Chapter 3 South of the Mountain and North of the River (6B)

  "It was this morning when you weren't around, that Ruhuilang brought people into the warehouse." Eager to show off in front of his relatives, Zhao Xiaoguang rushed to the window and loudly reported to Zhang Songling, "The old Xue Zhuang and Huangdi Zhuang from the west want to join the Lianzhuanghui, and Wei Laoye agreed to it two days ago. So this morning, they followed our rules and sent over their contribution to the association!"

  "Ah! So that's how it is!" Zhang Songling nodded, a look of understanding on his face. With over 200 Han Yang-made guns in hand, the Iron Blood Society had suddenly become one of the top powers in the area. Even the Hulu Island Security Team, if only considering the number of people and weapons, was easily surpassed by the Iron Blood Society. Therefore, some nearby villages began to think about seeking protection from the stronger power. They hoped that when their homes were threatened by bandits or Japanese spies, the Iron Blood Society would lend a helping hand.

  "This is my cousin sister, this is my cousin younger sister. Both of them came to see me!" Taking the opportunity when Zhang Songling looked up and spoke, Zhao Xiaoru introduced the two girls to each other again.

  The round-faced girl immediately lowered her head and played with the hem of her clothes. The melon-seed-faced girl, on the other hand, was not very shy, nodded at Zhang Songling and asked softly: "We didn't disturb you, did we? We saw you working on your abacus so quickly just now, and we were curious, so we stood here and watched for a little while! If you're not used to being watched, we can leave now."

  "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter! You've come all the way here, so chat with this old man for a while! Don't mind me, I'll just busy myself!" Zhang Songling had no idea that the girls had come specifically to "check him out", and hearing their polite words, he quickly smiled and expressed his agreement.

  He immediately shifted his gaze to Zhao Xiaoxiong and whispered, "Quickly pour a bowl of hot water for your sisters to drink. It's scorching hot today, don't let them get heatstroke!"

  "Ah!" Zhao Xiaobian responded with a single word, and then quickly ran out to find the tea pot.

  "Good grief!" Shaking his head at Zhao Xiao's retreating back, Zhang Songling refocused on the ledger. His eyes scanned ten lines at a time as his hands clacked away at the abacus.

  These hands abacus method is the ancestral family of Old Zhang's unique skill. When he was in middle school, every time he showed off this trick, many classmates would gather around to watch. He had long been used to it, so he didn't care who the audience at the window were, nor did he mind whether they were male or female.

  The melon-seed face and round face girl, but didn't expect Zhang Songling to be so "arrogant". The originally shy smile suddenly surged up a wave of dark clouds. Just as she was about to stomp her feet and turn around to leave, she heard the sunny boy in the house loudly shouting, "Xiao Shuan, what's going on with this bill? It seems like Old Military Advisor didn't mention it to me!"

  "Which one, which one!" Zhao Xiaorong carried the tea pot and rushed back like a bird. Without pouring water for his own cousin, he rushed into the house, grabbed the account book, "Are you talking about this labor cost and grain? I know, I know, today Old Man Wei paid the bricklayers of each village before leaving. They built large smoke platforms in high places in each village a few days ago, and came to hand over their work today!"

  The beacon tower is a colloquial term used by locals to refer to the signal tower. In order to assist each other with the surrounding villages, Old Military Advisor Wei Ding specially allocated funds from the Iron Blood Society to build a signal tower for each village that joined the alliance. And an agreement was made with each village, whoever's house lit up the beacon first, the other villages would immediately go to support with all their young and strong men. If the Iron Blood Society headquarters in Weizhuang Village lit up the beacon, it meant that a battle was about to be fought, and all the young and strong men from the villages would rush to gather in front of the ancient temple in Weizhuang, pick up their weapons, and face the national crisis together.

  For the numerous villages located in the hilly areas, where transportation is extremely inconvenient, building a beacon tower is undoubtedly a good idea. At least it can quickly alert the surrounding areas of external attacks and also avoid the problem of young people always gathering at the Iron Blood Association headquarters, which delays farm work.

