From Nantai to the provincial capital, it is most convenient to take the waterway, the white sails on the Huaijiang River are dotted, hundreds of boats compete for the current, the boat that Yan Su and Gong Zijun take is a cargo ship that sails on the Huaijiang River all the year round, the boss of the boat is a man in his fifties, squinting and sitting in the stern, smoking a bag of dry tobacco, the appearance of steady Mount Tai is reassuring.

"Take my boat, you'll be fine." The captain of the boat pointed to an apricot yellow flag and said.

This small flag is crudely made, but it is a serious silk material, and it is embroidered with a dragon with teeth and claws. Yan Su said that this was a python, not a dragon, because dragons have five claws, while the animals on the flag only have four claws.

"This gentleman seems to be quite knowledgeable, but this time you are wrong, this is a flag issued by Master Long, how can it be a python." The boat boss smacked the soot on the soles of his shoes and argued in a serious manner.

Long Ye is rampant in the middle reaches of the Huaijiang River bandits mixed with the river dragon, all the ships that planted the flag issued by him, can safely go back and forth between the upstream and downstream, all the water bandits sell face, of course, when they encounter the water police set up a card to stop cooking, the money should be paid is indispensable.

Sailing against the current, the most difficult and dangerous, there is a place called Laohutan in the middle reaches of the Huaijiang River, the water is turbulent, the reef is all over the place, a little carelessness will hit the reef and sink the ship, encounter this kind of dangerous beach, always have to rely on the slender man to pull over.

When the boat arrived at Tiger Beach, a team of slender men hunched their backs, pulling the rope on the shore and shouting the trumpet step by step, regardless of the old and young, they were all naked, because no matter how strong the clothes were, they could not withstand the wear and tear of the rope, and the slender man needed to keep going into the water, and the clothes were wet and easy to catch a cold, so it was better to be naked.

The cargo ship slowly moved forward, and Gong Zijun looked at the slender men and sighed: "The laborers are hard." ”

"What's bitter or not, it's all mixed food." The boat boss loaded a bag of tobacco leaves and smoked again.

Suddenly, a clipper boat sped by, the motor suddenly sounded, and at the bow stood a swarthy man, with a large red silk belt tied around his waist, and two box cannons inserted diagonally, majestic and overflowing.

"Look, that's Master Long!" The boat boss became excited and shouted as he pointed to the machine ship.

Yan Su squinted his eyes and looked over, nodding secretly: "What a man, he is indeed the most famous water bandit on the Huai River." ”

The bandits intercepted a boat without a flag in front, and the men jumped on the boat vigorously, forcing the boatman to hand over the money, and the people on the cargo ship quietly watched the bandits rob, no one helped, no one spoke, it seemed that what happened was a very ordinary thing.

"In broad daylight!" Gong Zijun's chest rose and fell, as a soldier, it was a shame that he couldn't protect the people.

But he is not wearing a military uniform now, and in order not to cause trouble, they are both dressed in civilian clothes, disguised as Mr. Teaching, otherwise no one would dare to take them at all.

"Be quiet, young master." The captain of the ship persuaded, the cargo ship slowly sailed past the robbed ship, and the mixed river dragon squinted at the apricot yellow flag on the bow of their ship, and made a sharp whistle, and the captain hurriedly waved his hand: "Lord Long is mighty!" Listening to his tone, he seemed very proud to know this bandit.

Gong Zijun sighed and went down to the cabin.

At noon the next day, the boat arrived in Jiangbei, which is still dozens of miles away from Nantai County, there is a small wharf by the river, and there are several ferries moored all year round to do the business of river ferry, of course, it is also to provide for the water bandits, otherwise the business will not be able to continue.

The two got off the boat, hired two donkeys and two porters in a nearby village, and returned to the county seat with their luggage.

When he returned to the Protector Embassy Office and told him about the experience of the trip to the provincial capital, Chen Zikun was overjoyed and praised: "You have made great contributions. ”

Yan Su said: "After spending more than 20,000 yuan, I can finally exchange for a moment of peace, I have a hunch that they will never give up." ”

Chen Zikun said: "As long as he doesn't tear his face now, at present, in Beijing, Cao Kun is running for president, and his energy is focused on this area, and he is definitely not willing to turn his face with the Anhui family so early, so we can only make compromises, this trip, let the two of you be wronged." ”

Yan Su said: "The envoy of the protector is polite, this humiliation is nothing, and I also brought you a gift from Sun Overseer." ”

As he spoke, he took out the cardboard box containing the cockade, Chen Zikun looked at it and laughed: "Sun Kaiqin has this little bit of energy, okay, my subordinates, go back and let the brothers of the first battalion nail the cockade to the hat, which is also a bit of a regular army." ”

Yan Su said: "This little bit of people at home is far from enough, in case the bandits come back, or the provincial army fights, we can't stop it." ”

Chen Zikun said: "In the past few days since you left, Gai Longquan, the guy known as the white wolf, brought people to attack the county seat again. ”

Yan Su was taken aback: "What about the loss?" ”

Chen Zikun said with a smile: "We didn't lose anything, but we knocked out several of Gai Longquan's teeth." ”

Yan Su didn't quite understand.

Chen Zikun shouted: "Adjutant Zhao! ”

"Yes!" Zhao Yufeng, who hadn't seen him for many days, stood up and explained to Yan Su: "Chief of Staff, now that we have a large number of soldiers in the city, we are looking forward to them coming to attack the city." ”

When the bandits besieged the city, the county sent three groups of people to ask for help, Zhao Yufeng went to Xuzhou to find Chen Tiaoyuan, Chen Qingfeng went to Kushuijing to find Chen Shou, and there was a group sent by the county magistrate Liu to go to Jiangnan to find Nie Jinku for help. Zhao Yufeng's road is the farthest, and he just came back a few days ago.

