Chapter 14: A Hero's Anger for a Beauty

  Ye Zhi Kui reacted quickly, hastily hiding Xiao Linglong behind him, pulling out his own revolver and firing two shots. The Japanese man who had jumped from the eaves was instantly hit by the bullets. Unaware if he was seriously injured or not, the Japanese man still charged forward fiercely, shouting "Hah!" This Japanese man let out a loud cry, slashing at Ye Zhi Kui with his knife. Ye Zhi Kui dodged to the side and kicked out with one foot, sending the small Japanese man tumbling to the ground, unable to get up again. At the same time, more Japanese men rushed over from the corner, surrounding them. Ye Zhi Kui pulled Xiao Linglong along, turning to shout at Feng Guozhang and Wen Baishan: "Hurry and run!"

  Three men fired while retreating, the Japanese came fiercely and were extremely fierce and fearless of death. If they weren't seriously injured, they would get up and charge again after being shot. Fortunately, the enemy didn't have firearms, it's unknown whether they were arrogant or thought their martial arts skills were superior, or if the Qing army had been strictly searching recently. Ye Zhikui looked down and saw that there was not a single bullet left in the cartridge, four little Japanese were rolling on the ground, and three more came running over shouting loudly. Feng Guozhang and Wen Baishan also ran out of ammunition, seeing this situation they hastily said: "Young Master Ye, leave first, let us block for a moment."

  Ye Zhi Kui naturally wouldn't run away alone. Seeing that there were only three of them left, he said: "Hua Fu, you and I will take care of one first, then we'll see what to do next."

  All three were empty-handed, and before the Japanese could get close, Ye Zhi Kui and Feng Guo Zhang rushed towards the nearest one. The Japanese man's face flashed with a hint of joy as he swung his sword forward, aiming to chop down Ye Zhi Kui's head. Ye Zhi Kui dodged slightly, gritted his teeth, and thrust his left shoulder forward. The Japanese man's sword landed on Ye Zhi Kui's shoulder.

  Before he could pull it out, Feng Guozhang had already knocked him to the ground and picked up a brick from the ground to smash. The poor Japanese man was actually beaten to death by Feng Guozhang with the brick. Ye Zhiwei, enduring the severe pain, prepared to pick up the samurai sword, while at this time the remaining two Japanese men abandoned Wen Baishan and stabbed towards Ye Zhiwei instead. Feng Guozhang was busy smashing people with bricks, while Wen Baishan was entangled with one person, and another person took advantage of Ye Zhiwei's bent-over position to stab him from behind. Wen Baishan saw this and shouted loudly "Ye, be careful!", but Ye Zhiwei was already unable to dodge.

  At that moment, a swift movement was seen as Xiao Linglong pounced on Ye Zhikui's back, taking the blow in his place. The warrior's sword pierced through Xiao Linglong's back and into Ye Zhikui's. It turned out that Xiao Linglong had been hiding in the corner of the wall since Ye Zhikui and the others charged forward, and no one expected her to suddenly rush out. Ye Zhikui felt Xiao Linglong's blood flowing down his own back, a pang of heartache, let out a loud cry, and with a swift motion, swung his sword backwards, striking the Japanese man right in the ***, who let out a blood-curdling scream and fell to the ground, wailing incessantly.

  On the other side, Feng Guozhang also reacted and abandoned his brick, picked up a knife and rushed to the last Japanese man. After a fierce fight, the last little Japanese also fell to the ground.

  Ye Zhi Kui was covered in blood, some of it his own, and some belonging to Xiao Ling Long. He turned around and gently wrapped Xiao Ling Long in his arms, using his clothes to block her wound. Ye Zhi Kui was frantic with worry as Xiao Ling Long lost too much blood, her face pale and terrifying, her eyes gradually losing focus, muttering: "No one is allowed to bully Uncle." Then she fainted.

  Feng Guozhang and Wen Baishan were both seriously injured. At this time, the little Japanese had all fallen to the ground, they had also exhausted their strength, lying motionless on the ground, Ye Zhikui hugged Xiaoling and kept calling out softly.

  The patrol team didn't arrive until they heard the gunshot, and the leader recognized Ye Zhi Kui. He was shocked, and while reporting to his superiors in a hurry, he also began treating him.

  Ye Zhi Kui looked at the leader, his eyes were extremely frightening, using all his strength to say: "Must save her." After finishing, he could no longer hold on and fainted.

  The next morning, Ye Zhi Kui slowly opened his eyes and saw Feng Guo Zhang sitting with a strip of gauze wrapped around his hand. Next to him sat the butcher, whose face was gloomy, with two scars intersecting on his cheek, looking quite ferocious. Seeing Ye Zhi Kui wake up, he only managed to squeeze out a few smiles with difficulty. Ye Zhi Kui moved his head and hastily asked: "How are Bai Shan and Xiao Linglong?"

  The butcher showed a worried expression and replied, "The young lady is still unconscious, but Baisan has woken up. He's just lying in bed with severe injuries." Then he continued, "General Zhang came to see you not long after you left, and through the interrogation I conducted last night, we've identified those people as members of the Genyosha, a group of Japanese ronin who usually mix with the Japanese expatriates."

  When he heard that Xiaoling was still unconscious, and then heard the four words "Japanese overseas Chinese", a cold light flashed in Ye Zhikui's eyes. Before the war, the Japanese had already evacuated some of their overseas Chinese, and some Japanese overseas Chinese believed that the Qing government did not dare to take action against them, so they continued to stay in Pyongyang. In fact, many Japanese spies were hiding among these overseas Chinese, providing a lot of military intelligence for the Japanese army. Ye Zhikui thought it was time to clean up these dregs.

