Volume 1 Chapter 18 Eradicating Evil (Part 2)

  "Fall in! Fall in!" Qiao An Guo hastily walked into the barracks, his loud voice urging.

  "Captain, what's wrong? What happened?" Wang Ding Sheng asked as he walked forward, puzzled, while directing the training.

  "Wei Dexin and his gang of beasts slaughtered Wulizhuang a few hours ago, killing over a hundred old, weak women and children. We must eliminate them as soon as possible, or else who knows how many more innocent people will suffer. Alright, let's hurry up and assemble!" Qiao Anguo's face was slightly angry as he explained, urging with his hand.

  "Yes!" Wang Ding Sheng stood up straight with a loud "pa" sound, then immediately turned around and shouted loudly: "Everyone assemble...!"

  "Report to the captain, all officers and men of the Zhe River Garrison have assembled, please instruct!" Wang Ding Sheng inspected the lineup with a glance, turned around sharply, stood at attention and reported loudly.

  "Head for Qiao's Grand Courtyard immediately!" Qiao Anhui's expression was cold and stern as he waved his hand.

  The whole army responded with a loud "Yes!" and immediately formed neat rows, leaving the barracks in an orderly manner. Under Qiao An's leadership, they rushed quickly to the Qiao family's mansion.

  ……..

  Qiao's Grand Courtyard, Qiao Anbang brought Li Yifeng and others back in advance. Qiao Anbang first went to the backyard and handed over Li Yifeng and two others to Wang Gensheng, then rushed straight to the front hall of the main house.

  In the main hall, people had already filled the tables with delicious dishes and two jars of precious aged wine that Qiao Siyuan had stored for over a decade. Qiao Siyuan had invited Chu Jingming to take his seat, and they were just waiting for the arrival of the three brothers, Qiao Anbang, before starting.

  Just then, Joe Anbang hurried in with quick steps.

  "An Bang, how come you're the only one who came back? What about Er Ge and An Guo?" Qiao Si Yuan asked in confusion.

  "Father, Commander Chu, I just received a report from the people that Wei Dexi's remnants, who escaped from Quanshan, slaughtered Qingtou Village in Wulizhuang a few hours ago. The entire village of nearly two hundred people, old and young, were killed without exception. My brother and I have decided to send troops immediately to annihilate them, to prevent more civilians from being harmed." Qiao Anbang replied quickly.

  "What! This group of heartless and depraved beasts!" Qiao Siyuan and Chu Jingming's faces both changed greatly upon hearing this.

  Chu Jingming sprang to his feet, his face filled with righteous indignation: "Third Master, I'll lead a battalion and set out with you. We must annihilate this gang of beasts in one fell swoop and bring justice to the more than 100 villagers!"

  "Director Chu, this group of bandits is not large in number, and the security team is sufficient to deal with them. Moreover, they are nomadic and commit crimes on the move. If we mobilize all our troops, the town of Zuihe will be left empty, and they may take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack. Therefore, it's not suitable for us to mobilize all our troops. You lead one battalion to stay in Zuihe Town to oversee the overall situation, while I and Big Brother lead the security team to actively go out and search for the bandits' traces and annihilate them. What do you think?"

  "Oh, and I've already prepared five Czech-type heavy machine guns and fifteen Czech-style light machine guns with sufficient ammunition for you. With these equipment, if the bandits dare to launch a surprise attack on Yeliang Village, we can eliminate them at the city gate." Qiao Anbang said, his eyes fixed tightly on Chu Jingming.

  "Ah, Third Young Master is right, then I'll stay." Chu Jingming nodded after a moment of contemplation. Originally thought that the Qiao brothers would be afraid of competing with him for credit, but seeing Qiao Anbang generously giving him this batch of equipment, his doubts were dispelled. Aren't they just a group of bandits? Can any amount of merit be worth these weapons and equipment?

  "Alright, Father, Commander Chu, I'll go first." Qiao Anbang said as he gave a crisp military salute to the two of them, then turned around and strode away with big steps.

  …………

  Qiao Anbang just came out of the hall and returned to the backyard, coincidentally Qiaoanguo had already arrived with a team of security guards.

  "Old Three."

  "Big brother, let the younger brothers change clothes quickly, these are all new Mauser rifles, similar to those made in Hanyang, and they can be used in the same way. Time is pressing, select twenty soldiers with light machine guns to follow me onto the truck, you lead the other brothers to follow up afterwards, we'll head towards Liuji first." Qiao Anbang gave a signal and arranged while pointing at the pile of weapons placed aside.

  "Good!" Qiao An Gu didn't mind at all that his third brother was giving him orders, and he readily agreed. He immediately turned around and chose twenty warriors.

  "Sir, sir... please let us go with you?" Qiao Anbang was about to set off with twenty machine gunners when Li Yifeng and two others who had been following him spoke up with eager faces.

  Qiao Anbang turned his head at the sound and looked at the three men's eager eyes, then waved his hand and said, "Bring your big knives and follow me!"

  "Lao San, where are you taking these three? This isn't a joke, people can get killed." Qiao An Guo spoke out to stop Qiao An Bang from taking the three ordinary villagers to suppress the bandits.

  "Big brother, they are all people with blood on their hands. Even if they clearly know there's danger, I think they'll still participate without hesitation. Deep-seated hatred and revenge, if it were us, how could we not take action?" Qiao Anbang retorted.

