Chapter 025: The Pier Tragedy
Liu San said that the safest way for us to go north and east to avoid the government troops and rob those small villages.
You Mazi touched his head and thought for a long time before finally agreeing. He asked Liu San to lead the team down the mountain immediately and head east to grab food.
In the evening, Zhao Yulin was drinking with Chen Zhongshun when Lu Youpeng came to them and said that there were more and more refugees fleeing from the surrounding area, and the dock had received nearly a hundred people in the past few days.
Chen Zhongshun said that even gods have a hard time in February and March, as this period is when the most people flee famine. There is no shortage of land on Cuiping Mountain, but there is a shortage of people farming and food. More and more people will come in the future.
Zhao Yulin said that the old grain in the wine shop was not needed at the moment, so he should use it for emergency and settle the refugees. Our labor union said that we should not let people starve, and we should keep our promise. Lu Youpeng said that he promised not to let the people on the dock starve, but now people are coming from all directions.
Zhao Yulin said that if there are people, there are ways to settle these people down. They have hands and feet, so those who can do things can be given things to do.
Chen Zhongshun said that the winery needed to buy grain anyway, so he would buy a batch of grain for emergency use.
After the three of them discussed it, Chen Zhongshun said that Lu Youpeng had too many things on his hands and could not handle them all, and suggested that the accounting matters be handed over to his Si Niang and Xiao Min.
Zhao Yulin agreed. Since Chen Xiaomin didn't want to study anymore, he let her and Si Niang manage the account office together. He let his mother do business and clothing production.
Lu Youpeng agreed immediately, saying that he had wanted to let it go for a long time, so that he and Liu Yuru could devote themselves to the construction of the city and workshop.
Zhao Yulin said that there were still refugees farming, so they should sow this spring and harvest in autumn, and there should be no delay.
When they returned home for dinner, the table was bustling with people. When Chen Xiaomin heard that he would go to manage the account office with his fourth mother, he was very happy.
Zhao Sihan also came up with a good idea. He told the cargo ships that came to transport wine not to stay empty, but to bring some of their cheap and good goods over, and Cuiping Mountain would accept them all. This way, the cargo ships would not stay empty, which would save on freight, and the price would definitely be cheaper.
Zhao Yulin thought it was a good idea. Cuiping Mountain could gather good goods from all over the country and engage in distribution trade.
He asked the two mothers to give more ideas and make the business flourish.
The next day, Zhao Yulin went to the military camp to check. With Zhu Congwen as a strategist, Lei Man was even more powerful and the team's training efficiency was greatly improved.
Zhao Yulin saw soldiers holding Zhuge crossbows practicing shooting.
Chen Xian didn't dare to delay and sent over the first ten swords he had made. Zhu Congwen said he would practice as many as he could and wouldn't delay. He also asked him to take Wu Yuqi away. A woman was guarding three meters away, and he felt like he was escorting a prisoner.
Zhao Yulin was happy and said that it was protecting him.
Lei Man said that they were all soldiers here, and he would make arrangements and pick a guard for him later. Zhao Yulin agreed and asked Wu Yuqi to go back to Jiangbei and live in the welfare home with her mother to secretly protect the Beggar Chicken Restaurant.
Lei Man said that there are already 600 people on this side, but it still feels not enough. The territory of Cuiping Mountain is getting bigger and bigger, and refugees from all over the place are constantly coming in. Several waves of refugees have appeared at the southwest pass that was originally undefended, forcing him to increase the number of sentries for defense.
Zhao Yulin said that people were forced to go out. If there was food, who would risk crossing mountains and rivers?
In Jiangbei, the bandit Liu San led his men to rob the people with great success and went up the mountain with the food.
The news soon spread to the county town, and the prefect scolded the bandits for being too difficult to deal with and endangering the neighbors everywhere. The magistrate Xu Chaolin had to increase the number of sentries to block the bandits' passage down the mountain.
Now, the bandits had no other way out except to rappel down to the river and take a boat. But it was almost impossible to escape by boat because the government navy was patrolling the river all the time.
You Mazi was annoyed again.
At this time, Zhang Yanei stood up and volunteered to eliminate the government army's sentries and open up road transportation.
After some time of training in the bandit's den, Zhang Yanei gathered a number of desperate criminals around him. After going down the mountain, he took down several government army outposts under the cover of night, opened up the road to the city, and bought back the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea that the mountain stronghold urgently needed before the government army changed its post.
As a result, the prestige of this thief in the mountain stronghold became higher and higher, completely surpassing Liu San and approaching You Mazi. He became more and more confident in doing things.
You Mazi was a little unhappy, so he took his elite men down the mountain to rob and have fun.
But the government troops were furious when they found out that the sentry post had been taken down, and they also wanted to beat up the bandits. So after receiving the report, Xu Chaolin personally led the team to set up an ambush at the foot of the mountain that night.
As a result, You Mazi ran into the bows and arrows of the government troops. He never thought that the government troops would ambush directly at the door of his hideout. He brought dozens of people down the mountain and entered Xu Chaolin's ambush circle, and was immediately covered by the whistling arrows.
You Mazi immediately fired a flare arrow towards the mountain to call for help.
Liu San and Zhang Yanei quickly led their men down the mountain to counterattack.
Seeing that the bandits were numerous and powerful and that they were outnumbered, the government troops shot three rounds of arrows and retreated back to the city.
Although You Mazi was saved, he was shot in the thigh and abdomen.
These government troops were all ruthless characters, and they soaked their arrows in sewage.
Therefore, it was very difficult to treat these bandits who were shot by arrows, including You Mazi, whose injuries became increasingly serious.
Zhang Yanei has always wanted to rob the dock and seek revenge on Zhao Yulin, but he couldn't do it because of You Mazi and Liu San. This time, You Mazi suffered heavy losses and returned to the stronghold injured. He felt that his chance had come.
