Yangshu Tun was considered a large hamlet, with a population significantly larger than Kaoshan Tun. However, like Sujia Tun, it had not yet implemented the distribution of land to individual households this year.
In truth, Wang An already knew that if it weren't for Niu Yiqun being ousted and Sun Dafu becoming the new hamlet chief, Kaoshan Tun would have been just like Yangshu Tun and Sujia Tun—they would have had to wait until the end of the year for the land distribution.
Because it was common knowledge that the power and prestige of a hamlet chief before the distribution of land were completely incomparable to their power and prestige after the distribution.
Before the distribution, the hamlet chief controlled the villagers' work points and food rations; naturally, the villagers feared the chief and had to listen to everything he said.
But after the distribution? The hamlet chief? What the hell was a hamlet chief? Get the fuck out of the way.
Given such a massive difference between the two states, regardless of who had been the chief for several years, they would drag it out as long as possible. The later the land was distributed, the better.
"If a man doesn't look out for himself, heaven and earth will destroy him." This saying truly had no flaws.
At this moment, Sujia Tun was quite lively, with large groups of people heading out to farm together.
However, since the number of horse-drawn carriages was limited, most people walked to the fields. The things loaded onto the carriages were mostly plowshares, egg-rollers, and seeds.
By the time Wang An rode his Oroqen horse through the crowd and arrived at the eastern end of Yangshu Tun, Zhang Shuya, Wu Dong, and the others had not yet arrived.
Bored, Wang An dismounted, tied his horse to a large tree at the entrance of the hamlet, and lit a cigarette while standing beside the horse.
Wang An's reputation was likely not small; in any case, among the Yangshu Tun villagers passing by, many of the young people took the initiative to greet him.
Although Wang An responded with polite smiles and nods, to be perfectly honest, he only recognized a few people—or more accurately, they just looked familiar, but he truly didn't know their names.
As the people heading to the fields passed by, Wang An became absorbed in a lewd grin, forgetting to even take a puff of the cigarette held between his fingers.
This was because, in Wang An's sight, there were two sparrows in a tree, openly creating offspring in full view of everyone.
To be honest, the way sparrows did it was actually quite interesting, because they weren't like chickens, ducks, or geese, where the male pins the female's head down and works her to death.
Instead, the female sparrow stood on the branch, and the male fluttered his wings in mid-air behind her to maintain his position, then played by bumping buttocks with the female.
However, their business was not very efficient; they bumped several times sluggishly and still hadn't finished.
Just as Wang An was watching and wondering how many times these two sparrows had to bump before they were done, the loud roar of an automobile sounded.
It had to be said, the sound of this car was fucking loud.
Not only did Wang An hear it, but even the two sparrows engaged in their naughty business heard it.
Consequently, before they could finish their business, the two sparrows were frightened by the sound of the car and bolted straight off the branch.
Looking in the direction the sparrows had flown, Wang An sucked his teeth hard.
It was truly a pity that he couldn't find out how many times sparrows could do it in a row!
Soon, four cars and one jeep stopped in front of Wang An.
As everyone got out of the vehicles, Wang Shuai laughed and said
"Xiao An, have you been waiting long? Why do you look so miserable?"
Wu Dong also shook his head in confusion and said
"Yeah, you clearly look like you've been held back."
As soon as Wu Dong finished speaking, Zhang Shuya snapped at him irritably
"Hurry up and get to the business at hand, stop talking nonsense."
Wu Dong laughed loudly but didn't respond.
It was only then that Wang An noticed that among the four cars, three of them had Oroqen horses in their beds.
Only one car and the jeep were filled with people.
Seeing this, Wang An couldn't help but admire the scale of the operation by Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the others.
Once everyone had disembarked, Wang An discovered that in addition to Zhang Shuya, Wu Dong, and their group of six, six "Hat Brothers" (police) and ten "Camouflage Brothers" (military) had come.
In other words, including Wang An, there were twenty-three people entering the mountains this time.
However, what Wang An found perplexing was why Ma Guoqiang and He Liang weren't working their jobs properly and were instead joining in the excitement of entering the mountains.
Most importantly, one was from the Earthquake Bureau and the other from the Archives Bureau, yet they spent every day hanging out with the Public Security and Wuzhuang personnel, even helping them do work that fell under the others' responsibilities.
And they had already done this several times!
To put it plainly, it was truly a strange thing.
Fortunately, Wang An wasn't the type of person who liked to pry, so he never asked.
Several Hat Brothers took long wooden planks from the truck beds and leaned them against the backs of the three trucks carrying horses.
Then, the Oroqen horses on the three trucks were led down one by one by their reins.
What Wang An didn't expect, however, was that the three trucks only carried a total of eighteen horses. This meant that excluding Wang An, only eighteen people could enter the mountains, while the remaining four had to stay and watch the cars.
After checking ammunition, food, and equipment, and performing a brief reorganization, the group mounted their horses and headed toward the Stone Mountain.
Galloping all the way without delay, in less than two hours, the group arrived in front of the Stone Mountain.
After tying up their horses, everyone followed Wang An toward the entrance.
As soon as they approached the entrance, Wang An once again heard that familiar "clang, clang" sound.
However, he could tell that the frequency of the "clang, clang" was indeed longer than before.
Clearly, these five Japanese soldiers were truly exhausted.
But it had to be admitted that the potential a human can exert in order to survive is absolutely infinite.
To have been knocking for so long without giving up showed just how strong these five Japanese soldiers' desire to live was.
But it also had to be admitted that these five were truly miserable. They had finally made it to China, and finally made it to the Stone Mountain.
Yet, just as they entered their destination, they were firmly blocked inside by this malicious Wang An.
Fearing an attack from the Japanese soldiers, Wu Dong shouted loudly toward the stone slab blocking the cave entrance
"Is the Japanese friend, Mr. Yamano, inside? We received a report saying someone is trapped in this Stone Mountain. Is that you?"
After Wu Dong finished shouting, although no voice came from inside the Stone Mountain, the "clang, clang" sound became more urgent.
Clearly, the Japanese soldier was responding to Wu Dong's words.
After thinking for a moment, Wu Dong said
"We'll rescue you right now, just wait a moment."
Upon hearing Wu Dong's words, the "clang, clang" sound from inside became even more frantic.
As Wu Dong spoke, he instructed the Camouflage Brothers: "Come on, come on, everyone come over and move the stones!"
(End of Chapter)