On the first day of being trapped in the cave, except for Yang Zhen, who had a high fever that never went away, everyone's feelings were still stable. Although I was a little hungry, it was much better than going down the mountain to die. The lesser of two harms, compared with death, a few days of starvation is more acceptable to everyone. After all, no one can think that they can retreat under the siege of thousands of puppet troops. They don't think they have it.

The wound on Yang Zhen's leg has shown signs of festering, and the high fever has never shown any signs of receding. Although Liu Sigou exchanged his life for herbs, looking at the herbs that he didn't know pharmacology, Zhang Ting didn't dare to give them to Yang Zhen no matter what.

Liu Sigou only explained that the brother must bring the medicine back, but he did not explain which of these herbs was for healing injuries or for reducing fever. Even if Zhang Ting had herbs, she didn't dare to use them. can only watch the heat on Yang Zhen's body, but he is helpless.

Li Mingrui, who is calm on the surface, is not much more anxious than Zhang Ting. For him now, Yang Zhen is his heaven. Compared with hunger, he was more worried about Yang Zhen's injury. In Li Mingrui's heart, Yang Zhen has almost become a god-like person.

Li Mingrui believes that as long as the man in front of him can recover, no matter what sinister situation occurs, he can also take them out of the predicament. As long as he lives, nothing can stump him. In the bacteriological warfare base of the devil, in such a difficult predicament, he didn't lead everyone to kill it? As long as he stays alive, this difficulty can't hit him now.

Looking at Yang Zhen, who had actually fallen into a coma, Li Mingrui shook his head and sighed, but he didn't dare to make any sound. Seeing that Yang Zhen's injuries were getting worse and worse, he was helpless, which made Li Mingrui's heart extremely painful.

Just as Li Mingrui was saddened by his helplessness against Yang Zhen, Yang Zhen, who had been asleep on the side, suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing Yang Zhen open his eyes, Zhang Ting, who had been guarding him, hurriedly took the kettle and wanted to feed him a few mouthfuls of water. At the very least, moisten his already burned lips.

Yang Zhen shook his head and rejected Zhang Ting's movements, but called Li Mingrui to his side hoarsely: "What time is it?" What are the devil's moves now? ”

"The devils are still searching the mountains, and today they have searched all the places in the radius in one day. So far, they haven't even noticed that we're hiding under their noses. The entrance to this cave is very hidden, and it is difficult for non-locals to spot. Let's take those puppet Manchurian policemen in Wudaolingzi, and it is difficult for them to find this place without people who are familiar with the terrain to lead. ”

After listening to Li Mingrui's words, Yang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Continue to observe them, pay attention to be careful, don't let them find out." There is also water, which should be strictly controlled every day. The devil will see if he will leave for a while and a half. We need to be prepared to be trapped for a long time. ”

"The brothers haven't eaten for a day, have they? It's hidden under the nose of the devil, there is no way to make a fire, and you can't eat it with two pheasants? I'm afraid the brothers are starving. Mingrui, you cleaned up the two pheasants with a bayonet and cut them into strips. Send two to each of the brothers. ”

"Sir Yang, it's useless. If you can't make a fire, what can you do if you do? Can't you let the brothers eat it raw? Hearing Yang Zhen's command, Li Mingrui scratched his head a little.

"Why can't you eat it? I once heard veterans of the 18th Group Army say that when their Red Army crossed the grassland, when they ran out of food, they didn't talk about grass roots and tree bark, but even ate belts and leather shoes. That thing, you should know if you can eat it or not. ”

"It's just raw meat now, what's not to eat? This stuff is better than a belt, isn't it? Even Lao Guo and the Anti-Union also ate horse skins when they were out of food? ”

After listening to Yang Zhen's words, Li Mingrui was afraid of aggravating his condition, so he didn't dare to refute it, so he could only pull out his bayonet and clean up the two pheasants according to Yang Zhen's request.

It's just that when Li Mingrui finished cleaning up the pheasant, he was about to pick up the kettle to rinse off the bloodstains, but was stopped by Yang Zhen: "Don't wash it with water." The devil doesn't have to be down the mountain for many days. Let's just have this little bit of water, if it's in Lang Fei, it won't last long. People can live for a few days without eating, but if they don't drink water, they can't last even three days. ”

Yang Zhen sat up with difficulty, and took the lead in picking up a piece of pheasant meat that was still clotted with blood on it and stuffing it into his mouth. The strong smell of blood almost made him vomit on the spot. When he was training in the wild in later generations, Yang Zhen didn't eat raw snake meat, rat meat and the like, but it was also cleaned.

