Chapter 45: Taking the Devil into the Mountains

  They were sent here more than a year ago, and when they first arrived, there were nearly eight hundred people. At that time, it was summer, so it was okay to work in the river or by the riverbank every day, and they could still afford one or two full meals a day. Although the food was really bad, at least they could fill their stomachs and not starve to death.

  At that time, there were four Japanese and more than 60 mountain police guarding here, mainly to prevent them from escaping. When winter came, the gold panning work couldn't be done, so they wanted to send them to the logging camp on the other side of the river. But the little brother-in-law who occupied the whole river gave an idea, letting the miners pan for gold in winter too, using explosives to blast the sand on the riverbank, and then boiling water in the workshop, after the sand melted, they could sift out the gold. As a result, the labor of the miners increased exponentially, and casualties also increased. In just a few months, more than 200 people died from exhaustion and torture.

  Later, the kid came up with an idea and wanted both the Japanese and the mountain police to withdraw. He said that he would stay there with four people to keep watch. The Japanese and the ones who filled the river listened to his idea and indeed withdrew.

  Everyone thought the opportunity had arrived and was thinking of escaping, this kid also intentionally or unintentionally spoke out, wanting to run just run, guaranteeing not to chase. The leaders felt that something was fishy about this matter, so they didn't make a sound, but some brothers really missed home and couldn't bear it, secretly ran away. However, none of them were able to escape successfully, and in just a few days, their frozen corpses were dragged back by the sleds.

  You think about it, this heavy snow blocked the mountain, and they were all outsiders who didn't know the local customs. This kid had already spread the word in each of the villages along the only road out of the mountains, not allowing anyone to provide food or clothing for these laborers, and even stationed police there to keep watch. As a result, some brothers froze to death from hunger in the mountains. This kid used this tactic to tell everyone that no one was watching. You can't escape either. After all this commotion, only about 500 people were left. The Japanese had left, so whatever he said went, and everyone gave up their idea of escaping.

  But this kid, in the application to the Japanese and his brother-in-law, still took food for over 800 people, and cut the food standard of the remaining 500 miners by half. The workload was not reduced but increased, requiring more than 500 people to do the work of over 800 people. He sold the extra food at a high price to black market merchants, making a lot of dirty money, which was exchanged for the lives of his brothers. That ticket was stained with the blood of miners.

  Originally, these leaders wanted to get rid of him and those four followers, which was easy, but what to do after getting rid of them? There was no plan, so it dragged on until now.

  They say Japanese people are ruthless, but this kid is ten times more ruthless than them. He's harming his own kind, that's just depraved. If he doesn't beat someone up in a day, it's like he's sick.

  These people spoke with tears streaming down their faces, gritting their teeth in hatred.

  Having heard this, Tang Qiuli could no longer hold back, turned around and rushed out of the workshop, shouting to his team members to drag these five traitors and scum into the woods. More than 20 miners followed suit, thinking they were going to be shot, but what happened next made them see another side of Tang Qiuli.

  Tang Qiuliu didn't want to waste bullets, so he had his men strip the four lackeys and the young man who was full of Jiang's family ties, tie them up to a tree, and gag their mouths. The main reason was that they were afraid that if they shouted and yelled again, it would be annoying to hear. They brought over several buckets of cold water and poured it on them. It was just right for the extremely cold weather. At first, these villains who were full of evil still struggled, but as layer after layer of water was poured on them, before long, there were five ice sculptures in the forest, vivid and lifelike. This was using living people as models, how could it not be vivid?

  After dealing with this matter, Tang Qiuli's heart felt a bit more comfortable. The team members were also killing for the first time and thought that their commander's heart was ruthless enough. As for those miners who stayed behind, especially Liu Tienan, Feng Jiwu, Zhang Quan, Wang Xu and others, it seemed like they didn't recognize Tang Qiuli anymore. Was this still the big kid who had been chatting with them in the workshop just now? If you say that he killed a few bad people, his hands wouldn't even shake. But this way of killing, they really didn't dare to do it. Looking at Tang Qiuli's eyes, there was more awe and reverence. Originally, they had some slight disdain in their hearts, but now they really didn't dare anymore. This is just a 16-year-old kid! Several people thought about it and felt a bit chilled in their hearts!

  Tang Qiuli did not expect that this move would have such a great reaction in the hearts of the miners who had just joined the Blood Hand Gang. He only thought that it was the most appropriate way to take the lives of these five guys, and from then on, Tang Qiuli firmly established his prestige in their hearts, and also let them see the cold-blooded side of Tang Qiuli's inner heart and his methods for dealing with enemies. In Tang Qiuli's future campaigns, these team members who joined the gold mine, no matter how cruel the battle was, or how harsh the environment was, not a single person left the team, nor did anyone surrender to become a traitor. Instead, they all became the backbone of the troops, following him to fight on the battlefield and establish merits.

  Over the next three days, Tang Qiuli did a preliminary reorganization of the troops and took Liu Tienan and Feng Jiwu to the logging camp again, bringing back more than 200 people. The personnel situation was similar to that of the gold mine, with many being former soldiers of the Northeast Army, familiar with Liu Tienan and Feng Jiwu. As a result, the entire Blood Hand Troop's troop size reached nearly 700 people, with over 500 being original soldiers who could fight as soon as they picked up their guns, even skipping basic training.

  At first, these Northeast Army soldiers didn't think much of the Blood Hand Gang members, thinking they were just a bunch of half-grown kids who only managed to make a name for themselves by following their fearless and ruthless commander. They probably couldn't even shoot straight. The people from the logging camp had just arrived at the gold mine when they heard about Tang Qiu's stunt with the human ice sculpture, and those who had seen some battles before couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines.

