"The first impression of China - a country of bandits!"

——"A Missionary's Travels in China"

From the time of the rebellion in 1853 to the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, for more than half a century, one of the serious social abnormalities in China was that bandits were everywhere. Almost from the beginning of the Republic of China, banditry accompanied the country.

There are a large number of reports about the banditry problem in newspapers and periodicals almost every day. It can be said that banditry is one of the most common civil troubles faced by this country.

In the second year of the Republic of China, when Yuan Shikai had just "unified" China by force and was satisfied with his ambition, many people desperately promoted that Yuan was the only person who "stabilized" China, so Yuan also had the ambition to give up to me in the world today.

At this time, at the junction of Henan and Hubei, an armed bandit suddenly appeared. It had no origin. Its appearance was like a legend, a romance, and a myth. This was a short-lived flash in the pan in the early years of the Republic of China, which aroused the white people at home and abroad.

Lang Jun.

His rise coincided with Yuan's invasion of the south and the main force of the Beiyang Army was transferred to the south to fight the Kuomintang. Therefore, the rear defense was empty, so Bai Lang gathered veterans and the defeated troops in the Fanzao area to move across Wuyang and other counties.

On January 11, 3rd year of the Republic of China, Bai Lang's army crossed the Beijing-Hankow Railway from west to east and successively captured Guangshan and Gushi. Henan was the defense area of ​​Zhao Ti, the wing commander of Yi Army. Yuan sent Zhao as the "Southern Henan Suppression Campaign".

"Bandit Supervisor" ordered him to regain the lost territory and destroy Bai Lang's army with all his strength. However, Bai Lang's army moved very quickly. After hearing the news, they immediately entered Anhui and captured Lu'an and Huoshan counties on the 26th. Lu'an County Magistrate Yin Baosen abandoned the city and fled.

Yuan Dawei was furious and immediately ordered him to be shot. At the same time, he replaced his cousin Zhang Zhenfang, who only knew how to plunder, and sent Duan Qirui, the No. 1 general of the Beiyang Army, as the governor of Henan, and ordered him to rush to Xinyang to supervise the division.

Bai Lang's army did not take this prestigious Governor Duan seriously, and openly set up the base camp of Bai Lang's army on the Huoleng Mountain in Queshan County, not far from Xinyang. Yuan's reward for catching "wolves" amounted to as much as Beijing's

, calculated in Henan and Henan, it was gradually increased from 5,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan. At that time, foreign countries were afraid of the spread of "bandit" chaos, so they expressed to Yuan that they were willing to send troops to quell the chaos on Yuan's behalf. Yuan felt that this was simply a big insult, so he ordered

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared to the ministers of various countries: "The government does have the ability to suppress banditry and is responsible for protecting foreign nationals." How many troops does the Bailang Army have? Some say there are only 10,000 people, and less than 1,000 are armed.

people; some said that there were about 2,500 people capable of fighting, but they threatened more than 20,000 people.

After several months of encirclement and suppression, after mobilizing several divisions of troops and using weapons including aircraft, the Bailang bandits across the Central Plains were wiped out. Although the Bailang bandits were wiped out, it did not mean that in China

There are no other bandits. In fact, the Bailang are just one of the larger ones. There are many kinds of bandits in China. If divided according to the regional characteristics of bandit activities, there are mountain bandits, plain "horse thieves" and "thieves"

, border bandits, pirates and lake bandits, etc.

These bandits commit murder, steal goods, kidnap and extort money. It can be said that they do all kinds of evil. The so-called "doing justice for heaven" is just a word on the lips or a word on the flag. There are so many bandits in China, and there is no unified government from the central to the local governments.

Figures, but looking at local reports, there are no counties in China without bandits. Even around the capital, there are bandits. It can be said that bandits, a social cancer, have become the most serious cancer that threatens China's social stability.

However, neither the central government nor the local government has adequate measures to deal with bandits. Although local governments know that bandits harm the people, they often do not suppress bandits unless they attack the county to avoid losing troops. In order to preserve their own strength, they often do not suppress bandits.

.They would mobilize the army to make a noise and scare away the bandits. As for the central government, it also had no leisure to solve the local banditry. Because of this, after entering the Republic of China, the bandits not only did not decrease, but the banditry in various places became more and more serious.

The trend has evolved from the scattered bandits and mountain bandits in the past to the "bandit teams" like the Bailang Army...

But even so, local officials always want to use bandit suppression to plunder people's wealth, but often the bandits just fire a burst of gunfire and chase for several miles, bluffing. The bandits are also well aware of their situation, temporarily avoid the front line, and throw away some

There was a tacit understanding between the two sides, and the bandits went back to the province to report their merits, claiming that the bandits had been defeated. Then they loaded the guns with bullets and sold them openly in the market. However, the bandits pretended to be businessmen and there was a dispute.

