Chapter 28

  In the dead of night, outside Ping City, a special agent company had been lying in ambush for nearly two hours. Da Long looked at his watch and it was almost eleven o'clock. He gave the order "Three rounds rapid fire", and five mortars opened fire with a loud roar, shells landing on the city wall producing a huge explosion that echoed far into the silent night.

  The Japanese garrison commander jumped out of bed, and for the past few days, there had been rumors that the Chinese army would attack Pingcheng. Unexpectedly, they really came. Fortunately, he had left a trump card. He immediately ordered that no one was allowed to leave the city, organized a blocking force, and sent a telegram to the troops stationed in Zucheng Town, asking them to quickly support Pingcheng, and must defeat the invading enemy, ensuring that Pingcheng would not suffer any losses.

  The garrison in the ancestral city received a telegram and dared not to slack off. They immediately assembled their troops, leaving only one squad of Japanese soldiers and one company of Imperial Guards to guard the place, while the rest rushed to Pingcheng for reinforcements.

  The big dragon heard the gunfire on the city wall stop, ordered to continue firing cannons and machine guns. The defenders on the city wall saw the sudden burst of gunfire, thinking that the other side was about to launch an attack, dared not to be careless, and the light and heavy machine guns fired again without regard for their lives.

  "Alright, listen up! We'll fight while retreating back to the mountain stronghold. Let the devils play by themselves!"

  The Japanese reinforcement troops heard the intense gunfire and artillery sounds coming from Pingcheng in the distance, growing increasingly anxious. The commander ordered them to speed up their advance, but by the time they arrived at the foot of Pingcheng City, the gunfire had stopped, and the enemy was nowhere to be seen. Exhausted, they sat down on the ground, unwilling to get up again.

  Just as the Japanese army had just left Zucheng Town, the city gate was lightly opened. The night cat beckoned, and Ma Liu led the second special forces company to sneak in quietly. In a short while, more than a dozen Japanese soldiers in the city were beaten unconscious and tied up, and the puppet army was disarmed and locked in a courtyard. Ma Liu left someone to guard them and led his men under the guidance of the night cat to deal with the traitors.

  One by one, the big trucks entered the city. Wang Jinlong stood on the city wall and shouted: "Everyone listen up, hurry up and move out, there's only an hour left!" He turned his head to Lü Jizong beside him and said with a smile: "How about it, old Lü? We brothers are going to take back what those little devils have seized from us!"

  Flying Tiger Fort wants to give the Japanese army a show of strength, Wang Jinlong is idle and uncomfortable, so he rushes to come, Lü Jizong also strongly requests to participate, Xiao Ming thinks that there is no danger, agrees.

  Lv Jizong couldn't hide his excitement and exclaimed, "I've long heard that the Flying Tiger Fortress is full of skilled fighters, and the two masters are both intelligent and brave. Today I see it for myself, and indeed it's not in vain!"

  "Stop flattering me, it's all my brother's idea!" Wang Jinlong burst out laughing and suddenly remembered something, "Old Lü, your sister is not bad, has she been married to the Xu family?"

  Lü Jizong was taken aback: "Commander Wang, what are you talking about?"

  Wang Jinlong chuckled and said, "My brother is a real deal, a returned overseas student from Germany! He's got both brains and brawn, a perfect combination. I think he'd be a great match for Miss Lü. I'll vouch for him as a matchmaker, my brother will definitely give me face. What do you think?"

  Lü Jizong was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. He thought, "At this time, you still have the heart to think about this?" and casually said, "This... my younger sister is still young, let's talk about it later."

  Wang Jinlong was relentless, and continued to say: "It's settled then, if you want to marry my sister, you'll have to find my brother first." Lü Jizong smiled wryly.

  Xiao Ming didn't idle either, leading his men to the highway and launching a surprise attack on several artillery emplacements that were under construction.

  Those construction sites were guarded by only three or four Japanese soldiers and a squad of puppet troops. The weather was cold, and after nightfall, the Japanese soldiers drank some wine and went to sleep in their tents early, leaving the puppet troops on guard. Xiao Ming and his men easily disarmed the puppet troops, tied up the devils, and pulled back all the bricks, stones, wood, and cement to the mountain stronghold, busy until dawn broke.

  Kimura soon learned that Heicheng was attacked, Zucheng Town was looted, the stronghold was destroyed, and soldiers were missing. Without thinking, he knew it was done by Feihu Mountain. Although the Japanese army in the jurisdiction of Feihu Mountain had not been attacked. The report from his subordinates said they encountered an attack by Chinese government troops, Kimura sneered at this, as the only government troops in this area that could be called a government army were a group hiding in Lincheng Mountain, and the commander was a greedy and cunning guy who would change sides with the wind, no one believed he dared to take the initiative to attack.

