Chapter Twenty-Five: Receiving the Flame

  The cold wind in January blows across the land, rolling up snowflakes that fill the sky and slowly fall onto the silver-clad earth.

  Near the end of the year, in the icy and snowy days, a group of old and young men and women struggled to move forward on the frozen Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal amidst the biting wind and snow.

  The men walked on the outside, surrounding the elderly, children and women in the middle, trudging through the wind and snow. The sound of children's crying and shouting, men's scolding, and women's comforting voices filled the entire team with a sense of panic and unease.

  "Thanks to you, Mr. Liu, for your timely assistance this time. The old and young masters of our Wangjiazhuang will never forget your great kindness." One of the men walking at the front of the group, wearing an old cotton-padded jacket and a calabaza hat, said to a man with a goat beard and dressed as a teacher beside him.

  "Village Chief Wang, I dare not speak of the great kindness, but since we are still a dozen miles away from Xuzhou City, let's hurry up and get going. If those turtle sons behind us catch up, we'll be done for." Liu Zhuang said with a stroke of his goat beard.

  "That's right," Wang Cunzhang replied, turning around to shout at the troops, "Those who don't want to die, hurry up and leave. If we make it to Xuzhou City before nightfall, everyone will be able to escape with their lives."

  After hearing that they still had to walk ten or more miles, a murmur of discontent arose from the crowd, followed by all sorts of complaints.

  "Village head, we've been walking all night and are starving and thirsty to death. Let us take a rest."

  "Village chief, my kid seems to be ill, what can we do? Please come and take a look."

  "I'm too tired to move, I'm exhausted."

  "I'm starving to death, I'm starving to death."

  "Mom, I'm hungry, I want to eat."

  ......

  This group of refugees are the people from Wangjiazhuang Village, Nigou Town, Zaozhuang. Last night, a cavalry unit under Shanxi warlord Zhang Zongchang entered the village. Originally, after the villagers presented them with food, cured meat and several jars of wine, the cavalry was preparing to leave. But then the sky suddenly started snowing heavily, so the cavalry ended up staying in the village overnight.

  Zhang Zongchang's subordinates were all bandits by origin, what can you expect them to understand about the Three Main Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention? After having enough wine and food, they would think of nothing but **. The drunken bandits, carrying guns, went from door to door, knocking on doors.

  In Shandong, the local customs are quite fierce. If a man sees his own woman being pressed down on the bed by someone else, he can't stand it even if he's just an ordinary guy. But how can ordinary people with wooden sticks and kitchen knives possibly win against bandits who have guns?

  Suddenly, gunfire erupted, and the bandits who were attacked by wooden sticks shouted that they had slaughtered the village and set fires everywhere. A merchant group that was originally hiding in a farmer's house could no longer bear it, thinking that they would wait until the bandits left before leaving, but when they saw the bandits start killing people and setting fires, they knew they couldn't hide forever, so they decided to take action.

  The caravan guards who traveled all over the country were all skilled in martial arts and marksmanship, and the bandits who were busy looting and setting fires were caught off guard. With the help of the villagers, this cavalry of only forty or fifty people was quickly almost wiped out, leaving only two men with good eyesight and sobriety to escape on horseback.

  There's no other way, they had to travel overnight and flee towards Xuzhou, otherwise when the bandits who ran out at dawn bring people back, no one will survive.

  "Listen, the villagers are complaining and the village chief is also anxious, shouting "How far can our old and young people walk after a night's journey? How fast will the bandits ride on their fast horses? If we don't hurry up and leave, what will happen to us if we're discovered?" The village chief was about to say something else when suddenly he heard someone in the back of the group shouting in terror "The bandits are coming!"

  Along the canal bank in the direction of their journey, groups of Mongolian horses burst out of the woods, making strange cries as they charged towards the troops!

  The team immediately exploded and ran towards Xuzhou, the old and young crying and shouting. No one shouted for hunger anymore. But Xuzhou City was more than ten miles away, and the bandits were behind them. Where could the hungry and tired old women and children run to? No one thought of this problem, everyone rushed forward desperately, as if the front gate of Xuzhou City was just a few dozen meters ahead.

  The bandits walked cautiously on the ice surface of the canal, slowing down their speed, but as soon as they crossed the river and let the horses run, it wouldn't take long to surround the people in front.

  A leading big-bearded man riding in front was called He San Dao. Because when he was young, he had a fierce battle with other bandits and was cut three times but didn't die, so people who knew him later all called him He San Dao, as for his real name, nobody remembered it.

  He San Dao was the commander of a cavalry regiment under Zhang Zongchang, and as the vanguard of the southern expeditionary force arrived in Zaozhuang yesterday. Before dinner, he sent many subordinates to various villages to harvest wheat. Unexpectedly, at midnight, two subordinates rushed back on horseback to report that dozens of brothers had been killed in a small village.

  He San Dao, enraged by the words, pushed away the girl in his arms and ran out to gather his troops on a cold day with his clothes open. Because of the heavy snowfall, many of the grain-harvesting teams had not returned to Zaozhuang, so He San Dao, unable to wait any longer, led more than 200 cavalrymen to attack Wangjiazhai.

  Arrived at Wangjiazai, only saw the bodies of bandits all over the ground, not a single villager. In a rage, He San Dao set fire to the village and killed all the living creatures inside, including cats, dogs, and pigs. Then followed the footprints and chased after them.

