The Twelfth Chapter: Dealing with Local Bullies
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"Welcome, Officer Liu, to take over the defense of our town. I, on behalf of the elders of the twelve major villages in this town, offer you a toast." Zhao Miao Sheng, the mayor of Lingjiao Tower Town, was a scholar of the last dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, so his speech also had an air of old Confucianism.
Liu Mingjiu arrived at the Linglong Tower with his eight men on the same night and was invited by 16 local gentry to the best wine house in the town to entertain and refresh themselves. Liu Mingjiu also wanted to meet Zhao Zhenzhang, who was said to be colluding with Wang Xiaobianzi, and had already listed him as a traitor in his mind. Although at this time, except for Liu Mingjiu, even Zhang Zuolin, Feng Linque, and others who had dealings with Wang Xiaobianzi did not know that the big boss who had been dominating the Northeast for many years was a Japanese spy, it was precisely because of many Japanese spies like Wang Xiaobianzi infiltrating the Northeast that the Japanese could later control the entire region so quickly and easily.
"Thank you, Director Zhao, for your hospitality. I'm not worthy of such treatment, and yet all of you esteemed gentlemen have come to see me. I'm just a humble little battalion commander, and your kindness makes me feel ashamed." Liu Mingjiu also raised his cup in response to Zhao Miaosheng, saying: "I'll take the lead in making a toast, all of you are the masters of this land, while I'm just here to assist in protecting the safety of this region with all of you."
"Wherever the words, wherever the words, Officer Liu was young and promising, not yet weak in the crown, he had already become a member of the military. His future prospects are bound to be limitless. And being transferred to Linglong Tower, I've long heard that Officer Liu's governance has a way, brave and good at war, letting the millions of citizens of Linglong Tower rest easy from now on, how could we dare to neglect you?" Zhao Miaosheng was made to feel very comfortable by Liu Mingjiu's humble words.
After all, this Linglong Tower is the place where their family has been rooted for four generations, and they have influence in all directions, so Liu Mingjiu's humility makes him feel comfortable at first. However, he dare not underestimate this eighteen-year-old Left Wuwei Militia Battalion Commander, because according to Wang Xiaobian's eye line report, this young man who became a battalion commander at such a young age is really not a pushover. His team is said to be the trump card of the entire 18th Regiment. And this young man has only been in command for a short time, just one year, and the battle of Xi Si Liang Zi, the bravery of the second platoon's combat has already made everyone in Jianchang like thunder in their ears.
"Director Zhao smiled and said, 'I'm just lucky to have become the head of this village, it's all just a coincidence. In the future, we'll still need Director Zhao and all the gentlemen and sages to help us with the defense of Linglong Tower.' Liu Mingjiu smiled and raised his cup again, toasting everyone around him and Zhao Miaosheng beside him for the second time."
Afterwards, everyone started a round of toasting and drinking, but Liu Mingjiu saw some clues at the banquet. Before the end of the feast, Zhao Miaosheng led the way in the name of treating the troops, and together with the local gentry, they stuffed a pile of remittances into Liu Mingjiu's hands, each one trying to outdo the other by giving more. After leaving the Linglong Wine Tower, Liu Mingjiu got on his horse and walked out of sight of the local gentry with Luo Xiliang, then turned around and gave Luo Xiliang his first order: "Send a reconnaissance platoon to monitor Zhao's house for me all day, and send another platoon to investigate what kind of grudge Mao Zhuangzi, that wealthy merchant, has against Zhao Miaosheng. Instead of us going to great lengths to investigate and eliminate them, why not let the local people fight each other first? That wealthy merchant must have some problem with Zhao Miaosheng."
After leaving the Linglong Tavern, Zhao Miaosheng returned home. His eldest son, Zhao Dongqu, walked over and asked, "Dad, how was it? Is this new garrison officer easy to deal with?"
"What's there to worry about with a young kid like that?" Zhao Miao Sheng carelessly said as he took off his outer garment with the help of his servant, revealing a body so fat it could rival certain dining table animals. He continued, "Whoever comes to Ling Long Tower must give face to our Zhao family? Moreover, this little kid is respectful enough towards your father and me, and answers well, there's no need to be afraid."
