Chapter 45: Raid on Tamsui (3)

  The ancestral hall is located in the northwest corner of the village. As they approached the ancestral hall, the four rows had quietly dispersed and were surrounding it in a fan shape. Jiang Xianyun asked as he walked, "How many officials are coming? How big is the ancestral hall? Is there a back door?" Unconsciously, he had asked about the enemy situation and the surroundings.

  There were no sentries at the gate of the ancestral hall, but there were two sentries sitting on either side of the gate dozing off. Xiaobo was just about to walk out when Jiang Xianyun grabbed him and covered his mouth, whispering "Don't be afraid." Then he nodded towards the back, and three soldiers quietly emerged from behind, creeping along the wall corner towards the gate of the ancestral hall.

  Xia Bo only then discovered that these officers seemed to be different from the previous ones, and he was horrified to see the two soldiers dozing off at the door being silently killed.

  Jiang Xianyun slowly released his hand covering Xiaobo's mouth, and said in a low voice: "Old man, don't be afraid, don't make a sound, find a place to hide, it'll be over soon."

  Four soldiers slowly pushed open the door, and the space inside the temple was quite large. In the middle was a courtyard, surrounded by a corridor where two piles of fire had been lit, but the fire was almost extinguished, leaving only some scattered sparks. People were lying around the fire in disarray, sleeping soundly and snoring loudly.

  Four soldiers quietly walked into the temple, without a word, searching for the officers inside. Jiang Xianyun walked into the main hall of the temple, but there was no one inside. Wang Gongliang brought several officers who were pulled out from the crowd, and took them into the temple.

  At this time, some of Chen Jun's soldiers were awakened and found the surrounding school army. They immediately panicked and shouted loudly. A commotion broke out in the temple, which Wang Gongliang quickly suppressed. Under the muzzle of the gun, some of Chen Jun's soldiers instinctively grasped the guns in their hands.

  Chiang Kai-shek walked out of the main hall and stood at the gate, loudly telling Chen Jiongming's soldiers: "Brothers of Chen Jiongming's army, we are the revolutionary army of Huangpu under the leadership of Premier Sun. You have been surrounded, lay down your arms, we will treat prisoners of war with kindness; in the future, those who want to join the revolution are welcome, and those who want to go home will be given travel expenses, we will not force you."

  At this time, a second lieutenant came out from behind Jiang Xianyun. He called out in a low voice: "Brothers, put down your guns and don't make unnecessary sacrifices."

  After hearing their words, Chen Jun's soldiers surrendered one after another, but a small number of soldiers were still hesitant. Jiang Xianyun seemed to have not seen them, and only sternly said to Wang Gongliang: "Comrade Captain Wang, tell the comrades that they must strictly follow discipline, do not search the bodies of prisoners, do not beat or scold them, did you hear?" Wang Gongliang was taken aback for a moment, then saw Jiang Xianyun's expression and quickly responded: "Yes, Commissar." Chen Jun's officers and men were now completely hopeless.

  Then Jiang Xianyun asked the lieutenant: "What's your name?" "Reporting to the superior, Guangdong Army Third Army Second Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Tan Shaohui."

  "Discussing the commander, where is your commanding officer?"

  "Lian Zhang hasn't lived here, he lives at Xia Zong's house." Xia Zong is the head of the Xia family and also the richest man in the village.

  Jiang Xianyun had Li Yingchang go to Xia Zongchang's home to apprehend someone, then continued interrogating Tan Shaohui.

  They were from Haifeng to reinforce Tamsui, and behind them was the main force of the Third Army under Yin Ji. This army was originally going to Boluo, but halfway through, they received an order to reinforce Tamsui instead. According to orders, they should have arrived in Tamsui yesterday, but due to rain delaying their journey, they stayed overnight here and planned to rush to Tamsui again tomorrow.

  However, Tan Shaohui was only a junior officer and didn't know much. After Jiang Xianyun finished questioning him, he comforted Tan for a few words and then locked him up with several other officers. Soon, Li Xianzhou brought the company commander of that unit in for interrogation. The intelligence obtained from the interrogation was similar to what Tan Shaohui had said, but there was an important addition: the follow-up troops were three to five miles away from them, which was due to the rain slowing down the marching speed and increasing the distance between the units.

  The four soldiers finally got a chance to rest, the cook team hurriedly boiled water and cooked food, while the soldiers gathered around the fire pit to dry their wet clothes. Jiang Xianyun held the map and studied it carefully.

  Li Xianzhou's capture action naturally shocked the Xia family, and the Xia clan leader was worried, so he came to the ancestral hall to take a look and understand the situation of the new troops.

  He walked with a cane, accompanied by several family members, to the ancestral hall. After entering, he first announced his visit and paid respects, saying "The noble army has arrived, I'm afraid we didn't come out far enough to welcome you..." etc. Shuweitun is located on the road from Huizhou to Danshui, and troops pass through here all year round. The welcoming and sending off are always this ritual, and the clan head had long been well-practiced in it.

