20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 648 Plan
The deep forest shook gently twice, and people came up one after another. First it was Xiaoqing, then the second son of the Hai family and Yang Lazi, and then Liu Kuaitui and other soldiers. There was no trace of any gangsters in the team.

Seeing this, Zhao Guoyan's shoulders sank and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Xiaoqing was worried about her father and rushed out of the woods anxiously. She ran into Zhao Guoyan and was still annoyed with him, so she immediately turned her head away and looked around. She saw her father slumped under an old pine tree, so she quickly went forward to check.

Hai Chaoshan's face was sallow and listless, but when he saw his daughter coming over, he immediately straightened his back, put on a stern face, and asked stiffly, "What are you doing here?"

"If I don't come, who will?" Xiaoqing asked anxiously.

"Is this desolate mountain a place for a little girl like you to come?"

"You know this is a desolate mountain. You don't even realize how old you are. You're still running up the mountain. I've long advised you not to come, but you insisted on arguing with me! Let me see where you're hurt?"

Hai Chaoshan couldn't persuade his daughter, so he had to let her do what she wanted. However, he turned his head suddenly and glared at his second son fiercely.

"Dad, don't look at me!" The second child stood far away, looking a little timid. "Xiaoqing insisted on following me, how could I stop her? Look at what she's scratching me!"

The children of Hai family are full of martial virtues, except for one thing - they are afraid of their father!

In fact, Xiaoqing was no exception. She was beaten a lot when she was a child. But as the girl grew up, her father could no longer beat her, so she gradually became bolder.

Even so, when Hai Chaoshan was really angry, she still didn't dare to say a word.

Both the brother and sister are filial piety, so this time when they went into the mountains, their packages were stuffed full. When they opened the bags, they found that they had brought medicinal wine, bandages, food, and even some clean clothes to Haichaoshan.

Seeing bruises on his father's legs and sweat pouring down his forehead, Xiaoqing felt unhappy. She immediately rushed to Zhao Guoyan, blushing and arguing loudly.

"My father was kind enough to bring you up the mountain, can't you help take care of him?"

Zhao Guoyan ignored her and was too lazy to argue with the girl.

Sun Xiangyang couldn't help it, and immediately frowned and said, "You girl, you are not that old, but you act like a shrew. You should speak with conscience. If it weren't for Lao Zhao, your father would have died in this mountain valley a long time ago. What kind of person are you!"

"Just him?"

Xiaoqing was surprised and couldn't help but glance at Zhao Guoyan. Several images flashed through her mind and an expression of disgust gradually appeared on her face.

Zhao Guoyan didn't care. He just walked towards Liu Kuaitui and others under the girl's skeptical gaze.

"Xiaoqing——"

Hai Chaoshan suddenly called his daughter softly, nodded, and then ordered: "What he just said is right, go over and apologize to him."

Having said that, if you want the girl to apologize in public - until the end of time - Qing, just wait!

Xiaoqing said nothing, turned around silently, and continued to apply medicine and feed water to her father, as if the questioning just now had never happened - she had already forgiven him, what else did she want?

Hai Chaoshan had no idea what to do with his daughter, so he just winked and said, "Second brother, you go."

The second son took out some dry food from his bag, turned around and looked, and said, "Dad, they are talking about something, let's talk later. Xiaoqing and I will take you back early tomorrow morning."

"What happened to the Lianzhuang meeting?"

"It's good. Boss Jiang keeps his word. Those bearded men didn't harass us much. They just left two days ago."

"Gone? Where did you go?"

"How should I know? Didn't you tell us to have less dealings with the bandits? Anyway, after those two went back to report the news, the bandits withdrew first. Now only Boss Jiang and his men are left in the village."

Hai Chaoshan didn't understand what was going on, so he let his children take care of the child while he listened silently to the conversation between Zhao Guoyan and others.

Not far away, Liu Kuaitui led a group of soldiers to gather together.

When they saw Zhao Guoyan and Sun Xiangyang, everyone was stunned for a moment and asked in surprise: "Old Zhao, I haven't seen you for a few days, what happened to you two?"

"What happened?" The two of them didn't understand.

"Do you even need to ask me this?" Liu Kuaitui glared, "Look at the faces on your faces. If I didn't know better, I would have thought you two had just crawled out of a grave!"

Sun Xiangyang held his rifle and cursed, "Bullshit, it's all your fault. Didn't I tell you to run faster? Why are you here only now?"

Liu Kuaitui curled his lips and said, "That's still slow! We were fast enough! We reached the bottom of the mountain this afternoon, but we were afraid that if we went up during the day, it would be easy for Wu's 'Shuixiang' to see us, so we waited until dark before coming up."

