Chapter 17: Kill and Return on Horseback

  Gunfire crackled and wood splintered, Wu Ming charged down over a hundred meters in the hail of bullets, two shots whizzing past his neck and head, scorching hot bullet casings grazing his neck, leaving a trail of sparks, a clump of his long hair was blown off, it was truly a narrow escape.

  With one breath, Wu Ming rushed over 100 meters on the slippery and steep mountain road, his breathing was urgent and his strength was insufficient. The Mauser pistol in his hand fired five shots during the charge, but due to the distance being too far, it did not cause any casualties to the enemy below, but produced enough deterrent effect. At least none of the enemies below dared to launch a proactive attack amidst their loud shouting.

  The people hiding behind the rocks and big trees below were obviously unprepared, apparently not expecting Wu Ming to rush down like a madman and open fire. After a brief moment of confusion, they hastily opened up with dense gunfire, and the sound of shouting and gun bolts being pulled filled the air.

  From the analysis of the landing point, the pursuing soldiers above are obviously much stronger. They loudly shouted to intercept people below and simultaneously launched a barrage of gunfire on the mountain path where Wu Ming rushed forward, preventing him from rushing down the mountain again. For a time, the sound of gunfire echoed through the mountains, with the mountains above and below responding to each other, forming a very loud momentum.

  Wu Ming, in a state of extreme urgency, suddenly turned around and plunged into a dense patch of rhododendron bushes on the inner side of the curve. He rolled twice to steady himself, relying on the large rocks to catch his breath quickly. The dense hail of bullets hit the surrounding bamboo and trees, causing them to shatter and make a continuous whistling sound. Judging from the gunfire and the density of the incoming bullets, it seemed that the enemy below had suddenly increased their strength, with at least twenty people, each holding long and short guns, totaling no less than twenty firearms, possibly even thirty, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to shoot out such a dense hail of bullets.

  In such a situation, forcing his way through would be no different from taking a road to death, but Wu Ming was not allowed to hesitate any longer. The longer he stayed here, the more dangerous it would become. Wu Ming could only grit his teeth and take a gamble, taking advantage of the dense forest cover to cross over ten meters of rhododendron thicket before the enemy formed a joint attack. He risked his life to climb over the small ridge that jutted out on the right side. As long as he climbed over the ridge, behind him would be a dense bamboo forest. By crossing through the bamboo forest and fording the small river, he could escape into the northern wilderness.

  Wu Ming made up his mind, quickly inserted the gun into his waist, and rushed into the dense thicket in the chaotic gunfire. He pushed open the branches with both hands and strode forward with all his might. His long shirt was soon torn to shreds, and the rebounding branches left a trail of blood marks on his hands.

  The violently shaking tree cluster alerted the pursuers on the mountain, a loud shout rose, and several bullets flew in, causing the tree cluster beside Wu Ming to crackle with flying leaves.

  Wu Ming burst out of the thicket without stopping, gritting his teeth and letting out a muffled hum as he sprang up like a wild wolf, leaping onto the suddenly rising mountain ridge. He climbed up with all fours at incredible speed, exposing his entire figure to the enemy's line of sight on both sides. Shouts of alarm immediately filled the air, and the ambushing enemies hastily turned their guns around to fire, but Wu Ming's escape speed was simply too fast. As soon as he climbed onto the mountain ridge, he charged forward with all his might, regardless of his life, and disappeared from view in an instant. The bullets rained down like raindrops, striking the mountain ridge and sending stone chips flying everywhere, filling the air with smoke.

  After dozens of minutes, the tens of people who were chasing up and down finally gathered together. The leading Wang Guan Jia and two team leaders panted and climbed to the top of the mountain ridge, looking around in all directions, but there was no sign of Wu Ming anywhere.

  Wang Guan covered his chest and stamped his feet, regretting it endlessly. He scolded and sighed, saying that releasing the tiger back to the mountain would lead to endless troubles. The company commander saw the 300 yuan in his hand fly away and was even more furious, scolding his subordinates for being too slow and having poor marksmanship.