  With admiration for the old military advisor, Zhang Songling continued to sort out the account book. The more he looked, the more he felt that the old military advisor's decision not to leave the mountain to assist Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Vice Commander was indeed a waste of talent. Just taking the Iron Blood Society as an example, when Zhang Songling first saw the account book, there were only sixty or seventy rifles and a scale of two or three hundred people. Now, just over a month later, it has expanded to over a thousand people, with nearly four hundred guns of various types. If they can be strictly trained, one day when encountering small-scale Japanese devils, they may not necessarily fear them!

  He was so focused on finishing today's work as soon as possible that he didn't even notice when the two female spectators at the window left. And the first time he put down the account book and stretched his arms and legs, the old military strategist who had gone out early in the morning to do things had already returned. He looked at Zhang Songling, then looked at the two empty water bowls on the windowsill, lowered his head, and asked mysteriously: "Did you have guests earlier? How was it, did you chat with them?"

  "They were guests of Little Button, I was busy with work and didn't have time to entertain them!" Zhang Songling racked his brains and vaguely recalled two blurry figures from memory.

  "Alas!" The old military advisor stretched out his palm, as if he wanted to hit someone. But in the end, he gently stroked Zhang Songling's forehead, "Don't always be busy with work, when you should go out and take a walk, just go out and take a walk. Our Weizhuang area has a beautiful and secluded scenery!"

  "That's true! It's just that there are more people on the mountain recently, I want to find a closer place to practice shooting, it's not easy anymore." Zhang Songling nodded in agreement, without feeling any hidden meaning in the old military advisor's words.

  Running into such a stubborn master, even the old military advisor had no way to deal with him. He shook his head and reluctantly gave up, "Then you just go further away, remember to come back on time for dinner."

  Before he had finished speaking, he hastily added, "But don't go too far tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, I have to follow Zhang Quan and Xiao Erzi and a few others to the Beile Manor in Daidongtou. They also have a branch of the Allied Villages Association there, with about the same number of people as us, but not as many guns. If we can recruit them too, our association will have two thousand people!"

  "Then you'll be even busier?!" Zhang Songling smiled and flattered.

  "You old folks are busy, and you young people can't slack off either! At that time, I'll divide the people into five large teams, and specially leave the most elite one for you. How about it? Leaving me here won't be a loss, will it?" Old Wei Ding smiled slyly, with a self-satisfied expression on his face. "If you go to Song Zhe's side, being a squad leader would be the highest position you could get! And you'd have to watch people's facial expressions everywhere. It's not like our side, where everything can be done independently!"

  "I'm afraid the big bosses are reluctant to give up!" Zhang Songling now also thinks that the future prospects of the Iron Blood Society are promising, and he is smiling and tapping his bricks.

  "Don't worry, I'm here. This time, I'll see who dares to say three or four words!" The hunchbacked old military advisor Wei Ding patted the holster at his waist and loudly guaranteed it.

  The two of them chatted and discussed, sorting out the future development direction of the Iron Blood Society. The next day at dawn, Old Military Advisor Wei Ding got up early, along with Vice-Chairmen Wei Zhan Kui, Xiao Guo Tao, and Lu Fang, to head to Bei Le Village, about 40 miles away from their own village, to discuss the merger of the two village autonomous armed forces. To show off their strength, they brought along the Iron Blood Society's direct guard unit and Zhao Er Zi's unit, fully armed, in order to take the initiative in the negotiations.

  The last vice president, Yang Dashun, stayed in the meeting to sit and respond to various sudden emergencies. This person is a silent water bottle, and will not easily assign tasks to others. So Zhang Songling also stole a day off, continuing to practice shooting skills outside the village. This time, there were no wild vegetable-picking girls to disturb him, he practiced with all his heart, until he had used up the quota of twenty rounds of ammunition, before putting away the box gun and walking down the mountain in a daze.

  It was almost noon, and the village was very quiet. The sorghum and corn in the fields had grown to over half a person's height, and from afar, it looked like a vast green sea. Among the layers of ripples, there were a few small boats scattered about, which were wooden huts set up by the farmers in advance to drive away wild boars, bears, and other beasts. At night, holding a hunting rifle and living inside, one could watch the starry sky while listening to the sounds of frogs and birds all around.

