February 1, 1925, the 14th year of the Republic of China, the ninth day of the first month of the second year of the lunar calendar

In the west wing of the Qinjia compound on Chaoxing Street, An Yi added a few sections of charcoal to the brazier, put down the tongs and picked up the newly bought camel-colored blanket and covered Lao Dao's abdomen and knees: "Don't worry about your little stall, the rich people in the entire city of Guangzhou have escaped, and how many cents can you earn by relying on a few poor citizens who are so poor in their pockets to tell your fortune?" Lie down in peace, and I'll bring you some chicken soup after work. ”

Dongzi put on a dark gray padded jacket given by An Yi, and bit half a shortbread in his mouth: "Uncle, listen to my eldest brother, it's right, now the streets are full of troops, most of them are Yang Ximin's outlaws who are panicking and ready to fight, they are all soldiers and ruffians who are sloppy in military discipline and only know how to collect harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, these people can't even control our political axe, if there is a misunderstanding, those unreasonable rough people won't lift your stall?" Don't go out, don't worry me and my eldest brother, I'll come back to boil medicine for you after work in the evening. ”

"Alas...... Why don't I know? But I'm still not steady! Forget it, let's rest for a few days. ”

Lao Dao wiped his eyes with a dry face towel, and called An Yi to whisper: "Xiao Yi, Dongzi works at the political axe, and I don't have to worry about the guards with guns, but you have to be careful, don't drive out of the city to deliver goods in the past two days, I'm angry when I talk about this, you say that you can be a master and sit in the store leisurely?" Why do you want to drive that broken car? I told you a long time ago, the shopkeeper surnamed Chen, who is full of flattery and has three swords, has a bad heart, and your kid can only work and is appreciated by the boss, so it is likely that he has committed his taboo, and it is too late to prevent why you still promised him to be a coachman? Don't think that running around in that American product is majestic, be careful to put your own life on the line. ”

An Yi waved his hand to let Dongzi go first, sat on the edge of the bed and said with a smile: "Old Dao, boy, I have vanity, especially the big ** girl in the store likes to take my car, and a few times she squeezed my arm with ** to make my heart itch!" How do you say? Ha ha...... I'm not kidding you, don't be angry! Good! I'm not going to get out of the car these days, right? Rest assured you. I filled the thermos with water, the porridge was covered on the table, if you can't move, you can call the second aunt who helps people wash clothes on the other side to help you, I'll come back from work, let's go! ”

"Stop!"

Lao Dao coughed a few times and beckoned: "Boy, I have to tell you, don't look at the revolutionary army that makes the Eastern Crusade so powerful that it seems to be invincible, in fact, the foreign strong and the middle cadres are powerless, and it is not yet known who will die in this battle!" Among them, as the main force of the Eastern Expedition, Yang Ximin's Yunnan army and Liu Zhenhuan's Gui army were absolutely unreliable, and in recent years, the two armies of Yunnan and Guizhou occupied the city walls of Guangzhou and various wealthy trade routes and wharves, and they were insatiable and greedy, and they had long since lost the national political axe of Sun Dacang, who was overstretched. The Huangpu army is not hungry, and you know the matter of asking these two warlords for alms everywhere, plus the Yunnan and Guizhou army has a large number of guns and ammunition, and the bad business houses of Britain and France and other countries are secretly embarrassed to annihilate, reselling arms and opium, and the revolutionary army has long been in the same bed and has a different dream, I see all of this, and you kid also knows it, although you never say anything big, but the you do every day before going to bed can't escape the eyes of the old way, so I'm very worried that you are young and vigorous everywhere, in case of disaster, who do you let me cry to? ”

An Yi was moved in his heart: "Don't worry, I won't be so stupid, I don't touch anything in politics, I only know how to get rich." At this time, people are panicking and want to escape, and the real estate is cheap to the price of vegetables. The three of us should have changed to a more comfortable house, but now I am also a Guangzhou, and I don't have a place to live and marry a fart daughter-in-law? And my brother Dongzi, can the Luo family not marry a wife and have children and reproduce offspring earlier? You can lie down in peace, if it goes well, we can move to our own home within three days, I also pay attention, I know that you don't go out to set up a stall for a day to fool people will be uncomfortable, so try to buy a yard nearby, you just wait to enjoy it! ”

