Chapter 20

  "If we don't want to go to Jinzhou with you, would you be willing to give us the foreign guns and cannons?" Jing Da asked.

  "Yes!" Li Bin replied firmly, "You can now go down the mountain with me to get the weapons!"

  The bandits looked at each other in dismay, they couldn't believe their ears, this Li Bin was actually willing to hand over his weapons unconditionally. After half a day, it was Jing Hu who finally spoke up: "Thanks a lot for the good fellow's kind intention!"

  Then, Jing Da led the bandits to follow Li Bin down the mountain and arrived at the side of the big truck. Li Bin ordered the soldiers to leave a small portion of hand grenades behind and give all the other weapons on the truck to Jing Da and his men.

  Seeing so many foreign guns and machine guns, the bandits cheered and jumped for joy.

  Since Li Bin was so generous in giving them the foreign guns and cannons, it wouldn't be right for Jing Da and his men not to show their appreciation. So, Jing Da grasped Li Bin's hand and said: "Brother Li, how about this? You all go up the mountain! Tonight I, Jing Da, will slaughter pigs and sheep, and treat you well! If we are truly brothers, then come and let's have a hearty drink together!"

  "Good!" Li Bin readily agreed.

  On the mountain, they killed pigs and sheep. After the wine and dishes were served, everyone raised their cups and drank freely until late at night. Although during the banquet, Jing Da and his men did not express their willingness to follow Li Bin and his men to Jinzhou, nor did Li Bin force them, but he didn't mention it either, just enjoying a hearty drink with them for one night.

  The next morning, Li Bin called up Hong Biao and Wang Zihao, took the team out of the mountain stronghold, and headed straight for Jinzhou.

  They had walked less than ten miles when they suddenly heard the sound of horseshoes coming from behind. Li Bin turned his head and saw that on the big road behind them, dust was flying everywhere, and three fast horses were galloping towards them from afar. The three people on horseback were none other than Jing Da, Liu Zi, and Jing Hu! Jing Da, who was in the lead, shouted loudly at Li Bin and his group: "Good fellows, wait for us!"

  Li Bin and the others stopped in their tracks, and before long, Jing Da had already arrived at Li Bin's side. He dismounted his horse, cupped his hands together in a salute to Li Bin, and said: "Brother Li, I, Jing Da, do not accept rewards without making contributions! You sent us so many foreign guns and cannons, we naturally should repay you! It's like this, I've already spoken with the brothers in the mountain stronghold, everyone is willing to follow you together to Jinzhou to join the Anti-Japanese Righteous and Brave Army!"

  "Great! Too good!" Li Bin was excited, he grabbed Zhang Da's hand and said, "I represent the 30 million compatriots of Northeast China, I am grateful to Brother Zhang Da and your brothers! However, you went not to follow me, but to follow General Huang Xiansheng."

  Although Jing Da and his men did not say they would follow Li Bin as the leader, after all, it was also a force against Japan. In this way, in fact, it also strengthened the Chinese nation's anti-Japanese forces.

  The two teams merged into one, with more than 100 people in total, and marched towards Jinzhou in a mighty manner.

  In Jinzhou City, Huang Xiansheng has arrived in Jinzhou. This Huang Xiansheng was originally the director of the Lianoning Public Security Department and concurrently the director of the Shenyang Public Security Bureau, just a police chief. After arriving in Jinzhou, he hastily organized the "Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Righteous and Brave Army", which was mainly composed of police officers selected from various municipal and county public security bureaus.

  But those police, who are used to dealing with unarmed civilians, would be a joke if they really had to go into battle! In terms of equipment, apart from a few officers equipped with Mauser pistols, the ordinary police still use old-fashioned rifles. There are even more outdated Qing dynasty-produced single-shot rifles and Republic-era "Year One" rifles that are so worn out. Those weapons, not to mention whether they can fire or not, just finding the special 6.8mm bullets is a problem.

  In terms of training and combat effectiveness, these police officers are even less worth mentioning. They usually just wave their batons and catch people, basically they have never fired a gun before. Many people don't even know if their own guns can fire or not.

  However, Huang Xiansheng was still a young talent. He selected the best police officers from those police teams to form three cavalry units and concentrated on training in the north of Jinzhou City. The rest were formed into public security troops for centralized training.

  However, for such a troop, how long can it withstand the enemy's attack, Huang Xiansheng really had no bottom line in his heart.

  Just as he was extremely anxious, his deputy officer Xiong Fei came back to report: "Commander, there are over a hundred people outside, almost everyone is carrying guns, and there are machine guns, submachine guns and grenade launchers. Some of them used to be soldiers of the Northeast Army. They claim to have responded to your call to join the Righteous Brave Army and want to see you."

  Huang Xiansheng was overjoyed when he heard this, and he hastily told Xiong Fei: "Quickly, quickly let them in!" These hundred or so people, although not many in number, were said to have excellent weapons and also included original Northeast Army soldiers.