"Chen San can be the master of the house, but he says that this kid will become an important obstacle for us to achieve great things. His team is so powerful that even Chen San knows not to mess with them." Zhao Dongqu looked at his father in confusion and asked.
Because before Liu Mingjiu arrived, Chen Haofeng had already sent someone to secretly pay attention and investigate since he took over the 8th Regiment. In fact, Wang Xiaojiao was doing these things all along in various places. Collecting intelligence for the Japanese military department is his main job as a spy. When Chen Haofeng personally went to investigate the training of the 8th Regiment several times, he was surprised and really started to fear this team that had changed greatly in just a few days. Although there were not many people, it would be impossible for all the bandits to win because at that time, the most powerful bandit forces had only a few hundred people, while the morale and combat effectiveness of the 8th Regiment during training, even if the Japanese army came with three times as many troops, would be difficult to resist, let alone these bandit armed forces. Therefore, when meeting with Zhao Dongqu, he said that Liu Mingjiu, this young man, would not be easy to deal with and so on.
Zhao Miao Sheng glanced at Zhao Dong Qu, then took off his boots with the help of a servant and put his feet into the foot bath. With a look of disdain on his face, he said: "I think Chen San is too timid as the head of the household. What's there to be afraid of about that little yellow-mouthed kid? No need to say more, I'm tired, you can also go back to your room and rest."
This Zhao family was originally a local tyrant in Linglong Tower, why did they get entangled with Wang Xiaobian and become one of his informants? In fact, the process is very simple. Five years ago, Zhao Dongqu led a team to transport a batch of opium to Dalian for sale. As a result, when they arrived at the northern part of Chaoyang, they encountered a group of bandits with only 30 or 50 people. After the entire opium transportation team clashed with the other side, in an instant, only Zhao Dongqu and his three bodyguards were left, all of whom were injured. Unexpectedly, just when the bandits thought they had succeeded in the robbery, a group of people rushed out from the other side of the mountain and dispersed the bandits.
At that time, Zhao Dongqu, who was already seriously injured, fainted after seeing another group of people coming over. When he woke up, he was already in Wang Xiaobi's mountain stronghold. After learning that he was the young master of the Zhao family from Linglong Tower, not only did Wang Xiaobi not take advantage of the situation to extort him, but instead sent someone to escort him back to Linglong Tower with his goods after he recovered from his injuries. From then on, the Zhao family frequently interacted with Wang Xiaobi. The Zhao family excluded and attacked other families in Linglong Tower, mostly relying on Wang Xiaobi's bandits to kill people at night and set fires to help them. In return, the Zhao family sent someone every month to offer sacrifices to Wang Xiaobi, who also took charge of protecting the Zhao family's smuggling business and other dealings.
After drinking the wine, Liu Mingjiu returned to his residence and counted the money. The officers were indeed generous, with 16 people giving a total of 12,000 yuan. At this time, Liu Mingjiu already had over 20,000 yuan in his possession and truly understood why the warlords and soldiers of this era were more powerful than ordinary civilians. Many landlords and wealthy merchants were willing to marry their daughters to these military officers because they could get things done through their connections and make a lot of money.
This was also why later on, when Chairman Mao's troops arrived in an area, the local people would support them. The saying "the sheep's wool comes from the sheep" is true - where did the landlords and wealthy merchants get their money from? It all came from exploiting ordinary people! They gave their money to officials and soldiers, who then continued to exploit and oppress ordinary people even more.
At this point, Liu Mingjiu finally understood why his ancestors and many older people he had met said that the new society was better. Although corruption had become widespread again in his own time before crossing over, compared to this era, it was like comparing a small crow to a large one. As for himself, living in this era, he had no choice but to adapt and accept these gifts, because only by filling his own pockets could he use the rules of this society to fight for more survival space.
Liu Mingjiu had thought about doing something to save the country and its people like those "Communist Party" members, but given his current identity and military power, in his environment, he was just a small drop of water in a vast ocean. Trying to make waves would be like waiting for the Yangtze River's rear waves to push forward the front ones. Heaven had brought him to this era and body, surely not just to let him be washed up on the beach.
