Chapter 107 0107

"The situation has improved!" "Isn't it?! This guy, Sun Chuanfang, can't hold on to Su Wan any longer. He insists on going to Shandong to rely on Zhang Zongchang, that doggy general!" People have said so. In the salt market, Fang Sheng knew that Sun Chuanfang had suffered a disastrous defeat in Longtan, but no matter how the overall situation improved, as far as the small land of Yan City was concerned, facing a large number of defeated Beiyang soldiers, it was the last moment before dawn. dark hour.The Northern Expeditionary Army failed to cross the river immediately to pursue them, and these defeated soldiers still had time to recover and recuperate. If they wanted to pull across the wilderness in northern Jiangsu and join Zhang Zongchang, the governor of Lu Province, they would have to pass through the throat of Yanshi.Using Yanshi's own guns, together with the two support soldiers of Yangjiao Town Xiaoxie'er and Wanjialou Zhenye, they are used to fight against the army of the Flat Nose Division. If the whole army fights against each other, let alone open fire, tens of thousands of people will squeeze forward and squeeze the Yanshi City flat.

Under such circumstances, should we let go of Yanshi, retreat the human guns to both sides, and then devour the small groups of stragglers when the opponent retreats sporadically?Or should we hold this throat tightly and fight to the death with Sun Chuanfang?Because these are all matters that may affect the overall situation, he dare not make his own opinion on his own. After thinking about it for a while, he thinks that it is necessary to gather everyone together to make a joint decision. On the night of that day, Xiao Xie'er and the various leaders from the northeast of Yanshi in Matun, Zhen Ye who guarded the Wanjialou in Changdui on the north bank of the Yanhe River, Anshang merchants in Yanshi City, and the owners of various warehouses, Liuhe Da Gou Xiong and Wang Dagui from the Gang, as well as Mr. Dai Wangguan, Zhang Erhua Xie, Iron Fan Tang Liubao and other people guarding the various places, all gathered in the hall of the original Lianghuai Police Department to discuss this important matter.

After the Yanshi was trapped, kerosene was cut off for a long time, and the six number one Pu lanterns (*a large hanging kerosene lamp.) in the hall could not be lit. People sat around the long table, listening to Fang Sheng's speech quietly under the fantastic halo connected by the lanterns. Sitting at one end of the long table with warm legs, Fang Sheng used a dagger as wide as a leek leaf and as bright as silver to draw a sketch on the side of the table. Standing up, looking around at the faces lined up in the shattered light of the lantern, he said in a deep voice, "Old Master Dai and Fang Sheng, master and apprentice, wrongly accepted the strong recommendation of Guan Baye and the heavy responsibility of Yanshi, so they pulled up their guns. Protecting salt and protecting dams, resisting bandits, and resisting Beiyang. In the past few months, although we are alone and weak, we can't talk about doing much, but after several struggles, we defeated the entire defense army of Yadantou , extinguished the arrogance of the nose, and finally set a precedent for many years of fighting against Beiyang with the guns and strength of the people in one place...Nowadays, there are frequent news in the south that the Northern Expeditionary Army has defeated Wu Peifu at Tingsi Bridge, and slightly captured Jiujiang on the south bank of the Yangtze River , Nanchang, Wuhu, and Nanjing, after Sun Chuanfang's disastrous defeat in Longtan, his elites were lost, and he had no place to stand in Jiangnan. On this point, we must bow to his foresight... But, according to Master Xie , Ba Ye is now recuperating in Wanjialou with a gunshot wound, while Sun Chuanfang's defeated soldiers have rushed to the county town like a mountain opening a gate. The hungry dogs who were chasing after them fled desperately. They were defeated in Jiangnan, full of grievances. If they were blocked by civilian guns in Yanshi, they would pounce to vent their grievances and kill them indiscriminately! Brothers invite you to come here This is to discuss this. We are determined to fight to the end. The most important thing is how to fight, so that we can try our best to weaken the little capital left by Sun Chuanfang's men? Evil fire... Master Zhen, what's your opinion?"

"Master Zhen, Master Zhen!" Seeing Master Zhen staring blankly at the long case, an innkeeper pushed him with his elbow and said, "What are you thinking? Master Fang is talking to you before Fang De!" "Oh, oh!" Master Zhen pushed away the chair and stood up as if waking up from a dream, and said, "I'm a person who doesn't know how to fight. I've never been able to figure out how to fight fire. I leave everything to Master Fang." You are in charge!" "Master Xie, you?" Fang Sheng waved his hand and said. "We are all blacksmiths—we only know how to swing a hammer and beat hard!" Xiao Xie'er said, "Baye Guan pointed out a way for us brothers. We came to Yanshi to die. We want to let the Beiyang Army know The people are not afraid of death, we advocate not retreating one step, and resist to the end!"

