Chapter 50: The Banquet of Thanks

  The lanterns had just been lit, and outside the gate of Town Head Wang Yuan's mansion in the northeastern part of the town, there was a flurry of horse-drawn carriages and people coming and going.

  King Yuan wore a long gown with embroidered team flowers, smiling all over his face, accompanied by two attendants dressed as servants, standing on the steps, welcoming guests who came to attend the banquet.

  This afternoon, all the dignitaries in Zhongguan Town received an invitation from Wang Yuan, saying that a thank-you banquet would be held at 9 o'clock tonight at the Wang family mansion, and asked everyone to come.

  This time, the invitation was very extensive, especially the commander of the Japanese troops stationed in Zhongguantun, even the squad leader received an invitation.

  As night fell, more and more people came, Wang Yuan stood at the door early, respectfully waiting for people, constantly chatting and laughing with people from all walks of life.

  Wang Yuan's face was smiling, but if someone was particularly careful, they should be able to see that Wang Yuan's smile was not quite genuine, as if hiding something unknown. Moreover, the two servants by his side seemed too strong, giving people a feeling that they were not servants, but rather bodyguards.

  Unfortunately, people who came didn't notice these things. They were all thinking about how to make the wind and cloud figures of this Zhongguan town happy, and nothing else mattered.

  Han Weiming stood beside Wang Yuan, coldly watching as Wang Yuan continuously went forward, bowed and exchanged pleasantries before sending the person in. However, his heart was still thinking about Tie Tou and the others.

  In the afternoon, after receiving the topographic map sent by Wang Yuan, Tie Tou, Xiao Yue, and Dai Er studied it for a long time in the house. Finally, Dai Er proposed this plan: to use the excuse of holding a banquet for Wang Yuan's son to deceive all the Japanese military leaders, big and small, and then divide the troops into two routes. One route would be responsible for dealing with these beasts, while the other route would sneak into the airport to complete the mission. It is believed that without the commander, the difficulty of completing the task should be much smaller, and the chances of success are a bit higher than forcing their way in.

  As soon as this method was proposed, it got everyone's approval, but on the subsequent division of labor issue, several people had differences.

  Dai'er bit her lip and said: "I'm definitely going, no one can persuade me!"

  Tie Tou didn't say a word, he simply pulled out his revolver and put it on the table, making his stance clear through his actions.

  Seeing the two being so resolute, Xiao Yue had no choice but to nod in agreement to stay behind and deal with the Japanese military officers attending the banquet, while Tie Tou led the team to blow up the planes at the airport and destroy the facilities.

  As soon as the sky turned dark, Tie Tou and his men left Wang Yuan's house and hid in the mountain forest near the airport. On the one hand, they observed the terrain and the activity patterns of the Japanese army; on the other hand, they also avoided exposing the special warfare team due to too many people coming and going from the Wang Mansion.

  Before leaving, Tie Tou left Xiao Yue with a five-man combat team. Together with the four people left by the medical team, they should be able to fully control the situation.

  At the moment of parting, Xiao Yue suddenly stopped Tie Tou. He walked in front of Tie Tou, looked straight into his eyes and said seriously: "You must come back alive, don't forget what you promised me!"

  Tie Tou looked at Xiao Yue's eyes, which showed reluctance and worry, nodded heavily, turned around and took Dai Er and the special forces team to disappear into the night.

  ……

  As soon as the iron-headed men left, Xiao Yue immediately had the male special forces members change into servant clothes, while the female special forces members disguised themselves as maids, dispersing to various places to monitor the entire Wang family's movements. Although they thought Wang Yuan wouldn't dare to play any tricks, they still dispatched Han Weiming and another special forces member to disguise themselves as servants and follow him closely. If Wang Yuan made any moves, they would immediately take him down on the spot.

  Wang Yuan was busy, but he couldn't help sneaking a glance at the two door gods-like Han Weiming and his companions behind him. In his heart, he secretly cursed his luck, wondering what kind of sin he had committed in his past life to have gotten himself entangled with such a group of jinxes.

  As the time gradually approached 9 o'clock in the evening, the guests who came to the banquet also increased. As Wang Yuan was the mayor of Zhongguan Town, people naturally had to give him some face. Who knows when they would need his help in the future? So the gifts presented were one thicker than the other.

  Normally, Wang Yuan would be grinning from ear to ear, but today he didn't show any excitement at all.

  "Head of Police Station in Zhongguan Town, Manchukuo, He Datou has arrived!"

  As soon as a voice was heard outside, He Da Tou strode in from the doorway with his one eye staring straight ahead, followed by two underlings carrying gift boxes.

