Crossing North Korea, I became a US soldier, and my opponent was my grandfather.

The American soldiers were angry because these bastards massacred civilians and had no mercy on the people of the peninsula. After executing those bastards, the troops set off.

Seeing them leaving, a commoner who knew Qiao Youzhi could speak Peninsular Chinese stopped him and said, "Go northwest from here, about thirty or forty miles. There was a war there. Maybe you can run into the person you are looking for."

Qiao Youzhi thanked him and turned away.

After walking a few miles, we found a valley and spent the night there.

The temperature on the peninsula was very low at night. The American soldiers set up their tents, lit the stoves, and got into their warm sleeping bags.

Jefferson couldn't sleep, so he asked Qiao Youzhi, "What did the Peninsula people say?"

Qiao Youzhi has been thinking about the words of the people on the peninsula. If we can find the people we are looking for, they must be American soldiers. Most of the American soldiers who have been hiding have returned to the team. Who are these people? Prisoners. Could it be that the people on the peninsula have locked up all the prisoners there?

Jefferson kept asking questions, and Qiao Youzhi was struggling over whether to tell him. If he told him, he would definitely go to rescue him. Qiao Youzhi didn't want to rescue him from the bottom of his heart, so in order to buy time, he pretended not to hear and continued to be in a daze.

Ivan told Jefferson, “Maybe George hasn’t recovered from what happened with those bastards.”

Jefferson nodded in agreement and left the tent to check the sentry post.

Nothing happened that night, and we continued our march after daybreak.

Qiao Youzhi figured it out and decided to take them to find the prisoners. Perhaps he could get more valuable information from them.

Heading northwest, after crossing a mountain, a gravel road appeared. After walking for a distance, the scout sent a signal.

Everyone was extremely nervous, aiming their guns in all directions. Jefferson's capable men quickly rushed to the nearby commanding heights.

When we arrived at the place where the scout had reported, we breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was a false alarm. On the roadside were satchels and food bags discarded by the Chinese Army.

An American soldier opened the food bag and found roasted soybeans inside.

"That's what they eat." Ivan found it incredible.

Qiao Youzhi led his men to continue searching, and after walking a few hundred meters, they found more than a dozen guns.

Lieutenant Ed was familiar with guns and said that this was the Japanese Type 38 rifle, the standard weapon of Japanese soldiers. He held a gun and looked at the barrel, which had no rifling.

They talked as they walked.

"Is this the weapon of the Chinese?"

"Maybe." Qiao Youzhi did not comment, but he was actually sure about it in his heart.

"They are in such short supply of weapons, why would they throw them away?" Ivan asked the key question.

"Abandoning weapons and marching equipment must mean that they were not wanted during the retreat and they did not want to come back. If they wanted to come back, how could they abandon their weapons?" Qiao Youzhi's analysis was very logical and was recognized by everyone.

The further we went, the more discarded items we saw, including kettles, military uniforms, and even medicine boxes.

Lieutenant Ed was extremely angry: "If we had known they were retreating, we wouldn't have panicked so much!"

"It's too late to say anything, let's go."

Qiao Youzhi comforted himself and continued to move forward.

During the lunch break, the scout came running to report: "We found a prisoner-of-war camp ahead."

Qiao Youzhi and Jefferson looked at each other in shock, then led their men to surround the place. When they were almost there, they heard the scouts and prisoners laughing and talking.

Qiao Youzhi took out a telescope and saw the scout talking and laughing with the prisoners. The prisoners had tattered uniforms and unshaven beards, but they were in very good spirits. Qiao Youzhi quickly stepped forward to ask what was going on.

When the prisoners saw the major, they stood at attention and saluted.

These American soldiers were indeed prisoners. Five days ago, the Chinese army released them for unknown reasons. After packing up their things, they retreated in a hurry.

An American soldier separated the soldiers, rushed to Qiao Youzhi, and hugged him tightly: "George, thank God that I can still see you."

