Volume 2 King of the Northwest Chapter 30 Assassination
Dai Jiliang had a very relaxing Spring Festival in 1917. There were red flags flying at home and colorful flags fluttering outside. He also decided on the date for his fifth concubine to marry into the family.
Of course, Dai Jiliang was not blindly dissolute. As soon as the fifteenth day of the first lunar month passed, he rolled up his bedding and left the army. The next day, the Shaanxi Army's first brigade-level confrontation began.
And on this day, a conspiracy was brewing on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi.
"Brother Li, we can't do this. If people find out, we'll lose our heads."
Guo Jian's personal servant Ren Shenwa looked at Li Dongcai with a bitter face.
"Forget it, just pretend I didn't hear about this. Brother, Brother Li, please find someone else."
"You, Ren Shenwa, are afraid that others will lose your head if they find out."
Li Dongcai looked at someone who was backing down with disdain.
"Do you want me to spread the word about you killing your uncles and brothers for your sister-in-law?"
As soon as Li Dongcai said this, Ren Shenwa's face immediately turned pale. No matter which dynasty or generation, and no matter how much Guo Jian liked him, after doing something so cruel as him, he would either be burned to death or skinned and stuffed with straw. There would be absolutely no other way out.
"Brother Li, I beg you!"
Ren Shenwa didn't care that there was thick snow on the ground and just knelt down in front of Li Dongcai.
"It's not that I don't want to. The one we are plotting against this time is Chief Jing. If we really harm him, there will be no way for us to survive in this world."
"Don't worry about that."
Li Dongcai curled his lips.
"Anyway, if your story is exposed, you will have no way to survive. It is better finish this job and follow me to the south. There, you are promised good food and good drinks. It is much better than waiting to die in this dead place."
"South, Xi'an, Beiyang Army!"
Ren Shenwa looked at Li Dongcai in horror and raised his hand involuntarily.
" Brother Li, you are a traitor. You should be torn into pieces."
"What a traitor. How did I offend that guy named Jing? The deputy commander cursed me by name for three days. I can't get rid of the hatred in my heart unless I kill him."
Li Dongcai had a ferocious look on his face.
"Stop talking nonsense, do it or not?"
As he said that, Li Dongcai took out his gun.
"Don't blame me for not telling you. If you die, it will be in vain, and I can still gain a good reputation. Well, choose, do you want to live or die?"
On one side was the white ocean scattered on the ground, and on the other side was the black muzzle of a gun held in Li Dongcai's hand. Ren Shenwa naturally knew what to choose.
"Brother Li, you are not lying to me, are you? Can you really take me with you to join the Beiyang Army after we are done?"
"Bullshit, I'll nail it with my spit."
Although Li Dongcai spoke tough, he was worried inside. However, there was no turning back.
The mysterious Mr. Chang had done several deals with me in the past few months. First, he used one hundred dollars to exchange for information about the organization, weapons and equipment of Cao Shiying and Guo Jian's troops. Then he used seventy taels of opium to exchange for similar information about the troops of Hu Jingyi, Gao Jun, Jing Xiuyue and Fan Zhongxiu on two occasions.
The third time, he got the quartermaster of the Third Independent Regiment drunk and got the key to the Third Regiment's munitions depot from this unlucky guy.
Originally, I thought he was just checking the ammunition inventory of the Third Regiment, but later I found out that Chang had actually replaced 10,000 water-filled bullets into the ammunition depot.
Ten thousand bullets! The militia in northern Shaanxi are already poor. It's already good enough for the brothers below to have a quick gun. Normally, they have three or five bullets on them and can shout about attacking a village today and a camp tomorrow. Only in wartime will the leaders of each tribe temporarily distribute a row of bullets to them.
The entire stock of Cao Shiying and Guo Jian's Third Regiment was only more than 30,000 bullets of various types. One-third of them were replaced in one go, which really scared Li Dongcai. Of course, he was rewarded 1,000 yuan afterwards, but he also lost his last retreat.
"What do you mean?"
Ren Shenwa sighed for a long time and finally made up his mind. In this world, if a person does not work for himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. As long as he can escape to the south, he will not care even if northern Shaanxi is turned upside down.
"You idiot! I need to teach you this."
There was a cold light in Li Dongcai's eyes.
"Put your ear close to me..."
"Guardian!"
