Chapter 94 Got news of Lan Xiang

  To prevent another attack by Japanese planes, Dong Limao ordered the special duty company to rest in the woods for half an hour, eat some dry rations and water, and set out again after it was completely dark.

  On the same morning, the 200th Division of the Fifth Army, which was guarding the Dongguan Airport and the Piyou River Bank, was subjected to a fierce attack by the Japanese army. The river bank and airport were lost one after another. The battlefield rescue team following the 200th Division was also attacked by the Japanese army. Jian Lanxiang and several medical personnel, with more than a dozen wounded soldiers, got lost in the forest and lost contact with their troops. They happened to meet Qi Xueqi, who was also lost, and his led guard squad of more than a dozen soldiers. Qi Xueqi took Jian Lanxiang and her group of over a dozen people together towards the direction of Geng's Wanjiang Helin, searching for their troops.

  Dong Li Mao led the special agent team, and they didn't set out until it was completely dark. After driving for over 20 kilometers on mountain roads with their lights off, they arrived at the middle reaches of the Wanjiang River.

  Dong Li Mao drove the Jeep into the woods by the shore, and all the other vehicles followed him into the woods.

  "Hide the vehicle well and camouflage it with branches. We will still need to use these old guys, they can save our lives." Dong Li Mao said to his brothers.

  He knew from the map that the upper reaches of this river were Wuyou River (Xiongqi's note: also translated as Youyou River. For better sound, Xiongqi translates it here as Wuyou River.), and if historical records are correct, General Qi Xue and his men should be in the upper reaches.

  The brothers covered all the vehicles with branches, and Dong Li Mao said: "We will go upstream along the riverbank. If we are not mistaken, General Qi Xueqi and his men should be there. However, we may have arrived late." He sighed, looked at the half-moon hanging in the sky, and continued: "Fortunately, the weather is good. Everyone pay attention to the floating objects on the surface of the river. If you find anyone drifting downstream on a bamboo raft, don't shoot randomly. Make sure to ask clearly whether they are enemies or friends... Bring all light and heavy weapons, we may encounter little devils."

  More than a hundred people, not one of them raised any objection to Dong Li Mao's words, and they quietly set off, taking advantage of the moonlight to make their way through the thickets and bamboo groves along the riverbank, searching upstream.

  The bright moonlight spilled onto the river's surface, creating a faint white glow. The seemingly calm river was actually turbulent beneath the surface. The insects and frogs along the shore were chirping in unison, and the humid, sweltering air didn't dissipate with the arrival of nightfall. Drenched in sweat, Dong Li Mao felt somewhat irritable, and for some reason, a ominous premonition suddenly popped into his mind.

  Was it this time searching for Qixue Qi Jiang, Ta Lao Ye led the special forces suffered a huge blow?

  Dong Li thought to himself: How did Tai Gong Wang do it back then? Was he also walking this path now?

  It turned out that Dong Li Mao was right, the limited historical data of the expeditionary army he had seen basically matched what he encountered after crossing over, and he indeed followed the path that Tai Gong Wang had taken, each experience was exactly the same as Tai Gong Wang's experience back then.

  The troops walked for more than two hours and finally made a discovery on the river surface.

  Wang Jiagui and a brother of the sniper squad were scouting ahead, when one of the brothers saw something moving downwards on the river surface, he quietly told Wang Jiagui.

  Wang Jiagui immediately aimed at the floating object with the sniper rifle's scope, and saw that there were three wounded men on it, wearing National Army uniforms. The three men sat crouched on a bamboo raft, using long bamboo poles to support the raft, trying not to let it deviate from the surface of the river. The three men were extremely vigilant, seemingly worried that someone on both banks would suddenly open fire at them.

  "It's our own people, everyone cover." Wang Jiagui was worried that if he shouted loudly, the people on the raft would shoot towards them. After all the snipers had crawled to the edge of the bamboo forest and taken cover, Wang Jiagui slowly looked through his scope and called out in a low voice: "Brothers on the river, we are the 5th Army Special Forces..."

