The War of Resistance Against Japan: Starting with a Calm View of Life and Death

Wang Yuan was still worried and grabbed Zhou Jindong's arm, saying, "Dongzi, this is too risky! What if that old bastard Okada Tomohisa doesn't play by the rules and just detains you? We need to think of another way!"

Zhou Jindong patted Wang Yuan's hand to comfort him, saying, "Brother Yuan, what we lack most right now is time and supplies. A single battalion of the Japanese has over a thousand men. If they really push forward, our few dozen men simply can't hold them off."

Only by tricking them into handing over their supplies, arming ourselves, and settling the villagers in the mountains behind our village without any worries, can we have a glimmer of hope. This risk is one we must take!

He turned to Watanabe Kota and Su Zhan and ordered, "You two go and coordinate your statements now. Make sure Okada Yuta's personality, habits, tone of voice, and all his 'encounters' along the way are perfectly plausible. If even one detail doesn't match, all three of us are dead. Go!"

Watanabe Kota and Su Zhan dared not slack off. The two huddled in a corner and chattered away for most of the hour. Ogawa Kosuke and Nishimura Hide were also called over to help.

Seeing that they had almost finished, Zhou Jindong waved his hand and said, "Alright, that's enough for today. Go and rest, get your energy back. Tomorrow afternoon, Watanabe and Su Zhan will come with me. Yuan-ge, you stay here and keep an eye on the house, especially the prisoners. Don't let them cause any trouble."

Seeing that he couldn't dissuade them, Wang Yuan slammed his fist on the table: "Damn it! I'll keep a close eye on them! Dongzi, you better be careful. If things go wrong, come back even if it costs you your life!"

"Don't worry, Brother Yuan, I'm tough as nails." Zhou Jindong smiled, turned around and walked out of the side room.

The night is dark.

Zhou Jindong returned to his family's pharmacy.

Doctor Zhou was still awake, sitting behind the counter, staring blankly at an oil lamp, holding a well-worn pipe in his hand, but not smoking it.

Hearing the noise, he looked up abruptly and saw that it was his son, then he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Dongzi, you're back?" Doctor Zhou stood up and looked Zhou Jindong up and down. "You weren't injured during the day, were you?"

"No, Dad, I'm fine." Zhou Jindong walked over and helped his father tidy up the scattered medicinal herbs on the counter. "The Japanese devils will probably come again, we may have to move."

Doctor Zhou paused, his hand still. "Move? To where? To that valley you mentioned?"

"Yes, I think it's a really good place. As long as there's enough food, we can settle down there for a while."

As Zhou Jindong packed the valuable medicinal herbs into bags, he said in a low voice, "The Japanese have suffered such a great loss, they will definitely retaliate. We have to go into the mountains. That valley behind the mountains is a good place, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and we can also farm there."

"Didn't we agree on this at the meeting? We'll take some people to check it out first thing tomorrow morning, and if it's suitable, we'll relocate the entire town there."

After a moment of silence, Dr. Zhou sighed, "Alright, you're the pillar of the family, so you're in charge. Your father is old and can't help much anymore, so I'll just look after this family's resources for you. I've packed all these medicinal herbs for you; they'll be lifesavers when we get to the mountains."

If you really encounter any insurmountable difficulties, tell Dad. Dad has many friends who might be able to help!

Zhou Jindong thought his father was comforting him, so he smiled and didn't say anything.

The father and son silently packed up everything in the pharmacy for half an hour, packing up all the valuable and usable items.

Zhou Jindong went to the backyard to check the hidden weapons and ammunition again. After confirming that everything was in order, he returned to the front hall.

"Dad, go to sleep. I'll rest for a bit too. We have to leave as soon as it's light." Zhou Jindong tucked the gun under his pillow and lay down on the counter, fully clothed.

Zhou Jindong did not sleep well that night.

My dreams were filled with the sounds of gunfire and the shouts of the Japanese soldiers, as well as the faces of my fellow villagers.

But he forced himself to rest because there were more important tasks to complete the next day.

As dawn broke, Dongzhai Town was still shrouded in a hazy morning mist. A group of people had already gathered in front of the town hall.

Besides the core team members Zhou Jindong, Wang Yuan, Shuisheng, and Zhuzi, there were also several elderly people from the town, such as Uncle Wang and Uncle Zhou, plus more than a dozen puppet army prisoners.

Zhou Jindong smiled, turned and waved to the crowd: "Let's go! Up in the mountains!"

The group followed the path behind the mountain, trudging through the deep and shallow woods.

This back mountain is usually deserted, covered with wild trees as thick as a bowl and dense brambles.

The dozen or so puppet soldiers led the way, hacking and slashing with machetes, panting heavily from exhaustion.

After walking for about two hours, the sun climbed above the treetops, and the snow stopped.

Zhou Jindong stopped, looked at the surrounding terrain, and then looked up at the position of the sun.

"It should be around here." Zhou Jindong pointed to two opposing mountain peaks in front of them. "Don't those two mountains look like two generals guarding the gate?"

Grandpa Wang and Uncle Zhou were exhausted. Supporting their knees, they looked up and said, "It looks like it, but there's no road here!"

"It's better if we can't see the road!" Zhou Jindong led the way and squeezed into an extremely narrow crevice in the rocks.

The crevice was extremely well hidden, only wide enough for three or four people to pass through. On both sides were slippery, moss-covered stone walls, and only a sliver of sky was visible overhead.

The group filed in and groped their way through the darkness for several dozen meters before the view suddenly opened up.

Everyone was stunned by what they saw.

This is a huge natural basin, surrounded by steep cliffs, with the only entrance being the crevice in the rock that we just came through.

At the edge of the valley, there are more than a dozen cave entrances, whose destinations are unknown.

The bottom of the basin is flat, and a clear stream meanders out from a crevice in the cliff, forming a small pool.

Although it was winter, the water was not completely frozen.

What's even more surprising is that there's a large open wasteland in the center of the basin. Although it's covered with weeds, the soil looks very fertile.

"My goodness..." Grandpa Wang's eyes widened, and he dropped his pipe to the ground. "This place...this is a paradise!"

Uncle Zhou ran to the stream, scooped up some water, took a sip, and then tasted the soil: "Sweet! The water is sweet! The soil is fertile! Dongzi, this place can grow grain!"

Zhou Jindong walked to the foot of the cliff and pointed to the caves, saying, "Those caves are all dry, so they're not cold in winter or hot in summer. With a little repair, people can live in them. Just hide the food and supplies inside, and block the entrances, and even a thousand troops outside won't be able to break in."

He walked to the crevice in the stone at the entrance and gestured: "If we set up two machine guns here and assign a few skilled marksmen, even a company of Japanese soldiers would die here. This is a place where one man can hold off ten thousand."

Grandpa Wang was trembling with excitement, grabbing Zhou Jindong's hand and saying, "Dongzi! Good boy! This place is wonderful! A hundred times safer than our town! Safe! Safe! Safe! Most importantly, we can still farm! We're going to settle down here!"

Zhu Zi and several other young team members excitedly ran around, tasting the stream water and exploring the caves, as if they had discovered a new continent.

"Don't get too excited!" Zhou Jindong clapped his hands, drawing everyone's attention back. "This place is nice, but it will take a lot of work to house several hundred people. We need to build roads, level the cave entrances, and stockpile enough firewood and food. We don't have much time left."