  The loss of supplies is a small matter, the headache is those twenty or so imperial soldiers, whose lives are still uncertain, not easy to explain, can only try to probe the Flying Tiger Fort. Just thinking about it, the subordinate reported that the Flying Tiger Fort had sent a letter.

  The letter was written by Xiao Ming, expressing gratitude to Kimura for his affirmation of Fei Hu Zhai. Recently, the mountain stronghold has incurred enormous expenses and is unable to sustain itself. With the year-end approaching, I respectfully request that you expedite the delivery of the promised 50,000 taels as soon as possible. I will certainly exert my utmost efforts to assist the Imperial Army in implementing joint governance.

  Kimura was delighted and thought that the letter had come at the right time. He took up his pen and wrote a reply to Xiao Ming, saying: Recently, the Imperial Army has spent a large sum of money to maintain law and order. Five hundred thousand taels is a heavy burden, but the Imperial Army will not go back on its word. It will be presented soon. I hope you can understand. Also, the other day, the Imperial Army was attacked by unidentified bandits, and 26 soldiers are still missing. We would like to ask you to help investigate this matter, and we are deeply grateful.

  Within two days, Flying Tiger Fort received a letter: Shocked to hear that the Imperial Army was ambushed and soldiers were captured. We immediately sent people to investigate everywhere, spending a large amount of money, and learned that it was a regiment of the National Army, due to the officer's arrears in pay, being reckless. We originally wanted to eliminate them, but with the Imperial Army as hostages, we dare not use force, so we endured humiliation and negotiated with the enemy. After difficult negotiations, the other side agreed to release the people, at a price of 3,000 taels per soldier. We did not dare to take charge, please confirm.

  Kimura's usual composure was gone, he slammed his fist on the table and tore the letter to shreds, shouting: "Blackmail! Naked blackmail! Shameless Chinese!" His subordinates had never seen Kimura lose his temper like this before, they stared at him in shock. After calming down a bit, Kimura went to report to Kawano.

  Kawano's calm and faint tone: "Mukimura, don't get agitated, it's just about money, give it to him. The lives of Imperial Army soldiers are precious. As for the ocean, let the Chinese people from each county take care of it."

  Kimura replied, agreeing to pay the ransom but needing time to raise the funds.

  Xiao Ming immediately replied: The Imperial Army soldiers are determined to starve themselves to death in loyalty to the Emperor, their will is pure and loyal, and they are indeed a model for us. However, I fear that it would be a waste of useful lives, and hope that you will handle this matter quickly.

  Xiao Ming didn't lie about that, those Japanese soldiers were very stubborn and refused to eat or drink. Ma Liu and others had no choice but to pin them down and force-feed them, knocking out several teeth in the process. Even then, the soldiers still spat it out. Wang Jinlong and others shook their heads, feeling quite indignant.

  Four Japanese military vehicles arrived at Heifengxia, and several soldiers unloaded boxes of silver dollars from the cars. The leading officer said to Xiao Ming: "Mr. Xiao, I have been ordered by Colonel Mura to come and exchange hostages. This is 800,000 silver dollars, and the extra part is for comforting the mountain stronghold soldiers, you have worked hard!"

  After finishing the count, Xiao Ming smiled and said: "Mu Village is really stingy, we made such a big effort, but he only gave us 2,000 taels. When you go back, tell him to send us the 50,000 taels he owes us as soon as possible, all the brothers are counting on him for New Year's!"

  The officer suppressed his anger and asked: "Xiao Dangjia, where are our soldiers?"

  Xiao Ming smiled and said: "Don't be nervous, I've already talked to the other party. You go back and walk out of Er Long Ridge, you should find him there."

  The officer suspected something was wrong and led the men to hurry over. They found a soldier who was on his last breath in a small mountain cave, and quickly carried him onto the vehicle and left.

  Fei Hu Village Hall, Wang Jinlong and others set up wine to celebrate the victory. Everyone was in high spirits, but only Lü Jizong was not very happy. He thought Xiao Ming's move was somewhat inappropriate and should have handed over the Japanese soldiers to the war zone for disposal. Xiao Ming said coldly: "With so many people in the mountain village, eating, drinking, pulling and sleeping all cost money. If you have a way to get the money, I would have killed them directly and gone to stir up trouble?" Lü Jizong was speechless.

