Republic of China

Chapter 352 Old Yihe

Many people say that in modern history, the Japanese invaders' idea of ​​attacking Yanhuang started with the Tanaka Memorial, which led to the subsequent protracted war of aggression.

Listen to how stinky this fart is.

In fact, the Japanese had been itching to strike long before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, but after all, they were beaten so badly the first two times in history that they had to be cautious and tread carefully. For a period of time after the Opium War, the Japanese even thought of cooperating with the Yanhuang people for a win-win situation. However, after in-depth investigations from all parties, they found that the Manchus were rotten to the core, so they gave up the idea.

Over the past few decades, the infiltration into Yanhuang has far exceeded ordinary people's imagination. Not to mention the area outside the Great Wall, the Japanese know your land better than the local residents, and the area inside the Great Wall is actually not much different. The countless energy, financial resources and time invested will definitely pay off.

Just like Zhao Sanyuan and others, they were targeted by countless spies pretending to be overseas Chinese just two days after arriving in Tianjin. They followed the clues and investigated every place they had been to.

Of course, this was also due to Tsuchimikado Toaki's strict order that the intelligence agencies must operate at full capacity.

When he learned from Nara County on the Japanese island that Zhao Sanyuan was in Tianjin, he dropped everything and took the fastest ferry to Tianjin. His purpose was not only to investigate whether Zhao Sanyuan and others attacked and killed two Yin-Yang masters in Sunjia Bay, but also to find out who was behind it and whether it had any connection with the Zhang family in Fengtian.

If so, all the secret operations of the 837th Unit in the three provinces outside the Great Wall may be exposed and must be re-audited and evaluated. The implications are very wide-ranging, because to this day, the country's attitude towards Zhang Yuting is still at two extremes. The Kwantung Army advocates tough coercion, while the cabinet advocates appeasement.

Therefore, this investigation is of vital importance, and the prerequisite for everything must be to ensure that Zhao Sanyuan and others are caught.

Of course it would be best if he had not received instructions from the top leaders of the Fengtian Army, then the pressure on Tsuchimikado Toaki would be much less.

For such an important operation, the special unit's intelligence actually has so many blind spots?

The atmosphere in the meeting room took a sharp turn for the worse. The two women standing next to Tsuchimikado Toaki had cold eyes, and none of the subordinates dared to look at them.

"Tell me what you can be sure of now."

"Yes! Zhao Sanyuan came to Tianjin to look for some antiques. He had inquired about the news of the Anqing Gang. This morning, Liu Guanghai came to visit him in person. We are 70% sure that the two sides have reached some consensus. Liu Guanghai helped Zhao Sanyuan find antiques, and Zhao Sanyuan helped Liu Guanghai find the masters who had targeted the "Hai" character in their names recently."

The officer pointing to a corner of the photo wall said, "Yuan Wenqiu and Liu Guanghai belong to the Tongzi class of the Anqing Gang. The two are enemies. In the name of revenge for Tong Weishan, they had a fight in the no-man's land of Nanshi yesterday. It was later mediated by Li Dasen——"

Tu Yumen Daoqiu slammed the table and interrupted, "Are you sure it was Yuan Wenqiu who did it?"

"It has not been verified yet. But we found out that at the beginning of last month, Tong Weishan secretly came to the Japanese Concession and met with Yuan Wenyu in a clubhouse on Yoshino Street. The Japanese Concession Consul General Mr. Sanada Hachiro was also present. Due to the sensitive status, we did not dare to conduct an in-depth investigation without clear instructions."

This information made Tsuchimikado Toaki frown.

How did the Consul General get involved? His qualifications and background are quite complicated.

"Let's put Mr. Sanada's matter aside for now. What are Zhao Sanyuan and the others doing right now?"

"We are secretly investigating Yuan Wenqiu's territory with Liu Guanghai's people. If they really find the person who killed Tong Weishan, there will be a fight between the two sides. The special operation team suggested that we bring Zhao Sanyuan into the Japanese concession and find a reason to arrest him in the police station for the most efficient purpose."

Tsuchimikado Toaki did not answer, he stared at the target photo.

Although the two parties had never met before, ever since he got to know this person, Tsuchimikado Toaki's intuition has always told him that he must be careful, as this person is definitely not simple.

Very little information is known about Zhao Sanyuan, especially about the old man. We don't even know his name. Acting rashly may very likely alert the enemy.

"The Special Section can only collect intelligence and carry out assassinations. They are of little use to an expert like Zhao Sanyuan. Pass the order on that no one should act rashly. Continue the investigation on the premise of ensuring that they are not discovered. Report on Zhao Sanyuan's whereabouts every half an hour."

"Send someone to contact Yuan Wenqun. He has property in the prosperous area of ​​the Japanese Concession, so he must be a pro-Japanese element. Promise some benefits and stuff our people into his gang. If Zhao Sanyuan really wants to take action, we will tie a solid trap for him."

