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

"Uncle Wang, my father came with me too. Can we go to the cave?"

Zhou Jindong asked.

"Of course!" Grandpa Wang said quickly. "Your father is the doctor in our town. He has helped us a lot. We are more than happy to welcome him!"

"If it weren't for your father saying that home is a better place to recuperate, and that your condition isn't suitable for any strenuous activity, and insisting on staying to take care of you, we would have taken you and your father to the mountains long ago!"

Aunt Li chimed in enthusiastically, "Jin Dong, you're finally awake! You seem alright. Your father risked his life for you..."

Zhou Jindong was taken aback upon hearing this, glanced at his father in this life behind him, and said nothing more.

He knew that now was not the time to talk about these things.

To be honest, it would be a lie to say that someone from later generations would suddenly develop kinship with another person.

But there was still something touching.

After all, people are made of flesh and blood!

"Come on, let's go back to the cave! Everyone's worried about you and your father! Dongzi, you'd better be more careful in the future, don't keep your father on edge all the time!"

As he spoke, Grandpa Wang led the way toward the cave.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jindong responded and, supporting his father, followed behind.

The cave is located halfway up the mountain, and its entrance is hidden by branches and vines, making it virtually impossible to spot without careful observation.

Upon entering the cave, Zhou Jindong saw that there were indeed quite a few people sitting inside—about seventy or eighty, mostly villagers from Dongzhai Town.

Fortunately, the cave, which is a common refuge in Dongzhai Town, is particularly large and very clean.

He didn't pay much attention to the few unfamiliar faces huddled inside, since the original owner of this body couldn't possibly know everyone in the town.

Some of them sat on the ground, while others leaned against the cave wall; none of them looked well.

Upon seeing Zhou Jindong and his son enter, the villagers immediately gathered around.

"Dr. Zhou, you've finally arrived!"

"Near East, are you alright?"

"Did the Japanese soldiers give you any trouble?"

Everyone's tone was full of concern, and they asked questions all at once.

Zhou Yannian said with a smile, "It's alright, we escaped thanks to the Near East."

Just then, someone noticed the two large bags on Zhou Jindong's back.

"Near East, what are you carrying on your back?"

A young villager asked.

Seeing that they had arrived at their destination, Zhou Jindong casually put down his cloth bag, took out three Type 38 rifles from a backpack, and deliberately slowed down, placing them one by one on the ground.

"It's a Japanese rifle!"

Someone recognized it as a Type 38 rifle and exclaimed in surprise.

"Japanese guns? How do you have so many?"

Grandpa Wang's face was full of doubt as he asked in surprise.

Zhou Jindong took a deep breath and said in a deliberately nonchalant tone, "Just now, the Japanese broke into my pharmacy, trying to arrest anti-Japanese elements, and even smashed my medicine jars."

In a fit of rage, I killed all three of them with my red-tasseled spear; those spears were taken from their bodies.

"What?"

"You killed three Japanese soldiers?"

"What did you use to kill him?"

The villagers were stunned, their faces filled with disbelief.

They were all ordinary farmers who would hide whenever they saw Japanese soldiers; how could they dare to even think about killing them?

Moreover, he killed three Japanese soldiers with guns with just a red-tasseled spear!

Is this something a human being would do?

However, considering that Zhou Jindong usually enjoys wielding weapons, it doesn't seem impossible...

How is that possible!

Those were vicious Japanese devils!

Impossible, absolutely impossible!

"Near East, you...you're not lying to us, are you?"

Aunt Li asked, stammering.

Zhou Jindong smiled, picked up the red-tasseled spear, and said, "This spear is the evidence; it's still stained with the blood of the Japanese. Besides, all the Japanese weapons are here. Surely they didn't just give them to me because they think I'm handsome?"

The villagers gathered around, and their suspicion turned to shock as they looked at the bloodstains on the red-tasseled spear.

"Near East, you are truly brave!"

"You're from our town!" Someone gave a thumbs up.

"You're much more reliable than Yuanwazi. He's always yelling about fighting the Japanese, but now that the Japanese have really come, I wonder where he's gone with the town's guerrillas!"

When the villagers saw the weapons on the ground, they finally believed it and shouted excitedly.

Zhou Yannian looked at his son with a proud smile on his face.

His son is no longer a dissolute man who only knows how to brandish guns and sticks; he has grown up and has learned to fight the Japanese on his own!

Zhou Jindong gestured for everyone to quiet down.

"Listen to me, everyone," he said. "The Japanese won't let this go. After discovering that three soldiers are missing and not finding the killer in the town, they will definitely send people to search the back mountain."

We must be prepared. If the Japanese come, we must either hide or fight them to the death!

The villagers' expressions instantly turned serious.

They knew Zhou Jindong was right—the Japanese devils were a bunch of beasts, capable of anything.

I really didn't believe it before.

But the Japanese had been in Shanxi for almost half a year, and everyone had already experienced what they were supposed to experience.

As one of the town's leading figures, Old Wang didn't hesitate at all and said directly, "The guerrillas from the Near East aren't here right now. What do you suggest we do? We'll all listen to you!"

Zhou Jindong nodded and began making arrangements:

"First, send out sentries. Set up three sentry posts around the cave, with two people at each post, taking turns on duty. If the Japanese are spotted, they must immediately return to report."