  Although he grew up in a small county town, Zhang Songling also felt a little relieved when he saw this picturesque scenery. He stretched his waist lightly and walked back to the side yard of the ancient temple. After washing his face with cold water, tidying up his hair, and picking up his bowl and chopsticks, he was about to go to the kitchen to have lunch, but he saw Old General Wei Dingxin's little follower Zhao Xiaochuan rushing over in a hurry, his face full of anxiety.

  "Little Zhang, what's wrong? Who stepped on your tail?" Zhang Songling was very fond of this little guy who was several years younger than himself. He leaned out of the window with half his body and teased him with a smile.

  "Ah!" Zhao Xiaoguang was startled and almost fell over. When he saw that it was Zhang Songling who had spoken, he immediately rushed over and shouted loudly, "Quickly hide, Big Brother Zhang! My third uncle is coming to catch you with his men!"

  "Arrest me? What is Third Uncle doing arresting me?" Zhang Songling was shocked, turned around and went back into the house, took down a wooden club from the wall and gripped it tightly in his hand.

  Xiao Duanzi's third uncle, Yang Dashun, the deputy director. Zhang Songling asked himself if he had any grudges against him, why did he suddenly turn his back on him? Just as he was puzzled, he heard Xiao Duanzi shouting in a crying tone, "Quickly hide, quickly go to the woods behind the mountain and hide. My third uncle..."

  Before he could finish speaking, a flurry of urgent footsteps was heard outside the door. Deputy Director Yang Dashun, accompanied by over a dozen young and strong men from Yangjiazhuang, each grasping a Hanyang-made rifle, rushed in hastily.

  This time, Zhang Songling didn't hesitate anymore. With a slight push of his thumb on the safety catch, he easily opened it. Immediately after, he held the gun with one hand, directly aiming at Yang Dashun's forehead. Half of his body was hidden under the window, not giving anyone any chance to intervene. "Yang Secretary General, what do you mean by this!"

  Yang Dashun hadn't even reacted yet, his first move was already lost, and he couldn't help but become enraged. He grabbed Zhao Xiaochuan with one hand and slapped him several times on the head and face, "You little rabbit, I'll make you eat inside and out, I'll make you eat inside and out..."

  "Stop, or I'll really shoot!" As Zhao Xiaokang's nose and mouth corners started bleeding, Zhang Songling's finger curled up, ready to pull the trigger. Yang Dashun didn't dare to fight him, instinctively retreating a few steps, kicking his own nephew Zhao Xiaokang away, and shouting: "We're not here for you. You, an outsider, mind your own business! Hand over the warehouse key, we'll go our separate ways, no one will bother anyone!"

  "Hand over the warehouse key! Hand over the warehouse key!" The other young and strong men from Yangjiazhuang shouted loudly, holding up their Hanyang rifles.

  " Warehouse key? What do you want the warehouse key for?" Zhang Songling was still forcing himself to respond calmly, despite being flustered by the sudden turn of events. Old General Wei Ding and the others had gone to Beile Manor, which was only forty or so miles away from Weizhuang via mountain roads. If someone discovered that something was amiss at Weizhuang and rode a horse to secretly report back, it wouldn't take two hours for Old General and the other council members to bring a large group of people to quell the "rebellion".

  Yang Dashun didn't bother to waste words with Zhang Songling, his eyes fixed on the dead fish, and he shouted sternly: "What are you doing? Of course, we're taking away what our Yang family village deserves. Old Wei and his son-in-law have taken so much from everyone, they've had their fill of meat, now it's time for us Yang family villagers to have some soup!"

  "Yes, take back what our Yang family village deserves."

  "Divide the bill! Divide the bill!"

  A group of big and small guys from Yangjiazhuang village were chattering loudly.

  "That was the money for resisting the Japanese!" Zhang Songling burst into anger, and his rebuking words came out of his mouth. "The old military advisor has never moved a single cent himself, all expenses are recorded in the book!"

