Xu Dalong unbuttoned his clothes, revealing the military uniform of the underground party's anti-Japanese armed forces underneath.
He had a kind attitude and said in proficient English: "Don't be afraid, we are not the Japanese army, we are the anti-Japanese armed forces of the underground party, and we are friends with the British army."
Although the pastor had some faith in Xu Dalong, he was not sure.
After thinking for a while, he said, "Are you really a member of the Yuanzheng Army?"
He actually said these words in Chinese. Xu Dalong immediately switched to Chinese and said solemnly: "Although we are not members of the Yuanzheng Army, we are also an anti-Japanese armed force and an army of the underground party."
The pastor chose to believe it, because if it was a Japanese soldier, it would not be so coincidental that he could speak both English and proficient Chinese.
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He said: "I am Pastor James, do you need my help with anything?" Xu Dalong asked him about the situation in the town.
The pastor told Xu Dalong that Japanese troops often passed through the town in the past, but they did not do anything to disturb the people.
Not long ago, a group of Japanese soldiers suddenly came and took away many young adults in the town. Even the mayor's son was taken away, so the residents here were very scared.
Xu Dalong asked: "What did the Japanese army arrest these people for?"
James spread his hands, shook his head and said, "I don't know about this."
Xu Dalong always felt that there was some conspiracy hidden in this, so he decided to stay here for a few days to investigate the matter clearly.
He asked Pastor James for help in purchasing some supplies from the residents of the town.
James agreed wholeheartedly and led the special forces team to open some store doors. The residents here trusted him very much, so they received Xu Dalong and sold some supplies to the special forces members. The special forces members also took the opportunity to ask them about the Japanese army's capture of young men.
A businessman provided a clue that his nephew was also captured and later managed to escape. The Japanese even sent people to capture him. Fortunately, he hid in advance and was not captured.
Xu Dalong then asked the businessman to arrange for him to meet his nephew.
The businessman's nephew was a dark, lean and lean young man named Masha Wen. He told Xu Dalong about his experience.
Not long ago, a group of Japanese military vehicles stopped in the town. The residents had seen the Japanese troops many times before, so they didn't pay attention and were busy with their own affairs.
Unexpectedly, the Japanese army suddenly started arresting people. Ma Masha Wen was shopping in a grocery store. When he heard the noise outside, he stuck his head out. As a result, he was discovered by the Japanese soldiers on the street. They pointed a gun at him, tied him up with a rope, and covered him with a black cloth. He was blinded and put into their truck.
Although Mashavin couldn't see it, he could feel that there were many people in the car, and they were all sighing. They were obviously people who had been arrested.
The truck drove for a long time and turned many corners. Masha Wen had already been painted around the lake. He felt the truck stop, and he heard that the Japanese soldiers in the car seemed to get out of the car, so he used the baffle of the truck to rub the black cloth over his eyes, revealing a gap.
He saw about 30 people tied up like him in the car. He looked outside the car and saw the car parked on a country road. Under the car, a group of Japanese soldiers were sitting by a stream to rest. While eating dry food and chatting there, I don't know what happy things happened, and a few Japanese soldiers actually danced there.
Mashavin decided to seize this opportunity to escape. He tried hard to break free of the rope, but was very lucky to break free of the rope.
He saw a Japanese sentry standing next to the truck. The sentry's eyes were also attracted by the dancing of the Japanese soldiers by the creek, and he was looking over there.
Mashawen climbed out quietly from the other side of the car, and then ran towards the bushes behind.
The Japanese sentry found him, yelled and fired at him, and soon several Japanese soldiers chased him.
Masha Wen is a clerk in a drug store. He often follows the shopkeeper into the mountains to collect medicines. He is used to walking on mountain roads and has developed a good body. He can run very fast on the hillside with complex terrain.
The Japanese were too tired to catch up and watched him escape.
Ma Mashawen escaped and came back. He did not dare to enter the town, so he hid outside and quietly returned to the town at night, only to meet his uncle. He took some dry food and hid in the mountains and forests.
