Chapter 26: The Overbearing Air of Guo Wenlian
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To be honest, Wei Yuankun didn't take this handgun seriously. Since coming to this era, the handgun had been in a state of "discontinuation", with bullets being fired one by one, and if looking at it from a long-term perspective, it was not as good as the "single shot" made by the base's arsenal, which at least guaranteed ammunition supply. Giving it to Guo Wenlian wasn't a big deal, he could just exchange it for a German-made mirror-box cannon. However, Wei Yuankun still wanted to make this bet, because he wanted to see how Guo Wenlian would manage to gather hundreds of people in just one afternoon.
"Some people get rich through hard work, while others get rich by risking their lives." In this chaotic world, it's a bit difficult to get rich through hard work, but if you dare to risk your life, making a fortune from the enemy is not a difficult task - of course, if you encounter difficulties, you will definitely die. This time, attacking Lingyuan City was indeed a profitable venture, with over 20,000 yuan in spoils. After getting the money, since our team's name is "Kill the Rich and Help the Poor Self-Defense Army", we naturally want to let the ordinary people benefit as well. At this point, Guo Wenlian and others sent out people to purchase goods from households on Chaoyang Street with the looted cash, buying all sorts of things like grain, cattle, pigs, and cloth. Although most businesses were closed at that time, our brothers had guns in hand, and the prices we offered were fair. The money was looted from the enemy, so giving a few more yuan didn't matter. After purchasing the goods, Guo Wenlian ordered people to pile them up in the most prosperous area of Lingyuan City, near the big intersection, and set up several large pots for cooking rice and meat. Soon, the aroma of food wafted out. Then, he had people beat drums and shout loudly throughout the city: "We are the 'Kill the Rich and Help the Poor Self-Defense Army' under the Eighth Route Army! Today we defeated the enemy and made a profit. Please, fellow villagers, come and join us in our celebration!" The ordinary people in the city heard this and were all energized, seeing that the righteous army had defeated the enemy and occupied the entire city without stealing or looting, they felt at ease. Those who were brave enough to sneak out to the big intersection saw that a banquet was already set up, and when someone came, they didn't say anything, just let them sit down and eat. The news spread quickly, and soon people from both inside and outside the city gathered together.
As more and more people came to eat, Wei Yuankun became increasingly bewildered, unable to understand what Guo Wenlian was doing. Guo Wenlian didn't say a word, borrowed two small bowls, filled them with food from the pot, gave one to Wei Yuankun, and then squatted down beside him to start eating. After finishing his meal, he pulled out a tobacco pouch and smoked a pipeful of tobacco. Only then did he slowly get up, walk over to a large horse-drawn carriage, jump aboard, take up a large gong, and begin banging away on it. As soon as the gong sounded, everyone put down their rice bowls and looked at Guo Wenlian standing on the carriage.
Everyone's attention was drawn to Guo Wenlian, who then got down to business. He first gave everyone a courtesy bow and said, "Fellow villagers, today we're fighting the devils, so it's unavoidable that there'll be some commotion, and I'm afraid we might have scared you all. Those of you who came into town to buy medicine may have had your business disrupted by our ruckus. Sorry about that, but what can you do when you're fighting the devils? No worries, though - now let's set up this banquet table as a way of apologizing to everyone!" He paused for a moment before continuing, "Fellow villagers, some of you may recognize me, or even if we've never met in person, I'm sure you've heard of me. I'm Guo Wenlian, the one who used to be with the Righteous and Brave Army, but now I've joined the Eighth Route!"
As soon as the people below heard that it was Guo Wenlian, they suddenly exploded and threw down their rice bowls, rushing to the front. The scene was like a UFO appearing in the sky and an earthquake occurring on the ground. Soon, those who were still at home also ran out to see this famous anti-Japanese hero after hearing that Guo Wenlian had arrived.
"Hey, old and young masters, no need to look, don't even need to look!" Guo Wenlian waved his hand at the people below. "I, Guo Wenlian, also have a head with two eyes, a nose that's not facing upwards, no sharp teeth poking out of my mouth, and I haven't grown three heads or six arms either. I'm just like everyone else, an ordinary person!" The people below him burst into laughter upon hearing his words.
