This killer star of the War of Resistance Against Japan was only 9 years old.

Chapter 270 Zhang Qing's Past

9:15 am.

Bai Luo led Zhang Qing, who was already panting from running, back to the hut they had visited before.

After Zhang Qing calmed his breathing a little, he poured two cups of hot tea from the kettle on the table and handed one to Bai Luo.

Bai Luo took it casually and was about to drink it when he noticed that Zhang Qing was staring at him without saying a word.

Bai Luo felt a chill run down her spine from the stare and quickly picked up the tea on the table and took a sip to cover her embarrassment.

Thinking that Zhang Qing was still fixated on his car, he quickly made a pretext.

"Ahem, your car engine must be expired. I've driven Japanese cars before and nothing happened..."

"That's not it. Did you also bomb the 5th Regiment in the east of the city this morning?"

Zhang Qing quickly interrupted Bai Luo's sophistry and got straight to the point.

"Huh? Why are you saying I did it?"

Zhang Qing chuckled when he heard Bai Luo's question.

“Although there aren’t many of us, we can investigate everything that happened in Er City very thoroughly. The explosion this morning couldn’t have been done without dozens of kilograms of explosives. There had never been that many explosives in the entire Er City before you showed up. Who else could it be but you?”

Seeing that Zhang Qing's words were reasonable and well-founded, Bai Luo didn't hesitate and nodded in agreement.

Then he continued.

"You've tested my bomb, how was it? Are you satisfied?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qing paused, his ears still ringing. He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to curse, and slowly said...

"Satisfied, extremely satisfied, but I need the goods immediately: 500 jin of explosives, and 100 of those grenades you used to blow up the Japanese. Ideally, I'd like them by tomorrow. Can you meet that requirement?"

"Sure, no problem at all, I can give it to you today."

Zhang Qing was overjoyed to hear this, never expecting that his biggest problem would be solved so easily.

Thinking of the exchange conditions Bai Luo had mentioned earlier, Zhang Qing asked.

"Then tell me the information you want."

"I need the locations of all the Japanese garrisons in the entire northern province, as well as the locations of their armories."

Bai Luo didn't hesitate and spoke directly.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Qing frowned, lowered his head in deep thought, and remained silent for a long time before finally letting out a helpless sigh.

"I can't do that for now. Our organization only has about 200 people, and we can only cover Ershi and some of the larger surrounding counties. We have intelligence on the Japanese army, but it's limited to these areas. How about Ershi?"

Bai Luo wasn't disappointed upon hearing this answer. Being able to exchange it for the entire Japanese defenses of Ershi was already a pleasant surprise for him.

However, he is now somewhat curious as to why they need so many bombs.

"Excuse me, what are you going to do with the bombs and grenades?"

Upon hearing Bai Luo's words, Zhang Qing looked up at Bai Luo, then lowered his head again, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, lost in memories, unaware of how much time had passed.

Just when Bai Luo thought Zhang Qing didn't want to talk, Zhang Qing slowly opened his mouth.

"This is a long story, let me introduce myself."

My name is Zhang Qing, and our organization is called the Mutual Aid Association. It was established seven months ago, and initially, most of its members were businessmen.

They had all been oppressed by the Japanese merchant guild. If they didn't cooperate with the Japanese merchant guild, the ronin employed by the guild would come and harass their shops and persecute their families. I was one of them; my wife died tragically at their hands.

I escaped the disaster because I was away on business. When I returned and learned the news, I felt like my world was collapsing. I wished I could just grab a bomb and die with the Japanese.

Later, my butler stopped me. After calming down, I knew that I couldn't take revenge on my own.

So I started contacting businessmen who had been oppressed by the Japanese before, and after my persuasion, they decided to form this mutual aid association to help each other.

They secretly cultivated a group of people specifically targeting the groups of Japanese merchants and the ronin they kept.

Zhang Qing spoke for nearly half an hour.

Bai Luo remained silent throughout, simply listening quietly.

"Later on, the members who joined were no longer limited to merchants who had been harmed by the Japanese, but also included some ordinary people and people from all walks of life who had been harmed by the Japanese, as well as people we had rescued from the Japanese."

As our numbers increased, the intelligence we obtained about the Japanese wasn't limited to Japanese merchants; we also acquired some information about the Japanese army. However, this intelligence about the Japanese army was essentially useless to us, yet we were unwilling to let it go to waste.

Later, a member suggested that we send intelligence to the Red Party, and we adopted this suggestion.

At first, it was somewhat effective, but the Red Army organization in Ershi was quickly suppressed by the Japanese, and now there are no more of them in the city.

We bought the bombs because the Japanese merchants in the north of the city had brought in large quantities of opium to harm our people.

Zhang Qing paused for a moment, then said somewhat embarrassedly.

"At first, I was very happy when you said you would exchange Japanese intelligence for explosives, but I didn't expect you to want the entire northern province. We don't have enough manpower right now, and our intelligence can't reach that far."

Bai Luo, standing to the side, heard Zhang Qing's words and her eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Isn't this a ready-made prototype of an intelligence network? Bai Luo just needs to fill it with people and expand it.

"It will save a lot of time compared to building it myself," Bai Luo thought to Zhang Qing and quickly said.

"Uncle Zhang, is it alright if I call you that? My name is Bai Luo, you can call me Xiao Luo."

Zhang Qing nodded upon hearing this. This child was clearly only seven or eight years old; calling him "uncle" was already making him feel young.

After seeing Zhang Qing nod in agreement, Bai Luo continued.

"Uncle Zhang, I have an idea for you to consider. If you think it's acceptable, I'll provide the weapons and equipment you need for free. If you're willing, you can give me the list of Japanese soldiers who persecuted you, and I'll bring their heads over as a token of my sincerity."

Upon hearing Bai Luo's words, Zhang Qing, who had been hanging his head, suddenly raised it.

"What are your thoughts? Tell me."

“I have several hundred men outside the city. I can give you all of them to expand your intelligence network. Give me all the intelligence you get about the Japanese.”

"That's it? It's gone?"

"Gone."

Zhang Qing looked Bai Luo up and down several times with a strange expression, then asked in a low voice.

"You joined an organization at such a young age? Are you a member of the Red Party or the Blue Party?"

Bai Luo chuckled and explained.

“I’m not affiliated with any party. My reasons are similar to yours; my family was also harmed by the Japanese. So I hate the Japanese to the bone, and I’ll do anything to kill them. But what I need now is an intelligence network to obtain information about the Japanese.”

Zhang Qing nodded after hearing Bai Luo's words. He had also established the mutual aid association for the sake of his family.

At this moment, Zhang Qing's gaze towards Bai Luo changed to that of someone looking at a fellow traveler.

But what he didn't know was that Bai Luo's home was not just a simple little family.