Chapter 33: A Bolt from the Blue
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When Li Yunlong learned from the soldier that the brigade commander was waiting for him at the headquarters of the New First Regiment, it struck him like a bolt from the blue. Two of his three souls seemed to flee at once.
With a miserable look on his face, Li Yunlong kept muttering, “It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!
“The brigade commander’s here to bleed us dry! I’m going to lose everything this time!”
There was no need to guess. Li Yunlong knew perfectly well that he would never be allowed to keep the spoils they had captured.
Zhang Dabiao came over. “Commander, perhaps the brigade commander merely has some assignment for us?”
“Rubbish! What do you know? If he had business with us, he could have simply sent someone to notify me!
“But now he’s come here in person. Eight or nine times out of ten, he’s already heard the news!”
Li Yunlong cursed under his breath, wondering who had let the secret slip.
“No! I can’t have spent the last few days working for nothing!” His eyes shifted as a crooked idea took shape.
Unwilling to let all his efforts come to nothing, Li Yunlong glanced at the soldiers’ weapons, and suddenly an idea occurred to him.
“Zhang Dabiao, today’s your lucky day. Dig out all those old rifles from your battalion, especially the ones whose barrels are nearly worn smooth. We’ll switch them out right here!”
“Commander, will that really work?” Zhang Dabiao hesitated. This amounted to trying to fool the brigade commander!
Li Yunlong glared at him. “Enough chatter! Do as I say, quickly!”
Following Li Yunlong’s orders, the Japanese weapons piled onto the carts were soon replaced one after another. Even the ninety-millimeter mortar was swapped for a sixty-millimeter one.
Half the ammunition was taken away as well. Combined with the already mismatched weapons taken from the puppet troops, the spoils now looked utterly chaotic at a glance.
“Right, have the reinforced company circle around to the rear of the village. Don’t let the brigade commander’s men see them!”
Li Yunlong’s little scheme was proceeding with a satisfying clatter. Unfortunately, the brigade commander was not about to play along this time. He was going to overturn the table outright, rendering all of Li Yunlong’s careful tricks completely useless!
At the Xiao Wang Village strongpoint, half an hour after Li Yunlong and his men had departed, a company of Japanese troops came rushing from the direction of the county town, covered in dust.
Sadly, apart from the Japanese corpses strewn across the ground, nothing remained. The puppet soldiers had scattered long ago.
“Damn it!” Having made the trip for nothing, the company commander could only vent his fury at empty air.
Then, when he ordered his men to inspect the half-finished blockhouse—which had somehow escaped damage—he received another surprise left behind by Li Yunlong.
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“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Amid thunderous explosions, smoke, and flying rubble, half the blockhouse collapsed. Several Japanese soldiers who had gone to investigate were buried beneath it.
They had triggered the explosives Li Yunlong had ordered to be planted in advance. When the smoke finally cleared, the Japanese company commander, lying flat on the ground with his face covered in dust, lifted his head and saw nothing but broken walls and ruins.
“Damn it! Those accursed—”
The Japanese officer raged and cursed impotently for a long while before finally reporting the truth to his superiors.
The Japanese soon learned that not only had every soldier of the Imperial Army stationed at the Xiao Wang Village strongpoint been wiped out, but the reinforcements sent to Xin Town had also been annihilated. Apart from knowing that the Eighth Route Army was responsible, they had no idea which unit had taken part or how many men had been involved.
The commander of the Fourteenth Regiment, responsible for maintaining security in the area, flew into a rage. After slapping several people and ordering the intelligence section to investigate the matter thoroughly, he hurriedly dispatched another company to Xin Town, terrified that the town might fall as well.
After hurrying all the way back, Li Yunlong and his men reached their base at Xing Family Village. From a great distance away, he arranged for the reinforced company to circle around to the rear of the village.
Then, leading the First Battalion and the militia transport unit, he entered the village at an unhurried pace.
Inside the regimental headquarters, the brigade commander had just finished drinking a bowl of water when a signalman ran in.
