Chapter 9: Plans and Schemes

  Kaoshan Village is adjacent to the main road leading to Tieling Heilongjiang, surrounded by mountains on three sides. The village stretches for over a hundred miles from north to south, and travelers often stop here to rest and have a snack. Compared to some remote small towns, this village has a more lively atmosphere.

  In Tunzi Village, apart from the hundred or so households that live there all year round, there are also several wine shops, inns and grocery stores. With many people and goods, it is inevitable that they become a target for bandits.

  According to Gou Dan, the grocery stores and inns inside the village were all run by Japanese people. The bandits who entered the village basically didn't dare to touch those two shops, but instead targeted the native residents' homes that had daughters or young wives. It's said that several times, the banditry was actually caused by the Japanese merchants from those two shops intentionally provoking revenge after getting into verbal conflicts with the native residents of the village.

  After learning about the situation, Li Ruofeng's determination to eradicate Hei Hu Village grew stronger, and he also considered whether it was necessary to eliminate the two obvious Guandong Army informants in Kaishan Village.

  The bandits of Hei Hu Village didn't seem to care about Liu Heiqi, the third master, chasing a little kid, and nothing had ever happened at Kao Shan Tun's pottery kiln either. As a result, not even a single lookout was arranged, and over a dozen people were scattered around in groups of three or five, each finding their own fun.

  At the fork in the road about a hundred meters from Tunzi Kou, Li Ruofeng and his party of four dismounted and fanned out in a fan-shaped formation, with Biaozi at the forefront, guns at the ready, using the terrain as cover to sneak into Tunzi.

  The bandits didn't kill or set fires in the village, but they still made the whole village a mess, with women screaming amidst the bandits' loud laughter.

  The four of them split into two groups, with Biaozi and Sihutou in one group, and Li Ruofeng taking Dog Dan, acting separately.

  There was basically no suspense, and there was no fierce resistance. The sparse gunfire did not last long, less than five minutes, and all the bandits who were harming women were solved. Only Li Ruofeng's group left three survivors to further understand the situation of Heihu Village.

  The task of interrogating the captive was entrusted to the Four Tigers. After the battle, Dog Egg took Liu Hei Qi's head to the northwest corner of the village cemetery to pay respects to his relatives.

  The whole village suddenly became as quiet as death, and even the originally madly barking native dogs only let out low growls.

  No one dared to come out and see what had happened.

  At this time, Li Ruofeng appeared at the entrance of a closed grocery store near Tunmen.

  The grocery store was not large, and the lantern hanging under the eaves, emitting a dim red glow, swayed in the north wind.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Li Ruofeng pounded on the door of the shop, and the dull sound drifted through the night sky of Tunzi, making it particularly jarring to the ear, giving people an inexplicable sense of eeriness.

  The shop was first lit by a bright oil lamp, then the door creaked "squeak", a thin and dry old man with white hair and beard, wearing a sheepskin coat appeared at the door.

  "No matter where you're from, it's best to clean up your mess before coming to knock on the door. Otherwise, you'll stir up trouble that you shouldn't have, and that's not a good thing." The thin old man's triangular eyes flashed with a fierce glint, which quickly disappeared as he glanced at Li Ruofeng, who was only showing his eyes, and said in a domineering tone.

  "Laozi has dared to set up a beam with the Black Tiger Fort, so there's no reason to return empty-handed. I heard that this is the richest shop in the whole village, you old thing, do you want money or your life?" Li Ruofeng said in a fierce tone, staring at the thin old man.

  The thin old man was not fooled by Li Ruofeng, and he stuck out his small head to look around the village, "It seems that the more than 20 guns brought by Liu Heiqi of the Black Tiger Fort have been taken care of by you. Why didn't you ask the people from the Black Tiger Fort why no one dared to touch this shop for so many years?"

  "Are you saying that the people of Hei Hu Village are intentionally cheating me?" Li Ruofeng had decided to probe this old man, so he naturally continued to pretend.

  "Hmph! As long as you understand." The old man's tone was even more arrogant than a genuine bandit.

  Li Ruofeng looked at the old man with a puzzled expression, "Damn it, I don't see you as some kind of big shot. If you can't say something that'll make me convinced today, I'll make sure to let you know how many eyes the King of Horses has!"

  "Bah gah ya lu!" The thin old man was scolded by Li Ruofeng until he was dizzy and his eyes rolled back, subconsciously shouting in his native language: "You stupid Shina person, can the dignity of the Great Japanese Empire's Imperial Army also be offended by you lowly bandits?"