Tsuchimikado Toaki stood up and left. He had to meet the Consul General Sanada Hachiro immediately and find out why the other party wanted to attend that secret meeting.

Although Nankai University has brand new male and female dormitory areas, there are also many day students, and many faculty and staff also have families and have to go home after school to live their own lives.

So when school is over, there is a strong sense of bustle outside the school gate, with all kinds of vendors.

The old man with the axe sets up his stall every day without fail. He sells sugarcane at dawn and watermelons when the weather is hot. He always shouts and whether he makes money or not is up to fate.

But given his temper, if he really started shouting, it would definitely be something like "Who the hell wants to buy sugarcane?", so there's nothing wrong with not shouting.

The high spirits of the college students had no influence on him, nor did the hustle and bustle and hawking sounds around him. He lay on a recliner with his face covered by a hat, very quiet and out of tune with the surrounding environment.

Until someone sat down next to his stall, and at the same time, the friction sound of adjusting the strings was heard.

The old man with the axe looked tense and turned his head slightly to look.

Next door was a white-haired old man, his sheepskin coat was so old that it had turned yellow, and his cheekbones were a bit high. After tuning the strings of his erhu, he opened the wooden box on his back and took out lifelike shadow puppets one by one.

As people age, their eyesight may become blurry, but their noses remain very sensitive and can smell scents that young people cannot.

Smells like death!

There must be a lot of deaths caused by playing the erhu!
Feeling the sharp gaze, Qi Sihai turned around and showed his goodwill cheerfully, with a strong Huangtu Gaopo accent, "Old buddy, I just want to earn some money for my craft, I won't offend anyone."

The old man with the hatchet still looked indifferent, and said bluntly: "Young people nowadays don't like this kind of old stuff. Didn't you do some research before you came here? You can only make money by going to South City or North Street."

It's not hard to hear the tone of persuading people to leave.

Since we understand that playing the erhu is extremely dangerous, of course we should keep as much distance as possible, but the old man with the hatchet has his own persistence and he will not move easily even if knives rain from the sky.

Qi Sihai burst into laughter, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"Oh, I'm used to it. I've sold my crafts at the university gate in previous years, so I just came here without thinking."

It was true that Qi Sihai made a lot of money by setting up a stall to perform shadow puppetry at Northeastern University, but it was a pity that he failed at the end.

Not only did he not kill Zhao Sanyuan, who killed his own apprentice, but he also brought out his old rival Mo Wenshan.

When leaving Fengtian City, he racked his brains on how to break the Three Emperors Sword, and he actually came up with a clever idea. He then entered the pass and went to Muling Pass to find Che Baiqu.

Don’t teach?

I'm always trying to please the phoenix and the birds at your doorstep. I don't have many years left to live anyway, so if I can't achieve my goal, I don't mind dying together with you.

After about a year of hard work, Qi Sihai's confidence increased greatly. He went north to Fengtian City to avenge his previous defeat. Coincidentally, as soon as he arrived in Tianjin, he got the news that Zhao Sanyuan had appeared at the gate of Nankai University.

It is better to be lucky than to be early. Since we have already bumped into each other, let's have a fight in Tianjin. No matter whether Mo Wenshan is there or not, with his protective temper, as long as we kill his little disciple, there is no need to worry that he will not come.

But I didn't expect that the sugarcane seller next door was not simple either. Although I couldn't tell what his moves were, his palms told it all. He was definitely a ruthless character who had been using his iron sand palm to hit people to death since he was a child. And judging from the calluses on his palms, his knife skills were also superb.

Is it now popular among older people to wait in front of university gates to block people?
After thinking about it, Qi Sihai's favorability towards the old man with the axe increased sharply.

We are both wanderers in this world, please tell us your story! If the old man with the hatchet knew what was going on in Qi Sihai's mind, he would probably be so angry that he would chop him like a sugar cane.

Who has fallen?

I'm just enjoying my retirement, okay?
Don’t you look at what era we are in now? When you get older, you just sit there and wait to die. If you spend all day fighting and killing, no matter how powerful you are, can you be more powerful than a machine gun or a naval gun?

The old man with the axe looked more and more ugly. He kept thinking about how to get rid of the annoying Qi Sihai.

Hands-on?

Stop it.

Didn’t you see that those shadow puppets are all dark red? They are all made of blood!

It’s best not to provoke such a ruthless character.

Just as the old man with the axe was thinking, out of the corner of his eye he saw the relative he cared about most in his life.

Zhang Xiaogou’s white moonlight, Xiaoya.

She actually hesitated for a long time, but finally decided to come over.

All the coldness and unkindness on the old man with the hatchet face disappeared in an instant, as if he was an old child who was a little at a loss.

