A Prophet - Chapter 20 (Part 1)

Chapter 1 - A Catastrophic Mistake

In September 1939, the Japanese Eleventh Army, led by Commander Okamura Neiji, launched the "Xiang-Gan Campaign" to attack Changsha.

Japanese aircraft flew overhead all day long. Ancestor and Hong Laohu, along with their men, huddled in a mountain hollow, not daring to step out.

That night, Ancestor sank once more into deep contemplation: Once Changsha fell, where should they go?

A few bandits under Hong Laohu were fiddling with a green box they had seized a few days earlier during an ambush on the Japanese. Nobody had ever seen such an object before, and they were all filled with curiosity, poking it here and touching it there while the device let out strange noises from time to time.

Hearing the commotion, the Fourth Leader Zhang Zizhan hurried over, took a look, and suddenly shouted, "Don't touch that! This is a military radio! It sends out signals!"

"What kind of contraption is this?"

"A radio! The enemy can track the signal and find us! Smash it right now!"

"Ah?" The bandits didn't understand. "It looks like a gramophone, and we wanted to use it to listen to the news! It would be such a waste to smash it!"

Seeing that this group had pig brains, the Fourth Leader knew there was no reasoning with them. He ran straight into Ancestor's room and said, "Ancestor, let's leave. These people are going to bring trouble upon us!"

"What's wrong?" Ancestor asked.

"A few days ago during the ambush on the Japanese, we captured a radio. These idiots don't know what it is and keep messing with it all day long. The radio emits signals, and if the Japanese manage to scan and locate them, we're all finished!"

Upon hearing this, Ancestor nodded and hurriedly went to tell Hong Laohu about the situation. Liu Congyun grew anxious the moment he heard it: "Damn it, didn't I tell them to smash that thing to pieces the other day?"

Hong Laohu was quite shocked when he heard this: "Is this thing really that magical? Then let's burn it right away!"

At Hong Laohu's command, the bandits built a bonfire and threw the radio right into it.

However, it was already too late. A Kuomintang military force was closing in on the area, and Military Statistics agents had intercepted the signal, reporting the matter to Dai Li. Because the bandits had been pressing random buttons, the transmitted signal was gibberish. Dai Li had his top intelligence operatives try to decode it, but they still failed to unravel the mystery within the telegram.

With battles frequently breaking out lately, Dai Li had intercepted far too many bizarre codes, many of which read like heavenly scripts that defied all attempts at interpretation.

Later on, Dai Li sent scouts to investigate the location where the signal had originated. The scouts returned with their report: it was a group of mountain bandits numbering around a thousand.

Dai Li immediately deduced that they were in league with the Japanese devils, and promptly issued a suppression order. He thought to himself: I might not be able to beat the Japanese devils, but dealing with a bunch of bandits like you is more than enough.

Just as the Battle of Changsha was raging fiercely, a mixed regiment of a thousand men quietly moved into the deep mountains. After two days of observation and troop deployment, they launched an assault on Hong Laohu's stronghold at the break of dawn on the third day.

This time, Hong Laohu was completely unprepared, and the sudden arrival of troops shocked him to the core. The military equipment Chiang Kai-shek had obtained from the United States demonstrated its devastating power against the bandits. Heavy machine guns and artillery fired in unison, leaving the bandits guarding the outer perimeter completely disoriented as their first line of defense was quickly breached.

Hong Laohu was frantic with worry: "Who the hell is this? They start attacking the moment they show up!"

A bandit came running to report: "It's the Kuomintang army."

Hearing this, Hong Laohu seemed to understand: "It must be because I ambushed their transport convoy a few years ago, and now they've come looking for payback."

Upon hearing this, Hong Laohu's Four Great Vajras clamored aggressively: "Then let's fight them to the death!" With that, they grabbed their weapons and rushed out to deploy their respective defenses.

There was only one thing Hong Laohu couldn't figure out: How did they manage to find us? Could it really have been that broken radio?

