The Flames of Resistance Against Japan in Jiangnan

Xue Geming, He Changgong, and Bianjing then entered the house and, upon closer inspection, found two boxes of silver dollars in addition to a small box of gold and silver jewelry. Xue Geming estimated that the amount was around 10 yuan, which seemed a bit off. After discussing it with He Changgong, they figured that only Qian Liang knew about this amount of money; the wealthy owner himself probably had some hidden.

The two stopped asking the wealthy landlord and the man with more money, and simply followed Li Dazui's lead, quickly finding the wealthy landlord's study. Xue Geming knew that some landlords liked to hide their money in their studies, and now he wanted to try it out. And it actually worked!

He Changgong, being an experienced worker, patted the surrounding walls repeatedly and immediately concluded that the east wall was hollow. The two examined it more closely and quickly found the mechanism: the Buddha statue in the study. Seeing Xue Geming's familiarity with the mechanism, He Changgong sighed inwardly. Xue Geming, noticing He Changgong's expression, guessed what he was thinking, but didn't reveal it, and simply entered the compartment.

This time, He Changgong and Xue Geming were dumbfounded. Inside the partition wall were five large chests, filled with silver dollars! There were also 100 pistol bullets and 2000 rifle bullets. Without a word, Xue Geming took them all—he'd struck it rich! Xue Geming sighed inwardly as he arranged for the storage.

Next, according to the established plan, the guns, ammunition, silver coins, jewelry, some grain, and some books were loaded into the oxcart in the front yard of the Qian family. All the guards were tied up and their mouths were sealed. They were grouped into groups of four and prepared to be taken away.

The search revealed that the Qian family owned five large carts. Xue Geming, Yang Guisheng, Niu Dazhu, Guo Dage, and Liu Fusheng were each assigned to one cart. Each cart was loaded to the brim.

Before leaving, he explained the reasons to the militia members again:

As long as you obey orders, you will not be harmed; otherwise, don't blame the swords and spears for being merciless. As for the Qian family father and son, Yun Tiansheng and He Xiaoge each chopped off their heads with broadswords, thus avenging them.

The militiamen were terrified once again. Xue Geming originally intended to hold a public trial, but he couldn't stop them in time. In addition, he felt that the conditions for a public trial were not yet ripe, so he simply turned a blind eye!

The two heinous criminals were dealt with, and as for the rest of the Qian family, apart from the women who were knocked unconscious, the rest were given sleeping pills by Li Dazui, who mixed them with water, and they all fell asleep.

And so, with the help of He Changgong and others, the convoy set off. Yang Guisheng, He Changgong, and Cai Zhongshan led the way, while Xue Geming, Li Dazui, and Yun Tiansheng brought up the rear. The convoy swaggered out of the gate. Before setting off, they extinguished the lights and even locked the gate from the inside. Before leaving, they also took the dog they had killed earlier with them, and then headed towards the city gate.

Because they had made arrangements in advance, and the Qian family had done this before, sending money and provisions early in the morning, and Cai Zhongshan had given each of the two city defense soldiers on duty at the city gate 5 silver dollars and the sergeant in charge of the city defense bureau 20 silver dollars, the guards and militiamen were already terrified and dared not utter a sound even when they saw the city defense soldiers. As a result, the oxcart quickly and smoothly left the city gate.

By dawn, Xue Geming and his men were already quite far from the city gate. In the Huangjiawan area, several other guerrillas, mobilized by He Changgong, were already waiting, having prepared loading tools in advance; three oxcarts had arrived. The militia members and Xue Geming's men worked together, distributing the supplies from the original five oxcarts to eight carts, and then headed directly into the mountains.

It wasn't until noon that anyone in the Qian family compound woke up, but they were too frightened to open their eyes or get up. It wasn't until after 5:30 p.m. that everyone felt safe enough to get up and rescue the others.

When everyone realized what had happened, they knew the Qian family was finished. They had no money, no grain, no guns, and no masters. They quickly reported the case to the police.

By the time the police arrived at the scene and realized it was a revenge attack, it was already evening.

Meanwhile, Xue Geming, along with 15 team members, 21 militiamen, and 13 guerrillas sent by the local Party organization, a total of 49 people, had already entered the vast mountains and were nowhere to be found.

By this time, everyone was basically safe, so Xue Geming prepared to have his men release the 21 guards so he could lead his men back to the mountain. However, as soon as they untied the guards and were about to let them go, the guards looked at each other, then all knelt down. This startled Xue Geming and his men. After listening to their explanation, they learned that if these men went back like this, they would surely die; Qian Chen, the second son of the wealthy man, would definitely not let them off. Since going back meant certain death, they might as well go to sea and join them!

It turned out these bandits thought they were a bunch of mountain bandits! Xue Geming smiled wryly, discussed it with He Changgong and Bianjing, and decided to take them in. He Changgong and Cai Zhongshan were responsible for the specific ideological work. With the plan settled, they agreed. Everyone worked together to transport all the goods to the deep mountains. Xue Geming, Bianjing, He Changgong, Cai Zhongshan, Yun Tiansheng, and Yang Guisheng carefully stored all the goods in the caves before stopping. Fortunately, the caves were relatively dry, making them good for storing grain; as for the silver dollars, they were all buried underground.

Next, after taking stock with He Changgong and a few others, Xue Geming was quite pleased: this time, the harvest was considerable. Not only had they avenged themselves, but they had also acquired a large amount of supplies, including 43 silver dollars; 20 small yellow croakers weighing 20 taels each, equivalent to 400 taels of gold; various other jewelry and ornaments; more than 4000 catties of grain; 10 long spears and 1 short spear; 5 oxen; and some farm tools!

Of course, Xue Geming and his team couldn't worry about that right now, because they had too many other things to deal with.

The first task was to arrange for outposts. Xue Geming had Yang Guisheng, along with Guo Ergou and Yan Dongzi, stay in a cave about two miles away from where Xue Geming and the others were staying. Xue Geming oversaw the entire process of setting up the cave, and all the team members and militia worked together to build wooden floors, lay straw, and construct a toilet and kitchen. Their main purpose was to observe groups of people entering the mountains and to provide security equipment for the people in the larger caves behind them, ensuring ample time to prepare in case of emergency. The cave was relatively high and difficult to spot; in the eyes of experienced hunters like Xue Geming and Yang Guishen, it was a first-rate location.

The second task was to restore order to the militia. These newly arrived militia members were of varying quality, and since they had been forced to come, it was necessary to persuade them.