It hadn't been cleaned like this, and the meat was covered with coagulated blood, and even he was eating it for the first time. Although the strong smell of blood and the unfading hairs on the chicken skin made Yang Zhen really difficult to swallow, he still gritted his teeth and ate it in order to give everyone a head.

Two pieces of raw pheasant meat stained with coagulated chicken blood were swallowed hard by Yang Zhen: "Come, everyone eat it." This thing is meaty, anti-hunger. Hehe, this taste is still good, but the smell of blood is a little bigger. ”

Holding back the nausea churning in his chest, Yang Zhen looked at the people who still hadn't moved and said, "I know everyone doesn't want to eat this kind of thing." To be honest, I can't stand the smell of blood. But we have to live and fight the devils. If we don't eat, we don't have the strength, and if we don't have the strength, how can we fight the devils? If we all starve to death here, we will only fulfill the devil. ”

"I know that everyone used to come from the regular army, and although they are miscellaneous brands, at least they can eat. But we are not in our own troops, let alone in a frontal battlefield with logistical support. Instead, they are trapped in the deep mountains and old forests. In the future, we don't know what kind of difficulties we will face, and we can't get through these difficulties. ”

Yang Zhen's words fell, Li Mingrui hesitated, but he was the first to pick up the chicken and stuff it into his mouth, frowned and chewed without chewing, and then said to the people who were still watching: "Eat, what Chief Yang said is not wrong, no matter how unpalatable this thing is, it is better than horse skin and belt." If people can eat it, why can't we eat it? In order to survive, in order to continue to fight devils, even if it is unpalatable, we must eat it. ”

After Li Mingrui finished speaking, the rest of the brothers glanced at each other, except for Zhang Ting, who walked to Li Mingrui's side one after another to receive the two raw chickens that belonged to them.

Seeing the brothers gritting their teeth and frowning and eating their own chicken, Yang Zhen leaned against the stone wall and gasped for a while before saying: "The Japanese have a famous dish called sashimi, you think that the little devil can treat raw fish as delicious, why can't we treat this raw chicken as delicious?" ”

"But compared to the little devils, we're at least much stronger. The little devils are mixed up to eat raw fish and meat every day, and we are just a helpless choice in a difficult environment. You say, are we better than the little devils? ”

Hearing Yang Zhen's words, the brothers who were barely eating raw chicken couldn't help laughing, and they felt that the two blood-smelling raw chickens in their hands were not so unpalatable.

After saying this, Yang Zhen felt that he had almost exhausted all his body, and he couldn't hold on, leaning against the stone wall and about to fall asleep. It's just that before he closed his eyes, he suddenly saw the herbs piled on the side, which Liu Sigou exchanged for his life.

It's just that Yang Zhen, who really didn't have the strength to speak, raised his hand and motioned to Zhang Ting, who was frowning at the two pieces of pheasant meat that was distributed to him, and took the pile of herbs over and looked at them carefully. Fortunately, Yang Zhen knows both of these herbs, and he knows that the cimicifuga in this herb can reduce fever and inflammation, while dandelion can treat trauma.

He knew the medicinal properties of cohosh because one of his later comrades-in-arms lived freely in the Zhang Guangcai Ridge Mountain Range, where he is now located, and once told him about the various local products produced by Zhang Guang Cai Ling. Especially this cimicifuga, the medicinal effect was almost blown to the sky by him.

As for whether dandelion can treat gunshot wounds, it is not clear, but Yang Zhen knows that this kind of thing is a good thing to treat external injuries in traditional Chinese medicine. They learned this in general when they were trained to survive in the wilderness.

Yang Zhen motioned for Zhang Ting to open the first-aid kit on his leg first, then took a sip of water and laboriously chewed the dandelion and applied it to it. Then he picked up some of the cohosh and ate it little by little, frowning.

Yang Zhen stopped Zhang Ting's move of wanting to do it for him, and after eating the cimicifuga, Yang Zhen pointed to the two herbs and said: "One of these two herbs is called cimicifuga, which is a good medicine for reducing fever." One is dandelion, which should have a certain curative effect for infectious trauma. I don't know how much of a difference it will make. However, for those of us who lack medical treatment, you had better remember what these two drugs look like. ”

"Dandelion is there, there are all these things, and you must not be uncommon on weekdays. But this cohosh you must remember. This thing is a good thing to reduce fever, but unfortunately the conditions are not good, so I can only eat it raw. If there are conditions to concoct it, it will play a big role in the absence of Western medicine. ”

"Although you know Western medicine, but in the current situation of lack of Western medicine, it is better to learn more Chinese medicine, especially the use of herbal medicine. This will save the lives of quite a few fighters in the future. Although Western medicine is good, it is too affected by the environment. We may not be able to get a large number of Western medicines in the future, and some herbs are still known. ”

"Also, eat the two pieces of chicken that were given to you. You can only stick to it by eating. Only by surviving can we continue to fight devils. ”

After that, Yang Zhenzai, who barely mustered up his spirits and said a lot of words, couldn't hold on, tilted his head and fell asleep groggily.

