Period drama: Old Cao's carefree life

Chapter 4 Fear to the core

"Everyone assemble!!"

There were quite a few patrol officers who wanted to just clock in and leave. When they heard the call to assemble, many of them reluctantly lined up, their postures sloppy and unsteady.

Seeing this, a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair immediately shouted, "What are you doing? Do you still want to work here? Stand up straight right now!"

His name is Xu Hancheng, the police chief of the Fifth Outer District.

Cao Weida stood with Duomen. When they saw Xu Hancheng, the police chief, standing on the stage, Duomen whispered, "Even the chief is here. It seems this matter is no small thing."

Cao Weida nodded slightly and whispered to each other, "It couldn't be because of last night."

"Shh, be quiet." Domen had the same guess. "Hurry up and line up."

There was a shooting last night, and now there's a sudden emergency mobilization. It would be strange if the two weren't related.

On stage, Xu Hancheng personally gave instructions, with more of a performance than a reality: "All team captains, check your teams to see who's missing! Line up!"

"Everyone stand properly! And you there, who are you trying to impress by standing there all crookedly?!"

"Put your hat on properly! Is it pressing on your neck or something if you wear it straight?"

After a chaotic flurry of activity, the patrol officers who had been scattering beans indiscriminately were finally brought back into order and made to look somewhat presentable.

A Japanese officer in military uniform walked onto the stage with a stern face. Xu Hancheng scurried up to greet him, beaming and bowing, his buttocks sticking out so high they could hold a water glass. "Commander Xiaotian, Xu Hancheng, the director of the Fifth District Bureau, reporting to you!"

That respectful attitude was probably more than he'd ever shown to his parents.

Commander Oda, whose full name is unknown, is a short man in his forties, only about 1.55 meters tall.

During this period, the Japanese soldiers were generally not tall, around 1.55 meters, and were mostly from Class A divisions.

Xu Hancheng wasn't particularly tall, only a little over 1.7 meters, but in front of Oda, the little Japanese devil, he looked like an adult looking at a little kid. If he didn't bend down, Oda could only look up at him.

At this moment, Xu Hancheng's head was lowered even further than that of Oda, the Japanese soldier, which shows how obsequious he was.

However, Oda, the Japanese, clearly didn't care much about Xu Hancheng's overtures.

He frowned as he glanced at the crooked and listless team.

After giving it a cold look, he didn't say anything.

Having lived here for so many years, he knew all too well what kind of people the patrol officers were.

To put it nicely, it's a department under the police system; to put it bluntly, it's a team made up of a bunch of scum from the bottom of society. What kind of discipline can it possibly have?

He felt contempt and even disdain, but these people were indispensable for maintaining the superficial stability of society.

Moreover, he didn't expect such a person to do anything significant.

Speaking in broken Chinese, Oda's cold voice rang out:
"Xu Sang, you should have received the mission by now."

Xu Han immediately pledged his loyalty, saying sincerely, "Yes, yes, Commander Oda, rest assured, I will do my utmost to cooperate with the Imperial Army's actions, and my troops will obey the Imperial Army's orders to wipe out these rebels who disrupt the Central Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere!"

"Yoshi, Xu-san, you're such a good person!" Oda, the Japanese soldier, patted the shoulder that was extended to him with satisfaction, clearly very pleased with Xu Hancheng's attitude.

Xu Hancheng's face was full of flattery. "Hai, hai, it's all thanks to Commander Tian's excellent leadership. I was just doing what I was supposed to do."

"Commander Oda, do you want to give my little brats a talking-to?"

"Alright, I knew I wasn't wrong about you. Forget the lecture, Xu Sang, you do it. But get to work quickly." Clearly, he had absolutely no interest in lecturing these good-for-nothings in his eyes.

"Yes, yes, yes." Xu Hancheng's fawning smile never faded, but as he straightened up and turned around, his arrogance returned.
"Just last night, those anti-Japanese elements actually attacked Commander Yamada, resulting in one death and two injuries among the Imperial Army soldiers! They are utterly audacious!"

"However, they've already been injured, so they certainly can't have gone far!"

"Now, assemble all police officers and cooperate with the Imperial Army to search every street and every house. We must capture the resisters!"