The Kuomintang army's attack grew increasingly fierce, seemingly knowing the terrain like the back of their hand. All three of Hong Laohu's lines of defense were breached. Wang Jikun, the head of the Four Great Vajras known as "Yang Who Hits the Target a Hundred Paces Away," had his head pierced by a Kuomintang sniper, and the "Double-Blade Heroine" Zhu Jin was also wounded. In front of a regular army, the lack of professionalism among the bandit ranks was laid completely bare.

Military Strategist Liu Congyun was sweating profusely. Finally, he said to Hong Laohu, "Commander, let's retreat. As long as the green mountains remain..."

Before he could even finish, Hong Laohu snapped: "Retreat? Retreat to where? Ever since I, Hong Laohu, became an outlaw in 1930, killing landlords, capturing local tyrants, ambushing the Kuomintang, and resisting the little Japanese, I've beaten all the local bosses around here into complete submission. Where am I supposed to retreat?"

"Commander, this time is different. The enemy came fully prepared," Liu Congyun said anxiously.

Ancestor, standing nearby, also furrowed his brows deeply: What is going on? The Kuomintang are currently resisting the Japanese in Changsha, so why would they pull troops away to suppress bandits here? No matter what, today was looking grim.

"Commander," Ancestor said, "why not raise the white flag first, feign surrender, and let me call out to probe their intentions?"

Hong Laohu looked at Ancestor: "Very well."

Ancestor walked out of the cave and ordered all the surrounding bandits to raise white flags and cease fire.

Crouching behind a large boulder, Ancestor shouted at the top of his lungs: "Officer—we are righteous bandits! We never bully the common people, nor do we cause trouble for the government. Just a few days ago, we even ambushed the Japanese army! Chinese do not fight Chinese!"

Hearing this, the opposing side halted their attack: "Drop your weapons and surrender! Hands on your heads, come out one by one!"

"Officer, spare our lives!"

"Are you fucking deaf? I told you to drop your weapons and come out!"

Realizing this was a trap to lure them out, Ancestor knew that disarming meant facing a firing squad. After turning it over in his mind, he suddenly shouted: "Officer! I am an old acquaintance of your General Dai. Could you please pass along a word and tell him that the 'Mr. Iron Plate' of Jianghuai is here!"

Upon hearing this, the leader immediately reported to Dai Li via radio.

Dai Li was currently burning with anxiety over his inability to find Ancestor. Before the Battle of Wuhan, Dai Li had asked Ancestor to return to Sichuan with him, but Ancestor had declined. Later, when Ancestor set up a scheme in Wuhan to burn down a Japanese sorcerer, Dai Li had guessed that the scheme was Ancestor's handiwork. Afterward, when Ancestor and his group vanished without a trace, Dai Li figured that Ancestor was in grave danger, thinking to himself: "Mr. Iron Plate" is truly a peerless talent, and I intended sooner or now to persuade him to join Military Statistics as my personal advisor. But now his life or death is unknown—Heaven does not aid me!

Later on, Dai Li specifically dispatched a special agent team to search far and wide for Ancestor's whereabouts. He never imagined that Ancestor would be hiding in a bandit cave.

Upon receiving the urgent telegram from the front lines, Dai Li, who had been at his wits' end, was overjoyed and immediately replied: Continue the attack! Spare "Mr. Iron Plate," and execute everyone else without exception!

After receiving the classified telegram, the bandit-suppression commander began broadcasting messages: "General Dai has given an order. Please have 'Mr. Iron Plate' come over to speak."

The brothers crowded around: "Ancestor, you mustn't! What if..."

Ancestor looked at them, then looked at Hong Laohu, and said, "Don't worry. If it's a blessing, it's no misfortune; if it's a misfortune, you can't avoid it."

"Be careful, Ancestor," Hong Laohu said.

Ancestor stood up and walked forward.

The moment he stepped into the enemy-controlled territory, the sounds of gunfire and artillery suddenly erupted. This time the firepower was even more ferocious, with hundreds of artillery shells raining down upon Hong Laohu's stronghold.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ancestor was shocked.