  As soon as he saw him, Wang Yuan's heart skipped a beat. He glanced sideways at the two special warfare team members behind him and hastily smiled to greet him: "Ah, Captain Wang has arrived! Honored guest, I didn't come out to welcome you in person, please forgive me!"

  He Da Tou burst out laughing and bowed his head, returning the courtesy: "Town Head Wang, you're being too polite. How could a small police chief like me dare to trouble your greatness?"

  "You're welcome! You're welcome!"

  Two people exchanged a few pleasantries and then Wang Yuan led He Dati inside.

  He Da Tou stopped in his tracks as he passed by Han Wei Ming and the others, eyeing them up and down for a long time. Suddenly, he turned around and said to Wang Yuan: "Town Head Wang, these two servants of yours have quite a murderous aura about them!"

  Wang Yuan was startled in his heart and immediately smiled and replied: "They are all my newly hired gunners, haven't things been a bit unsettled lately? It's better to be careful!"

  "Oh!" He Daitou responded with a single word and didn't say anything else, walking into the door.

  Wang Yuan stretched out his hand and wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead.

  Just then, several more guests arrived outside the door, and Wang Yuan hurriedly went over again.

  "Who are you?" Wang Yuan looked at these few people he had never seen before.

  The first to arrive was a very tall man with a square face, sword-like eyebrows, tiger eyes, a prominent nose, and a square mouth. He had no beard, and his stature was majestic. He wore a top hat and a long gown, which made him look even more extraordinary. Behind him followed a middle-aged man in his forties and a woman wearing a red dress with a cloak draped over her shoulders. The woman had two German-made pistols holstered at her waist, and a red tassel fluttered in the wind. Beside her stood a stately and elegant woman with long hair that reached down to her hips. Behind them followed two attendants carrying gifts.

  Wang Yuan didn't notice that Han Weiming and another special forces member standing on the stairs were trembling with rage, staring at the man in front of them as if they wanted to pounce. But it wasn't time yet, so they could only force themselves to endure: "Instructor!"

  The people who came were Qin Yang, Red Clothes, Wan Lai Sheng and Red Clothes.

  In the store, from morning on, Qin Yang and others sat in the hall waiting for Tie Tou to come together. When they parted ways down the mountain, both parties had agreed to meet at this store after entering the town, and then discuss their next move. Unexpectedly, they waited until the sky turned dark, but still no one came.

  Qin Yang was getting a bit anxious, worried that Tie Tou and the others had encountered an accident. However, the red-clothed guards left outside the town hadn't sent any signals indicating an exchange of fire at the entrance of Zhongguan Town, so Qin Yang could only suppress his unease.

  While waiting, they heard the news that Wang Yuan was hosting a thank-you banquet, and Wang Zhuang, the owner of the store, who was a distant relative of Wang Yuan, also received an invitation.

  After receiving the news, Qin Yang felt that something was fishy. The Japanese soldiers had just made a big search at the airport, and people were still in a state of panic. Wang Yuan chose this time to hold a grand wedding banquet, which seemed somewhat out of place. Especially when he heard from the person delivering the invitation that the invitations had been sent to the hands of the Japanese military squad leaders. Qin Yang was certain that there was a problem here.

  "Kill the dog after closing the door!"

  After discussing with several people, they decided to go and take a look. No matter which group of people it was, they were definitely not in favor of the Japanese soldiers. If they could help at that time, they would help.

  Several people took the shopkeeper's invitation and bought some gifts to come to Wang Yuan's mansion.

  Qin Yang took a step forward, clasped his fists and bowed: "Town Head Wang, I am Qin Yang, a merchant passing through this place. These are my friends. We heard that your son is getting married and have come to offer our congratulations. May we also request a cup of celebratory wine?"

  "Welcome, welcome! Mr. Wang is delighted to see you, please come in!" Upon hearing this, Wang Yuan hastily bowed and returned the courtesy. He was also a person who understood social etiquette, regardless of whether he knew the person or not. Since they had taken the initiative to congratulate him, he couldn't afford to lose face by being impolite.

  A few people walked in, and when they passed by Han Weiming's side, he called out in a low voice: "Instructor!"

  Qin Yang stopped in his tracks. He couldn't have imagined that a special forces member would infiltrate the Wang Manor, and even disguise himself as a servant standing outside the door with an air of confidence.

  "How did you end up here, Tie Tou and Dai Er?" Qin Yang asked urgently.

  Han Weiming recounted their misfortune and then told Qin Yang about his plan for the evening.

  Qin Yang let out a sound, he didn't think the special forces would misinterpret Chen Liu's death as his own and even come up with such a bold and crazy plan.