On the second day of arriving at Linglong Tower, the eighth company was again led by Liu Mingjiu and Luo Xiliang to gather before dawn and unfold a day of training. By nightfall, Liu Mingjiu sent someone to invite Zhao Miaosheng to his barracks. In fact, throughout the day, the whole town had been closely watching this group of young soldiers led by the "doll company" commander. However, the nickname "doll company" was soon replaced by "wolf cub company" because during training, each soldier was as fierce as a wolf and tiger, even the old soldiers from the original eighth company were brought along with great energy. But after dispersing, they were very disciplined. Throughout the day, Zhao Miaosheng and his son also began to feel that this team was indeed one of the most powerful in the 18th Division of the Diligent Army. What they couldn't understand even more was that the company commander and deputy commander trained together with the muddy-legged soldiers, which had never been seen before in the Beiyang Army.
Liu Mingjiu's signaler was treated completely differently as soon as he entered the Zhao family compound, compared to the previous day. Zhao Dongqu rewarded him, and the second young master of the Zhao family had someone serve tea and snacks, making the signaler feel quite uncomfortable. It is worth noting that in this era, soldiers were generally poor civilians who did not have a good family background. As the saying goes, "Good men do not become soldiers." The signaler was also from Shandong, where his family was struggling with famine, and he had left his hometown to join the Yu army as a distant relative. He had never received such treatment from a wealthy family before. After returning to the military camp, he showed off properly, which further solidified the soldiers' faith in following this young company commander. Who wouldn't want to follow a superior who was not only brave but also treated his soldiers like brothers?
Zhao Miaosheng entered Liu Mingjiu's office, where Liu was reading the newspaper. Although it had been many days since the news was published, Liu still managed to see the old news every few days by sending his guard Chu Genzi to steal Sun Congzhou's newspaper from the team department. After a few times, Sun Congzhou, who didn't recognize many characters anyway, simply handed over the newspaper to Liu Mingjiu as soon as it arrived. As a result, only Liu Mingjiu in the 18th Regiment could constantly read the newspaper.
Liu Mingjiu saw Zhao Miaosheng's stout figure walk in and hastily stood up, walked around the office desk to the door, warmly grasped Zhao Miaosheng's hand, and led him into the room: "Elder Zhao, you've gone to a lot of trouble. If it weren't for our unit's rules that don't allow us to easily leave the camp, I should be the one going to your place instead. Please forgive me for troubling you to come all this way."
"Wherever, wherever." Zhao Miao Sheng also smiled and sat down in the chair across from Liu Mingjiu's desk, taking the tea cup handed to him by the guard and continuing to say: "I don't know what Officer Liu wants me here for, is there something important?"
"Director Zhao, please don't keep addressing me as 'Officer Liu', I'm not worthy of it. If you're willing, you can just call me by my name, Bo Ming." Liu Mingjiu also sat down in the chair behind the office desk with a smile, facing Zhao Miaosheng: "When I arrived here, Colonel Sun had a letter for you to deliver, and County Magistrate Deng also had a letter for you. There were many people last night, so I didn't bring it out to give to you."
After finishing, Liu Mingjiu took out two letters from the drawer and handed them to Zhao Miaosheng who was sitting opposite him. After receiving the letter, Zhao Miaosheng looked at Liu Mingjiu, who indicated that he could open it on the spot, and then Zhao Miaosheng opened the letter and started reading.
For a moment, Zhao Miao Sheng finished reading the letter and stared at Liu Ming Jiu in silence. Liu Ming Jiu still smiled apologetically and looked back at Zhao Miao Sheng: "Does Senior Zhao have any doubts? I can explain one by one."
However, Zhao Miaosheng still looked at Liu Mingjiu with a expressionless face and didn't speak. Liu Mingjiu also smiled and looked at Zhao Miaosheng, the two of them stared at each other without speaking, making the guard on the side feel very strange.
For a moment, Zhao Miao Sheng suddenly burst out laughing: "Great, indeed heroes emerge in youth! I didn't expect that Bo Ming, at such a young age, would gain the trust of both Director Sun and County Head Deng!"
"Where, where, Commander Sun just gave me this opportunity to better protect the peace of one side, I will not disappoint Commander Sun and County Mayor Deng's trust, protect the peace of Linglong Tower on one side, benefit the people on one side, but all this still needs to rely on your help, Senior Zhao," Liu Mingjiu also laughed and replied to Zhao Miaosheng.