Qiao Youzhi was stunned. This man was none other than Major Orr, who had served as the liaison officer of the 7th Regiment of the 6th Han Division and had advanced to the Yalu River with him.

Major Orr was dishevelled and looked horrible at this moment. If it weren't for the voice, Qiao Youzhi would never have recognized him.

Aol felt very sorry for not following Qiao Youzhi.

Qiao Youzhi came to a quiet place with him.

"How are they treating you, Al?"

"George, they treated me well. I had food and drink, and they bandaged my wounds. But their medical standards were too poor. The gauze they used to bandage me had been washed. I protested, and they later replaced it with new gauze. When they changed my bandage, they didn't throw away the gauze. I think they will keep it for future use."

"Did you eat well?"

“Not very good, only rice and very few dishes.”

"Have you been abused?" Qiao Youzhi's tone seemed to be speaking up for him.

Orr denied: "Their own people eat even worse, sometimes soybeans, sometimes just potatoes, and only the seriously injured can eat meat."

"So, they're not bad."

"How should I put it? An officer interrogated me, and I mentioned that my brother had been to the Chinese base. I also said that I had fought against Japan in the Pacific Ocean. Their attitude towards me became better, allowing me to walk around the camp and saying that they would release me at the appropriate time. Five days ago, they sent me here and released me with the other prisoners. They also told us the route. If we follow this road, we will meet our troops."

Qiao Youzhi seemed to be thinking about something. This was a smoke bomb released by the Volunteer Army. Food was already precious. Releasing it here would not only save resources, but also confuse the US army's judgment, killing two birds with one stone.

Jefferson also came over: "What do you think of the Chinese soldiers?"

"They are all very young. There are veterans too, but not many. They are very thin and weak. Their guns are not very good. Some of the guns are very old. There is a Japanese gun that is very good. I saw a wounded soldier. He was injured because he tried to grab one of our submachine guns and was shot from the side and back by us."

Jefferson asked again, "Are you sure they have returned home?"

"I can't be 100% sure. When they released us, it felt like we were returning home. Many Peninsula soldiers also went north with them. It's rare to see soldiers with guns on the Peninsula anymore."

Orr told it like it was.

Lieutenant Ed of the 1st Cavalry Division was also very happy as he met his old friends from the 8th Cavalry Regiment among the prisoners of war.

After discussion, Qiao Youzhi decided to divide the reconnaissance team into two parts. Lieutenant Ed led thirty soldiers to escort the prisoners of war back to the base, while he and Captain Jefferson continued to go north to scout the enemy situation.

Captain Jefferson called the American army, who airdropped supplies, and after eating, they went their separate ways.

The prisoners of war walked until noon the next day when they met the convoy that was coming to pick them up.

After returning to the base, Lieutenant General Wo of the Army Group and the commander of the 1st Cavalry Division treated them like treasures. After giving them good food and drink, he asked them about what they had seen and heard in the POW camp. Every word they said was important intelligence information.

Qiao Youzhi and Jefferson continued to move northward. Soon snowflakes fell from the vast mountains.

The scout found a set of footprints on the snow, but when Qiao Youzhi arrived, the footprints had been covered by the snow.

Jefferson lay on the ground, blowing away the top layer of snow. He could vaguely make out the outline of footprints. They were definitely not from the American army or the Han army. They could only be from the Chinese army or the Northern army.

After walking a few dozen meters forward, there were more and more footprints that had not yet been covered by the snow.

Jefferson inferred that it was a team of less than a hundred people.

Qiao Youzhi looked at Jefferson. This guy was like a hungry wolf, sniffing the air.

"George, let's catch up."

The reconnaissance team acted quickly as if they had taken stimulants.

In front of them was the Sharp Knife Company that had been killing people in Yuncheng in an earth-shaking manner, and the leader was none other than Qiao Youzhi's grandfather, Qiao Fanshe.