The next night, Zhang Yanei ordered his confidant to enter You Mazi's room and suffocate You Mazi to death. Then he led his men to control the stronghold and wanted to become the boss.
Seeing that You Mazi was dead and his confidants were controlled by Zhang Yanei, Liu San chopped off those who resisted and threw them into the river. He had no choice but to lead the other leaders to worship Zhang Yanei as their boss.
The first thing Zhang Yanei did after becoming the boss was to rob the dock.
Xu Chaolin successfully ambushed the bandits. After returning to the city to report the situation, he believed that the bandits were too powerful and that they alone could not complete the task of suppressing the bandits. Zhao Yulin's Shenwei Army had to be transferred to coordinate the action in order to trap the bandits to death in the mountains.
The prefect immediately asked the county magistrate Chen Yun to discuss the matter and transferred Zhao Yulin to the city to discuss the matter.
After Zhao Yulin received the news, he asked the guard Xia Dingtian to carry the 800 million pole and cross the river together.
As soon as he entered the government office and sat down, Prefect Xu said straight away that the bandits were powerful and that the government army alone could not do the job, and that the Shenwei Army had to cross the river to help suppress the bandits.
Zhao Yulin persuaded the prefect to follow his instructions and asked him how to do it.
Before Magistrate Xu could finish his sentence, a junior officer rushed into the government office and said that the bandits were out in full force and were apparently targeting the wharf to rob it.
Zhao Yulin was shocked. He knew that the dock was poorly defended, so he immediately left and took Xia Dingtian to rob a carriage and leave the city urgently. When he arrived at the dock outside the South Gate from the North Gate, the bandits had already fought with Ma Jin's men.
Although the bandits had swords, guns, clubs, bows and arrows, which looked messy, they were all weapons. The dock guards were different. They only had clubs and a few anti-Japanese swords, so they were at a disadvantage as soon as they fought.
Seeing that Ma Jin's sniper position was in danger of collapse, Zhao Yulin grabbed his rifle and hurriedly climbed up a nearby watchtower. He took a deep breath and yelled, telling the bandits to retreat, otherwise they would be killed without mercy.
He then raised his rifle and took aim.
The bandits in front of him were 200 meters away. The effective shooting range of the 800-million rifle was 400 meters, so they could be shot. But it was a bit of a test for Zhao Yulin. Although he was a top marksman in the past, he hadn't touched a gun for some years. In addition, this gun fell from the sky and he hadn't had time to try it out yet.
The bandits continued to swarm and hack at people, and Ma Jin's position was about to collapse. He aimed at a bandit who was hacking hard and fired three bursts of shots.
After three crisp gunshots, the fierce man fell down immediately.
Zhao Yulin was very glad that there was no problem with the gun and bullets. He quickly fired two bursts of two rounds, and two more ferocious bandits fell flat on their backs.
The bandits stopped their attack in fear, and Ma Jin shouted and reorganized the defense.
At this time, he heard Zhang Yanei howling and yelling at the bandits not to be afraid, saying that they had more people and could definitely defeat the Shenwei Army if they rushed forward together, so go ahead.
After hearing Zhang Yanei's shouting, the bandits immediately started moving again as if they were given an injection of chicken blood, and Ma Jin's troops soon fell into a tough battle again.
At the critical moment, a team of government troops rushed over from the official road and joined the battle, immediately stabilizing the front line. Liu San saw that the bandits had no hope of winning, and urged Zhang Yanei to withdraw his troops.
The boy also realized that if he didn't leave, he would be stuck on the dock, so he immediately ordered a retreat, and the bandits quickly retreated like the tide.
Zhao Yulin came down and led his brothers and the government troops in a fierce pursuit, killing and capturing many bandits.
This was because the bandits did not know how to fight and had no concept of cover or sniping. Their massive retreat turned into an escape, and the losses were much greater than during the previous attack.
When Zhao Yulin came back, he saw Ma Ling'er crying beside her brother Ma Jin. He ran over and saw that Ma Jin had been shot in the chest with an arrow and blood was coming out of the corner of his mouth. He quickly hugged Ma Jin and comforted Ma Ling'er, saying that her brother was fine and would be fine.
He called for the military doctor to rescue the wounded and wash the wounds with alcohol.
At this time, Lei Man, Zhu Congwen and others brought their team across the river. Lei Man was so angry when he saw the messy dock.
Zhu Congwen was also angry when he saw dozens of wounded soldiers in the labor cooperative. He yelled at Zhao Yulin, scolding him for being a coward, putting the cart before the horse and not leading the troops, thinking about fighting only when he had the strength.
Finally, he angrily shouted at him, "Watch out, this is a bloody lesson." After scolding him, he asked Li Chuan to send him back.
The wounded soldiers, who were still groaning and crying, opened their mouths wide and looked at the disabled person in the wheelchair in surprise. They then turned to look at the Third Young Master, whom they admired, at a loss.
Ma Jin said in a weak voice that he did not blame the young master, and that it was the third young master who led everyone to a good life. He called Zhao Yulin over, gave Ma Ling's hand to him and asked him to hold it, saying that he only had one sister, and he took good care of her.
Zhao Yulin saw Ma Jin's expectant eyes, understood what he meant, held Ma Jin's hand tightly, nodded and agreed, saying that everyone would be fine. But he could already feel the strength in Ma Jin's hand disappearing quickly, and saw Ma Jin smiling and closing his eyes.
Zhao Yulin knelt on the ground, hugging Ma Jin who was gradually getting cold, and cried. He looked up to the sky and shouted: He swears to take revenge and destroy Deng Gaoshan.
The soldiers outside also shouted in unison: Revenge, revenge, revenge.
