The 43rd Chapter: The Annihilation of the Zhao Family
At the same time Liu Mingjiu was making his battle plan, Wang Xiaojianzi, a Japanese spy who had been active in the Northeast for over ten years, was also leading his 29 routes of troops, totaling over 3,800 people, from various directions towards Jianbei Liuzhen. This time, Wang Xiaojianzi came out with all his might after half a year of planning. As someone who had received regular Japanese military and special operations training, he had the ability to commit evil on Chinese soil for over ten years without being defeated. In his early years, he was one of the "Four Tyrants" of the Northeast along with Zhang Zuolin and Feng Linquan. Although Zhang and Feng had accepted amnesty, with Zhang becoming the "King of the Northeast", Wang Xiaojianzi continued to carry out orders from the Japanese military department to plunder, gather intelligence, organize bandits, and roam freely. In fact, Wang Xiaojianzi had also considered accepting amnesty from the Chinese side, given his past relationship with Zhang Zuolin. However, the Japanese military department did not allow him to accept Zhang's offer of amnesty twice. The Japanese military department was afraid that this high-level spy who had been stationed abroad for a long time would become too powerful and fly solo.
This time, Wang Xiaobian's move was also the main reason for Zhao Miaosheng and his son. After Zhao Miaosheng was defeated by Liu Mingjiu, the Zhao family changed from semi-public resistance to secret probing and planning. Since they couldn't get rid of this young official who hadn't even reached adulthood, and he was taking away their power bit by bit, they had no choice but to resort to force. The Zhao father and son first used their complex network of relationships to collude with other powerful families and landlords in the six towns of Jianbei who had been affected by Liu Mingjiu's reforms, such as "light military taxes", "reduced military service", "military colonization" and "self-sufficient military". They then secretly purchased arms and formed private militias under the guise of self-defense. Finally, they used money and beauty to lure and corrupt some of Liu Mingjiu's subordinates who were weak-willed, in order to pass on intelligence from the six towns to Wang Xiaobian.
One month ago, Zhao Miao Sheng led the thirteen strongmen from the six towns to secretly meet with Wang Xiao Biao in Xinmin. They studied together for ten days and immediately formed a plan to launch a surprise attack on New Year's Eve and assassinate Liu Mingjiu after hearing about his new policy. Wang Xiao Biao even sought help from the Japanese Kwantung Army's special agency, which provided him with a complete battle plan and dispatched 400 soldiers dressed as bandits to participate in the action. Liu Mingjiu's reforms had not only infringed on the interests of local strongmen but also posed a threat to the Japanese invasion plans. The Japanese spies had been active in Rehe for some time and could see the changes that had taken place in the eight villages, Linglong Tower, and the entire Jianbei six towns in less than a year. This was equivalent to placing a stumbling block in front of their invasion plans. Therefore, the Kwantung Army headquarters provided Wang Xiao Biao with both a plan and personnel after receiving his request. Their goal was to prevent the emergence of a stable and well-organized Chinese military presence in Northeast China, which they wanted to invade first. Since they could not intervene directly in Rehe for the time being, the best solution was to support those opposed to Liu Mingjiu and thoroughly destroy him.
Zhao's family and their group were indeed delighted for a while after seeing the "whisker" troops formed by the Japanese Kwantung Army under Wang Xiaobi. They ran back to Linglong Tower and immediately made full preparations. However, all of this had actually been seen through by Liu Mingjiu long ago. But since "Qianlong No. 1" had not yet gained Zhao Miaosheng's trust, he could not get the core information first, so after Zhao's family publicly announced "Year-end Dragon Drive" today, they informed Liu Mingjiu of the specific time for the rebellion.
When Liu Mingjiu led the team to gather at Zhao's house, Zhao Miaosheng and the thirteen family heads were also actively preparing in the living room of the large courtyard. This time, in order to succeed, they summoned all five cannon hands into the Zhao family compound to wait for orders. Before Liu Mingjiu and others set out, they suddenly couldn't get any feedback from the twenty or so scouts sent out. "Qianlong No. 1" had already provided these scouts' intelligence to Liu Mingjiu in his letter, so before taking action, the 9th Company, the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Battalions of the 6th Corps, under the command of Han Gang and Ba Ke Ba La, quickly captured these scouts and locked them up in the 9th Company's barracks.
Zhao Miao had been pacing back and forth in the living room, when she suddenly stopped: "It's already been half an hour since anyone reported back, this situation is definitely not right, could it be that our plan was discovered by that little brat?"
"It shouldn't be, our people are all here, the possibility of leakage is basically zero." A house owner next to him replied, looking at Zhao Miao Sheng's anxious appearance. He was also very anxious, because after Liu Mingjiu became the general inspector, his power and interests were cut off by a large margin. He didn't have the courage to think about rebellion at first, but was pulled in by the Zhao family and his own relatives.
Elder Gu Yi De of Erdao Bay stood up and said to Zhao Miao Sheng, "Brother Zhao, whether or not this is a leak, everyone is in your Zhao family's courtyard. You've gathered all the troops here, if it really is a leak, we'll all be finished by that little brat. Have you thought about how we'll escape if we lose?"
