Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 431 Dong Dabiao's Gang

With Qu Shaoyang's words, Liu Zhengde felt somewhat relieved.

Looking at his three sons, five nephews, and those strong young men, Liu Zhengde felt a lot more at ease.

"Everyone, eat and drink as much as you want, and eat more meat." Liu Zhengde warmly invited everyone to eat meat and drink.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, the eldest son of the Liu family waved his hand and said, "Hitch the carriage."

There were a few old men in the yard already. They cleaned the horses, fed them a lot of sorghum mixed with coarse salt, and put them on the grain cart that had been loaded yesterday.

These are large carts pulled by two horses, loaded with grain that is harvested with hard work for a year.

With a loud bang of whips, a total of thirty large carts rushed out of the south gate of the enclosure and headed straight for Nangangzi.

Qu Shaoyang also led a caravan, following the Liujiawei caravan out of the enclosure.

In previous years, the grain for Liujiawei was bought from Lijia Shaoguo in Sanshengyu, Nong'an.

The owner of the Li family's distillery was kind-hearted. He did not deliberately lower the price when buying grain from the farmers, but the journey was too far, nearly two hundred miles.

It would have been fine if it had happened in any other year, but this year in the early autumn, the people from Liujiawei had a conflict with Dong Dabiao's gang who came to steal horses. Two members of Dong Dabiao's gang were beaten to death, and a mortal feud was formed.

Liu Zhengde was worried that Dong Dabiao's gang would not give up and would probably ambush them on the way to sell grain.

So, this year they discussed and decided to go to the Bao family's hotpot restaurant in Dafangshen which is closer.

The owner of the Bao Family Distillery is not quite a decent person. Not only does he try to lower the price, he also overcharges and undercharges people. He is a real rip-off.

In order to maintain peace, they didn't care about those things anymore. All the families in the village unanimously decided to go to the Bao family to cook and sell grain, even if they had to lower the price.

On the way from Liujiaweizi to Dafangshen, you will pass a place called Sifanggangzi. It is a reed marsh with no villages around.

In the summer, there are often crickets appearing there. Now that winter is almost here, the crickets should have divided up their red cabinets and hibernated.

But who can guarantee that they won’t do something unexpected?
Therefore, the people of Liujiawei would travel in the dark in the middle of the night to avoid being seen and causing unnecessary trouble.

As long as we pass the reed marsh of Sifanggangzi, there is a village ahead, so we don't have to worry about bandits suddenly appearing.

It hasn't snowed yet, but the temperature was very low at night and the road was frozen.

The wheels rolled over the ground, making a creaking sound.

Although the cart was pulled by two horses, it was not easy to pull the heavy load, and the horses snorted with fatigue.

The drivers tacitly replaced the big whips, not even daring to use the medium whips. They only used small whips to gently discipline the horses, for fear that the loud sound of the whips would attract the beards.

When the sky in the east began to lighten, the convoy was about to leave Sifanggangzi.

However, at this moment, the team leader's face changed, he bent down to the ground to listen, and then hurriedly shouted to everyone.

"Quick, drive the cart under the earthen ridge in front and circle it. A horse team is coming."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and hurriedly drove the carriage under a rock in front.

Tulazi is a very steep earthen slope with a large hill behind it. The hill is covered with dense trees, making it impossible for horses to run away.

Everyone drove the carriages over, with their heads facing inward and the horses' butts and the grain carts facing outward, forming a semicircle so that people could hide behind the grain bags.

Then, they covered the eyes of the horses pulling the cart with cloth and placed grain bags under the wheels.

Then, everyone began to check their guns, and those who had no ammunition hurried to reload them.

The caravan led by Qu Shaoyang also ambushed nearby and waited quietly.

After a while, the sound of horse hooves was heard from the southeast, followed by the sight of a horse group of seventy or eighty people galloping towards them.

The people on horseback all wore fur hats, some made of dog skin, and the better ones also made of fox skin or otter skin.

A fur collar was wrapped around his neck, covering his mouth and nose, leaving only a pair of eyes full of excitement and cruelty.

The horse team stopped about 150 to 160 meters away, and one of them pulled off the collar and shouted loudly.

"Where did the convoy come from? The person in charge should come out and speak."

The eldest brother of the Liu family hid behind the carriage and answered, "Bai family, which way are you going?"

He didn't dare say that he was from Liujiawei, for fear that the other party was Dong Dabiao's gang.

But that's how things are in this world. The more you fear something, the more likely it will come.

The man opposite him frowned and smiled coldly, "Boss Liu, let's not beat around the bush in front of everyone, don't even think about fooling me.

We all know that you came from Liujiaweizi."

When the Liu family's eldest brother heard this, his heart skipped a beat. It was bad. Someone had recognized him. "So what?"