The Japanese army sent people back to search for him. If they didn't find him, they came looking for his relatives, including his uncle. At that time, they beat his uncle and robbed some things from his shop. Let him go.
Xu Dalong comforted Masha Wen and gave him 20 yuan, hoping that he could help lead the way to find the whereabouts of the Japanese soldiers. Masha Wen readily agreed.
Ma Mashawen took Xu Dalong and others to the place where he escaped. After arriving here, he didn't know where the Japanese soldiers had gone.
Xu Dalong took out the map, found where everyone was currently, and saw a fork in the road not far ahead.
He then asked Masha Wen about the situation ahead of these two roads. Mashavin had walked the road on the left many times before, but he had never been to the road on the right. He recounted the situation on the left.
Xu Dalong couldn't tell where the Japanese troops had gone. He thought that if there was something abnormal in this area, nearby people might notice it, so he asked Masha Wen to take him to the front to find settlements.
The road on the left was very familiar to Masha Wen. After more than two hours, it led them to a village not far from the road.
Xu Dalong followed Masha Wen into the village to inquire, but did not find out anything.
Villagers said it was common for Japanese military vehicles to pass by on this road. They didn't know which Japanese vehicles Xu Dalong was asking about.
Xu Dalong asked if there were any missing people nearby, and the answer was no.
Hearing this answer, Xu Dalong was secretly happy. Because the Japanese army arrested many ordinary people, and they were all young and strong, they must be doing hard labor. They did not arrest people in this area, probably because they did not want to attract the attention of the locals. This instead shows that those workers are likely to be in this area.
After leaving the village, Xu Dalong asked Mashawen if there was anyone familiar in front of him.
The reason why Masha Wen often takes this road is because he used to follow his shopkeeper to sell medicinal materials. He is familiar with some business partners, a village about 10 kilometers away from here, and a herb collector he is familiar with.
So they went straight to the village to find the herb gatherer.
After arriving at the village, Xu Dalong and others hid outside the village and gave Masha Wen some money and asked him to give it to the herb collector.
Masha Wen secretly made an appointment with the herb collector, and this time he really got some useful clues.
The herb collector said that just a few kilometers ahead, there was a branch road leading into the mountains. He once heard gunshots on the mountain, secretly climbed to the top of the mountain to check, and saw Japanese soldiers on the road chasing two people who escaped.
The people being chased were wearing the clothes of ordinary people. He clearly saw that after the two people were killed, the Japanese army did not just abandon the two people, but carried the bodies of the two people onto the truck. He also swept the ground with branches, obviously trying to cover up something.
Xu Dalong and others were very excited. They judged that the Japanese army should be in this area. He gave Masha Wen and the herbal collectors some more money, hoping that they would help find the Japanese army's secret stronghold.
Hard work pays off. After careful inspection, Xu Dalong and others saw a newly built road in a valley. They climbed up the ridge on one side of the road and saw a relatively open place in the valley ahead, where many wooden buildings were built. There were many people working there at the foot of the mountain not far away.
It can be seen that they are digging a hole in the mountain, and they should be digging a tunnel inside the mountain.
Xu Dalong saw that there were many Japanese soldiers monitoring the workers. The workers included ordinary people, prisoners of war from the British Army and the Yuan Zhengzheng Army, and prisoners of war from the Burmese Servant Army.
He somewhat understood that the Japanese army was going to build a project here. They originally used prisoners of war as laborers. It must be that there were not enough prisoners of war, so they captured some more laborers from outside.
The Japanese army was so careful in carrying out construction in the hidden valley. They should be building some kind of secret base or secret warehouse.
Xu Dalong was very interested in this matter and wanted to find out the situation first, and then, if possible, carry out sabotage and rescue the prisoners of war and workers there.
In the following time, Xu Dalong and others have been secretly observing the situation in the valley.
They saw that the strength of the Japanese army in the valley was about an infantry squadron, with a relatively large number of machine guns. They should have been specially strengthened. The area of buildings and construction sites is surrounded by barbed wire.
There were about seven to eight hundred prisoners of war and laborers inside, and dead laborers were carried out every day.
