Chapter Sixteen: The Guest at the Inn

  More than 40 men and horses rushed over in a chaotic manner, shouting and yelling non-stop, without any knowledge of tactics or formation, not even the most basic scattered line charge.

  The tiger cub, lying on the slightly higher right side, narrowed its eyes and sized up the situation, shaking its head and muttering to itself: if it fired the Markov heavy machine gun now, would it knock down half of them at once, or could it take out two-thirds.

  Chen An also furrowed his brow, how could it be so chaotic? Is this the famous Shaanxi knife guest? Seeing that the knife guests were about 100 meters away, he held up a water pearl and directly fired three shots into the sky, scaring everyone first.

  Whoosh! The Chen family's men, who had been hiding beside, suddenly emerged and formed a semicircle. More than 40 long guns pointed directly at the knife guest. Hu Zi pulled the trigger, "Dadada, dadada" firing several rounds in a row, shooting up dust and debris tens of meters in front of the knife guest.

  Never having seen such a powerful swordsmen, they were shocked and lost their color. At first, one was stunned, then almost exploded the camp, people and horses overturned, in a sorry state. The front ones pulled the reins tightly, the back ones stupidly crashed into them, those on the side trembled and retreated, some directly fell off their horses, a burst of mournful cries.

  The tiger cub put down the trigger, moved the muzzle of the gun immediately, and fired a few shots at the rear of the cavalry team dozens of meters away.

  The knife guests were suddenly frightened, neither forward nor backward. Their faces turned pale, and the originally tough knife guests also started to tremble a little, and several people couldn't hold the reins tightly, and accidentally fell off their horses.

  Chen An shouted loudly, "Dismount and drop your sword."

  The knife guests did not react.

  Chen An immediately patted the willow stone. The willow stone raised his gun and fired three shots, and the three horses with gunshot wounds on their foreheads fell to the ground with a sad whinny, and the knife guests on the horse were caught off guard and fell to the ground.

  The bandits were intimidated and soon some of them dismounted, with someone taking the lead. The bandits were afraid they wouldn't be able to surrender in time, so they hastily dismounted, threw down their swords, and kowtowed.

  Chen An shouted again, "Take thirty steps forward, then squat down with your hands on your head."

  Apart from a few knife-wielding men who fell off their horses and were unable to get up, the others obediently lay down in front.

  Chen An immediately sent someone to pull open the horse group, then used the muzzle of a gun with the bayonet removed to poke and prod one of the knife-wielding men, "Who's in charge here? Where's Jiang Shiji?" The other side remained silent.

  The impatient Chen An poked another knife guest again.

  Still no one made a sound.

  Chen An was taken aback for a moment, it turned out that these knife guests were still quite tough.

  "We've found him!" Lin Yushan suddenly shouted from the other side, and it turned out that Jiang Shiji was among the first batch of people who fell off their horses.

  Chen An walked over with big strides, looking at Jiang Shijie whose nose was blue and face swollen. "What's going on? Weren't you guys looking for trouble? Tell me who the ringleader is, otherwise I'll kill one of your brothers every few minutes."

  A person next to him suddenly spoke up, "No need, I'm the one. Let go of the brothers, I'll take responsibility for you."

  Chen An turned his head to take a look, and it was one of the three people who had fallen off after Liu Shi killed the horse. He must have been seriously injured and couldn't get up now, what bad luck!

  "What's your surname, brother?" Chen An poked the leader of the knife guests with his gun.

  "Ten wells." The leader of the dagger guests said, and then closed his eyes without speaking again.

  Chen An ordered someone to tie up the leader of the knife guests and prepare to take him away. Jiang Shijie was also quite bold, and voluntarily allowed himself to be tied up, accompanying Ji Shi to one side. Lin Yushan muttered with ill intentions, "Consider yourself lucky."

  Jing Shi? It seems like I've heard this name somewhere before, but Chen An suddenly can't remember.

  He walked to the side, Chen An readily picked up the whip and directly lashed out three times at Jiang Shijie's body, whipping him until he let out a series of mournful cries. Damn it, first whip him a few times to vent his anger, how dare you provoke me?

  Suddenly, he thought of something and swung the whip again, but it lost its force and softly lashed out the fourth time. Jiang Shijie was very cunning and clearly felt that this lash wasn't painful or itchy, but still loudly cried out in agony, deeply afraid that the next lash would come down heavily. Chen An naturally didn't pay attention and just kept whipping softly like that for several lashes.

  Jing Shi was stunned, and even Lin Yushan and Liu Shi were dumbfounded. What kind of opera is this?

  "Is it tenth place? Ji Shi, Ji Yue Xiu?" Chen An threw down the whip and turned to ask.

  Jing's eyes widened slightly as he swallowed his saliva, "How did you know?"

  It was hilarious afterwards. Chen An chuckled and untied the rope, recounting old times. It turned out that Jing Shi had spent some time in Northeast China years ago and became acquainted with Zhang Yu Ting's gang leader, becoming good friends. Chen An had naturally heard of this Shaanxi knife guest who even Zhang Gang leaders admired greatly, a true martial arts hero.

  Chen An had never met Jing Shi, but Old Man Chen had. A few rounds of questioning later, everyone suddenly understood - they had mistakenly attacked their own people.

  "Have no friends from afar, is it not a pleasure? In this era, people are extremely particular about etiquette and righteousness. A friend's friend is one's own good friend. The two parties immediately became bosom buddies, only short of addressing each other as brothers."

  Jiang Shijie felt a bit resentful. Why didn't Master An think of it earlier, causing him to be flogged three times for nothing?

  Jing Yi kicked Jiang Shijie's butt with one foot, directly kicking him into a dog-eating-shit state. He scolded, "You were shouting like a donkey just now, aren't you ashamed? Now you still have the nerve to speak."