Zhao Yufeng came back with his troops, after he arrived in Xuzhou, Xu Hai town guard Chen Tiaoyuan immediately sent an urgent telegram to Wu Yushuai in Luoyang, although Wu Peifu wanted to experience Chen Zikun, but he also did not want him to die in vain at the hands of bandits, so he transferred an elite infantry battalion to Xuzhou overnight by the Longhai Railway, and drove into the Jiangbei area in the name of exercises.

The Third Division of Beiyang, which is the strongest army in the world, picks out a battalion from it, and has absolutely no problem against a regiment of local miscellaneous armies, and the Third Division is all fully equipped troops, a battalion has 500 people, which can catch up with the strength of a regiment of the provincial army, and is equipped with the most sophisticated weapons, the original 1898 rifles of the German Mauser factory, bayonets and water bottles and raincoats are imported foreign goods, and there are two extremely sharp battalion water machine guns, which are also authentic British-made Maxim.

With such an infantry battalion in the city, it is no wonder that Chen Zikun is full of confidence, not to mention that the bandits are coming, even if Sun Kaiqin personally raises troops to attack, it will not be a problem to resist for three or five days.

"Gai Longquan has suffered a big loss, his vitality has been greatly damaged, he must not come to harass for a while, and now he is guarding against the sneak attack of the provincial army, I am waiting for these grandsons." Chen Zikun said with a sneer.

……

There is a saying called revenge, which is used to describe people like Nie Jinku, who was carried away by hatred and began to plan an attack as soon as he returned to the Jiangnan station.

Duan Haixiang, commander of the second division, replenished a batch of guns and ammunition to the 11th regiment, and sent an artillery battalion to cooperate with the attack.

Nie Jinku was very careful, conscientiously implemented Sun Dashuai's requirements, and all his subordinates disguised themselves as bandits, in fact, pretending to be bandits is the easiest, because the bandits' costumes are not uniform, they can wear military uniforms, they can also wear civilian clothes, that is, they can wear costumes, they can wear women's clothes, as long as they wear a big hat.

Sent people to wholesale 500 Nantai hats, the brothers of the 11th regiment dressed up in disguise, with two mountain cannons and set off, the north of the river is desolate and barren, the south bank of a river is much better, there are many fishing boats and cargo ships on the wharf, the soldiers brutally requisitioned boats, crossed the river to the north, assembled on the shore, and the whole team went to the county seat of Nantai.

They want to take revenge!

In fact, when Nie Jinku sent someone to buy 500 hats, Chen Zikun received the news and guessed that the provincial army was preparing to attack, so he asked Chen Shou to set up a lot of secret posts on the north bank, and immediately reported that the 11th Regiment had not yet crossed the river here, and the county town over there would know about it.

In addition to an integrated infantry battalion sent by Wu Peifu to reinforce it, there are also two battalions trained by Chen Zikun plus a security regiment.

The first battalion was adapted from the pole of the bitter well under Chen Shou, and there were 300 brothers, who could shoot guns and were bold.

The second battalion is 300 people selected from the civilian army who have participated in the defense of the county, most of them are farmers and unemployed people in the city, and they can be regarded as having some combat experience in blood, and it may not be possible to attack the city, but it is enough to defend the city and maintain law and order, and Chen Zikun personally served as the battalion commander of the second battalion.

The main task of this regiment is to maintain law and order and collect taxes, which is equivalent to a complex of patrol police and tax police, nominally controlled by the county magistrate Liu, but in fact there is no warrant from Chen Zikun, and no one can move a soldier.

Qiu Fuzhao, the former head of the security regiment, did not die, but he became a fool, sitting in the sun at the gate of the regiment headquarters all day long, drooling, looking at the passing people with a hemp face and not knowing what crazy things to say.

Although he offended many people when he was the head of the security team, he didn't worry about eating and drinking after becoming a fool, and someone brought the food to the front every day, and then brought the empty bowl back after eating, and someone recognized that the person who delivered the food was the maid of Xia Jingxi, the daughter of the Xia family.

……

The 11th Regiment of the Provincial Army, disguised as bandits, slaughtered under the city of Nantai, but found that something was wrong, the county town was not as frightened as expected, but the city gate was opened, the drawbridge was lowered, and there was no quiet figure on the head of the city.

The injury on Nie Jinku's buttocks had not yet healed, so he lay on the sliding rod and ordered: "Rush for me, whoever rushes into the city first, reward the ocean fifty!" ”

The soldiers screamed and rushed forward, they thought that there were only a hundred and ten bandits in the city, but when they rushed to the city wall fifty meters away, a row of rifles appeared on the head of the city, and the muzzles of the black holes were like the empty eyes of the god of death.

Experienced soldiers can hear the enemy's military quality from the sound of gunfire, although Nie Jinku is a wine bag and rice bag, but he has also been a soldier for more than ten years, he concluded that the platoon of guns on the city wall is very orderly, and it is definitely not the work of bandits.

Immediately after that, the machine gun rang out, and the continuous firing sound of the battalion water machine gun was terrifying, and the rain of bullets was like a fire sickle harvesting life, and Nie Jinku knew that this time was over.

The defeat was like a mountain, the brothers of the 11th Regiment were suddenly attacked, they immediately lost their armor, turned their heads and ran, and a group of men and horses came out of the city gate, and the first big flag was waved in the wind, although Nie Jinku's mouth was crooked, his eyesight was very good, and he clearly saw a small character written on the snow-white flag pants: "The Third Division of the Central Army." ”

It's time to die, Wu Peifu is here!