"The devils say I'm the one who's been disrupting the peace and killing people, setting fires. If that's what they're saying, then I'm also a person from this town, we're all fellow villagers, let's talk about it, have you guys ever heard of me killing someone from a good family or ruining their daughter? To be honest with you, I've killed many people, but the ones I killed were all Han traitors and Japanese devils!"
Guo Wenhui then waved his hand, and several brothers brought out over a dozen corpses, which were the Japanese soldiers they had just killed in battle. "If you don't believe me, this is the proof." The ordinary people below heard that they had killed the devils, and they all rushed over, with an attitude like they were looking at a dead tiger.
"I'm just a rough guy from Guangdong, I may not be good at anything else, but I dare to fight against the devils and traitors!" After hearing this, all the people below shouted in approval.
"Some people say, I beat the devils, and then they come to take revenge. You guys carry guns and run away, but in the end, it's still us ordinary people who suffer. Let's just live our peaceful lives." Guo Wenlian continued, "But think about it, old masters, even if we don't fight against the devils, can we really have a peaceful life? If we don't fight against the devils, won't they still burn, kill, and loot as usual? Not to mention far away, just look at what's happening right now. There are taxes, grain requisitions, cotton control laws, rice management laws, special product management laws... What kind of economic crimes are these?! We work hard all year round, but in the end, we can't even handle our own crops! This is ridiculous! Those with 1 to 50 mu of land have to hand over 50 kilograms per mu; those with 50 to 100 mu have to hand over 72 kilograms per mu; and those with more than 100 mu have to hand over 90 kilograms per mu. No matter how good or bad the harvest is, we must hand over grain according to the regulations after autumn. When autumn comes, the puppet police and youth league go from village to village, door to door, demanding grain. If you're late or owe grain, you'll be beaten or imprisoned. The food I'm serving today, where did it come from? It was all taken away by those devils, Han traitors, and yellow-skinned Japanese from our ordinary people!" Everyone present thought of the hardships they had endured over the years and gritted their teeth in anger.
"Also, let's talk about Lingyuan. Originally, it was a place where people could make a living by farming, but now all the good land has been taken over for growing opium. Everyone knows what opium is - it's poison! Those who smoke it for a long time become like withered sticks, unable to even stand up straight in the wind. Men who used to be strong enough to kill tigers are now reduced to nothing. Their brains are muddled, their spirits are gone, and they're addicted to the stuff. Whoever gets hooked on it will lose everything - how many good families have been ruined by this?! And yet, every year more and more opium is being grown, while less and less grain is being harvested. We're farmers, for goodness' sake! Our ancestors worked hard to till the soil and grow food, but now we're growing opium instead of crops. Can we really face our ancestors with a clear conscience?! The foreigners are getting us to smoke opium and inject morphine - it's all just a way to harm us Chinese people! Is there anyone here from Siguanyingzi Village? Let me tell you about Siguanyingzi - out of 80 households, 74 have family members who are addicted to or injecting opium. And what about Xiaohexi Village in Hexiang Township? Out of 11 households, 5 are hooked on opium. Take Zhang Guiying and his wife from that village, for example. They got addicted to opium and stopped working altogether. Within a few years, they sold off their 70 mu of good land and ended up with nothing. In the end, they had to flee to Dongguan, where I heard they eventually starved to death - all four of them! And that's not even mentioning what's happening closer to home. Take Yang Bao from Beidajie in Lingyuan Town, for example. Everyone knows him, right? He got hooked on opium and ended up selling off all his property, including his wife of many years. In the end, he was killed by the very poison he was addicted to!"