  "The officer is right, even if we die, we must avenge our families and fellow villagers!" Li Yifeng, Li Jupeng, and Zhang Xuedong, who had already taken out their big knives from the side, nodded in unison.

  "Alright, let's set off!" Qiao Anbang waved his hand and led the way out, followed closely by seventeen machine gunners and Li Yifeng's three men.

  "Lao San, be careful!" Qiao Anguo shouted from behind, and then turned around to urge other soldiers to change guns.

  "Get on, get on!" Qiao Anbang shouted, holding an assault rifle in his right hand and waving his left hand to hurry them up.

  Li Yifeng and the others, along with a dozen or so machine gunners, immediately boarded the vehicle. Qiao Anbang tossed the submachine gun in his hand to Wang Gensheng, who was standing beside him, and strode towards the car door: "Gensheng, you sit in front!"

  "Alright." Wang Gen Sheng replied with a smile, and immediately quickly got on the truck from the other side. This was his first time taking this truck, and he felt very fresh. After getting on the truck, he looked around curiously.

  "It's done," said Qiao Anbang, starting the car. A loud roar of the engine suddenly sounded. The truck shot forward like an arrow, and the security guards on the truck were immediately thrown into a daze.

  ………

  Looking at the scene outside the car quickly flying away, Wang Gensheng sitting in the front passenger seat appeared exceptionally excited. "Young master, look at the dust behind us rising up." Wang Gensheng pointed to the rearview mirror and said in surprise.

  "Cut the nonsense, sit tight and be ready to fight at any moment!" Qiao Anbang shouted, staring straight ahead at the road conditions, thinking to himself: This guy really doesn't know fear, this is going to battle, not a driving tour.

  Although the road conditions of this era were far inferior to those of later generations' high-level cement highways, due to the recent good weather, the road surface was dry and hard, not muddy and difficult to pass. Adding to that, Qiao Anbang was eager to suppress bandits, and after more than an hour, the truck arrived at Liu Jicun.

  Qiao Anbang slowed down the car and knocked on the rear compartment, reminding: "Gunners, set up the machine gun for me, and everyone else get ready to fight."

  Two machine gunners hastily set up their machine guns on the roof of the car, and other soldiers also pulled the bolts, making all preparations for battle.

  Li Yifeng and Li Jupeng, Zhang Xudong's three people also held tightly the big knife in their hands with a stern expression, their eyes filled with anger.

  After making all the preparations, Qiao Anbang stepped on the gas and drove the truck quickly towards Liu Jie Street. However, as soon as the truck rushed into the street, Qiao Anbang slammed on the brakes, his eyes wide with shock at the scene before him.

  The whole street was littered with corpses lying in all directions, including old people and children. In some alleys, there were also women with their clothes disheveled.

  The entire street of residential houses and shops was in a mess, some were even set on fire. Some houses were burned to ruins, with only broken walls left standing, while the remaining beams were still emitting wisps of smoke.

  Qiao Anbang opened the car door with a sorrowful expression and walked out, looking at the street in front of him which was like a purgatory. He was furious, these evil bandits were even worse than the Japanese devils, killing people and setting fires, exterminating humanity, they were not one bit better than the little devils.

  The rest of the soldiers also jumped off the car and saw the tragic scene on the street, all of them were indignant and gritted their teeth.

  "Let's go and take a look, see if there are any survivors." Qiao Anbang waved his hand with some difficulty, his voice choked with emotion.

  "Yes!" Wang Gen Sheng responded in a low voice and immediately led the soldiers forward to investigate.

  "Master! What's happened to you? Master!" In the middle of the street, in a blacksmith shop, Li Yifeng picked up his master who was lying in a pool of blood and burst into tears.

  Qiao Anbang led the way over, and in the iron shop, there were four corpses lying down, three men and one woman. The middle-aged man held by Li Yifeng was his master, and a slightly older person not far away should be Li Yifeng's master's father. In the inner room, on the bed, lay a naked woman, and next to the woman's corpse, there was also a small boy's corpse.

  Qiao Anbang took a look at the scene of the blacksmith shop, his mind filled with anger, he held up his submachine gun and strode onto the main street, firing a burst into the sky.

  Other soldiers heard the sound of gunfire and rushed over, Wang Gen-sheng's face was heavy with worry: "Young master, not a single person survived, several hundred people, all were killed."

  "Wei Dexi, I swear to God, I will definitely flay you alive and dismember your body into ten thousand pieces, to avenge the innocent civilians who died at your hands!" Qiao Anbang said coldly, looking up at the sky.

  He immediately closed his eyes and tried to communicate with Yalai, to see if she had opened that extremely perverted information reading for him. Sure enough, soon he heard Yalai's voice in his mind: "Master, what are your orders?"

  "Yali, can you help me use the flight instrument to check the trail of those bandits?" Qiao Anbang thought to himself. Since the scanning system of the flight instrument could cover the entire planet in an instant, it should be able to provide the trail of the bandits.

  "Alright, master, please wait a moment." Yali's gentle voice sounded again.

  After a moment, Yal's voice sounded again: "Master, that group of bandits is now in a town called Cao Jicun thirty miles away from you and they are staying there."

  "Alright, I know. Go inform Big Brother and the others to rush to Cao Jizhen immediately!" Qiao Anbang said as soon as he opened his eyes, his expression sternly saying: "Follow me!"

  "Yes!" The crowd, although unclear, still responded with a loud "yes" and boarded the truck one after another. The truck quickly turned around, bypassed Liu Village and headed straight to Caoji Town thirty miles away.