  "What can I say about you guys!" Tie Tou didn't know how tight the defense of the Japanese airport was, but he did. Even without the command of a Japanese commander, as soon as the sound of gunfire rang out, the Japanese army would swarm in immediately, and by then, the entire special forces team would be surrounded, likely resulting in complete annihilation.

  But now that things have happened, it's no use regretting it. Now I can only deal with the situation here first and then rush over to support as soon as possible, let's see if it's not too late.

  Hongyi, who was standing beside them, overheard their conversation. She raised an eyebrow and pulled Qin Yang aside, saying in a low voice: "I have more than 100 brothers outside Zhongguantown. Let's divide them into two groups - one to follow us to meet your people, and the other to launch a surprise attack on the town entrance, opening up the road to the outside of the town. If we can rescue our people, we can rush out from the south of the town. Once we enter the mountains, those Japanese devils won't be able to catch up with us!"

  Qin Yang looked at Hong Yi, feeling very grateful to her from the bottom of his heart. Originally, Hong Yi didn't have to get involved at all. They were bandits, and this kind of business that didn't bring in any profit but would instead lead to losses was not something they would normally do. This time, she was willing to help out entirely because of him, so how could he not be grateful?

  "No need to say anything, you understand!" Hongyi knew what Qinyang was thinking, she instructed her subordinates a few words, and they turned around and left, going to inform the brothers outside the town.

  Several people had just walked into the hall and immediately saw He Daitou sitting in the center of the hall, holding a teacup and chatting with his mouth foaming.

  He Dahu also saw the red-clothed man walking in from outside the door, and the hot tea he had just drunk was choked in his throat, spitting it all out, splashing a customer sitting opposite him who was listening intently, covering his head and face.

  That man hastily wiped off the tea water and spittle on his face with his right hand, feeling nauseous to the point of almost vomiting, but he had to force a smile, not daring to offend the famous He "Yan Wang".

  He Dahou put down his tea bowl and ran to the innermost corner of the wall with a puff of smoke, sitting there without saying or moving.

  Jian He saw himself like a mouse seeing a cat, the red-clothed man's mouth corner rose slightly, and he sat down with Qin Yang in a position by the side.

  After sitting down, Qin Yang looked around. From Han Weiming, he already knew that among the servants who were walking back and forth in this hall, many of them were members of the special forces team. Sure enough, soon he saw Huo Er and a few others from the medical team, but Xiao Yue, who was in charge of this task, was nowhere to be seen, no one knew where she had gone.

  To prevent the special forces from seeing him and affecting the operation, Qin Yang pulled his hat down over half of his face.

  The hall was filled with people of some status from Zhongguan Town or Wang Yuan's relatives and friends, who were all familiar with each other. As soon as they met, they chatted with each other, making the grand hall very lively.

  Qin Yang was pleased with this and could let him wait quietly for a while.

  Just then, footsteps sounded outside the door, and a group of Japanese officers walked in under Wang Yuan's escort. The leader was none other than Lieutenant Colonel Koizumi Norio, the commander of the Japanese garrison stationed in Zhongguantun, followed by a bunch of battalion commanders and company commanders of all sizes.

  Qin Yang coldly sized up Lieutenant Junior Grade Koizumi, seeing that he was a small man in his thirties with a sturdy build, sporting the typical Japanese mustache, with an iron-gray complexion and a pair of beady eyes filled with malice and greed.

  The Japanese soldiers walked into the house and sat down in the chief seat specially prepared for them. Wang Yuan waved his hand, and the banquet officially began.

  The servants came and went, bringing various dishes to the table. However, most people did not move their chopsticks, waiting for the host to speak.

  Qin Yang and Wan Lai Sheng didn't care, picked up their chopsticks and ate as much as they could. They knew that if they didn't eat now, once the fight started, they wouldn't be able to eat anything.

  After the host and invited guests finished their speeches, the groom and bride walked out from inside.

  Qin Yang's chopsticks, which were reaching for a piece of braised pork belly, stopped in mid-air. He turned his head to look at the bride, his expression seemingly very strange.

  Wan Luan's voice saw Qin Yang's expression, which seemed to be not quite right. He stretched out his body from beside Qin Yang and looked over there. Then, his face also became the same expression as Qin Yang's.

  Hongyi was confused by two people, how could she know what Qin Yang and others were thinking in their hearts now!

  Because of this

  The bride is Xiao Yue!

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  Today's first chapter is here, I don't know if everyone likes it. If you feel that this book is okay, please collect and recommend it. After all, the reader's support is the author's motivation, right? In addition, this book is currently participating in the Sanjiang Recommendation Competition, and I hope friends who support this book can go vote for it. Ling Tian doesn't want to lose too badly either!