Chapter 20: Japanese Supplies on the Ships at the Port

“Commander, did you find out anything?”

“Find out? How could I just casually ask around about the Master’s business…”

“Don’t ask, don’t ask! Commander, what are you holding there?”

“Some Japanese soldiers’ uniforms. Lai Tianbao, take some men outside to buy clothes for the kids, and some medicine too.”

“Commander, you’re joking, right? Who would dare buy this kind of ‘skin’?”

Lai Tianbao held the Japanese army uniform like a hot potato.

“Who told you to sell this? I said wear it inside to keep warm, then go buy stuff, got it?”

“Buy stuff? Commander, did you find gold?”

“Yeah! A pile of gold.”

Zhao Changyun reluctantly took out the gold bars, feeling them in his hand before passing them to Lai Tianbao.

“This… this is real gold?”

Under the firelight, the gold bars shone brightly, stunning all the soldiers nearby.

Honestly, many of them had never even seen a gold bar before.

One by one, they crowded around to take a look in amazement.

“Com-Commander, where did you find this? I want to go pick some too.”

Lai Tianbao, still stunned, awkwardly held the gold bars and blurted this out.

“What are you thinking? Look at you, so useless! Hurry up and put on the clothes, go buy some for everyone.”

“Commander, just tell me already!”

“Get lost! I already said don’t ask about the Master’s business. Although the Master doesn’t hide anything from us, we still need to know our place, got it?” Zhao Changyun glared at Lai Tianbao, wondering what was going on in his head.

But he also thought one should be grateful, especially when facing someone with great resources.

“Alright then…”

“So it was the Master who gave them!”

“Oh, Commander, isn’t it a waste to use all this gold just to buy clothes?”

“What, you want to buy guns too? Do you think anyone would sell you?”

“…”

“Enough! Go quickly, the others are freezing!”

After giving Lai Tianbao and the others a list of what to buy and some advice,

Zhao Changyun quickly shrank back into the group around the fire, staring absentmindedly toward the small wooden hut.

No choice!

The shock Jiang Yu gave him tonight was just too great.

He needed to calm down…

…

Money can solve everything!

No matter when.

With the help of Jiang Yu’s gold bars, before dawn, the soldiers were already wearing thick clothes and shoes.

The wounded had medicine to treat their injuries, and no one died from wounds anymore.

While the soldiers were grateful for Jiang Yu’s timely help, they were even more curious about her.

Although everyone quietly went about their tasks early in the morning,

their eyes couldn’t help but glance at the little wooden hut now and then.

Especially Zhao Changyun, who, upon hearing any movement from the hut, immediately stood silently at the door waiting for Jiang Yu to come out.

“What’s going on?”

Jiang Yu woke up to the sun already high.

Stepping outside, she saw Zhao Changyun beaming as he handed her some gold bars.

“These are the leftover gold bars from buying supplies…”

“How come there’s so much left?”

“Uh… Clothes and shoes aren’t really expensive. Plus, the villagers didn’t charge us much, so there’s this much left…”

In reality, it wasn’t that they didn’t dare charge higher prices.

It was that Lai Tianbao and the others had gone knocking on doors late last night, frightening the villagers into thinking they were bandits coming to rob them.

If the villagers hadn’t insisted on giving the gold bars, they probably wouldn’t have accepted anything out of fear.

Zhao Changyun pressed his lips and didn’t mention this to Jiang Yu, just vaguely changed the topic.

“Oh! You don’t need to return the leftovers to me. Handle it however you want.

By the way, I still have some rice and flour here. Please ask the soldiers to come move them and cook some meals while there’s time.”

Her foot was still hurting, so Jiang Yu stood at the door but didn’t go out. She just placed a dozen bags of rice and several bags of flour at the doorstep.

Last night, she had no idea how much four or five people would eat.

So she only gave a few bags of food.

After all, the group didn’t have any space to store things, and giving too much might become a burden for the soldiers.

Now that she roughly understood how much food they consumed daily,

she could give more, so the soldiers could take advantage of the free time to prepare more and keep it on their person.

After handing over the supplies, Jiang Yu closed the door again. She needed to go apply medicine to her foot and eat something.

Of course!

Most importantly, she felt the grateful gazes of the soldiers looking her way, which made her feel almost socially anxious.

She still felt more comfortable inside the small wooden hut.

But… little did she know, her behavior only added to the mysterious aura around her in the soldiers’ minds.

Speculation about her identity and abilities ran wilder and wilder, going off in all sorts of absurd directions…

The next day!

The wound on her foot finally started to scab over. Although walking still hurt a little, it was within a bearable range.

Unfortunately!

It started raining again heavily around midnight last night.

Thinking about how muddy roads nearly exposed her invisibility skill earlier,

Jiang Yu had to stay in the hut for now.

However, she called Liang Mengwen and had him ride her little donkey to scout for the Japanese troop movements outside.

After all, the rain would eventually stop.

She needed to prepare well for the upcoming actions.

When Zhao Changyun heard that she wanted to scout the enemy’s movements,

he immediately sent several soldiers to go with Liang Mengwen.

Jiang Yu said nothing and quickly retreated into the hut.

In the afternoon!

The rain finally stopped near dusk, and Liang Mengwen and his group came back looking very bedraggled.

“You’re saying the Japanese have already reached Dahu Village and are temporarily stationed there?”

“Yes! The road behind Dahu Village is very difficult, especially after rain.

The muddy roads easily trap vehicles, and there’s a risk of mudslides.

So the Japanese could only stop temporarily at Dahu Village.”

Liang Mengwen quickly told Jiang Yu what they had learned while wolfing down food.

“How about the local villagers along the way?”

“All good! At most, a few wealthy families were robbed, but no one was harmed.”

Liang Mengwen knew what Jiang Yu was worried about and quickly reassured her.

“How many vehicles are in the Japanese supply convoy?” Since the villagers were safe, Jiang Yu immediately asked about the most important detail.

“A lot! Just the military trucks are about twenty large ones, plus ten tanks, and several dozen ox carts carrying supplies with hired local labor.”

“That’s not much, right?”

“True! But this is just the first batch; all the Japanese supplies are actually on the ships.

After delivering supplies to Niuer Village, they will return to the port to continue transporting more.”

“That sounds more like it! How many guards do they have?”

“About three to four thousand people, led by a Major.”

“Three to four thousand, led by a Major? A reinforced regiment or a combined brigade?”

“No! Their regular soldiers are less than a thousand. The rest are puppet troops and laborers.”

“Puppet troops? Second-rate Japanese troops?”

“Yes!”

“Damn it!” Thinking of the casualties Zhao Changyun told her about in the Sichuan army,

finding out there were also puppet troops made Jiang Yu grit her teeth in anger.

“Wait! You said all their supplies are at the port? Which port? How many guards?”

“Qiaotou Port. How many guards? That’s unknown.”

“Is that so…”

Jiang Yu felt maybe she could still revise her plan…