Chapter Ten: The Fox Borrows the Tiger's Might

  On the railway to Qiqihar, a ticket car belonging to the Eastern Railway Branch was running at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour, flying quickly on the Northeast Plain.

  It's not many people who can take the train to travel these days, although they couldn't buy a compartment ticket, but the ordinary carriage that wasn't crowded could still let Li Ruofeng and his three companions sit comfortably.

  Gou Dan, who had never taken a train before, was excited all the way due to his curiosity and freshness, constantly asking Si Hu and Biao Zi questions.

  All the firearms and ammunition that were not portable, as well as the stolen goods, were hidden in a small mountain cave before departure. As for the horses, they were casually disposed of at a horse market near Tieling Station. For this, Dog Egg was worried about his sorrel horse for a long time.

  Li Ruofeng sat by the window, closed the door and cultivated his spirit, without calling out to the four tigers.

  He thought to himself that now Japan's Tokko and the National Government's Zhongtong Teke would definitely be searching for his whereabouts all over the world.

  That night's conversation with Fourth Uncle, although Fourth Uncle didn't say some things later on, Li Ruofeng inferred from Fourth Uncle's character that he was probably not simply related to the Northwestern Army now, and it was even possible that he had already trained a troop of soldiers. What was unknown was how large the scale of this troop was, which general of the Northwestern Army they belonged to, and where their garrison was located.

  The Central Plains War will definitely end with the final victory of President Chiang. The fate of the Northwest Army being divided and reorganized has already been decided. According to Li Ruofeng's understanding of each stage of the Central Plains War, if he helps General Feng come up with a plan, he can definitely make General Feng's defeat less miserable. However, this would inevitably offend President Chiang. In the Republic of China, offending President Chiang is not a good idea, even if you don't plan to work under him, it's better to keep a distance from such a powerful boss.

  "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Uncle, you really helped me out of a difficult situation." Li Ruofeng couldn't help but smile wryly in his heart.

  What made Li Ruofeng feel hesitant was that he still had high hopes for absorbing some of the veteran soldiers from the Northwest Army. Being able to get a troop number and not offending President Chiang would be the best choice.

  It seems that after this trip back home, I must find Fourth Uncle to ask clearly, otherwise this knot in my stomach will be pent up for too long and I'll surely fall ill.

  Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. This is Mao Zedong's famous saying.

  In Li Ruofeng's grand plan, there were many things that he would rather die than let them appear in this world prematurely without the backing of a powerful army.

  You should know that this world has many extremely powerful financial giants, these financial giants control many national machines, they are far more terrifying than ordinary warlords.

  Li Ruofeng was extremely cautious, fearing that his actions would cause the wheels of history to turn in a direction that would render his unique strategic vision useless. He dared not defy his own military and political talents. Without the advantage of foresight, he did not dare think that he could engage in equal combat with the powerful politicians of this era.

  The ignorant are fearless, but he is just the opposite, he knows much more than anyone in this era.

  He was not content to be a silent and unknown traveler in this era, he looked forward to doing something for the suffering Chinese people of this era with his utmost efforts.

  During this period, the National Government invested the most effort in one aspect of its work: capturing Communist Party members.

  At every stop at a station along the way, a group of plainclothes detectives would come on board to inspect each and every carriage.

  These plainclothes detectives are not all decent, the vast majority of them are composed of some local government-organized hooligans and evil forces. These guys can stir up a storm out of thin air, if they take a liking to you, you'll basically be skinned alive.

  However, there were two burly men sitting in the outer seats near the passageway of the box where Li Ruofeng and Gou Dan were, like two door gods. Along the way, Li Ruofeng was still relatively clean and didn't encounter any troublemakers who didn't know how to behave themselves.

  However, before the train reaches its final destination, it's unknown who they might encounter that is even more ruthless than them.

  Changchun is a major stop on this trunk line, with a long stopping time and a large number of passengers getting on and off the train, making it very crowded.

  Li Ruofeng was in this carriage, which was originally empty, but soon after arriving at the station, all the empty seats were filled, and even the aisle of the middle door had passengers who couldn't grab a seat.

  First, two Manchurian gendarmeries with 38-style big caps patrolled the carriage for a round without any trouble. However, the train did not start because the plainclothes detectives of the National Government had not finished their case yet.

  The airtightness of the train compartments in this era is not great. As soon as the train starts moving, the cold wind outside rushes into the necks of people, especially at night when the temperature drops and it's even colder inside the compartment. Therefore, most passengers wear fur hats and scarves, and basically no one can see anyone else's face.

  Li Ruofeng looked out of the car window at the platform outside. There was no blockade outside, and it's estimated that the plainclothes police who will come later should also be a routine affair.

  In the previous rounds of inspection, Li Ruofeng leaned against the corner and closed his eyes to rest, so Sihutou and Biaozi both helped him block the way. Those plainclothes were all mixed up in the Taoist community, they could see that Sihutou and Biaozi were not good people, so they didn't entangle with them too much.

  But this time at Changchun Railway Station, a team of "real party and state cadres" who were very strict about their duties appeared.

  The plainclothes police officers each held a wanted poster with the portrait of a Communist Party member, and they strictly checked every passenger in each train car.

  The team leader was a middle-aged, thin and tall man, wearing a black top hat, with gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, dressed in a black Zhongshan suit, with a Kuomintang party emblem with a blue sky, white sun and red earth hanging on his left chest.

  When it was Li Ruofeng and the four of them in their seats, Biaozi and Si Hu immediately stood up with cold eyes, having long been familiar with this kind of plainclothes style.