  The crowd and the soldiers, however, had a different feeling. They were all amazed at how good the fugitive's skills were, just like a leopard in the mountains. This time, nearly a hundred people couldn't kill him, who knows what will happen next? Such a fugitive is the most troublesome, if they go into the mountains to search for him, it would be even more dangerous, and they might not find him but instead get killed by his sniper rifle. Even if they see him, they can't catch him. If he's forced into a corner, things will only get worse. It's fortunate that no one was injured this time.

  Wang Guan's family, although flustered and exasperated, listened to the discussions of the crowd with utmost worry in his heart. Realizing that he had brought people out in full force, leaving the house empty and unguarded, he hastily bid farewell to the team leader and led more than 20 servants to hurry back to Huanggu Town like flying.

  The officers and soldiers were exhausted to the point of death, got nothing, and scolded and sighed weakly as they went down the mountain. They had been mobilized since midnight, with over 200 people surrounding and intercepting, but the fugitive still managed to disappear from under their noses. From now on, it's almost impossible to catch the fugitive again. The fugitive is like a startled bird, who knows when he will show up again?

  The officers and soldiers had no idea that Wu Ming hadn't run far. After rushing into the bamboo forest, he became more and more anxious, the more he ran, the angrier he became, and the resentment in his heart that he had already let go of surged up again. In a fit of rage, he turned around and ran towards the mountain, quickly climbing out of the bamboo forest to halfway up the mountain, where he hid behind a giant boulder on the mountainside, observing from top to bottom. He was only over 300 meters in a straight line from the officers and soldiers who were gathering their troops and returning to camp. The curses of the company commander and the noisy voices of the soldiers clearly reached his ears.

  The officers and soldiers had gone far away, Wu Ming put down his gun, weakly reclining on the giant stone, gazing at the white clouds drifting in the sky, with an extremely bitter heart.

  Wu Mingsi looked around cautiously, his mind racing quickly. From the enemy's clothing and accent, he recognized that they were county security team officers who had been to his old haunt before. Although he couldn't see clearly the group of people blocking him at the mountain pass below, from their constant complaints and the varied clothes of the group, it was undoubtedly the militia from the surrounding towns. Looking at the whole process, the two groups were clearly divided and arranged in a strict manner, they must have colluded with each other beforehand and had a premeditated plan. They came suddenly and viciously, openly showing that they wanted his life. It was impossible to do this without a deep hatred!

  So who has such a great hatred for himself? Is it true that he regards himself as the Communist Party? If so, who informed on him? If there is another reason, what is it?

  Wu Ming thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out, but one thing was very clear to him: his situation was extremely dangerous. From the analysis of the entire process just now, the government soldiers and militia must have blocked all the roads around Taijin Mountain, and the intense gunfire must have also alerted the Qizhen Temple and the Tianjia Village at the foot of the mountain. It seemed that he had nowhere to go. In this situation, how to save his life became the most pressing problem, and every step he took from now on would be fraught with danger.

  I thought Chengzong would arrive tomorrow, and once I got my ID, I could leave and try my luck elsewhere, changing my fate through hard work. But now, all those beautiful ideas have come to nothing, and even escaping alive has become a problem.

  Wu Ming collapsed onto the rock, gazing out at the endless mountains with a face full of worry and indignation. The more he thought about it, the more resentful he became. A bold idea gradually took shape in his mind: since someone wanted him dead, how could he just weakly flee and hide? Even if he managed to escape danger and survive by luck, he had to get to the bottom of things.

  After some deliberation, Wu Ming put away his pistol and slid down the rock, looked around for a moment before disappearing into the dense forest again. He walked eastward on the carpet of fallen leaves for over 100 meters, came to a small stream, turned north, and followed the winding brook up the mountain quickly.

  The sun slowly rose, and the Tianjia Village under Taigong Mountain was no longer peaceful as before. The intense gunfire in the early morning frightened many people, and the villagers were terrified and asked around everywhere, but no one dared to go out to work. The men gathered at the village chief's house to ask about the situation, while the women kept their children indoors and didn't let them go out. Only a few brave young people ran to the village entrance and looked in the direction where the gunfire came from.

  Tian Zhenggang stood on the earth mound for a long time, his mood was particularly complicated. Seeing the soldiers who were still guarding the mountain pass like they were facing a great enemy, he had a premonition that Wu Ming was in trouble. He also remembered that earlier, Wang Guanjia from Huanggu Town led more than 20 guards to hastily descend the mountain and exchanged a few words with the soldiers guarding the pass before riding their horses and leading his men towards Huanggu Town, which made Tian Zhenggang even more shocked.

