Chapter 56: Ambushed on the Way

  Dong Li Mao also felt that taking the three commandos who were left with only half their lives on the road would instead send them to their deaths, so he agreed to leave them in Yangon to recover from their injuries.

  According to the previously designed plan, before 6 o'clock, the people in the vault had prepared ten large iron boxes. Seven of these boxes were used to hide people, and on top of them were stacks of small denomination banknotes. These boxes had been modified so that from the outside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but inside, there were two hidden latches on the side that allowed the person hiding inside to easily open the iron box. Each person only carried a handgun and a military knife.

  In addition to the three boxes, one had gold at the bottom covered with large denomination bills as camouflage, and two other boxes had weapons and ammunition at the bottom also covered with large denomination bills.

  Before six o'clock, the Japanese army's money transport team arrived, with four three-wheeled motorcycles, each equipped with a machine gun, and a total of twelve people, including two officers, one of whom was a logistics officer who was a lieutenant.

  The sound of the whistle accompanied a smiling face, one by one opening the iron trunks. The military officer checked the military salary and only allowed people to move it onto a black sealed transport truck. The person moving the boxes intentionally placed the iron boxes side by side flatly. When the bank-assigned driver was about to get on the car, the military officer stopped him and told Xiao Sheng that they would drive themselves.

  As a result, the two military officers sat in the driver's cab of the transport vehicle, while the other ten Japanese soldiers rode on three motorcycles, with two leading the way and two following behind. No Japanese troops were arranged to ride in the same car as the transport vehicle.

  Dong Li Mao overheard the conversation between the military officer and the driver, so he didn't need to worry about how to knock out the driver, they could just take out all the Japanese soldiers escorting them.

  The iron box for storing banknotes was over 1.5 meters long, but Dong Li Mao, who was 1.8 meters tall, lay inside, and after a long time, his whole body felt like it was going to be crushed, feeling suffocated and almost unable to breathe. He really wanted to get out of the box for some fresh air, but Xiao Sheng repeatedly warned him that he had to pass through all the checkpoints before he could come out. Dong Li Mao could only endure, lying in the box, no matter how hard it was, it was still better than being captured by the Japanese army, stripped naked and tortured on a wooden frame.

  "Was Xu Hongming just following us back to the country? This was the question that Dong Li Mao thought about the most after knowing that Xu Hongming would be traveling with them. The doubt emerged again from Dong Li Mao's mind: 'It can't be that simple, there must be other purposes. Mr. Xiao had only met him once, how could he be so reckless and believe a local resistance organization member whom he had just met?"

  The truck stopped three times in a row, each time with Japanese soldiers getting on to inspect, an hour later, Dong Limao judged from the bumps and swaying of the carriage that the truck seemed to have entered the mountains.

  Li Yuyuan was the first to emerge from the iron box, perhaps she couldn't bear the sweltering heat anymore. After coming out, she fanned her face with her palm.

  Then one by one they came out of the metal box, all with very nimble movements.

  Dong Li Mao was drenched in sweat. The iron trunk outside didn't feel much cooler, and only then did he notice that the entire carriage was sealed off.

  "Oh no! How are we going to know where the car went?" Dong Limao said in a low voice.

  His words left everyone speechless.

  Everyone fell silent for a while, and Dong Li Mao said: "We can only use time to judge now. At the current speed of the car, it's about 30-40 kilometers per hour. Yangon is over 260 kilometers away from Dong Gua, which means that from our departure to our destination, we'll need around seven hours. So if we make a move halfway, it should be between 9:30 and 10:00."

  Li Yuyuan subconsciously glanced at her watch: "It's now 7:30, which means we'll make our move in two hours."

  Xu Hongming sat on an iron trunk, staring blankly at Li Yuanyuan.

  "Sister, this watch... how come it's..." Dong Li Mao only then noticed the gold watch on Li Yuanyuan's wrist.

  "Oh, this is another watch of mine." Li Yuanyuan replied evasively, casting a glance at Xu Hongming.

  Dong Li Mao didn't pay much attention and let everyone take out their weapons from the other two boxes and get ready.

  At nine o'clock, just a few minutes short, the car suddenly slammed on the brakes, followed by intense gunfire, explosions and people shouting "kill".

  Dong Li Mao and Li Yuan Yuan exchanged a glance.

  "Get moving!" Dong Li Mao gave the order, aiming his gun at the lock on the rear car door. With a burst of gunfire, Gu Hao kicked open the door and was the first to jump out.

