Chapter Thirteen Base Area

  "Bang!" Zhao Xiaofeng's bullet had knocked the handgun out of Ye Ma's hand, startling the two concubines next to him into screaming "Ah! Ah!"

  "Shut up!" Zhao Xiao Feng's two soldiers rushed forward and kicked each of the two concubines, while another person had already tied up the stunned Wild Horse.

  Zhao Xiaofeng did not expect things to go so smoothly! Before long, the gunfire stopped.

  "Report to Commander!" Ah Lang appeared in front of Zhao Xiao Feng.

  "Speak!" Zhao Xiaofeng stared at the paralyzed Wild Horse.

  "All rebels have been executed! Cao Cao is taking stock of supplies and guarding the surrendered!" Ah Wolf exclaimed.

  "How are our casualties?" Zhao Xiaofeng adjusted his mindset and prepared himself for the pressure in his heart.

  "Commander! Not a single one of us has been sacrificed, only one soldier was ambushed and slightly injured!" Ah Lang shouted.

  "Great! Great! Great!" Zhao Xiaofeng was so excited that he almost jumped up, this means that his development goals were not wrong! The elite route was not wrong!

  "But 'Wild Horse' had already collapsed completely upon hearing this! He immediately stammered and said: "Hero! Whatever you want, just say it! As long as you spare my life!"

  "Hmph!" Zhao Xiao Feng coldly snorted: "You've done so many bad things, guess if I can spare you now?"

  "Spare his life!"

  "Where is your money hidden?"

  "Right at..."

  "The wild horse" had already become a dead pig, and he immediately cooperated very well to hand over all the real estate, houses, including the million-dollar deposit in Fengtian City.

  Zhao Xiaofeng was collecting supplies, silver and weapons on the one hand, and carrying out a large-scale propaganda campaign in the front slope and even the entire mountainous area on the other. The purpose of this campaign was to overthrow local despots and distribute land! As a result, people from nearby villages dozens of miles away came to see the outcome of that "wild horse", but they didn't even dare hope to get a piece of land for themselves, because in their minds, who would be so foolish as to give land to poor people?

  Three days later, the mass criticism and denunciation rally was held in Qianpo Village. Looking at the dense crowd on the field, Zhao Xiaofeng was extremely excited. He had not expected so many people to come!

  Since this battle, Zhao Xiaofeng's name has been spread all over the countryside, and Zhao Xiaofeng successfully held this criticism meeting, all thanks to Pu Ye's strategy.

  Many poor people got land, Zhao Xiaofeng had only one requirement, that is to ask them to widely plant high-yielding crops such as potatoes and corn, and to ask them to hand over 20% of the harvest to the "Northeast Anti-Japanese Army".

  This demand is simply unimaginable for those impoverished farmers! No landlord would be satisfied with such a small amount of grain, and the "Wild Horse" had already collected 80% of the grain. Although everyone was suspicious, when they saw the "Wild Horse" being taken out to be executed, they all believed it!

  These Northeasterners are emotional people, in order to support the development of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Army, many of them sent their sons to the recruitment office opened by Pu Yi, what they did not expect was that each soldier would receive twenty taels of silver as a settlement fee, these twenty taels of silver for these poor farmers, that is several years' worth of living expenses for the whole family!

  "Big Mountain! Your life has been sold to Commander Zhao! You must remember, whatever Commander Zhao tells you to do, you must do it, understand?" An old woman with white hair instructed her son.

  "Mother! Don't worry! Your son won't bring shame upon you!" The young man guaranteed.

  A man over sixty years old came to sign up, and Master Pu immediately waved his hand and said: "You're too old, you can't be a soldier!"

  "Sir! Although I'm a bit old for being a soldier, can't you make me a general?"

  “……？”

  These scenes are everywhere at the entrance of the recruitment office, exciting and thrilling.

  Zhao Xiaofeng convened the second cadre conference of the Northeast Anti-Japanese Army, still with the original seven people.

  "Hong Shan! Tell me about your harvest." Zhao Xiao Feng asked.

  Hong Shan immediately stood up and saw Zhao Xiaofeng gesturing for him to sit down, so he sat down. Zhao Xiaofeng's majesty had already deeply imprinted itself in their minds.

  "Commander! The Japanese side has already sent a message, the 10 sniper rifles and 100,000 bullets I requested have been approved, they may arrive in Northeast China in half a month. But these days our movements have been too big, the Japanese have already received the news, that is to say, they want me to find a way to win you over, now they simply do not know that we are one gang!" Hong Shan said proudly.

  "Oh!" Zhao Xiaofeng said in surprise: "How did you plan to bring so much equipment?"

  "Haha!" Hong Shan said with a embarrassed smile: "I told the Japanese that I would sweep away all the bandit forces in the nearby area and listen to their dispatch. So they expressed their willingness to fully support me! They also said that after a while, they will equip me with a batch of grenade launchers, machine guns and mortars!"

  "Good!" Zhao Xiaofeng patted the table and said: "Well done! Hongshan, your contribution is the greatest this time! However..." Zhao Xiaofeng lowered his head to think.

  Everyone quietly watched Zhao Xiao Feng, no one knew what he was thinking. Suddenly, Zhao Xiao Feng raised his head and smiled: "This time we will surely make the Japanese pay a double price!"

  "What does it mean, Commander?" Zhong Batian asked in surprise.