  Tian Zhenggang didn't know what kind of big deal had happened, that would make the officers and soldiers, as well as the Chen family from Huanggu Town, mobilize so many people. In his impression, such a thing had never happened before. Even when two Nanchang military officers were killed last year, only the county security team came to shout slogans everywhere, which was not like today's grand mobilization with gunfire ringing out.

  By noon, dozens of officers and soldiers who came down from the mountain left the foot of the mountain and returned to the county town. However, more than a dozen officers and soldiers who blocked the mountain pass did not withdraw, and one or two officers and soldiers rode horses along the ring mountain path back and forth, apparently transmitting messages to each other.

  Before long, two officers riding horses rushed towards the village. Tian Zhenggang's heart skipped a beat and he quickly slipped away on horseback, worried that the rifle he had secretly taken back home would be discovered. In a panic, he didn't dare to go home, and as soon as he entered the village, he quickly turned into the village chief's house and hid behind a group of frightened old men and children.

  Two guardsmen dismounted in front of the village head's house, and upon hearing the shouting, the village head hastily put away his long-stemmed pipe and came out to greet them, followed by a group of men.

  Two officers, sweating and with dark faces, conveyed the arrest order of County Magistrate Wang Daohuan to the village chief, and posted a wanted notice on the wall at the entrance, loudly announcing to the surrounding villagers:

  "Wu Shan's son, hiding in the Taijin Mountains under the guise of a Taoist priest, is an extremely evil and unpardonable **. This culprit not only joined forces with ** to launch an armed attack on the county seat last August, killing and injuring dozens of government soldiers, looting large amounts of property from the government and wealthy merchants, burning down over ten houses, but also brutally murdered two National Army officers who were recruiting in the countryside before the Spring Festival, stealing one long and one short gun. He is an extremely dangerous fugitive. Anyone who knows his whereabouts must report to the county's defense troops and various civilian militias as soon as possible. Those who make meritorious achievements will be rewarded with 50 silver dollars. Whoever captures or kills ** Wu Shan's son will be rewarded with 100 silver dollars, and their family will be exempt from labor service and taxes for three years."

  The news spread like wildfire, and the villagers couldn't believe their ears until two officials rode away on horseback, and the crowd surrounding the village chief's house erupted in a loud commotion.

  The respected village chief lost his mainstay, and in the midst of everyone's puzzled and worried inquiries, he turned around and finally went to find Tian Zhenggang, who had the closest relationship with Wu Daochang. The crowd followed suit and came to their senses, running out to search and call out, but Tian Zhenggang, who was just in the crowd, had already disappeared without a trace.

  Tian Zhenggang has left the village and arrived at the foot of Taijin Mountain, carrying a shoulder pole on his shoulder, slowly approaching the mountain road leading to the gate of Qizhen Temple, plucking up the courage to tell the card-setting officials that he wants to go to Qizhen Temple to help with work.

  The two guards knew the reputation of Qizhen Temple and the habit of villagers nearby coming to help, so they asked a few questions without finding anything unusual, warned Tian Zhenggang a few words and then let him go.

  Tian Zhenggang suppressed the excitement in his heart, and calmly climbed up the mountain. Along the way, he carefully observed every detail, not daring to be careless. When he arrived at Qi Zhen Guan, he pretended to look for Cheng Zong Dao Chang and knocked on the door. After a while, the young Taoist priest opened the gate and said that Master Cheng Zong would only arrive tomorrow, advising Tian Zhenggang not to stay long and to leave the mountain as soon as possible. After finishing speaking, he closed the door again and did not open it anymore.

  Tian Zhenggang hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath and walked towards Wu Wei's hut in big strides. When he arrived at the door, he didn't see any movement, so he put down his carrying pole and walked to the open door of the hut. Seeing that the interior was messy and quiet, he quickly passed through the hut and exited from the back door. He looked around hastily and strode across the stream, following the creek to a cave at the foot of a rocky cliff.

  As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the cave, Tian Zhengang immediately felt something was off. Just as he was about to turn around and leave, a black gun barrel was pressed against his head.