Chapter 59: A Small Test of Sharpness

  A fine drizzle fell from the sky, and the mountain roads were very muddy. As April arrived, Annan gradually entered the rainy season. "Damn it, God is deliberately making things difficult for us, we just entered Annan and it started raining, and it hasn't cleared up for several days." He Meng wiped his wet face with his hand and grumbled. Leng Yifei remained silent and continued walking forward.

  "Captain, it's almost noon, shall we take a break and let everyone eat something?" Leng Yifei looked up and said, "There is a stone cliff ahead, we will rest at the foot of the cliff!" He Mu heard the order and accelerated his pace. At this moment, the first squad leader, Hali De, ran back from the front. Hali De was a northerner, tall and strong, with a height of 1.8 meters.

  "Captain, the brother who opened the road ahead found two suspicious people, they don't seem like ordinary people!" "Capture these two alive, we'll wait for you at the stone cliff up ahead!" Cold Yifei was brief and to the point. "Yes captain, subordinate obeys orders!" About half an hour later, Halid arrived at the front and converged with the two scouts. "What's the situation?" "Captain, those two guys are taking shelter from the rain under a big tree, they haven't discovered us!" A team member reported. "You two sneak up from both sides, I'll go straight ahead, no one is allowed to fire without my orders!"

  Khalid drew his pistol and crept forward towards the large tree in front of him. Sure enough, he found two men resting under the tree, and seeing that his two brothers had already circled around to attack from both sides, Khalid stood up and swaggered forward. The two men were very alert and quickly jumped up at the sound of movement, and when they saw only one person approaching, they drew their daggers and rushed forward.

  Khalid kicked one foot, the guy on the left was kicked under the chin, and he fell to the ground with his face up. The guy on the right saw that things were not going well, pulled his legs and ran away, but didn't run far before being knocked unconscious by a brother who came from behind with a gun butt. "Tie these two guys up and take them away!" In a short while, Khalid brought the two guys to the front of the rock. At this time, the team members were making a fire to cook food. Seeing that they had caught two people, they curiously surrounded them.

  Two men saw a group of powerful men, holding foreign guns but not wearing military uniforms, and they couldn't help but whisper to each other. There was no such team in the government army, nor was there one in the Black Flag Army. As the two were puzzled, they were brought before Leng Yifei. "Report to Captain, the two have been brought." Leng Yifei did not get up, but simply glanced at them lightly and said, "Tell the truth, what are you two doing?"

  The two men's faces were ashen and silent. "Damn it, you're mute!" He Meng shouted sternly. "Good gentlemen, we are good citizens!" one of the guys said. "Good citizens? Carrying sharp blades in and out of the deep mountains and old forests, I think you are clearly rebellious bandits. Execute these two men on the spot." Leng Yifei sneered with a ferocious expression on his face. He Meng pulled out his pistol and aimed it at one of them, who was immediately frightened and knelt down, saying: "Good gentleman, spare our lives, we'll confess!"

  "Speak! What are you doing here and why are you here?"

  "My lord, we are the vanguard of Yang Guangcai's right route, and we are monitoring the Black Flag Army on the right wing. We heard that the imperial court is going to send troops, so the two of us came to gather information."

  "How many people are in your vanguard? Where are you stationed?"

  "In response to your lordship, our vanguard has 300 men and is stationed at Beiguang in Lujiang!"

  Leng Yifei ordered the two to be taken away, and after a moment of hesitation, he said decisively: "I have decided to devour the vanguard of the rebel army. We will set out for Beiguang immediately! This is our first battle, and we must make it a brilliant one. Even if it's just a gift for our meeting with Liu Yongfu." The next morning, the troops arrived at Beijiang, still several hours before dawn. Leng Yifei ordered the troops to rest. "Captain, why not take advantage of this opportunity to launch an attack? Now is the perfect time," He Meng asked in confusion.

