Chapter 111: Annihilation Plan

  A servant led Dong Li Mao and Hu San out of the backyard, walking to a separate courtyard on the left side of the administrative office. According to the servant, this courtyard was specially prepared for officials who came from afar and their entourage, equivalent to a local guesthouse. The facilities were not bad, with a restaurant and hot spring bath in addition to accommodation. Due to the recent war, there had been no provincial officials visiting, so it was taken out to be used as temporary quarters for the special task force.

  As he walked into the courtyard, Dong Limao heard laughter coming from the direction of the hot spring bathhouse and knew that it was the special agent brothers soaking in the hot springs. Several soldiers standing guard in the courtyard saluted him at attention as soon as they saw Dong Limao.

  "Little Hu, go and get all the officers above battalion commander level." Dong Li Mao followed the servant into a single room, after instructing Hu San, he seemed to have thought of something, so he said: "You first go and call Lan Xiang and Ma Ge to come here to see me."

  "Ma Ge..." Hu San was momentarily confused about who Dong Li Mao was referring to.

  "It was that bald-headed big man who was caught by the police at the entrance of the government office." Dong Li Mao said, unfastening his armed belt around his waist.

  The man bowed his head and asked: "Sir, are we going to eat in the room or go to the dining hall?"

  Dong Li Mao only then felt his stomach was hungry, saw that there was a big round table in the house, and replied: "Bring it here to eat."

  Before long, several servants brought in the meal, which was quite sumptuous, with chicken, duck, fish and meat all included. There were also Tengchong stir-fried rice noodles (a specialty dish made from rice paste, cut into thin strips, stir-fried with Yunnan ham and wild mushrooms).

  Dong Li Mao sat alone at the round table, gobbling down his food hastily. A servant came to pour him wine, but Dong Li Mao refused and told them all to withdraw. With someone standing by to attend to him, he felt uncomfortable eating.

  Guang Tou Ma and Te Wu Lian's brothers were all soaking in the hot springs in the big bathroom, while Qie Lan Xiang had arrived at Dong Li Mao's room first.

  "Lan Xiang, come quickly and sit down to eat together." Dong Li Mao called out with his mouth full of food.

  "I had dinner with my brothers, and I thought Brother Dong would have dinner with the one surnamed Long too." Dao Lanxiang didn't have a place to take a bath, but Zhao Yong arranged for her to have a single room to sleep in. She sat down on the chair beside Dong Li Mao and said: "Brother Dong, I heard from the servants here that the one surnamed Long had his subordinates prepare mules and horses, it seems like he's planning to escape to the interior."

  "I know." Dong Li Mao replied casually.

  "He told you?" asked Dao Lanxiang in puzzlement.

  Dong Li Mao was taken aback, and smiled: "Hehe... didn't I have foresight? When the sky wants to rain, a daughter wants to get married, what can we do about someone surnamed Long wanting to do something? Let him be, we just focus on killing devils."

  "We have so many troops, yet the Japanese devils still occupied Dongguacun. If I hadn't experienced it myself, I wouldn't have believed you, Brother Dong, when you said the Japanese devils would reach Ruili. Alas... are we really going to lose this battle?" Dao Lanxiang seemed worried about something.

  Dong Li Mao put down his chopsticks and looked at Knife Lan Xiang, asking: "Lan Xiang, are you worried about the people at home?"

  "Hmm..." Dao Lanxiang nodded and replied: "If the Japanese devils really attack Ruili, my dad and them..."

  Before he could finish, Hu San led a dozen or so platoon leaders and above into the room: "Report to the company commander, except for Wang Zheng and the quartermaster who went..." Hu San glanced at Diao Lanxiang and stopped talking.

  "Where did they go?" Dong Li Mao asked strangely.

  Hu San walked up close to Dong Li Mao's side and whispered a few words in his ear.

  Dong Li Mao was furious, his right hand slapping the table with a loud "pa", and he stood up abruptly: "Disregarding military discipline! A big battle is imminent, and they dare to...". Dong Li Mao glanced at Qie Lan Xiang, but didn't finish what he was saying. Then, looking at Gou Hao, he said: "Gou Hao, take a few brothers with you and bring them back for me!"

  Gu Hao stared at Zhao Yong with both eyes, but didn't move.

  "What's going on? Are you defying orders?" Dong Li Mao loudly questioned as he saw Gou Hao didn't move or respond.

  Zhao Yong stepped forward, smiling and said: "Lian Chang, let them go relax for a bit, give them some face, don't make a big fuss about finding them, after they've had enough fun, the two of them will naturally come back."

  Dong Li Mao thought for a moment and sat back in his chair, pointing to the dinner table: "If there's still someone who hasn't eaten, let's all sit down and eat together."

  Except for Hu San, everyone else had eaten and drunk enough, some standing, some sitting down, and others even sat on the bed. Guang Tou Ma sat beside Dong Li Mao, stroking his bald head, gazing at the full table of food and said: "I, Guang Tou Ma, have benefited from Big Brother's prestige, a murderer has actually become an honored guest."

  "Lan Xiang, pour a drink for Big Brother Ma," said Dong Li Mao.

  Dolan Xiang stood up, picked up the wine jug with both hands, first filled Ma Guangtou's cup to the brim, and then poured a cup for Dong Li Mao.

  "Come on, Ma Ge, my younger brother will toast you a glass, thank you for helping me and the brothers escape from the Japanese devils' blockade line last time." Dong Li Mao raised his wine glass, tilted his head and drank up the wine in the cup.

