The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 729 A Series of Twists and Turns—The Rescue!!

Zhuang Yan and A Gui were besieged in the old city. Zhang Jincheng was unaware of this at the time, as he was pondering why Boss Kang had suddenly sent a telegram ordering him to go to Mengla.

Zhang Jin had promised Boss Kang that he would capture Li Wencai alive and bring him before him for judgment within ten days, and that his departure might delay the matter.

However, since I've already made that promise, I have to fulfill it no matter what...

Just as Zhang Jin was considering how to resolve the matter, Wang Tao suddenly called out in his earpiece: "Emergency call, 'Phoenix', please respond!"

Upon hearing Wang Tao's urgent call, Zhang Jincheng sat up straight instantly.

His first thought was that something was wrong, so he quickly replied, "I am the 'Phoenix,' speak freely!"

"The monkeys are engaged in battle with the enemy in the old city area. Please come to their aid immediately!"

"Received, report their exact location immediately." After saying that, Zhang Jincheng immediately said to Ye Peng and the others, "Hurry up! Head to the old city right away."

Without needing to give an order, Lu Da started the second "Warrior Off-Road Vehicle," and he also heard Wang Tao's speech through his earpiece.

The two cars sped out of the woods like madmen and headed towards the old town.

The wheels rolled over the muddy dirt road, splashing mud beneath them.

Ye Peng gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

He glanced at the dashboard; the speed had already reached 120 kilometers per hour, but he still felt it wasn't fast enough.

Time is life. Their comrades are now trapped in the enemy's main camp of thousands of troops, with only short weapons for themselves. Their situation under such encirclement is unimaginable.

After Zhuang Yan and A Gui jumped into the timber processing plant, they walked through the middle and around piles of timber. They heard footsteps ahead and hid in the timber piles with their pistols in hand.

Zhuang Yan suddenly saw an enemy soldier in a green military uniform on top of the pile of timber opposite him, looking around. He immediately raised his gun and shot him down.

The gunshot rang out, and then a frenzied shout erupted from all around, as if beckoning people to move closer.

Zhuang Yan knew that he and A Gui were surrounded by the enemy, so he quickly surveyed the surroundings to find a way out.

At this moment, A-Gui lowered his voice and said to him, "This lumber mill is on the very edge of the city. If you rush out from the right, it won't be long before you enter the mountains and forests."

Just then, Wang Tao's voice came through the earpiece: "Monkey, report your current location."

“We are currently trapped in a timber processing plant near the outskirts of the city. There are huge piles of timber here, can you see them?”

"We see it, hold on, we're on our way..." Before Wang Tao could finish speaking, intense gunfire erupted all around.

The enemy discovered Zhuang Yan and his companion's hiding place, and gunfire poured down like a torrential rain. Bullets struck the pile of timber, scattering sawdust everywhere.

Zhuang Yan rolled over and hid behind another pile of wood, quickly changing his magazine.

Under cover, A-Gui threw a grenade towards the enemy. With a loud "boom," several enemy soldiers fell to the ground.

"Go! Now!" Zhuang Yan shouted, and the two of them, taking advantage of the smoke, crouched low and broke through to the right.

Suddenly, three armed enemy soldiers appeared from around the corner ahead, and both sides opened fire almost simultaneously.

Zhuang Yan fired a shot from the side, accurately hitting two people, and A Gui also killed the last enemy.

That wasn't the end of it. Just after eliminating a few enemy soldiers, several more appeared and began firing wildly at them. Zhuang Yan and his companion had no choice but to temporarily avoid their attacks.

Zhuang Yan and A Gui stood back to back, firing at the enemy soldiers rushing out from both ends.

The two stubborn enemy soldiers who had just charged out were instantly killed by Zhuang Yan, and the other enemy soldiers were so frightened that they quickly retreated.

Zhuang Yan knew this wasn't a solution; the enemy would only gather larger and larger. He had to find a way to break out as soon as possible.

"Brother Gui, I'll draw the enemy away. You rush out from the right as soon as possible. Our men will be here soon." After Zhuang Yan finished speaking, without waiting for Gui's reply, he leaped upwards, grabbed a piece of wood protruding from the pile of wood next to him, and climbed up in a few quick movements.

As soon as Zhuang Yan peeked out, he discovered that two enemy soldiers had already climbed up the pile of timber he was on, and were only seven or eight meters away from him.