The old man was shocked: "Where did you get so much money?" ”

"I'm ashamed to say that Mr. Ou sent me a year-end red envelope before he went to Hong Kong, and I didn't care about accepting it at the time, but I didn't know that it was a cash check for 200 yuan from HSBC, which is enough to buy a two-story property with a small garden in the east-west corridor, so ah, I don't work hard to repay Mr. Ou? No matter how difficult the shopkeeper Chen is, I will let him, because the eight major firms of the Ou family are not his Chen Siyan's, but Mr. Ou's, who cares for me. Well, I'm gone, waiting for my good news. After An Yi finished speaking, he whistled and left briskly.

Lao Dao lay on the bed and sighed without a sound, closed his eyes and calculated, his face full of pain.

As soon as An Yi walked out of the street, he saw Ah Biao coming towards him: "Ah Biao, why don't you lead someone to guard the warehouse here?" ”

"I'm looking for you, hurry up! Shopkeeper Chen can't wait, there is a batch of goods to be sent to the eastern suburbs of Yuzhu Wharf immediately, I heard that it is an urgent telegram sent by Mr. Ou from Hong Kong, death order! Come with me. ”

Ah Biao took An Yi's hand and trotted for a while, and ran into the business house in less than ten minutes, and the shopkeeper Chen and Mr. Ou were already waiting at the door.

Shopkeeper Chen seemed to be very anxious, and when he saw An Yi, he pulled him closer to the store: "Listen to me, you immediately drive the car to the door of our 'Taichang' in the thirteenth line, the goods are ready, don't stop after pulling it up, immediately rush to Yuzhu Wharf, where someone picks up the goods, and when you get there, you will stop when you see a blue sky and white flag." ”

"Remember, I'll go." An Yi nodded, turned around and left.

Manager Ou called An Yi: "Wait, Xiao Yi...... The shopkeeper, the road is very dangerous now, can you send a few more people to go with Xiao Yi? ”

Shopkeeper Chen glared: "Where did the idler come from?" Do you not have to guard the warehouses of the eight major trading houses? Even I stood guard myself, let alone such a big person? Afraid of what? What is the danger of being a revolutionary army all the way? Stop it! An Yi, if you don't leave, do you want me to bend down to see you off? ”

An Yi smiled gratefully at Manager Ou, turned around and left, entered the yard, opened the car door to start the truck, and lightly stepped on the accelerator a few feet to warm up the nose, Ah Biao suddenly jumped on the right pedal and handed An Yi a one-foot-long British scraper sold in the store: "Take it for self-defense, if I have a gun, I will lend it to you." ”

An Yi looked at the butter on the knife edge and smiled: "No need, take it back, if you let Shopkeeper Chen know that it would be strange not to scold you for being a bloody dog, I have received your heart, and I will have to rely on you here after I leave, if those stragglers come again, you have to tell them well, don't provoke them." ”

"Understood, then you have to pay attention, I'll wait for you to come back, I'll go buy two catties of dog meat and stew it later, our brothers have a good drink, I've never drunk with you." In times of crisis, Ah Biao showed his righteousness.

An Yi laughed: "Okay!" Wait for me to come back. ”

The truck drove out of the yard smoothly, slowly drove up the narrow alley into the main road, An Yi saw that the street was full of patrolling military police, so he maintained a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, drove steadily to the door of the "Taichang" trading house, skillfully reversed the car and aimed the car at the gate, seven or eight clerks in the escort of more than a dozen military police, nervously carried boxes of goods without trademarks, and after a while, they loaded the small half car.

