Siheyuan: Reborn Silly Pillar, Taking Control of the Entire Courtyard

Outside the Temple of Heaven, at the Japanese assembly square, the dust had not yet settled, and squads of Japanese soldiers were boarding vehicles in formation, preparing to go to various parts of the city to carry out martial law duties.

No one expected that death had already quietly locked onto this area.

He Yuzhu, who was hidden in a courtyard not far away, steadily set up the GrW34 mortar and aimed at the target with a cold look in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, gave a gentle push with his thumb, and the first shell whistled through the sky.

The shells came too suddenly; even though the Japanese soldiers vaguely heard the sound of them cutting through the air, they had no time to react.

"boom--!"

A violent explosion suddenly rang out, shrapnel flew everywhere, instantly killing a group of Japanese soldiers boarding the vehicle at the front, and screams ripped the tranquility of the square apart.

"Get out of the way!"

A Japanese officer shouted out, but it was too late.

He Yuzhu's gaze remained unchanged, his movements fluid and graceful as he loaded and launched the missiles in quick succession.

The first volley of six shells accurately covered the entire parking area, sending cars flying into the air, flames shooting into the sky, and shattered parts flying everywhere along with blood and flesh.

The Japanese soldiers on guard duty on the perimeter were sternly ordered by the major to rush forward and rescue the people. The soldiers had only taken a few steps when a second round of artillery fire swept in again.

The loud explosions terrified them so much that they immediately dropped to the ground, clutching their heads tightly, not daring to lift them.

Thick smoke billowed from the shelling site, and flames raged.

The major of the guard unit, his face ashen with rage, brandished his sword and berated the soldiers lying on the ground, "Baka! Get up and save them! Anyone who disobeys will die!"

The soldiers were forced to their feet, trembling, by the knife, unaware that this would only add a few more cannon fodder to their ranks.

The shrapnel from the GrW34 mortar shells has a kill radius of up to five meters, leaving no place to hide in what appears to be a spacious small square under the cover of fire.

He Yuzhu operated calmly, and after five rounds of salvo, the entire square was almost completely covered, with screams and corpses everywhere.

He Yuzhu deliberately paused the shelling to create the illusion of evacuation.

Sure enough, a group of Japanese soldiers took the opportunity to rush into the square to provide assistance.

These soldiers were all newly recruited after the outbreak of the Pacific War, and they belonged to the garrison forces, so they had never been on a real battlefield.

When they saw the ground littered with severed limbs and the burning cars constantly detonating their ammunition, the pungent smell of blood and burning flesh assaulting their nostrils, they were so frightened that their legs went weak, their hands gripping their guns trembled uncontrollably, and they dared not approach.

Pig-nose gas masks are equipment reserved for special forces; how could such a ragtag security force possibly be equipped with them?

Many of the Japanese soldiers who rushed in were choked by the thick smoke and shockwaves before they could even touch the wounded, and died on the spot.

When the Japanese reinforcements arrived in a hurry, the officer in charge did not say a word. He raised his hand and slapped the major left and right, and a series of loud slaps made the major bow his head repeatedly and shout "Hai!"

Subsequently, a group of Japanese soldiers wearing pig-nose masks rushed into the square again, only to be met with another round of sudden and fierce artillery fire from He Yuzhu.

The artillery fire came too quickly; the Japanese soldiers didn't even have a chance to retreat and were engulfed in flames.

More than an hour later, the commander of the North China Expeditionary Army, Miao Waisang, arrived at the scene in his SUV.

Seeing the horrific scene before him, with the entire square almost razed to the ground and corpses piled up like mountains, he trembled with rage. He drew his command sword, pointed it at all the officers of rank of colonel and above, and began to curse them.

"A bunch of useless idiots! Such an important military unit was completely wiped out by a surprise attack using heavy artillery! You should all commit seppuku to atone for your sins!"

The shouts echoed through the ruins, and the Japanese officers present were all terrified, their heads almost touching the ground.

Despite the fear of death among the lower-ranking Japanese soldiers, there were quite a few shrewd individuals in the army.

Not long after He Yuzhu evacuated, the Japanese military police followed the trajectory of the shells and found the large courtyard used as a gun emplacement.

"Bang!"

The military police kicked down the courtyard gate and rushed in.

Seeing the deliberately damaged gun mounts and scattered ammunition debris in the yard, the military police captain leading the team turned red with anger and shouted, "Baka!!"

Several military dogs were quickly brought over, but He Yuzhu had already cleaned up the scene thoroughly before leaving, leaving almost no trace.

The military dog ​​sniffed around and around, but after going a short distance from the courtyard wall, it started circling in place, unable to find any direction.