After shooting down the two men in front of him with his pistol, Zhuang Yan quickly leaped onto the top of the woodpile.

Zhuang Yan first ran to the two enemy soldiers he had killed, put his M9 into the holster under his arm, and then reached in to pick up two AK-47s.
Under the current circumstances, the pistol was too weak to fight against the enemy, so he picked up an "Aka" with one hand.

At the same time, enemy soldiers appeared on both sides of the woodpile. Zhuang Yan immediately opened fire with both guns, killing the enemy soldiers who climbed up. After that, Zhuang Yan threw away an "Aka", then bent down and took two "Little Melons" from the enemy corpses. He ran a few steps and leaped over a distance of two or three meters to jump onto another pile of wood.

The enemy soldiers below immediately opened fire upon spotting the figure leaping over their heads. After leaping over, Zhuang Yan immediately pulled out the pin of a grenade, counted three times after the spring snapped open, and then threw the grenade under the pile of wood.

With a loud "boom," the shockwave caused the pile of timber where Zhuang Yan was standing to shake violently.

Taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, Zhuang Yan jumped over several more piles of timber.

Suddenly he spotted several Ford pickup trucks parked by the enemy in the open space of the lumberyard, and he threw another grenade at them.

After the grenade exploded, a pickup truck immediately burst into flames, which quickly ignited the nearby timber, causing thick smoke to billow out. The large pile of pine wood, which already contained resin, was highly flammable.

The fire was fueled by the wind, and the wind fueled the fire's power; in no time, half of the lumberyard was engulfed in flames.

Amidst the billowing smoke, Zhuang Yan's figure appeared ghostly in the firelight.

Using the fire as cover, he quickly moved among the piles of timber, occasionally turning back to fire, forcing the pursuers to retreat.

Ah Gui had already broken through from the right side as planned and disappeared into the bushes outside the factory.

The fire at the lumber mill grew larger and larger, forcing the enemy to disperse their forces to fight the fire.

Zhuang Yan seized the opportunity and rushed towards the gap in the wall.

Just as he was about to escape, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder—a stray bullet had grazed his shoulder.

He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, then rolled over and fell into the drainage ditch.

The murky water at the bottom of the ditch soaked through Zhuang Yan's combat uniform. He held his breath and slithered along the direction of the water flow.

Behind them came the chaotic footsteps and shouts of enemy soldiers, but these were quickly drowned out by the continuous explosions from the lumber mill.

Zhuang Yan knew that the piled-up chemical raw materials had been ignited.

When gunfire erupted in the city, Wang Tao rushed towards the direction of the gunfire.

As Wang Tao ran, he called out to Zhuang Yan, but Zhuang Yan was too busy to answer him.

When Zhuang Yan and A Gui ran into the lumber mill, Wang Tao also arrived at the edge of the city.

This timber mill was owned by Lang Lao Er, an official in Laocheng County. This guy always relied on being the brother of Lang Lao Da to open many businesses in Laocheng.

Boss Lang assigned a squad of soldiers to guard the lumber mill, so when the gunfire started, the enemy squad quickly surrounded the place.

These soldiers were the first enemy troops that Zhuang Yan and A Gui encountered.

Because the lumber mill occupies a large area, a large portion of its perimeter is enclosed by a large wire fence.

Wang Tao ran here and used a multi-functional military knife and its sheath to make scissors, cut a hole in the barbed wire, and then went inside.

As soon as Wang Tao crawled through the barbed wire, he ran into two patrolling enemy soldiers. He drew his silenced pistol with lightning speed, and after two muffled thuds, the enemy soldiers fell to the ground.

At this moment, the gunfire inside the lumberyard intensified, and many enemies from the city also rushed over.

Wang Tao quickly dragged the two enemy soldiers' bodies behind the bushes and cautiously observed his surroundings.

At this moment, five or six pickup trucks full of soldiers rushed into the lumberyard. Wang Tao used the piles of wood as cover to infiltrate behind the enemy and began to attack them from behind.

After taking down several enemies, Wang Tao suddenly noticed that A Gui was running out from behind the pile of wood in front of him. He hurriedly called A Gui to come over to him.

Ah Gui ran up to Wang Tao, panting, and pointed anxiously to the left, saying, "The monkey ran that way to cover me, we have to hurry and go reinforce him."

