Chapter 3 South of the Mountain and North of the Mountain (Part 4)

  After more than a month of joining the Iron Blood Union, Zhang Songling finally satisfied his craving for shooting. In a small forest behind Cui Village, he fired all 20 bullets from two box guns in one breath. As soon as the gunfire stopped, Wei Ding, the old military advisor with a hunched back, immediately snatched the box gun and held it in his arms, wiping it with his shirt while scolding: "Twenty bullets! Twenty bullets! How could you fire them all at once? That's worth four and a half catties of five-flower meat, just for a loud noise!"

  "It's just a big ocean, can't I even afford it myself?" Zhang Songling couldn't stand the stingy appearance of the old military advisor and said loudly with a pout.

  "Your food and lodging are all provided by the organization, where did you get the money?!" The old military advisor glared with his eyes wide open, shouting angrily.

  "How about I'm also an officer of the Iron Blood Society?! You tell me, shouldn't officers receive their military pay?! I've been working in the society for almost a month and a half now, even if it's just temporary work, you should still give me some wages, right?!" Zhang Songling was indeed a businessman's son, his accounting skills were top-notch.

  According to the rules of the Iron Blood Society, small soldiers receive daily wages. When on duty, they get two cents a day; when not on duty, they don't get any money. The settlement is made at the end of the month. Officers receive monthly wages according to their rank. The highest is Wei Zhan Kui, who gets eight silver dollars per month. Old Military Advisor Wei Ding comes second, with six silver dollars per month. The other three deputy heads each get five silver dollars per month. Zhao Erzi and the other six battalion commanders each get four silver dollars per month. The lower-level squad leaders each get three silver dollars per month. All of these are clearly recorded in the account book, which Zhang Songling can access every day. Even if Old Military Advisor Wei tries to deny it, he cannot deny it.

  As soon as the white flower money fell into Zhang Songling's hands, it would definitely be exchanged for bullets and spent in less than half a day. Old Military Advisor Wei Ding's face twitched with heartache. He smiled wryly and whispered: "Since you have everything taken care of here, why do you need cash? Just leave it with me instead. When you leave, I'll settle the account with you, guaranteed not a penny short! Our relationship is so good, don't you trust me?"

  "I'm a businessman, and I only care about one thing: family is family, and wealth is wealth!" Zhang Songling refused to be cheated, shaking his head in denial. "Tell me, how many taels of silver should I get each month?! Every day, I'm helping the master write notices, and doing accounts for you, I shouldn't be paid less than Zhao Erzi and the others, or else I'll quit, and we can part ways!"

  "No, no, their squad leader is four blocks away, and you are also four!" The hunchbacked teacher shook his head repeatedly, fearing that one word would not match. Zhang Songling pulled out his leg and ran away. At this moment, there were only the two of them in the forest, an old man and a young boy, and the bullets in the gun had just been cleared by Little Pangzi. This kid really got into trouble, rushing into the depths of the dense forest, relying on the hunchbacked teacher's legs, he couldn't catch up with him.

  "Eighty rounds of ammunition. Hand them over to me immediately!" Rarely did the old miser get forced into sweating, Zhang Songling stretched out his hand and loudly demanded.

  "You've already fired twenty shots!" The old military advisor's forehead was bulging with veins as he scolded, "We only bought 2,000 rounds of ammunition in total, if everyone shoots like you, we'll run out in a day!"

  Zhang Songling shook his head and continued to stretch his hand under the old military advisor's eyelids. "I don't care about other people's business, I just want my own share. Eighty bullets, those twenty bullets from earlier should be reimbursed as public funds, can't count on me!"

  "Sixty, at most, I can give you seventy grains. The ten grains in my gun are mine to keep!" The old military advisor was forced to retreat repeatedly, constantly haggling with Zhang Songling, "You can only receive it once a month, and there's still half a month's worth of military pay, which will be settled together at the end of next month. Don't try to take advantage of me again, those long-term workers who work for me in the fields can only get paid once a year, and that's after deducting their performance..."

  If no one interrupted, the old and young would continue to haggle indefinitely. Neither of them realized that they had already made a habit of exchanging a few words with each other, teasing and joking around. However, the others in the Zhuangzi couldn't appreciate the warmth between the grandfather and grandson. Seeing the old military advisor and Little Fatty entangled endlessly, someone walked up impatiently and interrupted in a low voice: "Military Advisor, Deputy Zhang, the Second Master has returned. The horse carriage is waiting for you two at the entrance of the Grand Temple to settle accounts!"

  "Back!" The old military advisor was both surprised and delighted, letting go of Zhang Songling, jumping with his feet to ask the newcomer, "But did you bring back guns and ammunition? How many, loaded on several cars?"

  "Two horse carts, one loaded with guns and the other with boxes of bullets!" The messenger, Zhuang Ding, thought for a moment before responding hesitantly.

  "Take me past! Take me past!" The old military advisor was so excited that he didn't even care about his back, and pushed a farmer who came to report the news forward, shouting orders.

  Upon hearing that they had obtained weapons, Zhang Songling's heart was filled with excitement. He walked forward, supporting the old military advisor's arm, and strode towards the ancient temple that had been taken over by the Iron Blood Society as their headquarters. Before they even reached the temple gate, they saw hundreds of people gathered around, surrounding Xiao Er's family and several horse-drawn carriages in a three-layered circle. However, Xiao Guotao, who had just experienced a long and arduous journey, didn't show any signs of fatigue on his face. He took a ladle of freshly drawn well water and gulped down several big mouthfuls, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and exclaimed in a loud voice: "I've really opened my eyes this time! Good heavens, heavy machine guns, light machine guns, cannons, small cannons, and even armored cars with rubber tires - just step on it and you can speed away tens of miles in the blink of an eye!"