An Yi stood on the pedal and took a look, and suddenly found that the person leading the escort turned out to be Li Tiekui, so he hurriedly jumped out of the car and walked over quickly: "Brother Li, if you are promoted, you won't squeak with your brother, you are afraid that your brother will beg for wine, right?" ”

Li Tiekui turned his head and looked at it, and hugged An Yi's shoulders in surprise: "Brother, I want to die big brother, haha!" The eldest brother has been an instructor in the training camp for more than a month, and as soon as he came out, he was promoted to the captain of the special team, and there are more than 100 brothers under him, and the jurisdiction is the entire city of Guangzhou! ”

Li Tiekui glanced around and whispered in An Yi's ear: "Speaking of which, the eldest brother still has to thank you, if it weren't for Deputy Director Gong's help, the eldest brother would still be in the training camp with that group of stupid people, so this wine eldest brother please settle you, and when the situation calms down, please go to the eldest brother's house and ask your sister-in-law to cook our authentic hometown dishes for you." ”

"Good! My little brother dreams of Sichuan cuisine in his hometown...... By the way, Brother Li, you say thank me? What's going on? An Yi asked puzzled.

Li Tiekui lowered his voice: "Deputy Director Gong came to transfer me twice, but our Director Wu didn't agree, Deputy Director Gong left a sentence before leaving, saying that if you don't reuse such a talent, I will try my best to offend you and emphasize the past through the party department, but Director Wu had to promote my official, haha!" Big brother, I'm not grateful to you, who are you grateful for? I know that Deputy Director Gong has looked for you many times, and your household registration is still handled by our sub-director himself, Deputy Director Gong made a phone call, and our sub-director ran away, haha! ”

An Yi was stunned, just after the goods were loaded, he found an excuse to climb on the tarpaulin of the car cover, and after fixing it, he wanted to say goodbye to Li Tiekui but he didn't see him, so he had to climb down and turn to the cab, and when he opened the door, he saw Li Tiekui sitting in the passenger seat safely.

Li Tiekui instructed more than a dozen heavily armed subordinates under the car to climb into the carriage to escort them, and explained to the curious An Yi: "Big brother, I was ordered to escort this batch of materials, do you need to look at my special orders?" ”

"No, you don't."

An Yi hurriedly started the car and started slowly, turned onto the road before asking, "What is so important in the car?" ”

Li Tiekui sighed: "It's all imported Western medicine, as well as hemostatic powder, tourniquet or something, thanks to the help of your boss Mr. Ou, don't look at most of the medicines, the value is more than 20,000 yuan!" I heard that Mr. Liao received a secret message from Mr. Ou last night, and he was so grateful that he shed tears. The trading houses controlled by foreigners hate the hard-line national political axe, and no matter how much money they have, they will not sell us a bottle of medicine...... Hey? This box is so beautiful, what's inside? ”

An Yi glanced at it and continued to concentrate on driving: "The Zeiss telescope, Hans, the German owner of the 'Lulin' firm, gave it to me, and I was too busy to put the car on hold." Hans said that this is the latest cutting-edge product, the lens has a mechanical telescopic function, the adjustment method is twice as simple, and there are multi-functional reference scale marks on it, and the German army is only a small amount of equipment today, and it is possible to obtain the rank of colonel. This pair of telescope shells are alloy, very delicate and strong, 7×50 specifications, the volume and weight are about one-third less than the previous generation of products, it is very easy to carry, I tried it on the way to the countryside a few days ago, and the effect is very good, this German, just fucking smart. ”

Li Tiekui carefully pulled it out, tried it for a while, sighed, and couldn't put it down: "Grandma's, it's so beautiful!" You can tell the male and female of a buffalo a few miles away, the Germans are so fucking good, this thing has to be at least a few hundred oceans, right? ”

"I really didn't ask, last year I did Hans a small favor, before the holiday he came to me, said that the Chinese New Year has no gifts for me, so he gave this pair of binoculars he brought from his hometown in Germany, I saw that the leather box was thick and beautiful and very small, I liked it and accepted it, I went back and met him and asked, see how much this thing sells." An Yi replied casually.