Probably to hide the traces, the laborers were thrown into a nearby ravine and buried with gravel dug out of the cave.
Probably to prevent the spread of the plague at the construction site, Japanese anti-epidemic personnel were also disinfected.
Xu Dalong and others wanted to find out what was going on here. In order not to alert the enemy, they could not sneak in, hoping to intercept the vehicles and people coming out of it.
After a long period of observation, they found that two trucks would drive out of it at 8:30 am every day, and then drive back around 4:30 pm. It should be that the Japanese army went out to purchase daily necessities.
The herb collector told Xu Dalong that there was a small town about 20 kilometers away from here, and the Japanese army should go there.
Xu Dalong decided to go to that town to inquire about the situation.
That afternoon, Xu Dalong and others arrived outside the town.
They kept waiting. When they saw the two Japanese military vehicles leaving the town, Xu Dalong asked Masha Wen and the herb collector to go to the town first to inquire about the situation.
The herb collector said that he had relatives in the town, and he would ask them about the situation. After speaking, he looked at Xu Dalong.
Xu Dalong knew that he wanted money, so he generously gave him 30 yuan.
The herb collector was very happy and took Masha Wen to the town.
They came out soon after and brought a man about 40 years old.
According to the herbal collector, this person was his uncle who opened a small restaurant in the town. According to his introduction, he often saw the two Japanese military vehicles. They were buying some food, vegetables and other daily necessities in the town. The Japanese soldiers also ate in his small restaurant. The number of Japanese soldiers was about the same every time, five or six in total, and they did not bring any civilians with them.
Xu Dalong originally wanted to catch a civilian husband who came out with the Japs so that he could inquire about the relevant situation, but all those who came out were Japs soldiers. This is normal. In order to cover up their secrets in the mountains, they will not bring the civilian husband out.
The Japs are hard at work, and the mountains are their secret bases. Even if these Japs are caught, they may not be able to interrogate them.
Xu Dalong felt a little headache and couldn't make up his mind for a moment, so he asked Monk Wei and others for their opinions.
Monk Wei said: "Master Long, the little devil is digging a cave in the mountains. I don't think it can take more than a year and a half. We don't need to worry about what the little devil is digging the cave for. Let's just find a way to rescue those workers." ”
Xu Dalong suddenly felt enlightened. Thinking about it, he couldn't stay in this area for another year and a half. What the kid would use the cave for in the future really had nothing to do with him. And he can also report this situation to Yuan Zhengjun. All that can be done now is to rescue the workers and prisoners of war inside.
Xu Dalong made up his mind and planned to attack the secret base of the Japanese army and rescue the prisoners of war and workers inside.
The special operations team he and Monk Wei brought out this time only had 34 people. After the casualties in previous battles, now including Xu Dalong and Monk Wei, there were only 26 people. The Japanese army inside was a reinforced infantry squadron, approximately between 220 and 250 people. A forceful attack would definitely not work, and even a night attack would be difficult to annihilate them with any certainty. These special forces were originally the treasures of the Mawushan guerrillas, and Xu Dalong would be reluctant to part with them if there were any more heavy casualties.
Xu Dalong and others did not receive the task of rescuing these prisoners of war and laborers, but as the anti-Japanese armed forces of the underground party, they could not ignore death and could not watch the Japanese persecute innocent people.
In order to formulate a complete combat plan, Xu Dalong once again convened the Zhuge Liang Meeting to solicit the opinions of the special operations team members.
Before the war, Zhuge Liang would be able to give full play to the initiative of all the soldiers. Everyone brainstormed, checked for omissions, and often came up with many good ideas.
Everyone put forward many suggestions, and after analysis, they all thought that the feasibility was not too great.
Masha Wen and the herb collector were invited to participate in the discussion. Seeing that the soldiers could not think of any good ideas, Xu Dalong asked for their opinions.
Xu Dalong gave Masha Wen a lot of money and was very kind to him. Seeing that they were going to fight the Japanese, he also enthusiastically wanted to help them.
