Chapter 42: The Five Surnames' Servants

  Shi You and the others were unaware that while they were performing with abandon, there were several pairs of eyes in the crowd watching them with ulterior motives, and the forces they represented would turn their performance into a complete farce.

  Chu Tian Ge blended into the crowd, saw Shi You San pulling out a large flag, then loudly issued the order to advance on North Ping. He glanced at Chao Hong Le not far away, the latter nodded, and then the two people tacitly withdrew from the crowd.

  Behind them, the clowns cheered and began to move towards the city gate under the leadership of Shi You San and others.

  Two people walked quickly towards the city gate while exchanging data they had observed, and compiled it on a piece of paper. The total number of soldiers was 2,893, with more than 340 regular troops, four mortars, five heavy machine guns, twenty-three light machine guns, and numerous rifles.

  Outside the city gate, Pang Wenju and Chu Tiange brought several students to hold horses in a corner. Seeing Chu and Chao, he came up to ask: "How is it?"

  The soldiers of the security team standing at the city gate mouth nodded and said in a low voice, "They have already set off. Wenju, you lead the others to hurry back and report the news. I'll follow them with Hongle." After finishing speaking, he handed over the note to him.

  Pang Wenju nodded slightly, carefully put away the note, left two horses for them, and then several people rode together in one direction, galloping towards Bay Village.

  Chu Tian Ge and Chao Hong Le got on their horses, quickly ran out a few miles along a branch road, then dismounted to find a hidden place to stand, quietly waiting for Shi You San's troops to leave Wan Ping.

  At the same time, Chen Shichang rode a bicycle quickly from Beiping to Baycun. Their "rumor" group's action had been successful, and now every day in the major newspapers of Beiping, there were reports about Shi You San's rogue army. The explosive news of "Beiping Autonomous Region" immediately caused a sensation throughout the country, even overshadowing the newly emerged He-Mei Agreement.

  Just an hour ago, he learned from a reporter that the Beiping Military Council had decided to invite the 29th Army to enter Beiping and jointly defend Hebei under Xiao Zhen's insistence.

  Ouyang Yun's plan was to have the 29th Army enter Beiping in a legitimate manner, so the operation against Shi Yousan's troops would take place after this goal was achieved. Chen Shichang's group came to Beiping with another purpose, which was to obtain this information as soon as possible and quickly inform the Student Army Corps, so that they could take action against Shi Yousan's traitorous army in a timely manner.

  Wan Village, in the afternoon at one o'clock, people who had already gone to work in the fields were surprised to discover a colorful and noisy army approaching from the direction of Wanping. The three men leading the way rode tall horses, with the middle one wearing a general's uniform, the left one wearing a long gown like a gentleman, and the right one dressed in a western-style suit.

  These three people are naturally the protagonists Shi You San, Pan Yu Gui and Bai Jian Wu. Behind them, a flag with "Beiping Autonomous" written on it was waving in the wind, looking quite majestic.

  Shi You San had a brand new gun holster on his waist, inside which was the Browning pistol that Mei Jin had given him not long ago. He held the reins in his left hand and the whip in his right, with an air of authority about him. His eyes gleamed brightly as he looked around, as if he were about to shout out "I'm Hu Han San, no, I'm Shi You San, back again!"

  Not to mention, Japan chose these few people as the main characters of this play, and their vision is still very unique.

  Shi You San is not worth mentioning, the Northwest Army leader, at his most triumphant time, had commanded an army of 100,000; Pan Yu Gui? In Beiping, a renowned literary figure and artist of his generation, excelling in both literature and art. Among the three, Bai Jian Wu's reputation was slightly inferior, but he was also an old hand who had been through thick and thin in the Old North and the Nationalist government for many years.

  Perhaps in the eyes of the Japanese, with these three people leading the main cast of this "Beiping Autonomous" farce, although the Beiping masses may not be delighted to accept it, at least they will go and watch the show out of respect for the famous actors.

  Pan Yu-Gui is indeed a man of letters, even when leading troops in battle, his literary nature remains unchanged. He looks up at the sky, then gazes to the left at the lush green small mountain (Tudi Mountain), and says slowly and deliberately: "Commander Shi, today's weather isn't bad, blue skies and white clouds, emerald waters and green mountains, truly heaven is helping us."

  Shi You San was a rough man who didn't understand these refined words. He had never been impressed by scholars, but because of Mei Jin and Tsuchiya's face, he had to accept Pan Yu-Gui, this scholar-guest. On the surface, he nodded calmly and repeatedly said "not bad", but in his heart, he was secretly ridiculing: blue sky, white clouds, green water, green mountains, what does this have to do with us? He made up his mind that once he occupied Beiping, had a foothold and troops, he would let Pan Yu-Gui go wherever he came from!

