chaotic world

That afternoon, Zhou Lan rushed to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army without stopping, but he did not go to Imanobu Yaharu's private residence.In the past, he never went to the Kwantung Army Command to call on Kinshin, and the other party always invited the other party to a family banquet or to a place of entertainment. Whether it was "business" or "official", the negotiation was done casually.

Today he made an exception. He didn't communicate on the phone beforehand, but visited directly.

Before that, he had never been to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army Command in Fengtian, and Jinxin had never met him here, and he was happy not to go into the wolf's den.

The gate of the headquarters is not spacious. On the sides of the two thick walls, there are Japanese soldiers standing guard with live ammunition.

The black Ford of the security regiment had the emblem of the regiment headquarters, and was forcibly stopped at the entrance of the headquarters.

Li Guosheng slowly lowered the window on the driver's side, pointed to the ID and said that we belonged to the security team.

But the two Japanese soldiers were dissatisfied and knocked on the rear window vigorously, and Zhou Lan slowly rolled down the rear window halfway.

The Japanese soldiers were very fierce. One of them stuck a steel gun through the car window and stopped Zhou Lan. He didn't block him horizontally, but put the gun barrel directly on his chest.

Zhou Lan lowered his head to look at the black gun barrel. He was wearing the blue-gray uniform of the security regiment, the epaulets on his shoulders, the collar patch on his collar, and the golden Daozi on his cuffs all marked his identity as an officer.

As long as you are Chinese, no matter what your status is, you are worthless in front of low-level Japanese soldiers.

But he used to think that as long as he left the gold mine alive, became a human being, had money and someone had a gun, he could be the emperor of the land, and he could be the top man, and he could sleep peacefully.

But the Japanese remind him all the time, dreaming!

"Presumptuous, what are you doing!" The accompanying Li Guosheng rushed out and grabbed the barrel of the gun. The young man had a strong hand and lifted the barrel to the sky.

The Japanese soldier yelled in Japanese, and then a support team came running from the courtyard, a row of [-] big covers, the fans seemed to spread out, and the bones of the fans converged on Zhou Lan's body.

Zhou Lan only brought Li Guosheng with him on this trip, and saw that he was expressionless and patted Li Guosheng's shoulder lightly, with a calm voice and a little comfort: "It's okay, you go down."

Li Guosheng looked back at him, hesitated for a moment, and let go of his grip on the barrel: "Commander, they are going too far."

Zhou Lan smiled, slowly raised her hands, indicating that there was nothing in her hands, then deliberately slowed down the steps in order to let the other party see the action clearly, pulled up the lapel of the uniform coat, put the other hand into her pocket, and then pulled out a piece of paper. The paper, gently shake it open.

He used the standard Chinese pronunciation of "Jinxin Yaqing", although he also knew how to pronounce the name in Japanese.

It was Jinxin Yaqing's handwritten warrant, and Zhou Lan had never used it on military occasions except for business purposes.

A Japanese soldier glanced at the warrant, and immediately returned it to Zhou Lan with both hands. He also stood at attention respectfully, and the barrel of the gun pointed at his chest was also returned to its original position. avenue.

Zhou Lan thought, the other side of this letter is like this.

Jinxin was a little surprised when he received a call from the guard. He hastily changed his military uniform jacket, and took a blue-black gown from the closet. He didn't want Zhou Lan to wait too long, so he didn't change the yellow military uniform pants. The gown is long and wide, which can cover everything.

He deliberately chose a small reception room decorated in Western style.

In fact, the entire headquarters building is in Russian style, just like Harbin and Changchun. The black land of Fengtian has been occupied by the Russians for many years, and there are many honest Russian-style palace buildings, but later the Russo-Japanese War was fought in Northeast China. It's life and death, the Japanese side won, the old Maozi was driven away, and the building left behind changed hands logically and became the Japanese headquarters.

The interior of the headquarters has undergone a Japanese-style renovation, except for this small living room, which has not been smeared with Japanese-style traces.

Jinxin still can't figure out Zhou Lan's thoughts. He got rid of Du Yunfeng. Although Du Yunfeng rebelled on the surface, he actually played the role of coercing the palace. I don't know how Zhou Lan thinks about this matter.

He had visited Zhou Lan several times before, and the other party seemed to be out of his mind. He neither dared to stimulate the other party, nor dared to let him go too far.

I was struggling to find a suitable reason to visit again, but the other party came uninvited.

