Chapter 48

  Spring brings warmth and new life to the earth, but amidst the fragrance of blooming flowers, a suffocating and deadly atmosphere lingers. The "cage policy" implemented by the Japanese army has divided various regions into isolated areas, greatly restricting the activities of anti-Japanese armed forces, and even ordinary civilians can feel the ominous and oppressive air.

  Having just lost many brothers, everyone's heart is not feeling well. Xiao Ming ordered the Flying Tiger Fort that no one was allowed to go out and provoke the Japanese army at will. Every day, they were only desperately training, waiting for an opportunity to avenge their fallen brothers.

  Lü Jizū has been very busy lately, and his superior gave them an order: "Eliminate the traitors!" Therefore, they went in and out, jumping up and down like they had been injected with chicken blood, and made great efforts to urge Xiao Ming's followers to go to nearby counties to eliminate those Han traitors who were selling out their country for personal gain. "If everyone imitates this, the situation will get out of control, and China will be in danger!"

  Xiao Ming had his own plan in mind. If he took drastic action, the Flying Tiger Fort would inevitably become a target for public criticism, and everyone would want to get rid of it. Of course, he couldn't be the one to take the lead. However, since he was wearing the big hat of guerrilla commander, he also had to consider Lü Jizong's feelings.

  Since hearing Lü Jiying's words, Xiao Ming's mood has improved a lot. It wasn't until several days later that he came to his senses: he and Lü Jiying weren't familiar enough to chat like that. Moreover, those words seemed to come from the mouth of a ruthless warlord who had experienced many battles and was indifferent to life and death. How could an inexperienced girl think of such things? It must have been Lü Jiyu, this guy really dares to be so bold!

  However, Xiao Ming was still very grateful to Lü Jiying. The same words spoken by a man and a woman felt different, especially when Lü Jiying spoke in a soft and gentle voice like a spring breeze that caressed his heart, as if it could melt ice into rain and nourish his soul. If there's anything else on his mind, he wondered if he could talk to her about it...

  Stop! Xiao Ming suddenly woke up with a start, and outside the mountain were still ghosts everywhere. What was he thinking? Xiao Ming bitterly smiled...

  "Alright, get Old Cat to bring a few capable men and go with you!" It's said that this time the target is Da Ba Zong, Xiao Ming agreed happily, "How about this, Shan Wa Zi hasn't been down the mountain for a long time either, take him along to broaden his horizons. A child staying in the mountain stronghold for too long can easily get into trouble."

  Lü Jizong did not expect Xiao Ming to assign more personnel, and he was very moved: that night cat Jianghu experience is rich, skilled, with him things almost succeeded half, that mountain baby looks like a fool does not need makeup, in fact, the most cunning, thieving, and with Xie Sibao and the reconnaissance company's good hands, it's hard to fail! If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have had to work so hard for other colleagues!

  Sitting in the carriage, Lü Jizong and Ye Maizi were chatting and laughing with great ease. Ye Maizi and Shan Wazi secretly smiled to themselves: "You think that just because of a big boil, so many people need to take action? You're going to hug the grass, but we're going to hit the rabbit. The real reason is that they've taken a liking to someone's money!"

  To coordinate with Lü Jizong's actions, Flying Tiger Fort dispatched over a dozen horse-drawn carriages as cover this time. The carriages were loaded with some mountain goods and grain, which was in short supply at the moment, making it easy to sell. Moreover, some coarse grains wouldn't arouse suspicion. Lü Jizong disguised himself as the shopkeeper.

  Lü Jizong is actually not much older than Xiao Ming, but he appears more mature due to his premature aging. His family was considered a prominent household in their hometown, which allowed the siblings to receive good education. During Lü's high school years in the provincial city, he fell in love with a female classmate at first sight and they promised to continue studying together to save the country from difficulties. Unfortunately, before graduation, his girlfriend was married off by her warlord father. Heartbroken, Lü joined the military academy and the current organization, with simple aspirations: eliminate warlords and bandits, achieve national unity, implement freedom and democracy, and prevent his own tragedy from happening again...