"Alright, alright, stop talking nonsense!" Zhao Guoyan rushed in and asked, "What did the boss say?"

"Oh, Boss Jiang said that the rebels' food supply is in urgent need, so we should lure them down the mountain and persuade them to surrender."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Guoyan understood immediately.

No wonder the gangsters under Li Zheng didn't come. After all, they were afraid that the amnesty would cause unrest among the people in the mountain.

Sun Xiangyang is different. He is Li Zheng's right-hand man and a veteran bandit. Not only is he deeply trusted, but he also retired from the army and voluntarily went to the mountains to make a living.

Yang Lazi said: "After Lao Shaozi and I went back to report the news, Li Zheng led his men away that evening."

"Gone?" Sun Xiangyang asked anxiously, "I haven't even gone home yet, why did you leave?"

Liu Kuaitui smiled and said, "Brother, I think you have been lacking sleep recently and your head is a little numb. Your cavalry of more than 200 people is stationed near Shenjiadian. How can Big Wu feel at ease to send people down the mountain? Besides, you are not leaving, you are finding a place to hide first and waiting for Big Wu to send people down the mountain!"

Sun Xiangyang patted his forehead and felt a little relieved.

Zhao Guoyan pondered for a moment, then said, "The problem is... we only have about twenty people at most, and there are more than three hundred people in Lao Mang's camp. Even if half of them go down the mountain to smash the kiln, isn't it a bit risky for us to persuade them to surrender?"

"Don't be afraid!" Liu Kuaitui waved his hand, "Didn't you say that Erma was in that camp?"

"You two have a good relationship?"

"Great, just like close friends!"

Liu Kuaitui said confidently: "We both served under Man Tian Fei and have known each other for more than ten years. I even blocked a knife for him! However, after joining the Anti-Feng Army, we all separated. I always thought that guy had died a long time ago, but I didn't expect he's still alive!"

Zhao Guoyan shook his head and said, "Just because you two have a close relationship is not enough. Half of Lao Mang's camp is made up of old members, and the rest are from all over the place. It's not like they are a monolithic group."

"Well, don't worry about that! Erma is not reliable in fighting, but he is very good at dealing with things. He used to be a singer, he is funny and has a good temper, he can get along well anywhere, you should just let him go back and get some fresh air, this kid is popular with people, as long as you can talk to him, the rest will be easy. Besides, we are all online friends, so everyone knows each other!"

As soon as Liu Kuaitui finished speaking, Sun Xiangyang immediately echoed: "As long as they are famous, we are more or less familiar with them." Zhao Guoyan thought about it and said to himself that it was true. Right now, the people in Lao Mang's camp were restless, and it was indeed the best time to persuade them to surrender.

It is risky indeed, but in online business, every deal is negotiated on the edge of a knife. It all depends on how you negotiate.

Zhao Guoyan was the head of the Jiang family, and his job was to be the head on the waist of the pants. Now that he heard Jiang Lianheng's message, he naturally had no intention of shirking his responsibility and only asked: "How much chips does the boss give me?"

Once the bottom line is drawn, all other trivial matters depend on improvisation.

Hearing this, Yang Lazi stepped forward and told the truth: "Brother Yan, the boss said that Lao Mang can live."

"What did you say?"

"The boss said that as long as Lao Mang is willing to surrender, he can consider letting him go, and can also help him make connections and arrange for the amnesty."

Zhao Guoyan was dumbfounded. He raised his hand to pick his ears and asked again: "Say it again?"

Yang Lazi also found it unbelievable, but since it was indeed Jiang Lianheng who said this, he dared not lie. He immediately repeated it honestly, and Zhao Guoyan nodded in a daze.

Then, Liu Kuaitui came over again and said, "Lao Zhao, Boss Jiang asked me to tell you, if Erma is among the team that goes down the mountain to smash the kiln, you should do this and that; if Erma is not among the team that goes down the mountain to smash the kiln, you should do this and that..."

Zhao Guoyan listened to them one by one. Although he was a little confused, he did not say anything and never doubted the judgment made by Jiang Lianheng.

As we talked, the color of the forest became colder and colder...

Looking up, I saw a gray cloud rising from the back mountain of "Niuxinding" in the distance.

When Liu Kuai Tui saw this, he turned around and asked, "Have you ever stepped on a plate before?"

Sun Xiangyang sat down and said weakly, "Look at the state we are in now. How can we go there to step on the plate? Besides, you guys haven't arrived yet. If we go there rashly and find out halfway, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain?"

"That's right." Liu Kuaitui nodded and said, "How about this, you guys take a rest first, I'll take some people over to explore the way at night."