"What do you guys think?" Fang Sheng turned to everyone and asked, "If you have something to say, you might as well put it on the table, and let's discuss it carefully." "I thought our original intention of protecting Yan and protecting the dam was to protect the people and prevent them from being ravaged by the Beiyang Defense Army." The former director of the Salt Audit Office said: "Now that the Beiyang Army has defeated Jiangnan, they will pass through the border and enter Shandong. , we might as well withdraw from Yanshi and let them pass by. If they don't kill indiscriminately, we don't have to fight it. Because if Yanshi is not guarded, they will take revenge on refugees indiscriminately, that... violates our original protection Jing Anmin's original intention!"

Mr. Dai was sitting in a dark place far away from the long case, and at this moment he also pushed his wheelchair forward and said, "Yes, Anmin is of course important, but the Beiyang Army is brutal, the less you resist him, the more he will do it." The tyrannical people, I think that separating people and shooting them to let them cross the border is not the solution, neither is passive defense; I believe that the defeated soldiers under Sun Chuanfang are not enough, the main force is the division and brigade of the Jiangfang Army... If we can recruit dead soldiers Enter the county town, kill the leader of the Jiangfang Army, and then demobilize the shantytowns without foreign guns, let them notify the refugees, and flee to the east and west in time. With this kind of spirit, we can gamble all of Sun Chuanfang's capital."

"Father is right." The big bear rushed to raise his fist and raised his arms and said, "Master Fang will save you from trouble and go to recruit some dead soldiers. My mother is willing to go to the county town to assassinate Snag. In the future, someone will pick up the bone that was gnawed by the wild dog and bury it with my good brother Shier Shorty." "No, no!" Wang Dagui yelled anxiously, "Big bear is a drunkard. He drank three cups and couldn't tell the difference between east, west, south, north. He is still considered a top leader, if he is asked to enter the county town to assassinate Tsubi out of schemes, he will obviously be sent to death,... I should go if I want to go!"

"You two don't need to argue," Fang Sheng said, "it's not suitable for you to do this, let alone the gate of the city, it's absolutely difficult for you to sneak in with short guns... I think, this matter Zhang Erhuaxie should do it. He has some martial arts foundation, and a city wall can't stop him. Besides, he is very familiar with all the streets, alleys, terrain and terrain of the county town. I think it's better for him to do it. some." "I will do so." Zhang Erhuaxie said, "Brother, please immediately replace me with someone to guard the small ferry, I will leave tonight."

"Then bother Master Scorpion," Fang Sheng said, "Master Scorpion, you can increase your human guns to defend the small ferry, and we will do as the old man wants; however, there are two places that need to be connected. Network, I would like to ask Brother Dagui to go to Wanjialou and inform Baye Guan of our decision. There are guns and guns in the North, as well as food and food. There is no need to send more people to die together! You might as well go three times, Big Bear Henan, enter Dazedi, and tell Mr. Peng of the People’s Army to take in as many soldiers as possible from the Beiyang Army—I believe that there will be another hard fire in Yanshi, and when we die, at least half of the Beiyang soldiers will bring them It's time for the machine to open!"

Although the meeting time was short, it was not in a hurry. Once it was decided that the foreign gun team would defend Yanshi, and the blunderbuss and knife team went north to escort the refugees. Everyone felt calm in the face of death. No fear. Master Zhen stared silently at the long case filled with lanterns of all sizes. On the edge of the whole long case were placed pistols, pistols, and muskets taken off by the participants; Brands include Zilaide and Little Toad, the old second chamber, the first chamber fast machine and the new three chamber, the double-barreled owl and the curved half-long barrel solo, (*the above are the names of short guns that were common at that time.) In the early days, some of these guns were used by wealthy businessmen for self-defense, some were used by local bachelors to mess around with the world, some were used by private officials to show their prestige, and some were used by gangsters to break into the road. Tonight, they are juxtaposed together, showing a meaning - a united resistance to the violence in Beiyang.

