Chapter One

  In the spring of 1936, in the suburbs of the ancient capital city of Shanyang, the warm breeze blew gently, and the birds sang sweetly amidst the fragrant flowers. Xiao Ming wore a western-style suit and leather shoes, carrying a leather suitcase as he strolled along the riverbank, his square face radiant with spirit, his interest quite high.

  Suddenly, a fierce gunshot came from the woods by the river. Xiao Ming's hand reached into his pocket, alert and watchful, and saw someone moving in the distance, exchanging intense fire. Xiao Ming was a thrill-seeker and didn't panic, slowly pulling out his gun and approaching cautiously. He quickly grasped the situation: five against three! Three mountain-dressed men were at a disadvantage - one of them seemed to have gun trouble, hiding behind a tree and frantically fiddling with an old Mauser pistol, sweating profusely. The other two were pinned down by the enemy's firepower, and the situation didn't look good. One of the five people on the other side was injured in the shoulder, half-lying behind a tree, and excitedly shouted: "Kill them all, bastards!"

  Japanese, indeed a Japanese! Xiao Ming couldn't quite understand, but he could confirm it was Japanese. Since they were Japanese, there was no need to be polite. Xiao Ming switched his gun to his left hand and quickly opened the suitcase, pulling out a P35 pistol. He scanned the area with his eyes, suddenly appearing and firing both guns simultaneously. The four men were caught off guard, and in an instant, three of them were shot down. Another one was stunned, and before he could react, he was hit by two bullets from Xiao Ming's guns. Xiao Ming sprinted a few steps to the injured Japanese man, kicking away the gun he had just drawn. He pressed his left-hand gun against the man's forehead: "Don't move, or you'll lose your life!" His eyes, however, remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings.

  At this time, the three men dressed as mountain people came forward and gave the four men a gun salute. After confirming that their opponents were dead, one of them, who appeared to be around thirty years old with a goatee and a sturdy build, gestured to the other two to clean up the battlefield while he himself put away his gun and walked towards Xiao Ming. As he approached, he stopped in his tracks, clasped his hands together in a fist, and said loudly: "Thank you, good fellow, for lending a hand! I am Wang Jinlong, the leader of the Flying Tiger Fort. Please reveal your identity to show my gratitude!"

  Xiao Ming stood up, smiled and said: "Mr. Wang's courtesy is unnecessary, it was just a small effort, what's there to thank for!" As he spoke, the person on the ground moved, biting his collar, Xiao Ming thought it was bad, but before he could react, the man convulsed several times and died.

  Xiao Ming took down the man's bag and searched him, only finding some silver yuan banknotes, which he casually put into his own bag. He stood up to see that the other two had finished packing up and were walking over. Xiao Ming said: "Master Wang, we can't stay here for long, let's leave first and talk later."

  Wang Jindong nodded and said, "Those bastards came riding horses. Second Dog, Big Dragon, bring the horses over." The hero asked his surname and name. Xiao Ming smiled, made a fist, and said, "I'm Xiao Ming, I've met Wang's family!" After finishing speaking, he slung his bag over his shoulder, found his box, put away his gun, and mounted his horse with Wang Jindong and others, galloping northward at high speed.

  He ran over twenty miles in one breath, and in front of him was a small river. Wang Jindong stopped his horse, whistled, and a mountain man ran out of the forest, looked around, turned back and shouted: "The master has arrived." Several people came out of the forest with several horses, greeted Wang Jindong, and he ordered them to return to the mountain stronghold. The crowd mounted their horses and rushed forward, running over a hundred miles again, already near dusk, they arrived at a mountain valley, Wang Jindong stopped his horse and said to Xiao Ming: "Xiao brother, take a break, after passing this gourd valley, we will arrive at the small stronghold." After finishing, he ordered people to prepare and others dismounted to rest.

  Xiao Ming finally had time to check the things in his bag: a few maps, a magnifying glass, and several pencils. After opening the map, Xiao Ming furrowed his brow and said to Wang Jinlong, "Wang, let's take a step aside and talk."

