Chapter 21: Operation Beat Dog (Part 1)

  The best people were all gathered, and Li Xinnan introduced the action to everyone. Everyone was very excited. In the third battalion, Li Xinnan is the idol of the soldiers, who always hope to fight alongside him. Every time he teaches, it only makes them admire him more. The soldiers learn from Li Xinnan with great seriousness.

  Thirty-four people sat around Li Xinnan, listening intently to his introduction. The soldiers gathered by Li Xinnan this time included Li Jun, the platoon leader of the second company's first platoon, Fan Xiaoping and Zhou Jiantiger, the squad leaders of the second and third squads. There were also Hu Ziming, the deputy commander of the third company, Yu Hongbin, the squad leader of the second squad, and soldiers Li Bingsheng, Zhang Hongju, Chen Sheng, etc.

  In addition, there were three special team members in this action team: Huang Qiang, Xu Huzi, and Cao Yunjin. These three children were orphans taken in by Li Xinnan's troops during their rest period. The oldest, Huang Qiang, was 15 years old, while the youngest, Xu Huzi, was only 13 years old. They lived with Li Xinnan's troops and watched the soldiers train every day. As they went back and forth, they also learned from the soldiers. Seeing that they liked to learn, Li Xinnan took them along to teach. Although they were young, they had already practiced some skills. An ordinary man would not be able to guard against them if he was not careful.

  "This operation was led by me and Liu Lianzhang. Liu Lianzhang is in charge of the reception, and I will lead everyone to carry out the assassination." Li Xinmin said.

  "This time, we must be extra careful and absolutely follow orders. Anyone who messes up will face military law!" "Yes!" "Alright! Let's proceed with the plan!" With that, Li Xinmin led everyone in carrying their firearms and quietly left the barracks, leaving Zhang Dawei and other cadres to take care of the security work at the camp. As early as when the commander assigned Li Xinmin and his team to carry out the escort mission last time, headquarters had replaced the guard duty of the Third Battalion with other troops. Now, the Third Battalion no longer needed to go defend the safety of the munitions factory.

  In Liao County town, Tongfu Pharmacy, a farmer carried a basket of medicinal herbs into the pharmacy. The shop assistant inside immediately came forward to greet him.

  "What are you picking up?", "I'm here to sell medicinal herbs! Do you collect medicinal herbs here?" the man asked in a low voice.

  "Take it! Of course, we'll take it! What kind of medicine do you plan to sell?"

  "I have some Clear Mind Grass here, will you take it?"

  The fellow looked around immediately after hearing this and then asked, "How much do you plan to sell it for?"

  "One or two gold, one or two silver!", "Two gold for sale?", "Not for sale! Only one gold and one silver for sale!", At this time, the shop assistant immediately became alert and looked around, "Please wait a moment!", He said, turning into the back room. Before long, a middle-aged man in a gray coat came out of the back room, followed by the shop assistant.

  "I'm the boss here, are you selling medicine?" asked a middle-aged man wearing a gray coat. "That's right! Do you accept it here?" "Please follow me to the back!" The man said and turned around to lead him into the back room. The young shop assistant quickly came to the door of the pharmacy and looked around, seeing nothing unusual, he turned back to the counter.

  "Comrade, hello!", as they entered the back room, the shopkeeper immediately stretched out his hand to the man, who also stretched out his hand and shook hands tightly with the shopkeeper. "Hello! I am Tang Wancheng!"

  "How is it going back home?" asked the shopkeeper. "It's very urgent at home right now, they're asking to get rid of the stray dogs as soon as possible."

  "Yes! The current situation is very unfavorable for us, as long as the wild dogs exist, we will not be able to live in peace. Is our hometown going to take action again?" the shopkeeper asked in a low voice.

  "Not bad! This time, the old home has sent a team of people. I estimate they will arrive soon. When they get here, they will come to you to make contact with you. The old home requires you to fully cooperate with their actions." Tang Wancheng said.

  "Don't worry! How will I get in touch with them then?" asked the shopkeeper.

  "Don't worry about this! They will naturally come into contact with you, just remember that their action code is 'Meng Hu'." Tang Wan Cheng instructed.

  Two people talked business in the inner room for over an hour, unaware that the partner outside the door had been eavesdropping all along and had taken note of what they said.