  "What's going on? Want to rebel?" A thin, monkey-like plainclothes fox in a tiger's skin shouted at Biaozi and Si Biao.

  "There's no one here you're looking for, so be on your way and don't disturb our young master." Si Biao said calmly.

  "Damn it! You say you don't have it, and you think you're who?!" The plainclothes cop got even more agitated, calling out to the other plainclothes cops to gather around. "Brothers, take a look, do these few look like Communist Party suspects or not?"

  "You son of a bitch, you dare to be foul-mouthed again?" Biaozi was not as easy-going as Sihou, he glared with his cow-like eyes, "Don't think that just because you've put on a dog skin, you can be insolent! Believe it or not, I'll slap you to death, you big tobacco ghost!"

  For a moment, the attention of the entire carriage was focused on this, and the passengers who had just been harassed by these hooligans were whispering to each other, but no one dared to follow suit.

  "Damn it, I've seen arrogant ones before, but never one as reckless as this!" A burly plainclothes officer with a thick beard next to the thin monkey immediately pulled out his gun and pointed it at Biaozi's head, "Take all of you damn people away, let's go!"

  "Who are you trying to scare, Sunzi?" Biaozi showed no weakness, his hands sank and flipped again, two identical box-shaped guns appeared in his hands, one pressed against the chin of the tall plainclothes cop, the other pressed against the forehead of the thin monkey-like plainclothes cop. "Want to try who can draw their gun faster?"

  The four tigers didn't hesitate either, and they also pulled out their double guns, looking at the posture, it seemed that they could start a fight at any time.

  "No, no, no...... Brother, there's something to say......" The thin monkey was frightened and stuttered.

  "Don't you think you're provoking the prestige of the National Government?" The leader, a man wearing a bowler hat and the head of the secret service, gestured to his subordinates who were blocking the way to step aside, and he walked out of the crowd, his eagle eyes half-closed as he sneered at Biaozi.

  "The road is wide, each walks on one side. You catch your suspects, we sit in our car. If you want to bully the weak, you've found the wrong target." The four tigers replied calmly with a cold smile.

  "Hmph! Look at you few, even if you're not Communist Party members, I'm afraid you're also habitual bandits who know no bounds!" The head of the secret service apparently didn't want to show weakness. "Just this one point of privately storing firearms can make you pay a price."

  "Whether or not to privately store firearms is not up to you to decide." Li Ruofeng, seeing this scene, knew he couldn't stay out of it. He slowly pulled down his collar, revealing a knife-sharp and cold face, and said calmly: "The guns in the hands of these two subordinates of mine all have permits issued by the National Government."

  The head of the special agent stared at Li Ruofeng for a while, then waved his hand to signal his plainclothes men to put away their guns. "Brother He Zhibiao, Chief of the Second Division of the First Brigade of the Statistical Investigation Department of the Central Organization Department of the Republic of China, what is your identity and how should I address you?"

  Li Ruofeng's expression changed slightly as he heard the words, and he also waved his hand to signal the four tigers and Biaozi to put away their guns. He replied in a lukewarm tone: "As a humble citizen, I won't bother Commander Ge to remember me. Since Commander Ge is a key member of the National Government's Central Organization Department's Statistics and Investigation Section, I hope that in the future when performing official duties, you will consider the image of the party and the country. Although it can't be said that we are doing it for Mr. Lifu's sake, at least we shouldn't make him lose face!"

  Li Ruofeng's ambiguous words really left He Zhibiao at a loss for a while.

  Li Ruofeng said this with some consideration. Because he estimated that in the future, it would be inevitable to deal with people from Zhongtong, so he might as well take advantage of Chen Lifu's prestige to intimidate these annoying guys first.

  As expected, as soon as he heard the four words "Mr. Lifu", Captain He's face changed slightly, and he looked at Li Ruofeng again with a deep gaze, as if he had suddenly understood something. With a self-satisfied smile all over his face, he said: "The dragon king temple was washed away by the flood, it's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding! You and our Director Chen are..."

  He said Director Chen's three words and He Zhibiao rushed to the south, clasped his fists and bowed.

  "It won't be long before Captain He knows my background. Captain He, we won't interfere with your work anymore, what do you mean?" Li Ruofeng didn't plan to hide his whereabouts from the Central Bureau people, and since Si Hu and Biaozi had caused this trouble, he might as well use Captain He to inform the Central Bureau people of his whereabouts. Because he believed that it wouldn't be long before the Central Bureau people would mobilize the entire system's power to track him down.

  "Excuse me, excuse me, I'm afraid we've disturbed you. If we've offended you in any way, please forgive us." He Zhibiao summed up Li Ruofeng's previous response and the arrogance of his two subordinates, and defined the young man with an extraordinary temperament who couldn't tell what was going on: he must be a big shot, better not to offend him.

  He Zhibiao's decision was indeed correct, and this conflict also earned him a small credit on the Zhongtong merit list. This is a later story, and will not be mentioned for now.

  After the commotion, the plainclothesmen didn't make any more trouble in the carriage. They went through the motions and got off at the next stop, then signaled to the stationmaster on the platform to wave his lantern and indicate for the train to depart.

  As the locomotive's head spewed out a steam like flying clouds and driving mists, the train slowly started.

  He Shengbiao stared at the accelerating train, his mind constantly replaying the encounter with Li Ruofeng. The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt. It wasn't until he remembered that he hadn't even been shown a basic gun permit that he began to suspect he had been deceived.

  But these days you can buy all sorts of medicine, just no regret medicine.

  Watching the train that had only a little tail left, He Zhibiao could only hatefully stomp his feet and scold a few times, shaking his head in defeat.