Chapter 3 South of the Mountain and North of the River (Part 2)

  After finishing the mutton ball soup and white buns, Zhang Songling officially became an officer of the Iron Blood Union. His main responsibilities were to copy various notices for the union, write speeches for formal occasions for Wei Zhan Kui, and also help Old Master Hunchback manage the accounts to prevent corruption, embezzlement, and other irregularities within the union.

  Dà dāng jiā Wèi Zhàn Kuí only read for half a year in private school, and the number of characters he recognized was limited. He hated reading aloud from scripts, so he rarely bothered Zhang Songling, this deputy officer. On the other hand, the hunchbacked teacher, always pulled Zhang Songling to help him with this and that, while pointing out the scenery together.

  Zhang Songling was originally a very clever young man, and the hunchbacked teacher loved to talk. For the questions Zhang Songling asked, he would always answer thoroughly. Therefore, in just a few days, through the teacher's mouth, Zhang Songling had already figured out the general situation of this team around him.

  The full name of this team is "Iron Blood Anti-Japanese, Protecting the Country and Village, Villagers' Autonomous Association", also known as "Iron Blood Association" or "Iron Blood Society". It currently consists of four large villages with over 800 households. There are more than 300 young and strong men in the association, with a core team of around 40 people, as well as cooks, horsemen and other miscellaneous personnel totaling around 20 people.

  Except for the four directors, the hunchbacked teacher and a small team of patrolling guards, all other members were scattered in their respective villages to farm. Only when they saw thick smoke rising from the old beacon tower behind Wei Village did they pick up iron shovels and wooden sticks and rush to gather on the empty ground in front of the Wei Village Temple.

  The master of the Tie Xue Lian Zhuang Hui was called Wei Zhan Kui, who came from a family of butchers. In his youth, he made a living by slaughtering cows and sheep for the villagers nearby, and because he always got some blood-stained meat and unwanted livestock to eat, he grew up to be quite robust. With his generous personality and brute strength, he successively defeated over a dozen ruffians and thugs from his village and neighboring villages, becoming the local tyrant. He was then taken in as an adopted son by Wei Shi Jie, the largest landowner within a hundred miles.

  The second master of the Lianzhuang Association is called Xiao Guotao, a famous bricklayer far and near. Within dozens of miles, no matter who builds a house, they will invite him to lend a hand. Because he is willing to help others and has a soft temperament, he got a nickname called "Xiao Maotao". It means that people love to see him, and whoever wants to bite can take a bite.

  Third Master Lu Fang and Fourth Master Yang Dashun were both carpenters by trade. Although they served as vice-chairmen of the Iron Blood Association, in reality they were merely messengers sent by the East Head Lu Manor and South Face Yang Manor to the Iron Blood Association. The ones who truly held power were East Head Lu Manor's Lu Dahu and South Head Yang Manor's Yang Lao Ye, but these two gentlemen were refined individuals who practiced vegetarianism and Buddhism, and did not wish to get too deeply involved with someone like Wei Zhan Kuai, a butcher. Therefore, they each dispatched reliable younger members from their respective manors to attend to the matter.

  As for the hunchbacked teacher, Wei, his surname is Wei and his given name is Ding. According to himself, he was a scholar in the Guangxu period and originally had the ability to compete for the third place in the provincial examination of Guangxu 31 years. However, who would have thought that the traitor Yuan Shikai submitted a memorial requesting the abolition of the imperial examination system that year? The Empress Dowager Cixi was momentarily confused and agreed, resulting in his future being completely ruined along with all the scholars in the world. He became disheartened and disillusioned, and hid in the countryside to rely on his cousin Wei Shijie. Far away from the hustle and bustle of city life, he lived a secluded life "picking chrysanthemums by the east hedge, quietly seeing the southern mountain".

