Period drama: Old Cao's carefree life

Chapter 165 With so little money, why risk your life?

"How come there's only so little?" Cao Weida asked, somewhat surprised.

"..." Little Ears was both amused and exasperated. "Brother Cao, this is quite a lot. More than four thousand silver dollars, two large yellow croakers and five small yellow croakers! No more than 20% of the people in the entire Beiping can afford this much money."

"His self-proclaimed title of Xiao Jianbiao of Nancheng is nothing but self-aggrandizement. With Sun Yongzhen, the tyrant of Nancheng, above him, and those pro-Japanese forces entrenched in the middle, Xiao Jianbiao is nothing."

"The Triad he founded was just a small gang of about thirty people. Even I was larger than him in terms of influence before."

"To have this much money, one must have amassed wealth by any means necessary."

Upon hearing this explanation, Cao Weida suddenly realized, slapped his forehead, and thought to himself, "That's it! The Xiao Jianbiao of this time is not the Xiao Jianbiao of the future. I've misunderstood."

The future Xiao Jianbiao will be one of the top gangsters in the entire Beiping, and even Kuomintang members will have to give him some face.

However, the most likely scenario is that most of the gangs in Beiping today are directly or indirectly controlled by traitors.

After the Japanese surrendered, these people either fled or were purged, leaving the underground forces in a vacuum.

Xiao Jianbiao seized the opportunity to grow stronger, and then found a way to get close to a Kuomintang officer. With the Kuomintang officer's backing, he was able to rapidly expand his power and become the future "Master Biao".

"Alright, I understand. We'll stick to the old rules and send my portion to Sesame Alley."

"I'll leave this place to you; I have something to do outside."

Cao Wei Da deliberately took a stroll around the vicinity of Peking University's Red Building, and as Duo Men had said, the security here was extremely tight, with many areas strictly off-limits.

The streets were filled with Japanese soldiers armed with Type 38 rifles; hotels were sealed off; and checkpoints were set up at intersections.

The traitors, police officers, and Japanese soldiers were searching house to house, checking the streets for the murderers of the Japanese soldiers.

It seems the Japanese are determined to find the mysterious person this time. I just don't know if the terrified police and traitors will dare to search with all their might.

In fact, Cao Weida's guess was not wrong at all. Ever since Cao Weida had been assassinating Japanese soldiers and traitors every day, and had been so audacious in attacking the checkpoints, plus killing so many Japanese soldiers last night, these patrolmen and traitors were terrified.

Being conscientious and responsible?

Come on, with so little money each month, why risk your life like that!
They weren't praying to find the murderer, but rather to avoid running into him. He was a ruthless killer, and if they were caught in the search, they'd be killed instantly!

In such a life-or-death situation, let alone patrolmen or collaborators, even the Japanese military police wouldn't dare to recklessly charge in.

After all, they're using automatic rifles; one burst can wipe out a whole area.

Even if there are some headstrong and reckless young men who are not afraid of death, other team members who value their lives will dawdle and drag the team down.

Anyway, if the murderer is in this area, they will be found sooner or later. Someone has to run into them, so why can't it be someone else?

Compared to that, it's clearly more worthwhile to take this opportunity to extort money.

However, none of this had anything to do with Cao Weida. He glanced at it indifferently and then ordered the rickshaw to turn around and head towards Banweiba Hutong.

Search and search, focus all your attention here, and Liu Rusi will be safer.

When they got off the bus near Banweiba Hutong, Cao Weida walked around several corners, stopping frequently, and secretly entered the courtyard.

This courtyard was the house of the man who came to Beiping from Tianjin to run an illegal gambling den and sell opium. Some time had passed, and he couldn't even remember the man's name anymore.

But none of that matters, since the person is already gone.

After entering the courtyard, he went to a room in the corner, and with a wave of his hand, a pile of weapons appeared on the ground.

Five light machine guns, 30 Mauser pistols, two Type 99 sniper rifles (previously a mistake, now corrected) with 2.5x scopes, two mortars, 100 melon grenades, and a quantity of bullets and shells.

As for the Type 38 rifle, he didn't use it. In close-range assassination, the deterrent effect of a rifle is far less than that of a pistol.

Since they weren't facing off on a battlefield, a pistol was clearly more appropriate.

"That should be about right. If this setup can't kill that bastard and ruin the banquet, then there's nothing I can do."

He clapped his hands, closed the door, and secretly left the courtyard. After turning through several alleys, he hailed a rickshaw to the agreed location, marked it, and then left as if nothing had happened.

An hour later, in a private room at a teahouse.

Cao Wei was leisurely sipping his tea when he heard three long knocks followed by one short one at the door.

Then, a person wearing a melon-shaped hat, with his head slightly lowered and his face mostly covered, walked in and closed the door again.

"Come on in, have a seat."

Wu Jingzhong sat down opposite him and asked urgently, "Jingzhe, how did things go?"

"What's the rush? Come on, have some tea and try my cooking. I spent an hour learning it. How does it taste?"

Even though he was extremely anxious, he could only suppress it. After all, this operation was too important, and Cao Weida's help was crucial for any hope of success!