Japanese technical soldiers squatted on the ground and repeatedly surveyed the area, quickly determining the number of artillery pieces and even roughly guessing that they were the German standard GrW34 mortars.

The news was quickly reported to the commander outside the temple. After reading the report, the commander flew into a rage and turned around to slap the military police commander several times.

"You good-for-nothing! A large amount of heavy weaponry was set up right under your nose, and you launched a surprise attack on such an important unit. You, the military police commander, can expect a court-martial!"

The military police commander turned pale and collapsed to the ground, not daring to utter a single word in rebuttal.

This matter caused too much of a stir and could not be kept secret. Even the monks outside the temple were not immune to blame.

He could only suppress his anger and ordered an immediate telegram to the commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army, Tanijiro Sasata, while also reporting the situation to the Japanese General Headquarters at an urgent pace.

To his despair, Gu Cheng Zao Tai's reply was extremely cold, telling him to return to headquarters to explain, and that he would personally arrive in Beijing soon.

Finally, he added a harsh statement: If the murderer is not caught, you will commit seppuku to atone for your sins!

His hand holding the telegram trembled incessantly. Outside the temple, Sang Er's face was so gloomy it seemed to drip water. He immediately relayed the orders down the chain of command.

For a time, the entire city of Beijing was in a state of panic as the Japanese army began a large-scale manhunt for Kuomintang intelligence organizations.

In their view, the Communists simply couldn't get their hands on such large-caliber mortars.

The strongholds that had been targeted by the Japanese army in the past were all destroyed. During the arrests, there were constant conflicts and gunfire that lasted all night.

That night, the Kuomintang's underground forces suffered heavy losses and were almost completely eradicated.

The underground Communist Party members, who had originally intended to secretly gather information, were forced to lie low to avoid getting burned.

The news was strictly blocked by the Japanese army, and the outside world could only decipher a few sentences from the scattered telegrams intercepted.

A special unit, its designation unknown, was attacked and completely wiped out.

He Yuzhu, who created all of this, is currently sleeping peacefully in the courtyard house.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, He Yuzhu woke up.

He immediately immersed himself in the ecological space, watching the potatoes and soybeans sprouting and the peanuts sprouting tender shoots, and couldn't help but smile.

"It's time to figure out how to get some vegetable seeds and fruit tree seedlings," he thought to himself.

Immediately, He Yuzhu silently signed in.

[Check-in successful! Reward: 2 yuan, 5 jin of flour, and 1 jin of eggs.]

These things are now commonplace to him, and he doesn't lack them at all.

He simply communicated with the system in his mind: "System, can the sign-in rewards be accumulated? For example, can it be changed to sign in once a month, or only when I want to sign in?"

[The sign-in rules are subject to change; they have been changed to monthly sign-ins, which the host can adjust at any time. In the event of a major system update, sign-in counts will be automatically accumulated and claimed with the next sign-in.]

"good."

He Yuzhu nodded in satisfaction, finished the sign-in process, and then pushed open the door and left the room.

After breakfast, he went to the backyard to practice martial arts with Xu Damao, as agreed.

The two had just settled into their horse stance and practiced a few moves when they saw He Daqing, with a dark face, hurrying into the backyard from outside.

"Dad? Why are you back? Don't you have to go to work today?" He Yuzhu asked, puzzled.

He Daqing glared at him irritably, his tone annoyed: "What kind of work am I supposed to do! Martial law is in effect again. This time even a good citizen's certificate won't work. The streets are full of Japanese soldiers and puppet troops; we're not allowed to leave the house at all!"

"Huh?" He Yuzhu feigned surprise, "Then they didn't say when martial law would be lifted?"

"Your father is just a cook, how could he tell me these things?" He Daqing waved his hand, too lazy to say anything more.

"Alright, stop standing there. Let me see how your training has been going these past few days. Zhu Zi, show me your punches first."

"Okay, Dad!"

He Yuzhu responded, lowered his waist and sat down, unleashing a set of punches with great force and fluidity.

After finishing a set, I wasn't out of breath or my heart was racing.

He Daqing nodded repeatedly, "Yes, you've mastered the moves and your stance is steady, but you still need more practice. Da Mao, it's your turn."

"Yes, Master!"

Xu Damao quickly responded and earnestly practiced the two basic stances. Although his strength was not as great as He Yuzhu's, his movements were still quite impressive.

He Daqing's tone softened considerably: "Da Mao's training is going well. Keep up the good work and don't slack off."

"Yes, Master!"

