The Twenty-Sixth Chapter: Exterminate the Bandits

  "Report to the company commander, the target has reached a distance of four miles from Zhaojia Camp. The White Horse Mountain side has left 18 people on guard. This time, 95 people came to 'collect autumn' led by the bandit leader himself." In a farmhouse room at the east gate of Chaoyang Zhaojiatun, a junior officer wearing a military uniform reported to a senior officer sitting on the kang, smoking a thick cigar.

  The captain who was sitting on the kang stood up, extinguished the cigar that was extremely out of place in this environment and put it into his own pocket: "Use flag signals to inform General Han's troops to prepare for battle. Old Luo, you immediately go around their route and rush to Baima Mountain to annihilate them. Hehe, 'Xī Lín Hǔ', I'd like to see if you'll turn from a tiger into a cat once you're out of the forest?"

  The captain finished speaking, and a lieutenant in the room responded quickly and ran out to jump onto a war horse, leading a team of people to disappear quickly into the night. The people who stayed behind also left the room at the same time as the lieutenant's departure, immediately dispersing to various hiding points nearby.

  This team is led by Liu Mingjiu, the eighth battalion of officers and soldiers, and the third, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth brigades of the Linglong Tower Security Team. The third brigade was equipped with Hanyang rifles, while the other three brigades were equipped with large knives, long guns, and hook guns. The Eighth Battalion had two rows here, all equipped with the most advanced weapons.

  After Liu Mingjiu and Sun Congzhou discussed the plan to eliminate "Xiaolin Tiger", Liu Mingjiu returned to Linglong Tower but did not immediately send troops. Instead, he first sent his subordinates to cooperate with Sun Congzhou, spreading several fake announcements that they would attack Baima Mountain. As a result, the bandits on Baima Mountain received the news and ran away with their belongings when Liu Mingjiu was supposed to lead his men up the mountain. After creating several such messages, the bandit group on Baima Mountain finally fell for Liu Mingjiu's trick of deceiving the enemy, thinking that he was just making a show of force to appease his superiors. When Sun Congzhou issued an order to punish Liu Mingjiu, the bandits could no longer bear it and came to Zhaojiayingzi to rob some grain to get through the winter.

  Liu Mingjiu had long since set up a network of informants in the bearded troops. As soon as they made plans to come down from the mountain, Liu Mingjiu took his men and evacuated the villagers from Zhaojia Village one day in advance. Then, within just one day, he transformed the entire village into a defensive system. Every house was a hidden fortress, and every place where a person could hide had a soldier concealed inside. Soon, Liu Mingjiu and his men climbed to the highest point in the village - the bell tower. From here, they could see as far as one mile outside the village, which became the temporary command center for this operation code-named "Tiger-Wolf Ambush".

  "Look, Commander, that group of people has arrived," said Wu Tongjin, standing beside Liu Mingjiu on the bell tower, pointing to the distance.

  Liu Mingjiu followed his hand and saw that there were already seven or eight mustaches. Leading the horse, bowing their waist and walking into the village, they were clearly the vanguard scouts sent by Hu Zi.

  "Haha, this 'Xiao Lin Hu' is not bad at all, and he even knows to send a vanguard team to scout ahead." Liu Mingjiu looked at the bearded men and said coldly: "Tell the brothers below to wait quietly for now, and let them give a signal to those in the back. Then, have Tong Quan and his team silently take care of them without making a sound."

  Wu Tongjin nodded slightly and turned to Shen Fengyuan, the communication officer under the clock tower, and gave instructions using hand gestures. After seeing the hand gestures, Shen Fengyuan immediately ran to various places with his waist bent, conveying the orders one by one to comrades at each hidden point. At that time, although the Chinese army had some telegraph machines, wireless communication devices were unheard of. Liu Mingjiu had also searched for them through the Six Harmony Commercial Company in Tianjin, but even the Americans, who would later be known for their arrogance, thought it was a joke when they heard about it, because long-distance synchronized wireless radios were still something that couldn't be done at that time. Liu Mingjiu could only incorporate the hand gestures commonly used by his troops in the future into the training outline, which allowed all units to no longer rely on whispers between people to convey orders.

  Just as the messenger Shen Fengyuan was conveying the order, one of the bearded men who had entered the village first took out a horse lantern and shook it back and forth several times. Soon, a group of bearded men riding war horses appeared in front of everyone on the clock tower, wearing all sorts of clothing. As the bearded men rushed towards the village, more than a dozen black shadows quickly darted out from two houses at the entrance of the village and pounced on the first few bearded men who had entered the village to send signals. Without any sound or resistance, seven or eight of the scouting bearded men were knocked down by these black shadows at the back of the village entrance and dragged into a nearby house.

  When the pursuing beards entered the village, they found that something was wrong. But it was too late, and suddenly a group of soldiers wearing security team uniforms jumped out from under their feet, calling out the hook guns, long guns, and big knives to their bodies. The hook guns and long guns were all rushing towards the war horses under them, and the war horses neighed in panic before being hooked off their legs and stabbed through their necks. As soon as the horsemen fell to the ground, they were immediately surrounded by soldiers holding big knives, three or two surrounding one, and started killing on the spot.

  "The wind is tight, shouting loudly." A middle-aged man in Ma Hu's army shouted at the top of his voice when he saw the terrifying scene in front of him. Want to run? It's too late. Just then, a series of mournful cries came from the rear team of Ma Hu's army, and at the same time as the middle-aged man shouted loudly. The horses in the rear team also began to fall one after another, being hacked to death on the ground by the Big Knife Team.