In the headquarters of Hu Jingyi, the governor of northern Shaanxi in Ganquan, Jing Wumu was chatting with Hu Jingyi about the reorganization of the northern Shaanxi militia after the New Year when a guard ran in to report.
"Deputy Commander Guo of the Third Regiment sent someone to say that the brothers below are clamoring for pay, and asked General Jing to go to Luochuan to appease them."
"How does Fang Gang lead his troops?"
When he heard Hu Jingyi's words, his brows furrowed. Although all of their soldiers were swordsmen, the discipline of Hu's troops was obviously better than that of Guo Jian's men. As long as Hu Jingyi was making trouble for pay, this would never happen.
"Let him in!"
Hu Jingyi looked at Jing Wumu and saw him nod, so he waved his hand and let the person in.
"So it's Ren Shenwa. What's going on with Guo Fanggang? Is Cao Junfu just a freeloader?"
"Hu Zhenshou, General Jing, you also know the relationship between Commander Cao and our deputy commander. It's hard to say this, otherwise why would our deputy commander invite the general to come over?"
The unicorn stuck in Ren Shenwa's chest had been removed by Hu Jingyi's guards, but a snow knife was still there. He looked quite heroic, but the people present did not know that his heart had been devoured by the devil.
"snort!"
Jing Wumu snorted coldly. He had seen too many tricks like this. It was just an excuse to ask for more money. But he couldn't say this to Ren Shenwa, a small servant.
Therefore, you can only express your dissatisfaction slightly and then agree.
"Go back and tell your deputy commander to let him suppress the rebellion for another three days. After three days, I will raise some food for him."
"Thank you, Mr. Jing. Now I can talk to you easily when I go back."
Ren Shenwa pretended to be happy and walked out.
"Brother Wenyuan, this smell is not right. Didn't Guo Fanggang just take away 200 dan of millet before the New Year? It's only been over a month. Why is he here again this time?"
The crying child gets the milk, and Hu Jingyi said this with some jealousy.
"I think something is wrong!"
"Brother Liseng, something is wrong. I think Guo Fanggang is unable to discipline his men. He is not as loyal as you. He is ambitious, so he lets his men go."
Jing Wumu comforted the dissatisfied Hu Jingyi.
"But now we must unite all the forces we can. It's just a matter of asking for more and taking more. Let's satisfy him once more this time!"
"Then listen to Brother Wenyuan."
Since Jing Wumu said so, what else can Hu Jingyi do? Can he not give it? "However, I will go with you this time. Fang Gang can't discipline his men. I don't believe that I can't discipline them!"
"Forget it, don't go. If you go, Fang Gang will think you want to swallow up his men."
No one knows whether Jing Wumu had any selfish motives in saying this, but balancing the various Shaanxi militia units was the Kuomintang's consistent policy in Shaanxi. Even a loyal and brave man like Hu Jingyi could not avoid being suspected.
"How about this, I won't go to see Fang Gang, but I will escort you through Fu County. I always feel that something is a little weird, as if something is wrong."
It must be said that Hu Jingyi's intuition, honed between life and death, is extremely sharp.
"As soon as I enter Cao Junfu's defense zone, I will come back. Is that okay now?"
"good!"
If Jing Wumu refused again, it would hurt Hu Jingyi's kindness, so the matter was settled.
"Brother Li, this is bad, someone is following me without regard for his life!"
Three days later, on a beach corner of Luo River south of Fu County, several of Li Dongcai's men wearing old sheepskin coats were riding their horses and shouting all the way.
“Don’t want to die!”
Hu Jingyi once went down to Yaozhou on a snowy night, and used a snow knife to chop off seven heads of bandit leaders in a row. His battle robe was stained with blood and it was a thrilling and thrilling fight. After this battle, the underworld gave him the nickname "Don't Want to Live". There are two meanings to this: one is that anyone who wants to go against Hu Jingyi is not willing to live; second, when Hu Jingyi starts a fight, he will fight to the death.
But no matter which statement is true, in northern Shaanxi, when people mention Hu Jingyi, they all give him a thumbs up and call him a good man.
No wonder, when Li Dongcai's men saw him, three out of seven souls and three spirits flew away.
"Why are you panicking? Bu Ming is still a human being. Tell me quickly , how many people did Jing Wumu and Bu Ming bring with them?"
Li Dongcai looked at his half company of about 40 people and more than 20 guns, gritted his teeth and looked up to ask the person who was asking about it.