  "Japanese?!" Li Ruofeng seemed to be truly frightened and blurted out in surprise.

  "Get out! Scram!" The thin old man bellowed triumphantly.

  "I'll screw your turtle grandson, what's wrong with the Japanese? I killed you little Japanese and what?" Li Ruofeng said, raising his hand to shoot three shots at the old man's chest, cursing as he shot: "You Japanese dwarf dare to show off in front of me, today I'll give you a kill, loot, and burn, damn it!"

  "Is this your home? Are you really doing it?" Biaozi suddenly appeared beside Li Ruofeng, continuing to act for the benefit of certain people hiding in the shadows.

  "You've killed them all, and you still dare to pretend, don't even give me a hand!" Li Ruofeng shouted loudly.

  "Watch out, boss!" Biaozi sneered, gun in hand, as he charged into the grocery store.

  Immediately afterwards, a continuous sound of box explosions came from inside the store, followed by a burst of "ding-dang-clang" sounds of turning over boxes and cabinets.

  An hour later, the four men tied up big and small packages on the captured horses, galloping out of the village, disappearing into the vast night.

  Before long, two figures slipped out of the inn in the village and ran to the grocery store to investigate before returning to the inn.

  Before long, two men on horseback rushed out of the inn's courtyard and galloped out of the village entrance. They split left and right on the main road, one chasing in the direction where Li Ruofeng and his entourage had disappeared, while the other rushed towards Fenyang.

  In a small mountain cave in the northeast direction of Kao Shan Tun, Li Ruofeng and Gou Dan were burying the loot and firearms they had plundered from Kao Shan Tun.

  It was almost 10 o'clock at night when the four tigers and Baozi rushed over from outside the mountain den to meet with Li Ruofeng.

  "Young master, as you expected, someone from the village has gone to report the news." Si Hu said while dismounting his horse.

  "Are you all cleaned up?" Li Ruofeng asked, filling a small cave at the foot of the mountain with soil.

  "Master, rest assured that we'll take care of things." Biaozi replied, "One is to send a message to the Black Tiger Fort and the other is to inform the Guandong Army of the death. We've cleaned up everything and guaranteed that there won't be any loose ends left behind."

  "According to the confession obtained from Si Hu, there is actually a small team of devils who have taken off their military uniforms and are stationed in the village. With this variable, our original plan cannot be carried out. Li Ruofeng's face was solemn as he drew circles on the ground with a small twig in his hand. The devil's squad usually consists of about 50 people, including an infantry squad (two light machine guns), a grenade launcher squad (two grenade launchers) and two rifle squads. Each light machine gun has four personnel (commander, shooter, two deputy shooters carrying ammunition), and each grenade launcher has two personnel. With this firepower configuration, plus nearly 200 bandits, it seems that I underestimated the Black Tiger Village earlier. No wonder they can roam freely in this area of hundreds of miles. Dog Egg, sorry, taking down the Black Tiger Village needs to be planned for a long time."

  "It's nothing, young master. Anyway, I've already avenged my enemy. I knew all along that the Black Tiger Fort was hard to take down, with only a few hundred guns, it's definitely not going to come down." Dog Egg said with a nonchalant expression, munching on a beef pancake while smiling and chuckling.

  "Master, why bother with a full-on attack? Can't we just lure their men out and take them down one by one?" asked Biaozi in confusion.

  "I don't have so much time to waste here now, Fourth Uncle will return to the manor soon and there will definitely be a lot of things waiting for me to deal with at home. Hei Hu Village, heh heh, let it continue to prosper for another year or two!"

  "What do you mean, young master?" asked Si Hu, looking thoughtful.

  "We traveled overnight, and what we did tonight is not a small matter. We must leave the Black Tiger Fort's sphere of influence as soon as possible. When we arrive at Tieling, we'll take the train." Li Ruofeng threw away the broken branch in his hand, made up his mind, turned around to look at Dog Egg and asked: "Dog Egg, you're injured, can you hold on for this overnight journey of several hundred miles?"

  "This little injury is nothing, young master. My life was saved by you and my great revenge was also helped by you. From now on, this humble life of mine belongs to you. Wherever you go, I will follow." Dog Egg said with a firm gaze.

  "Let's rest here for now and eat some dry rations first. Anyway, we can each bring three horses now. Let's set off at 1 am and head to Tieling!"