"Don't worry, I'm just afraid that little brat's eyes and ears might have infiltrated, so I've left a back door open for now, but I can't tell you all about it yet." Zhao Miao Sheng paused for a moment before continuing: "The most critical issue right now is what's going on in the town - we're completely in the dark. We need to send some people to investigate immediately. Zhao Liu, take Sun Wu and Ma Zi with you to go check out what that little brat is up to."
A young servant responded with a "yes" and turned to run out of the living room, calling two people as he quickly ran out of the Zhao family's gate. Having jumped onto his horse and run over 100 meters, he was shocked by the scene in front of him and stood there with his mouth agape. After a moment, the servant came back to his senses and shouted loudly while jumping off his horse and running back: "Master! Master! The army! The army!"
A loud shout came from Xiaotou's mouth, "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh", several black things flew over his head, and then he only saw a flash in front of him, accompanied by a loud "Boom" sound, and flew into the sky. When his body landed on the ground, he stared wide-eyed, but couldn't move or make a sound anymore.
Just as the little head was about to leave the Zhao family and go to investigate, Liu Mingjiu had already led the troops with a frontal attack and completed the deployment 200 meters outside the south gate of the Zhao family. The west, south, and east sides of the Zhao family were all dense pine forests, and only the area near the wall was cleared of trees when the Zhao family built this house. So even if the troops advanced to a distance of 100 meters, it would be difficult for the earth towers on the four corners of the courtyard wall of the Zhao family's large courtyard to discover them. A scout saw the little head and made eye contact with him, and immediately notified his comrades behind him with hand gestures. When the little head was frightened and stunned, the message had already reached Liu Mingjiu. When the little head turned around and ran back, the artillery company of the teaching team, the officers and soldiers of Shang Jun, had received Liu Mingjiu's order to load the shells into the barrel. After Liu Mingjiu gave the order, the trial-distance field guns and howitzers fired three shells into the Zhao family's large courtyard.
"Order all artillery to open fire, one round per gun, target the four earthen towers of Zhao's house. Fire!" Liu Mingjiu gave the order expressionlessly on horseback. Before the rebels in Zhao's courtyard could react from the three cannon shots, another row of shells flew towards Zhao's house like a broken string of arrows. A few seconds later, the entire Zhao family was shrouded in explosions. The middle of the yard did not suffer any attack, but rather the artillerymen in the four earthen towers at the corners, along with the explosion and the watchtowers under their feet, were blown into the sky, drawing a beautiful arc before heavily falling to the ground, using their shocked and disbelieving eyes to take one last look at this world before losing consciousness.
"The second round of bombardment began, target, all the courtyard walls around, two shells were fired from each cannon, I want to see his outer wall completely destroyed." Liu Mingjiu gave another cold command, and the gunners of the 30 field guns and 60 mortars immediately adjusted their positions, and the aiming hands also quickly determined the elevation. The shells waited for less than a minute before flying towards the courtyard walls around Zhao's house. Without any suspense or unexpected events, in less than five minutes, Zhao's inner courtyard was completely exposed to the soldiers.
The scene in the courtyard at this time was no longer as calm and tidy as it had been earlier. The masters of the house and the gunners, who had never truly faced such a bombardment before, were now scrambling to find shelter, holding their heads in their hands. Liu Mingjiu, still calm and composed, gave another order: "Heavy machine gun squad, advance collectively 50 meters. Light machine gun squad, advance 150 meters. After reaching the designated position, conduct unrestricted fire for ten minutes. Artillery, third round of attack, scatter and suppressive fire to cover the advance of the machine gun squad."
As soon as he finished speaking, the temporarily assembled light and heavy machine gunners and ammunition handlers immediately sprang into action, charging forward under the cover of scattered fire from the artillery team's ninety guns. Upon arrival at the designated location, they quickly set up their machine guns, adjusted the distance and aiming line. "Rat-a-tat-tat" "Tut-tut-tut" The hail of bullets from the machine guns rapidly enveloped the entire Zhao family courtyard, which had already been exposed. Those artillerymen who had originally drawn their guns to resist were shot into sieves by the whizzing bullets before they could fire a few shots. Meanwhile, the masters of the house were fleeing in all directions, covering their heads. A few timid masters even lay on the ground and wailed.
After the machine gun swept for ten minutes, the entire Zhao family's exposed courtyard was filled with the master, servants and cannonmen who were still covering their heads and fleeing in panic. Those who were lucky enough to moan a few times, more did not even have the opportunity to moan for the last time. Liu Mingjiu had already moved forward to a distance of one hundred meters, seeing this scene, coldly said: "Follow me, let you all die. Blow the charge horn, order the troops to launch a comprehensive attack. The cavalry opens the way, the infantry is in the middle, and the machine gun team is at the back. Enter without restriction, shoot and kill all survivors."
"Dada, dada" the bugle sounded, and the military police guards from all directions jumped out of the temporary trenches they had dug and shouted as they charged towards the Zhao family compound. "Charge! Kill!" "Let me go first, I will surely win." "For the peace of our elders, charge!" Various shouts filled the sky.
The troops soon gathered in the Zhao family's grand courtyard, which had just been reduced to a scorched earth. The soldiers had already received orders from the messenger and no one dared to think twice, seeing people on the ground, they directly stabbed them with bayonets. A few who could still stand up were also shot through the head, taking their terrified or questioning gaze, forever bidding farewell to this world.