"I know, I've made a hole in the barbed wire behind you. You should get out through there quickly, the captain and the others will be here soon." Just as Wang Tao finished speaking, a violent explosion was heard from the left side of the timber.

A-Gui turned and ran behind him, while Wang Tao moved towards the direction of the explosion, simultaneously calling Zhuang Yan on the radio: "Monkey, you can hear me there, please respond."

The firelight from the distant lumber mill illuminated half the sky, and the sound of wood cracking could be heard intermittently from the thick smoke.

He kept his body low to the ground and, under the cover of darkness, quickly moved towards the direction where the gunfire was most intense.

At this moment, Zhuang Yan used grenades to take down several more enemy soldiers. He heard the sound of Colt assault rifles and guessed that reinforcements had arrived, so he immediately ran towards Wang Tao's direction. Wang Tao's headphones only emitted a piercing electrical static.

He crouched low as he made his way through the smoke-filled factory area, when he suddenly heard the sound of intense gunfire ahead.

Through the cracks in the burning wood, he saw Zhuang Yan being cornered by seven or eight enemy soldiers, in a very critical situation.

Wang Tao immediately took off his assault rifle and fired a single shot, killing the enemy soldier on the outermost side.

Taking advantage of the enemy's disarray, he quickly moved behind the oil tanker on the right and pulled out a flashbang from his tactical vest. With a loud bang, the blinding white light instantly blinded the enemy.

"Monkey! Nine o'clock!" Wang Tao shouted, firing continuously to create an opening for Zhuang Yan.

Zhuang Yan understood, dodging the barrage of bullets with a leap and roll, while simultaneously throwing his last grenade. The blast wave knocked over two enemy soldiers, and he seized the opportunity to rush towards Wang Tao's location.

The two met behind a pile of burning wood, forming a defensive formation back to back. "Where are the captain and the others?" Zhuang Yan asked, panting heavily, blood still seeping from the wound on his left shoulder.

Wang Tao quickly bandaged him: "We'll be there in three minutes, we need to—"

Zhang Jin said that when they arrived at the edge of the city along the winding mountain road, they saw enemy troops converging towards the city, and a huge fire broke out at a lumber mill not far away.

Zhang Jin pointed to a country path and said to Ye Peng, "Da Peng, rush over that dirt road."

Ye Peng switched the "Warrior" off-road vehicle to four-wheel drive, and then turned the steering wheel, and the off-road vehicle rushed into the field.

The wheels rolled over the undulating ridges of the fields, sloping outwards to the perimeter of the lumberyard.

The guards at the lumberyard had already spotted the two SUVs, but they didn't know Zhang Jin's identity and dared not fire at them.

“Monkey, we’ve reached the outside of the lumberyard. How are you?” Zhang Jin called out to Zhuang Yan. Just then, he saw A Gui crawl out of the barbed wire fence.

Ah Gui staggered towards the SUV, his face covered in soot and sweat.

Zhang Jin pulled open the car door and dragged him inside. "Monkey and the others are still inside!" A-Gui shouted hoarsely, pointing towards the depths of the factory billowing with thick smoke.

Ye Peng slammed on the gas pedal, and the SUV roared as it rushed toward the gap in the barbed wire fence.

Zhang Jin quickly checked the magazine and shouted into the communicator, "Hold on, Monkey, we're here!" Just then, a deafening explosion suddenly came from the west side of the lumberyard, a fireball shot into the sky, and the shockwave made the windows of the off-road vehicle rattle.

At this moment, enemy soldiers not far away noticed something was wrong, ran towards them with their guns raised, and shouted questions.

Zhang Jincheng didn't answer, but suddenly picked up his assault rifle and shot several enemy soldiers to the ground. Those who weren't dead lay there, too afraid to move.

"Captain, Wang Tao and I will be out soon." They had reunited and were breaking through this area.

Zhang Jin said he saw a head moving near a pile of wood more than ten meters away, and several guns sticking out from the gaps in the wood and shooting at him.

Zhang Jin hurriedly took out a grenade, mounted it on the launcher, and cursed angrily as he operated it, "Damn it, let me show you what's what..."

After loading the grenade, Zhang Jincheng suddenly jumped out from his hiding place and fired at the pile of wood where the enemy was hiding.

With a loud "boom," the wooden stakes blocking the path of the logs collapsed, and the logs piled up several meters high came crashing down, exposing the enemy hiding behind them.

