Chapter Seventeen: The Stronghold of Jie Cui Mountain

  Won't it be another mistake? Chen An looked at the arrogant mountain bandits, thought of Yu Lin's experience, and decided to be more cautious. There are many knife-wielding guests in Shaanxi, don't accidentally hurt one of our own people again.

  Under Chen An's gesture, Liu Shi stood far away and had a dialogue with Heishan bandits, showing the sign of Jing Shi, to see if they could reconcile, even if it was just a little bit of courtesy.

  Lin Yushan and Zhao Si led the scout team, fully armed and mounted, quietly retreating to the back of the cavalry, circling around to climb up the mountain on the right side, preparing to outflank. The scout team was exceptionally good, among the hundreds of strong men in Chenjiazhuang, only seven were selected, with their former nickname being "Night Un收". Although they were more skilled in riding, climbing mountains and crossing rivers were also beyond ordinary people. As for marksmanship, it was naturally a top priority.

  Hu Zi directly set up a heavy machine gun in front of the cavalry team, blocking the passage.

  After trying several times, Hu Zi's forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he immediately retreated to tell Chen An that the opponent's position was too high, and the machine gun couldn't hit it at all.

  Chen An chuckled, "Just seal off the front and don't let them get close. As for the mountain bandits, we still have Water Linked Beads, didn't we? Are they all just fire starters?"

  Hu Zi suddenly felt a bit anxious, having grown accustomed to relying on brute force to take down his enemies. When he found himself unable to land a hit on his opponent, he naturally became somewhat bewildered.

  He shifted his gaze back, and Chen An, who had just comforted Hu Zi, was muttering to himself in his heart. The problem with machine guns not being able to shoot high is that if the opponent is on top of the mountain, even cannons can't hit them. I wonder if there are specialized machine guns for shooting at high places or lightweight machine guns that can be carried by one person.

  If we each had a machine gun, it would be what kind of crazy scene to charge and fight at the same time. In the beginning, in Xinmin's Autumn Mountain Brigade, we would have died long ago. Chen An, who was equally obsessed with firepower supremacy, had some unrealistic fantasies, without considering that the amount of ammunition each soldier can carry is ultimately limited.

  Liu Shi walked into the inner circle surrounded by horse-drawn carriages with a gloomy face. The mountain bandits were extremely arrogant and rudely demanded that they leave behind all horses, vehicles, silver, and money in order to pass through. Otherwise, they would start killing people. Even showing off the name of Jing Yi was useless, as these people were real mountain bandits, not occasional guest stars who robbed the rich to help the poor like the Shaanxi knife guests.

  Chen An was suddenly woken up by Liu Shi, looking very unhappy. Such a good daydream was interrupted. Since the other party had neither friendship nor gave face, Chen An said coldly, "Don't negotiate anymore, stall Yu Shan and his men for some time, wipe them all out, you arrange it."

  Liu Shi nodded and turned to make arrangements. Chen An hastily added, "Don't kill them all at once, leave a few. With so many mountain bandits, there must be a hideout. Since we've taken action, let's take the hideout down with them. If we're going to get rid of the weeds, don't leave any roots behind." After continuous conflicts with the Japanese and Russians, witnessing numerous death scenes, Chen An gradually became ruthless and merciless. Liu Shi, Yu Shan, and others were no exception.

  Liu Shi didn't bother to waste his breath and gave a crisp order. The dozen or so people who had been prepared immediately took aim at the target and fired their rifles in unison.

  A burst of gunfire crackled through the air.

  Just now, the mountain bandits who were still mocking and laughing suddenly fell down several at once. The other side was stunned for a moment. "They have guns?!", immediately the whole scene became chaotic, everyone scrambled around like headless flies, rushing backward in all directions.

  Liu Shi and others calmly pulled the bolt and fired another round. The few remaining mountain bandits who were still standing there stupidly looked back, then rolled down the hillside with a gurgling sound, and the hillside was splattered with bright red bloodstains.

  Several people rushed up from behind the mountain bandits and fell on top of them.

  Liu Shi suddenly shouted, "Everyone take cover."

  Several gunshots rang out, but the bullets didn't seem to hit anywhere. The enemy hastily launched a counterattack, firing wildly and without aiming at any specific target.

  The people of Chenjiazhuang immediately retreated behind the carriage, each finding cover. Chen An quickly lay down on the right side of the carriage, taking out binoculars to search the distance.

  The other party actually had an old-fashioned revolver. Chen An cursed in his heart, and at the time of Dashiqiao, there was also such a gun, but the quality of the domestically-made imitation by the imperial court was far inferior to that of foreign imports. During the Russian invasion of Liaodong, it was naturally easy to get bullets like water droplets, so the old-fashioned revolver was eliminated by Chenjiazhuang.

  It's also, what era is it now, only the Hunter is still playing with bows and arrows. These mountain bandits are just used to scare people, the real killer is these old-fashioned guns, I don't know where they came from. Chen An knew he had underestimated his opponent, being careless was not good, one mistake could be fatal.

  Chen An had more than 50 men under his command, from Liaodong to Hanzhong, he had seen many grand scenes, and was extremely elite. Originally, he didn't want to lose a single one of them, now they were even more precious to him.

