Liu Guitang had seen the cannonball meteor shower during the day, but he didn't expect that it would fall on his head just a few hours later.
However, what made him feel even more desperate was that at some point, several illumination bombs rose up in the sky, completely exposing him and his scurrying men who were bathing in the first round of shells to the light.
Although Liu Guitang was still wrapped in a military coat at this moment, he felt like he was standing naked in an open field. An unprecedented chill froze his entire body into a popsicle from the inside out.
.
He already understood in his heart that the rain of shells was just an appetizer, and the real feast would come soon.
He didn't know what kind of army the opponent was and why they had such unimaginable combat power and equipment.
I don’t know why the other party didn’t even say hello, but came up with a killing move.
But he knew that he, who had been able to escape many times in Battlefield Mountain before, was probably doomed this time.
Sure enough, in Liu Guitang's eyes, in the darkness that could not be covered by light, a dense cluster of sparks suddenly flashed out, just like the wild flowers blooming in spring on the grassland, beautiful and moving.
In almost every bandit's pupils, which were dilated with fear, the reflection of one or more beautiful flames danced. Then, they were engulfed by the metal storm that filled the entire space and violently tore the air apart.
A few minutes later, on the temporary camp site of Liu Guitang and hundreds of his men, there was not a single person or horse still standing, only a few bonfires that had escaped the disaster, still swaying in the cold wind.
, reflecting the bodies soaked in a pool of blood next to them.
The grassland fell silent in an instant. There was no sound of explosions that shattered the eardrums, and there were no more miserable howls and screams of people and horses after their bodies were penetrated by metal. It was as if it was just a dream and nothing happened.
Liu Guitang, who had been shot several times and had his lungs pierced, was lying on the body of a war horse.
His wide open mouth kept opening and closing in a vain attempt to breathe in fresh air.
Unfortunately, his lungs, which were leaking like torn sacks, no longer had the vitality and function they once had.
This ruthless gangster who had committed many crimes finally came to the end of his life.
Before he died, he did not review his life of many evil deeds, nor did he have the ability to say any more heroic words such as "Eighteen years later I will be a good man again."
He just felt unbearable pain all over his body, as well as the suffocation and pain after the air was drained from his chest and abdomen.
Just like the innocent people he had killed before, he finally tasted the feeling of being killed.
…
Liu Guitang's body was hung at the city gate of Duolun, and there were notices on the city wall declaring his various crimes.
Three days later, Zhou Wen handed over Duolun City and two thousand puppet prisoners to a supplementary regiment of the 29th Army that came from Zhangjiakou. Then the entire mercenary regiment mounted their horses and drove towards Zhangjiakou.
There, a train specially arranged by Marshal Yan was waiting for them.
The mercenary group can finally go home.
What Zhou Wen didn't know was that Liu Guitang's body hung on the gate of Duolun City for a whole year.
The merchants and herders in Duolun hated him so much that no one was willing to collect his body. Later, the carrion on his body was eaten clean by the vultures on the grassland, leaving only a pair of withered bones.
Later, the hemp rope hanging the dead bones broke due to the wind and the sun, but someone didn't know who replaced it with a brand new sheepskin rope and still hung the dead bones high.
It was not until a year later, after King De occupied Duolun with the support of the Japanese, that he ordered people to remove the already mutilated bones and bury them in the fields.
Exposed corpses in the wilderness will not lead to a good death.
This was the final fate of Liu Guitang, a bandit with a long history of crimes.
On the day when Zhou Wen led the mercenary group on their way home, that is, May 2, 1933, China and Japan officially began armistice negotiations.
At this time, the Chinese troops participating in the battle on the Great Wall had been holding on for two or three months. They had consumed a lot of personnel and ammunition, and their combat effectiveness had declined.
In particular, the 17th Army of the Central Army in Gubeikou had its three divisions basically crippled and was no longer able to fight as a separate strategic unit, so it was transferred back to Nanjing by the Military Commission for replenishment.
Although the Peiping Military Commission repeatedly called the principal, requesting the dispatch of additional reinforcements and increased financial subsidies to facilitate the next battle. However, the principal insisted not to increase troops in North China, and especially did not allow the Central Army, which was fighting a civil war in Jiangxi, to move north.
By this time, the middle and upper-level central institutions of the Nationalist Government, especially the Peiping Branch of the Military Commission, had lost confidence in the victory of the Great Wall War of Resistance and pinned all their hopes on Sino-Japanese negotiations. The final result can be imagined.
…
The weather in Jinling City in early May is pleasant. The banks of Xuanwu Lake are lined with weeping willows, dyeing the water around the lake a green color.
The cool breeze blew, causing the blue waves of the lake to ripple, and also blowing the long hair of a graceful woman standing by the lake.
I saw this woman wearing a light blue silk waist dress embroidered with dark flowers, and a white gauze shawl. She is tall and attractive, with long black hair shawl, her eyes are like a curve of clear water, her eyebrows are trimmed and her nose is slender.
Her skin is as white as snow, and against the background of the blue sky, white clouds, and green willows, she even shows her dusty temperament.
But at this time, she frowned slightly and stared blankly into the distance, as if she had something on her mind.
This woman is none other than Liu Ruolan, who was brought back to Nanjing by her third uncle.
"Sister, sister, Aunt Liu has already prepared lunch. Go back quickly."
A handsome young man in a gray suit ran over and shouted.
"Ruoxi, you should go back first. I don't want to eat yet, so I just want to be alone for a while." Liu Ruolan said, her fair and pretty face forced a smile on her brother, and then turned to look at the lake.
Liu Ruoxi knew that her sister was in a bad mood recently, so she didn't dare to talk anymore, but she was worried that her sister was here alone, so she had to pretend to go back, but she stopped not far away and looked at her sister from time to time.
Liu Ruolan was really in a bad mood, not only because she was forcibly taken back to Nanjing by her third uncle, but also because of a series of actions taken by the Kong family against Zhou Wen in Taiyuan after she was taken away.
Especially after knowing that Uncle Wu was injured and Li Qiaoer was almost kidnapped, she knew that Zhou Wen and the Kong family had formed a big feud.
Liu Ruolan knew very well how big the Kong family was in the Republic of China, and how deep its background and strength were.
And she knew Zhou Wen's character and temper even more. Although she and Zhou Wen didn't seem to get along for a long time, she felt as if she had known him her whole life, without any sense of estrangement or unfamiliarity.
Zhou Wen would never let it go, and she also knew that her lover would probably use the most direct and violent means to resolve this grudge.