Chapter 213 212 [The Crowd]

"So who, give the horse to Mr. Zhou," Zhang Mingjiu shouted loudly, holding a whip and said to the bandits, "Remember, Mr. Zhou will be our military adviser in the future, we must respect him, do you hear me?"

"I heard it!" The bandits replied.

Zhang Mingjiu said sharply again: "Don't kowtow to the military division yet!"

"Hello, Master Military Advisor."

"Meet the military division."

"I kowtowed to the military division."

"..."

Nearly 200 bandits knelt down and yelled nonsense.

Zhang Mingjiu laughed loudly, and said to Zhou Hexuan: "Military Master, you will follow me from now on and take down the counties around Jinan one by one. Don't look down on me as a bandit. I have great ambitions. When I have the capital, I can do it." Negotiating with the Japanese in Jinan City, as long as I get the support of the Japanese, I will be able to expand my military circle and conquer the entire Shandong in the future! Of course, the military adviser must come up with ideas, and in terms of brains, you scholars have the inspiration."

In order to gain the other party's trust, Zhou Hexuan took the opportunity to say: "After occupying the territory, you can join the Northern Expedition Army."

"The military adviser is right. It's not worth being the commander-in-chief of Beiyang now. It's better to be the warlord of the Nationalist government." Zhang Ming said happily.

Zhang Mingjiu had studied for a few days, otherwise he would not be qualified to be Zhang Zongchang's orderly. A few days ago, the Zhi-Shandong Allied Forces were defeated, so he lost his way and hid in the mountains, not daring to come out.

I heard that the Japanese occupied Jinan, and the Northern Expeditionary Army made a detour, and the surrounding counties of Jinan became a no-regret zone. Zhang Mingjiu felt that the opportunity had come, so he gathered more than 20 defeated soldiers to take advantage of the chaos and loot, engulfing the victims as bandits along the way, and even occupied Qidong County.

Zhang Mingjiu had witnessed the rise of Zhang Zongchang with his own eyes, and he regarded Zhang Zongchang as a lifelong idol, and he also wanted to replicate this successful path.

Historically, Zhang Ming was able to capture Zhangqiu County in July, and was later recruited by Sun Dianying, who surrendered to the Northern Expedition Army, as brigade commander. In the end, he died at the hands of Jiaodong King Liu Zhennian while fighting for territory.

From an orderly soldier, he took advantage of the chaos and became the brigade commander of the National Revolutionary Army. This guy can be regarded as a talent.

The bandits continued to set off for Cao Zhuang, and Hexuan was flattering all the way, giving Zhang Mingjiu bad ideas from time to time, which made this villainous guy very happy.

Sun Yonghao asked in a low voice: "Brother, you won't really be a bandit, sir?"

"Don't talk, play by ear." Sun Yongzhen scolded.

Fortunately, Zhang Mingjiu valued Zhou Hexuan very much, and didn't take the scholar seriously, so he didn't search everyone, but only checked the belongings on the carriage.

Wanrong tightly grasped Meng Xiaodong's sleeve: "Sister Xiaodong, what should I do?"

"It's okay, it's okay, brother Zhou will rescue us." Meng Xiaodong comforted Wanrong, patting Wanrong's hand, but in fact she didn't know what to do.

Liao Yaquan pretended to be scared, but in fact he was extremely calm, and was very curious about how Zhou Hexuan would get out of trouble.

About half an hour later, the bandits arrived outside Caozhuang Village.

This is Zhang Mingjiu's usual practice. He breaks down the villages and robs people and things, takes the opportunity to expand his strength, waits until all the villages are robbed, and then goes to capture the county in one fell swoop.

Nowadays, several counties around Jinan don't even have garrisons, and they can be breached with just a dozen guns.

However, Cao Zhuang in front of him seemed a bit difficult to deal with.