  Chiang Kai-shek naturally wouldn't say anything, he calmly told Xia Zongchang, our Huangpu military school is here to eliminate Chen Jiongming, not to harm the common people, please rest assured, Xia Zongchang, our army will not disturb the local area.

  The head of the Xia family heard this and was half-believing, but on this journey, it was true that he hadn't seen these soldiers enter the villagers' homes. Even when they entered their own home, they only took away the military officer who lived there and didn't make any demands. The young military officer in charge even had good manners.

  The summer chief praised the benevolent teacher and then carefully asked: "I wonder what the officer needs us to do?"

  Jiang Xianyun didn't speak up, instead he first helped Xia Zong sit down on the chair before saying: "We are about to set off immediately, I hope Xia Zong can provide us with a guide who is familiar with the road."

  "All right, no problem. I'll send someone to guide your army at dawn." Xia Zong naturally agreed readily, this request was simply too easy.

  "It's not dawn yet, but now." Jiang Xianyun said with a smile.

  "Now?" Xia Zong was somewhat surprised, where else could they go in this dark and stormy night.

  "Yes, the military situation is urgent, we will rest for a while and then leave. I hope Mr. Xia can arrange a guide for us as soon as possible, of course, we will pay a certain fee." Jiang Xianyun's attitude was very sincere. Not only did Jiang Xianyun surprise Xia Zong, but also Wang Gongliang and Li Xianzhou on the side were surprised, they all wanted to ask if it was true or false, but under Jiang Xianyun's severe gaze, they swallowed their words again.

  The Xia family head was about to go find someone, when a noisy voice came from outside the door. "This is my family's ancestral hall, why won't you let me in? Are you still revolutionary soldiers?"

  Just as Jiang Xianyun was about to ask who it was, Xia Zongchang hastily said: "Sir, please don't be offended. This is Xiao Er Yanglin, he doesn't know the height of the sky or the thickness of the earth, and has collided with your noble army. Please forgive him."

  Jiang Xianyun laughed and said: "This was originally your ancestral hall, we are just temporarily living here." As he spoke, he had someone go to the entrance to let Xia Yanglin in.

  Xia Yanglin, eighteen or nineteen years old, wearing a blue student uniform, came in and asked: "Are you from the Whampoa Military Academy?"

  After receiving a positive response, Xia Yanglin was overjoyed: "I want to join you and go with you to fight Chen Jiongming."

  Jiang Xianyun couldn't help but smile at the sight, and Wang Gongliang and Li Xianzhou also burst out laughing. Xia Zongchang scolded angrily: "What are you doing here? The officials are dealing with important military affairs, what does it have to do with you students? Get back home and don't disturb the officials!"

  "No, Mr. Xia, Xia Tong didn't disturb us. Why don't you go home, Xia Tong? Don't make your father angry." Jiang Xianyun said with a smile.

  "Go home? Comrade, don't listen to my dad. Last year I wanted to take the Huangpu exam, but he wouldn't let me. This year I wanted to stay in school and participate in the Eastern Expedition, so he sent someone to school saying he was sick. Does he look like he's sick to you? As a result, when I came back home, he locked me up at home and didn't let me out. Tonight, when you all came to my house, I managed to slip away." Xia Yanglin said angrily.

  "Oh," Jiang Xianyun looked at Xia Yanglin with great sympathy. He had encountered such situations before in Anyuan and Shuikoushan, where young people wanted to make revolution, but their elders tried desperately to stop them; previously he had always done the work of an elder, but today it was not possible.

  Xia Yanglin was quite alert, he saw from Jiang Xianyun's expression that he seemed unlikely to agree to his request, so without waiting for Jiang Xianyun to speak, he took the initiative to establish a connection: "Actually, I also know people from your Whampoa Military Academy, your Blood Flower Drama Society has performed at our school several times. Li Zhilong, do you know him?" Jiang Xianyun and Wang Gongliang, Li Xianzhou all smiled.

  Xia Yanglin was inspired: "I am familiar with Li Zhilong, and it was me who helped contact him when he first came to our school for a performance."

  "What is your school?" Li Xianzhou asked.

  "The Guangzhou Commercial School is not far from the Women's Law and Politics College. I've seen your Blood Flower Drama Club's 'Northern Expedition' and 'Revolutionary Youth'," Xia Yanglin said hastily. He was also a prominent figure in school, often participating in various parades and speeches. However, the Xia family had shops in Guangzhou, and the head of the Xia clan had a close relationship with the school's board of directors. Therefore, every time he planned to take some drastic action, he would be stopped by the timely appearance of the head of the Xia clan. Like this time, when he wanted to join the Eastern Expedition Propaganda Team, he was deceived back home by the head of the Xia clan on the pretext of illness.

  Jiang Xianyun advised him: "We are a military force and cannot casually absorb people. Moreover, you have not received any training..."