  Lin Xiucheng worried about the Japanese army's revenge, Xiao Ming said: "What's coming will come sooner or later, I just want to stimulate Mù Dōng, let him take action early, so that my brothers won't be nervous all day and can't live a normal life!"

  "It's a wonder that Moku can hold his temper, probably because he doesn't have anything good to say." Lin Xiuling suddenly smiled and said to Xiao Ming: "If Moku were a girl, you two would really be a match made in heaven. The way you exchange love letters is so romantic, it makes me jealous."

  Wang Jinlong almost burst out laughing, Xiao Ming laughed and said: "Get out, if you like Eastern girls, tomorrow I'll get one for you to take up the mountain, it's also a way to show off to Chinese men!"

  Xiao Ming finally understood Lü Jizong's identity, an organization formerly known as "Fuxing She" and now renamed Jun Tong, which is simply a secret agent. His grudge with Lin Xiucheng also originated from an investigation. Xiao Ming didn't bother to reason with this internal conflict, saying "The great enemy is in front of us, let's unite against the outside". He began to study Lü Jizong's special identity: "Old Lü, does this mean your work can control many military personnel who are higher than you?"

  Lü Jizong smiled bitterly and said: "It's not like that, our main task now is to gather intelligence, mobilize the masses, and fight against the invaders. It's not as terrible as you think!"

  "That's enough!" Xiao Ming thought it was a pity to have such an identity and not use it, so he smiled and said to Lü Jizong: "Old Lü, tomorrow you take Sun Erdou down the mountain and get some guns and ammunition from the National Army."

  Lü Jizong hesitated and said: "Now each department's weapons are not abundant, I'm afraid..."?

  Xiao Ming waved his hand and smiled: "You just need to introduce us, the rest will be taken care of by Sun Er Gou." Lin Xiuying was skeptical.

  As expected, when Lü Jizong revealed his identity and asked if they could spare some ammunition, each department looked embarrassed and said they didn't have enough for themselves, asking him to go elsewhere. However, Sun Erdou smiled and pulled the other party aside to chat, soon becoming shoulder-to-shoulder and addressing each other as brothers, being extremely affectionate.

  Arriving at Lin City, it was Sun Er Gou who took Lv Ji Zu to the military department's logistics office. He got straight to the point: "Do you know Li Ma Zi? That matter was handled by us brothers!"

  The director of the military supplies department naturally understood, and immediately put on a smiling face to the two men, serving tea and offering cigarettes, asking about their intentions. The director said that he couldn't make a decision, and needed to consult with his superiors. Sun Erdou said there was no hurry, today was just a meeting to get acquainted, and they would visit again another day. The director insisted on inviting the two men to dinner, but Sun Erdou said they had other matters to attend to, so the director politely sent them off.

  Next, Sun Erdou loaded the damaged Japanese guns, uniforms, lunchboxes and other spoils of war onto the truck, along with several crates of Japanese cigarettes and liquor. He then went from door to door visiting people, and a few days later he brought back over a million rounds of ammunition, most of which were pistol bullets that Xiao Ming had ordered.

  Lü Jizong was puzzled and went to ask Xiao Ming for advice. Xiao Ming smiled slyly: "Go exchange with the friendly army. Supporting the friendly army in battle is their unshirkable responsibility, of course, we also have to give them a chance to make achievements and receive rewards!"

  Lv Jizong still didn't understand, Lin Xiucheng couldn't help but say: "You go and ask for it, they definitely won't give it to you for free, and asking for money is embarrassing. The things that Erdou brought are exactly what they need, they will take them to the superior to boast of their achievements and ask for rewards, while bullets only need to be reported as combat losses, and naturally will be replenished, each taking what they need, all happy!"

  Lin Xiuzhi looked at Lü Jizong with a mocking gaze, "What's wrong, Director Lü? Can't you figure out this simple matter in the army?"

  Lü Jizū was filled with righteous indignation, his teeth clenched in anger: "These scoundrels, instead of thinking about killing the enemy and defending the country, deceive their superiors and subordinates, and only think about getting promoted and making a fortune. I'll send a telegram to expose them right now!"

  "Hey, hey, old Lü, wait," Xiao Ming grabbed him, "your boss only gave us an empty title, not a single grain of rice or bullet has been seen. If you do this, it will cut off our retreat! With this effort, why don't you go and apply for some ammunition for us?" After finishing speaking, Xiao Ming looked at Lü Jizong with great expectation.

  Lü Jizong was speechless, thought for a moment, sighed, and left with a flick of his sleeve.