Chapter 44: Literary Gambles and Martial Gambles

  Unexpectedly recapturing the position, Li Shimao's temporarily formed 33rd Regiment vigilantly waited for a night but did not see Zhang Xun's troops counterattack. Taking advantage of the quiet night, they quickly repaired the position and received reinforcements from the division headquarters. Li Shimao patiently waited for dawn to arrive. In the hearts of all officers and soldiers of the Eighth Division, tomorrow would definitely be another fierce battle, and Zhang Xun, who had suffered a great loss, would not give up easily.

  But who would have thought that after dawn, the braid army only fired a few sparse shots and opened fire on them again. The attacking troops turned around in front of the temporary 33rd regiment's position and went back, with no actual contact between the two sides. Except for a few unlucky ones being grazed by stray bullets, it can be said that neither side even had any real casualties.

  "What the hell is this braid doing?" The rifle in his hand, Cao Wenlian looked at the braid soldiers advancing and retreating across from him, baffled.

  "Look quickly!" Zhang Xiaochuan suddenly shouted, pointing his hand to the right front.

  "Huh? Zhang Biao is going to surrender? No way?" Just a glance, Cao Wenlie's eyes were about to pop out. He saw a man wearing a military uniform waving a white flag and slowly walking towards the camp, while the previously swaying braid soldiers had all retreated and disappeared without a trace.

  "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I want to see your superior!" Tang Yiming held up a white flag, waving it from side to side as he shouted and slowly walked forward.

  "Wow! This official is not small at all! It's a long queue, how about we take a shot?" Zhang Xiaochuan exclaimed after carefully checking Tang Yiming's title.

  "Get out of the way!" Cao Wenyuan kicked him away: "What nonsense! Didn't you see he's holding a white flag? Quick, report to the captain and ask him to come over."

  Upon receiving the report, Li Shimao was also puzzled. What is Zhang Xun up to? Why did he suddenly send someone over while they were still fighting? Could it be true that he wants to surrender as the soldier in the report said? This is impossible! Although they had been battling for two consecutive days, Zhang Xun's queue army had suffered significant casualties, but in reality, they hadn't even reached the point of being severely weakened. In fact, both sides were just evenly matched.

  "Go! Take a look." After some thought, Li Shimao hastily left the command center and rushed to Cao Wenlian's side.

  Upon arrival at the scene, Tang Yiming had already been surrounded by several soldiers under Cao Wenlian's command in a trench. Although facing unfriendly eyes and gun barrels, Tang Yiming didn't show any signs of panic, instead he smiled and found a place to sit down, watching his opponents with great interest.

  "Captain!" Seeing Li Shimao hurry over, Cao Wenlian raised his hand in salute, and at the same time Tang Yiming also turned his gaze towards Li Shimao.

  "You must be Commander Li. Nice to meet you. I am Tang Yiming, a regiment commander under General Zhang's command."

  "Colonel Tang." He nodded, Li Shimao walked closer, saluted and asked: "In the midst of the battle between the two armies, Colonel Tang has come to represent Zhang Xun's surrender?"

  The other party directly called Zhang Heng's name, and Tang Yi Ming immediately became displeased. However, he still restrained himself and forced a smile: "Not so, after several days of battling wits at the chessboard, our General Zhang truly admires your army. As they say, 'heroes cherish heroes', so I was sent to make contact with you, and also to bring a private letter to Vice-Commander Fang."

  "Bring the letter? Where is it? Bring it here!"

  "Heh heh, Commander Zhang has given orders that the letter must be personally handed over to Vice-Commander Gu of your army. I'm afraid it wouldn't be convenient for Captain Li to do so?"

  Li Shimao was stunned and couldn't grasp the other party's true intention, nor did he dare to take the initiative. After some thought, he called in his advisor to immediately contact the division headquarters to report the situation and ask Fang Zida for instructions.

  After waiting for half an hour, the staff officer hurried back. Fang Zidao received the message and also felt strange. Zhang Xun and he had never been friends, why would he suddenly send someone to deliver a letter to him? However, he was not afraid that Tang Yingming would use the pretext of delivering a letter to assassinate him. After some consideration, he agreed to the request and let Li Shimao bring Tang Yingming to the division headquarters immediately.

  "Tang Ying Chang, I am Fang Zi Da, please sit down."

  "Vice Commander Fang, I have long admired you!"

  The two met, and Tang Yiming couldn't help but feel that the deputy commander of the Eighth Division, Fang Zidao, didn't look like a soldier at all, but rather like a scholar. No wonder Zhang Xun kept calling him "Little White Face".

  "Please, have a seat." Fang Zida smiled and gestured to the chair in front of him, as he poured tea for his guest. He also took out a cigar and indicated that the other was free to take one if he wished. Seeing Tang Yi wave his hand in refusal, Fang lit one himself and puffed on it a few times before asking: "Colonel Tang, are you here to deliver a message from General Bian? If so, please hand it over."

  Tang Yiming was also straightforward and immediately handed over the letter with both hands. Fang Zida slowly opened it and looked at it, while Tang Yiming remained silent, sitting on the other side quietly observing Fang Zida, patiently waiting.

  The letter was not long, but Fang Zidao read it for over ten minutes, and after finishing reading, he didn't speak immediately, instead, he quietly smoked his cigar and pondered.

  Time passed minute by minute, second by second. Just when Tang Yiming couldn't help but open his mouth to ask, Fang Zida burst out laughing and stood up, saying: "Please return to the camp, General Tang. I, Fang, have accepted tomorrow's appointment."