  Four years ago, Wei Shijie was worried about the situation and handed over all his property to his adopted son Wei Zhan Kui and steward Wei Ding to manage. He himself took his biological sons, daughters-in-law, daughters, sons-in-law, grandsons, and great-grandchildren to move into the Shanghai British Concession. Every year, he only sent someone to collect rent on time, and didn't ask about other miscellaneous things. Seizing this opportunity, Wei Zhan Kui organized the tenant farmers and long-term workers of the Wei family under the support of old steward Wei Ding, forming a team to guard against the disturbance of defeated soldiers, bandits, and refugees.

  In these times, the world is getting more and more chaotic, with more and more people unable to eat their fill. Bandits and roaming gangs are sprouting up like mushrooms after a rain. Several large groups of bandits tried to raid the wealthy households in Wei Village, but were chased away by Wei Zhan's militia. As a result, nearby Xiao Family Village, Lu Family Village, and Yang Family Village also followed suit, each organizing their own militias. This was so that if the bandits were unable to succeed in Wei Village, they wouldn't turn their anger on them instead.

  Wei Zhan Kui and the old steward Wei Ding saw this, so they simply sent someone to send a letter to three nearby villages, inviting everyone to form an alliance to jointly protect their hometown. The Xiao, Lu, and Yang three branches of the village protection team were not as strong as the Wei Village, and there was no "general" like Wei Zhan Kui who was good at charging and killing in the team. After careful consideration, they all expressed support for the proposal of the alliance.

  The team's scale has expanded, and calling it "Huzhuang Team" is too petty. Wei Zhan-kui and the other three village heads sat down to discuss and decided to change the name of Huzhuang Team to "Tie Xue Lian Zhuang Hui", and officially raised their flag. Moreover, based on the suggestion of the old steward, now known as Humpbacked Teacher Wei Ding, they proactively submitted a written request to the Yizhou County Government Office, asking for recognition and support.

  Several leading figures in the county were worried about the banditry everywhere and couldn't eat or sleep. Seeing someone willing to take charge, they were overjoyed and couldn't possibly speak out against it. They directly added the ten words "Anti-Japanese, Protect Home and Country, Village Autonomy" to the name of the "Iron Blood League", and approved the team as a village autonomy organization.

  Thus, the Tie Xue Lian Zhuang Hui gained official recognition and occupied the moral high ground of "resisting Japan and defending the country". With this as a basis, it was easy to call on the people from various families to contribute money and effort. Under the leadership of Wei Da Zhangjia, Xiao Er Zhangjia, and Teacher Wei Ding, they busied themselves buying guns and knives, digging trenches and building fortifications, and were in high spirits.

  Last autumn, Liu Laoqi, the bandit on Da Hei Mountain, feared that the growing power of Tie Xuehui would threaten his own survival. He secretly sent someone to Cui Village to probe and prepare to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys. Who would have thought that Wei Shifu was an old and cunning man? Based solely on the tone of the scout's voice when he accidentally let slip a scornful remark while eating at an old acquaintance's house, he determined that they had come with ill intentions. In time, he set up an ambush with Wei Zhan Kui and others, killing Liu Laoqi and more than 40 of his bandit elite, annihilating them completely.

  This one battle, "Iron Blood Anti-Japanese, Protect Home and Country, Village Autonomous Association", thoroughly established its own name. Not only did the heroes and heroes from nearby come to show their good intentions, but even Qin Commissioner, who was idle in Hu Lu Island, sent his capable subordinates to invite Wei Zhan Kui to He Ping Restaurant three or five times to discuss how neighbors could help each other.

  Wei Zhan Kui was a man who would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox. He knew that once he got involved with the Qin family, he would have to submit to their control and could no longer be the dominant force in his own household. Therefore, when Qin De Guang invited him over, Wei Zhan Kui only gave a perfunctory response and refused to visit in person. Qin De Guang had given Wei Zhan Kui face several times, but never received any gratitude in return. Looking down on this rustic bumpkin, he stopped sending people to invite him and instead only occasionally instructed the Lian Zhuang Association to handle some trivial matters for the Hu Lu Island side, just to show that he had absolute control over local affairs.

