Volume 2: The crown and the hat are all over the capital, and the spirit is full of energy and enter the foggy city Chapter 96: Great Hero
Chapter Subtitle: Masters Create Heroes
"On the evening of May 5, 1923, I, as the editor of the Miller's Review》(Millard's Review) took a train from Nanjing to Beijing with several friends in the press, planning to cover a newly completed land reclamation project. The project was funded by the American Red Cross, and its purpose was to provide relief to the victims on both sides of the Yellow River. We took a blue-painted steel train. The carriages were divided into first, second and third class. At that time, this was not only the most advanced equipment in China, but also the only all-steel train in the entire Far East.
The first-class carriage of this train is composed entirely of soft sleeper rooms, with passengers from different countries, some of whom are traveling around the world and some of whom are doing business in China.
The passengers in the first-class carriage came from about six or seven countries, including Americans, British, French, Italians, Mexicans, and Romanians, as well as many Chinese. Many of them were women and children, including Miss Lucy Aldrich, the sister-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr. She was the daughter of the late Senator Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island. Accompanying her on the trip were Miss Coffden and a French maid, Miss Sinberg. In addition, there were two American Army officers, Major Allen and Major Ping, and their wives and children. There were also several French and American businessmen. The Willia couple from Guadalajara, Mexico, were a newlywed couple who came to the Far East. Mr. Willia was a famous Mexican industrialist. Another passenger was a very wealthy Italian lawyer, G.D. Musso, who had become a wealthy man because of his work in the International Settlement, but no one knew how he made his fortune. He served as the attorney for the Shanghai Opium Association for many years, was one of Mussolini's earliest supporters, and was also a major shareholder of an influential newspaper in Rome.
Later I heard that there were some Japanese people on this train to Beijing, but for some reason, when the train arrived at Xuzhou East Station, they got off and mysteriously disappeared into the night.
The Frenchman who shared the same berth with me was Berube, who worked at the Chinese Customs Administration. He went to Beijing this time because he had returned to China to work after participating in the European war in France. I had never met him before, but once we talked about the war in Europe and the complicated political situation in the Far East, we had endless topics to talk about. In addition, he was pleasantly surprised to find that I was a friend of Mr. Yuan Yanshu. Therefore, we talked until two o'clock in the morning.
It was early spring in the north, a bright moon was hanging high in the sky, and the bare Taishan Mountains could be clearly seen in the distance. Looking out the window, I told my new French friend that the train was traveling at the junction of Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong provinces, which was a famous bandit den.
Long ago, this was the gathering place for bandits who killed and robbed people. Most of them were originally soldiers under the warlords, and later became vagrants. As they had no way to make a living, they engaged in banditry such as robbery, kidnapping and murder. Of course, a very small number of bandit leaders may be Robin Hood-like characters.
The train entered Shandong and gradually slowed down. Suddenly, the train braked suddenly and stopped. The passengers who were sitting there were caught off guard and thrown far away. Because it happened so suddenly, before people could come to their senses, they heard shouts and sharp gunshots outside the train. I wanted to lean out of the window to see what was going on, but a bullet whizzed past my head and almost took my life. So I quickly shrank back, and the moment I leaned out to look, I saw a group of bandits running towards the train, shouting and shooting..."
—Excerpt from John Benjamin Powell"Twenty-five Years in China: Adventures in the Bandits' Nest"
"Forget it!" Hongqi's fifth brother slapped his thigh and said, "Mr. Yuan... Brother Hongjian, I will trust you just this once."
The fourth sister of Jinfeng couldn't help but said in surprise: "The head of the family..."
"My lady, stop talking." Li Jie waved his hand and said, "If you say that you can't trust anyone in the Chinese community in New York, how can you not trust Brother Hongjian ? Don't you see what his current status is?"
Now our Master Yuan is indeed a man of status. But he knew that the other party was using words to tease him.
Yuan Yan suddenly smiled and said, "Alright, alright, Fifth Brother and Fourth Sister, we are all brothers of the Hongmen. In times of adversity, we should share the same straw bed, and in times of prosperity, we should share the same flowers under the tree."
"Together in the straw shop" means to guard the cold kiln (prison) together, while "Blooming under the Tang" means that everyone spends money on the flowers together.
"So how could I harm you?
Master Yuan's expression straightened up, and he said , "Fifth brother and fourth sister, I have arranged everything for Germany. Mr. Julian Chandler will be in charge there, but you'd better go with us and familiarize yourself with the process."
"Don't worry about shipping. The goods will be shipped to Stegelmo for loading. And all the ships are mine."
"As for arriving at Chinese ports... I'll give you a tip, our Japanese friends will take care of you. Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Xiamen, and even Wuhan, where Japanese marines are stationed, will be fine..."
"Brother Hongjian, do you want to cooperate with the Japanese?" Cao Linsheng, who was standing aside, couldn't help but frown when he heard this and asked with dissatisfaction.
"Brother Qingzhi, it's not the Japanese but the Japanese Navy!" Master Yuan said without any concern: "Besides, what's wrong with the Japanese..."
Major Cao said excitedly : "They are Japanese! What else? Brother Hongjian, if it weren't for the Japanese, our Qingdao..."
Yuan Yan waved her hand and said, "I know, Brother Qingzhi. I know that what they did in Qingdao was indeed a bit excessive. But you have to know that the Japanese are not human beings either."
"People are not really indifferent to the world, people are not without love for real money, people are not without emotions. They are not made of special materials."