"Old masters, fellow villagers, take a look at who he is!" Guo Wenlian pointed, and several people bound by ropes were pushed forward. The crowd took a look, and this person was none other than Li Fangzhou, the manager of "Damanhao" opium monopoly in Lingyuan City's North Street, along with his family. Earlier, when attacking the county town, this guy had tried to run away upon hearing gunshots but was caught on the spot by someone who knew him in the crowd. This Li Fangzhou was a native of Qinglong County and had been one of the most notorious opium traffickers in Lingyuan since the early days of the puppet Manchukuo regime, always serving as a loyal running dog for the Japanese devils. In his daily life, he colluded with monopoly personnel and Japanese-Manchu police to extort money from ordinary people under the pretext of collecting opium taxes, making things difficult for them, blackmailing them, and lining their own pockets, losing all sense of conscience. Every time it was the season for purchasing opium, the Monopoly Bureau set up collection points in various important towns throughout the county, each with specialized personnel responsible for inspecting and verifying the quality of the opium to determine its price. At that time, there were six grades of opium, plus an additional "outside" category. The highest official price was 21 yuan per two liang (about 1.5 dou of millet), while the lowest price was 0.8 yuan per two liang. In reality, this was 34 times lower than the black market price. During inspections and verifications, the appraisers intentionally lowered the grade and price to make things difficult for the people, so they could profit from it and fill their own pockets. What's more, the Japanese devils and traitors used all sorts of cruel methods and torture to harm the people and force them to hand over opium. The lighter punishments included searches, fines, verbal abuse, and beatings, while the heavier ones involved hanging, rolling, pouring hot chili water, and using heated iron brands, etc. The ordinary people had long been filled with hatred for him, and when they saw him and his family being brought forward bound, many who had grievances against him wanted to rush up and attack, but were stopped by the soldiers below. At this time, the emotions of the crowd below had reached a boiling point, with shouts of "Kill him!" and "Avenge us!" rising and falling in waves.
At this time, Guo Wenlian waved his hand again. "Just last month, our Lingyuan Wulanbai Township's Old Wan family was taken away by the Japanese devils and the traitor Huang Pi because they didn't pay enough opium tax. They stripped a woman naked, tied her to a tree, and tortured her to death. In these years, it wasn't just this family that suffered. How many people have been tortured to death by the Japanese devils and Huang Pi because they couldn't pay or didn't pay enough opium tax?" Guo Wenlian asked.
As he spoke, Guo Wenlian pulled out a handgun. "Fellow villagers, I, Guo Wenlian, also want to live a peaceful life. My brothers under my command also want to. If we could still live a decent life, even though it's humiliating to be slaves of the invaders, we would endure and make do. But it's impossible! The Japanese devils won't let us off even if we swallow our pride and give them taxes, grow opium, and hand over grain. Why should we Chinese people suffer such bullying?"
As he spoke, Guo Wenlian picked up a captured Japanese Type 38 rifle. "I, Guo Wenlian, and my brothers have won several battles in the past two days. We've seized many guns, but we lack men to use them. Take a look, fellow villagers! This is an authentic Type 38 rifle." He pulled back the bolt with a "click" sound. "What a great gun! One pull of the trigger fires five bullets. You can fire over a hundred rounds without the barrel even getting hot, and it's accurate at long range too. Whoever wants to join us in fighting the Japanese devils, this rifle is yours to use! Those who want to join our ranks, come register your names!"
This time, Wei Yuankun admitted that he had lost, and he was convinced. After Guo Wenliang's speech, not only 800 people came to sign up, but even if there were 2,800 people, it would be more than enough. At this moment, Wei Yuankun finally understood what "kingly aura" meant - Guo Wenliang was not a "tiger general", and during his speech, he didn't even make any shocking statements, yet he attracted over 3,000 people. If it were himself, he wouldn't be able to attract anyone except for lice, fleas, green bean flies, and mosquitoes. It had to be admitted that Guo Wenliang was indeed a born warrior. Think about it, in history, he was able to fight and live under the enemy's siege for eight years, how could he be an ordinary warrior? Moreover, what he said earlier was truly heartfelt and infectious. As for situations like some time-travel stories where someone arrives at a place, lectures on revolutionary principles, and people and heroes all "submit immediately", such scenarios are hard to come by in reality. From this, it can be known that time-travelers are not omnipotent, at least that's what Wei Yuankun thought.
As more and more people came to sign up, the Self-Defense Army naturally had the right to pick and choose. First, Guo Wenlian raised a few points - those with only one child or only one laborer in the family were not wanted, as fighting against Japan was a matter of life and death, and it was not worth risking an entire family's future for this cause. If two brothers came from the same family, only the younger brother would be accepted if the older brother did not want to join, and those who smoked opium were also rejected. Married men were also undesirable, as they could not focus on fighting while worrying about their wives and children at home. Wei Yuankun also raised several conditions - preferably from a farming background, accustomed to walking mountain roads, physically fit, without illness or disaster, absolutely no opium smokers, with quick minds, preferably literate, skilled craftsmen, and those who had fired guns were the best. After careful selection, 800 robust young men were chosen from among thousands of people, all of whom were issued guns and dispersed into the troops.