“Reporting, Brigade Commander! Regiment Commander Li Yunlong has returned!”
The moment he heard that Li Yunlong was back, the brigade commander sprang to his feet and seized his riding crop.
“Let’s see what sort of stunt you’ve pulled this time, Li Yunlong!”
Seething with anger, the brigade commander strode straight out of headquarters to intercept him.
They had barely entered the village when Li Yunlong, still pondering how to bargain with the brigade commander, heard a thunderous shout:
“Li Yunlong!”
He flinched violently.
The instant he saw the brigade commander, Li Yunlong hurried over and saluted.
“Good day, Brigade Commander!”
Then his face blossomed into a smile.
“What brings you here, Brigade Commander?”
The brigade commander looked at him impassively.
“What? Is there a problem with my coming?”
Li Yunlong shook his head repeatedly, displaying nothing but meekness.
“No, no, no. Of course there’s no problem with your coming, Brigade Commander!”
The brigade commander clasped his hands behind his back and glanced at the First Battalion soldiers and the militia transport unit behind Li Yunlong. Raising his chin, he said, “Well? What have you been up to?”
His gaze fell especially upon the motorcycle with the sidecar, which stood out like a sore thumb.
“Not bad, Li Yunlong. You’ve even got yourself a motorcycle now!”
Li Yunlong smiled modestly.
“Heh-heh… It’s just that we’ve had a lot of new recruits lately, so I took the First Battalion out to give them some field training.”
As he spoke, Li Yunlong clapped his hands.
“What a coincidence! We happened to run into a group of Japanese and puppet troops passing by. We had no choice but to fight an engagement!”
As he walked toward the transport unit, the brigade commander turned his head toward Li Yunlong.
“Then why have I heard that you led your men in attacking a blockhouse and ambushing a group of Japanese soldiers?”
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After saying this, the brigade commander walked over to the transport unit and took a glance. He immediately spotted the deception, but chose not to reveal that he had seen through it.
The moment Li Yunlong heard this, he knew the brigade commander was fully aware of everything. He could not help bursting into curses.
“Which damned snitch reported me?”
The brigade commander shouted, “Li Yunlong, don’t you dare accuse innocent people! I came to the New First Regiment to announce a commendation from headquarters. It just so happens that I caught you in the act!
“You mobilized troops without authorization, and you still think you’re in the right?”
Li Yunlong’s lips drooped, and he immediately fell silent. But a moment later, he shamelessly put on a grin and asked, “A commendation? Is it the commendation for our New First Regiment’s victory over the Sakata Regiment?”
The brigade commander arched an eyebrow.
“What? Are you pleased?”
Then he put on a look of sudden realization.
“Indeed, your name, Li Yunlong, has spread far and wide. By now, everyone knows who you are!”
Li Yunlong waved his hands repeatedly, verbally denying it, though his face was brimming with pride.
Seeing his smug expression, the brigade commander smiled maliciously.
“As for the commendation, we’ll discuss it after you assemble the entire regiment.
“For now, let me inform you of headquarters’ disciplinary decision regarding Comrade Li Yunlong.”
“After deliberation by the Central Committee and Eighth Route Army Headquarters, it has been decided that Comrade Li Yunlong is to be suspended from his position as regimental commander, which will be entrusted to another officer. Await further notice regarding subsequent arrangements.”
Li Yunlong’s eyes widened the instant he heard this. It was another bolt from the blue!
He panicked.
“Wait… I… This… Weren’t you talking about a commendation? How did I end up suspended instead?”
“Brigade Commander, you have to be reasonable!”
The brigade commander laughed in exasperation.
“Reasonable? What kind of breakthrough are you talking about? You disobeyed orders on the battlefield! What grounds do you have to speak of reason?”
“What? Should I let you take my position as brigade commander, then? And you’re still talking about reason!”
Li Yunlong immediately swallowed his resentment.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t dare. It’s just that…”
What else could Li Yunlong say? He could only admit that this time, he had been terribly unlucky.
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