  Tang Qiuli saw through their minds and felt it necessary to let the new recruits know a thing or two, so he organized a military skills competition to let the old and new team members compete with each other.

  In the woods around this gold mine, a battlefield was set up using the existing terrain and topography. After several trials, it turned out that in terms of physical strength, shooting, throwing grenades, ambushes, close combat, special operations, military skills, etc., the Northeast Army veterans were all defeated by the Blood Hand Gang's old members, especially Shān Hǔ (Mountain Tiger), Qiū Shēng Gē (Autumn Born Brother) and Fù Jiàng, Fù Qiáng Gē (Paid Strong Brothers).

  What's even more interesting is that Xiaoling led the other eight female team members to win two games cleanly, one of which was a complete victory, leaving those big guys feeling frustrated and wondering how they couldn't even beat these little girls. They didn't know that during the two months of training at the base, the intensity of the girls' training was not less than that of the male team members, and under Xiaoling's leadership, the difficulty of the training was even increased. These soldiers from the Northeast Army had only received ordinary military training, but they were no match for the special forces trained by Tang Qiuli. It would be strange if they could win! After learning about Xiaoling and Tang Qiuli's relationship, they all showed a look of sudden realization, and Commander Niu said with a smile, "His wife is also fierce, how did these two meet?" Fate!

  Tang Qiu left an even more impressive performance, in a trial match, he single-handedly took on twenty people and emerged victorious within an hour.

  Now, the new recruits were convinced, especially Liu Tieshan and his men, who admired Tang Qiulai even more. Although they were not much older than him, every time they met, it was a standard military salute, addressing him as Commander. The new recruits also followed suit, which in turn affected the old members of the Blood Hand Gang, who began to learn from them and no longer acted carelessly like before. This was a good interaction, and this atmosphere was especially important for a newly formed team. The whole team had the soul of a soldier!

  Tang Qiu separated the old team members and assigned them to different teams, with the goal of quickly allowing new team members to grasp the key points of Blood Hand training, combat skills and tactics, making the entire team form a cohesive unit and exert its maximum combat effectiveness.

  During this period, Tang Qiuli determined the expanded Blood Hand Gang command system. He was still the commander-in-chief, and Qiu Shengge remained as deputy commander-in-chief, but he no longer served as the captain of the Long Gun Team. A new intelligence unit was established, with Qiu Shengge as its leader, and members were selected from the entire team. Liu Tienan became the chief of staff of the Blood Hand Gang, and Feng Jiwu took over as the captain of the Long Gun Team. The Heavy Firepower Team still had Shan Hu as its captain, and this time, all the mortars, rocket launchers, and heavy machine guns were placed under his command. Autumn Spring's Short Gun Team was renamed to Reconnaissance Team, with Zhang Quan serving as the logistics director of the team, a position that suited him well. Wang Xu became the director of the newly established Armory Factory and Equipment Research Institute. Additionally, a new direct unit was formed, led by Xiao Ling, consisting of female members who reported directly to the commander-in-chief.

  The command system and leadership of the Blood Hand Gang are already sound, as for the specific arrangement of each member, it still needs to wait until after gathering at the base for training, and then arrange them to the corresponding branch according to their individual specialties.

  What surprised Tang Qiuli was that in the gold mine, there were also a large number of **, which was a good thing. With it, Tang Qiuli could study the use of slingshots.

  In addition, more than 100 kilograms of sand gold were seized here. As for Tang Qiu now, he is a rich and generous master with a lot of money! The whole team is so rich that they are overflowing with wealth!

  Now his biggest headache is the problem of weapons, with Cold Not's team expanding more than ten times in an instant. The original ones he had obtained, plus those captured this time in Zhanmanjiang, were simply not enough to use, so he could only think of a solution slowly.

  On the fourth day, Tang Qiuli let Autumn Brother and Liu Tiehan, Feng Jiwu take the captured materials and equipment back to the base first, and also took all new team members and some old team members back. The main reason is that according to the training method of the Blood Hand Gang, they will undergo training first. During the process of returning to the base, it is necessary to strictly pay attention not to expose the location of the base.

  He left Mountain Tiger and fifteen old members of the team waiting for news brought back by Autumn Spring.

  According to Tang Qiuli's calculations, the latest by tonight's dinner, Jiang Na will make a move, so he left behind a mortar, five grenade launchers, five light machine guns, plus Mountain Tiger's beloved heavy machine gun, and the firepower is quite fierce. Fu Gang and Fu Qiang, these two godly marksmen, of course, had to be brought along.

  After packing everything, they took away all the useful things and didn't leave a single thing for the little devils. They destroyed all the equipment in the gold mine, and it's estimated that this gold mine won't be able to operate within a year! The team returning to the base bid farewell to Tang Qiuli, and at the moment of parting, Xiaoling had tears in her eyes, really not wanting to leave Tang Qiuli. The scene was heart-wrenching, making people feel sympathetic. This time, Xiaoling didn't insist on staying behind, she also knew what Tang Qiuli would face, but repeatedly reminded him to take care of himself and come back without a single scratch. Until Shantou patted his chest and guaranteed that he would protect the commander well, Xiaoling gave Tang Qiuli a deep kiss before following the team away step by step. The scene at parting made it hard for her heart to calm down, with a strong feeling of longing love!

  After seeing off the big team, Tang Qiuli felt a lot more relaxed and took the opportunity to rest for a while.

  As expected, when the sky turned dark, four small white dots appeared on the distant mountain slope, lightly flying like they were on snow. Tang Qiuli took a closer look with binoculars and saw that it was Qiu Quan leading the three team members, wearing frost and snow, stepping on snowboards, hurrying back. When they arrived nearby, Qiu Quan didn't even wait for his breath to calm down before telling Tang Qiuli an important situation...

  （）