"Please rest here for a moment, sir. Once the bandit suppression is successful, we can chat at our leisure," the commander said. "Open fire! Hit them hard!"

Ancestor understood instantly: Dai Li is truly ruthless! Immediately, he turned to leave, but several soldiers swarmed forward: "Sir, you'd better stay put right here!"

The cries and shouts of the bandits on the mountain blended into a chaotic mess. A quarter of an hour later, the Kuomintang army launched their general assault. Hong Laohu was riddled with bullets and killed. Liu Congyun and the "Black-Faced Fierce Star" fought their way out of the encirclement with a squad of men, fleeing who knows where. Everyone else dropped their weapons, put their hands on their heads, and filed out.

Ancestor ran over at a brisk pace. Several section leaders were walking out with their hands raised. "Ancestor! Ancestor!" Spotting him, they all rushed toward him.

Just as several soldiers moved to intercept them, Ancestor glared at them: "These are all my disciples!"

"Are all the brothers alright?" Ancestor asked.

The Second Leader smiled and said, "We're fine, totally fine. This was none of our business to begin with. Hong Laohu told us to go up, so the brothers just picked up their guns and hung back to put on a show. Who was going to charge forward? They're here to suppress bandits, not the 'River and Lake Sect'!"

Seeming to remember something, Ancestor hurriedly ran toward the cave.

Inside the cave, Kuomintang soldiers were inspecting the bodies of the bandits. In a corner, they discovered the wounded "Double-Blade Heroine" Zhu Jin.

"Hey—come look, come look! A female bandit!" yelled a soldier.

The rest of them crowded around: "Not bad-looking at all, and she's got quite a fine chest." With that, they started getting handsy.

"Get lost!" Zhu Jin's leg was bleeding, leaving her unable to move.

"Oh ho, quite the fiery temper! A chieftain's wife, eh? Hahahaha. Your grandpa is going to break you in today." As he spoke, one of the soldiers reached for his belt.

"Stop right there!" Ancestor roared as he rushed in.

The soldier glanced at Ancestor with utter disdain: "None of your business! Go find somewhere cool to hang out!"

"Fine, go ahead and do it then," Ancestor said with a cold smile. "When I go back and report this to Bureau Chief Dai, I'll have you all court-martialed!"

Hearing those words, the soldiers let their ears droop in disappointment. "Damn it! A busybody sticking his nose where it doesn't belong!" Cursing a few times, they pulled up their pants and shuffled off dejectedly.

Zhu Jin looked at Ancestor and said weakly, "Please leave, sir. Don't worry about me. I'll just die right here in this cave." With that, tears welled up and spilled over.

"Why would Madam say such a thing? As long as the green mountains remain, there's no need to worry about firewood. I have a passing acquaintance with Dai Li of Military Statistics; let me put in a word, and perhaps they will spare your life."

Zhu Jin shook her head: "If you truly wish to do me a favor, sir, just give me a bullet so I can find release."

Ancestor looked at her, turned around, and walked to the cave entrance, shouting outward: "Bring a stretcher! And a military doctor!"

The bandit-suppression commander looked over at Ancestor and said, "Military doctors don't save bandits!"

Ancestor lowered his head in contemplation for a moment, then said loudly, "She is no bandit—she is my wife!"

The commander paused in surprise, the brothers of the "Muzi Lotus" faction froze as well, and Zhu Jin was even more astonished.

The commander walked over with a cheerful smile and said slyly, "So the sir has a taste for this sort of thing?"

"Are you going to save her, or not?" Ancestor forced the words out one by one.

"Saved! She'll be saved!" The commander squinted, then patted Ancestor on the shoulder. "You've got good taste."

Ancestor and his group retreated along with the main army.

By now, the sky had grown fully bright. In the tranquil mountain hollow, a few birds fluttered their wings and flew quietly past. The valley, swept clean of gunsmoke, returned to its former peace.