Purchasing is called suppressing bandits, but in fact it is capital bandits. The more bandits are suppressed, the more bandits there are.

"If you don't leave me here, you will have a place to stay. If you don't leave me everywhere, you will have a baby!"

Baodu Gu is adjacent to Cangshan Mountain in the east and Feixian County in the north. It is 580 meters above sea level and is the first of the 72 Gus. It is surrounded by steep cliffs. The Gu is 40 meters high and reaches the sky. There is a line of fissures in the southwest of the Gu base, and the handles of the foot sockets are manually cut.

Those who are brave can climb up the cliff by bouldering and using both hands and feet. It is surrounded by mountains for 45 miles and has 14 acres of flat land on top. The soil is fertile and the soil layer is more than 1 meter.

For hundreds of years, Baodugu has been a place where villagers from southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu have taken refuge from disasters and where bandits have gathered in the mountains and forests. This time is no exception. However, in the past few months, from Baodugu Sunmei Zhuyue

The gang leaders from all walks of life met for the first time in Xia Shili River to discuss joint operations, formulate mountain regulations, and drafted a declaration. They required the bandits from all walks of life to be renamed companies and the gang leaders to be called company commanders. It was stipulated that the proceeds from kidnapping of each company should be based on the ratio of people to guns.

Distribution. After the meeting, under the slogan "Kill the rich and help the poor", a joint action was launched. A banner was raised on the mountain, and a letter was written: "One cow and one donkey cultivate the farmland, the oxen takes care of the meal, and the towers and palaces deserve my money."

". We also built kitchens to accommodate the hungry people, and the bandit team expanded to 3,000 people. Although this bandit team was clearly a team, in fact they still took care of their own affairs, but they also conducted many joint operations to fight against the enemy.

He passed through the Tuweizi of the big landowners in Zhoucun, Zhucheng, Rizhao, and Weixian County, robbed the family of Zuo Gongbao, a wealthy gentry in Feixian County, and broke into the Confucius Mansion, and his influence rapidly expanded.

Since then, banditry incidents have been reported frequently in southern Shandong, and people are panicking. The situation spread to Beijing. Due to public opinion, it became more worried about the emergence of another "Bai Lang Army". The Beijing government established a bandit suppression headquarters and dispatched military and police into the mountains. The situation forced

The bandits united to fight against the government. Sun Meizhu convened the gang leaders for the second time to hold a meeting in Jinlong Cave to discuss jointly building an army, unifying the number, unified command, and unified actions to fight against the government.

Most of the bandits in Baodugu were wanderers demobilized by the warlords. They had either worked with the officers and soldiers, or were fellow villagers or relatives and friends. When the officers and soldiers wanted to suppress the bandits, someone immediately revealed the information to the mountains. The information obtained by the bandits was broken into pieces and temporarily evacuated elsewhere.

Let the officers and soldiers toil for a few days to make a small fortune. The officers and soldiers searched the mountains and found no one. They lied that the bandit troubles had been eliminated and reported their merits to the superiors. When the bandits were short of ammunition, they made an appointment with the officers and soldiers to suppress the bandits. Sun's army attacked, and the officers and soldiers

After defending, Sun's army withdrew, and the officers and soldiers pursued them to the agreed place. The officers and soldiers put down their bullets and took away the money. Most of the weapons and ammunition needed by Sun's army were traded in this way.

Sun Meizhu kidnapped Zhao Rongting, a wealthy family in Linyi. The Zhao family, who had a close relationship with Jinan in the capital, immediately went to Jinan to complain to the new governor Tan Zhongyu:

"Li Sen, the commander of the fifth brigade, did not suppress the bandits, but instead cooperated with them."

Tanaka Tama, who had just assumed the post of military governor and had been reprimanded by the president for frequent banditry, immediately became angry when he heard this:

"They couldn't take down Baodugu, so they engaged in military law."

Under this kind of forced order, the official army seriously suppressed the bandits. They sent two regiments and the county security regiment, totaling 5,000 people, to surround Baodugu.

At this time, Sun Meizhu had more than 1,000 people in the mountainous area, strengthening fortifications, transporting food and water, and preparing for the battle. The officers and soldiers set up tents and camped step by step. There were many people in Guding, and as the siege lasted for a long time, water became a problem. The leaders decided

Sun Meizhu led some of the bandits to fight out, contain the government troops, and encircle and rescue the mountain. Sun Meizhu went down the mountain and attacked the government headquarters, but the government troops still refused to retreat. The government troops tightened the encirclement, so much so that Guding turned on the red light three times in a row, and Sun Meizhu charged.

Sneak attacks are of no avail.

A burst of muffled thunder passed, followed by a whistling strong wind, which caused the trees in the mountain forest to sway with the wind. From time to time, there was the sound of branches being broken by the wind, and then came heavier rain. It hit the ground.

