scabs, and the flame had shrunk to the size of a soybean, flickering across the faces of the group and casting shadows that swelled and shrank on the wall.

Maps were spread all over the table, red and blue pencils were scattered everywhere, and the water in the teacup had long since gone cold.

When the communications soldier ran in, the door was slammed shut with a loud bang.

The people in the room looked up at the same time and saw that the young man's face was as white as paper, his lips were trembling, and he was clutching a telegram in his hand. He looked like he had been pulled out of the water.

"Report--!"

His voice cracked and broke, as if it were being forced out while someone was choking him, "Urgent telegram from southeastern Shanxi! Plague. Outbreaks in several counties simultaneously!"

"It's in more than a dozen places, including Zhicheng, Quancheng, Hexian, and Huxian! The doctor examined them and confirmed it's plague."

The room fell silent.

The flame of the kerosene lamp flickered, as if someone had blew on it.

The pencil in the deputy commander's hand fell onto the table, rolled twice, and stopped next to Jinan on the map.

The chief of staff was drinking water from his teacup when his hand trembled, spilling water all over the table and blurring the words on the map.

Another boss had just stood up from his chair when he heard the word "plague," so he sat back down, and the chair creaked.

"The plague...they used the plague!"

The simultaneous outbreak in more than a dozen counties in southeastern Shanxi was undoubtedly the work of the Japanese!

And this isn't the first time.

Germ warfare was used as early as the Central China battlefield!

A big shot suddenly stood up, slammed his hand on the table, causing the teacup to jump, the pencil to roll to the ground, and the red and blue arrows on the map to become crooked and twisted.

"Beasts! A bunch of beasts!!"

"When they can't win a fight, they resort to such underhanded tactics! The plague! They dare to use the plague!"