That afternoon, in a westernized living room at the core headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army, Masaharu Imanobu, dressed in Chinese and Japanese mix-and-match clothes, met Zhou Lan, a Chinese leader of the Fengtian Puppet Army.

This time, place and occasion full of contradictions, this meeting with each other's secrets, in Jinxin's later memories, is a turning point on the way to welcome his son's "return". All the smooth sailing before has become difficult since then.

"Jin Xinjun," Zhou Lan walked forward in three steps at the same time, took the initiative to speak first, and firmly held Jinxin Yaqing's hands, "Mu An is confused, please don't blame me for being rude."

"Why did Head Zhou say that?" Monk Jin Xinzhang couldn't figure it out. He felt the great enthusiasm of the other party, but he was confused about where the heat source was.

This enthusiasm not only comes from warm hands, but also "Mr. Jinxin" has become "Jinxin Jun". This change of title has made Jinxin Yaqing very useful.

"Jin Xinjun saved my life." Zhou Lan held his hands and shook them vigorously. His eyes were full of sincerity. He is my old friend for many years, I am a person who values ​​friendship, I am so sad that I can't help myself, I can't extricate myself for a while, and I didn't even come to thank Jin Xinjun for saving my life, it is really rude!"

Jinshin has been working hard to get Zhou Lan to "fall" to his side. At first, he was a little worried that Zhou Lan would not be able to overcome this hurdle, and then he had a grudge against him or Yamashita Teruo in his heart. Unexpectedly, good things come in pairs. I figured it out." Jinxin almost suspected that he had been doing intelligence work for too long and was too suspicious.

"Mr. Zhou..."

"Call me Mu'an, you are my benefactor, you have saved me so many times, if I see you again, I will be ashamed to see you again." Zhou Lan held each other's hand sincerely, and even stroked the other's cheek affectionately. Arms, like friends for many years.

"Okay, Mu An!" Jin Xin was overjoyed, and started to give Zhou Lan to the sofa, "Then I won't be polite."

After ordering the orderly soldiers to serve tea, Jinxin said again: "I am older than you, and it is not appropriate to call you brothers and sisters. If you don't mind my status, treat me as an elder. In my heart, I have always regarded you as a person who forgets the age. pay."

"Your love, Mu An feels deeply." Zhou Lan took a sip of tea, returned to the table, and glanced at the yellow military pants and standard leather shoes under the coat, "So I came to the door today to apologize."

Li Guosheng has never seen Zhou Lan like this before. He works as a security guard and only travels or guards around. Zhou Lan's closest contacts have always been Du Yunfeng and Squad Leader He.

He has never seen such a warm and friendly Zhou Lan, open-minded and open-minded, with a tongue like a lotus flower, which is different from the Zhou Lan who returned to the sky yesterday, and is even more different from the murderous and cold Zhou Lan.

He was almost dumbfounded, the atmosphere in the living room was very friendly, and Masaharu Imanobu in front of him was different from other Japanese devils he knew, humble and polite, very kind, the two of them talking were like a spring breeze.

"I've always been worried about your body." Like a stable elder in an ordinary family, Jin Xin stretched out his hand and patted Zhou Lan's shoulder naturally, "Mu'an, you really lost a lot of weight. I have a delivery from Changchun headquarters here." The ginseng that came, you should be able to use it."

"Thank you." Zhou Lan got up and stood up after thanking him. Facing Jinxin who was sitting on the sofa, he bent slightly and said sincerely: "Actually, I came today not only to thank you, but to be honest, I have something to share with you." beg."

"What's the matter?" Jin Xinzhi felt that the topic was coming, he was calm and kind: "You might as well say it bluntly, I can do it, and I will try my best."

"My security team has suffered a lot this time." Zhou Lan bowed slightly, with his hands hanging on his sides, which is a humble gesture of a junior to his elders, "I can have today because of Jinxinjun's great help. Take care, I'm just running errands." He paused, seeing the expected expectation in the other person's eyes, "But the man has the ambition to bring Wu Gou, and the three eastern provinces are all in the pocket of the Great Japanese Empire. You are more helpful, and I hope you can make more suggestions."

Jinxin slightly raised his head and looked up at him. He had been expecting this moment for a long time, so that when it happened, it seemed that it was not real. He suppressed the last bit of excitement and asked calmly: "What can you do for me?"