  At this time, a middle-aged man wearing a silk shirt and carrying a box of ammunition rushed over quickly, shouting "Commander Shi", asking: "Commander, now that the sun is so strong and the brothers are hot and tired, shouldn't we take a break before continuing?"

  Shi You glared at him and scolded: "Didn't we just rest for over an hour after eating? How much time has passed, and you want to take a break again?"

  The middle-aged man was scolded, but his smile grew even brighter. He said in a low and humble tone: "Commander, you are from a military background, so this distance is naturally not difficult for you. However, it's the first time for us to rush such a long way on foot without any vehicles or horses, and we're really exhausted."

  Shi You San glared at the Japanese soldiers and scolded loudly, "Damn it! We've only walked this far and have already taken three breaks. At this speed, by the time we reach Beiping, I'm afraid even the yellow flowers will have wilted!" He turned his head to look at the over 200 Japanese soldiers sandwiched in the middle of the group and said, "Look at those imperial troops, each one is so spirited! Damn it, you've disgraced me completely!"

  Bai Jianwu said: "General Shi, please calm down. I think we should take a break and wait for the scouts led by Huang San to return with information. Although the National Army has withdrawn from Hebei and Beiping, the Northern Military Council is still there, who knows if they have hidden some troops somewhere."

  Shi San listened to his words and thought of Huang San and others who had gone to Beiping yesterday. The horses they rode should have returned by now to report on the situation, so he couldn't help but add a bit more attention. He nodded towards Bai Jianwu and shouted at the middle-aged man: "In consideration of Vice Commander Bai's face, you can rest for a while longer." For some reason, seeing the oily and powdered face of his opponent made him angry, and with a swish, he gave him a whip, shouting: "Damn it, get some spirit into you, don't look like you've just lost your mother!"

  A middle-aged man stared blankly ahead, unsure of what he saw, his mouth agape as if it could swallow a large egg. Before he knew it, he was whipped and let out a ghostly cry, pointing ahead and stuttering: "Com-com-commander, you must, must, must look ahead."

  Shi You San turned his head to look, first stunned, then furious, shouting in a harsh voice: "Damn it, who the hell did this? Zhang Ma Zi, quickly, bring people to pull him down for me!"

  Pan Yu-Gui and Bai Jian-Wu had not paid much attention to the front before, but after hearing this, they focused their minds and took a look. They saw that on the previously empty road, a couplet suddenly appeared, written in large characters: "Rebel General, Slave of the Five Surnames!" The horizontal inscription read: "Shi Zai is shameless!"

  This couplet is naturally a masterpiece of Xue Bingtuan, and the creativity comes from Ouyang Yun.

  Pan Yonggui and Bai Jianwu both knew Shi You San's old bottom, and they couldn't help but secretly admire the person who came up with this couplet, thinking that it was really too precise. They looked at each other, and there was a smile in their eyes.

  And the big and small traitors, rascals behind the three men, first blinked their eyes like Zhang Ma Zi, then gradually came to their senses. Those who were familiar with Shi You San's background couldn't help but burst out laughing on the spot; some who wanted to take advantage of the situation to cling to Commander Shi's thigh had a look of righteous indignation, chattering away: Who is so bold, daring to touch Commander's beard, isn't this looking for death?

  In the team, the Japanese were a special group. Many Japanese soldiers didn't recognize Chinese characters and even those who did couldn't understand them well. So they humbly asked the "Chinese expert" beside them for guidance. The "Chinese expert" was very young, wearing a suit and tie, with a slicked-back haircut, and was familiar with Ouyang Yun. He was the boss of Ma's second-hand store. At this moment, his face had a rather ambiguous smile as he explained: This Shi Shilian, during China's internal war, was always changing sides, often playing both sides against each other, successively relying on Feng, Yan, Chiang, Wang, and Zhang, so...

  "Hahahaha!" Knowing the reason, the little devils didn't fear Shi You San this paper tiger at all. They immediately burst into loud laughter. One of them, with a strange tone and accent, said in broken Chinese: "Traitor general, slave of the five surnames, Stone Shameless! Oh yeah, write it big!"

  Shi You San, unfortunately, heard the imperial army's "parrot learning tongue" and was so angry that his face turned into a pig's liver. He almost had the urge to vomit blood and die, but his innate fear of death made him unable to make up his mind. He could only vent his anger on the couplet, and the whip in his hand struck Zhang Ma Zi without warning, shouting: "Hurry up and take it down for me!"

  Zhang Ma's hands covered his head, he shouted at several of his men and they scurried away with their tails between their legs.