"What's the matter? We are Dong Dabiao's gang. In the fall, you Liujiawei killed two of us and asked us to sign the marriage. You owe us two lives.

We don’t need your rollers and sand today, just unload all the chains, and leave the rattles and firewood, and that’ll be enough.”

What this meant was that they didn't want the food and the carts, but only wanted to hand over the horses, guns and bullets, and they would let the people in Liujiawei go.

The head of the Liu family hid behind the grain bag with a gun and still didn't come out.

"The world is not peaceful, Xiangzi must be kept to beat Zhang San.

Farmers cannot live without Lianzi either, as they need to plow the fields, harvest in autumn, pull carts, and sell grain. "

The gang on the opposite side became angry when they saw that the people from Liujiawei were not willing to listen. They waved their hands and seventy or eighty bearded men surrounded the convoy and started shooting.

The gunners and car owners on the Liujiawei side were poorly equipped and had few men.

However, with the cover of the grain carts and the unity of the people, the volleys were fired very beautifully.

On the other hand, the gang on the opposite side, although they have more people and more guns, each of them has evil intentions and is cunning and can be as bad as several others.

Even though the bearded men looked quite ferocious and excited, no one dared to attack them rashly.

Of course, Hu Zi had his reasons for doing this.

They rode horses and fired rifles at random, which could consume the bullets of a large caravan.

How many bullets can a farmer carry? They will be used up soon, and then you can just let the beard do the work.

This is indeed the case. Most of the people in Liujiawei are armed with old-fashioned weapons.

There were only a few quick-shooting guns, which were bought from Qu Shaoyang's caravan at a high price two days ago.

There are not many bullets in the quick-firing gun, and if we keep shooting like this, they will be gone soon.

Fortunately, at this moment, gunshots were heard from the northwest.

It was none other than Qu Shaoyang and his thirty or so followers.

Qu Shaoyang's side was not simple. They all used quick guns and their marksmanship was excellent. In an instant, five or six bearded men were shot and fell to the ground.

The situation was not good. Seeing that the opponent was too stubborn, Dong Dabiao could not get any advantage, so he could only lead his men to leave quickly.

Hu Zi was about to run away while talking, but would Qu Shaoyang let them go? He led his men to chase them.

But the people hiding behind the convoy looked a little silly.

Didn't they say they would escort him along the way and hand him a gun at a critical moment? Why did Master Qu lead people to chase the Huzi? But no matter what, the gang was repelled, and today's hurdle was over. The Liu family's sons all breathed a sigh of relief.

So, they quickly asked someone to take an inventory and bandage those with minor injuries.

Farmers usually carry a bag of horse manure with them, put some on the affected area and then wrap it with cloth.

The sack containing grain was holed by bullets and grain was now leaking out. He quickly took out a large horseshoe needle and patched it up a few times.

Fortunately, the horses pulling the cart were fine. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly drove the cart towards the Bao family's boiler room.

"Brother, what should we do with Mr. Qu and the others? Don't we have to wait for them?" The second son of the Liu family asked as they walked.

"No need, didn't you see that group of bearded men were being chased away by Master Qu and his men?
Those guys are not simple. I think they are coming for the bearded guy. Don't worry, it's okay."

The head of the Liu family was a man of some knowledge after all. He could tell that Qu Shaoyang and his group were no ordinary people, so he was not worried at all. He thought it was more important to sell the grain as soon as possible.

On the other side, Qu Shaoyang led his team to chase Hu Zi. After chasing for about ten miles, a group of people suddenly appeared in front of them.

This cavalry team had about two or three hundred people, all riding fast horses and using fast guns, and their movements were in unison.

Facing the bearded man head-on, the cavalry raised their guns and started shooting without saying a word.

Hu Zi's group was already in a very bad state after being chased by Qu Shaoyang and his men. Only about fifty people were left out of seventy or eighty people.

Now we are intercepted again, how can we resist?

After a round of shooting from the opposite side, only a small number of the gang were left on horseback. The leader, Hu Zi, was so scared that he turned his horse around and was about to run away, but Qu Shaoyang and his team also caught up with them.

"Grandpa, please spare our lives. Can't we just surrender?"

Seeing that they could not escape, several bearded men rolled off their horses, muttering, and knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.

Qu Shaoyang waved his hand, and the people behind him dismounted, stepped forward and kicked over the remaining bandits, then took out ropes and tied them up tightly.

The leader of the opposing cavalry also came closer and saluted Qu Shaoyang with his fists clasped on his horse.

"Sir, what do we do with the injured beards?"

Qu Shaoyang glanced at the bearded man in front of him and said coldly, "Except for these few survivors, kill the rest.