  "It's easy to get injured in the dark, so we'll launch an attack after dawn. We'll try our best to minimize casualties when dealing with these bandits. The enemy has big knives and long spears, let's have a fair fight." After dawn, Leng Yifei ordered that the west side would be led by Lu Jiang, who would lead a team to encircle from the north, while Hali De would lead a team to encircle from the south, and Leng Yifei himself would lead a team to encircle from the east. He specially emphasized that when striking, they should aim for the legs as much as possible, and not take the enemy's life.

  The enemy soon discovered the situation, accompanied by a horn, and the rebels entered combat readiness. Seeing that the other side had fewer people, they were actually surrounded on three sides, seemingly suffering from great humiliation. The rebel vanguard officer immediately mobilized his troops, and with a loud shout, they charged out of Beiguang towards the south. The rebel forces were fierce, but soon they suffered a setback, and under a barrage of gunfire, they abandoned dozens of wounded soldiers and retreated back to Beiguang.

  Beiguang is a small town on the edge of Lujiang, with only about 20 households. There is no danger to defend here. After the rebels retreated to Beiguang, all they could do was escape. Suddenly, a foreign gun team appeared, and it was impossible to talk about resistance, let alone fighting. Then the rebels began to break through to the east, Leng Yifei commanded the troops to stand in three echelons, with clear layers of defense, and the enemy charged several times without success and had to retreat back to Beiguang.

  The encirclement was shrinking, and Leng Yifei didn't rush to attack. He let one of the captured men take a letter of surrender into Beiguang. At this time, the vanguard officer of the rebel army was panting and at a loss for what to do. This guy was not only confused but also scared out of his wits. "Sir, although there are not many people coming, they have Qingyi's foreign guns, and their bullets don't miss, we're simply no match for them! Sir, you'd better make up your mind quickly!"

  Another subordinate said: "Sir, I observed that the other side does not want to put us to death. They are well-trained and their shooting is very accurate. However, all our injured brothers were shot in the leg. I am sure the other side is neither the government army nor the Black Flag Army." After several inspections of the sudden attack, more than 50 brothers were lost. "Report to sir, the other side is rescuing our wounded," everyone's eyes widened in surprise.

  The scout returned, and after listening to the scout's report, the rebel vanguard officer opened the letter to take a look. After finishing reading, he said: "Damn it, let's surrender, give us an hour, if we don't surrender, launch an attack." Everyone heard this and turned pale. "Are you sure they are militia, with only 200 people?" "They claim to be militia, with only 200 people!" The scout replied cautiously.

  "Sir, it's either we die or they do! Let's fight them!" "Sir, please give the order! We won't be cowards!" The subordinates clamored for battle. "Sir, the enemy is the militia, we can consider retreating! Initially, we rebelled because Yang Guang forced us to, we don't need to be loyal to him!" "Sir, Yang Guang has always been suspicious of us and made us take the lead in battles, I've had enough of his nonsense!" Several subordinates expressed different opinions. The vanguard officer knew that resisting would mean certain death, but such humiliation was unbearable for him, so he said: "You go back and tell them, what's the use of holding a foreign gun? If they have the guts, let them fight me one-on-one, if I lose, it's up to them to decide my fate."

  Before long, the two armies formed their battle arrays on the south bank of Lujiang River in Beijiguang. The vanguard officer of the rebel army stood at the forefront of his formation. Leng Yifei gazed at him for a moment before taking a rifle from one of his men. "Captain! It's too dangerous, let me do it!" He Meng intervened.

  "Don't worry, if you want to take back the opponent, you must kill their morale!" Leng Yifei said as he ejected the bullet and loaded a bayonet, implying that there were no bullets in the rifle, and they would have a fair fight. Both sides moved forward, standing 5 meters apart. Suddenly, the vanguard officer charged up with a large knife, everyone was sweating, and He Meng even aimed his gun at the opponent.

  Leng Yifei used stillness to control movement, and was only seen taking a step forward, blocking the opponent's incoming slash with his gun. He then swung the butt of his gun towards the opponent's head. The opponent reacted quickly, dodging the swinging gun butt, and in an instant, both parties changed direction. Leng Yifei suddenly thrust out, but the opponent used their large knife to block it. Then, they swept horizontally with another slash, which Leng Yifei blocked with his gun butt. He then twisted his body and made another sudden thrust, moving at an incredible speed. The opponent was caught off guard, and the stabbing motion went straight towards their abdomen.