  "Stone, take a dozen men and go around to the left, open fire from a distance and drive them towards the middle road. Let Tiger's machine gun sweep them away. Send someone to inform Yushan, let them go around to the right as well, just drive them down. Remember, not a single one of our brothers is allowed to get hurt, they're just a few bandits, not worth it." Chen An put down his binoculars and turned back to instruct Liu Shi.

  Liu Shi responded with a sound, and immediately pointed out more than ten people, who crouched down and went around to the back.

  Chen An called up a few good marksmen, and they exchanged shots with the enemy one by one, holding them back and not letting them run wild, giving Liu Shi time to drag.

  The mountain bandits were indeed fierce and fearless of death, and suddenly organized a charge. As a result, several were killed by a burst of gunfire, and they hastily retreated. Tiger's machine gun did not fire, otherwise the mountain bandits who charged over would not have returned. Chen An was worried that if Liu Shi didn't arrive in time, Tiger's machine gun would start firing, the mountain bandits would be terrified, and they would directly flee.

  Soon, first the left side of the mountain rang out with crisp and clear gunfire, followed by the right side. Yushan must have waited for Liu Shi to start fighting before taking action, showing great coordination.

  To fulfill Chen An's requirement that no one should be injured alone, Liu Shi racked his brains and finally ordered the dozen or so subordinates to be divided into three groups, each group taking turns to search forward. When one group advanced, the other two groups provided firepower cover, and they fired as far away as possible to drive people away. Even if something was not quite right, they would first greet with a burst of gunfire, anyway, there were plenty of bullets.

  As for Lin Yushan and Zhao Si's scouting team, they were also confused when they received this order. The scouting team was made up of people who were not afraid to die, and they were used to operating alone or in pairs, making it difficult to guarantee their safety. Lin Yushan simply gave the order that two people would form a group, freely searching and advancing while shooting, with one person observing and the other firing.

  In just a few moments, the mountain bandits who had been chased down the mountain by the whizzing bullets were crowded together in a heap. Several of the bandit leaders were about to lead their men in retreat when Liu Shi suddenly launched a barrage of gunfire from behind.

  Helpless, the mountain bandits flew into a rage and gathered together, crazily charging towards the cavalry, ready to fight to the death. The few old rifles followed behind them, continuously firing.

  At Chen An's order, the Tiger Cannon fired a single shot. Countless shell casings were scattered everywhere, and the whizzing cannonball swept out a large area, cutting off everything that stood in its way.

  When the machine gun fire stopped, there were no more bandits standing in the front field of vision.

  A few sporadic water droplet-like gunshots sounded, and Liu Shi and others began to carefully sweep the battlefield.

  After capturing a few remaining bandits and interrogating them, Chen An only then realized that he had stumbled into big trouble. This road leading to Hanzhong was indeed a shortcut, but because of the bandits' rampant activities, it had long been abandoned, with only many unfortunate non-local merchant groups passing through, which just happened to provide the bandits with some practice. Unaware of this, Chen An naturally chose this shortcut.

  Thinking of this, Chen An couldn't help but wipe a sweat, fortunately it was himself who arrived first, if it were Old Man Chen and the others who arrived first, they would also have chosen this shortcut, and by then they would have suffered a great loss.

  Burying the dead mountain bandits, Chen An and others took the captives and easily found their way to the distant mountain stronghold more than ten miles away.

  Cutting to the chase, Chen An ordered Zhao Si to lead the scouting team up high to provide cover, while Hu Zi directly used a machine gun to blast open the gate, and Liu Shi and Yu Shan led their troops in a charge.

  Almost without encountering any resistance, all the people who could be beaten were beaten up. Only a few people guarded the village, and as for the master of the house, he was so drunk at noon that he hadn't woken up yet, and accidentally got hit by a stray bullet and went straight to the Western Heaven, never waking up again.

  Chen An, who was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, had no choice but to stay in the stockade for a day. No one knew where the treasure house of the Big Boss was, so he had to search around randomly himself. Lin Yushan, after being scolded severely, reluctantly took on the task of searching for the treasure, because the stray bullet was fired by his own men.

  There was no one else in the village, those who dared to resist had gone to Xitian, and the remaining few mountain bandits were each given a few pieces of dispersal fees and chased away. Chen An finally set fire to thoroughly destroy the village, then smiled and drove the horse cart towards Hanzhong.

  Lin Yushan indeed has the talent of a treasure-hunting mouse, and unexpectedly found two secret rooms, with gold and silver treasures worth tens of thousands of taels, filling up two horse carriages. It's probably the result of the mountain bandits' accumulation over ten years, but who would have thought that it all became dowry?

  Even a box of house deeds and land deeds were found, which is estimated to be the place where these mountain bandits settled their families.

  Handing over the deeds to Lin Yushan, Chen An said with a smile, "Yushan, when you have time, take someone to check out these places. If they are for settling down, don't touch them. If they are temporary strongholds or shops for selling off goods, think of a way to get them into our own hands. This is more valuable than those gold and silver treasures."

  Lin Yushan took the box, chuckled and said, "Isn't that big boss dead? We can write some blank receipts, stamp his seal on them, and later fill in the words 'sold to us'. Then we just need to find an official, give him some silver, and go through the formalities. It's very simple."

  Chen An couldn't help but smile wryly, Lin Yushan was always naturally talented at these things, born to be a mastermind, completely unlike his father who was always upright and proper like a Confucian scholar.