  "That's a big car!" someone in the crowd of onlookers laughed and reminded him.

  "Yes, it's a motorcar, a car that spits out smoke. One car can hold over thirty people, more than our five-horse carriage. The ones riding in the cars are our Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army, all dressed in yellow-green imported uniforms, with half-inch thick steel helmets on their heads and cowhide belts around their waists. They're holding brand-new German-made submachine guns, and with one pull of the trigger, a whole clip of bullets comes out. Rat-a-tat-tat-tat, it can turn a cow into a beehive..."

  "Go ahead and brag!" The more they listened, the more they felt it was nonsense, and they refuted it in unison. Our Chinese army is famous for its poor equipment, otherwise, the 29th Army wouldn't have to fight with big knives against the devils on the Great Wall. If you say that the Central Army's equipment is better than the 29th Army's, someone might believe it. But if you say that the Central Army's equipment has already surpassed the little devils by a large margin, then you're just daydreaming! With such equipment, the Central Army would have wiped out Little Japan long ago, why wait until now?!

  "Don't believe me? Ask them, ask them. Tell everyone, did you or didn't you?! Did you or didn't you?!" Xiao Er's household was in a panic, pulling over several other village guards who were passing by, forcing the crowd to bear witness for him, "You few, aren't you wearing steel helmets and riding in Central Army cars?! Aren't they all holding German guns?!"

  "Hmm!" The fellow villagers who went to Baoding all nodded in unison. To this day, they are still shocked by the weapons and appearance of the troops within Baoding city. Steel helmets, machine guns, submachine guns, artillery, and various other big and small cannons that can't be named. And also, on those cars, the young and proud faces made people feel shorter by half a head, without even having the courage to go up and strike up a conversation.

  "Our country is definitely going to win this time, right?!" Someone proved that what Xiao Er Dangjia said was not in vain, and the crowd of villagers immediately became excited, asking Xiao Er Dangjia with a tone of trying to confirm.

  "Absolutely!" Xiao Er was full of confidence, "At this moment, it is said that in Baoding City, a whole army of 100,000 men has been stationed! The Japanese have only so many troops, even if we are outnumbered three to one, we can still bury them alive!"

  "Right, pile up and kill the little Japanese!"

  "Kill the little devils!" The comrades heard this and their morale rose even higher, each one shouting loudly in agreement.

  Although I've never seen what Japanese people look like, the villagers from Cuizhuang who visit relatives and friends have heard that since the north fell into the hands of those little Japanese devils, the common people have been treated terribly. Not to mention the constant labor of repairing cannons, roads, and city walls throughout the four seasons, they would often find excuses to arrest people and push them into the mines, working them to death before throwing their bodies out.

  In the past, everyone didn't have much hope in driving out the Japanese because it was clear that the 29th Army wasn't a match for the Japanese devils. Although the 29th Army fought with great ferocity and hardship, now things are different. The Central Army has arrived, with cannons, machine guns, cars - nothing is inferior to the Japanese devils. Moreover, we're on Chinese soil, holding the advantage of heaven, earth, and man, how can we not defeat the Japanese?!

  "This bunch of little devils' business, how can it be done without us old masters?!" In a boiling wave of cheers, Second Master Xiao Guotao pressed his hand down, spirited and heroic. "I took a big risk, found a door with a sentry standing guard, and slipped in with my head down. Before I even reached the entrance, I heard 'Clang!' 'Clang!' gun bolts sounds, and when I looked up, more than 20 submachine guns capable of continuous fire were already pointed at my forehead!"

  No wonder he's the son-in-law of old General Wei, Xiao Er is a master at spinning a yarn. What was originally a simple matter became thrilling and heart-pounding after he embellished it with his words. The crowd gasped in unison, instinctively following up on the story, "And then what happened? Did they shoot you with their guns?"

  "Nonsense, shoot me with a gun, can I still stand here?!" Xiao Er's eyes widened as he said smugly: "I said it at the time, 'Brother, what does this mean? I'm here to help you fight the Japanese, how can you bite the hand that feeds you?!'"

  "It's Xiao Er who's the real master!" The crowd heard this and couldn't help but give a thumbs up. If it were themselves up there, being pointed at by over 20 guns, they would have definitely peed their pants in fear, where would they have gotten the courage to speak to the soldiers in such a tone?

  Xiao Guotao was actually scared out of his wits at the time, but the brothers who went with him wouldn't expose him, and the others in the village didn't have a thousand-mile eye to see what happened at the time. So he took advantage of the situation to boast, "I saw them stunned by my words, so I pulled out the letter written by Vice Officer Zhang, raised it above my head with both hands, and introduced myself: 'Xiao Guotao, Deputy Director of the Iron-Blooded Anti-Japanese Resistance, Home Defense, and Village Autonomous Union, entrusted by the elders of my hometown to come and pay respects to the army. Please, Commander, grant me an audience!'"

  Note: At that time, the 25th Division of Guan Linzheng entered Baoding, which was the central army's direct lineage and had just been reorganized into a German-equipped division. Equipped with Mauser rifles from 1924, submachine guns, steel helmets, field artillery and mortars, the equipment was relatively advanced.