Looking at Yang Zhen, who was groggy and asleep, Zhang Ting just wanted to say something with the chicken, but she could only stop her topic. But seeing that her hands were covered with chicken feathers that had not faded and the smell of blood was reaching her nose, she was really hard to swallow.

In this era, people who can afford to go to college at least have a family condition above average, although they can't say that they have big fish and meat every day, but they have never suffered too much. Now let Zhang Ting eat this kind of thing that she can't stand when she smells, where can she eat it?

After hesitating for a long time, although her stomach was grumbling with hunger, Zhang Ting finally failed to eat.

Almost all the people in the cave did not expect that they would be trapped in the cave for three days. For three days, they only relied on a few pots of water to persevere, and they struggled. The only thing that made everyone feel more relaxed was that maybe the herbs picked by Liu Sigou worked, or maybe Yang Zhen's body was strong enough. On the third day of their trapping, when those herbs were about to run out, Yang Zhen's fever, which had been high for almost two days and two nights, finally began to recede.

Touching Yang Zhen's body temperature, although it did not return to normal, it was finally not as hot as the furnace before, Zhang Ting finally breathed a sigh of relief. Although there was no thermometer, after feeling that the body temperature on Yang Zhen's body had begun to drop, Zhang Ting knew that Yang Zhen had escaped sepsis, the biggest killer who caused death after being seriously injured and infected.

As the high fever receded, Yang Zhen, who was much better, ignored Zhang Ting's obstruction, and the first thing he did was to let Li Mingrui help him to the entrance of the cave to observe the enemy's situation.

Yang Zhen and the people in the cave can be described as conservative and tormented in the past three days, Yamashita didn't think that he wanted to find someone to hide under his nose, and Yasui Fujiji, who was only a hundred meters away from him, was not much better.

The people in the cave were hungry and thirsty for the past three days, and the people under the mountain were suffering from mental torture. After three days of rigorous searching, even Mao was not found, and Fujiji Yasui had been severely reprimanded by General Kenkichi Ueda several times.

"Your Excellency, this area of more than ten square kilometers has been searched several times, and no trace of the enemy has been found. Your Excellency, there is no point in us continuing to clean up here. Should we retreat or turn our attention in other directions? ”

"Your Excellency, those people are not birds, they can't fly. It can't be the guy in the myth of China who will run away through the tunnels. Our army has searched this area many times in the past few days, and found no trace of the right people, and they must have left here before us. See if you are asking for a plane to reconnoiter the perimeter of the encirclement. ”

The three-day continuous search not only blocked Yang Zhen and them in a small cave, but also exhausted the Japanese puppet troops who participated in the search. Although there was too much difference in grades, the futility of the three days still made the captain of the 12th Division, Matsuno Taira Shaozo, ask.

Toji Yasui didn't expect that his judgment would be wrong. Matsuno's flat question was exactly his question. I have already drained the water around here, how can those people disappear out of thin air. Is it really a mistake in your own judgment?

In the past three days, he has almost turned around here without getting any clues, and the results of several calls from General Ueda Kenkichi have made Yasui Fujiji know that he can't continue to delay here.

After hesitating for a long time, Yasui Toji finally made up his mind to retreat and turned his goals to the southeast and southwest. He believed that if those Zhina people really escaped their pursuit, they had only two choices when the Binsui Railway was tightly sealed and they could not go north.

The first is to converge with the anti-union active in the East Manchurian area in the southeast direction. The second is to turn to the southwest and find a way to escape back to the China Pass. In the opinion of Yasui Fujiji, who is familiar with the identities of these prisoners of war, the second possibility will be greater.

At this moment, Fujiji Yasui once again made the mistake of stubbornness. Although the forces mobilized from the direction of the five permanent forces in the southwest did not notice any movement when the encirclement was being constructed, Yasui Fujiji ignored the opposition of the accompanying staff officers, leaving only a squadron of the Japanese army with a section of the puppet Manchu army to search and advance in the southeast direction. The main force was personally commanded by himself to clear the southwest direction.

However, Toji Yasui also has a backhand. He knew that no matter which direction these people were going, they would need to cross the railway line and need supplies.

Before the division of troops, Yasui Toji issued an order to the Japanese puppet road guards and garrisons along the surrounding railways, ordering them to closely monitor the railway lines. At the same time, the police in Acheng, Zhuhe, and Wuchang were ordered to strengthen surveillance in various localities, especially in the mountainous areas. Any change must be reported immediately.