Chapter 51

  Zhao Guangren was also deceived by Li Tieren's appearance of being infatuated with wealth, taking him for an ordinary traitor. But after spreading the news in the county town and giving him a resettlement fee, this kid changed his face, causing himself to be careful what he said, and immediately asked for instructions from Board Director Tian, striving to bring the resettlement fee first.

  Li Tie roughly estimated that if each person in the arsenal was paid 100 silver coins, it would require nearly 5,000 silver coins, which he then gave to Zhao Guangren.

  Zhao Guangren's face immediately turned into a bitter melon face upon hearing this. Five thousand silver coins, he didn't know if Bantaisho had that much silver, and even if he did, he didn't know if he would be willing to part with it.

  When Itai began to receive intelligence from White Fox, he heard that a battalion commander of the Eighth Route Army wanted to surrender to the Imperial Army. He didn't believe it at first, but later, White Fox returned with more detailed information and told Itai about Li Tie's situation, emphasizing his high personal life requirements and love for enjoyment, as well as his unwillingness to be controlled by the battalion commander. White Fox also informed Itai of Li Tie's recent emotional conflicts with the battalion commander. Itai then temporarily believed it a bit, but didn't fully believe it, instructing White Fox to try to meet Li Tie's demands as much as possible.

  At first, Bai Hu took the initiative to offer ten small yellow fish and the position of squad leader, but Li Tie simply ignored him, didn't take it seriously. After reporting to Ban Tian, he also became interested and increased the stakes. Who knew that Li Tie would again demand a settlement fee? This further caught Ban Tian's attention. Generally, when an Eighth Route Army soldier encountered such a situation, the most common response was to scold the traitor who came to persuade them, or at best, beat him up and chase him away. In some cases, they might even kill the emissary on the spot. The saying that envoys are not killed during battles between armies is simply nonsense here, no one would take it seriously.

  This Li Tie, not only did he not scold Zhao Guangren, but also didn't restrict his freedom. Instead, through him, they negotiated with Bantian, it seems that there is a possibility of joining the imperial army. However, just the relocation fee alone was 5,000 silver coins, and adding on Li Tie's 100 small yellow fish, this is quite a large sum of money!

  Ban Tian had no choice but to let Zhao Guangren tell Li Tie that the relocation fee would be paid in two installments, with half paid first and the rest after arriving at the county town.

  But Li Tie didn't pay any attention to him, and directly revealed the mystery of Bantian: "It's not a problem of paying half first, it's that Bantian never intended to give in the first place. Even if we get to the county town, isn't it still up to Bantian to play tricks on us? If he says he'll give it, then he'll give it. But if he says there is none, what can we do? Go rob him? Or wait for Bantian to give?"

  Helpless, Zhao Guangren had to report the truth to Banta. Banta listened and could only agree to send the relocation fee in full a few days later, letting Li Tie make preparations for his departure. At the same time, he also ordered the troops to be on high alert, waiting for Li Tie's group to arrive at the county town, and then take them all down, forcing Li Tie to spit out all the gold and silver.

  These days Zhao Guangren was extremely busy, his feet didn't stop running back and forth between the mountain cave base and the county town, transmitting information for Li Tie and Ban Tian.

  Finally, Zhao Guangren brought back the news from Bantian after a few days: Tomorrow morning, a battalion of imperial troops will escort a batch of resettlement fees to the Shandong base, and let Li Tie make preparations for the reception.

  Li Tie thought to himself, you guys really fell for it. I was just trying to find the traitor, but unexpectedly got a batch of gold and silver coins as well. The devils are coming, and they want me to go welcome them? Well, I'll welcome them with bullets instead.

  Li Tie ordered the personnel in the cave to prepare, openly saying that they were welcoming distinguished guests, but secretly passing on through various cadres that the devils were coming and making battle preparations.

  Zhao Guangren saw that the mountain cave base was busy inside and out, with some sweeping the floor, others removing unsightly objects, and yellow sand paving the way, making it look like a clean street. Before long, the outside of the mountain cave had been cleaned up and looked brand new.

  Zhao Guangren's heart was filled with joy, he had easily turned the tide of an entire army, and more importantly, there was still a munitions factory. His contribution this time would be greatly recognized, and it was certain that he would receive praise from his superiors when he returned. He might even get promoted. The more he thought about it, the more beautiful it seemed, and he almost wanted to burst into song. With his hands behind his back, he kept pacing back and forth outside the cave, occasionally giving orders to this person or that, saying that one place wasn't quite right, and another needed further tidying up. It was as if he had already become the second-in-command of the mountain base, with Li Tie being the first-in-command, which was something everyone understood. No matter how capable Zhao Guangren was, it was impossible for him to replace Li Tie.

  Secondly, early in the morning, all personnel of the independent regiment were fully armed and lined up on both sides of the mountain cave base, with swords drawn and guns loaded, exuding a fierce and murderous atmosphere.

  Zhao Guangren was overjoyed, thinking that Li Tie was showing off to the devils, but he was too excited and didn't even notice the mockery in Li Tie's eyes, still jumping around as usual.