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  Li Ruofeng might think that the matter he handled in Kaishan Village was nothing, but to Hei Hu Zhai and the Guandong Military Command, this incident became the "Kaishan Village Tragedy".

  The Kwantung Army Headquarters ordered the Heilongjiang Provincial Government to find out which group of bandits dared to provoke the Imperial Japanese Army, while strongly protesting to the Northeastern Provincial Government in Fengtian and taking the opportunity to increase troops from Korea to China. The official reason given was that since the Chinese government could not guarantee the safety of the lives and property of the subjects of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria, the subjects of the Empire of Japan would be protected by the Imperial Japanese Army.

  The protests by Japanese people have tormented the National Government enough.

  Chiang Kai-shek was busy dealing with the three major factions of Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan and Li Zongren at this time, so he naturally kicked the ball to General Zhang.

  Zhang Shaoxiao's father was murdered by the Japanese, and he didn't dare to make a sound. He was even more afraid to raise any objections to the small-scale reinforcements of the Kwantung Army. All he could do was utter a few perfunctory words before ordering the Northeastern Army to launch a new round of bandit-suppressing operations.

  Hei Hu village also strengthened its crackdown on and absorption of surrounding bandit forces due to this incident, rapidly expanding its territory.

  Li Ruofeng's whereabouts suddenly disappeared from Beiping, which further aroused the attention of the Japanese Tokko. They seemed to have sniffed out a hint of unfriendliness in Li Ruofeng's incomprehensible behavior.

  At this time in Nanjing, the Intelligence Analysis Division of the Statistics and Investigation Department of the Central Organization Department.

  A group of high-ranking officials from Zhongtong were discussing a piece of intelligence that had recently been transmitted back from Japan.

  The only female major of the National Army among the agents present was the beautiful driver wearing a duck-tongued cap who followed Itō Masao from Shanghai to Tianjin.

  "With a talent like this, why didn't we have any information about him before?" Chen Lifu, dressed in a crisp suit and looking every inch the gentleman, held a stack of documents in his hand, furrowed his brow and asked the subordinates below him with obvious dissatisfaction at their work efficiency.

  "Director, regarding the files of students who studied in Japan, we are still organizing and have not perfected them yet." A middle-aged man wearing a gray Zhongshan suit sitting to Chen Lifu's left replied while wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief: "We have established files for those students sent by the National Government to study in Japan, but for those who went to study in Japan through other civilian channels, without cooperation from the Japanese government, it is very difficult for us to complete their files."

  "Yebie, as the leader of this group, this intelligence was unearthed by your team. The report says that you once saw this person from afar in Tianjin. What's your impression of him?" Chen Lifu asked, tapping his left hand on the redwood desk and gazing at the beautiful female major wearing a perfectly fitting military uniform across from him.

  Ye Bei took a deep breath, stood up and saluted Chen Lifu, saying in a cautious tone: "Reporting to the director, at that time, I was with Deputy Director Xu, relatively far away, and couldn't hear clearly the conversation between Li Ruofeng and Ito Masao. However, we used our cameras to take clear shots of many details of their meeting. Based on my observation at the time, Li Ruofeng's expression didn't reveal his emotions, and the deepest impression was that he seemed indifferent. His conversation with Ito Masao wasn't long, and Ito Masao's behavior showed that he didn't want to offend him. The two Kwantung Army captains standing behind Ito Masao had obvious expressions of dissatisfaction and indignation. Combining these details, in my personal opinion, the possibility of Li Ruofeng being used by the Japanese is very small. I suggest we try our best to recruit him for the party's use."

  Chen Lifu waved his hand, signaling Ye Bei to sit down. He raised the materials in his hands and spoke expressionlessly: "Graduated from Japan's Army University as an excellent officer, graduated from Waseda University as an excellent bachelor, with majors including military affairs, medicine, mechanics, and chemistry. More importantly, he successively challenged Japan's three most famous swordsmanship schools without a single defeat. Even now, the Japanese consider him a god of war, Chiba Seizo, was also defeated by him. Everyone, I'd like to ask you, do you know why the Japanese strictly blocked the news of Li Ruofeng challenging the three major schools? Do you know how important the political significance hidden behind this is?"

  Looking at the pale faces of his subordinates, Chen Lifu slammed the documents in his hand heavily on the desk and said sternly: "I don't care what method you use, I want to see Li Ruofeng appear in my office as soon as possible!"

  "Yes! Director." The middle-aged elite in the hall stood up and responded in unison.

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