  As the representative, Li Bin walked in, he finally saw this famous anti-Japanese general. He also knew that this famous general was killed by Chiang Kai-shek later, and didn't know if he could change his fate after coming. However, seeing this hero who dared to lead the untrained Shenyang police to resist the well-trained Japanese invaders, Li Bin couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration in his heart. He followed the etiquette at that time, walked to Huang Xiansheng's front and knelt down: "I am Li Bin, a returned overseas Chinese youth, I have long heard of General Huang's great name, specially came to join General Huang, if one day the Japanese pirates are not eliminated, I Li Bin will fight for one day! Until death on the battlefield, wrapped in horse leather!"

  "Hurry up! It's the Republic now, don't kneel!" Huang Xiansheng hastily helped Li Bin up, and continued to say, "Also, don't call me General Huang, I'm just a small section chief, how dare I claim to be a general?"

  At this time, Li Bin suddenly remembered that Huang Xiansheng had not yet been awarded the rank of Major General. He was secretly regretting how he could have forgotten this when he heard Huang Xiansheng say: "Let's go out and take a look at the people you've brought!"

  As he walked to the entrance, Huang Xiansheng was shocked: this team, although only with over a hundred people, surprisingly had three machine guns, two submachine guns, and four grenade launchers. Moreover, almost everyone had a gun. What's even more astonishing is that they were equipped with Japanese military-style Type 96 light machine guns and Arisaka rifles! Even the grenade launchers were standard-issue Japanese military equipment!

  "Excuse me, Mr. Li, where did you get your Japanese-style weapons from?" Huang Xiansheng asked.

  Hong Biao stepped forward, gave Huang Xiansheng a standard military salute, and replied: "The seventh brigade scout officer Hong Biao reports to the commander! These Japanese-style weapons of ours were all captured from the devils' hands!"

  Huang Xiansheng was shocked: so many weapons, how many devils would they have to kill?! It seemed that at the very least, they would be able to annihilate a small squad of devils! But with just this handful of men, how could they possibly annihilate a small squad of devils? Just as he was filled with doubts, Wang Zihao also gave him a standard military salute: "Former Northeast Army Lieutenant and Squad Leader reporting for duty, sir. Thanks to Big Brother Li's brilliant command, our 18 men were able to annihilate a small squad of devils at the cost of two lives!"

  Huang Xiansheng was overjoyed and hastily asked: "May I ask, Brother Li Bin, what you studied in the United States is military affairs?"

  Li Bin shamelessly lied: "That's right, I once studied at the US Military Academy at West Point for a period of time. Unfortunately, my skills were not refined, and later, due to awareness of domestic changes, I returned home early."

  Upon hearing these words, Huang Xiansheng hastily invited Li Bin inside. He was eager to have a good talk with this young man about how to organize the Anti-Japanese Righteous and Brave Army and make plans to resist the enemy together.

  After everyone sat down, Li Bin seemed to see through Huang Xiansheng's mind and said: "Director, I have a way to expand the Anti-Japanese Righteous and Brave Army. I don't know if you will accept my opinion."

  "It doesn't matter what you say," Huang Xiansheng said.

  "I think, the Provincial Public Security Bureau can specially formulate a compilation plan in its own name, stipulating: those who lead more than 100 armed men to resist Japan will be awarded the rank of upper lieutenant, those who lead 250 cavalrymen or 500 infantrymen will serve as battalion commander, and those who lead more than 500 cavalrymen or 1,000 infantrymen will serve as regimental commander. This can attract a large number of scattered soldiers and some green forest heroes to join the anti-Japanese army! In this way, it can expand the strength of the Anti-Japanese Righteous and Brave Army!" Li Bin shamelessly plagiarized Huang Xiansheng's later approach and brought up this matter a month in advance.

  "Good! Too good! I was just thinking of that!" Huang Xiansheng was overjoyed in his heart, and he and Li Bin immediately hit it off.

  Li Bin continued to say: "In the high mountain area of Heishan County, Zhang Xuecheng's pseudo-army is entrenched. This traitorous armed force is a great threat to Jinzhou! I suggest that we should find an opportunity to eliminate this traitor!"

  "But Zhang Xuecheng is Young Marshal's cousin, this I'm not too good at handling." Huang Xiansheng replied.

  "I suggest we inform General Zhang immediately. I believe by now, the general will definitely uphold justice and put family ties aside!" Li Bin replied decisively.

  "But why do you think so?" Huang Xiansheng asked.

  Li Bin uses his historical knowledge to "shamelessly plagiarize" others' methods. Next, he says to Huang Xiansheng: "Actually, I'm familiar with the Japanese way! The weaker we are, the tougher they'll be! If we can give them a few head-on blows, they won't dare to be arrogant!"