  At last, around noon, the devils came, bringing a big cart - there were no cars, all of them had been taken away by Li Tie, so they could only use a cart.

  There were several boxes loaded on the big truck, it seemed like they were the so-called relocation fees.

  Because they knew that the Eighth Route Army was going to "abandon the light and join the dark", the devils were not intimidated by Li Tie's momentum, although they still tightly grasped their own Type 38 rifles.

  As they approached, Zhao Guangren went forward to greet them and repeatedly said "辛苦辛苦" (hard work) to the leading devils, while taking the initiative to invite the devils into the cave.

  However, two warriors stepped forward and blocked their way.

  "I'm in charge here, when is it your turn to speak, you traitor?"

  "Li Lianchang, mind your words and actions. You're just a battalion commander of the Imperial Guards, while I'm a junior captain of the Imperial Army, far outranking you."

  "Oh, then what should I call you? Zhao Guangren or Lieutenant Colonel something?"

  "I am Lieutenant Colonel Tanaka of the Imperial Japanese Army, and Zhao Guangren is just my alias. The real Zhao Guangren has already died in the prison of the Imperial Japanese Army. Do you understand what I mean?"

  "Oh, I see, but now I regret it and don't plan on surrendering."

  "What does it mean?"

  "Don't you even understand what I mean? It's just that I don't want to be a traitor anymore, I don't want to be in cahoots with you guys!"

  "You don't want these gold and silver coins either?"

  "Why refuse something that's been given? Just accept it."

  "But you are not prepared to surrender, then the Imperial Army does not have to pay compensation."

  "This isn't a resettlement fee, we don't care about that now. All I know is that you've been captured by us and this money is our spoils of war."

  "Ah Kua! You're not credible!"

  "Jokes, what credit can be discussed with the devils? If the devils were credible, would there have been the Lugou Bridge Incident? Would there have been the Nanjing Massacre? You are not even qualified to mention the two words 'credit'!"

  The other devils wanted to resist, but seeing the soldiers on both sides with a submachine gun in each hand, the muzzle pointing at them, they had already cooled down in their hearts.

  At last, one of the devils could not bear the oppressive atmosphere and raised his gun to shoot a soldier. However, before he could even raise it fully, at least two submachine guns opened fire simultaneously, shooting him into a sieve on the spot! The other devils saw that resistance was futile and surrendered. Meanwhile, this so-called Lieutenant Colonel Tanaka had already collapsed to the ground, unable to stand up, his bubble of promotion and wealth burst.

  Having captured the small group of devils, Li Tie immediately called to tell Er Gou Dui Zhang the good news. Er Gou Dui Zhang was overjoyed when he heard that not only had they found the traitor, but also successfully caught a group of devils and obtained several boxes of gold and silver coins. He instructed Li Tie on the phone to keep an eye on the devils first, and then bring people over to escort them.

  Because it was already close to noon, when the Second Dog Commander arrived, the sun had already slanted a bit to the west. But the Second Dog Commander was too excited and forgot to eat lunch. Naturally, Li Tie arranged for lunch. As a result, on the table there were wine and meat (these were brought by Zhao Guangren from elsewhere, originally intended to treat the devils, but unexpectedly benefited Li Tie), not even a bit of coarse grain. During the meal, the Second Dog Commander was enthusiastically devouring the wine and meat, resolutely not mentioning anything about hard work or thriftiness. He also had a hearty ** with Li Tie. Not only that, he repeatedly instructed Li Tie to get more in the future, saying these past few days had made him crave it so much, just watching Li Tie eat by himself while he got nothing for himself. As for this ** problem, let's talk about it after solving the belly problem first.

  With a full stomach and a group of people, the independent regiment sent the devils to the headquarters for preliminary interrogation, and then sent them to higher authorities for further questioning, striving to squeeze out the last bit of usable value.

  Actually, the main purpose of Second Dog's visit to this place is to enjoy a special treatment that ordinary people can't experience. After all, Lü Liang's craftsmanship in the independent regiment is not something that the logistics department can match.

  Ban Tian Rangyi's small team of devils took those so-called "settlement fees" to the place provided by Bai Hu, and a day passed without any movement; two days passed like a mud cow entering the sea; three days passed, still no one was seen alive or dead. Moreover, during these three days, there was also no news from Bai Hu, and even the specific location of this small team could not be found.

  This squad of devils has gone missing, and with them, the internal white fox. It can't be that this group has absconded with the funds, or it would be a shame within a shame for the empire.

  Several small teams were sent out to scout the route of the escort team, all of whom returned to report that nothing was found, no signs of battle, no bodies of Imperial troops, nor anything left behind by them. This team seemed to have vanished into thin air.

  Finally, Itami had to accept the reality he least wanted to accept: he was fooled by this group of Eighth Route Army again. Not only did he lose a large amount of silver and gold, but also an entire squad of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. This squad of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers were 200% captured by the Eighth Route Army, and it was exactly this group of Eighth Route Army who spread the rumor that they would surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army that cleaned them up.

  This is simply one of the Eighth Route Army's small tricks!!!!!

  Pitied himself still thinking they really wanted to surrender, all day long goose was hit, in the end still being pecked by the goose.