Chapter Twelve: Plans Under the Lamp

  Whether to go north to Jilin or south to Guan, she was torn. Chen An drooped her head and kept tugging at her hair with her hand. A gentle breeze blew by, causing the flame on the oil lamp to flicker repeatedly.

  Mr. Chen and Mr. Lin, who had been discussing all night, were also deep in thought, unsure of what to do next. Liu Guan went to the kitchen to prepare a midnight snack. Lin Yushan and Hu Zi sat on one side, pretending to study the map spread out on the table, but actually discussing what to eat for their midnight snack. Liu Shi led his men to patrol around the villa, after all, it was not their own territory, and they could hide the name of Chenjiazhuang, so they had to be careful not to let any unscrupulous people sneak in.

  The map was a Qing dynasty nationwide map that Zhang Guan had secretly obtained from the city of Fengtian, although it was still full of loopholes and barely usable. This was a controlled item, and Zhang Guan had only managed to get one copy, which he reluctantly gave to Chen An.

  The three northeastern provinces are either under the control of Russia or Japan, which is already certain. The imperial court's control over the three eastern provinces and its weakness, however, whether it is Russia or Japan, both want to eliminate Chenjiazhuang as soon as possible, naturally there is no opportunity for Chen An to develop and grow.

  The eighteen provinces within the Great Wall are where the Han people originated, and the imperial court's control is extremely strict. Not only are they unfamiliar with the local conditions, but they also have to give up their ancestral home in Liaodong, which is really a bit unbearable. The border areas lack sufficient Han population, making it difficult for them to stand firm.

  Early tomorrow morning, we need to inform the people of Chenjiazhuang to relocate, but now the final destination has not been determined yet. It's really difficult. Chen An looked at the map on the table with some speechlessness.

  The lanterns flickered and appeared, changing into different shapes on the map. Chen An's heart moved as he looked at the map, suddenly pointing to a place that had just been flashed by the lanterns, saying somewhat uncertainly, "Old man, will this place do?"

  Mr. Chen was taken aback by the words, turned his head to look at the map again, but couldn't say a word for half a moment. Mr. Lin looked at where Chen An pointed, with some thought.

  At this time, Liu Guan's family came in, holding a tray with several bowls of scallion and meat noodles, several oil flowers bursting out endless fragrance, and an upside-down golden荷包蛋. Lin Yushan and Hu Zi cheered and immediately got up to welcome him, taking the tray.

  Mr. Chen took over a bowl of noodles with ease, but didn't move his chopsticks, and instead asked Liu, the housekeeper, "What else do we have at home?"

  "Ancestral home?" Lü Guānjiā was also stunned, and immediately thought carefully for a moment. "All the land, fields, and mountains that could be sold have been sold. Only the old house hasn't been sold, it's been kept to pay respects to our ancestors from time to time. Oh, and there are also several barren hills behind the old house, nothing can be grown on them, no one wants them, so they've been preserved as well."

  After recalling carefully, it's been some time, Liu Guan's family continued to say, "At that time, we were in a hurry to come to Liaodong, and most of the things were sold or given directly to our original tenants. The old house was arranged for my cousin's family to take care of, and everyone else dispersed."

  "Must I go back again?" Old Mr. Chen murmured softly to himself, as if recalling memories of the past.

  Lin Yushan, who was about to eat a midnight snack, suddenly felt the atmosphere turn cold and couldn't help but feel surprised. He quickly looked in the direction Chen An was pointing and saw that it was Gansu Longnan.

  Gansu Longnan? Lin Yushan somewhat understood, that was Chen An's hometown. Although Chen An's memory was vague, it was the place where Old Man Chen grew up, and he naturally had a lot of feelings.

  Old Mr. Chen encountered the Hui rebellion in Northwest China when he was young, and the unarmed Han people were slaughtered, with almost entire villages and counties being wiped out. During the Tongzhi period, a Hui rebellion broke out in Northwest China, resulting in approximately 20 million Han people being killed in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

  In the Hui rebel "18th camp", the most ferocious was Bai Yantiger of Shaanxi, who not only massacred a large number of Han civilians but also attempted to excavate the ancestral tomb of the Yellow Emperor. Zuo Zongtang, the commander-in-chief of the Left Army, was enraged when he received the news and ordered that Bai's troops be "rejected for surrender and executed immediately".

  Bai Yantiger was too fierce in Shaanxi, and was pursued to the death by the Qing army and local Han people's militia. He rushed all the way into Gansu, killing Han people along the way while fleeing towards Xinjiang. The Shaanxi Muslim Rebellion thus quickly spread to Gansu.

  The Hui people of Gansu did not slaughter the Han people in their neighborhood, but instead killed those who were passing through from Shaanxi. As a result, some local Han people were left to be slaughtered by the Shaanxi rebels. Because there were no local Hui people to guide them, the Shaanxi rebels inevitably missed some Han people when they were exterminating the Han people in Gansu. It was precisely because of this that Mr. and Mrs. Chen managed to escape into the vast and continuous mountains when everyone else in the village had been killed.

  Shouldering a deep hatred and blood feud, Old Master Chen joined the Zuo Junmen's troops, pursuing and killing Bai Yantiger's rebel army all the way to the Xinjiang border, until Bai Yantiger fled in disarray to the Russians, before being forced to stop the pursuit. After garrisoning in Xinjiang for over a decade, Old Master Chen retired from his armor and returned home to start a family and establish a career.

