October 8, 1943, early in the morning, at the entrance of Hongqi Village, Dinghu Township (now part of Linxiang City, Yueyang City, Hunan Province).
Old man Xin, who had gone down to the ground early, stood still with a hoe on his back. The scene in front of him made him open his mouth anxiously, but he couldn't make a sound.
At the entrance of the village, more than a hundred Japanese soldiers were walking quietly along the rugged dirt road. After reacting, Old Man Xin put down his hoe and immediately ran into the ditch next to him.
However, the next moment, a bullet penetrated directly from his left chest, causing him to stagger and fall directly on the ridge.
The gun went off!
The whole Hongqi Village was awakened by the gunshot. Yu Zhidao, who was lying in bed, climbed out of bed and heard the roar of people outside the door, and the cries of "Japanese have entered the village" could not be heard.
"It's broken!" When Yu Zhidao heard that the Japanese army had entered the village, he quickly put on his clothes and prepared to flee.
However, as luck would have it, some time ago, Yu Zhidao accidentally sprained his foot while working. Yu Zhidao, who had not fully recovered, was running on tiptoes and limping, and could not run fast at all.
Yu Zhidao followed the crowd and ran away desperately. Finally, when he reached the north entrance of the village, he was caught by the Japanese soldiers who were chasing him. After being beaten, Yu Zhidao was driven by the Japanese army and brought back to the Japanese camp in Yinpengshan, Xindian Town to work as a coolie.
Yu Zhidao, who was captured into the enemy camp, was later forced to boil water and sweep the floor in the Xuanfu class because of his lameness. Yu Zhidao, who often went in and out of the enemy's houses and warehouses, gradually fixed his eyes on the carbine mounted in the corner of the Xuanfu squad.
Yu Zhidao once heard the guerrillas in the village mention that the team was short of guns and ammunition for fighting the Japanese invaders. At this moment, these guns in front of him seemed to have magic power, stirring Yu Zhidao's heart.
To fight the Japanese, you must have weapons, and there are many weapons in front of me!
We have to find a way to get some weapons and escape!
Yu Zhidao wanted to escape, but the scope of his movement was only a few houses in the camp. Other checkpoints were inaccessible at all. Which places were guarded by the enemy, and when would they be patrolled? He also had a black eye.
However, soon, Yu Zhidao got a good opportunity.
Because Yu Zhidao is very smart, although he is lame, he is very agile in his work. He carries water and sweeps the floor every day without stopping. He also deliberately pretends to have a serious lameness in front of the enemy, which makes everyone relax their vigilance towards him.
In view of Yu Zhidao's diligent performance, the Japanese officer asked him to feed the horses. There were more than a hundred horses in the Japanese military camp at that time, and the dozen or so coolies responsible for feeding the horses were organized into a class.
After Yu Zhidao came to the horse herding class, he became even more active. During the day, he went out with others to collect grass fodder, and he stayed up late at night to add fodder to the military horses.
The Japanese sentries patrolling at night saw Yu Zhidao getting up to feed the horses many times, and gradually relaxed their suspicion and vigilance towards this lame man. They also mentioned this hard-working lame man to their superiors several times, which was really good.
Later, Yu Zhidao was appointed as the squad leader of the horse herding class because of his outstanding performance. Everyone felt that Yu Zhidao was a hard-working person and a good player.
However, none of them expected that Yu Zhidao took advantage of this opportunity to go out to cut grass and feed horses at night, and finally figured out the enemy's sentry distribution and night patrol patterns.
He was silently waiting for the opportunity, waiting for the best chance to escape.
On the evening of November 29, it was raining lightly, and the entire camp was immersed in mist.
In the middle of the night, Yu Zhidao got up and came to the stables as usual, but this time he was not here to feed the horses. Walking south from the stable, following the wall of the house, and bypassing a Japanese guard post, Yu Zhidao gently opened the wooden door of Xuanfu Ban's east room.
In the northeast corner of the house, a shelf of carbines was quietly set up together, just like what Yu Zhidao saw during the day. Yu Zhidao took out the rope from his waist, quickly tied up the nine carbines, then put them on his back and quietly walked out of the house.
At this time, the rain was getting heavier and the north wind was howling. The Japanese sentries originally standing outside also went inside to take shelter from the rain. This also gave Yu Zhidao a perfect opportunity to escape.
That night, Yu Zhidao avoided three Japanese military posts, then took a detour to Tanduzhou and arrived at the Xindian River. At this time, the river water was turbid from the rain. After Yu Zhidao entered the water, he held the gun in one hand and paddled forward with the other hand.
I don’t know whether it was because the sound of paddling was too loud, or whether the Japanese soldiers on patrol that night happened to look towards the river. When Yu Zhidao swam to the middle of the river, the Japanese soldiers at the sentry by the river suddenly opened fire.
The situation at that time was very critical. The bullets made ripples on the water, and the water waves "swished" directly towards Yu Zhidao's face.
At this time, Yu Zhidao could only put life and death aside and paddled forward desperately. Fortunately, after swimming for a while, the enemy's bullets could no longer hit the area. He only heard loud gunshots behind him, but no bullets flew past him. His heart, which had been hanging, finally dropped.
After swimming ashore, Yu Zhidao climbed up to the seventh house row, and then ran to Luojiatan in one breath. At this time, the sky had turned white. Yu Zhidao, who was afraid that the enemy would come out to hunt him, hid in the dense forest of Crablong. After staying for a day and night, he finally came out hungry.
That night, Yu Zhidao walked to Liu Yanchen’s home in Mipu Lane, Hetianfan (now Hetian Village, Dinghu Township). Yu Zhidao knew that Liu had a relationship with the local guerrillas, so he handed all the guns to the other party.
A few days later, in order to commend Yu Zhidao's patriotism, the local government specially issued 50 silver dollars to Yu Zhidao as a reward, and the legend of Yu Zhidao's taking a gun from an enemy's hole also spread locally.
In those war-torn years, there were countless grassroots heroes who rose up in the darkness, but eventually disappeared in the long river of history. Although these stories hidden in the long river of history are rarely known, they are still an indispensable part of the magnificent picture of the People's War.
Thank you for reading. I am Qingshi Ruyan. I talk about minority history and different grassroots stories. This article is the 161st article of revolutionary tidbits . Everyone is welcome to pay attention and read the exciting content of the past issues. Comments and forwarding are welcome to jointly promote positive energy. Thank you everyone.
Reference: "Linxiang Literature and History Materials"