"Whoever catches a rebel will have performed a great service!"

"Commander Xiaotian said that whoever catches the person will be promoted one rank and rewarded with two hundred silver dollars!"

Wow~~
Upon hearing this, the patrol officers below immediately became excited.

You should know that their monthly salary is only six yuan. These two hundred yuan are enough for them to earn two years' salary and still have some left over!
Not to mention the allure of a promotion; their eyes immediately lit up.

"If I catch her, how long will I have to smoke opium?" The opium addict was practically drooling, his thin, lifeless body trembling with excitement. "Two hundred silver dollars, and I can choose any of the ladies from the Eight Great Hutongs I want?" The old lecher was genuinely thrilled.

Meanwhile, another group remained silent; these were people who understood the situation perfectly well.

While the temptation of two hundred silver dollars and a promotion was indeed considerable, the danger was equally significant.

Who were those rebels?

Those are all desperate criminals!
A ruthless man who dared to assassinate Japanese soldiers even in enemy-occupied territory!
Don't end up losing your life instead of getting the bounty.

Ta-da-ta-ta~~
A series of orderly footsteps approached, and everyone immediately looked over to see two squads of Japanese military police jogging over with rifles in their hands, marching in perfect unison.

There weren't many people, only about twenty, and they were all short, Qiqi being a head shorter than the patrol officers present.

But they all looked menacing, with icy eyes.

Subsequently, these people divided into five groups, each standing at the forefront.

The patrolmen shrank back, knowing full well the cruelty of these Japanese military police. Countless Chinese compatriots had been arrested or shot dead by them, and they were terrified to the core.

Upon seeing the Japanese military police arrive, Xu Hancheng's eyelids twitched, and he immediately shouted in a loud voice:

"All patrol captains from Outer District 1 to Outer District 5, according to their respective territories, will stand behind the military police officers and follow the Imperial Army's military police to assist in the arrest!"

"Hurry! Get moving!"

All the patrol captains immediately lined up as instructed, and Duomen nudged Cao Weida: "Guys, let's go."

Duomen was naturally unwilling to arrest anti-Japanese elements, but the situation was beyond his control. If he did not follow orders, not only would he lose his skin, but his life would also be in danger.

Cao Wei Da was naturally unwilling, but he still obediently followed Duo Men over.

Whether they listen or not is one thing, but in the end, how things are done still depends on doing things according to their wishes.

There were fewer than 8,000 police officers in and around Beiping, and about 3,600 in the five outer districts.

Not everyone who came today is present; many others are on duty at specific posts.

However, there are several hundred police officers patrolling here alone.

If they are divided into five zones, each zone will have at least a hundred people.

How can a few Japanese soldiers keep an eye on so many patrolmen?

Oda, the Japanese soldier, was also helpless about this. It wasn't that he didn't want to mobilize more military police, but that he simply couldn't.

Don't be fooled by the Japanese's current swagger; it's all just a facade.

Since the defeat in the Battle of Attu on May 29th of last year, Japan has been in a passive position in international warfare.

In response to the increasingly tense international war situation, Japan had to divert a large number of troops to maintain its so-called 'absolute defense perimeter'.

Many of China's elite troops were transferred out and replaced with a group of soldiers who had not served long and were even underage.

Their combat skills were questionable. Facing the increasingly sophisticated Chinese army, they could not be said to have suffered repeated defeats, but they also found it difficult to break through and expand their gains.

Because the quality of the soldiers was generally low, the number of deaths increased significantly, and the war became increasingly difficult.

The Japanese army has now abandoned most of its territory except for cities, and its posture is gradually shifting towards a defensive position.

The battlefield in China has entered the later stages of a stalemate.

Although the Japanese army still possessed a certain offensive capability, it never achieved its goal of forcing the nation to collapse.

Because a large number of troops need to be deployed to the front lines, the occupied territories are severely understaffed.

Does Oda, that little devil, not want to deploy more military police to search for him?

It's not that we don't want to, it's that we can't, it's that we simply can't spare any more troops!

A single move can have far-reaching consequences. If too many troops are drawn from here, other areas will inevitably be left with insufficient manpower, which will give the rebels an opening.

(End of this chapter)