Our Master Yuan said earnestly: "Brother Qingzhi, an elder once said that the army cannot engage in business because it will erode its combat effectiveness. So you can think of it this way, if we drag the Japanese into smuggling arms, is this corrupting the Japanese army?"
“This can be considered as a small contribution we have made to the country.”
He couldn't beat Cao Linsheng in a battle, but speaking of reason, there weren't many people in the world who could beat him.
"This..." The poor guy, a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, didn't know how to refute.
Yuan Yan suddenly brought the topic back and said, "Anyway, now we only have domestic affairs to deal with."
"Of course, how to expand sales channels depends entirely on you, Fifth Brother and Fourth Sister."
"As for recruiting a team, I think as long as there is money and guns, there will be people. In fact, I think a company of people is enough..."
"Wait, Brother Hongjian." Li Jie raised his hand and said, "Speaking of this matter, I really need someone!"
He explained: "I know you have big ambitions, so you probably don't want a mob. But to build a refined division, even if it's just one company, we still need professionals."
"I can only build bridges, but I can't fight a war."
"It doesn't matter!" Yuan Yan pointed at Cao Linsheng nonchalantly and said, "Brother Qingzhi will be returning to China soon, so we can just ask him for help then."
Upon hearing this, Major Cao immediately exploded. He shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, Brother Hongjian. I won't do this. And I can't do it."
"Brother Qingzhi, how can you not be able to do it? You are a graduate of West Point Military Academy." Master Yuan said angrily, "You are looking down on me, your brother, by saying that."
"No, no, no, I definitely don't look down on you." Cao Linsheng reacted quickly and immediately found an excuse: "I learned regular military operations, and I'm not very familiar with robbery... that special combat form."
Yuan Yan suddenly complained in his heart, in fact, you have not learned regular military operations very well, otherwise Lao Zhang would not have retreated to the border. It would be better for you to focus on special operations and follow me to Southeast Asia in the future.
Maybe you will become either a guerrilla warfare expert, Cao Wala, or an anti-guerrilla warfare expert, Cao Gangcun. Whether it is Wala or Gangcun, you will definitely leave a strong mark in the world military history.
Thinking of this, the slight sense of guilt in Master Yuan's smile disappeared, and he instead felt that he was helping his brother.
"Brother Qingzhi, this is your fault." He said unhappily, "Brother Ziyi started a group to protect his hometown, rob the rich and help... that kind of good thing, don't think of it in the wrong way."
"Brother Hongjian..."
Yuan Yan suddenly interrupted: "Okay, let's put it this way!"
He thought to himself, okay, I'll always find a way to make you submit when I return home.
Our Master Yuan remembered something again, and he leaned over and said to Fourth Sister Jin Feng: "Fourth Sister, I want to ask you for a favor."
Madam Li, who was very timid, laughed dryly and said, "What's the matter, please tell me directly, Second Master."
"Oh, it's like this..." He rubbed his hands and explained a little embarrassedly: "This is my little honey... the female secretary is going to visit Germany soon. I am worried about a girl being alone abroad. I wonder if I can ask Fourth Sister to be her bodyguard for a while."
"Hehehe..." Fourth Sister Jin Feng covered her mouth and laughed, "Second Master is indeed a man who cherishes women. I agree to this matter."
"In the early morning of May 6, as the train shook, I woke up from my dream and saw through the curtains that a group of people were rushing onto the train. Soon, my compartment was filled with savage bandits, who were slashing with knives, threatening us and robbing everything they saw. A bandit took a pearl necklace from me. I was very angry and sternly asked him to pick up the beads that were scattered on the ground, but the bandit pointed his left-handed pistol at my head.
After the bandits turned our belongings inside out, they half-pushed us out of the compartment and drove us off the train. At that time, there was a moon in the sky, but the moonlight was dim and I couldn't see anything clearly. I only felt that there was green grass at my feet and realized that I was walking towards the fields. At this time, I realized that many of the passengers who were traveling with me had also become prisoners of the bandits.
That night, I not only witnessed the bandits' atrocities, but also saw some interesting things. The bandits sometimes stopped me to ask me about the use of the stolen things. One bandit took out a bottle of moisturizer and wanted to know if I could eat it. After I wiped my face with my hands to indicate that it was just cosmetics, he immediately threw it away. The bandits were very interested in the stolen medicines. I had to use gestures to persuade them that it would be dangerous if they took the whole bottle of medicine.
Soon we arrived at a small village at the foot of the mountain. The village was quiet, but the sun was up and scorching. I sat down with my back against the mud wall under the shade of a tree in front of a house. Some women and children began to watch us foreigners.
I tried to strike up a conversation with a girl, but she wouldn't come forward, but I made friends with her little brother. A man in the village was very happy because the siblings were his children. I held up five fingers and told him I had five nephews, but he mistakenly thought I had five sons!
I found that the villagers here were very kind. A boy about ten years old could even speak English and became my translator during my stay in the mountain village. Soon, I was surrounded by a crowd of "admirers". People looked at me like curious children. A woman with bound feet who also spoke English joined the crowd. I told her that I was cold, so she took off her coat and wrapped it around me. Then she whispered in my ear that I should wait until there was a commotion and then hide in the bushes by the roadside.
The government troops must be approaching again, because the bandits were on their way again in panic. However, there seemed to be an accident ahead of the team. I remembered what the woman said and hid in the bushes as she said. When I began to remember that I had not told my two companions about this news, I found that I was alone and the others had already rushed to the front.
Before I figured out the truth, I had actually left the bandit group and escaped. Later I learned that the woman with bound feet was Madam Li. "
——Excerpt from "The Adventures of an American Lady in China " by Lucy Aldridge
