Chapter 84: He Yuzhu Encounters Danger

Jia Zhangshi froze in place, her entire body's blood seemingly congealed.

For the first time, a look of bewilderment and helplessness appeared on her mean-spirited face. After a long while, she suddenly grabbed Yi Zhonghai's sleeve, her voice laced with a sob: "Lao Yi! Tell me, are they bullying me on purpose? Do they think I'm easy to push around just because I'm a woman?"

Yi Zhonghai sighed, lowered his voice, and urged: "Sister-in-law, Lou Gang is considered the best among the leaders at the Rolling Mill. You, don't be so stubborn. If you can finalize Dongxu's entry into the factory, that's better than anything. That's more useful than getting a few dozen more Big Ocean."

Jia Zhangshi looked at Lou Gang's retreating back, then glanced at the dejected Jia Dongxu beside her. Finally, she stopped making a scene, took her son, and slunk back home.

The next day, Lou Gang visited again. This time, his tone lacked the previous courtesy, and he issued an ultimatum directly: "Boss Lou has spoken. Lao Jia died performing a heroic deed, so the compensation is increased to two hundred, and his son's entry into the factory is also settled."

"This is the final condition. If you still don't agree, we won't be able to handle any subsequent matters."

He Daqing hurriedly chimed in from the side: "Lao Jia's wife, take it while you can! Two hundred is not a small amount. Those who died in the Security Team only got one hundred Big Ocean, and you get to secure an iron rice bowl for Dongxu. Where else can you find such a good deal?"

Jia Zhangshi wanted to make a scene like she did yesterday, but Yi Zhonghai quickly stepped forward to stop her firmly, warning in a low voice: "Don't you dare cause trouble again! If you really provoke Lou Gang, Dongxu's future will truly be gone! By then, you won't even have a place to cry!"

These words were like a basin of cold water, instantly extinguishing Jia Zhangshi's shrewish energy. Her body went limp, she collapsed onto the ground, and she didn't make another sound.

At the same time, He Yuzhu was marching with the army through the wilderness.

The cold wind howled, whipping up the snow on the ground, stinging the face painfully.

Suddenly, the last truck in the convoy stopped with a "creak," and the engine died completely.

Several soldiers surrounded the hood, knocking and pulling, but after struggling for a long time, the vehicle still wouldn't budge.

A grease-stained mechanic kicked the tire in anger: "This piece of junk! It breaks down at the critical moment; it really deserves to be smashed!"

The sky gradually darkened, and the snow fell even harder.

Battalion Commander Liu was sweating with anxiety, pacing back and forth beside the truck: "This godforsaken place is miles from anywhere. If we spend the night here, we'll surely freeze to death!"

He Yuzhu didn't want to meddle, but seeing they were about to camp in the wilderness, he could only step forward and push aside the cursing mechanic: "Move, let me see!"

The soldier widened his eyes, looked He Yuzhu up and down, and spoke with ill intent: "You little brat, what do you know? This is a car, how many times have you even seen one? You dare to mess with it? Get lost! Don't add to the chaos here!"

He Yuzhu ignored him, pushed him far away, and nimbly fiddled with the area near the engine. He quickly discovered the problem—a connector was severely rusted, causing poor contact due to the vehicle's prolonged jolting.

He took sandpaper from the toolbox, deftly removed the connector, quickly polished the contact points, reconnected it firmly, and clapped his hands, saying to the driver: "Try it now."

The driver, half-doubting, cranked the engine hard. Before long, the engine started with a "Boom—" and ran steadily and powerfully.

All the soldiers stared in shock, looking at each other. Battalion Commander Liu was overjoyed, took out a cigarette, handed it over, and said with a smile: "Miss Liu really sent us a treasure! With you here, our vehicles have a guarantee."

He Yuzhu waved his hand, pointed at the mechanics, and said with a hint of disdain: "It's not that I'm amazing; it's that you mechanics don't understand the operating principles of a car at all. You fix things by guessing, and you panic when you encounter a small problem. This was just a minor issue of a rusted connector, but because you don't understand the principles, it's hard to discover..."

When the convoy got back on the road, it was already pitch black.

The heavy snow fell in swirling flakes, and the headlights barely illuminated the road about a few meters ahead in the curtain of snow.

As they reached a narrow mountain pass, both sides were steep slopes, and the road was narrow and slippery.

He Yuzhu's heart suddenly tightened; he felt something was wrong.

He said to Battalion Commander Liu, who was driving: "This terrain is too dangerous. There are mountains on both sides, which are easy places to hide people. We should send a scout car to check the road first."