  At that time, in order to raise funds for Kimura, Dà Bāo Chuáng could be said to have done his best and won the hearts of the Japanese. Of course, after taking a 30% cut, Dà Bāo Chuáng himself earned over $300,000, which made him feel the magic of power: this was a business that made more money than selling opium! So he tried to curry favor with his superiors and subordinates, wanting to climb higher, but his reputation was really not good, and the Japanese also wanted to maintain their own image, so they didn't give in, only encouraging him to continue serving the Imperial Army wholeheartedly. It wasn't until the puppet provincial government moved south and no one else could be used that he was appointed as the county magistrate of Shānyáng.

  At the beginning of the war, Lü Jizong's colleagues still contacted Dabao, hoping he would make an effort for the war and fight for the nation. At first, he was evasive, but as the war situation developed, it seemed that the Japanese were becoming more and more advantageous, and he also turned to the Japanese, not only handing over the military intelligence agents who came into contact with him to the Japanese, but also becoming more and more tyrannical, extorting money and goods from the people of Shanyang, causing widespread resentment. Later, the military intelligence agency came to find him twice, but both times were unsuccessful due to his cunning and large number of bodyguards.

  Xiao Ming had long since made up his mind to take down Da Bao Chou. Killing him wouldn't be difficult, the problem was getting their hands on the goods, which would be a hassle, considering how much wealth Da Bao Chou had accumulated over the years. Now that the Nationalists and Communists had redrawn the defense lines, Ba Ye's men were causing quite a stir within the defense zone, drawing the attention of the Japanese army, who launched a series of encirclement campaigns, leaving their forces stretched thin. Even in a large county town like Shanyang, there was only a small squad of Japanese soldiers stationed there, and other areas were similarly understaffed. Xiao Ming sensed an opportunity!

  They entered the city smoothly, Shan Wazi, disguised as a follower, looked silly and was searched by the imperial guards at the city gate. He stole several large oceans and the shopkeeper's heart ached. He went forward to ask for it and was driven into the city by the imperial guards.

  After settling down, Lü Jizong went to contact his colleagues. The Night Cat and others went out to deal with the goods, but they didn't know whether it was because they didn't understand the market or what, they asked for too high a price. For several days in a row, only half of the goods were sold. The Night Cat wasn't anxious either, every day he just strolled around with Shan Wawa, even going out of town once in between.

  Lü Jizong wandered around for half a day, making sure no one was following him, before meeting up with his own people and personally observing for several days. Only then did he realize that the mission was not optimistic: Dabozi had been operating in Shanyang for decades, and the entire street was filled with his men, especially around his house, which was almost entirely his property. It was extremely difficult to get close to his residence, and this man was very cautious when going out, always having dozens of armed guards following him, making it impossible to get near! While their side had only five people, including himself, they had almost no grasp on the situation. Lü Jizong could only comfort his colleagues: "Let's keep an eye on Dabozi for now and hold our troops back."

  Lü Jìzǔ went back to discuss with Yè Māozi, to see if they had any plan to get Xiè Sìbǎo to take action. Yè Māozi said calmly to Lü Jìzǔ to be patient and wait: "First find a good escape route, when the opponent reveals their weakness, we'll try to succeed with one strike and retreat wholeheartedly!"

  "I understand the principle, but the night is long and dreams are many. If we wait too long, we might attract attention from the other side, making it even harder to take action!" Lü Jizong was a master of assassination, and in this regard, he was probably better than most people, including agents. Suddenly, Lü Jizong remembered something and asked Night Cat, "By the way, on my way back, I saw someone who looked like Ma Liu. Has he also entered the city?"

  The tom cat looked strange: "Are you mistaken? This kid has a murderous aura, how could the master let him come here? Could it be that this kid secretly came down the mountain to find a good match?"

  Lü Jizong saw that Ye Maozi wasn't speaking seriously, and thought to himself that he must be hiding something from him. Having been a special agent for so many years, Lü Jizong understood this much, and didn't ask any questions. Anyway, they wouldn't have any malicious intentions towards him.