"About twenty of them, including seven or eight desperate squads, all armed with quick-firing rifles. Chief Jing has more than a dozen men under him, but they are driving large carts, and many of them have no weapons in their hands."
These guys are very sharp-eyed and can see everything clearly.
"Then what are you afraid of!"
Li Dongcai suddenly became bolder.
"Why not just kill the one who wants to die? Then we can go south and get double the reward."
Seeing the people around him hesitating, Li Dongcai suddenly became furious.
"Look at you, you look like a fool, with a big scar on your head. Listen to me, let's do something big in the end..."
"Brother Liseng, we have already passed Fu County, so please don't send me off any further."
Twenty miles away from the county town, they had entered Cao Shiying's defense zone. Jing Wumu urged Hu Jingyi.
"Look, there haven't been any accidents along the way. You have a lot of things to do over there, so go back early!"
"Okay!"
Hu Jingyi looked around and saw a roadside stall with a big word "Tea" on it not far away. He pointed at it.
"Well, let's go there and have some hot tea, then it won't be too late to break up."
"Well, let's take two more steps."
Jing Wumu nodded, and the group walked towards the teahouse.
"It's really strange. Why is this shop still open in such a cold day?"
Seeing that they were there, someone in the team said something with a smile, which immediately reminded Hu Jingyi.
"No, get down!"
Hu Jingyi finally understood why he had always felt something was wrong, but it was too late. A row of bullets fired at him, knocking down three or four people at once, and the rest of them fell to the ground.
"Damn it, this guy Guo Fanggang turned against us."
"No, if Guo Fanggang turned against us, he definitely wouldn't just have these few guns!"
Jing Wumu lay on the ground and made such judgment.
"It might be a robbery."
He suddenly shouted loudly.
"I am Pucheng Jingwumu, my brother on the road, please don't mistake me for someone else. Please give me a way out so that we can meet again in the future."
Sure enough, the gunfire from the other side stopped after just a few shouts. Seeing this, Jing Wumu shouted even louder.
"I'm not afraid of death. Brothers, please raise your hands. I'll give you those loads of grain to help you through the winter."
"You didn't lie to us?"
Someone in the teahouse also shouted a few times.
"We recognize the head commander He Jing who doesn't care about his life. If you really want to do that, stand up and see. We won't even want the food. The head commander will come out and kowtow to you and apologize."
"Brother Wenyuan, don't, it might be a trap."
Hu Jingyi hurriedly stopped Jing Wumu.
But Jing Wumu was very confident. He broke free from Hu Jingyi's hand and slowly stood up.
"I am Jing Wumu, please come out and speak, ah!"
Before Jing Wumu could finish his words, several bullets hit his body, blood splattered everywhere. With a look of disbelief, Jing Wumu slowly fell down.
"Brother Wenyuan!"
Hu Jingyi's eyes widened as he jumped up and prepared to run over to hug Jing Wumu, but a burst of bullets from a pistol came at him diagonally, his hands went numb, and he knelt down involuntarily.
"Fight them!"
Hu Jingyi's team hurriedly grabbed Hu Jingyi, and the two sides fought fiercely, but the other side had more people and more power, and gradually overwhelmed Hu Jingyi and Jing Wumu's followers.
"It's Guo Jian's people!"
Finally someone recognized the identity of the opponent.
"Quick, take the garrison commander and run!"
Someone carried the unconscious Hu Jingyi on his back, and the others fought and retreated, and they were about to break out of the encirclement of Li Dongcai's men.
"Why don't you fight anymore?"
Seeing that the duck in his mouth was about to fly away, Li Dongcai shouted loudly.
"Shoot!"
"Brother Li, we are out of bullets."
A bucket of cold water poured down, suddenly waking Li Dongcai from his sweet dream.
"I will wipe out his entire family."
Li Dongcai jumped up without thinking.
"Go, go!"
Now that they had run out of bullets, they certainly couldn't let their opponents know. At least they had to scare them away. Sure enough, when he took the lead, the people on Hu Jingyi's side ran faster. However, no matter how fast people ran, they could not be faster than bullets. Li Dongcai took aim and fired two shots, instantly knocking down another one.
"Quick, pick up all those fucking guns and bullets, and cut off Jing Wumu's head for me!"
Li Dongcai shouted loudly.
"Asshole, why do you need millet now? There is nothing in Xi'an!"
