Chapter 58 Do You Have Any Idea Who He Is!

Everyone listened with rapt attention.

One of them wore a puzzled look on his face, asking, "Since this wooden cannon was so powerful, why didn't you fire a few more rounds? If you had blown the breach open even wider, wouldn't it have been much easier to storm the city?"

At these words, Ye Yuan immediately offered a bitter smile. "We were poor! A wooden cannon was, in reality, just a hollowed-out tree trunk used as a cannon barrel."

"Not only that, but to prevent the barrel from bursting and injuring our own men, we wrapped the 'cannon barrel' with our clothes, cotton quilts, and anything else we had on hand, and that was how we managed to fire just that single shot."

"And after that one shot was fired, the 'cannon barrel' and the clothing were all completely destroyed... Besides, the cost of the ammunition was also rather high..."

"How high could it be?" Sun Ting asked with intense curiosity.

"Over ten pounds of gunpowder, scrap iron, scale weights, and all sorts of sharp objects! Even the cooking squad smashed their own carry-on iron pots to use as shrapnel!" Ye Yuan spoke with utmost solemnity.

The crowd exchanged glances in silence.

This had truly been a battle of burning their boats behind them!

They had staked everything on a single throw, placing all their hopes on that one cannon shot.

Yet the impact of that single shot had exceeded everyone's expectations, playing a pivotal role.

"As soon as we broke into the city, we engaged the Japanese devils and puppet troops in fierce combat." Ye Yuan's eyes flickered, as if he had been transported back to that era. "There weren't very many Japanese in the city; the majority were puppet soldiers. At first, they offered stubborn resistance, but once all the Japanese had been wiped out, those puppet soldiers chose to surrender."

A little boy looked up at Ye Yuan with bright, curious eyes. "Grandpa Ye, what is a puppet soldier?"

"Puppet soldiers were traitors and running dogs who surrendered to the Japanese, willingly acting as beasts of burden for them and slaughtering their own countrymen."

Ye Yuan looked straight into the little boy's eyes and said softly, "Come to think of it, those puppet soldiers were even more hateful than the Japanese. Riding on the coattails of foreign invaders, they bullied the people of the Dragon Country far more viciously than the Japanese ever did!"

Hearing this, the crowd nodded repeatedly in agreement.

Just as Ye Yuan said, the puppet soldiers had once been ordinary citizens within this very county. Yet the moment the Japanese invaded, they were the first to surrender and admit defeat, donning the uniforms of puppet troops only to turn around and help the Japanese crush their own compatriots.

During the fourteen years of the War of Resistance, countless people of the Dragon Country died at the hands of puppet soldiers!

"And then? What happened next?" Sun Ting asked eagerly.

"Then we gained control of almost the entire city of Binzhou and released everyone the Japanese and puppet soldiers had previously thrown into prison." Ye Yuan continued, "We also captured a massive haul of firearms, ammunition, grain, fabric, and other supplies, elevating the strength of our Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Force to a whole new level."

"Wonderful!"

Someone cried out in praise, and instantly, everyone burst into spontaneous applause.

An elderly man, who looked to be about eighty years old, suddenly stepped forward. With tears shimmering in his eyes, he looked at Ye Yuan and asked, "You... the chief of staff you mentioned... was his surname Zhao?"

"Yes, the vast majority of people here should have heard his name." Ye Yuan nodded slowly. "His name was... Zhao Shangzhi."

Everyone froze.

Of course they knew of Zhao Shangzhi, but none of them had imagined that Ye Yuan had actually fought alongside Zhao Shangzhi in this very siege of Binzhou!

"I knew it..."

The old man could no longer hold back his tears. "I was just a child back then, and I happened to witness with my own eyes the moment when you captured the city of Binzhou..."

Everyone was taken aback.

Pairs of eyes turned to fix upon the old man.

This old man had actually witnessed this battle firsthand when he was a child!

Yet the old man did not say much more. Instead, he began to hum softly in a quavering voice, "Zhao Shangzhi's wooden cannon burst into bloom, little devils and traitors crawled across the room..."

It was an old nursery rhyme.

It lacked any dramatic cadence or rhythm, yet it made the spirits of everyone present soar.

Back in those years, when the Japanese occupied the Northeast and everyone trembled, waiting for the executioner's blade to fall overhead, there was a group of people who chose to resist.

Lacking guns, they wielded kitchen cleavers.

Lacking grenades, they used bricks and stones.

Lacking artillery, they manufactured their own wooden cannons.

With solid, hard-fought victories, they tore to shreds the myth of the invincibility of the Imperial Japanese Army!

"I wanted to join the army back then too..." The old man's voice trembled as he muttered, "My parents wouldn't allow it, saying I was their only son... I ran away to enlist several times, only to be dragged back each time..."

"There are many paths to resisting the Japanese; joining the regular army is not the only one." Ye Yuan spoke slowly, taking the old man's hand and gently patting the back of his hand.

The old man sobbed and nodded repeatedly.

"Well then, little friends, you've finished listening to the story. Shouldn't you all be getting back to your seats?" Ye Yuan looked up and smiled gently. "Otherwise, you're going to make things very difficult for the train conductor."

Hearing Ye Yuan address them as "little friends," everyone inexplicably felt a surge of warmth and delight.

Someone couldn't help but chuckle. "Old hero, I don't know about the conductor, but judging by the looks of it, they were enjoying the story just as much as we were."

Following the voice, the crowd looked back and indeed saw the conductor pushing the trolley cart at the very rear of the crowd, standing on tiptoe just to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside.

"Hahaha..."

Roars of laughter erupted from the crowd.

"Grandpa Ye, you actually fought the Japanese alongside Commander Zhao back then!" Sun Ting looked at Ye Yuan with starry-eyed amazement.

"That's right." Ye Yuan nodded, a shadow of sorrow crossing his face. "Chief of Staff Zhao was a man of both courage and strategy. Later on, I was separated from the main force due to injuries and never saw Chief of Staff Zhao again—right up until 1942, when I heard the news that he had been captured and died in the prime of his youth..."

Silence fell over the crowd once more.

Such a hero, and yet after his death, not even his remains could be found!

"All right, let's disperse."

Ye Yuan waved his hand and spoke softly.

Hearing this, the crowd chose not to linger and disturb Ye Yuan any further, dispersing one by one.

The previously crowded train carriage finally became much more spacious.

Two days later.

The train finally reached its destination.

Ye Yuan and Sun Ting stepped off the train and walked out of the railway station amidst a throng of well-wishers.

The commotion had drawn the attention of many onlookers nearby, though most had no idea what was happening.

Once the crowd had thinned out, Ye Yuan and Sun Ting were just about to look for the car Zhang Qun had arranged to pick them up when several young men strode over.

One of the young men looked at Ye Yuan with an arrogant expression and sneered, "Old man, who do you think you are? Acting so high and mighty, with all these people seeing you off the train?"

"What did you just say?"

Sun Ting's brows knitted together in an instant. She stepped forward and glared fiercely at the young man. "Do you have any idea who he is?"

"My, what a fiery temper this little girl has."

The young man let out a cold laugh. "Then do you have any idea who I am?"