  The next day, Night Cat ordered everyone to handle the goods cleanly and spread out a sign to Lü Jizong: "Old Lü, what you saw yesterday was indeed Ma Liu. It's not that we don't believe you, but being in the tiger's lair, one must be careful everywhere! Tonight we will launch an attack and take down Shanyang County City. You go and order your people to keep a close eye on Dà Bā Chōu, don't let him run away when the time comes. Remember, this matter should not be told to others for now!"

  The Night Cat indeed had a way, after wandering around for two days, he found the path into the city: a secluded section of the city wall, guarded by only one squad of the Royal Collaborative Army. That night, the Night Cat snuck into the squad leader's home, took out his knife and 200 taels of silver, and told the squad leader to choose for himself. Even without the silver, no one would have chosen the knife: the Flying Tiger Fort was ruthless in killing traitors and devils, let alone after what happened at Yanjia Village had spread throughout the region... At night, the Night Cat dropped down a rope, and the Special Operations Squad entered the city.

  Lü Jizong was taken aback, not because he blamed Xiao Ming for keeping it from him, after all, if it had been revealed in front of colleagues, people's hearts are separated by skin! But was Xiao Ming's courage a bit too big...

  After Lv Jizong and the others left, Xiao Ming proposed a plan to attack the county seat of Shanyang, which shocked Wang Jinlong and Lin Xiucheng. Lin Xiucheng said: "Old Xiao, have you thought it through? We've never attacked a county seat before, let alone now when the Japanese army is highly mobile, be careful not to get caught off guard."

  Attacking the city, Flying Tiger Fort is really a first-time job. Before, there was only experience in attacking Liu's mansion, but that was a different story. Xiao Ming didn't have the mood to practice his troops at this time. His plan was to start from the center and fight his way out, driving the devils out of the city.

  "The Japanese army's defensive focus is the train station, and the Japanese troops in the city will definitely escape there. As long as we don't attack the train station, nothing will happen! As for reinforcements, that should be a matter of after dawn, we just need to keep an eye on several strongholds along the way, this is handed over to Old Lin!"

  Xiao Ming took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Alright, Old Lin will lead the artillery company, machine gun company, and Sichuan army company to patrol along the way. They'll keep an eye on several key points. I heard there are no Japanese soldiers in those strongholds. If anyone dares to launch a surprise attack, we'll blast them with cannons! Big Brother, you take the cavalry company and one part of the artillery company to make a fake attack outside the city. The cavalry company will be on guard outside the city. As for the mountain stronghold, let Zhang Tiezhu be in charge of defending it!"

  "What about the guns? How are we going to bring them into the city? We can't just go in empty-handed and fight, can we?" Lin Xiuzhu still had some misgivings.

  Xiao Ming smiled: "I've already brought a batch in the hidden compartment of the big truck, and there's no news yet, so they should have entered the city smoothly. Old Cat should be able to find a way into the city within these two days, he'll contact the special agents, then I'll bring up several horse-drawn carts with the machine gun squad, and we'll storm into the city, our firepower will be sufficient!"

  "Does Old Lü know about this?" Wang Jinlong asked casually.

  "No, I've instructed Old Cat to only tell him when the time comes to launch the attack. After all, he's with his people, and if there's a slip of the tongue, it could ruin everything!"

  "Lao Xiao, you're being a bit unfair!" Lin Xiuling smiled meaningfully, "You still have differences with Lao Lü, aren't you afraid that in the future..."

  Xiao Ming was taken aback, suddenly came to his senses, and his face turned red as he cursed: "Get out of here! Who has as many tricks up their sleeve as you do?"

  "Embarrassed? Commander Wang, look! The usually fearless and daring Second Master's face is actually red!" Lin Xiuling and Wang Jindong, who had come to his senses, burst out laughing together.

  Xiao Ming reluctantly pretended to drink water, and after the two of them finished laughing, the three of them discussed the details and confirmed it.