After finishing their practice, the three of them walked together toward the central courtyard.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw the Jia family mother and son—Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongxu, one carrying a broom and the other carrying a mop, sneaking towards the front yard.

Upon seeing He Yuzhu, He Daqing, and Xu Damao, Jia Zhangshi's eyes flickered, and she subconsciously shrank back.

She had already witnessed the power of the He family father and son. Last time, her tantrum not only failed to gain any advantage, but she was also severely punished and almost kicked out of the compound. Now, she dared not act so aggressively as before.

But she wouldn't let it go, turning her head away and cursing in a low voice, "Pah! A bunch of damned bastards, I wish you were all dead!"

Although the voice was soft, He Yuzhu still heard it clearly.

His eyes turned cold, and he paused in his steps. He Daqing gently tugged at him, signaling him not to lower himself to the level of such a person.

He Yuzhu snorted coldly and ignored him.

Meanwhile, Xu Damao's mother went out early in the morning but was blocked back by the Japanese and puppet troops under martial law. At this moment, she was sitting in the He family's house, chatting quietly with Chen Lanxiang.

"It's terrifying outside. There are Japanese soldiers everywhere. They say something terrible has happened, and no one is allowed to go out." Aunt Xu said, still shaken.

Chen Lanxiang nodded: "Yes, we should stay home and avoid going out and causing trouble."

After lunch, fearing that the two boys would be bothered by the Jia family mother and daughter in the front yard, Chen Lanxiang told He Yuzhu and Xu Damao to go play in the back yard.

Meanwhile, Jia Zhangshi and Jia Dongxu in the front yard were busy from morning till night, moving things into the house little by little like ants carrying house, and they still hadn't finished after a whole day of work.

When Jia Laonian returned in the evening, he made several more trips, but in the end, the family still squeezed into the west wing room for the night.

As night fell and the lights in the yard were just turned on, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the gate—the black dog from the yard had come again.

These puppet soldiers knew this alley and courtyard like the back of their hand. They could tell whether there were any strangers in the courtyard just by glancing around when they entered.

They didn't go too far, after all, they had been following the Japanese army in their search for so long, they had seen all sorts of things.

As usual, He Daqing reached out for a reward, and not daring to be negligent, he quickly stuffed a lot of money and food into his hand.

Before leaving, the leader, Uncle Duo, glanced discreetly into the courtyard and whispered a reminder to He Daqing: "Old He, things are tense lately. The Japanese might search every house. Hide your valuables quickly so they don't get found."

"Thank you for the reminder, Master!"

He Daqing quickly handed over a few more packs of good cigarettes and politely saw the man out of the compound.

Back inside, He Daqing's expression was grave, and he immediately recounted the situation to Chen Lanxiang.

"Quickly, find all the valuables, money, and tickets in the house and hide them in the secret compartment under the bed."

The couple didn't dare to delay. They quickly packed up their valuables and carefully hid them in a hidden compartment under the bed that they had prepared in advance. They then restored the bed to its original state, leaving no trace.

Later, He Daqing secretly told the old lady in the courtyard about it.

The old lady remained calm and waved her hand, saying, "Don't be afraid. We don't have anything conspicuous on the surface, so the Japanese won't be able to find anything."

After settling himself and the old lady in, He Daqing went to the neighbor Xu Damao's house to remind the Xu couple to hide their valuables.

As for the other two households in the courtyard, he didn't have the kindness to notify them one by one.

After the black dog left, things got lively at the Jia family's house.

Old Jia squatted in the corner, puffing away on his pipe, his brow furrowed, not uttering a word.

Jia Zhangshi, feeling sorry for the benefits she had given to the puppet troops during the day, sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) beating her chest and stamping her feet, cursing and swearing, from the Japanese to the puppet troops, from He Daqing to He Yuzhu, cursing until late at night, and only when she was tired did she reluctantly go to sleep.

Silent all night.

He Yuzhu lay on the bed, and with a thought, he added all the points he had accumulated to several combat skills.

Instantly, a flood of combat, shooting, and stealth experience and techniques rushed into his mind. That night, he had countless fragmented yet vivid dreams, filled with gunfire, carnage, and stealth.

When Chen Lanxiang woke him up the next day, he was still a little dazed, his eyes were confused, and he didn't know where he was for a moment.

It took him a while to fully regain his senses, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

After getting up, Chen Lanxiang remembered the puppet soldier's reminder and went next door to whisper to Li Guihua, telling her to hide her things in the house as a way of repaying the favor Li Guihua had done for her when she gave birth to her child.

Upon hearing this, Li Guihua's expression changed immediately. She thanked him repeatedly, turned around and went home, and began rummaging through drawers and cabinets to hide things.