  "Haha!" Zhao Xiao Feng laughed and said: "We can turn the tables on them! Hong Shan and Zhong Ba Tian, you two lead the anti-Japanese army back to Yan Wang Village immediately, and start planning to clean up all the small bandits in the nearby area. Make a big show of it so that the Japanese believe you, and then ask for more weapons, ammunition, and silver from them. As for us, we'll set up camp on this hillside, first to recruit and train new soldiers; second to establish our base, our headquarters, and third to massively recruit workers to start mass-producing instant noodles. After all, we now have plenty of money and food."

  "Good! Good!" The crowd cheered in unison, and Zhong Baitian exclaimed with joy: "From now on, we can use the Japanese people's own weapons to strike at the Japanese! Haha! What a brilliant commander!"

  "Be careful! From now on, we should have less contact with each other, and don't let the Japanese discover any problems!" Zhao Xiaofeng warned.

  "Don't worry! This time I will definitely eliminate all the bandits around!" Zhong Batian shouted.

  "Impossible!" Zhao Xiao Feng waved his hand and said, "No matter what they say, they are still Chinese. We can persuade those who can be persuaded to surrender, then select the elite ones and send them all to Hei Long Zhai for Ah Lang and Pu Ye to train!"

  "Commander! Who will handle the conscription matter?"

  "It's me!" Zhao Xiao Feng replied.

  "What?" Everyone looked at Zhao Xiaofeng in surprise, a commander actually going to recruit soldiers personally? "I'll go!" said Cao Fei.

  Zhao Xiaofeng shook his head and said: "Your responsibility is to train the soldiers well for me, and build good defensive fortifications for the base!"

  "Ah!……" Just as Pu Ye was about to speak, Zhao Xiao Feng smiled and said: "My eyes are very useful, if it's a talented person I will definitely keep them, if it's a spy I will definitely discover them in advance. Besides, I will ask Ah Cai and Ah Wang to assist me!"

  "Yes!" Everyone nodded immediately.

  "What about our supplies now?" Zhao Xiao Feng asked.

  "Commander! Our storage is almost full! Why are you still spending a lot of money to buy so many medicines and food?" asked Pu Ye in puzzlement.

  "Haha! The heavenly machine must not be revealed!" Zhao Xiao Feng knew that if he told them now that the Japanese were about to launch an aggressive war, they would definitely not believe him. So he could only secretly make a fortune and remind himself to prepare ahead of time.

  "There aren't many Little Japanese stationed in our Northeast, why don't we send out a small troop to harass them and kill their morale?" Ah Lang said fiercely.

  "Right!" The mountain cat also spoke: "This way, we can train our soldiers' battlefield experience and strike the Japanese while supplementing our equipment!"

  "Nonsense!" Zhao Xiao Feng knew that Shi Li wanted to avenge his wife and son's tragic death, so he immediately explained: "Not now! We can't create an excuse for the Japanese to start a war. You must calm down, there will be many more fierce battles waiting for you to fight in the future. This time, remember, you must select a batch of marksmen with 100% accuracy for me!"

  "Yes!" Ah Lang immediately took orders, Zhao Xiao Feng's words were imperial decrees, and he had no choice but to obey unconditionally.

  "How's our military uniform coming along?" Zhao Xiao Feng asked.

  The mountain cat immediately replied, "I've already spent a lot of money, many workshops have moved to our front slope and are sewing clothes for us day and night. I think within ten days, we can start sending them out!"

  "Alright! It must be sent out before New Year's!" Zhao Xiao Feng commanded.

  "Yes!" The mountain cat replied and continued: "Commander! Many doctors are unwilling to come to our front slope, now we have only invited three doctors! And none of them are very famous."

  "This!" Zhao Xiao Feng fell silent for a moment, then said: "This matter should not be rushed, let's take it slow, have the people sent to search for talent all departed?" Zhao Xiao Feng turned his head to ask Cao Shang Fei.

  Cao Fei immediately replied: "Commander, the five people you mentioned are all in relatively remote areas, it's very troublesome to find them, but I've already sent someone out, and they may not be back for a month or two!"

  "This is not a problem, the key is how to invite them to come to the front slope!" Zhao Xiao Feng nodded. He had studied it long ago, and without a great general or talented people, it would be difficult to continue developing, and relying solely on himself would definitely not work. So he selected five Northeast Anti-Japanese heroes from that memoir of resistance against Japan, and ordered his subordinates to carry large sums of money to go and invite them, although it was not certain whether they would succeed, but at least it was better than sitting at home waiting for a pie to fall from the sky!

  Those five people are:

  1. Chen Han Zhang from Dunhua, Jilin;

  2. Ma Zi Dan from Yi County;

  3. Zhang Hai Tian from Jiutai Village, Gaolifang Town, Tai'an County, now a bandit in the mountains with the nickname "Old North Wind";

  4. Sun Yao Zu from Qingyuan, currently principal of Xingjing County Normal Elementary School;

  5. Wang Guang Yu from Dehui County.

  Zhao Xiaofeng knew that if he could get the help of these anti-Japanese heroes, his team would quickly develop! He wasn't unwilling to poach from the Nationalist Party and **, it's just that they were too far away, and how could those famous generals listen to the orders of this young whippersnapper now? So, he set his sights on this battlefield during the war of resistance, which was filled with gunpowder everywhere.