On the endless mountain forest. Then, there was a loud sound of thunder, wind, and rain. Together with the blue lightning that tore the sky, it violently shook the earth...

In a cave, there was a bonfire, and around the bonfire were crowded several men who looked very haggard in various robes. Looking at the crowd, Sun Meizhu sighed in her heart, and Baodugu was in a hurry again. Just like that, he

An emergency meeting will be held to discuss countermeasures.

"Master, our people are all here anyway. Now that the officers and soldiers are strong, and the provincial government has issued an order to kill them, we'd better move to Luzhong as soon as possible. If that doesn't work, we'd better go to Northern Jiangsu!"

Wang Shouyi, the fourth head of the family, said from the side. As soon as he finished speaking, there was a mocking sound.

"Go to northern Jiangsu. There are hundreds of thousands of Jiangsu Army troops there. In the past two years in Jiangsu, have you ever heard of bandits, even those passing by!"

The Yun Kecheng who spoke was different from the serious bandits who gathered around the campfire. He was "forced to fall into the grass". Unlike the others, he was literate and could write well, and was called a little scholar. He likes to read righteous chivalry novels.

He was also a good friend, and he opened a small restaurant on the outskirts of the city. The leaders of small groups of bandits in the mountains often came to his house to borrow food and play cards. Over time, he developed some friendship with many bandits. The bandits kidnapped the tickets and claimed to find him.

He contacted the redeemer. As time went on, the government suspected that he was a bandit and wanted to take him to task. He was afraid of the bandits looking for trouble and the government arresting him, so he approached Sun Meizhu to discuss countermeasures. Sun Meizhu, who had originally hoped that he would fall into the trap, teased him and said:

"Since I'm in a dilemma, I might as well sell my farmland, peel off the scholar's skin, and join a gang as a bandit."

After hearing this, he thought for a moment and then said.

"Rather than sit back and wait for death, it is better to take risks."

As a result, Baodugu gained an additional military advisor. In the past few months, it was his suggestion to integrate the bandits on the mountain to form a bandit team. Now that he said this, no one would contradict him.

There will be no one to contradict me, but there will always be some way to clear the gap between Baodugu.

"How about we go to Qu Mansion to kidnap Mr. Yan Shenggong and force the army to rescue the siege on their own."

"No, there are a few of us Shandong people who disrespect Yan Shenggong. This is not allowed. We can't let people scold us for a few lifetimes! If we hurt Yan Shenggong, we may die hundreds of times and we will not be able to redeem him.

Sin!"

Upon hearing what his subordinate said, Sun Meizhu quickly shook his head and objected. The reason was very simple. When he was studying in elementary school, he had worshiped Yan Shenggong and kidnapped Yan Shenggong, but he couldn't do it and couldn't do it.

If he did it, he would be unable to break the siege and the common people would kill him.

Sun Meizhu, who had no idea for a while, turned her attention to Yun Kecheng. He was a military advisor. He had an idea in the past as soon as he thought about it. How come this time...

Seeing the boss turn his attention to himself, Yun Kecheng said after thinking for a moment.

"If the boss wants to get out of the siege, it won't be difficult!"

When Yun Kecheng said this, everyone immediately became interested, and Sun Meiqiu said quickly.

"Come and tell me, military advisor!"

"If you want to get out of the siege, you have to make a fuss on Jinpu Road!"

Opening his eyes slightly, Yun Kecheng spoke.

"He robbed cars and tickets on Jinpu Road, forcing the army to withdraw from the siege, and then he was forced to flee the siege, imitating the song of the inchworm."

After saying that, Yun Kecheng stopped talking. Sun Meizhu glanced at his military advisor, thought for a moment, then turned to the second master and said.

"Second brother, you immediately take someone to inquire about it, and we will do what the military advisor wants!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Sun Meizhu turned his attention to Military Advisor again. Now the only thing he could rely on was the themes in Military Advisor Yun's mind.

"Military advisor, look. Is there anything else that needs to be explained in particular?"

"Foreigners!"

Saying two words coldly, Yun Kecheng said.

"The common people are afraid of officials, and officials are afraid of foreigners. No matter what, we must arrest some foreigners. As long as we can arrest dozens of foreigners, we can make the government put the rat in the trap!"...

With a mocking look on his face, Yun Kecheng continued.

"Let's go to the Xuzhou Liaison Station and ask a few reliable eye-catchers to learn about the trains on the Jinpu Line, especially the blue steel special express. That train is an international train. There are trains on every train.

If the foreigners are riding, you should check to see when they arrive at Lincheng."

The "Blue Steel International Train" mentioned by Yun Kecheng refers to the express train that joins the Jinpu Line in international transport. The carriages are all blue. Different from ordinary wooden carriages, the carriages are made of steel plates. Foreigners come and go.

From north to south in China, blue steel carriages are often used.

"Then what?"
To be continued...