Walking through a small forest and Yuzhu Wharf vividly, Li Tiekui put away the binoculars and put them back in the square storage box under the bridge, pointed to the two-story brick house with a huge blue sky and white flag at the entrance of the wharf, and told An Yi to drive the car to the door.

An Yi complied one by one, stopped at the entrance of the road to be inspected by the sentry, and then was fully inspected once before entering the front of the house at the entrance of the dock.

Under the car, the military and police officers lined up in two rows at Li Tiekui's order, and after listening to Li Tiekui's precautions for "moving lightly" and began to unload the car, a team of more than 30 Huangpu soldiers ran neatly under the leadership of the officers, and soon set up a cordon around the car. An Yi was slightly surprised, judging from such strict protection measures, I am afraid that the upper echelons of the Huangpu Army have regarded this batch of rare and precious medicines as more important than their own lives.

"Xiao Yi? It's you? Attaboy! ”

Hu Zongnan, the commander of the spy company, strode up and patted An Yi, who had just opened the car door, on the shoulder: "I really didn't expect you to transport this batch of medicines, great, the principal and Director Zhou also sent someone across the river just now to ask if the goods have arrived, and they want to wear it!" ”

An Yi happily looked Hu Zongnan up and down: "You look good, Commander Hu!" ”

"Haha! Commander Hu? The dog laughs at me? You wait, brother, I will be the commander one day. Hu Zongnan smiled dryly.

An Yi exclaimed: "Sure enough, it's the boss!" Ha ha...... Hey, Lao Du, why don't they see anyone? And what about Chen, the elder of the special service company of the second regiment? ”

"The oath of the Eastern Expedition will be held on the other side of the river, I have to fight the outpost, the deputy company commander Huang Jie took two platoons of brothers to guard the riverside wharf, and when the brigade crosses the river, I have to set off in advance, otherwise I will call the brothers to say goodbye to you."

Hu Zongnan looked at the military academy dock across the river with some regret, where the flags were waving and the gray girls were waving, and it was obvious that the departure ceremony was underway.

An Yi thought for a while and grabbed him: "Is your spy company going to be responsible for reconnaissance of the former enemy, doing some tasks of going deep behind enemy lines or catching prisoners and collecting intelligence?" ”

"Huh? You know that? Not bad, a little bit of military quality, just come to our Huangpu, it's a big deal to stay in the advanced school army for a while, wait for the next enrollment to sign up immediately, and the brothers will find a way for you together, quasi! Hu Zongnan mobilized again.

"Don't talk about that, you haven't answered me yet." An Yi asked again.

Hu Zongnan nodded: "That's the case, but it's quite exciting, others can't go if they want to." ”

An Yi didn't say a word, got on the pedal of the car, took out the precious Zeiss telescope and handed it to Hu Zongnan: "Old Hu, the little brother didn't have anything to give you, you can use this, take it." ”

"What's that...... My heavenly ......" Hu Zongnan opened the precise leather cover and took out the binoculars, and his hands trembled slightly with affection: "It's so beautiful!" It's even more advanced than our principal's, and our deputy battalion commander doesn't have the blessing of being issued with binoculars...... Where did it come from? ”

An Yi said with a smile: "A friend of the German comptoir gave it to me, saying that it was the latest product, and it was useless for me to keep it, you need this thing the most to lead the top soldiers to explore the road." Alas...... If I had known this, I would have gone to the leather store to customize a good dress for you and your brothers, and it would be inconvenient to see how inconvenient you are...... Ouch! After the goods are unloaded, I have to go, Lao Hu, bless the brothers on my behalf, and when you come back triumphantly, the younger brother will invite everyone to eat a meal of dumplings and flatbreads in Yuexianglou......"

"Xiao Yi ......"

Hu Zongnan was stunned for a moment, watched An Yi jump into the car and start to start, hurriedly chased a few steps, and shouted loudly with gratitude: "Boy, listen, Lao Tzu and his brothers will come back triumphantly, and they will definitely slaughter you-"