Cut off your head and hang it on the tower of the south gate of Changchun City for public display. This is the fate of those who offend me, Qu Shaoyang.

They are so daring that they even dared to smash the kiln of the Qu family. How can we not teach them a lesson?"

When the few surviving bearded men heard this, they were so scared that they peed their pants.

It's bad, this is the Lord Qu from Maoer Mountain who is leading the team to suppress the bandits. If they fall into the hands of the living devil, how can they survive?

"Master Qu, Master Qu, I have something to say.

It was Jiang Laowai who came to our eldest master and fanned the flames, saying that Master Qu had led his troops to fight the Japanese invaders and that our family must be short of troops, so he encouraged us to go and smash the kiln."

This guy is a leader of Dong Dabiao's gang and knows a lot of things.

At this point, I can't care about much else. I just need to tell you everything I know, so that I won't die so miserably.

Hearing this, Qu Shaoyang snorted coldly, "You are a sensible boy.

Come here, interrogate them separately and ask them all the questions that need to be asked.

If they cooperate obediently, they will suffer less.

If they refuse to cooperate, then we'll use all the beard tricks on them, such as wearing flowers, looking up at the sky, and wearing armor, to let them have a taste of what it feels like."

As soon as these words were spoken, the bearded men were so frightened that their souls left their bodies and they started shaking like a ball.

"I'll tell you everything." Paotou shouted at the top of his voice.

Qu Shaoyang waved his hands, and the people around him stepped forward and carried those bearded men away like chicks.

These bearded men were quite sensible and told everything they knew without much effort.

There were a total of seven gangs that attacked Qujiawei at the beginning, and the two gangs led by Dong Dabiao and Lao Dongbei were the largest in number.

Others like Tianlaishun, Zhandongfeng, Xiaobeihai, etc. are all small groups.

This Dong Dabiao gang was formerly a younger brother of the Zhan Dongshan gang and was not very noticeable.

After Zhan Dongshan and Mantianhong were defeated by Qu Shaoyang and completely destroyed, Dong Dabiao's gang began to develop.

Jiang Laowai was a member of the former Dongshan gang. Qu Shaoyang forced him to work as a laborer in gold fields and mountain fields for several years, but he still had the bandit spirit.

Qu Shaoyang led his troops to fight against the Japanese. The gold field was not well guarded, so Jiang Laowai and his men escaped from the gold field and found a way to contact Dong Dabiao.

After Jiang Laowai's encouragement, Dong Dabiao became interested, so he told Hai Ye Zi and contacted several other gangs to destroy the kiln together.

Through Jiang Laowai, they instigated two members of the patrol team to rebel. On the one hand, they drugged half of the patrol team and on the other hand, they sneaked into the sentry and knocked him down.

Afterwards, all the gangs went to Qu's house to destroy the kiln.

The attempt to destroy the kiln failed, and several gangs suffered heavy casualties, and Jiang Laowai also died on the spot.

In desperation, these gangs fled in panic and returned to their own strongholds in a hurry.

Later I heard that a part of the patrol team had returned from Maoer Mountain, and I was looking for news about them.

Dong Dabiao knew that things were not going well, so he sent a message to other gangs, asking them to abandon their own flower pavilions and strongholds.

Together they left the jurisdiction of Dongbiandao to avoid Qu Shaoyang's revenge.

"Sir, I have already found out that Dong Dabiao and his two hundred men are hiding in the reed marsh at the border of Fuyu and Nong'an.

There is a Huang family compound over there, which is the owner of Dong Dabiao's gang. They secretly provide rice, food, medicine and inform Dong Dabiao's gang. "

The subordinates reported the results of the interrogation one by one.

"We have wiped out your gang today. I guess it won't take long for Dong Dabiao to notice it.

He ordered the others to rush to Dong Dabiao's hiding place and ambush him nearby.

Assign some manpower to put the heads of those bandits into sacks and send them to Changchun city.

The rest of you, take those captives and follow me." After analyzing the information, Qu Shaoyang made a decision immediately.

The subordinate responded and immediately did as Qu Shaoyang instructed.

Qu Shaoyang led the two hundred people and rushed to the border between the two counties.

In Fuyu and Nong'an areas, almost everyone knows about the Huang Family Courtyard.

The old man of the Huang family was called Huang Maotian. He was not a landlord in the general sense, but he made his fortune by growing reeds.

Reeds can not only be used to weave reed mats, but are also the main raw material for making old window paper. They are an important resource with high utilization value.

No matter what year it is, there will definitely be people scrambling for anything that can make money.

The same is true in Weizi Marsh. Whoever has the bigger fist has the final say. The Huang family is the owner of the Weizi Marsh in this area and is also known as the "Wei Ba".

(End of this chapter)