  Wang Jinlong saw Xiao Ming's serious face and said: "Xiao brother, what instructions do you have?"

  "I don't know why you had conflicts with those few people."

  "Xiao brothers, to be honest with you, I took the brothers to do something and found those people over there pointing and whispering, looking very suspicious. As we got closer to listen, they were actually speaking Japanese. I immediately opened fire. Who knew these people were so formidable? If it weren't for Xiao brothers' help, we would have been done for today!"

  Xiao Ming pointed to the map and said, "Please take a look at this. Among them, one is a military map, the rest are topographic maps, and the annotations of products and minerals are very clear. This military map has added some content, like the final proofreading, it seems that these people should be Japanese spies!" After finishing speaking, he handed the map along with the bag to Wang Jinlong.

  "Japanese spies?" Wang Jinlong was somewhat excited, "So they were killed! But what are they doing here?"

  "It seems like the Japanese are going to take action!" Xiao Ming sighed and said.

  "What? Does Xiao mean that the Japanese will fight back?" Wang Jinlong was taken aback: These Japanese have a big appetite!

  "My brother just came from the north, the Japanese are making a big fuss, who knows what might happen someday." Xiao Ming smiled wryly and changed the subject, "What's going on, has the master had dealings with the Japanese before?"

  "It's hard to say! Let's go up the mountain and talk again!"

  As they entered the valley, they didn't walk far before it suddenly opened up. After passing through another narrow pass, where only two horses could walk side by side, it widened out again. The surrounding mountains were high and densely forested, with strange rocks jutting out, and Xiao Ming couldn't help but secretly admire the magnificent craftsmanship of nature.

  As soon as they reached the mountain valley, there were already people waiting to greet them. These men wore ordinary clothes and if not for the hunting guns on their backs and the big knives and long spears in their hands, they wouldn't be much different from ordinary villagers. Their spirits seemed quite good. A burly man stepped forward and said loudly: "Master's had a hard journey, was this trip smooth?"

  "Smooth my ass!" Wang Jinlong said in a rough voice. "It's not even time yet, and we've already gotten into a messy fight with someone. If it wasn't for Xiao Laoxiong stepping in to help, I'm afraid we wouldn't have made it back. Let's go, we'll talk more when we get back to the hideout!" The big man glanced at Xiao Ming, who smiled. The two nodded to each other, which was their way of greeting.

  After walking north for about ten miles, a large mountain stood in front of us, majestic and powerful, like a fierce tiger. Legend has it that General Zhao's black tiger was transformed here, hence the name Feihu Mountain. The waist of the mountain looked like a giant tiger's mouth, with a stockade situated at the entrance. At the foot of the mountain, over a hundred people lined up to greet us, their formation very neat and tidy, and they all asked after Wang Jinlong.

  Wang Jinlong waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's disperse. Xiao brothers, please!" Xiao Ming stretched out his hand: "The host Wang should go first!" Everyone went up the mountain together.

  Arriving at the mountain stronghold, only to see the three large characters "Flying Tiger Stronghold" written above the gate. After entering the gate, it is an empty space with some stone locks, stone frogs, knives, guns, swords, clubs, wooden stakes and sandbags, which seems to be a training ground. The main hall of the mountain stronghold has a grand momentum, with its door facing east, and the sign above the door reads "Gathering Hall" in three characters, giving me a feeling as if I had arrived at Liangshan Marsh.

  Wang Jinlong ordered to set up a banquet to entertain his benefactor, and let Xiao Ming enter the main hall. In the center of the hall was a long table, with a wolf skin chair at the head, and benches on both sides. On the wall hung several wooden boards, listing the rules of the village, Xiao Ming's gaze lingered on the rules for a moment, thinking that Wang Jinlong was not an ordinary bandit.