  The vanguard officer was clearly not a bear hugger, only to see him slide to the right, his bayonet sticking to the left rib and passing through. The guy dodged one calamity, his body suddenly lost control, the gate wide open, Leng Yifei took advantage of the momentum to swing up the gun butt and hit his neck, the guy fell to the ground with a thud, Leng Yifei's bayonet was on the guy's rib, but did not stab in. The rebel army column was in an uproar, as if they were about to come up.

  He Meng fired the first shot, and the bullet hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Instantly, the team members opened fire, and the bullets hitting the ground seemed to form a wall. The rebels were frightened and didn't dare move. At this time, the rebel vanguard officer dropped his knife and said: "Please take action, good fellow! I am willing, but please let my brother go!" Leng Yifei quickly put away his rifle and said: "Why should I kill you? Get up!"

  The Vanguard officer stood up with a pale face. The subordinates saw this scene and put down their weapons to surrender. "What's your name, what's your position?" "I'm Lin Xiong, the Right Route Vanguard Officer under General Yang of the Guangxi Righteous Army. May I ask for your noble name? I, the defeated general, am willing to admit defeat." "Righteous Army? Even Yang Guangcai can become a righteous army, he has brought disaster to the common people with his own set of skills."

  Lin Xiong remained silent, then spoke up: "I am Leng Yifei, the captain of the Wolf Troop of the People's Army. I have come here voluntarily to execute you all. Yang Guangcai may boast of having over 10,000 troops, but in reality, they are just a mob. What future do you have following him?" "Stop your nonsense! Hand us over to the government army and collect the reward!" "Haha! Why would I hand you over to the government army? I, Leng Yifei, will not do such a thing."

  Leng Yifei raised his voice and said, "The government army will soon enter Annan and wipe you out. Think about it, the Annan army is in the south, the Black Flag Army is in the west, and the government army will soon attack from the north. Yang Guangcai is already surrounded on all sides and will soon be scattered like birds and beasts." "Lord Leng, I am willing to die, please spare my brother!" Lin Xiong said, sticking out his neck as if he was very brave.

  "Mother's old man wasted half a day of words, ** didn't open cleverly. If I wanted to take your life, it would have been settled just now. You want to live well and give me a pleasant word." Lin Xiong suddenly enlightened: "Lord Leng, you want to recruit me?" "This is the only way out for you and your brothers under your command." Lin Xiong suddenly knelt on the ground: "Heaven and earth witness, Lin Xiong decides to surrender to Lord Leng, please show me clearly!"

  The rebels behind him suddenly knelt down and shouted: "We are willing to surrender to Lord Leng, if we have any treachery, heaven will strike us with five thunders." "Lin Biao, please get up, from today on you are my man, let's go into Beiguang to discuss in detail." Most of the residents of Beiguang were Han people, only a small number of them were Jing people. Leng Yifei felt that Beiguang was not bad and decided to use this place as a temporary base.

  On the same day, Leng Yifei reorganized Lin Xiong's cavalry to form Wolf II Team. Lin Xiong served as the team leader, and Hali De, the captain of the first squadron, served as the deputy team leader. His squadron was incorporated into Wolf II Team and served as a junior officer. Leng Yifei eliminated the old, weak, sick and disabled, including 50 wounded soldiers, eliminating 100 people and retaining 200 people. With Hali De's squadron joining in, there were 220 people in total, forming 10 squadrons with each captain being elected by team members.

  A few days later, Leng Yifei ordered the second squad to stay in Beiguang and eliminate the old, weak, sick and wounded. Then Leng Yifei led his troops to Laojie. There was no brutal slaughter, just a light and easy battle. It seemed that rifles were absolutely one-sided massacres against big knives and long hair. Especially the strong combat power of his subordinates greatly increased Leng Yifei's prestige.