The Sixteenth Section: Escorting and Opening Sources

  "I'm telling you, Lao Zhang, this is the third time we've gone to the county town and haven't brought back military pay and rations. What's going on with this battalion commander? In the past, when our company went to ask for things, he always tried his best to give them to us. Now what's going on?" Luo Xiliang entered Liu Mingjiu's office, saw Wu Tong who hadn't received military pay and rations for two consecutive months, and asked with a red face.

  Liu Mingjiu looked at Wu Tongjin, who was hanging his head in shame, and Luo Xiliang, whose face was burning with anger. He knew very well why Sun Congzhou, who had been strongly supporting him, suddenly turned against him. With the suspicion of usurping power, Liu Mingjiu's reputation for integrity had already spread throughout Chaoyang Prefecture. Among the corrupt military and government officials, a small regimental commander like himself had more prestige than even the division commanders. Anyone would feel uneasy about this. The upper echelons were informed by the lower ones, and Liu Mingjiu's reforms had greatly disrupted the existing order. The old bureaucrats above and the politicians below could not tolerate him. Sun Congzhou had to think of his own survival first. As for public opinion, Liu Mingjiu was more popular among the common people than any other prominent figure or celebrity. Everyone knew that "he who wins the hearts of the people will win the world." It was unbearable for anyone to have someone else be more popular than themselves. Therefore, Sun Congzhou's actions were all within reason.

  "How many months' worth of grain and fodder do we have left in the warehouse?" Liu Mingjiu understood the reason, but he couldn't show it in front of his subordinates. He had to calm down his own troops first.

  Wu Tongjin took out a document from his bag, looked at it and replied: "According to our current operational plan, the expenses of soldiers and horses, the things in our warehouse should be able to hold on until autumn, but the military pay has not been issued for two months now, and many brothers have already secretly complained."

  "First, take 1,200 yuan from our own public account and give the brothers their wages in advance. But tell them not to make a big deal about it, pretend that they haven't received anything yet, otherwise those above might come to investigate our little treasury." After Liu Mingjiu accepted the "gifts" from Zhao Miaosheng and the local wealthy families, he didn't keep the money for himself, but instead set up an eight-compartment financial treasury with all the money except his own reward and wages. This was also a common practice in later times, seen in many units, and now it's being used against him.

  After Wu Tongjin formally took over as the head of logistics, he has now fully adapted to the work handed over by Liu Mingjiu. The eating, drinking, defecation, and sleeping arrangements of the 8th company are also well-organized under his management. What makes him feel happy is that the company commander has given him full financial authority. After listening to Liu Mingjiu finish speaking, he pulled out a document: "But, comrade company commander, our account doesn't have much money left either. Repairing the barracks, supporting widows, purchasing meat and eggs, building fish ponds, and maintaining farmland have already left us with less than 3,000 yuan in our account. After this distribution, we'll be left with only 2,000 yuan. If nothing is done, we can only sustain four months of wages. If we follow your plan, the autumn and winter night training, switching from burning firewood to coal, and heating the pigsty and stable... I'm afraid our remaining money will fall short by more than a little."

  "What's the difference if we can't get our brothers' pay, morale is most important. Old Luo, tomorrow you go back to the county town and ask around through people you know, see if there are any ways that violate our rules but can make money. As long as no one gets a handle on it, we'll take whatever we can. Liu Mingjiu really was driven to desperation before saying something like this. After all, he's someone who received good military education in the past, but although he knows soldiers shouldn't do things they shouldn't, in such a dark world, if he doesn't do it, he'll just get eaten up and squeezed out."

  Luohao thought for a moment: "A few days ago, a friend came to me and heard that our gang's affairs and your training new rules are absolutely not inferior. Of course, it was mainly because of your 'Little Flying Dragon' nickname that they wanted us to send someone to help them transport goods from the county, via Xingcheng, to Tangshan and then to Tianjin. They would give us a commission of 20% of the cargo value per trip. At the time, you didn't say anything, so I didn't dare agree."

  "What goods?" Liu Mingjiu had already thought about it, so he asked: "As long as it's not opium, firearms or human trafficking, we can take it."

  "He's a serious businessman, dealing in ironware, lumber and leather goods." Luo Heliang saw that Liu Mingjiu had mentioned something taboo, so he revealed the general background of that businessman.

  He Laoxiang finished speaking, Liu Mingjiu slapped the table and stood up: "You go to the county town tomorrow to find him, we've taken this job, sending a squad to escort should be enough. When we transport goods, we must let us inspect the goods first. But we must make it clear to him that we cannot reveal that we are directly dispatching troops to be his bodyguards, otherwise I can kill bandits, and also eliminate people who do not speak righteousness."

  "I'm going now, that friend takes a trip with goods, at least 18,000 yuan. We dispatch a team to follow him for half a month, one round trip, calculated at 10,000 yuan per trip, and can still make 2,000 yuan. That guy has to run to Beijing and Tianjin every month." Luo Xiliang stood up, extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and walked straight out of Liu Mingjiu's office.