  Later, when Chen An was born, his mother died due to a difficult labor. Chen Laoye, who missed his wife dearly, did not want to stay in their old home anymore and decided to disband the estate. Taking advantage of the imperial court's lifting of the ban on opening up the northeast, he set off for Liaodong. Unexpectedly, the Gan army later moved to the capital, and within a few years, they were forced to disband again. A group of old brothers naturally went to Chen Laoye, who was not far from the capital.

  "All right, it's been over a decade since I last returned to my hometown." Old Man Chen muttered to himself with his eyes closed.

  "Is Gansu as free and easy for us as it is now?" Mr. Lin asked with some doubt.

  Chen An often heard the old man talk about his hometown, "Gansu is known as one of the eighteen provinces in the pass, but it has always been a place where the imperial court's supervision is weak. It's almost like a border region. Not only are the people fierce, but the government is also weak. Many officials even consider being an official in Gansu as a form of self-exile. Corruption is rampant and they don't care about worldly affairs."

  "Is it a chicken rib?" Lin Yushan couldn't help but laugh after watching a scene from the Three Kingdoms.

  Unexpectedly, Old Man Chen nodded, "The imperial court indeed treated Gansu as a disposable chicken rib. After all, it's not their place of dragon rising, but the ancestral land of us Han people. In those years, first there was the Shaanxi-Gansu Muslim Rebellion, then the Xinjiang unrest, and the imperial court even had people propose abandoning Gansu multiple times."

  Chen An was very straightforward. "Since going north or south is not feasible, let's head west instead. The Japanese and Russians may have long arms, but it's impossible for them to reach Gansu."

  Liu Guan's family reminded, "From here to Longnan is at least 5,000 miles away, with so many people, it can't be walked in a few months."

  After some deliberation, Chen An said, "We'll divide into two groups. One group will be led by me to attract the attention of the Japanese and then take the grassland trade route via Yulin to Gansu, while the other group takes the Guannei postal road to Gansu to gain time. For those taking the Guannei route, we'll use the merchant team method, dividing into three or four teams departing at different times to reduce our target profile. We'll have Zhang Dage open up a path for us. Liu Guan's family will send someone back home immediately to start stockpiling grain."

  "Why don't we go together?" Mr. Lin was puzzled.

  Chen An shook his head, "The Japanese will follow close behind, no one can escape. Someone must lure them away."

  The old man finally made up his mind, "Let's go back to our hometown, we can buy grain and grass on the way. We'll also ask Zhang Guan to send over a batch of horse-drawn carriages, that will be enough. Tomorrow morning, we'll inform all the people in Chenjiazhuang village to decide for themselves whether to follow us back to our hometown or disperse into Fengtian City. For those who are unwilling to return to Gansu, we'll give them a severance pay."

  Everyone was silent, thousands of miles away, exile is nothing more than this.

  The next morning, just as they were about to mobilize the Chenjiazhuang tenants for a second relocation, Scout Captain Zhao Si burst in with the latest news from Xinmin City.

  The Russians have started another fight with the Japanese at the Sha River.

  The Russians, unwilling to accept defeat, hastily decided to launch a counterattack against the Japanese on the Sha River line. Along the 60-kilometer front of the Sha River, cannons roared and shouts shook the sky. The low-quality Russian army and the tactically rigid Japanese army fought each other fiercely, with soldiers from both sides dying and getting injured in the crazy artillery fire and machine gun sweeps.

  Chen An immediately realized that before the end of the battle, the Japanese had no time to look for trouble with him.

  The relocation work of Chenjiazhuang slowed down immediately, and the formation and withdrawal of the merchant team were carried out in an orderly manner, preparing to bring more abundant materials. Only a few native Northeastern tenants chose to stay behind, and most people were preparing to go to Gansu, so the migration team was very large, fortunately, there was more preparation time.

  Chen An withdrew fifty men from the Zhuang Ding team and formed a decoy team, with each person having two horses and bringing more than ten four-wheeled horse-drawn carriages. Although they didn't know why Young Master wanted to waste the load on the carriage without loading it full of grain and hay, but instead brought a lot of metal ore, everyone still followed orders.

  Among them were four horse-drawn carriages loaded with four Maxim heavy machine guns and a full load of ammunition.

  After using the machine gun for a period of time, Chen An felt that the Maxim machine gun was still better to use, because its sustained firepower was significantly better than the Hotchkiss machine gun. Taking advantage of several days' time, Chen An secretly assembled three Maxim machine guns, while the Hotchkiss machine gun sent by the Japanese was given to Zhang Guan's patrol battalion.

  The Russians, who seemed to have the upper hand, were unexpectedly incompetent and lost their momentum in just over a dozen days, being defeated by the Japanese and retreating in disarray to defensive positions north of the Sha River. However, the Japanese also exhausted their ammunition and lacked sufficient troops, losing the ability to continue attacking.

  Chen An led Liu Shi and several others to scout out the terrain around the village, preparing to clash with the Japanese first. The Russians having been defeated again, the Japanese would surely come looking for Chen An's trouble.

  Soon, news came again from Xinmin's side that Zhang Guan's team still had some infiltration into the Japanese. Lieutenant Kuribayashi Yasuhide was an intelligence officer, although he had no military power in his hands, but his power was great, and he suddenly mobilized the elite troops of the Akishima detachment who had retreated from the battlefield to rest and replenish. Originally, there were about two battalions of troops, although they suffered heavy casualties on the Shahe battlefield, leaving only six or seven hundred people, but it was not something that Chen An's dozens of men could contend with.