  The two sides had a huge disparity in strength, and Wei Zhan-kui didn't dare to really provoke Qin De-guang. Whatever tasks the other side entrusted him with, as long as he was capable of doing them, he would complete them with guaranteed quality and quantity. As a result, Qin De-guang couldn't find any fault with him, and over time, he completely forgot about the "Iron Blood Alliance" in his mind. He neither supported nor suppressed it, letting it grow or perish on its own in the mountains.

  "That Qin guy has big plans, for the time being, he probably won't bother with our side of the mountain!" Regarding their powerful neighbor on the other side of the mountain, hunchbacked teacher Wei Dingyu commented, "Even if he did take notice, on the 29th Army's turf, he wouldn't dare make a move against Iron Blood Society openly. After all, we're also registered in the county and aren't some nameless, lawless gang!"

  "If he really tears his face and brings the troops to the door, demanding that the United Village accept his reorganization, what should we do?" The blood debt of the train station, which was acknowledged in his heart, was owed by Qin Deguang, and Zhang Songling had to make the worst plan ahead of time.

  "The few officials in the county may not necessarily watch him cross the border. Moreover, if he dares to tear his face off, we'll lead our troops to retreat southwest. There's still a Central Army unit over there that just arrived not long ago. It's exactly what they need for local support!" Old General Wei Ding said with disdain.

  "But we can't do that unless absolutely necessary!" Seeing the eager expression on Zhang Songling's face, the old military advisor quickly added, "Firstly, our land and family are all here, it's hard to leave one's hometown. Secondly, between the Central Army and the 29th Army, after all, they are still a family. It's common for them to trip each other up or kick each other in the back when there's nothing going on. But they will absolutely not truly tear their faces apart, especially not for our small team of a few hundred people. One day when they've used us up, those two brothers will sit together and drink wine. We'll become children without a mother, and whoever sees us will bully us!"

  The old man had accumulated a belly full of knowledge to assist emperors, but was born at the wrong time and his learning was useless. So whenever he encountered an opportunity, he wanted to show off his extraordinary talent to others. Zhang Songling read many books and looked like a loyal and righteous person, exactly the kind of listener the old man liked best. Not only did he carefully analyze the current trend of the world for him, but also told him without reservation the specific reasons for each conclusion, as well as the possible changes that might occur in the future.

  "Now the situation in North China is just like 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'. The Japanese are Cao Wei, brutal and powerful, the 29th Army is Liu Bei, repeatedly defeated but deeply loved by the people. The Central Army is Eastern Wu, with a good foundation, but not yet affected by the war, and does not want to fight the Japanese immediately. Anyway, even if they do fight, North China will still belong to Song Zheyuan afterwards, and the central government cannot collect taxes or appoint officials there, and has to spend a lot of money every year... If I were an advisor to Chairman Chiang, I would not suggest him sending troops to North China immediately..."

  "What if Liu Bei can't hold on and surrenders to Cao Cao? I mean, what if?! Zhang Songling didn't dare to agree with the old military advisor's lofty words, looking at his face and asking tentatively."

  "No way!" The old military advisor Wei Ding shook his head, responding with great confidence, "That would not only leave Song Zheyuan with a reputation for being cursed for eternity, but also, if he went over to the Japanese side, how could he possibly continue to be his own feudal lord?! At most, it would be an empty title, and within a few days, he would end up like Liu Zhong, not even knowing how to die!"

  Note 1: The thirty-first year of Guangxu, i.e. 1905. The Qing court abolished the imperial examination system at Yuan Shikai's request and established new schools.

  Note 2: Liu Cong, everyone knows. Son of Liu Biao, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that after he surrendered Jingzhou, he was killed on the road by Cao Cao's order. In the Records of the Three Kingdoms, there is no mention of his cause of death and specific time of death.