Republic of China, 1922: Rise from the Post-Zhili-Fengtian War

"Understood, Commander Jiang, I'll go right away!"

Ding Feng left silently in an instant, while Jiang Dengxuan and Ma Jinlong kept a close watch on the small courtyard.

The two kept watch from two different directions, their postures remaining largely unchanged.

Soon, they heard the gate to the small courtyard be bolted shut, and then no one showed their face again.

Ma Jinlong was getting a little impatient and even wanted to go directly into the courtyard to search, but seeing that even his own superior's guest was like a stone statue, obediently squatting there, he had no choice but to patiently monitor him as well.

At this moment, Ding Feng, who had gone to fetch reinforcements, returned with five brothers in plainclothes.

Jiang Dengxuan did not hesitate and immediately assigned tasks to the group.

Without saying a word, they all responded in hushed tones and then got up and jogged toward the locations assigned by Jiang Dengxuan.

"Xiao Ding, go back to the brigade headquarters again and report the situation here to Commander Gu in detail. Tell him we're keeping a close eye on things and will report back immediately if anything happens!"

After giving the instructions, Jiang Dengxuan returned to his position, his gaze fixed on the small courtyard.

It was completely dark.

In mid-September, the night wind in Jinzhou cools down, carrying the dry smell of straw from the fields, blowing in from the alleyway and making a few withered leaves swirl on the ground at the base of the wall.

Jiang Dengxuan squatted behind the low wall diagonally opposite, his knees against the wall, and hadn't changed his position for almost half an hour.

Several soldiers stood guard near the alley and the courtyard, remaining motionless.

The faint light shining through the crack in the door in the courtyard flickered on and off, as if someone were taking inventory of something.

Occasionally, whispers could be heard, indistinct through the brick wall, but one could sense that someone was moving things—the dull thud of drawers closing, the wooden clatter of box lids shut, one item at a time, as if preparing for a long journey.

Ma Jinlong's legs went numb from squatting, so he changed his posture and switched the gun from his left hand to his right.

He lowered his voice and whispered to Jiang Dengxuan, "Commander Jiang, it's almost midnight. If we don't come out, all our time here will have been wasted."

Jiang Dengxuan didn't turn around: "I'll come out once I've finished moving. Soon."

Ma Jinlong didn't say anything more, squatted down again, and looked back at the door.

The night is long.

The moon was obscured by thin clouds for a while, then reappeared, outlining the courtyard wall with a blurred edge.

There was still no movement in the courtyard, but the brothers remained still.

More than an hour later, a faint sound suddenly came from inside the courtyard gate—the bolt was slowly pulled open, very lightly, as if someone had used a cloth to pad the iron parts to minimize the collision sound when they came into contact.

The door was pulled open a crack.

A figure flashed out, followed by another figure.

Both men had changed their clothes, wearing worn-out gray cloth gowns. One carried a load on a shoulder pole, while the other carried a blue cloth bundle. The baskets at both ends of the load were covered with cloth, so it was impossible to tell what was inside.

They didn't look around, as if they already knew that no one else would pass through this alley at this hour. They went out the door and walked towards the alley entrance at a moderate pace, like two peddlers heading to the early morning market in a neighboring town.

Jiang Dengxuan remained behind the low wall until the two men walked out of the alley before standing up.

He made a gesture to a few people not far away, and they followed at a distance.

The two people in front walked through several alleys, around a vegetable field, and along a dirt road towards the north of the city.

The wind blew in from the fields, carrying the scent of damp earth and the smell of straw from the harvested crops.

When they reached the fork in the road, the person in front stopped and looked back. Jiang Dengxuan and the others had already crouched down in the ditch beside the road, their figures hidden by the tall grass along the edge of the ditch.

The two unlucky guys ahead of them didn't notice anything amiss and continued walking forward.

The two walked along the dirt road for about two more miles before turning into a thicket of mixed trees.

The woods were not dense, but the trees grew crookedly, their branches stretching out horizontally, casting messy shadows in the moonlight.

The person in front slowed down, as if he had found the way, switched the load to another shoulder, and suddenly quickened his pace.

Jiang Dengxuan stopped at the edge of the woods, raised his hand and gestured behind him. The people behind him squatted down at the same time without making any extra noise.

The two men ahead walked through the thicket and stopped in front of a dilapidated temple.

The temple was small; half of the gable wall had collapsed, and a corner of the roof tiles was missing, revealing the rafters underneath, which were cast dark shadows by the moonlight.

The temple door was ajar, and the paint on the door panels had peeled off completely, revealing the grayish-white wood.

A thin layer of moss grew on the stone steps at the entrance, gleaming a dark green light under the moonlight.

The man in front put down his load and knocked three times on the door... Then he paused for a moment and knocked twice more.

The temple door was pulled open from the inside, revealing a figure whose face was obscured, only an outline visible. The figure stood in the crack for a moment before stepping aside.

The man in front picked up his load, bent down, and crawled inside.

The person carrying the bundle followed behind, and the three of them disappeared through the crack in the door.

Jiang Dengxuan remained behind the tree, waiting for the temple gate to close again before lowering his voice and saying, "Surround it. Don't make a sound."

Ma Jinlong led his men around from both sides, hugging the wall, their footsteps lighter than the night breeze.

The two went around to the back of the temple, squatted down, as if trying to look inside through the collapsed wall.

Ding Feng and the other two pressed themselves against the window frame, tilting their heads to the side with their ears facing the window crack.

There were lamps in the temple, and the light leaked out through the holes in the window paper, casting a small patch of dim yellow light on the ground.

Jiang Dengxuan moved closer, squatting behind a clump of withered bushes outside the temple gate, and listened intently.

The sounds coming from inside the temple came out intermittently—someone was talking, not just the two people who went in, but another person whose voice was lower than theirs, with a rough, hoarse quality, as if giving orders.

Then came the sound of the box lid being lifted, the wooden planks hitting each other, and someone taking things out of the box, placing them one by one on the table. The sound wasn't loud, but it was clear enough.

Jiang Dengxuan turned his head to the side and whispered to those behind him, "There are at least three inside."

After a brief moment of thought, he added, "Let's not wait any longer, let's make our move."

He stood up, and without waiting for a response from the person behind him, he took a few steps to the temple gate and kicked open the half-closed door.

The door slammed against the inner wall with a dull thud, causing dust to fall from the roof.

Everyone in the temple looked up at the same time. The flame of the oil lamp was jolted by the wind stirred up by the kicked-down door, then straightened up again, illuminating several faces clearly.

The two peddler-like men from earlier, one was sitting behind a broken table in a black jacket, and the other was squatting in the corner rummaging through boxes.

The person rummaging through the box was holding a short gun, the barrel of which had just been pulled out of the box and hadn't been fully raised yet.

"Who goes there!"

The man who was rummaging through drawers reacted the fastest. When he saw the door being kicked open, he had already raised his hand and fired several shots at the door.