In the instant the enemy was stunned, Zhang Jincheng's assault rifle spewed out a series of sparks...

Gunshots echoed through the lumberyard, creating a deathly symphony.

Zhang Jincheng's grenade hit its target precisely, and the falling logs exposed all the ambushing enemies.

His assault rifle spat fire, bullets rained down, and the enemies fell one after another before they could even react.

"Run!" Zhang Jin shouted, covering Ye Peng and A Gui's retreat towards the gap.

By this time, the fire at the lumber mill had spread throughout the entire western district, with thick smoke obscuring most of the sky.

The burning wood kept popping and crackling, sending sparks flying everywhere.

Just at this critical moment, Zhuang Yan and Wang Tao finally broke through the encirclement.

The two men were covered in blood, their clothes riddled with bullet holes and burn marks.

Zhuang Yan's left arm hung limply, clearly having been shot.

Wang Tao helped him move with difficulty toward the off-road vehicle.

"Cover them!" Zhang Jincheng gave the order, and Ye Peng immediately set up a machine gun and opened fire on the pursuing enemy troops.

Bullets kicked up clouds of dust on the muddy ground, forcing the enemy to seek cover.

Ah Gui jumped out of the car and rushed forward to meet him amidst a hail of bullets.

He grabbed Zhuang Yan's other shoulder, and the three of them stumbled and ran toward the SUV.

Behind them, the enemy troops regrouped, and a new round of bullets whistled in.

"Get in the car!" Zhang Jin said as he opened the car door and threw out the last smoke grenade.

Thick smoke instantly formed a barrier around the off-road vehicle.

Wang Tao was the last to jump into the car. Before the door could even be closed properly, Ye Peng slammed on the gas, and the SUV shot off like an arrow.

With a loud "boom," the main warehouse of the lumber mill finally succumbed to the high temperature, and the entire roof collapsed.

The towering flames illuminated the escape route of the off-road vehicle and temporarily halted the pursuers' advance.

Inside the car, Zhuang Yan leaned back in his seat, his face pale, while A Gui hurriedly bandaged his wounds.

Zhuang Yan, panting heavily, watched the fire recede into the distance through the cracked car window.

After the two off-road vehicles disappeared into the road in the middle of the woods, several enemy pickup trucks that had been chasing them appeared from the direction of the lumberyard.

The pickup trucks behind them were filled with shouting enemy soldiers.

Enemy soldiers in the pickup truck fired wildly, bullets kicking up clouds of dust around the SUV.

Ye Peng gripped the steering wheel tightly, dodging left and right on the rugged dirt road, the wheels screeching as they rolled over potholes.

"Hold on tight!" Ye Peng shouted, jerking the steering wheel and sending the SUV swerving into the forest path.

The branches scraped against the car body, making a teeth-grinding sound.

Looking out the back window, Zhang Jin saw that the pursuers had fallen behind by a considerable distance.

Wang Tao quickly checked the remaining ammunition, his face grave: "We have to find a way to shake them off; the border is just three kilometers ahead."

Meanwhile, Boss Lang had already learned what had happened in his stronghold, and he ordered his mobile units to pursue the group at all costs.

Enraged, Lang Lao Er stormed up to Lang Lao Da and shouted, "Brother, these bastards destroyed my lumber mill! We must catch them! I'll skin them alive!"

"Don't worry, I've already sent troops to pursue them. They can't escape..."

Before the eldest brother could finish speaking, the second brother asked, "Brother, who are they? Are they really that bold?"

"It's unclear at the moment," Boss Lang shook his head gently.

"We can't just chase them; we also need to order the outer perimeter troops to intercept them," Lang Lao Er said anxiously.

The eldest brother walked up to the map and said to the second brother, "They fled eastward. We only have defensive forces in the west and south, and in the east, apart from the checkpoints, there's nothing else."

"You mean they're going to flee to 'over there' territory?" Lang Lao Er asked.

"Based on the current situation, if they brought weapons into that area, it proves that they came from that side."

“If they really are from ‘over there,’ then we’re in trouble. The matter of Lao San hasn’t been resolved yet. What are they planning to do?” Lang Lao Er said worriedly.

"Wait a moment, the result should be available in half an hour at most."

Just as the Lang brothers were discussing the matter, Zhang Jin said they had come to a fork in the road.

Ye Peng slowed the car down and asked, "Captain, which way do we go?"

(End of this chapter)