  He San Dao held the reins of his horse and slowly walked across the ice, looking at the villagers running in front of him with a cruel smile on his face. His ugly face with two scars was as ferocious as an evil spirit. He stretched out his hand to stop his subordinates from opening fire and said to the bandits, "We want them alive."

  The bandits around him burst out laughing as soon as they heard it. "Bury all the men, distribute the women to the brothers to play with, and after playing, throw them into the river with a hole in their heads." If He San Dao's words were heard by modern people, the first reaction would be that this is the Japanese locust army?

  The bandits smiled and watched as the crowd in front of them rushed into the forest without any hurry. More than 20 minutes later, more than 200 bandits had crossed the canal, and they all shouted strangely, riding horses and rushing into the forest to chase after the crowd.

  The forest was not big, and they rushed out in no time. As soon as the bandits in front of the forest suddenly pulled hard on the reins, several of the bandits behind crashed into them and fell off their horses. However, no one complained, because all the bandits saw dozens of foreign iron cars parked neatly together on the open ground ahead, with soldiers wearing gray uniforms, steel helmets, and holding weapons standing on and beside the cars! The people from Wangjiazhuang had already hidden behind the cars.

  He San Dao's heart turned cold, and he secretly exclaimed "It's bad." Although he didn't know which unit was in front of him, just looking at the neat military uniform, the excellent equipment, and those foreign iron cars gave He San Dao an extremely dangerous feeling, his heart racing violently.

  The scene seemed frozen in time, with only the snowflakes continuing to fall from the sky. Every now and then, a child's cry echoed from behind the car.

  After a moment, He San Dao shouted in a loud voice, "Which part are you from? My brother is under Zhang Da Shuai's command of the Zhenwei Army, don't misunderstand!" The response was a low and stern order: "Pull the safety." A burst of clicking sounds rose up. He San Dao turned pale with fright, pulled on the reins, and prepared to turn around and escape.

  "Fire!" A dense barrage of gunfire erupted, and the bandits in the front row fell off their horses with a miserable cry. Those who were still alive desperately turned their horses around and fled in all directions. The sound of cars starting up rose, and several trucks loaded with soldiers chased after the bandits, with continuous gunfire sounding like a death knell as one bandit after another was shot off their horse and wailed in agony.

  He San Dao, who had been shot three times, could no longer get up and lay in the snowy ground watching as the truck slowly rolled over him. The huge wheels grew larger before his eyes, and all he could let out was a final, mournful scream of his life.

  More than 200 bandits were killed, with only over 20 surrendering on their knees. The battle report was soon sent to the headquarters of the Sixth Army Division in Xuzhou City, and General Gao Yang, commander of the Sixth Army Division, replied with an order: "All bandits will be executed on the spot, and all other bandit groups will be dealt with according to this order."

  How did Gao Yang become the commander of the Sixth Division of the Army? It turned out that a few days ago, General Zhang entered Beiping. In the Presidential Palace, he had a fierce debate with Premier Duan over the issue of dividing the spoils after the war for more than an hour. Unlike what General Zhang said in history, Gao Yang and Lu Yongxiang of Anhui clique controlled nearly 100,000 troops under their command in Anhui, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, so Premier Duan had enough confidence to speak out.

  Afterwards, both sides reached a compromise, with the entire north belonging to the Fengtian clique. As for Jiangsu, the original stronghold of the Zhili clique, it was resolved in the simplest way: whoever had the harder fist would take it.

  The original numbers of the Sixth Division and Nineteenth Division, which were directly under the command of the army, were withdrawn and then awarded to Gao Yang by Duan Qirui, who also promoted Gao Yang to Lieutenant General. Originally, Gao Yang had planned to appoint Weixi as the commander of the 19th Division, but was opposed by everyone. Zhang Qian, who was invited by Gao Yang to serve as the acting governor of Jiangsu Province, told Gao Yang: "I shouldn't have said much about military affairs, but if you want to appoint a foreigner as the commander of an army division, I absolutely disagree! In that case, I'd rather go home!" As a result, Gao Yang had to take direct command of both divisions.

  This is not just a nominal organization, both divisions are registered in the Ministry of War with clear quotas and are regular troops paid by the government. Gao Yang reorganized the original Anhui First Army into the Sixth Army, still with the same organization but with a new number. Wei Ke was appointed as the chief of staff of the 19th Army stationed in Nanjing, all newly recruited soldiers were trained and organized from mercenaries, biochemical warriors, and officers on loan, as reserve troops.

  Kao-yang deployed the Sixth Division along the line from Hsuchow to Lienyun-kang, with its main positions on the Tai-erh-chuang line, and set up ambushes along the Peiping-Hankow railway.

  Three days later, Zhang Zongchang led his main force to arrive near Zaozhuang. Since entering the pass, Zhang Zongchang's troops had been recruiting soldiers and buying horses on a large scale, and anyone who was willing to surrender to him was not rejected. His troops swelled like snowflakes. It is said that many of the generals with unknown titles emerged at this time. Zhang Zongchang was also one of the fastest runners among the various factions of the Fengtian clique, rushing back to his hometown in Shandong without stopping his horse.

  Most of the direct troops stationed in Shandong were transferred to fight on the Shanhai Pass front, and now they are either eliminated or dispersed or reorganized. Zhang Zongchang's route was unimpeded, encountering minimal resistance, which made his heart even more arrogant.

  In Xuzhou City, Gao Yang quietly watched the snowflakes outside the window, filled with anticipation for the upcoming battle! Come on, I've been waiting for you for a long time!