  Two people walked out of the inner room, Tang Wancheng picked up his own flower basket and walked out of the pharmacy. The shopkeeper sent off Tang Wancheng and then went back into the inner room. The apprentice came to the door and nodded towards the vegetable stall next door, the owner of the vegetable stall also nodded in understanding. Then he waved his hand, and several people walked out of a house diagonally opposite the pharmacy. The owner said in a low voice, "Follow this man, catch him after leaving the city!"

  Several people immediately rushed in the direction where Tang Wancheng left. "Vegetables for sale! Vegetables for sale! Cheap and fresh vegetables!", the stall owner shouted a few sentences.

  Li Xinmin and his group quickly arrived outside the county town. Li Xinmin decided to send someone to sneak into the city to gather information, observe the situation here, and then make other plans.

  Warrior Chen Sheng and several others disguised themselves as farmers entering the city, they were originally farmers, mixed in with the crowd entering the city very smoothly. After careful exploration, they roughly figured out the situation inside the city. Upon hearing their report, Li Xīnmín decided that everyone would temporarily not enter the city for now, but instead stay outside the county town and send people to gather information every day.

  "After several days of reconnaissance, the warriors made significant progress. 'Captain! We've gathered intelligence on Lan Guqing! He has a mistress in the brothel and is afraid of being assassinated, so every time he goes there, he seals off the entire second floor and doesn't let anyone go upstairs. His guards have an entire company, it's probably very difficult to get upstairs to assassinate him.' The warrior reported back to Li Xinmin."

  The situation on the road has also been clarified! Wu Yunsheng's situation has also been clarified! Zhao Zuofang's situation has also been clarified! The soldiers reported one after another to Li Xinmin with good news.

  "What about Zhang Shaodong and Wang Xijiu?" After a while, seeing that no one reported the situation of the main culprit Zhang Shaodong, Li Xinmin couldn't help but ask anxiously.

  "We haven't gotten any intel on him yet, this person is extremely cautious and never shows up easily, even when going out he will bring many people with him, it's not easy to make a move! As for Wang Xijiu, our people still haven't found his trail." Liu Wentao reported to Li Xinmin.

  "By the way, Captain! Xiao Jinzhi and the others came back today to say that the pharmacy you told them to pay attention to is very suspicious!" Liu Wentao reported truthfully to Li Xinmin.

  "What? Is there an important discovery?" Li Xinmin's interest was piqued as soon as he heard this, because from the beginning, Li Xinmin had suspicions about this contact point. From the intelligence, Li Xinmin saw that there was a problem - every time they took action, the traitor Zhang Shaodong managed to escape smoothly, which seemed too lucky! It's unlikely that he would be so lucky! There must be something fishy going on here. However, without conclusive evidence, Li Xinmin couldn't just assume that the person at the contact point was in cahoots with Zhang Shaodong. Therefore, after arriving here, Li Xinmin didn't send anyone to make contact, but instead sent these three kids to gather information and snoop around. Although they were young, they were formal members of the Eighth Route Army, and their identities made for perfect cover. Moreover, they had received training from Li Xinmin himself, who had given them targeted training, making them well-suited for reconnaissance work without arousing suspicion.

  "Is there an anomaly? What have you all discovered?" Li Xinmin asked with delight.

  "Little Tiger! Tell Captain about your discovery!", Liu Wentao called the three kids in and let them tell Li Xinmin directly.

  "That's right! Originally, the three of us disguised as beggars to investigate around the pharmacy. Qiang Ge found that the vegetable stall outside the pharmacy was very suspicious." Hu Zi said slowly.

  "Oh! What's going on?" Li Xinmin asked.

  When Li Xinmin asked, Huang Qiang hurriedly said: "That person's eyes are shifty, constantly glancing at the pharmacy. We've been monitoring her for a while and found that she never really bought vegetables. When someone asks, she doesn't even bother to respond. How could a real vegetable seller be like that?"

  "It seems this person really has a problem! Not bad! First, let's give you all a warning."

  "It seems your guess was right, the contact point has indeed been monitored! Fortunately, we didn't get in touch with them at first, otherwise we might have been tracked by the enemy." Liu Wentao said to Li Xinmin.

  "Hmm! It seems like this now!"