He has never been used to these things, nor is he used to this atmosphere that heralds blood, but he has been forcing himself to get used to it. Wanjialou has many guns and horses, which are rare among the major households in the Northland. The young master of the team is also proud of his bravery, and now even the subordinates of Judge Zhu Si, who is stationed in Yangjiao Town, have listened to Guan Baye's call and rushed to help; Wanjialou has already been around for ten months, even if Ba Ye's gunshot wound has not healed, and Wanjialou should first pull out some human guns to help after receiving news that the salt market is tight, even if the human guns are not available for a while. It's worth it, the Qifang clan's food and grass should also be brought in, but there is no sign of these, so I can't help but feel ashamed for the clan, and feel that they are too short-sighted and selfish!Among the people I brought here now, apart from Zhuang Ding, I am the only one with the surname Wan, and I must not show cowardice. An ancient clan that has long boasted of being the descendants of military generals in the Ming Dynasty should not If there are cowardly descendants, I must also take benevolence as my heart and righteousness as courage. In this future battle, I will die as heroically and desolately as them. "Master Zhen!" Someone called him in a low voice. He raised his head and saw that it was Wang Dagui from the Liuhe Gang. "I have to go to Wanjialou tonight!" Wang Dagui's voice was full of unstoppable excitement: "Before Lord Xie came, no one knew that Baye would go to Wanjialou with a gunshot wound. I miss him day and night. I am really grateful to Master Fang for giving me this good job, so that I can go to see Master Ba. If you have a message or a letter to Master Ba or Master Gu, I will do it for you. You brought it." "That's great!" Master Zhen said, "Let me borrow a pen and paper from Master Fang's room, and write two letters for you to take with you. One is for Lord Gu, and I hope he will collect his guns soon." , to help Yanshi, when the Northern Expeditionary Army comes in the future, there will be a part of the glory of resisting Beiyang in the corner of the barren sky. Please send a letter to Ba Ye, and greet Ba Ye's injury. I hope he will recover from the gunshot wound as soon as possible, and don't worry about Yanshi "It's one thing for us to live and die, but another for Sun Chuanfang to collapse, please rest assured." "As for the letter, I took it with me." Wang Dagui said with a smile: "But you know Ba Ye's temper. Once he can turn the saddle and climb on the horse's back, I'm sure he won't lie on the bed, no matter how injured he is. Whether he recovers or not, he will come to Yanshi to live and die with you guys!" "That's good?!" The big dog grumbled with a bitter face: "Wang Dagui, you boy, you go to see Baye, and go back to Yanshi with Baye to die, and your mother will gnaw your teeth Happy, yes?! You never thought about it, a bustling Liuhe gang, a dozen lively men, in less than a few months, one on the left and one on the right died, Lei Yipao , Youngest Xiang, Shorty Shier, plus Eighth Master and you... You all played together in the underworld, but you kicked my big bear away, and left you alone in the world to suffer, what the hell are you Enough to bear!" "Life and death are not up to each other," Wang Dagui said, "One and a half of us must remain in this world, otherwise, who will burn paper and foil for us?" "I don't care," Big Dog Xiong said with red eyes, "When I got to Dazedi and met old man Peng, I just hurried back to him. If we die, we will die together, and there will be a companion on the way." After the meeting was over, people put on their guns and poles one after another, picked up their lanterns, and scattered into the vast night.Master Zhen handed over the two letters to Wang Dagui, exhorting them again and again.They also picked up the lanterns and walked out. In the huge room, Fang Sheng was the only one left, facing a lantern and the rough-edged sketch, circling the empty space on the sketch. Pointing and pointing, gesticulating over and over again. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that Mr. Dai's view was correct; Yanshi cannot be easily abandoned, and the countless refugees in the Northland also need protection, and they cannot be allowed to be ravaged by Beiyang's rout. The shacks with knives, forks and sticks, and the strong men among the refugees went to block the foreign guns and cannons of the Beiyang army, and assigned them the task of protecting the refugees. The foreign gun team no longer has to worry about the future, and can fight the enemy with peace of mind! Yanshi was determined to stop Sun Chuanfang's retreat in this way, and the time for the final battle was imminent. He lightly pointed his dagger at a point on the sketch, which was the place he and his brothers chose to die. He wanted to tell Sun Chuanfang here ——Old people should not be insulted, and whoever insults them will have to pay an equal price. ... A huge sound of winching wheels rolled in the darkness of the north, and he heard that it was the twisting bridge on the Salt River. Those who did not have foreign guns in the salt market retreated in the dark.