  "Alright! Since it's like this, I'll take my leave first. Thank you, Vice-Commander Fang, for your hospitality. We'll meet again tomorrow."

  As soon as T'ang Ying-ming left, Fang Tzu-ta's smile immediately disappeared. He ordered his chief of staff to summon all high and middle-ranking officers at the front line for an emergency meeting.

  A temporarily peaceful day soon passed, and after the sun rose again the next day, Fang Zidao brought five guards to a small village not far from the battlefield. As soon as they arrived at the tea pavilion in front of the village, Zhang Xun also came.

  He glanced at Zhang Heng's side, and Fang Zida's heart finally fell. It seemed that Zhang Heng was still a man of his word. There were six people in total, including the five bodyguards and him. One of them he recognized, Tang Yiming, whom he had just met yesterday.

  "Haha, is this Vice-Commander Fang? I'm Old Zhang, and I've been looking forward to meeting you! Come on, come on, let's have a good get-together today, my brother!" As soon as he saw Fang Zidao, Zhang Xun walked over with a smile, his enthusiasm and demeanor seemingly not that of someone who had come to meet an opponent, but rather like seeing an old friend after a long separation.

  "General Braided is a renowned name, and it's an honor to meet him!" Fang Zidao was also extremely polite, with a bright smile on his face. As they approached each other, they didn't salute, but instead clasped their hands together in greeting, and then warmly shook hands before entering the tea pavilion together.

  "I heard that Mr. Fang was a returned overseas student? After returning to China, he has been following Premier Song doing things? He just took over as the deputy commander of the 8th Division not long ago?" Zhang Xun asked with a smile while pouring tea.

  "Heh heh, General Zhang said it well, that's how it is." Nodding in thanks for the tea handed over by Zhang Xun, Fang Zidao smiled and said: "To put it bluntly, Jiang Ming was never a military man, taking over the 8th Division was just a temporary measure. Now with rebellions breaking out everywhere, the 8th Division is stationed in Jiangsu to defend Nanjing and maintain national unity. Originally everything was going smoothly, but then General Zhang suddenly arrived with his troops, I'm afraid that goes against the original intention of military men protecting the country and its people?"

  "Haha, Brother Fang doesn't need to beat around the bush, just say that I, Zhang Xun, launched a surprise attack on Jiangsu. That's all."

  Fang Zidao's words did not anger Zhang Xun, but instead made him burst out laughing: "To put it bluntly, what is this 'for the country and for the people' nonsense? Isn't it just about who has the harder gun barrel? I'm older than Brother Fang by several years, and back in the Qing dynasty, I was a high-ranking official, stationed in one place, and had seen all sorts of scenes and experienced all sorts of things. If the Qing's gun barrel hadn't been weak back then, would there have been any Sun Wen or revolutionary party? And if Sun Wen's gun barrel hadn't been weak later on, would there still be a President Yuan today? In short, it all comes down to the gun barrel. I've led troops for many years, and I believe in the power of the gun barrel. Besides, this Jiangsu, this Nanjing, is my territory, so bringing my gun barrel back to take it isn't considered an act of rebellion, is it?"

  Zhang Huan's blunt words left Fang Zida crying and laughing at the same time, who would have thought that Zhang Huan was still a man who only believed in the power of guns. These theories were quite unique. Shaking his head, Fang Zida didn't argue with him about these things, but just smiled and looked at him.

  "This kid is a character!" Seeing Fang Zida's appearance, Zhang Xun secretly praised him. If he had listened to his words and debated with him, Zhang Xun might have looked down on Fang Zida. But Fang Zida didn't say anything, just smiled, and in Zhang Xun's heart, he regarded Fang Zida as someone who could sit on an equal footing with himself.

  After several days of fierce battle, Zhang Xun's troops suffered losses that were not insignificant, and he also paid a heavy price. Moreover, he now knew that the Eighth Division was not to be trifled with, and if they continued to fight like this, although Zhang Xun had confidence in defeating the Eighth Division, his own troops would ultimately suffer greatly.

  Just as Zhang Xun himself said, he is a man who only relies on guns and territory. The troops in his hands are his magic weapon and chips. He would never use his own troops to fight to the point of mutual destruction. Whether it's the Beiyang government, KMT or the Revolutionary Party, there are many people eyeing Zhang Xun now. If he loses his last chip, Zhang Xun will be nothing.

  Moreover, his troops marched southward all the way, and they didn't have much ammunition either. After several days of fighting, the artillery shells in his artillery battalion were already insufficient. If this continued, once the situation changed, Zhang Xun would be unable to retreat with his army intact.

  On the surface, Zhang Xun appears to be a rough and unrefined man, but in reality, he is not someone who can be easily underestimated as a commander. After some thought, he invited Fang Zidao over, on one hand wanting to see for himself what kind of person this opponent was who had bested him, and on the other hand also taking the opportunity to engage in a high-stakes gamble with his opponent.

  "What gamble? How to gamble?" Fang Zida asked in surprise, not understanding what Zhang Xun's sudden mention of gambling meant.

  "It's simple, this gamble can be divided into martial arts and literary gambling." Zhang Xun said with a smile.

  "How about martial arts? What about literary arts?"

  "Alright, let's make a bet. You and I will each send out one battalion of troops to the front lines, and whoever loses will withdraw from Jiangsu province. As for the wager, that's even easier - come on! With a wave of his hand, a guard brought over an exquisite wooden box, opened it, and Zhang Yun pulled out a mahjong tile, slapping it down on the table with practiced ease: "We'll use this game to decide who wins!"