  "Brother Tu, the Iron Blood Thirteen Hawks are expanding too slowly. We should speed up our pace and expand from outside the army. Regardless of their background, we should absorb as many people with extraordinary skills as possible. First, develop the peripheral members, and then examine them." Ye Zhi Kui instructed.

  Then he said to Feng Guozhang, "Huafu, this time I owe you a lot. Otherwise, I would have ended up here." Seeing that Feng Guozhang was about to speak, Ye Zhiwei waved his hand and said, "No need to say more. This time, Ye Zhiwei suffered a great loss. If I can't get it back, I won't be Ye Zhiwei anymore. You tell me what to do?"

  Feng Guozhang saw the evil glint in Ye Zhiwei's eyes and knew he wouldn't let things go easily. He made a decision, thought for a moment, and replied: "Young Master Ye, if you personally lead troops to capture those Japanese residents, it may provoke dissatisfaction from foreign countries and the imperial court may also blame you. I've heard that Commander Wei is stingy with rewards and has no control over his soldiers, often withholding their pay and allowing them to plunder. If you generously reward my soldiers, they can show off in front of Commander Wei's troops, stir up trouble, and guide them to rob the Japanese. In the chaos, we can take action, provoke a conflict, and kill the Japanese. By then, you'll be able to avoid responsibility, damage Wei Rugui's reputation, and cause the imperial court to lose confidence in him. Meanwhile, you'll gain control of the military, isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"

  Ye Zhiyun did not expect Feng Guozhang to come up with such a vicious and sinister plot, worthy of being one of the three heroes of Beiyang. He also knew that this poisonous plan was Feng Guozhang's own trump card after the assassination attempt, which is why he dared to say such treasonous words.

  Ye Zhi Kui looked straight at Feng Guozhang for a moment, nodded and said: "Hua Fu's plan is excellent. I have observed the troops, and among the military strategists, there is no one who surpasses you. I hope that in the future, Hua Fu can provide more advice and strategies for me."

  Feng Guozhang saw Ye Zhiwei nodding in agreement, and he secretly let out a sigh of relief. He dared to come up with this poisonous plan for two reasons: first, Ye Zhiwei and he had just gone through life and death together, making them "sworn brothers"; second, Feng Guozhang came from a poor background and had long wanted to find a big tree to rely on. Although Nie Shicheng was not bad before, unfortunately, he was too old, while Ye Zhiwei not only came from a good background but also held a high position at a young age, and was generous to his subordinates, courteous to his superiors, and ruthless to his enemies, making him the best choice. If Ye Zhiwei knew how Feng Guozhang thought of him, who knows what he would think.

  Ye didn't want to wait for a moment, according to Feng Guozhang's plan, he first rewarded the 10,000 taels of silver that had just been obtained, and then showed off in front of the soldiers of Sheng Jun, saying that the Japanese had a lot of wealth, Sheng Jun's military discipline was the worst, and on top of that, the superiors deducted their salaries, making them poor and eager. As soon as they heard these rumors, their eyes were gleaming with green light.

  They even robbed the friendly Korean troops, and were afraid of these Japanese people. Immediately, they formed groups of three to five and rushed to the Japanese residential area, kicking in doors and forcibly robbing them of their belongings whenever they saw a Japanese person.

  The Japanese and Koreans did not know who fired first, but immediately a fierce battle broke out, with gunfire continuing all night. That night, Pyong-yang ran red with blood.

  After the incident, statistics showed that more than 5,000 Japanese expatriates, men and women, old and young, were killed. Chickens, ducks, dogs, pigs, cockroaches, and mice, as long as they were related to the Japanese, were subjected to humanitarian destruction. Later, the soldiers of the Sheng army were still not satisfied, their eyes turned red with anger, and when Wei Rugui received the news, they had already set their sights on ordinary Pyongyang citizens. Fortunately, Ye Zhi-kui, the commander of the Taoyuan garrison, led his troops to arrive just in time, killing dozens of rioting soldiers, which finally ended this disturbance, known as the "Pyongyang Riot". After this incident, Ye Zhi-kui's reputation among the Korean people was unparalleled for a time. Even those Sheng army soldiers feared him, for he was decisive and ruthless, with a strong sense of justice.

  This incident caused a riot in Japan, and the Japanese people clamored for blood revenge, vowing to kill all Chinese nationals in Japan. The Japanese telegraphed various embassies, saying that the Qing army's methods were cruel, indiscriminately killing innocent civilians, which was a provocation to the international community and should be subject to sanctions from various countries.

  The Qing government immediately reacted and responded: "At times, Japanese ronin have caused trouble, attacked our Qing officials, and incited Japanese residents to riot. How can this be tolerated?"

  Both sides insisted on their own words, and the major powers did not know who to believe, so they expressed neutrality. Li Hongzhang learned about the inside information and sent a telegram to warn Wei Rugui: "The enemy is approaching, if it becomes a big chaos, your life, family, and property cannot be guaranteed, where will my face and reputation be?" He asked him to "find a way to calm the military's mind and consider the overall situation".

  Yu Zhiwei also praised Yun: "Fortunately, you handled the situation wisely when you were young, and it has not yet developed into a major mistake." He urged him to "continue working hard to repay the imperial court."