  "Resist the Japanese!" Yang Dashun, this honest man suddenly burst out, his words not slower than Zhang Songling's. "Even the 29th Army was defeated by the Japanese, what can we do with these few broken guns? Who wants to go die, let them go die! We people from Yangjiazhuang won't be fools!"

  "Yes, we people from Yangjiazhuang will not be cannon fodder for you people from Weijiazhuang!"

  "We don't wear dunce caps!"

  Another clamor, and Zhang Songling felt like he was falling into an ice cave. Just yesterday, he had read the old newspapers sent from outside, saying that the 29th Army and the Central Army were fighting together against the Japanese invaders, with no clear winner or loser. In less than half a day, he heard again that the 29th Army had already been defeated. Even if his heart was cold, he couldn't just watch as Yang Dashun and others divided up the money and supplies that Old Wei Ding had collected using all sorts of tricks and deception. He gritted his teeth and shouted loudly: "Want to divide things up? No problem! Wait for the head of the household and the military advisor to come back, and you can tell them in person. Don't get any closer, don't make me fire my gun. You know how many bullets I have left!"

  The box cannon is hard to hit accurately, but it can't withstand the close distance. Zhang Songling has enough bullets in his hand. Moreover, these days, Zhang Songling's bitter practice of gun skills has been seen by everyone, and they all know that he is not joking. For a while, no one dares to confront him head-on, so they can only hold up their Hanyang-made guns and shout loudly, "Don't delay our work! Wei Zhanquan and the others won't be back! Hand over the key quickly, and we'll give you a share, or else you'll have no money to take home!"

  "You have one gun, we have a dozen or so. If you've got guts, fire away and let's see who dies first!"

  "You dare to shoot, I'll beat you to death!"

  "Bang!" Zhang Songling, with a loud shout, pulled the trigger and shot at the scalp of one of the young men, sweeping away a patch of his hair. "Don't push me anymore! Otherwise, we'll all die together!"

  I didn't expect the outsider to really dare to take drastic measures, and that young man let out a miserable cry, covering his head and squatting on the ground. The other young men also quickly dispersed, frantically searching for cover in the courtyard. Yang Dashun was so ashamed of the incompetence of his subordinates that he pulled out his shotgun and fired two shots into the air, furiously shouting, "Get up, get up! Hold your guns level, aim at the window. Whoever dares to hide again, I'll kill him with my own hands."

  The young and strong did not dare to disobey, and with a trembling heart, they held up the Hanyang rifle, continuing to confront Zhang Songling. Yang Dashun put away his shotgun, nodded slightly towards Zhang Songling, "Little brother is a man of character, Yang certain people admire. But you're just one gun, and you can't kill all of us at once. You've already heard what the brothers said earlier. Wei Laoxiucai and Xiao Maotao, they absolutely won't be coming back. If you know what's good for you, hand over the key, take whatever silver coins and bullets you want from the warehouse. If you force me to fight to the death, then let's try it out, see if you can kill all of us before we turn you into a sieve!"

  "You're lying, how can the military strategist not come back!" Zhang Songling thought hard about a countermeasure while continuing to entangle with Yang Dashun in words.

  If he really could hit the target with every shot, he would have taken out all those bastards outside with one bullet each. But only he knew his own difficulties, if he had enough time to aim, he could kill an enemy with two bullets on average, which was already a stroke of luck. If he didn't prepare at all and just fired randomly as soon as he picked up the gun, it's likely that even after using up all the bullets in the gun, he still wouldn't be able to take out half of the enemies outside.

  By then, he would only have the fate of being slaughtered by the other side. And the silver coins, bullets and food in the warehouse will probably be looted by the defeated Yangjiazhuang.

  Just as he was anxiously thinking of a plan, Yang Dashun sneered and said: "I lied, what kind of person is that old man? I dare to spread rumors about him? If those few people don't get into trouble, do I dare move the things in the warehouse? Don't deliberately drag out time, even if you drag it out until evening, no one will come back to help you!"