"Second, collect weapons. Everyone should take out the machetes, hoes, and sickles they brought from home as weapons for self-defense."

"Third, prepare dry food and water. There isn't much food in the cave, so we need to use it sparingly. At the same time, send people to the nearby mountains and forests to find some edible things."

"Fourth, reinforce the entrance. Block the entrance with stones and branches, leaving only a small opening, so that the Japanese will not easily find it."

"Fifth, we deliberately created a diversion. We tried to clear away all our footprints as we entered the mountains, leaving some to lure the Japanese to the nearby deep mountains."

The villagers nodded in agreement and began to get to work.

Zhou Jindong then walked to a corner of the cave and began to inspect the three captured Type 38 rifles.

He loaded the bullet into the magazine and checked the bolt—everything was normal.

He picked up the two grenades again and examined the fuses carefully.

The Type 97 grenade has a five-second fuse, meaning it will explode five seconds after the fuse is struck.

In fact, he knew that the guns needed to be distributed right now, because he alone couldn't kill many Japanese soldiers.

Unfortunately, most of the people in the town who knew how to shoot had joined the guerrillas, and now the caves are mostly filled with women, children, and the elderly; there isn't a single person who knows how to fire a gun.

Therefore, he didn't mention it at all.

Zhou Jindong had just finished carefully checking the safety pin of the last Type 97 grenade to make sure it wasn't loose, and carefully tucked it back into his pocket when Erwazi, who was on lookout outside the cave, stumbled in, panting, and shouted, "Outside... there's movement outside! People are coming down the mountain!"

The cave erupted in chaos.

The women huddled around their children in terror and shrank back, while the men instinctively grabbed the hoes and machetes nearby, their eyes all fixed on Zhou Jindong.

Zhou Jindong's eyes sharpened, and his right hand instantly gripped the red-tasseled rifle shaft leaning against the cave wall, while his left hand reached for the stock of a Type 38 rifle on the ground.

He rushed to the cave entrance and peered out through the gaps in the vines.

On the narrow path at the foot of the mountain, about twenty people were carefully making their way up.

Although they were still quite far apart, Zhou Jindong recognized the tall, muscular figure leading the way at a glance.

It was Wang Yuan, his childhood friend who he used to play naked in the mud with since they were little and who later became a guerrilla leader!

At this moment, Erwazi finally finished speaking, "It's Wang Yuan... Brother Wang and the others!"

Damn it, this brat is breathing heavily when he talks.

Zhou Jindong relaxed a little, but he remained vigilant.

He turned and shouted into the cave, "It really is Wang Yuan and his men! The guerrillas are back! Don't panic, everyone!"

After saying that, he put down his rifle, pushed aside the vines, and went out first. He stood behind a protruding rock at the cave entrance, propped his red-tasseled spear on the ground, and waited quietly.

Wang Yuan also clearly saw the figure at the cave entrance and quickened his pace.

More than twenty teammates behind him also started jogging and quickly arrived in front of him.

Wang Yuan's square face was reddened by the cold wind, his eyebrows were covered in frost, and his breath was long and white.

He looked at Zhou Jindong at the cave entrance, paused for a moment, then grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth, and said, "Dongzi, it's you! You've finally woken up! God has eyes! I told you you're a stubborn mule with a tough life!"

He strode forward and punched Zhou Jindong squarely in the chest with considerable force.

Zhou Jindong swayed slightly from the punch, but he smiled and said, "I just woke up not long ago. The King of Hell thought I was too much of a troublemaker and refused to take me."

His gaze swept over the panting team members behind Wang Yuan; he recognized most of them—familiar faces from the town.

However, he frowned when he saw someone's actions.

"Where are the villagers? Are they all in the cave?" Wang Yuan peeked into the cave and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw familiar faces huddled together. "We just pushed down several miles of Japanese telegraph poles in Laoguagou, about twenty miles away, and we're on our way back."

Halfway there, I heard from the people who had escaped that the Japanese had occupied the town, and I was so anxious I almost lost my shoes! I guessed you guys were hiding here!

"Yes, the Japanese came in the morning, killing and burning, searching house to house. Everyone has evacuated and is here," Zhou Jindong nodded and said.

"My dad and I even confronted the Japanese devils, but thankfully we escaped unscathed and even managed to gain some advantage. Here it is!"

Only then did Wang Yuan notice the bulging coarse cloth bag at Zhou Jindong's feet, and the dark red bloodstains on the tassel of the red-tasseled spear in his hand.

His teammates behind him also saw it, their eyes filled with curiosity and inquiry.

"What... what's going on?" Wang Yuan pointed to the cloth bundle, then looked at the red-tasseled spear. "Did the Japanese invade your pharmacy?"

He knew that Zhou Jindong's house was right at the entrance of town, and the Japanese would definitely be the first to visit it.

Zhou Jindong grunted in response, saying calmly, "Three bastards came, smashing things and trying to arrest people. I took care of them. A little... small spoils!"

As he spoke, he deliberately pretended not to care and lightly kicked the cloth bag on the ground with his toe.

"Hmm, it's a miracle they even escaped... Huh? You cooked them?" Wang Yuan's eyes widened instantly, his voice rising several decibels, "You... you alone? Killed three Japanese devils? And you even got spoils?"