More than 170 bandits were tied up in the open space outside the village. More than ten corpses, including the bandit leader Zhang Mingjiu, were dragged and spread out. Zhou Hexuan didn't think anything of it when he killed people, but now he saw the corpses.
Somewhat unbearable.
We are all Chinese, why bother killing each other?
The villagers who had won a great victory were not too happy. They cried and cried while holding their dead or injured relatives.
Zhou Hexuan walked over: "How are the casualties?"
Huang Ziming sighed: "21 of us died, 6 were seriously injured, and nearly 100 were slightly injured."
Although the villagers guarded the wall and their number was more than three times that of the bandits, the number of deaths was more than that of the bandits. Whether it was a red-tassel gun, a hoe, or a pole, people who were hit were often injured but not killed, but the bandits' rifles could kill them with one hit.
Life.
"What are your plans for the future?" Zhou Hexuan asked.
"When the Red Spear Club was established, it originally wanted to fight against the government," Huang Ziming said. "Now that the government is gone, there are more and more bandits. There is still a group of bandits in the northeast, numbering more than 2,000. Although they don't have muskets, they are still
You have to be careful. As for the captured bandits, they can only be sent to Tai'an Road, where the provincial capital of the Nationalist Government is located."
"I also learned about it a few days ago," Zhou Hexuan squatted down and drew a simple map, pointing and saying, "This is Jinan, surrounded by Huaiyin, Changqing, Qihe, Licheng, Jiyang, Zouping, Zhangqiu and other counties.
, now there are no military leaders. These places are nominally under the jurisdiction of the Nanjing government, but their county magistrates were appointed by Beiyang. Now there is a famine, and the number of refugees is extremely large. If you are not careful, ambitious people like Zhang Mingjiu appear, causing
Continuous banditry."
Huang Ziming said: "I have no choice. The Red Spear Club that Brother Ma and I established has less than a thousand people. It can only take care of the villages and towns near Zhangqiu, but it can't control any further away."
Zhou Hexuan said: "I just asked the captured bandits. They just captured Qidong County two days ago. However, due to lack of manpower, they did not dare to defend the county seat. Their base was in a village on the outskirts of the county. There are other people there.
Many of the meat tickets were kidnapped by the wealthy businessmen of Qidong County, and only a dozen people were left to guard them. You should quickly lead people to capture the village and rescue those meat tickets, and you would be able to make friends with the rich gentry of Qidong County.
edge."
"Okay, I'll take people there right away." Huang Ziming said immediately.
Zhou Hexuan suddenly smiled and said: "Brother Huang, do you want to be a commander-in-chief?"
Huang Ziming was startled when he heard this, then shook his head and said: "I don't have that ability. It's better not to have such wishful thinking."
"Listening to what you say, you are also a sensible person who has read books, at least better than the devil Zhang Zongchang," Zhou Hexuan analyzed. "Until the Nanjing government and the Japanese have negotiated a solution to the Jinan incident, the Northern Expeditionary Army will not dare to send troops to the surrounding counties.
. For at least half a year, these places will fall into anarchy and need a strong force to maintain order. I think you are a good candidate."
Huang Ziming was a little moved, but he was not blinded by ambition and lost his mind. He said: "I don't have enough manpower. If I want to expand the army, I need money and food. But I don't want to rob, whether it is to rob big households or common people. This
I can’t do this kind of thing.”
Historically, Zhang Mingjiu took advantage of this chaos and grew from more than a dozen defeated troops to 200 bandits. After successively capturing several counties, he became famous, and nearby bandit gangs came to join him. In less than half a year, the number grew to 2,000. He wanted to
He raised troops, carried out various robberies and kidnappings, and even ransacked rich gentry's homes. Finally, he obtained hundreds of guns and became a tyrant around Jinan. He was recruited by Sun Dianying as a brigade commander.
"If you can say something like this, I feel more at ease," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "So I asked you to rescue the meat banknotes and form a good relationship with the rich gentry. These rich businessmen and landlords, they also
I hope to have a reliable soldier leader so that we won't suffer from banditry again. You go to Haosheng to contact us, and I will help you get a certificate from the provincial chairman Sun Liangcheng to form a security group, and then the wealthy gentry in each county will pay for the troops."
The security corps was a legal local armed force in the early years of the Republic of China, equivalent to a derivative of the Baojia system, and somewhat similar to the regiment training troops of the late Qing Dynasty.
Huang Ziming said happily: "If this can really happen, it will be good. If I have a security team, I will kill all the bandits in the surrounding counties!"
Zhou Hexuan smiled and said: "It will be about half a year or a year when the Northern Expeditionary Army takes time to come back and occupy Jinan City. By then, your security group should be of a certain size. You can choose whether to disarm and return to the field and disband the troops, or accept the incorporation of the regular army.
"
"Of course it would be better to be a regular army." Huang Ziming said happily. His family used to be rich peasants and small landowners. They attended private schools and elementary schools, and they also had vision and pursuits.
Zhou Hexuan said: "Then it's settled. After lunch, you take people to the outskirts of Qidong County to save the meat tickets, and then give me some more people to escort these bandits to the provincial capital."
The villagers of Caozhuang were already burying pots to make rice. The victims were taken home by their relatives, while the injured were sent to the county town for treatment by doctors.
As for the injured bandits, I can only say sorry. Nowadays, supplies are extremely scarce, but they don't care about humanitarianism. If they can survive, they will deserve to die.
After lunch, we set off immediately.
Huang Ziming led more than 200 members of the Red Spear Club to the outskirts of Qidong County to rescue people and kill bandits. Zhou Hexuan led 50 people and escorted more than 100 bandits to Tai'an. They each divided half of the rifles seized in the battle just now.
By the time they arrived in Tai'an, it was already the next morning, and this was the result of traveling all night. Two bandits died of serious injuries on the way. Zhou Hexuan had people dig holes and bury them, and he did not let them die in the wilderness. He had done his utmost benevolence.
Tai'an City was guarded by a regiment of the Northern Expeditionary Army. When they saw Zhou Hexuan coming with more than 200 people (including members of the Red Spear), they immediately became vigilant and even set up their machine guns.
"Who is it?" the city defense soldier shouted.
Zhou Hexuan asked everyone to stop advancing, and walked to the city gate himself and said: "I am Zhou Hexuan of the Tianjin Jimin Association, and I came to Shandong to provide relief. I encountered bandits on the way. Fortunately, the local Red Spear Association helped me. There were more than 100 bandit prisoners behind me, and I also came to Shandong to provide relief."
Please ask the chief of Tai'an to come and receive it!"
Soon a young officer came out with a heroic appearance. He saluted Zhou Hexuan and said: "Hello, Mr. Zhou, I am Zhao Yunxiang, the commander of the 1st Front Special Agent Regiment of the Second Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, responsible for garrisoning Tai'an!"
"Hello, Captain Zhao," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "I want to see Chairman Sun. Is he free?"
"I can inform you." Zhao Yunxiang had obviously heard of Zhou Hexuan and knew that he was a famous scholar.
Zhao Yunxiang is very young. He has just turned 23. He was born in a poor peasant family. His grandfather served as a martial arts examiner during the Guangxu period. With his background, becoming a colonel commander at a young age was only possible during the war years.
Fighting through the soldiers step by step.
At this time, Sun Liangcheng, chairman of Shandong Province, and Zhao Yunxiang, the leader of the special agent group in front of him, were both old subordinates of Feng Yuxiang. They are now relatively progressive soldiers. Unfortunately, they became puppet troops during the Anti-Japanese War. However, during the Liberation War, they revolted and surrendered.