Industry began in 1937

In a large courtyard next to the Red Spear Society's headquarters in Lulu Town, the lights were on, and the aroma of wine and meat mingled with the smell of tobacco lingered in the air.

Three people were seated at the head of the table.

In the center was a man nearing forty, with a square face and a wide mouth. He was wearing a half-new, half-old silk cotton-padded jacket, but over it was an old military uniform that he had somehow gotten his hands on, making him look out of place. This was Zhang Juejiu.

He was originally from Weixian County. He had some schooling in his early years, worked as a physical education teacher at Xingtai Fourth Normal School, and joined the Kuomintang. He was a bit clever, eloquent, and had excellent martial arts skills.

On the left is a skinny man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like face, and shifty eyes. He is An Qingshan, who used to be a cunning lawyer in town.

On the right is a burly man with a thick, short neck and a face full of scars. He is Lu Jiwu, who used to work as a镖师 (bodyguard/escort) and also did business without capital. He is ruthless.

Sitting below was a middle-aged woman, Cao Guizhi, wearing a red jacket, with cheap rouge on her face and a fierce look in her eyes. She claimed to be a female disciple of the "Eternal Mother" and was in charge of the talisman water altar.

Three days ago, Liu Dahong, who was sent to Gouzi Village to issue an ultimatum, returned and exaggeratedly described how Gouzi Village was "unruly" and "talking nonsense," especially the team leader surnamed Zhao and the Mr. Wen of unknown origin, whose attitudes were extremely tough.

Zhang Juejiu immediately smashed the cup, feeling that he had lost face.

His titles of "General Director of the Jixi People's Self-Defense Corps" and "Chief Instructor of the Red Spear Society" were established by absorbing small groups of defeated soldiers, winning over local gentry, and deceiving the people with slogans such as "fight the defeated soldiers, protect our hometown, and resist Japan to save the country." What he feared most was that someone would not accept his authority.

"Three days! Gouzi Village hasn't uttered a single word! Not a trace of grain, guns, or men!" Zhang Juejiu downed a glass of wine, slammed the glass heavily on the table, his face grim. "This is clearly a blatant disregard for our association, and for me, Zhang Juejiu! If every village follows their example, how are we supposed to keep this up?"

"President, please calm down," An Qingshan said in a sinister voice, twirling a few sparse whiskers.

"Gouzi Village, relying on their brute force, got away with defeating a few defeated soldiers and now they think they're all that. Their blacksmith shop has been raking in profits lately, accumulating a fortune in grain, salt, copper, and iron. If we don't teach them a lesson, who will be willing to pay tribute to us in the future? In my opinion, we must strike! And strike hard, to make an example of them!"

Lu Jiwu wiped his greasy mouth and grinned, "Let's go! It's been a long time since the brothers have had any meat. I heard that the blacksmith's shop has a lot of good stuff. If we take it, the grain, iron, and all those forged knives and guns will be ours! If that blacksmith knows what's good for him, we'll bring him to work for the guild. If he doesn't..." He made a throat-slitting gesture.

Cao Guizhi also said in a shrill voice, "Teacher Zhang, you are blessed by Heaven! Disciples who have drunk the talisman water and practiced the divine fist are all invincible heavenly soldiers and generals! Why are you afraid of a small village like Gouzi? Let the disciples of all the branch altars see that only by following Teacher Zhang and the Eternal Mother can they have a way to live and a future!"

This is exactly the effect Zhang Juejiu wanted.

He slammed his hand on the table: "Fine! Then let's fight! Issue my order: on charges of 'disobeying orders, colluding with deserters, and plotting rebellion,' each regiment is to select its strongest men, bring their own rations and weapons, and assemble in Lulou Town within three days to raze Gouzi Village to the ground! The spoils will be distributed according to the size of their contribution!"

The order was quickly passed down.

However, reality gave the ambitious Zhang Juejiu a cold shower.

Two more days passed, and only about a hundred people had gathered outside Lulu Town. Most of them were villagers and thugs directly controlled by them. There were hardly any real members of the "various sub-groups".

The eight subgroups did not manage to gather many people.

The messengers sent to urge them back returned with long faces and reported: this village said it had just suffered a disaster and all the able-bodied men had gone out to flee the famine; that village said they were afraid of a sudden attack by the Japanese and dared not leave; and some villages simply avoided meeting them or claimed that the village chief was sick and could not make decisions.

Zhang Juejiu was so angry that he paced around the room, and An Qingshan's face also looked ugly.

They knew in their hearts that the so-called "eight sub-groups" were mostly nominally affiliated, using the "Red Spear Society" as a shield to intimidate people and collect protection fees. If it came to actually sending people and guns from each village to fight a tough battle, especially to attack Gouzi Village, which sounded tough and had kinship ties, who would be willing to do such a losing business?

"Damn it, a bunch of opportunists!" Lu Jiwu cursed.

"General, these people won't do. We need some real weaponry, and we also need to offer some incentives. Bring out all the best guns we've got in our storerooms, and call on all the 'old brothers' we've been supporting. Let the word out that if we take Gouzi Village, whoever gets the grain, ironware, and other valuables can keep them! Women... cough, anyway, let the men below have something to look forward to!"