  Three people on the bamboo raft heard someone shouting from the shore and picked up their guns beside them, aiming at this side but not firing.

  Wang Jiagui continued shouting: "We are from the Fifth Army's special operations company, we're our own people, don't shoot..."

  The three people on the raft seemed to have believed it, or they had been drifting for too long. One of them immediately replied: "We are also from the Fifth Army, we are wounded soldiers from the 200th Division..."

  Dong Li Mao heard Wang Jia Gui's low and urgent call from the front, quickened his pace to catch up, at this time the three bamboo rafts with wounded men also reached the shore.

  The three men's injuries were not serious and they could still march. Dong Limao asked Hu San to take out compressed biscuits and water for them. As the three men wolfed down the compressed biscuits, Dong Limao asked:

  "How did you get on the bamboo raft?"

  "It was a lieutenant general and his guard squad who tied up the bamboo raft to let us drift downstream." One of the superior soldiers replied, without mentioning which lieutenant general it was, perhaps Qi Xueqi didn't report his own name.

  "How many people are there on the bamboo raft?" Dong Li Mao asked again.

  "The 200th Division was subjected to a fierce attack by the devils, and the airport and Piyou River were lost one after another. The rescue team of the field hospital was also dispersed by the devils. More than ten wounded soldiers and several nurses from the rescue team walked together through the forest, trying to find the main force, but got lost. Just as we didn't know which direction to go, we met a lieutenant general wearing glasses and more than ten soldiers..." The superior soldier roughly told them how they were sent onto the bamboo raft by Qi Xueqi.

  "What about the others? Why are there only three of you?" Dong Li Mao continued to ask.

  That superior soldier fell down in tears, choking and saying: "At dusk, we drifted for about three or four hours. The rescue team nurses and wounded soldiers on the two bamboo rafts in front of us thought they had escaped danger. They were worried that it would be difficult to see the river situation at night, so they pulled ashore. But unexpectedly... Unexpectedly, just as they reached the shore, gunshots rang out from the shore... Our raft was still drifting and hadn't reached the shore yet. A nurse and a squad leader on the raft were hit by bullets fired by Japanese devils and fell into the water. The three of us had to jump into the water and hide under the raft, drifting downstream until we reached a safe area, where we climbed back onto the raft..."

  "Were all the people on the shore shot by the devils?" As soon as Dong Li Mao heard that there were 200 nurses from the front-line rescue team, he suddenly thought of Diao Lanxiang, and only then did he understand the ominous premonition in his mind earlier was related to Diao Lanxiang.

  "I don't know if they were all shot dead by the devils, but when we jumped into the water, several people on the raft were hit." The superior private replied.

  "Is there a nurse named Dao Lanxiang among the rescue team?" Dong Limao's heart suddenly tightened as he asked out Dao Lanxiang's name.

  "There was a nurse with the surname Dao..." The superior soldier hadn't finished speaking when Dong Limao grabbed his shoulders with both hands and loudly asked:

  "How is she? Tell me quickly, how is Lanyang?"

  That sergeant was pinched by Dong Li Mao's two hands until he felt a sharp pain and couldn't say anything.

  "Commander Lian is wounded, you..." Wang Jia Gui reminded Dong Li Mao.

  Dong Li Mao then let go of his hand and asked: "Lan Xiang is also on the bamboo raft that's approaching the shore, right?"

  "It seems like..." The superior private looked at the other two wounded men, seemingly uncertain himself: "Do you guys know if Knife Nurse was on the first raft or the second one?"

  A soldier replied firmly: "On the second raft, because there were more seriously wounded soldiers on that raft."

  Dong Li Mao's heart ached, knowing that things had gone wrong. Even if Knife Lan Xiang hadn't been shot by the little devil's gun, being captured was unthinkable. He stood up and ordered Hu San: "Order the troops to speed up their march! We must find Lan Xiang and the others before dawn."