  "A loud bang, a gunshot rang out from the village's bell tower, shattering the quiet night sky. A mournful cry followed, and this was Liu Mingjiu firing the first shot of his all-out attack. Next came two more gunshots in quick succession, and with these shots, the entire Zhao Family Village was enveloped by the "rattling" sound of machine guns, the "cracking" sound of rifles, and the "popping" sound of handguns. Amidst the intense gunfire, one after another, the bearded men were shot off their horses and fell heavily to the ground. Occasionally, a few wounded bandits who had not died tried to pull out their guns to counterattack, only to find that their hands or even heads had been severed from their bodies and were flying through the air, drawing a beautiful arc before landing on the ground not far away. These were all the handiwork of those big knife-wielding team members who emerged from underground like messengers from hell."

  The bell suddenly rang out, and the soldiers who were still fighting with Hu Zi immediately dispersed in all directions. Soon, they reformed their formation around him, surrounding Hu Zi, who was lying on the ground groaning, trying to find his horse to escape this hell-like place.

  "Surrender and we will spare your lives, treat prisoners of war with kindness." The surrounding government soldiers suddenly shouted in unison. "Punish the bandit leaders, but let off those who follow them." After the soldiers repeatedly shouted such words, some of the wounded Huzi, who had lost arms or legs, began to throw down their weapons and surrender to a nearby soldier.

  "It's all over, whose troops are these? I, 'Xiao Lin Hu', am done for." A middle-aged man who had been slashed in the face and had his originally dark skin turned inside out looked hopelessly at the village: "I've roamed the green forest for ten years, and it's all ended like this in one night!"

  Just as the middle-aged man with a big mouth on his face was muttering to himself, a loud and clear shout came from the clock tower in the distance; "'Xiao Lin Hu', I'm 'Little Flying Dragon' Liu Mingjiu. Now your men have been surrounded by me, I advise you not to resist anymore. Your mountain stronghold has also been destroyed by 'Jue Lu Zi' with another pair of eight-rowed soldiers. For the sake of your brothers around you, put down your weapons and I'll spare your life."

  About ten minutes after the battle of Zhaojiayingzi started, a group of officers and soldiers appeared like ghosts on Baima Mountain, next to the lair of 'Hu Lin Tiger'. After a series of hand gestures by a lieutenant, several soldiers rushed towards the gate of the lair. They quickly threw out grappling hooks and climbed up onto the wooden wall made of logs at the gate of the lair. Several bearded sentries hiding on top of the gate were leaning against the wooden wall to keep warm when they suddenly saw someone appear in front of them, but with a look of shock on their faces, they would never see tomorrow's sun again.

  The soldiers who climbed up the main gate quickly put down the drawbridge and opened the tightly closed gate. The lieutenant officer hiding behind a large stone nearby waved his hand, and the soldiers beside him immediately flashed into the mountain stronghold's entrance. Afterwards, more than thirty ghostly shadows followed a boy wearing a messy outfit like a beard, shooting out in all directions like lightning. Half a minute later, only mournful and miserable cries were heard from several rooms, which were also the residences of the few masters who stayed behind in the stronghold.

  Five minutes later, the torches in the mountain stronghold were suddenly lit up, and a group of disheveled bearded men were brought to the open space in the middle of the stronghold by soldiers wearing blue uniforms. The lieutenant officer waited until these people were all gathered before walking to the front of the crowd with the young boy who had shown them the way at the entrance: "Gentlemen, I am Ling Longtao's deputy, Luo Xiliang, 'Little Flying Dragon', and I have been ordered to come here today to destroy the stronghold. This is an order from our superiors, and we hope you will all cooperate. Boy, which one of them is the second master, 'Fan Yunhou'?"

  The young man beside him immediately walked to a middle-aged man with a pointed ear and a broken arm, being supported by a girl: "Report to Director Luo, he is 'Fan Yun Hou' and the second master Hou Jingzai."

  "Haha, Second Master's household, I'm really sorry. In the past when our merchant group passed by, we didn't hesitate to take advantage of your kindness. But this time, in order not to let one escape, our commander had to make sure that all of you masters are at least... taken care of. Please forgive us." That lieutenant officer was naturally Luo Xiliang, who walked up to Hou Jingzhi and patted the shoulder of the arm that was injured.

  Hou Jingzai endured the pain, lifted his sweaty face: "If we lose, we lose. If you want to shave or skin me, it's up to 'Xiao Feilong'. If you still remember my past favors to your department, I hope you can spare my family."

  Luojing saw Hou Jingzhi, who had already become a prisoner of war, but still had some backbone. He laughed loudly and said: "Haha, let's talk about it after we go down the mountain. Now at Zhaojia Camp, 'Hu Linhu' will either die or be captured. Let's wait until we see our battalion commander again."

  As soon as the officers and soldiers heard Luo Xiliang's order, they immediately took action, binding all these beards together in the middle of the village, and pulling them down the mountain. By the time Luo Xiliang brought back these mountain stronghold guards to Zhaojiatun Village, the battle in the village had already ended not long after Liu Mingjiu shouted.

  "啸林虎" knew that once he was caught, as long as he was sent to any government office, the things he had done in the past would be punishable by a thousand cuts. When he saw his subordinates begin to surrender one after another to "Little Flying Dragon"'s troops, Liu Mingjiu shouted out and cleanly drew out a Mongolian dagger from his bosom, deeply stabbing it into his own chest. Those of his subordinates who had still wanted to resist also surrendered their weapons to the nearest soldiers and security guards upon seeing him take his own life.