Cao Guizhi quickly added, "Yes! Yes! I'll set up an altar again and perform a ritual, giving each of the disciples who are going a 'protective' talisman and a bowl of talisman water to ensure their safety! Just say that there are demons causing trouble in Gouzi Village, and we are acting on behalf of Heaven!"

Zhang Juejiu had no choice but to do so.

Through a combination of coercion, enticement, and feudal superstition, it took two more days to barely assemble a team of less than three hundred people.

The core consisted of Zhang Juejiu, An Qingshan, and Lu Jiwu's direct armed forces and about seventy or eighty bandits they had recruited, with more than thirty quick-draw guns.

The rest were local ruffians and scoundrels from various villages who had been coerced or lured there, as well as a few ignorant farmers who had been bewitched by the "divine talisman," carrying red-tasseled spears, broadswords, javelins, and even farm tools.

To make it seem like she had a large and powerful group, Cao Guizhi also had a dozen or so women dress in red and carry wooden knives to follow behind her, pretending to be ghosts.

Thus, a mixed and disorganized "punitive expedition" with low morale and impure motives set off in disarray from Luluo Town on November 19, five days after the order was issued.

Zhang Juejiu, An Qingshan, and Lu Jiwu rode the stolen mules and horses in the middle of the procession, while Cao Guizhi sat on a makeshift sedan chair carried by two men.

The group moved very slowly and had extremely poor discipline.

As they passed through villages along the way, the villagers, having already gotten wind of the plan, all closed their doors and windows, leaving only some cold, hard cornbread and water at the village entrance for them to take, but refusing to let them into the village.

Although Zhang Juejiu was furious, he dared not let his men plunder freely—he knew that if they completely broke off relations and provoked a united resistance from the villages along the way, his resources would be insufficient.

Thus, this team, which was nominally "protecting the territory and ensuring the safety of the people," was treated like rats in the street, being coldly and warily "escorted" by the villages along the way. They could hardly even get a hot meal or hot water, and their morale plummeted, with complaints growing louder.

"Damn it, what kind of mess is this! What does Dagouzi Village have to do with us!" muttered a farmer who had been dragged into the group.

"Enough talk, just think about the good stuff in the blacksmith's shop after we take down Gouzi Village..." A man dressed like a bandit licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with greed, but then he rubbed his rumbling stomach. "It's just that the journey here is fucking awful!"

"Fairy Cao said that after drinking the talisman water, you'll be invulnerable to swords and spears. Follow me closely and we'll rob the hell out of them!" A man with a fanatical face and a wooden talisman at his waist brandished a red-tasseled spear and shouted, drawing a few scattered responses, but most people just dragged their feet in silence.

That evening, the exhausted and resentful team finally made it to Hekouji, about 30 miles from Gouzi Village.

The market was already mostly empty, with only a few elderly people who didn't have time to leave or didn't want to.

Zhang Juejiu and his men occupied the open space in the market, ordered them to cook and rest for the night, and then head straight for Gouzi Village early the next morning!

The news of their arrival at Hekouji was brought back to Gouzi Village, which was already on high alert and as sturdy as an iron hedgehog, almost immediately by the terrified villager Wang Laosi.

As night deepened, bonfires flickered in the open space of Hekouji, mingling with curses, snores, and the snorting of mules and horses.

Zhang Juejiu, An Qingshan, Lu Jiwu, Cao Guizhi, and others broke down the door of a house. Inside the north room, they ate cold, hard dry food and some cheap wine they had stolen, and their faces were not very good.

The exhaustion from the long journey and the cold reception along the way cast an ominous shadow over this "punishment" operation from the very beginning.

"Can we really take it down in one fell swoop tomorrow?" An Qingshan asked in a low voice, somewhat unsure of himself.

"We must take them down!" Zhang Juejiu gritted his teeth, a fierce glint in his eyes.

"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back! We are the 'royal army,' they are the 'rebels,' and justice is on our side! We have fast guns and men! They have at most a few homemade guns! Charge in, slaughter them all, and see who dares to disobey! Old Lu, tomorrow you lead our old brothers and the fast gun squad to the front! Mr. An, you lead the troops to supervise the battle; anyone who runs away will be considered a deserter and executed on the spot! Fairy Cao, set up the altar at dawn to give the brothers one last boost of courage and distribute the talismanic water!"

"Yes!" Lu Jiwu and Cao Guizhi replied, but their eyes showed less of the daytime fervor and more unease.

Under the same starry sky, Gouzi Village, thirty miles away, was shrouded in a completely different atmosphere—a silent and tense one.

The torchlight flickered eerily at the village entrance and key passes, illuminating the disguises of traps and the cold glint of swords and spears.

The dark muzzles of twelve muskets and six rifles pointed towards the only mountain road leading into the village.

Men, women, and children have all been evacuated as planned. The village is eerily quiet, with only the occasional light footsteps of the patrol team and suppressed breathing.

Wen Shizhou, Chen Yuan, and Zhao Dachui checked every ambush point, every weapon, and every ammunition again.

They knew that although the enemy appeared strong on the outside but was weak on the inside, they still outnumbered the enemy and were like cornered beasts fighting back.

This will be a bloody battle with a vast disparity in strength, but one that will determine life and death.

The dawn of November 20, 1937, was approaching this sleeping valley with a bloody scent.

Fortunately, they were well prepared this time and were about to teach these guys a lesson.