Although there were many objections, on the second day afternoon, the entire team withdrew from Lingyuan City, which was exactly Wei Yuankun's intention. Wei Yuankun had watched many revolutionary war movies since he was a child and knew that if his team occupied a city for a long time in this area, it would be a suicidal business. Although there were more than 1,000 people, including new recruits and surrendered puppet soldiers, they seemed to be not enough in front of the Japanese Kwantung Army. According to Guo Wenlian's estimate, the combat effectiveness of these more than 1,000 people was at most equivalent to half a battalion of the Japanese army - there must be an overestimation here. Wei Yuankun's estimate was even more pessimistic, and according to his speculation, this team could only fight against a company of the Japanese army even if they were in a defensive position and had built good fortifications, and their combat effectiveness was beyond expectations. Moreover, since they had occupied the county seat, the Japanese would definitely send troops to take revenge, and the Japanese had learned from the experience of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan uprising, so they would not be lenient this time. Therefore, it was better to withdraw into the mountains as soon as possible and prepare for battle. After all, once they entered the mountains, it would be difficult for the Japanese to find their main force. Before retreating, the team held a public trial meeting at the big crossroads in the morning, although this "Kill the Rich and Help the Poor Self-Defense Army" claimed to be a detachment of the Eighth Route Army, but in fact, it was just a mountain version of the local Eighth Route Army, and its style of doing things naturally had a strong flavor of banditry. Wei Yuankun had been educated since childhood to hate traitors, and Li Fangzhou, a big traitor who had blood on his hands, fell into the hands of such a group of people, and his fate could be imagined. However, in dealing with these traitors, Guo Wenlian had a serious disagreement with Wei Yuankun - according to Guo Wenlian's opinion, it was better to kill them directly; but this opinion was strongly opposed by Wei Yuankun: "Kill them directly? You are too inhumane! Now the common people hate him so much that they can't even speak, you kill him with one knife, how can the common people accept it? I think this is not enough, we should cut him into a thousand pieces!" Guo Wenlian wanted to argue, but Wei Yuankun shouted loudly in front of the crowd and the team, and most people agreed with him, so Guo Wenlian had no choice but to listen to the voice of the masses.
Li Fangzhou's screams lasted for an entire afternoon - and this was still the result of Wei Yuankun and Zhang Xin's poor craftsmanship. They were supposed to cut him a thousand times, but these two only managed to make over 200 cuts before Li Fangzhou had already lost consciousness. During the execution process, the two of them even got into a small argument over an academic issue. Zhang Xin insisted on following the forensic method of human dissection and starting from the throat, while Wei Yuankun wanted to follow the Tibetan sky burial method and start cutting flesh from the back. The two of them argued until their faces were red, which directly resulted in Li Fangzhou being scared half to death before even being cut. In the end, they compromised and each cut one side, with Zhang Xin making a cruel move by cutting off Li Fangzhou's tongue with one knife, then cutting off his penis with another, and stuffing them into his mouth. As for Li Fangzhou's family members, sorry to say that everyone in this team was enthusiastic about "cutting the grass and eliminating the roots". While Li Fangzhou was enduring the most brutal punishment in the world, his family members were also taken outside the city and buried alive.
Although later generations have "elites", "brick houses" and "calling beasts" who severely criticized Guo Wenlian and Wei Yuan Kun for their "inhuman" behavior, giving them unflattering titles such as "killing devil king". However, no matter what, at that time, the execution had a very good effect. The common people applauded and praised, the Han traitors turned pale when they heard about it, and many of the pseudo-police Han traitors who were arrogant on ordinary days also restrained themselves a lot, and their attitude towards the common people improved a lot. Although it didn't reach the three major records and eight notes, it was much more peaceful.
Later, when Guo Wenlian and others recalled this incident, they still remembered the long poem that Wei Yuancong recited from memory after the event:
A man should be prepared to kill, and when killing, show no mercy.
An eternal achievement lies in killing people.
In the past, there was a heroic young man who valued loyalty and kept his promises.
A fierce glare can kill a man; his body is lighter than a swan's feather.
There were also tyrants and despots, who killed people like hemp.
Ride freely under heaven, with only swords and guns to boast of.
……
As for this poem, the bricklayers mean that it is "filled with bloody violence, revealing naked anti-human tendencies and anarchist sentiments. It is hoped that the cultural and educational departments will pay attention to this poem and guide young children, lest they be led astray."
