‘I’ve heard enough! Don’t expect me to piss in your bottle. If you had any balls, you’d find your weapons in the hands of the Japanese!’
‘We fought them yesterday!’
‘And how many strings of firecrackers did you set off?’ Granddad asked sarcastically.
‘Not firecrackers – bullets and hand grenades. And we lost six of our comrades. We deserve at least half the weapons!’
‘I lost all my men at the bridgehead over the Black Water River, for one ancient machine gun!’
‘It was Pocky Leng’s troops who took everything else!’
‘And I suppose the eyes of Little Foot Jiang’s troops don’t light up just as bright when they see weapons? Well, this is one man you’re not going to sucker!’
‘I advise you to be careful, Commander Yu,’ Jiang warned Granddad. ‘My patience has limits.’
‘Are you threatening me?’ Granddad asked stiffly, resting his hand on the butt of his pistol.
Commander Jiang’s look of anger quickly gave way to a smile. ‘You’ve got me all wrong, Commander Yu. We’d never steal food from a friend’s bowl. Just because we can’t make a deal doesn’t mean we’re not on the same side.’
He turned to his troops and said, ‘Clean up the battlefield. Bury our fellow villagers, and don’t forget to pick up all the spent cartridge casings.’
The troops fanned out across the battlefield to search for cartridge casings. While they were burying the bodies, a battle between crazed dogs and the surviving humans resulted in the dismemberment of many of the corpses.
‘We’re in a terrible fix, Commander Yu,’ Jiang said. ‘We have no weapons or ammunition, and five out of every ten casings we take back to the munitions plant for recasting come out as duds. We’re caught between Pocky Leng, who squeezes us, and the puppet troops, who slaughter us, so you have to give us some of the weapons you’ve got here. Don’t treat the Jiao-Gao regiment with contempt.’
Granddad looked at the troops carrying the dead back and forth near the sorghum field and said, ‘You can have the sabres, and the “79” carbines, and the wooden-handled grenades.’
Jiang grabbed Granddad’s hand and exclaimed, ‘Commander Yu, you’re a true friend… We make our own wooden-handled grenades, so how about this: you keep the grenades and give us some “38” rifles instead.’
‘No,’ Granddad said tersely.
‘Just five.’
‘No!’
‘Three, then. How’s that? Just three.’
‘I said no!’
‘Okay, two. You can part with at least two, can’t you?’
‘Shit!’ Granddad grumbled. ‘You’re like a damned livestock auctioneer.’
‘Squad One, get over here to pick up the weapons.’
‘Not so fast,’ Granddad said. ‘Stand over there.’
He personally handed out the twenty-four Czech ‘79’ rifles and the canvas cartridge belts, then hesitated for a moment before tossing in a ‘38’ repeater rifle.
‘That’s it,’ he said. ‘And we keep the sabres.’
‘Commander Yu,’ Jiang complained, ‘you agreed to give us two “38” rifles.’
‘If I hear another word from you,’ Granddad said testily, ‘you won’t even get one!’
‘Okay,’ Jiang said, throwing his hands up in front of him. ‘Don’t get mad!’
The Jiao-Gao soldiers who were given weapons grinned from ear to ear. One or two members of the burial detail stumbled upon additional weapons, and they also picked up the automatic pistol Granddad had tossed away and Father’s discarded Browning. Their pockets bulged with spent cartridge casings.
‘Comrades,’ Jiang said, ‘hurry up and get those bodies buried. We have to withdraw before the Japs come back for their dead.’
As the Jiao-Gao regiment was falling in beside the wall, a couple of dozen bicycles came flying down the road from the eastern tip of the village. Wheels glistened, spokes flashed. Commander Jiang barked out an order and the soldiers hit the ground, as the riders pedalled unsteadily up to Granddad.
It was Detachment Leader Leng’s mobile platoon, a crack group of riders armed with pistols. Dressed in neat grey uniforms, with leggings and cloth shoes, they were quite a sight. Pocky Leng was known as a first-rate cyclist who could ride on a single railway track for a mile and a half. Commander Jiang shouted another order, and the Jiao-Gao troops emerged from their hiding places among the trees, quickly forming up ranks behind Granddad.
Detachment Leader Leng’s soldiers dismounted and walked their bicycles the rest of the way along the top of the wall. Leng emerged from the crowd, surrounded by bodyguards.
The mere sight of Pocky Leng was enough to make Granddad reach for his pistol.
‘Take it easy, Commander Yu,’ Jiang cautioned him, ‘take it easy.’
The gloved Detachment Leader Leng, smiling broadly, came up and shook hands with Jiang without taking off his glove. Jiang smiled as he reached inside his pants and brought out a fat, light-brown louse, which he flipped into the ditch.
‘Your esteemed unit is still in the thick of things, I see,’ Detachment Leader Leng said to him.
‘We’ve been fighting since yesterday afternoon,’ Jiang said.
‘Ending in a brilliant victory, I assume?’
‘In cooperation with Commander Yu, we killed twenty-six Japanese and thirty-six puppet soldiers, plus four warhorses. Where were the crack guerrilla troops and fierce leaders of your esteemed unit yesterday?’
‘We were harassing the town of Pingdu and forcing the Japs to retreat in panic. You could call that the classic “Encircle the Wei to rescue the Zhao” ploy, wouldn’t you say, Commander Jiang?’
‘Fuck your old lady, Pocky Leng!’ Granddad growled. ‘Feast your eyes on the Zhaos you rescued! All the villagers are right here.’
He pointed to the blind and crippled men on the wall.
The pale marks on Pocky Leng’s face reddened. ‘Yesterday afternoon my troops fought at Pingdu till they were bathed in blood, suffering enormous losses. My conscience is clear.’
‘Since you and your esteemed troops knew the enemy had surrounded the village, why didn’t you come to the rescue?’ Jiang asked. ‘Why pass up a fight in your own backyard, and travel a hundred li just to harass the town of Pingdu? These aren’t motorcycles your esteemed troops are riding, you know. And even if you were so anxious for some action you had to go off to harass Pingdu, the enemy troops you routed should still be in retreat. But you, Commander, look fit and relaxed, not a speck of dirt on you. I wonder how you set about commanding this great battle.’
Leng turned red all the way to the roots of his ears. ‘I’m not going to argue with you, Jiang! I know why you’re here, and you know why I’m here.’
‘Detachment Leader Leng,’ Jiang said, ‘as I see it, you went about yesterday’s battle at Pingdu all wrong. Now, if I’d been in command of your esteemed unit, instead of coming to break the encirclement of the village I’d have spread the men out in an ambush in the cemetery, using the gravestones as cover. Then I’d have set up the eight machine guns you captured after the ambush at the Black Water River and fired on the Japs when they came down the road. Since they and their horses would be exhausted after fighting all day, and low on ammo in unfamiliar surroundings in the dark, they’d be sitting ducks. They couldn’t possibly get away. That way you’d have performed a great service for the people and made heroes of your soldiers. Your glory would have been added to that of the ambush at the Black Water River, and you’d have a brilliant reputation! What a shame, Detachment Leader Leng, that you missed your chance. Instead of making heroes of your soldiers and serving the people, here you are, trying to gain some little advantage from orphans and widows. Although I’m normally immune to shame, what you have done shames me!’