He picked up the hatchet to peel sugarcane for Xiaoya, but suddenly remembered that Xiaoya didn't like holding the knife by herself, so he quickly put it back and directly peeled the sugarcane with his hands. No matter how thick and hard his palms were, they were made of flesh and blood after all, and blood soon oozed out.

Xiaoya sighed and took out a handkerchief to wipe the wound.

"grandfather."

"Hey! Hey granddaughter, grandpa is listening!"

"I have grown up and am an independent woman. I am not a wild flower that can be blown away by the wind. You are old and your waist is not in good condition. You really don't need to come here every day."

"Okay, okay! I'll set up a stall at the other end tomorrow. It's Grandpa's fault for making you a laughing stock among your classmates. I promise I won't do it again!"

Xiaoya's tone became much more serious after hearing this.

"What's so great about being rich? What's so great about being poor? There is no high or low in life, only character. The vendors don't steal or rob, they make money based on their own abilities, what's there to laugh at? You always hurt everything around you with old ideas, just like my mother - I won't say anymore, I still have to go to the French Concession to return the book."

"."

The old man with the hatchet slumped back in the recliner, staring blankly at his granddaughter's departing back. This was the only blood relative he had in the world, and also the most precious treasure that had not been destroyed by his own hands.

If God could really give him a chance to start over, he hoped that he would die in the Battle of Zizhulin more than 20 years ago, so that he would not have to regret it later.

"She's a nice girl, but she's a little shrewd."

Qi Sihai did not forget to make expert comments after eating the whole thing. In addition to fighting with others, he liked to listen to other people's gossip the most. When he was not fighting, he loved to carry his small stool and go to the head of the village or the end of the village to listen to gossip.

"If you say anything bad about my granddaughter again, I will cut off your teeth." The old man with the axe looked at him coldly, his murderous intent not concealed at all. He would definitely do what he said.

"Look at you, your face is quite sore." Qi Sihai was skilled and bold. He dragged his small stool to the old man with the axe and took out a few oil-paper bags from his arms, which were full of zongzi (dumplings with rice cakes) with the flavor of northern Shaanxi.

"Come on, come on. You and I are about the same age anyway. Why don't you tell me the story of your relationship? Maybe I can give you some good ideas, right?"

The old man with the axe hesitated for several times, but finally chose not to use the knife. He had not killed anyone for decades, and for the sake of his granddaughter, he could not let his hands be stained with blood again.

He sighed heavily, full of vicissitudes of life.

"I haven't asked for your name yet?"

"Qi Sihai is from northern Shaanxi. He knows a few miscellaneous skills, but he is not a big shot."

"One of the Eight Wonders? No wonder there's always an evil aura about it."

"Have you heard of my name, old friend? It's the Republic of China now, how many people still know the Eight Wonders? It's better not to mention it."

"Oh, how could I not know? Back in Zhengding, you killed quite a few brothers in the guild."

Qi Sihai's expression of surprise became even more intense, and he looked the other person up and down, "Oh, huh? I didn't expect that I would still run into the backbone of the old Boxers? I thought they had all been beheaded."

"I am Xie Jiuren, who was betrayed by the previous dynasty and escaped a disaster. I am just living in this world. Now I only have my granddaughter Xie Ya left. I don't care about loyalty to the emperor or patriotism or killing foreigners and supporting the Qing Dynasty. I just want her to live in peace every day."

A person's name, the shadow of a tree.

How many heroes were there in that era? All those who left their names behind were influential figures.

Even Qi Sihai had heard of the name Xie Jiuren.

He was a fellow townsman of Yan Shuqin, the Boxer Rebellion instigator. He had killed countless foreigners and running dogs of the former regime.

This kind of person would definitely be a target of severe crackdowns by the previous dynasty. Qi Sihai was curious about how this old fellow escaped and lived to this day?
The two old men met by chance after a long journey. They no longer sold sugarcane or performed shadow puppetry, but they actually managed to chat with each other.

Heroes cherish heroes?
maybe.

Anyway, neither of them thinks they are good people, let alone heroes.

At the same time, the Osaka dock was crowded with people. An oil tanker that had traveled halfway around the world from Western Europe finally docked at the terminal.

This time, Zhao Sanyuan finally took action. Just now, several brothers on the dock suddenly fainted for some reason, and they noticed with sharp eyes that they had all approached a young man wearing a top hat.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!
Zhao Sanyuan followed his brothers through the long street outside the dock and saw the target within two miles.

He was wearing a tuxedo and a top hat. Despite being so young, he insisted on leaning on a stick. He was about 1.80 meters tall and had a tall build.

"Are you sure it's him?"

"It's absolutely true, Mr. Zhao. I have never taken my eyes off him."

"Let's go and fight him!"

(End of this chapter)