  The Japanese troops on the motorcycles in front and back were all shooting to the right towards the mountain forest. After Dong Li Mao and others got off the truck, they first shot and killed the Japanese soldiers on the two motorcycles behind them, then went around from the left side of the truck because the left side could avoid the bullets coming from the right mountain forest.

  Two officers crouched on the left side of the vehicle head, firing towards the opposite mountain forest. Seeing Dong Li Mao and others, they shouted and turned their gun barrels around. Dong Li Mao fired first, shooting the two officers full of blood holes. The front motorcycle caught fire, only one motorcycle with two Japanese soldiers using machine guns to counterattack. Dong Li Mao threw a hand grenade at the motorcycle.

  The battle lasted less than two minutes, but the problem was that there were still people in the mountain forest on the right side shooting towards the transport vehicle.

  "Are they members of the local resistance organization?" Dong Li Mao and his men took cover behind a truck on the left, asking Xu Hong Ming.

  "There's no one from our side here." Xu Hongming leaned against the rear wheel of the car, with Li Yuanyuan by his side, and replied to Dong Limao in front.

  "Cease fire!" Dong Li Mao shouted to Gou Hao and other assault team members.

  This is an enemy-occupied area, it can't be our own people. Dong Limao thought, maybe they are mountain bandits.

  After they stopped firing, the other side also ceased fire. Dong Li Mao raised his hands with gun in hand and slowly stood up, shouting loudly: "We are the Chinese Expeditionary Force against Japan! I'm coming out now, don't shoot!"

  Someone on the other side actually spoke Chinese: "Who are you trying to cheat? The expeditionary force is in Donggu, this is a Japanese occupied area!" It was a Yunnan local accent.

  "Haha... aren't you also in enemy-occupied territory!" Dong Li Mao threw his gun to the ground, raised his hands slightly above his head, and continued walking forward.

  "Be careful! It's a long one!" shouted Gou Hao.

  "Don't worry, I won't die! None of you shoot, they're not Japanese devils!"

  At this time, a big tree behind the forest flashed out a bare-headed man with a twenty-barreled shotgun in his right hand, aiming at Dong Li Mao and shouting: "Halt!"

  Dong Li Mao stood still: "As long as we're killing Japanese devils, we're all one family. Look, I've already thrown away my gun, and you're still pointing yours at me - isn't that a bit unbrotherly?" Dong Li Mao said with a smile.

  "What's in the truck?" The bald man asked, glancing at the pickup truck behind Dong Li Mao.

  "Money." Dong Li Mao replied.

  "What money? What's this about money?"

  "Japanese money."

  "Not ammunition?" The man seemed disappointed.

  "Not that, but there are four machine guns here, you can take them away." Dong Li Mao understood that these people thought the truck was carrying military supplies and they wanted weapons, not money.

  The bald man hesitated for a moment, put down his gun and said: "We have no place to spend the Japanese money, the money belongs to you, the gun belongs to me."

  "Deal!" Dong Li Mao put down his hand and walked over to stand in front of the bald man, asking: "Are you Chinese?"

  "That's right, I'm a Baoshan Tengchong person." The bald-headed man beckoned to the back and said a few words in Burmese. More than a dozen men with their upper bodies exposed ran out of the woods, went to the motorcycle, took the weapons from the Japanese and stripped off his military uniform.

  "We need to get through the Japanese blockade line and return to Dongguan, where our garrison is stationed. You should be familiar with this area, can you show us the way?" asked Dong Li Mao in a friendly manner.

  The bald-headed man saw several people walking out from behind the truck, all wearing local attire and none in military uniform. He seemed somewhat suspicious and asked: "Are you really Chinese soldiers? How did you end up here?"

  Dong Li Mao looked around at both ends of the road, and saw that the road ahead was blocked by several fallen trees. He didn't answer the bald man's question, but instead said: "It's not safe here, we need to leave as soon as possible!"

  "What about the money in the car?" the bald-headed man asked.

  "It's on fire!" Dong Li Mao replied.

  "Bring your people and follow me!" the bald-headed man said.

  Dong Li Mao turned back to the truck: "Bring the gold bars on board and burn the truck!"

  More than 20 kilograms of gold bars, a few people stuffed a few pieces into their clothes and waistbands, picked up their weapons, and Gao threw a hand grenade each at the carriage and under the car. After two explosions, the truck caught fire.