I picked up the tea and took a sip. The tea leaves were good, but the tea tasted bland and tasteless.

Seeing that he had finished his cup, Cao Weida poured him another. He couldn't help but feel anxious. Just as he was about to ask again, Cao Weida spoke first: "Oda Ono came to me yesterday afternoon and wants me to be in charge of the outer perimeter security."

Wu Jingzhong was overjoyed, but before this joy could fully take hold, Cao Weida's words poured cold water on him: "However, I refused."

Wu Jingzhong's face immediately darkened. "You actually refused?! Are you planning to refuse this mission?!"

"You are now a soldier of the Party and the State, and you should be dutifully performing your duties."

The next second, a hand-drawn drawing and a map of the five outer districts of Beiping were handed to him. "This is the floor plan of the Tokyo Hotel."

Wu Jingzhong accepted the document with a stern face, clearly still furious about Cao Weida's unauthorized decision to refuse the outer perimeter security.

"While the floor plan is important, the perimeter security work is even more crucial!"

Faced with Wu Jingzhong's angry accusations, Cao Weida remained unperturbed, calmly sipped his tea, and said:

“Once I take charge of the perimeter security, I will be implicated regardless of whether the mission is successful or not. At best, I will be suspected by the Japanese and will definitely be subjected to torture.”

"I haven't received any professional training. Let alone torture, I'm terrified of even making a cut."

"Even if I withstand the torture, what if the Japanese devils are so ruthless that they'd rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free, and they kill me? Who can I complain to?"

Wu Jingzhong's face turned ashen; if he weren't afraid of being overheard, he would have slammed his fist on the table and started cursing.

He suppressed his anger, his eyes wide and blazing as he roared, "Cao Weida! You need to know you're a soldier! A soldier's duty is to obey orders! How can you be so cowardly as to cling to life and fear death?!"

"Your behavior is tantamount to desertion on the battlefield, and I can shoot you dead on the spot!"

Cao Weida rolled his eyes. "You make it sound like I wanted to join your Military Intelligence Bureau. It was your boss who forced me to join."

"I get a little angry when I talk about this. I consider myself a patriot!"

"I've helped you a few times within my capacity. I wouldn't say I've done you a favor, but I've at least made a contribution to you."

“Whenever you ask me for help, I always do my best. I think I’ve done my utmost.”

"Oh, so after helping you, not only are you ungrateful, but you also forcibly recruited me into the Military Intelligence Bureau. Isn't that repaying kindness with enmity?"

"I, Cao Weida, am just an ordinary person who is afraid of death but has patriotic feelings. What have I done wrong that I have to be forced into this situation by you again and again?!"

"Or are you saying I shouldn't love my country, shouldn't have helped you, and that helping you means I deserve to die?"

Wu Jingzhong was speechless for a moment; he really didn't know there was such a story behind it.

Therefore, Cao Wei Da was personally ordered by Dai Mubai to be brought into the Military Intelligence Bureau.

And this was after he had helped the Military Intelligence Bureau several times?

For a moment, he felt that Boss Dai had gone a bit too far.

At the same time, he had some other guesses. Perhaps Boss Dai had forcibly brought Cao Weida into the Military Intelligence Bureau not to have him do intelligence work?
Otherwise, why would an ordinary person have such a high level of secrecy?
He didn't know what to say for a moment, and his anger suddenly dissipated by more than half.

That's true. Asking an ordinary person who was forced into this situation to do such a dangerous task would make anyone tremble with fear.

but
He took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "Cao Weida, I know this is indeed asking the impossible, but this mission is very important. It concerns the morale of the entire nation in the War of Resistance. If we allow them to hold the meeting smoothly, it will lead to more deaths."

In a battle between two armies, morale is extremely important.

On a smaller scale, if the morale of one side is low, it can lead to greater casualties at best, and at worst, the loss of the ability to resist and the collapse of the entire army.

On a larger scale, once the victory propaganda is successfully launched, most of the fence-sitters and traitors who want to turn against the Japanese will be shaken and intimidated by the ferocity of the Japanese army, thus daring not to act rashly.

This undoubtedly increased the difficulty of resisting Japan by an immeasurable amount.

"Furthermore, the *** army has been using us Chinese people to carry out cruel human experiments. Junzaburo is one of the demons among them. You clearly have the opportunity to avenge the innocent Chinese compatriots who died at his hands. Are you willing to let him leave peacefully?"

"Therefore, I hope you can put aside past grievances and help us complete this mission!"

Cao Wei Da secretly rolled his eyes.

Well, if the hard approach doesn't work, you'll try the soft one, huh?

But to be honest, he was really unwilling to let such a beast leave. A beast like Junzasawa Juūō, who was utterly depraved and inhumane, not only did not deserve to live, but should also be torn to pieces and eaten alive!
"I only said I wouldn't go to the outer perimeter for guard duty, I didn't say I wouldn't help you, why are you in such a hurry?"

"By the way, if I may ask, how many people have you prepared, what are their weapons and equipment? If I'm included as the outer perimeter guard, what are your chances of successfully killing Junzasawa Juro?"

(End of this chapter)