  "Revolution, regardless of precedence, revolution, regardless of identity; these are words from 'The Northern Expedition'. We must be brave enough to break down an old world and create a new one, these are words from 'Revolutionary Youth'." Xia Yanglin interrupted him, asking: "Are you guys just talking the talk?"

  Jiang Xianyun thought this wasn't what he said, the former was said by Zhuang Wen'ge and the latter was said by Director Zhou.

  "Of course not."

  "Then why didn't you let me join the revolution, why didn't you let me join the battle?" Xia Yanglin's tone was aggressive and pressing.

  Jiang Xianyun didn't get angry but instead smiled, he somewhat liked this young man now.

  "Comrade Xia, your understanding of the revolution is somewhat one-sided; the revolution has division of labor, for example our task is to fight and eliminate the enemy, your task is to mobilize the masses and propagate the revolution."

  "Mobilize the masses?" Xia Yanglin asked in confusion.

  "Yes, spread revolutionary ideas among the masses and then organize them, for example, organizing trade unions and peasant associations here." Jiang Xianyun explained patiently.

  The head of the Xia family heard this and thought, "It seems that this person is not robbing things, but robbing people." His own son went to Guangzhou to study after being exposed to some ideas that were quite out of line. Every day was about revolution, revolution, revolution. Revolution wasn't that easy, Sun Yat-sen had been doing it for decades and hadn't achieved anything. The soldiers were still disorderly, the foreigners were still there, and the Chinese people were still suffering. Therefore, he firmly opposed his son's involvement in any revolution, and instead wanted him to quietly finish school and then take over the family business.

  Jiang Xianyun was about to tell his son some revolutionary principles, but he hastily interrupted: "Yang Lin, you go back first, don't delay the officer's rest, they still have a long way to go later."

  "It's so late, where are you going?" Xia Yanglin didn't respond to his father, instead asking Jiang Xianyun in confusion.

  Jiang Xianyun didn't want to tell them the details, and instead used vague tasks as a substitute.

  Xia Yanglin's eyes rolled around and then said: "Then I'll go with you all, this area is familiar to me."

  The head of the Xia family was somewhat flustered and hastily said: "Son, the officer is going to war, what are you doing getting mixed up in this?"

  "Hey, what's going on here? It's so late, they're not familiar with this area at all, don't they need someone to show them the way?" Xia Yanglin shouted. What a clever young man, Jiang Xianyun thought to herself.

  "Are you familiar with this area? Won't get lost at night?" "Of course, I've been running around here since I was 7 or 8 years old, from Danshui to Huizhou, no matter big roads or small roads, I know them all. Let alone at night, even if I close my eyes, I can still find the way." Xia Yanglin said bluntly.

  Jiang Xianyun was a bit skeptical that he was bragging, seeing Jiang Xianyun's disbelief, Xia Yanglin became somewhat anxious, he counted on his fingers to introduce the roads from here to Danshui and what to pay attention to; then he also talked about Huizhou...

  Xia Zongchang had no choice but to say that he was familiar with the road, and Xia Yanglin was indeed very familiar with it. His family had shops in both Danshui and Huizhou, and he was a restless person who would go on a trip every two days and then return, regardless of whether it was early or late.

  Jiang Xianyun felt relieved, he turned to start doing the work of Xia's family head, he promised him not to let Xia Yanglin participate in the battle, and must let him return home safely, Xia's family head had no choice but to agree, however, he still sent two people to follow.

  After seeing off the Xia clan elder, Wang Gongliang and Li Xianzhou immediately surrounded Jiang Xiayun and asked him what he wanted to do. Jiang Xiayun spread out a map and pointed at it, saying: "You see, Danshui is the gateway of Huizhou, the enemy will definitely defend Danshui to the death. This is our location, Shuitianzhen, which is only about eight miles away from Danshui. A forced march would take only 30-40 minutes to get there. The main force of the enemy's reinforcements is behind us, estimated to be at Zhongguwei, because there are no other places for them to avoid the rain and rest in this area. It's just five miles away from us. Since they are reinforcing Danshui, it means that the enemy's defense forces are empty. If we wait until tomorrow, the enemy's reinforcements may arrive at Danshui first. Hong Zhaoliang is coming from Bolu, Ye Ju is coming from Huizhou to reinforce Danshui. If our army attacks Danshui tonight and can take down one city gate, the chances of victory will be greater tomorrow, and the casualties of the troops will be reduced."

  "What if the raid fails and we're discovered by the enemy?" Li Xianzhou asked.

  "It's entirely possible, but in that case our losses won't be too great either. We just need to retreat and the enemy won't dare pursue us at night." Jiang Xianyun was very confident.

  Then several people discussed and asked in detail about the city's height, moat and other situations of Xia Yanglin's freshwater.

  At 3 am, the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Guidance Brigade left Shuweitun and quietly headed towards Danshui under the cover of night.

  (Xia Yanglin's eyes widened in anger: "Vote for me! I'm a new player, those with votes please help out, and those without votes hurry up and save them!")