Zhou Lan stood at attention and raised her hand in a standard military salute: "I completely obey your command. From now on, I will fight wherever you point, and your enemy will be my enemy!"

The Ford drove out of the gate of the command headquarters. If you look carefully, people will find that this black car has changed a little bit. When it came, the license plate of the security regiment was gone, and it was replaced by a white background of the Fengtian headquarters of the Kwantung Army Command Black license plate.

That means that from now on, this car can travel unimpeded in the headquarters of the densely populated Japanese army, and it also means that the people sitting in the car are the "own people" of the Kwantung Army.

The two "cloth curtains" on the guard's head were still swaying with the wind, like the half-length curtain at the entrance of a Japanese-style bartender's shop.They stood at attention and saluted, with their chests raised and their heads raised as they watched the car drive away.

The roads in the urban area are flat, but there are a little more people traveling on the roads in the evening, and there are occasional other cars, so it is not difficult to drive. On the bustling streets of Dadongzheng Street, Li Guosheng stumbled and slammed on the brakes. , It turned Ford into a tinkling steam train.

Li Guosheng was Zhou Lan's driver for the first time. He was not used to being the active wheel before. He always drove another car with a car of soldiers to guard the head's car.Therefore, his technical essentials are to respond in a timely manner, move quickly, and observe the safety situation around the vehicle in front. As for the comfort of the passengers in his own car, it is completely out of the scope of consideration.

In addition, he met a completely different regiment leader today, a person who was very polite and indifferent, as if he changed his face, and changed into another face of groveling and stalking. Breath, as if the whole person has changed his soul.

The head of the regiment obviously didn't like dealing with the Japanese before, so why did the head seem like a different person when Adjutant Du disappeared?

Through the rearview mirror in the middle, he sat back guiltily and took a look.

In the small rearview mirror, Zhou Lan can only be seen above his chest. He looks out of the window sideways, expressionless, and the neon lights change colors, glancing past his cheeks and eyes.

However, the radiant outside world couldn't impress him, it faded away like quicksand in vain.

The head of the regiment returned to his indifferent appearance, arguing like two people from before.

When the car drove outside the Dingchang Hotel, Zhou Lan's gaze paused slightly.

At the entrance of the hotel, there were many passengers getting on and off the bus. A young couple crossed the avenue. Li Guosheng, who was distracted, slammed on the brakes to avoid it. He was also startled, and hurriedly glanced at the rearview mirror.

Zhou Lan stretched out her hand to prop up the front seat, sat down again, turned her head to look at the rearview mirror, the dark color was lifeless, she just said softly, "Drive well, don't look around."

This is the normal state of their leader, like a scholar who has no strength to restrain a chicken, talking in a soft voice.

Raising his hands to close the curtains to cut off the traffic, Zhou Lan sat upright, one finger at a time, and slowly took off the white gloves.

The airtightness of the car is very good, the colorful world outside is isolated, occasionally a rickshaw driver approaches, and the "ding ding" bell rang, breaking the silence in the car.

Amidst the steady roar of the engine, Li Guosheng couldn't help but glanced at the rearview mirror again, and finally met the gaze of their team leader. If the gaze had actually hit him, it would have deflected his gaze at once. track up.

"I said, don't look around." Zhou Lan casually put the two gloves stacked together next to each other, "Do you have something to say?"

"No...nor..." Li Guosheng hesitated, staring straight ahead.

"Do you feel that there are some things you don't understand?" Zhou Lan looked at him unilaterally through the rearview mirror, and suddenly changed the subject: "How old are you, why did you come to be a soldier?"

Li Guosheng didn't know what he was referring to the first question, so he answered the second question honestly: "Reporting to the leader, I am seventeen years old, I can't read well, and I don't have any other skills. Our security regiment pays a lot. I want to work for a few more years to save a house for my daughter-in-law and then set up a store."

After speaking, he glanced at the rearview mirror, and quickly avoided it.

"Oh..." Zhou Lan's eyelashes drooped, blocking his clear eyes, especially under the blurred light at night. He has a fair oval face with soft eyebrows and delicate eyes. He asked casually: "I met Japan today." Do you understand what people say?"

"I almost understand." Li Guosheng hesitated, turned the steering wheel, and turned on the road leading to the suburban security regiment, "Regimental Commander, we have suppressed bandits for the Japanese and helped them fight guerrillas. Our relationship is not bad. I think we live together very well.”

"So, you don't understand why I keep getting closer to them," Zhou Lan followed his words, "Right?"