  With Wei Ding's connections and prestige as an old military advisor, he might be able to suppress several deputy directors without them even daring to breathe. So... Yang Dashun's words are probably 70 or 80% fabricated! A wave of despair surged up in Zhang Songling's heart, and he raised the muzzle of his gun, ready to exchange lives with those outside. Just then, a dull, muffled explosion suddenly echoed from afar.

  "Boom!"

  "Boom! Boom!"

  Immediately afterwards, several clusters of black smoke rose from the east of the village and shot straight up into the sky.

  "The Japanese have arrived!"

  "The Japanese devils are coming! Run quickly, run to the mountains!" Someone wailed outside the ancient temple, as if it were the end of the world.

  "Little rabbit!" Yang Dashun didn't bother to take the key from Zhang Songling, pulled out a shotgun and waved it around, shouting at his own men, "Follow me to break down the door, smash it to pieces! Take the silver dollars and we'll retreat! Little rabbit, if you dare, come after us!"

  "You will regret today's actions sooner or later!" Zhang Songling weakly retorted, turning over and exiting through the window. He ran in the opposite direction of Yang Dashun and others, rushing to the front of the ancient temple.

  In front of the temple, people were coming and going in all directions. Some were carrying boxes, some were holding baskets, and others were tightly clutching their Hanyang-made guns. Zhang Songling wanted to find someone to ask about the situation, but after reaching out several times, he couldn't grab hold of anyone. He then ran against the flow of people towards the east entrance of the village, where he saw Squad Leader Zhao Erzi holding a Hanyang-made gun and running into the village with blood all over his head.

  "Captain Zhao, stop right there! You'd better stop and tell me what's going on!" Zhang Songling finally lost his temper, grabbing the gunstock in Zhao Erzi's hand and shouting loudly.

  "The Japanese are coming! The Japanese are coming!" Zhao Erzi's voice was trembling with a sob, his hands grasping the rifle stock, pulling it hard.

  "How many people? Which direction? Where are Lao Junshi and Da Dangjia?" Zhang Songling gripped the gun tightly, continuing to shout loudly.

  "I don't know, I don't know anything! Don't ask me, don't ask me!" Zhao Erzi, who was usually majestic in front of people, let go of Han Yangzao and squatted down, wailing like a wronged child.

  Zhang Songling had no choice but to squat down with the other party, using his most gentle tone in his life to ask: "Second Master, Second Master, don't cry, what's the use of crying?! Where are the Japanese people? The military advisor and the master, didn't they go to Beile Manor with you?"

  "It's a trap, it was all a trap. The people of Beller Estate had already colluded with the Japanese. We didn't even get to the place before we were ambushed." Zhao Erzi sobbed as he stuttered out a response, "Third Master was shot twice and died on the spot. First Master and Second Master protected Military Advisor as they retreated, but halfway through, they encountered another group of Japanese devils...and then...and then I don't know anything else!"

  Again ashamed, again afraid, Zhao Erzi hugged his head and burst into loud crying. Zhang Songling patted his shoulder, sighed, turned around, and continued walking towards the village entrance. Along the way, there were even more brothers holding Han Yangzao, fleeing in a daze, he didn't stop any of them, nor did he have the interest to do so.

  "We brothers usually eat well and drink spicy food, when it's time to fight for our lives, no one can be a coward!" He remembered that once when they were eating braised pork with noodles, the big boss Wei Zhan Kui held up his wine cup and said this to the brothers present.

  At that time, everyone's response was like a landslide and tsunami, "No! Sacrifice life for righteousness, die for benevolence!" "Sacrifice life for righteousness, die for benevolence!"

  The scene was like a dream. There was once a moment when Zhang Songling really thought that with the help of Old Military Advisor, he could lead the Iron Blood Society to do something big. But he never expected that these people, who were fighting against Japan, would eat and drink their fill, only to become a bunch of useless fools in the end!

  He felt deeply humiliated, for the Iron Blood Society and also for these numb people around him.

  He carried a box of ammunition and continued to move east against the tide of people fleeing for their lives, not daring to look back.

  Tea Kettle Nest: A primitive thermos, with a ceramic inner container wrapped in soft woven grass, used to keep boiling water at temperature.