  Chen An hastily pulled them apart, laughing, his mind racing. The loyalty of Shaanxi knife guests was very strong, but there were also many sneaky and cunning ones among them. They were a mixed bag, and from now on, he would resolutely not allow those with a knife guest background to join his ranks, lest they corrupt the honest and kind-hearted people around him.

  Taking advantage of the Shaanxi knife guests' cover, Chen An and others swaggered into Yulin City. Looking at the Yulin patrol camp soldiers who were indifferent to them, Chen An shrugged his shoulders, the court had already been rotten from top to bottom, hundreds of people entered the city, yet no one checked.

  Think about it, as long as they're not openly rebelling, which patrol soldier would dare to come and inspect? If nothing's wrong, at most they'll just get scolded. If something's wrong, then whoever inspects will be the first to lose their head. They can only bully those ordinary common people.

  The next morning, Chen An, who was drunk and had a headache the night before, quickly got up early and called on the people of Chenjiazhuang to run away.

  It was said that Ji Shi gave Chen An a welcoming banquet, but the increasing number of Shaanxi knife guests actually drank all the wine in the wine building. Chen An naturally had enough Huangtang poured down his throat until he pretended to be drunk and escaped the knife guests' desperate toast.

  What's even more hilarious is that the host, Ji Shihe, got drunk and fell asleep on the floor of the wine house. As for Jiang Shijie, he was knocked out in the first round. He toasted a cup to everyone in Chenjiazhuang, how could he not fall? With no one left to pay the bill, Chen An had no choice but to ask Liu Shi, who was already looking miserable, to go settle the account.

  It's depressing, how come the farewell dinner has become self-paid?

  Just fitted out a few new buggies, and Jingtian arrived with a wobbly gait.

  It seems that he has not yet fully recovered from the effects of last night's drinking, his eyelids are still drooping, and he is half asleep. Jing took out a small bag from his bosom after a while and handed it to Chen An, fortunately, he did not mistake the person.

  Chen An Shun took over the bag with ease, it was a bit heavy, without opening it he knew, it was silver.

  A bit embarrassed, repeatedly yawning, Jing Shi said, "I didn't expect to trouble Master An to settle the bill yesterday. I'm a poor guy, no other good things. If there's anything in the future, just call out and it'll be fine. This is a token of goodwill, for expenses on the road, it's a rule of the road, you must accept it."

  Chen An smiled and said, "Jing Shi Gege, thank you. There's something here, keep it for self-defense, that big knife thing is out of fashion now." Hu Zi handed over a small box he had already prepared, inside were three revolvers and fifty bullets.

  Jing Yi was very surprised, took over the box and opened it without hesitation, suddenly his eyes were wide with wonder, wow.

  Jing touched the pistol a few times, quickly loaded it with bullets and cocked it. Chen An, who was about to watch the joke, was stunned and rushed over to turn off the safety catch. "Damn, they're all freaks! They knew how to use it in just a few tries."

  "Big brother, if you want to try the gun, don't do it in the guest room, okay? Wait for the officials and soldiers to arrive, we'll all be in trouble!" Chen An was a bit scared.

  Jing's face turned bright red, clearly she was too excited just now.

  Suddenly remembering something, Jing Shi hastily spoke up, "Young Master An, I almost forgot. In Longnan, there's a member of the boatmen's association named Wang Hongyun, who has many men under him. He's a man of his word and generous, my good brother. If you need help with anything, you can ask for his assistance."

  Chen An made a fist and bowed, "Thanks, next time you come to Longnan, we'll get drunk again."

  Jiang Shijie ran over spiritedly and led Chen An and others out of the city.

  His nose caught a whiff of something, Chen An patted Jiang Shijie's shoulder and said, "I'm telling you, brother, what's that smell on you? Did you go sleep in a brothel?"

  Jiang Shijie was somewhat embarrassed and didn't hide it, stuttering to say, "That, that, I just took a few puffs."

  Took a few puffs? Is it opium? Looking at Jiang Shijie's not-so-sturdy physique, Chen An didn't dare say anything, only reminding him to be moderate, after all, opium only harms people and has no benefits.

  He also handed over a left-handed revolver to Jiang Shijie, making him so surprised that he didn't know east, south, west or north. It was probably a gift in return for his help in leaving the city smoothly.

  Chen Anqian's money is not much, but there are a lot of military firearms.

  Yulin to Longnan, there is still a long way to go, but after all, it's Guannei, no need to run lonely on the desolate grassland, plus the newly purchased carriage and equipment, can finally travel safely.

  Shaanxi knife guests are famous all over the world, and naturally there are many who specialize in robbing protection fees. Chen An and his group were stopped by bandits again when they were crossing the Qinling Mountains with several horse-drawn carriages.

  It wasn't just a few people, dozens of burly men with sinister expressions, carrying knives and guns, surrounded the mountain cliffs on both sides. Many of them were holding homemade bows and arrows, and in the middle of the road, there was indeed a large tree lying across the path.

  They ran into mountain bandits, Chen An, Liu Shi, Zhao Si and others were at a loss for words. They had just thought they were entering the inner land and didn't bother to send out scouts, but they immediately encountered bandits. How unlucky can you get?

  The people of Chenjiazhuang retreated immediately without being told, pulling away from the mountain bandits and hiding their long guns in the carriage. As they entered the interior, there were many military checkpoints, so they had to take them out quickly.

  Anyway, the effective range of this crude and rough bow and arrow is less than 60-70 meters, just avoid it. Can't the mountain bandits all practice iron cloth shirts to block Mauser rifle bullets?

  The tiger has already run over and dropped the machine gun.