"Yes, head." Li Guosheng nodded, and puffed out his chest reflexively.

The car fell into silence again. Li Guosheng waited for a while, and couldn't help but look at Zhou Lan again, only to see Zhou Lan leaning back slightly, looking very tired.

Li Guosheng didn't ask any more questions about current affairs, and didn't have the guts to mobilize all his body and mind to drive the car steadily.

The sky is completely dark, the moonless night, the suburbs are dark, two beams of car lights are the only light source in the vast night, constantly opening up the wild dirt road, the road is so dark that it seems that there is no end in sight, only it is walking alone.

Back in the security regiment, in the brightly lit regiment headquarters, several battalion commanders of Zhou Lan's direct descendants were waiting in the living room of the conference.

Zhou Lan entered the room feeling cold, took off his military cap in a busy manner, and the little orderly next to him took over as a routine.

Raising his hand to unbutton it, Zhou Lan took off his thick woolen officer's overcoat. Zhao Changjiang squeezed the orderly away with a wink, and personally held the shoulder of the uniform coat with both hands, helped Zhou Lan take it off, and followed Zhou Lan away. Two steps: "The leader has worked hard!"

Ma Yulin, who is big and thick, pokes at the back, secretly rolling his eyes, sycophant.

"Old Zhao, sit down." Zhou Lan ordered casually, and he took the lead to sit on the sofa. He squinted in the car for a while just now. Although he didn't sleep well, he took a nap and his complexion improved a lot.

After sitting down, Lao Zhao's cigarette followed. Zhou Lan took out one and put it in his mouth. Ma Yulin immediately put a plug in it, and the one who came from behind lit a match.

Zhou Lan took a deep breath, tapped his hand, and then waved with a cigarette between his hands: "Old Ma, you sit too."

"Yes, Captain." Ma Yulin was very angry, and finally glanced at Zhao Changjiang, feeling proud of winning the round.

Zhao Changjiang didn't accept the call at all, completely ignoring this childish approach, but sat down next to Zhou Lan, and said like the "second only" leader, "Don't stand still, It doesn't matter if the regimental commander is back, hurry up and listen to what the regimental commander has to say." Although the attitude is a little bit higher than that of others, it is not obvious, and he scattered a circle of cigarettes to the other officers .

The others also agreed with him, took out a cigarette and lit it themselves, only Ma Yulin took out his own cigarette holder and sat on the sofa sideways.

Zhou Lan smoked a cigarette to relieve his fatigue. After the smoke rose, he calmly sized up the middle-level officers present. No one's every move or word could escape his gaze.

He remained silent, holding the cigarette between his thumb and forefinger, and squinting his eyes slightly.

Li Guosheng, who had just handed over the old ginseng to the orderly, entered the room, and consciously stepped lightly to lower his sense of presence. The officers in this room are all his bosses.

The living room is furnished in a simple and serious military style. The dark khaki sofa is big and long, occupying more than half a circle in the living room. A large-scale chandelier hangs from the ceiling, shaped like an iron lotus, and two hundred candlelight bulbs Lighting, the white wall hit by the light is even whiter, and the khaki color of the sofa and coffee table is getting duller. Against this background color, the core leaders of the security team appear vivid.

The epaulets and collars of the uniform shone silvery under the lamp, and the copper buckles of the armed belt and the black riding boots glowed with a black luster. These seven or eight people were the core force of the security regiment. Ordinary people with naked eyes, no brains, no means, how can they stand out so easily.

Surrounded by Zhou Lan, these outstanding heroes are all older than Zhou Lan, especially Zhao Changjiang, who is 34 and five years old, is the most calm one, even Gu Xuewu, the youngest battalion commander of the Eighth Battalion Zhou Lan is two years older.

However, Li Guosheng can feel it in every pore. These people are afraid of Zhou Lan. They surround him and look carefree. In fact, they are looking at Zhou Lan's face out of the corner of their eyes, as if the young leader only needs to blink slightly. , can make the smiles on their faces disappear immediately.

"Smooth than I thought," Zhou Lan said softly, everyone shut up in a lively manner, and then fell silent in an instant, "There will be more weapons and equipment in the future, and all I want from him are German equipment, rifle bullets, and howitzers can be doubled."

"Team leader" Ma Yulin couldn't hold back his words: "The Japanese are so easy-talking? What is the price for us?"