Seeing that Zhao Guoyan was tired, Yang Lazi volunteered and said, "I'll go with you!"

All the soldiers were very active, but not entirely for the Jiang family. Rather, if they could persuade the rebels to surrender, it would be a great achievement, so they naturally rushed to do it.

Zhao Guoyan couldn't help but remind him: "Don't bring too many people, lest the news leak out."

"Well, Lao Zhao, don't worry!"

Liu Kuaitui waved his hands randomly, turned around and called two soldiers, took Yang Lazi with him, and then took advantage of the darkness to walk towards the back mountain of "Niuxinding".

Watching the people walking further and further away, although Zhao Guoyan was a little worried, he really didn't have the energy to keep going with them. After thinking it over, he finally found an open space, sat down, and took a few breaths.

Unexpectedly, just when I was feeling drowsy, something suddenly flew towards me.

Zhao Guoyan was caught off guard and was hit on the head by the thing. It fell softly to the ground. He looked down and saw that it was a square cloth bag with two white flour buns and some pickled vegetables in it.

I've only heard of pie falling from the sky, what about this steamed bun?
Zhao Guoyan looked around in confusion, but saw the three members of the Hai family eating quietly under an old pine tree not far away. Xiaoqing was squatting on the ground with her back to them. She was the closest to them, but she didn't look back, let alone speak.

While eating, she suddenly raised her head, turned her face slightly, and looked at the deep forest of Laoye Mountain. The corner of her eyes flickered, and then she lowered her head again, silently, as if she was out of the matter.

"laugh--"

Zhao Guoyan was stunned for a while, then smiled, raised the steamed bun, and said to himself: "Hey, thanks!"

Xiao Qing was indifferent, still squatting there with her back to him, but she no longer raised her head to look at the distant forest...

……

……

“Shua-Shua!”

The moon rose over the eastern mountain. A silver-gray cloud drifted across the mountain top. A faint sound of grass leaves rustling came from the woods, but no one else noticed it except the birds.

At the foot of the mountain on the east side of Niuxinding, two faces slowly emerged from the bushes. They were Liu Kuaitui and Yang Lazi.

Holding binoculars, the two men walked stealthily, looking towards a small open space at the foot of the mountain.

There is no doubt that Lao Mang’s mountain stronghold camp is in the distance.

However, perhaps because they had just moved in recently, the entire camp looked rather shabby. Not to mention the gate watchtower, there wasn't even any chevaux de frise fence.

Apart from three or five simple tents, there were only a dozen mules and horses left on the open space, and an open-air "granary", which, judging from its size, was only slightly larger than a toilet.

More than 300 brothers, almost all of them gathered outside at this moment, wearing all kinds of clothes, including military uniforms, short coats, and even padded jackets...

All of them had rifles slung over their shoulders, and were either sitting or lying down. No matter what their postures were, they were all spread out on the ground, forming a large circle. There was only one empty space in the corner, where two mountain cannons and one field cannon were parked.

I don't know if it was a festival or for some other reason, but a bonfire nearly two meters high was burning in the center of the circle formed by the crowd.

The fire was so fierce and the heat waves were rolling, it seemed as if the whole mountain was shaking gently.

The faces of the people sitting nearby were burned by the fire, and their eyes widened unconsciously. They looked dull, as if they had lost their souls.

What was even more bizarre was that among the crowd, there was an old Taoist priest in a tattered robe, holding a Sanqing bell in his left hand and a peach wood sword in his right hand. He was walking in the Yu step and making fairy gestures with his hands. He was circling the campfire in a mysterious way. His attire and demeanor were totally out of place with the surrounding water beads and field artillery.

It is said to be a religious ritual, but I am afraid no one has ever seen it; it is said to be to summon gods and immortals, but I have never heard of the secret of summoning gods to help soldiers.

It was all confusing and no one could tell what it was, but everyone was very quiet, just silently waiting for some kind of result.

Finally, the old Taoist was stunned all of a sudden, as if he had seen through something, and immediately turned around and ran up the hillside.

Following his figure, I looked up and found that there was an "officer" standing high up.

The two of them muttered to each other in a serious tone for a while, and then the officer strode down, stood in the center of the circle formed by the crowd, and spoke passionately for three to five minutes. Unfortunately, the distance was too far, so it was difficult to hear what he was saying. All we knew was that when he finished speaking, the crowd burst into sparse applause...

"What a weird person! Why is he here practicing martial arts?" Yang Lazi put down the telescope and muttered to himself.

Liu Kuaitui still looked into the distance and said firmly: "Looking at this, they will definitely go to smash the kiln tomorrow..."

(End of this chapter)