Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 28: Using people’s money to eliminate disasters for others
Fifty silver dollars was no small sum back then; it was equivalent to a year and a half's salary for an average worker in Shanghai, and it was more than enough to support a family of four.

Because there were so many dollars, Qiao Erdan's hands couldn't hold them all, so he could only lift up the excess dollars by holding up his clothes.

Seeing this, Su Yaoyang shook his head helplessly and gave Xu Dapeng a wink.

Xu Dapeng, understanding the situation, took a small cloth bag from the motorcycle and tossed it to him. "Here... put it in the bag and keep it safe. If someone steals it or loses it, the officer won't replace it for you."

After finally managing to put the silver dollars into his underwear, Qiao Erdan ran up to Su Yaoyang and looked at him with a determined gaze. "Commander Su, since you gave me the silver dollars, from now on I, Qiao Erdan, will follow you."

"And I!"

"And I……"

Song Xilian was right. Su Yaoyang was spending a fortune to buy a horse's bones, or rather, to find someone to set an example.

Now that there was a leader, the routed soldiers immediately realized that the officer in front of them was not just fooling them; at least he was really giving out silver dollars.

In an instant, everyone's eyes became even more fervent, and a cacophony of voices quickly rose and fell.

In less than ten seconds, more than ten people stood up.

Without wasting any words, Su Yaoyang immediately had Xu Dapeng distribute silver dollars on the spot, and for a moment the scene was filled with the clanging sound of metal.

Seeing the beaming faces of the soldiers who had received their silver dollars, Su Yaoyang couldn't help but remind them: "Brothers who have received their silver dollars, I must remind you of something."

"Now that you've taken my money, you'll have to work for me. Anyone who disobeys or tries to escape halfway through, I know you, but the gun in my hand doesn't. Don't blame me, Su, for being ruthless."

Someone immediately said, "Sir, don't worry, we all know the rules. We take money to do our job. Since we've taken your reward, our lives belong to you."

"I hope so," Su Yaoyang said noncommittally.

Soon, news began to spread along the riverbank that an officer was recruiting men to fight his way back to Nanjing to rescue people and was offering a reward of 50 silver dollars on the spot. More and more soldiers began to flock towards the dock.

"Commander...should we go and stop them?" Seeing that more and more people were gathering, a man who looked like an adjutant whispered to Song Xilian.

"Stop what?" Song Xilian retorted. "Stop them from sending silver dollars? Or stop them from marching back to Nanjing?"

"This..." The adjutant was speechless for a moment.

Their division was ordered to block people on the riverbank, and now that the enemy wants to fight back, they have no reason to stop them.

More than half an hour later, Xu Dapeng, panting, found Su Yaoyang: "Sir... there are more and more people, what should we do?"

"What do you mean, 'what to do'?" Su Yaoyang's eyes widened. "They're willing to come, and you're already complaining?"

"No..." Xu Dapeng said anxiously, "But... but we've already spent most of our money, but people keep coming. If that's the case, we won't have enough money."

"Not enough? How could that be? We brought 20,000 silver dollars!" Su Yaoyang was somewhat incredulous.

"Sir, you can see for yourself."

Xu Dapeng gestured with his chin, and Su Yaoyang turned his head to look... Good heavens, it turned out that hundreds of soldiers had gathered behind him without him noticing. Some were counting their silver dollars with beaming smiles, while others were chatting and laughing with their companions, but a trace of worry flashed in their eyes from time to time.

"Brother Fumin, you've gone mad!"

Not far from Su Yaoyang, two young men in khaki military uniforms were arguing. A tall captain with a square face angrily said, "Don't you know that we'll be safe once we cross the river? You want to risk your life for a mere fifty yuan? You, a graduate of the Central Military Academy, are too worthless!"

"Worth it?" Another young man, slightly shorter and wearing the rank of lieutenant, pointed to the riverbank and said with a wry smile, "Brother Qiu Jie, in these chaotic times, how much do you think we so-called top graduates from military academies are worth?"

Besides, rather than being trapped here and killed by Japanese planes and gunboats, it would be better to follow that officer back to Nanjing and send these silver dollars home for my mother's medical treatment.

“Brother Fumin…you’re being far too pessimistic. On the ground, we…” The captain wanted to comfort his companion, but he stopped halfway through his sentence. In this situation, even he could no longer deceive himself.

After a long silence, he said helplessly, "Fine, fine, since that's how it is, I'll go crazy with you then, let's go together!"

After saying that, he pulled his companion forward, pushing and shoving his way...

"What...you guys want to join too?"

Su Yaoyang looked at the two officers standing in front of him with a surprised expression.

Although he has now gathered more than 400 defeated soldiers, almost all of them are ordinary soldiers. There are hardly any officers, let alone non-commissioned officers.

After all, fifty silver dollars was a lot for a common soldier, but not necessarily for an officer.

"Yes, sir. I wonder if you are still accepting people?" asked the captain, the highest-ranking officer among the two.

"Of course we'll take them in." Su Yaoyang looked them over again. The two men were wearing the distinctive khaki uniforms of the Central Army, covered in dust, clearly indicating they had just come from the battlefield.

"Tell me, which unit did you originally belong to? What were your names and what positions did you hold?"

"Reporting to the sir, both men are from the 48th Division of the 2nd Army Corps. The commander is Zhang Zhihao, who is the artillery company commander, and the other is Xiong Junfeng, who is my deputy."

"Are you artillerymen?"

Upon hearing this, Su Yaoyang immediately stood up straight, his eyes lighting up.

Regardless of the era, artillery has always been a technical branch of the military. In particular, these days artillery has even been classified as a special forces unit, which shows how rare this branch of the military is.

Although Su Yaoyang had exchanged for six mortars, he lacked skilled artillerymen. If these two had been there this morning, with the six 60mm mortars, he would have lost if the Japanese had gotten within 300 meters of the church.

"You're the ones!"

Su Yaoyang didn't ask about their backgrounds anymore. He slapped his thigh and turned to Xu Dapeng, saying, "You've all been selected. Each of you will receive one hundred silver dollars. Now come with me immediately!"

"Xu Dapeng, you stay here and continue recruiting. I'll send someone to bring you some silver dollars later."

After saying that, he jumped onto the sidecar motorcycle without waiting for the two men to speak, and shouted at them, who were still in a daze, "What are you standing there for? Get on the motorcycle now!"

"No, sir."

Before the two could speak, Su Yaoyang gestured for them to get in the car. Seeing Su Yaoyang's eager expression, Xiong Junfeng and Zhang Zhihao had no choice but to bite the bullet and get in the car.

After the two got on the vehicle, Su Yaoyang shouted to the soldiers who had already received their silver dollars, "And you guys... all of you follow behind my motorcycle. If anyone dares to run away halfway... see that iron donkey behind us? The machine gun on it doesn't discriminate!"

(End of this chapter)