Chapter 52: Entering the Tiger's Den and Pulling Out Teeth

  In the camp, Li Zhen sat at the head of the rectangular conference table, with Huang Shi Hai and Yang Ban Hou on his left, and Huang Hu and Lan Wei Wen on his right. For now, there were only these four people under Li Zhen's command, and Lan Wei Wen was just recently recruited and had not fully submitted to him. Li Zhen's strength still seemed very weak.

  Li Zhen said: "The foreigners' affair is settled, next we will attack Shanghai."

  "Sir, it's going to be difficult for you not to let the foreigners intervene in Shanghai. There are cannons in the military camp, but they're all rusty. Without enough firepower to blast open the city gate of Shanghai, it's hard to capture the city. With just over 900 soldiers you brought, even climbing up the city wall is a bit difficult, what do you plan to do?"

  Yang Banhou anxiously asked: "General, is there a good plan?"

  General, your strategic mind is exceptional. With just a slight movement of the brain, you will come up with a way to break into Shanghai. More than 900 soldiers armed with foreign guns will surely defeat the small knife-wielding troops.

  Li Zhenxiang said: "There is indeed a way, but we must enter the tiger's lair and sneak into the city."

  Huang Shi Hai said in a low voice: "Sir, your meaning is to capture the thief and capture the king, go into the city to deal with Liu Li Chuan."

  "Yes, I was thinking of doing just that."

  Li Zhen appreciated Huang Shi Hai's gaze and felt that Huang Shi Hai was worth cultivating.

  Huang Shi Hai furrowed his brow, and his expression suddenly turned gloomy. "Sir, let's not mention whether we can kill Liu Li Chuan or not," he said. "Just considering the tall city walls of Shanghai County, there are countless guards on the wall, making it extremely difficult to sneak into the city. Even if we manage to sneak in, Liu Li Chuan must have bodyguards protecting him, and as a member of the Tiandihui and a martial artist himself, he has combat skills."

  After a pause, Huang Shi Hai continued: "Most importantly, Liu Li Chuan is surrounded by people from the Temple Gang, Tangqiao Gang and Bai Long Party. All of these people are skilled in martial arts, making it extremely difficult to assassinate Liu Li Chuan."

  Before coming to Shanghai, Huang Shi-hai had sent someone to investigate and was quite familiar with the Small Swords Society.

  Li Zhen said: "Shi Hai, your thinking is always focused on close combat, and you haven't broadened your horizons. With a sniper rifle, we have a buffer zone, and after shooting the enemy, we can withdraw calmly. Moreover, when the bullet is fired, no matter if it's Jin Zhongzhao or Tie Buxin, no matter what kind of martial arts they practice, no matter how high their skills are, one bullet is enough to kill someone with exceptional martial arts skills."

  Huang Shi Hai said: "Even so, you can't take risks with your own life."

  Li Zhen smiled and said: "I'm just a small general, not a precious body, why can't I take risks? As long as we can take down Shanghai, we can act."

  Yang Banhou said: "Sir, I will follow you into the city."

  Li Zhen nodded and ordered, "This time, I'll take Ban Hou and ten of the strongest soldiers from the Sharp Blade Special Forces to enter the city. We'll start our operation after nightfall. Once inside, we'll hunt down and kill the key figures of the Small Knife Society one by one, leaving them leaderless and in disarray. Shi Hai, you're familiar with military affairs, so you can keep the soldiers in the camp under control and guard the camp with Huang Hu."

  Huang Shi Hai glanced at Lan Wei Wen beside him and directly agreed.

  After a pause, Huang Shi Hai asked: "General, after you killed Liu Liuchuan and others, the Small Knife will be headless. Once the situation in the city becomes chaotic, it's time to launch an attack. But we are outside the city and cannot know the situation inside the city, how can we determine?"

  Li Zhen thought for a moment and said: "If I complete the task, I will fire three shots in a row, with an interval of one minute between each shot."

  "One minute?"

  Huang Shi Hai blinked his eyes, a head full of fog.

  Li Zhen saw Huang Shi Hai's expression and only then realized that Huang Shi Hai had never come into contact with a clock. At this point, Li Zhen took out the pocket watch Ma Si had given him from his bosom and handed it to Huang Shi Hai, pointing at the second hand on the watch and slowly saying: "When you hear gunfire in the city, look at the position of the longest needle. When it has rotated one circle, that is one minute. After two circles, that is two minutes. So keep an eye on the position of the second hand, wait for it to rotate one circle, then listen again for the gunfire, and you can almost determine the time."

  Huang Shi Hai suddenly enlightened, said: "I understand now."

  Li Zhen said, "I'll lead the troops to infiltrate the city, and we will definitely kill many people with guns. At first, you don't need to pay attention to the sound of gunfire. For your convenience, I'll give you a specific time. On the first day, you can ignore the sound of gunfire, but on the second day, when you hear the sound again, that's when you should take action. If there is an interval of one minute between the two sounds, then we can confirm the time to attack the city."

  Huang Shi Hai nodded frequently, then carefully put the pocket watch in his bosom.

  This pocket watch was given by Ma Si to Li Zhen, Huang Shi Hai knew it was very precious and didn't dare to be careless. After the plan was finalized, Li Zhen got up and went to the military camp of the Dagger Special Forces. The soldiers of the Dagger Special Forces are now well-read and can recognize characters. Plus, the soldiers of the Dagger Special Forces are all elite men, which also laid a foundation.

  Although no training has been conducted so far, Li Zhen had no choice but to rush the ducks onto the shelves.

  After the foundation is solidified, there will be time for special training.

  Ten soldiers were easily picked out. As soon as they heard that they would follow Li Zhen to sneak into Shanghai for a mission, not only were they not afraid at all, but they were extremely excited.

  In the afternoon, Li Zhen let Huang Shi-hai send someone to measure the blind spots of the Shanghai City Wall.

  With the blind spot, Li Zhencai had a chance to climb.

  The soldiers sent to gather information only took an hour to discover eight blind spots on the city wall, all of which could be easily infiltrated. From this, it can be seen that although Xiaodao's forces were vast and powerful, there were actually few people who truly understood military strategy, otherwise they would not have left so many blind spots behind.

  After nightfall, the sky darkened.

  It's already late October and soon it will be November.

  The weather is cold and the night is as black as ink.

  Li Zhen, Yang Banhou and the ten dagger special forces soldiers were all wearing cotton-padded jackets with black night-traveling clothes on top, their faces covered as they marched forward. Moreover, Li Zhen also had everyone carry a red headscarf and ordinary coarse hemp clothing. Because those who knew how to use daggers had an obvious mark, the soldiers wrapped their heads in red cloth.

  Li Zhen led his men into the city to prepare for action, and changing clothes was necessary.

  Under the dark night sky, the city tower flickered with a faint light, barely visible.

  Li Zhen, Yang Banhou and others stood under the city wall. The castle tower above this place was a curved dead angle with no soldiers guarding it. Li Zhen took out a thick rope from his waist, which was a special climbing hook rope. As long as the sharp iron hook was thrown onto the castle tower, grasping the edge of the city wall firmly, they could climb up to the castle tower.

  "Li Zhen said in a low voice, "Ban Hou, you and the others wait at the foot of the city. I'll go up to scout out the situation, then I'll whistle from above, and you can come up."

  "You will understand eventually."

  Yang Banhou responded with a single word and solemnly nodded his head.

  PS: The third update of six updates