"Good question," Zhou Lan reached out and tapped on the ashtray, and a small piece of ash fell steadily into it, "There will be no free lunch, and our tasks will be different in the future. The maintenance of local law and order is still a matter of I want to do it, but I guess he will transfer our people to Jilin and Heilongjiang soon, or Chahar, do you understand?"

Zhao Changjiang rolled his eyes: "You mean, we have to go head-to-head with the army over there?"

The so-called "over there" refers to the Daxing'anling and Chahar regions in the Heiji region. There are vast forests and dense forests, and there are many anti-Japanese armed forces. The actual garrison of the Japanese Kwantung Army is not too many. It is said that they have occupied the three eastern provinces, but in fact there are many. The place is beyond reach.

"Captain, the teams over there are not just playing tricks, then..." Zhao Changjiang was interrupted by Ma Yulin at the beginning, and Ma Yulin said angrily: "No, many of them are Although the regular army left behind often fights guerrillas, with the support of relevant internal forces behind it, we now only have three to 4000 people, and fighting them is not worth it for the Japanese."

"Old Ma, you're right." Zhou Lan glanced at him lightly, then turned to look at the others: "From the day you carry your guns, you should know in your heart that the so-called security team does not protect the safety of ordinary people, it protects the safety of ordinary people. It is his Japanese rule, and to put it bluntly, he is working for the Japanese.”

He paused, pondered for a moment, and continued: "Before, everyone knew in their hearts that we were selling dog meat as a security group, but in fact, we still made money from business in private. Everyone carried guns to support their families. Let your wife and children live better."

After hearing what he said, some people nodded and some bowed their heads. They were right, that's what happened.

"Since you are asking for money, you can't think that money is too much to bite your hand, right?" Zhou Lan looked at the reactions of these people, and then said: "Once you fight with those regular troops, the crime of traitor will be confirmed, but in the future, business, money, arms, etc. We have as much as we want."

"So," Zhou Lan's cigarette burned to the end, and she pinched the cigarette butt in the ashtray with her delicate fingers. If you want to quit, there is still time, if you want to understand, if you dare to follow me, let's do it openly."

Li Guosheng stood at the door of the living room without any sense of presence. Everyone didn't notice his nervousness. His palms were sweating and he clenched into fists unconsciously.Before he came in, according to Zhou Lan's instructions, he had already arranged ten guard squad soldiers in the corridor, standing by with guns.

There was a brief moment of silence in the living room, and Ma Yulin stood up first: "Commander, I will follow you, not to mention gold and silver mountains waiting, even if I have no money, even if I want to fight against the Japanese, I will not leave. I'll just follow you, my old horse has no great skills, I used to be a butcher of pigs, as long as the regiment leader thinks highly of me and gives me this bowl of food, I can't tear you down."

He revealed that he was old, but others would not be in the mood to laugh at it. A middle-sized officer also stood up and stood next to Commander Ma: "Commander, you can't speak in martial arts, but I think the same as Commander Ma."

Several other officers looked at me and I looked at you, and they all expressed similar thoughts and wanted to work with him, Zhou Lan.

The period of time when everyone expressed their opinions gave Zhao Changjiang ample time to think about it. It is said that he was a monk before, and no one knew what he was doing before he became a monk. Anyway, he had no relatives. He killed his neighbors and worked as a long-term laborer for other people's families.

"What the leader said is too outrageous." He was the last one to stand up, but what he said was the best: "Who among us subordinates would not want to work with the leader? You can't take us if you don't want to. You eat hot food and drink spicy food." When we follow you, you are going to attack the city and pull out the stronghold, we will retreat? There is nothing so unreasonable, commander, I will firmly follow you."

Li Guosheng heaved a sigh of relief, his back was almost drenched. It's not that he didn't dare to take a gun to kill people, but he was surrounded by the commander of the first battalion with hundreds of people under him. One mistake, the security team might stage a bloodbath. Flow into a river.

They stood there like eight kings, Zhou Lan sat firmly on Mount Tai, and made a gesture of pressing down like a big brother: "Brothers, you are all brothers of my Zhou."

"Let's not talk about each other as a family. Since everyone is willing to do something big, let's do it." Zhou Lan leaned forward, put his hands on his knees, and started his arrangement.

He wants to recruit a lot of troops.

He wants the most equipped with the most advanced weapons.

He wants to make the "local goods" business bigger.

he wants……

He has an unknown purpose, which is only hidden in his heart.