Chapter 35: The Little Ghost's Bandit Leader

  The content of page 1 is as follows:

  In the mountains of Leopard there is a den of bandits, with about 300 to 400 bandits. This is the largest gang of bandits in this area, aside from Old Eagle's Fort. The leader of the Leopard Mountain bandits is surnamed Hua, and he likes to shave his head every season, so people call him Monk Hua. His real name is hardly remembered by anyone.

  Hua He Shang considered himself a hero of the Liangshan era. In his daily life, he would often rob the rich and help the poor, specializing in robbing wealthy merchant caravans passing by Leopard Mountain. As long as Hua He Shang had set his sights on a particular cargo, no matter if its owner was an official or a military officer, they could not escape being plundered by him. Therefore, Hua He Shang also offended many important figures. In those years, the Nationalist Party, under pressure from all walks of society, sent troops to the mountains to suppress bandits, but each time they were able to escape unscathed with his bandit followers.

  Because the Kuomintang's suppression of bandits failed, the original plan was for the convoy to pass through Leopard Mountain, but now they would rather take a detour and not take this road again. Later, the little devils occupied the county town, and there were no more convoys passing through here. From then on, Huahe Shang caught the attention of the little devils and even robbed several convoys transporting supplies for the little devils.

  After the Little Ghost's supply convoy was robbed by Huahe Shang, Noda sent someone to find Huahe Shang and promised various benefits to recruit him. However, he did not expect to be rejected by Huahe Shang. The resentful Noda wanted to eliminate Huahe Shang, but because Huahe Shang had a large number of bandits under his command, and he himself had to deal with the guerrilla troops. After removing the transportation, artillery, and clerical units that were not conducive to mountain warfare, Noda's thousand-man unit still felt insufficient in terms of troop strength, so he could only temporarily give up. He increased the defensive forces of the supply convoy to prevent Huahe Shang from robbing again. At this time, at the entrance of Huahe Shang's stronghold, Li Quan led his remaining soldiers and defeated generals back and forth at the entrance of the stronghold, anxiously waiting for Huahe Shang's reply. The day before, after Li Quan was defeated by the guerrilla troops, he escaped to a distant place with the protection of his confidants and gradually gathered his pseudo-military forces. The unwilling Li Quan originally wanted to launch another attack on the guerrilla troops but found that they were already surrounded by the bandits from Lao Ying's stronghold.

  Li Quan, who was heavily wounded and prepared to watch the show, was taken by someone along with his fake soldiers to the mountain valley where the little devils were stationed. Seeing a large number of little devils stationed there, Li Quan finally understood why Ye Tian had lent him mountain cannons and machine guns, and also promised not to interfere in his battle with the guerrilla troops. It turned out that Ye Tian had only used him as a scout and cannon fodder.

  Later, because the guerrillas broke out of the bandits' encirclement, Noda had to bring the little devil to pursue them. Li Quan also learned from Noda that the Li family's mansion had been breached by the guerrillas. Li Youcai was killed and his property was looted. Li Quan hated the guerrilla team even more, wanting to eat their flesh and peel off their skin alive. He pursued the guerrilla team even more desperately.

  As the guerrilla team was about to escape again, Noda reluctantly ordered Li Quan to come to Leopard Mountain and have Hua the monk guard the nearby road intersection, not allowing anyone to pass through. Although Noda and Li Quan both knew it would be difficult, Hua the monk might not buy their account. But in order to thoroughly annihilate the guerrilla team, Li Quan still came with a hard head. The bandits at the gate had gone to inform Hua the monk for some time, but now the gate was still closed, and Li Quan did not receive any reply message. He couldn't help but call out to the bandit at the gate again: "Please trouble the brothers at the gate to report again, saying that the pseudo-military commander Li Quan has an urgent matter to meet with Master Hua. Please ask Master Hua to see him." A bandit on the gate was about to go and inform Li Quan again when a headman-like bandit walked up to the gate and stopped the bandit who wanted to report. Then he called out to Li Quan: "What TMD dogshit pseudo-military commander, aren't you just a Japanese running dog? My master said that he has nothing to discuss with you Han traitors, so get the hell out of here quickly. If you annoy Master, it will be difficult for you to come and go."

  Li Quan was almost driven to death by the bandit leader. Although he had long known that Huahe Shang wasn't easy to talk to, he hadn't expected Huahe Shang wouldn't even let him in the gate and directly chased him away. Just as Li Quan was at a loss for what to do, there was a loud gunshot and the bandit on the gate pointed his gun at him, shouting viciously: "Damn it, get out of here fast, or you really won't live!"

  Li Quan was still seething with anger, but on someone else's turf, where the other side had more people and momentum, Li Quan could only swallow his pride and slink away dejectedly with his men.

  Watching Li Quan leave, Hua and the dozen or so bandit leaders appeared at the gate of the stronghold. He rubbed his smooth head and asked his subordinates: "This guy came to our doorstep, what could he want?"

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  A bandit leader said, "For the past two days, news has been circulating from down the mountain that Lao Ying's stronghold, the puppet army and the Japanese are surrounding and annihilating the guerrilla troops in the mountains. I think Li Quan came to find us at Leopard Mountain for this very reason."

  Another bandit leader continued, "Now the guerrilla troops are retreating towards Leopard Mountain, Lao Ying Fort and the puppet army have suffered several defeats at the hands of the guerrilla troops. Li Quan is probably coming to ask for our help from Leopard Mountain." Flower Monk patted his forehead and asked again, "Guerrilla troops? Are they that special guerrilla troop that opposes the little Japanese?"

  All the bandits nodded in agreement.

  The monk Hua suddenly laughed and said: "Are the guerrillas also considered good men of Liangshan like us?"

  Li Quan walked down the mountain, cursing Hua and the monk. Originally, he wanted to find other bandits in the mountains, but he was afraid that time was running out. He wanted to guard the road at the foot of the mountain and not let the guerrilla troops pass through, but unfortunately, he lacked manpower. There were many roads here, and he didn't know which one the guerrilla troops would take. If he dispersed his forces to guard them, it would only be sending his men to the mouths of the guerrilla troops' guns.

  Li Quan Zheng was just getting annoyed when one of his fake soldiers suddenly shouted: "Commander, look! The guerrilla team is coming from over there!"

  Following the direction pointed by the pseudo-army, Li Quan indeed saw the guerrilla troops retreating in this direction. So Li Quan hastily ordered the pseudo-troops to hide, and he chuckled softly: "It seems that my luck is not bad, since I let the guerrillas deliver themselves to our doorstep. As long as we intercept the guerrillas here, when their pursuing troops arrive, the guerrillas will be unable to escape."

  Liu Tuo led the guerrilla troops in a hasty retreat. The guerrillas were now physically exhausted, and everyone was gritting their teeth to keep going. The bandits and devils behind them were getting closer and closer. Liu Tuo kept cheering up his comrades, saying: "Comrades, hold on for a while, after we cross the Leopard Mountain, there is a dragon cave in front of the mountain that leads directly to the back of our camp. As long as we enter the dragon cave, everyone will be safe." But Liu Tuo himself was worried, could they safely pass through the Leopard Mountain?

  A loud "bang" rang out, echoing through the valley for a long time.

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