  Baldy Ma also took a big gulp: "Thanks for saving my life, Big Brother!"

  "Because of military duties, I couldn't drink with Brother Ma to our heart's content. Next time we have the chance, let's drink until we're satisfied." Dong Li Mao put down his wine cup and said: "Brother Ma, why did you return from Burma? And how were you caught? What about your wife and children?" Dong Li Mao swept a glance around at the brothers present and said: "Everyone here is sworn brothers, Brother Ma can speak freely."

  Bald Horse let out a deep sigh, his eyes welling up with tears that flowed down like rain. He sobbed and said: "After you brothers left, my two younger brothers and I returned to the mountain stronghold the next day at noon... what we saw was... everyone in the stronghold, old and young, not one person was left, they were all killed... My wife and child too... They died so miserably... Waaah..." Bald Horse seemed to see that tragic scene again, his grief rendering him speechless. Everyone listened quietly for a while before Bald Horse continued: "I knew it was the Japanese devils who did it. Next to my wife's body lay a devil, killed by her with a machete... From her body, I could see she had suffered all sorts of torture at the hands of the Japanese devils before she died... At that time, there was only one thought in my mind: to avenge them... It was those two brothers who reminded me not to act rashly, to leave some energy for later, and to regroup so we could kill more devils. I want to live, I want to kill many Japanese devils! Thinking of the brothers who grew up with me from childhood... So I snuck back here, crossing mountains and forests in secret... But that dog Wang Fugui somehow heard rumors of my return and had his second son bring the county police to capture me! If it weren't for meeting you, big brother..."

  Dong Li Mao had seen Guang Tou Ma's wife Hua Hua and his son, listening to Guang Tou Ma's story, thinking of the tragic situation when the mother and son died, thinking that if it weren't for Guang Tou Ma for himself and his brother, they might not have suffered this disaster: "It was I who harmed them!"

  "Big brother, don't say that. The little devils have long wanted to exterminate us. Even if you hadn't encountered them on the road, they would have come up the mountain and killed us all sooner or later." Bald Horse wiped away his tears and said: "Big brother, let me join you in killing the devils!"

  "I've been looking for you, just for this." Dong Limao patted Guangtou Ma's shoulder and said: "You're a local, familiar with the mountains and rivers here and each mountain path..." Dong Limao roughly told Guangtou Ma about finding the Japanese vanguard.

  Bald-headed Ma patted his chest: "Don't worry, big brother, I'll definitely help you find those damned bastards!"

  "Alright, now let's get down to business." Dong Li Mao finally took out the map and spread it on the ground, and everyone gathered around.

  "I just learned from Xing Long that there are over a dozen mountain paths on the map that are not marked, which can also be used by horse teams. However, these paths are more treacherous and not suitable for many horse teams to pass through. But I think the little devils will disperse and walk separately before gathering at this location to avoid drawing attention." Dong Li Mao pointed to the map with his hand and said: "For now, what we need to do is to guard the main roads and larger mountain paths, and only conduct routine border checks on the surface. We'll abandon these dozen or so treacherous paths and create a false impression for the little devils, making them think we're completely unaware of this advance team's existence."

  Zhao Yong asked inexplicably: "Then how do we know if they have entered the border? And how should we eliminate them?"

  Dong Li Mao smiled and said: "This is the specific task I am going to arrange below. If we ambush people on every small path, we will disperse our forces. The Japanese vanguard has more men than us, and since it's a vanguard, it must be an elite unit, even their combat effectiveness is stronger than our special operations team. If we fight, we will be at a disadvantage. Moreover, if we can't annihilate them all, there will be endless troubles. So I want them to gather completely and then ambush them in the Songshan area, but they cannot take action in the village, which would harm innocent civilians. The ambush site is initially set on the night of the 27th, when they leave this village and head to Huitong Bridge."

  Zhao Yong asked in some confusion: "But how can we be certain that they will gather in this village?"

  "Hehe...... Now it's time for our scouting team to play its role." Dong Li Mao stood up: "Liu Yu Zhong."

  "Yes!" Liu Yudong stood up straight and replied.

  "Have all of you scouts dispersed, by tomorrow noon, disguise yourselves as horse herders and scatter to these dozen or so treacherous mountain paths to lie in ambush beforehand. Remember, if you see any suspicious horse caravans passing by, if I'm not mistaken, they will be entering the border at night. Instruct your men not to have any contact with them, quietly follow them, Big Brother Ma will act together with all of you."

  "Yes!" Liu Yudong acknowledged the order.

  "Deputy Commander Zhao." Dong Li Mao shouted at Zhao Yong.

  "Yes!" Zhao Yong replied.

  "You lead the machine gun squad and the main assault squad, depart by vehicle early tomorrow morning, follow the Tonglong Highway all the way to the Nujiang Huitong Bridge, arrive at this village in front, find a best ambush point to hide, prepare to ambush the Japanese vanguard on the night of the 27th." Dong Li Mao pointed to the map of Songshan, where there was only one relatively convenient road leading to Huitong Bridge.

  "Yes!" Zhao Yong replied.

  "The rest of the brothers, wait with me here. According to the reconnaissance team's scouting, follow the Japanese vanguard and merge with the reconnaissance team, cut off their retreat route, and wipe out this small group of devils' vanguard in Songshan!" Dong Li Mao had just finished speaking and stood up when suddenly Wang Jia Gui's voice came from the courtyard:

  "Commander..."