  Wu Tongjin also spoke up: "I have a clansman in Chaoyang named Wu Tongzhou, who does horse and leather goods as well as salt transportation business. Why don't I go talk to him too?"

  "Well, anyway, we still have that 1,800-strong security team. Send them together to escort the goods and give them a certain percentage of the profits as commission. I'm sure they'll be happy to do it." Liu Mingjiu thought of the security team he had been personally training for nearly three months.

  After taking over, Liu Mingjiu gradually allowed all officers and soldiers in the security team who were over 35 years old to no longer join the security team. He also issued a notice that from now on, at the age of 17, people can officially start joining the security team, except for students. The maximum age limit for staying in the security team is 28 years old, with squad leaders extended to 30 years old, and platoon leaders and company commanders limited to 35 years old.

  The replenishment of the 8th Regiment was also restricted to those who were at least 18 years old, with soldiers limited to 25 years old and non-commissioned officers limited to 28 years old. Therefore, although the security team's weapons are not very complete, they have already practiced three types of cold weapons: big knives, long guns, and hook sickles.

  Liu Mingjiu also studied ancient military books and developed a battle strategy of gun shields in front, hooks and sickles in the middle, and big knife charges. Although this was mainly to prevent those "horse bandits" (the Northeastern bandits at that time were generally riding horses, so they were commonly called "horse bandits"), even if they encountered similar teams, close combat would still have a great advantage.

  Sending well-trained security teams as bodyguards should also be more than enough.

  "If you don't give me supplies, if you don't give me military pay, I'll go find it myself." Liu Mingjiu was very clear that in this era, officers and soldiers doing such things would not be pursued by anyone in the Beiyang Army, because it had already become a very common thing.

  Soon, Luo Xiangliang and Wu Tongjin had reached an agreement with Su Shixing, the boss of Jianchang's business, and Wu Tongzhou, a big businessman from Chaoyang. The two bosses also personally came to Linglong Tower and reached an agreement with Liu Mingjiu face-to-face. The name "Little Flying Dragon" has now become the first banner that all bandits in Rehe and southern Liaoning know and fear. They are also very willing to borrow Liu Mingjiu's prestige to let the eight rows and the security team of Linglong Tower help them as bodyguards.

  Liu Mingjiu finally determined the division of spoils for his subordinates: For each trip, soldiers would get one yuan per day, squad leaders and deputy squad leaders would get 1.5 yuan per day, and platoon leaders and deputy platoon leaders would get two yuan per day; The people from the Eighth Company would get two yuan per day for soldiers, three yuan per day for squad leaders and deputy squad leaders, and five yuan per day for platoon leaders and deputy platoon leaders. In order to avoid inconvenience in command, he specially negotiated with two big businessmen, each team would send a deputy battalion commander, quartermaster or battalion commander from the Eighth Company or the Security Regiment to lead the team.

  In the first month, the 8th company ran four trips of goods for the two big bosses. On the way, various bandits saw the flag with " Yi-Wu Wei Zuoyi Jun Shi Ba Tuan" written on it and immediately let them pass. On the first trip led by Wu Tongjin, many bearded men not only didn't rob the goods but also followed from a distance to escort them. When Wu Tongjin returned to Linglong Tower, those people quietly sent letters to Liu Mingjiu. The content was basically the same, that is, because of Liu Mingjiu's policy of self-reliance and self-improvement for the 8th company, it reduced the burden on local civilians and more importantly, reduced the number of young men joining the security team. In this era, once a man has a family, he wants to support his family and make a living, but if he joins the security team, how can he really support his family with that little monthly grain allowance? Most importantly, adult men are the main labor force in the family, and once they join the security team, the family's life will be severely affected. Liu Mingjiu's series of policies were opposed by officials but supported by civilians.

  Here, it must be noted that there are significant social reasons behind the actions of these bandits. Firstly, many bandits in this era were not born to be bandits, nor did they aspire to fame and fortune. Many were forced into the mountains by excessive taxes, corvée labor, and other forms of oppression. Secondly, most bandits who took to the hills targeted only the wealthy landlords and merchants, never harassing ordinary people. In fact, they would sometimes even offer assistance to impoverished villagers. Finally, those bandits who acted with impunity were not all fearless; when faced with a more powerful gang or organization, they would often yield and avoid conflict to preserve themselves.

  This is also the main reason why Liu Mingjiu didn't need to go through any trouble and was safe on his way from Jianchang to Beijing and Tianjin. Firstly, there were no more than eight people in each group along the way. Secondly, Xiaofeilong alone had killed so many people that his kung fu skills had been exaggerated to be divine. Those bandits thought they couldn't surpass this "death god", so instead of offending Liu Mingjiu, they would rather curry favor with him, hoping that if they ever met again, at least their lives would be spared.