  After a few polite remarks, the host and guests took their seats, and after ordering tea, Wang Jinlong said to everyone: "This is Mr. Xiao, my lifesaver. If it weren't for Mr. Xiaos timely help, I would have died at the hands of the Japanese today!"

  Everyone stood up and thanked Xiao Ming, who got up and clasped his fists, saying: "Master Wang is too polite. If it weren't for the guns of several people malfunctioning, those few small thieves would not be your opponents! Moreover, their attention was all on you, and I took advantage of the situation to easily take care of them. It's nothing, Master Wang, don't mind!"

  Wang Jinlong is a straightforward person, saying: "Good, Xiao brothers are quick to speak, if I, Wang Jinlong, am too polite, it would be impolite!" As he spoke, he introduced the people present to Xiao Ming: butler Ji Hongru, guard captain Zhang Tiezhu, who was the big man who came down the mountain to greet them, scout captain Night Cat, Sun Erdou, action captain Xin Chengshan, Zhang Dalong and so on. After greeting each other, they sat back down again.

  Wang Jinlong suddenly remembered something, slammed the table and shouted loudly: "Sun Erdou, get out of here! Damn it, I've asked you three times to take good care of your gun, but you dare to be lazy!"

  Sun Erdou was drinking water when he heard a sudden noise, and hastily stood up at attention. However, he spat out the water, choking on it, with snot and tears streaming down his face. The crowd burst into laughter, even Wang Jindong couldn't help but laugh. After finally catching his breath, Sun Erdou said: "Boss, that really wasn't my fault, this gun is just too old, always jamming. When are you going to get me a new one? If I mess up again because of it, you'll have my head on a platter!"

  "Shut up, you little brat! Stop causing trouble or I'll chop off that thing of yours and feed it to the dogs!"

  Sun Ergou said: "Yes, feed the dog!" Everyone laughed.

  Dishes were served one after another, including highland barley wine, several wild game dishes, and two plates of pickled vegetables. Wang Jinlong picked up his wine bowl and said: "Xiao brothers, the mountain stronghold is simple and crude, the wine is weak and the dishes are few, please don't be offended. Come, let's have a cup of thin wine, it's not a proper toast!"

  Xiao Ming hastily said: "When the master is away, brothers can't let go." He thought that this Wang Jinlong was not an ordinary bandit, not only was his mountain stronghold well-organized, but he also spoke with insight, like someone who had read books.

  Wang Jinlong burst out laughing: "Good brother, let's not talk about two families' affairs. Come on, bottoms up!" Everyone raised their cups and drank to the bottom.

  After three rounds of wine, everyone started speaking more freely. Sun Erdou began to gesticulate and recount the events, getting excited as he pulled out the two captured handguns: "Look! We got them!" The crowd rushed over to grab them, but Sun Erdou desperately protected them, shouting: "Dalang has two more over there!"

  The big dragon took out a gun from his pocket and put it on the table, saying lightly: "This should be Mr. Xiao's thing, and it should be handled by Mr. Xiao!"

  Everyone's eyes turned to Xiao Ming, and Xiao Ming hastily said: "The brother's spoils of war naturally belong to the mountain stronghold, and should be handled by the master." Xiao Ming himself had two guns: one was a Browning 1906 pocket pistol that he carried with him, and the other was a Type 35 pistol commonly known as the 'Big Power'.

  Wang Jinlong had seen Xiao Ming's gun and shooting skills, and laughed: "This thing is probably not even worth looking at for Brother Xiao, let's give it to Mr. Ji first, Sun Er Gou, you damn dog, hiding one, don't think I didn't see it, take it out!"

  "You're always on top of things at home, nothing escapes your eyes, I give up! I give up!" Sun Erdou sneered and pulled out a gun from his crotch.

  Xin Chengshan said: "You little rascal, aren't you afraid of burning out and ruining that thing? That would save the master from having to make a move."

  Everyone burst out laughing, and Xiao Ming couldn't help but laugh too, feeling much more relaxed: after all, he hadn't experienced such an atmosphere in years!