After Xu Dalong left the regiment compound, he did not leave the village directly. Instead, he found a fellow villager and borrowed a pair of clothes worn by ordinary people. Then he left the village and walked towards Zhangzhuang.
It was Xu Dalong's nonsense that he had relatives in Zhangzhuang. He didn't know anyone in northwest Shanxi. His goal was not Zhangzhuang, but to go to Qingshui Town 80 miles away through Zhangzhuang.
He only had an ocean in his pocket and couldn't buy a few kilograms of meat. The only way was to snatch it from the hands of the Japanese and puppet troops.
Qingshui Town is a stronghold of the Japanese army, with many Japanese and puppet troops stationed in it. Xu Dalong decided to try his luck there. He walked along the country road for a long time. Although he was a special soldier, he felt a little tired on just two legs. When passing by a village, I spent 50 cents to buy some corn cakes and hired a carriage to go to Qingshui Town.
That night, the carriage arrived near Qingshui Town. The coachman was obviously afraid of the Japanese and traitors there, and refused to move forward no matter what. Xu Dalong had no choice but to pay and get off the carriage.
He didn't know much about the situation in the town. He couldn't find anything when he went in the middle of the night, so he simply planned to enter the town after dawn. He saw an old abandoned brick kiln not far from the roadside, so he got inside, found a sheltered place, and took a nap against the corner.
After dawn the next day, Xu Dalong walked out of the old brick kiln and looked at Qingshui Town. He saw that there were very few pedestrians in the morning, so it would be easier to attract attention, so he waited patiently. When around 9:30 in the morning, more pedestrians came in and out of the town, and he walked towards the town.
Seeing that he was getting closer to the entrance of the town, Xu Dalong imitated the local people, put his hands into his sleeves, and followed the pedestrians towards the town.
As they neared the town, Xu Dalong was worried that the fifty cents he had on him would be confiscated by the puppet soldiers, so he squatted down, pretended to carry his shoes, stuffed the few cents under the insole, and then walked towards the entrance of the town.
A Japanese soldier and several puppet soldiers stood at the entrance of the town. They briefly checked the pedestrians and found various excuses to plunder some oil and water from the pedestrians. It was Xu Dalong's turn. He was dressed in rags and didn't have a big body. The Japanese and puppet soldiers were not interested in such a pauper and let him enter the town.
Qingshui Town is not too big. There is only one main street with some shops on it, which is deserted.
Xu Dalong's main goal was to get pork, so he inquired about the location of the butcher shop.
At an intersection of the main street, he saw a side street, not far from there was a butcher's shop, with several pork fans hanging in the shed in front of the door. A tall butcher was cutting meat on a chopping board below.
Xu Dalong stood not far away, looking at the pork with great greed, but he only had a few cents, so he couldn't afford it, and he couldn't even try to rob it. The army had discipline, and the meat sellers were also common people.
Xu Dalong was a little worried and didn't know what to do. He stayed at the butcher shop for more than ten minutes and couldn't think of any good solution.
So, he wanted to find the enemy's or puppet army's barracks and steal or rob them from there.
At this moment, a carriage drove over, with a Japanese soldier and two puppet soldiers sitting on the carriage. They came to the butcher's shop and said they wanted to buy meat.
The puppet soldiers didn't even ask the price of the pork, and just asked the boss to load the pork onto the carriage. The owner of the butcher shop was worried that they would not pay, so he asked them to pay first.
A puppet soldier with triangular eyes said angrily: "Mom, what are you worried about? I have plenty of money, so hurry up and load it into the car! Don't make Taijun angry. Otherwise, I won't give you a big word."
The Japs sitting on the carriage seemed to be able to understand what they were saying. Seeing that the owner of the butcher shop was unhappy, he immediately picked up the 38-gun in his hand, pointed it at the owner of the butcher shop, and said, "Baga! Road! Loading ground, work quickly."
The butcher shop owner couldn't afford to offend the fierce Japanese soldiers, so he had to load four fans of pork onto the carriage.
Apparently not satisfied yet, the puppet army asked the owner of the butcher shop to add two pig heads, pig ears, pig guts, etc. Then he took out a few large painted faces issued by Northern Shanxi from his pocket and threw them on the chopping board.
The big painted face is a local banknote issued by Shanxi warlord Yan Laoxi. At first, 15 yuan of big painted face could be exchanged for an ocean. Now it has depreciated to 50 yuan for an ocean.
When the butcher shop owner saw that the money was obviously not enough, he immediately became anxious, but he did not dare to get angry, so he could only say with a smile: "Boss, the money is really too little, not even enough for half a fan of pork." The store is also a small business, and it aims to support the family, so please be kind and give me more."
The puppet soldier with triangular eyes didn't bother to pay attention to him, and said to the Japanese on the carriage: "Taijun, this unruly man is asking you for money."
The devils are used to bullying the common people. If they were not in this town, the devils would not give them a penny.
Seeing that the butcher shop owner dared to ask them for money, he felt that his dignity had been challenged, so he raised his 38-gun again.
The butcher shop owner looked at the dark muzzle of the gun and broke into a cold sweat. But he still couldn't bear to let so much pork be taken away for nothing. He gritted his teeth and said cautiously: "Taijun, I..."
Before he could finish speaking, the Japanese raised the muzzle of his gun a little and fired a shot.
The bullet flew past the butcher shop owner's ear, and the butcher shop owner sat down on the ground in fright. The Japanese stared and said: "Eight, you dare to be verbose again! You're dead, you're dead!" With that, he walked away with the puppet soldiers.
When Xu Dalong saw this scene, his lungs almost exploded with anger. He followed these devils secretly, hoping to find where they settled, find an opportunity to kill them, and rob the pork on the carriage.
Xu Dalong followed them for a long time and found that they were heading towards the entrance of the town. It seems that this group of Japanese and puppet soldiers are not from this town. They should be from nearby strongholds and come to buy supplies.
Sure enough, this group of Japanese and puppet soldiers stopped and walked and bought a lot of daily necessities on the way. Xu Dalong was even more happy. Not only did he have pork, but he also had all the firewood, rice, oil and salt. The Chief of Staff will be happy to get these things back. Maybe Commander Li Da will meet Xu Dalong in person.
Xu Dalong was very happy and continued to follow this group of Japanese and puppet troops.
He saw the carriage of the Japanese and puppet soldiers leaving the town, and was about to follow him when suddenly the shouts of the puppet soldiers came from outside the town.
They drove away the pedestrians and then stood on the roadside, standing at attention and saluting. Then the roar of cars came from outside.
Xu Dalong had no choice but to stay on the side of the road. Soon he saw a Japanese truck driving in with a sun flag on the front of the truck. This is a truck with a tarpaulin hanging on it, and a Japanese-style Type 92 infantry gun is towed on the back of the truck.
When Xu Dalong saw this Type 92 infantry cannon, his eyes immediately became hot. To say that Captain Li's favorite thing is artillery, the entire New Regiment only has a few 60mm mortars. If Xu Dalong could get a Type 92 infantry cannon, he could guarantee that Commander Li would definitely treat him to sweet potato roast.
A greedy look appeared in Xu Dalong's eyes. At this moment, his mind was no longer on the pork. He turned around and followed the direction of the Japanese truck.