"You're right. I'm stopping the car now."

Just as Battalion Commander Liu got out of the car to order all vehicles to stop and called the drivers together to discuss who should scout the road, gunfire suddenly erupted from the mountain opposite!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Da-da-da-da!"

Bullets poured down like raindrops, sparking against the steel plates of the trucks. Some bullets grazed the truck beds, leaving blinding streaks of light in the night sky.

"Enemy attack! Find cover!" Battalion Commander Liu roared as he jumped out of the car. The soldiers reacted quickly, jumping off the trucks to find cover.

He Yuzhu leaped off the truck bed with the agility of a leopard, rolled, and dived into an icy ditch by the road.

Bullets sparked against the rocks, and the accumulated snow was blasted into clouds of white mist.

He Yuzhu decided to circle behind the enemy to see who exactly was intercepting them.

If it were the Communist Party, he would pretend not to see and let them be; but if they were mountain bandits or road tyrants, or people from Zheng De's side, then he wouldn't be polite—he would make them realize that military trucks weren't so easy to hijack.

He Yuzhu crept along, moving quickly through the mountain forest. The snow under his feet made a "crunching" sound. When he circled behind the enemy, he couldn't help but gasp.

There were actually two or three hundred people participating in this attack!

Six Type 11 Light Machine Guns were all positioned on advantageous terrain.

If he hadn't made the convoy stop at that moment, and they had traveled another two or three hundred meters, it would have been all over. Right now, the only thing causing damage to the convoy were those six machine guns.

He Yuzhu spotted an opportunity and subdued a straggling enemy.

After some "special care," this kid finally confessed—it turned out this group belonged to the Cangzhou Local Security Regiment. Their Regimental Commander was named Wang Ping, and a few days ago, he received a call from a big shot demanding the interception of these supplies coming from Si Jiu Cheng.

A cold glint flashed in He Yuzhu's eyes; he decided to take out the six machine guns on the mountain first.

The Security Regiment's six Type 11 Light Machine Guns formed a deadly crossfire net. Bullets poured down like raindrops, pinning Battalion Commander Liu down so he couldn't even lift his head.

The soldiers could only hide behind rocks and occasionally poke their heads out to return fire, but it was difficult to cause substantial damage to the enemy.

He Yuzhu used the cover of darkness to weave through the mountain forest like a ghost.

He found an excellent shooting position and aimed with his machine gun.

"Bang! Bang!"

The first machine gun went silent.

"Bang! Bang!"

The second machine gun also fell silent.

Security Regiment Commander Wang Ping discovered that the primary and secondary gunners of both machine guns had been killed, and he immediately panicked: "What's going on? Go check..."

"Bang! Bang!"

The third machine gun was extinguished in response.

He Yuzhu quickly changed positions, and bullets kicked up a spray of snow where he had just been hiding.

He rolled and found a new shooting point.

"Bang! Bang!..."

A machine gun in the distance rang out, and the fourth and fifth machine guns went silent one after another.

Wang Ping flew into a rage: "In groups of thirty, flank that sniper for me!"

The Security Regiment soldiers began to close in on He Yuzhu's direction.

But He Yuzhu had long anticipated this move; he quickly stowed the Machine Gun into his space, switched to a Type 38 Arisaka, and moved rapidly, raising his rifle to fire shots from time to time.

With every gunshot, an enemy fell to the ground in response.

The last machine gunner panicked and turned his muzzle to fire blindly.

He Yuzhu aimed calmly and pulled the trigger.

"Bang! Bang!"

The sixth Machine Gun was completely silenced.

Just then, He Yuzhu noticed a figure shouting commands—it was none other than Regimental Commander Wang Ping.

He raised his rifle, took aim, and fired a shot through his head.

Wang Ping staggered and fell to the ground, unable to get up.

"The Regimental Commander is dead!" The Security Regiment fell into immediate chaos.

Battalion Commander Liu seized the opportunity and roared: "Brothers, charge!"

The soldiers were like tigers released from their cages, their submachine guns spitting tongues of fire, driving the already routed Security Regiment back step by step.

After the battle ended, Battalion Commander Liu excitedly hugged He Yuzhu: "Good lad! If it weren't for you today, we probably all would have met our end here!"

Counting the battlefield, the Security Regiment had been driven off, but six of Battalion Commander Liu's men had sacrificed their lives, and five were wounded.

The snow was still falling, and the convoy moved slowly through the night.

He Yuzhu gazed at the snowscape flying past outside the vehicle, his heart heavy—this road, he feared, would only become more difficult.