The entire village has built simple defensive facilities, fences and walls made of bricks, mud, wood, and wicker, which are as tall as a person. There are many villagers standing behind the wall, most of them are carrying red-tasseled guns, while some are holding sticks, poles, and even hoes.

Red Gun Club!

Zhang Mingjiu rode a nasty horse, pulled out a saber he got from somewhere, and rushed to the outside of the wall, shouting: "Put down the resistance, pay the money, or I will wash Caozhuang with blood!"

"boom!"

His answer was a gunshot.

Zhang Mingjiu was startled and almost fell off his horse. He quickly reined in his horse and turned around, shouting, "Hit me!"

The main force among these bandits was more than 20 defeated soldiers from the Zhishan Allied Forces, and all of them were armed with regular rifles. The guards of the village, on the other hand, only have a few old sleeves, not to mention the accuracy, and they often fail to fire.

Fortunately, the rout soldiers were more timid, they did not charge with their guns in hand, and let the ordinary bandits under them take the lead.

These bandits were victims of the disaster a month ago, and they were so weak, carrying various cold weapons such as wooden sticks, iron bars, kitchen knives, red-tasseled guns, and charged forward screaming.

There was even a brother with the Qinglong Yanyue Knife, probably borrowed from the Guandi Temple, and swung it majesticly, but fell down on the way, and was accidentally stepped on by his accomplices several times.

The rout soldiers followed behind, firing their guns non-stop. Although the guns are good guns, their marksmanship is really bad, and all kinds of "pointing and hitting" scare the birds in the sky.

The two sides finally fought hand to hand, the bandits were eager for the property of the village, and the villagers wanted to protect their families, and they were all jealous.

There were some holes in the fence, and the tip of the red-tasseled gun protruded from the hole, aiming at the outside and stabbing randomly, knocking down five or six bandits in an instant. Seeing the bleeding, the bandits didn't know who was leading the way, so they turned around and fled, some even dropped their weapons.

"Don't retreat, hold me back!" Zhang Mingjiu shouted angrily.

"Hold it, hold it up!" the rout soldier roared.

But who can stand it?

The bandits ran for a full mile before finally stopping. It's not that I don't want to continue running, but that my body is too weak and tired, so I should stop and rest first.

Looking at the bad debt in front of him, Zhou Hexuan couldn't laugh or cry.

Zhang Mingjiu doesn't know how to fight at all, and his offense has no rules at all. The same is true for the Red Spear Club guarding the village. The bandits were defeated just now, and all the rout soldiers with guns were involved. What a counterattack opportunity this is.

If the Red Spear would have taken advantage of the victory just now, it is estimated that the battle has been completely resolved.

On the 9th, Zhang Ming ordered the bandits to regroup. This time he learned his lesson and concentrated his efforts to attack the gate of the village. Even the bandits in charge of guarding Zhou Hexuan and others were called to join the battle.

"For me to attack Caozhuang, everyone will have a share of what I got, kill it!" Zhang Mingjiu raised his saber and carried out the most primitive and effective battle mobilization.

Several bandits held the wooden stakes picked up by the roadside and used them as battering hammers to rush towards the gate of the village.

"boom!"

The door shook a few times, but did not break open.

A few swishing arrows shot out and pierced the bandit. It looked terrible, but it didn't have much power. The bandit screamed in fright, thinking he was about to die, and ran back alive and kicking.

Zhang Mingjiu became ruthless, drew his sword and hacked a defeated bandit to death, shouting: "Anyone who retreats without permission will be shot to death!"

The bandits were so frightened that they turned around and continued to attack, slamming the gate of the village desperately.

At this time, the bandits guarding Zhou Hexuan and the others had already joined the battle, and Sun Yonghao shouted in a low voice: "Sir, run away, this is a good opportunity!"

"That's right, run for your life." Everyone in Chunhe class also said one after another.

"Run from what?"

Zhou Hexuan smiled coldly, a bit sinister: "If you dare to rob me, I will kill him! Yongzhen, give me your gun."