Chapter 40: A Side Hustle?

Long Wenzhang sent men to tell him to get lost.

Tan Ziwei gave him the cold shoulder directly.

Li Yunlong, however, received him with polite words, expressed his full support for the Generalissimo’s initiative, and accepted the trunk of silver dollars. Yet, the moment Chen Gongshu turned his back, Li had the silver delivered straight to the headquarters of the New First Division. The implication was self-evident.

"General Liu," Chen Gongshu said respectfully, "when shall we arrange the handover of the Sakata Regiment’s colors?"

Hand over the colors? My foot! You won't get a thing without paying a heavy price!

Liu Jianguo yawned and waved his hand dismissively. "Station Chief Chen, I will send some men to help you look for the Sakata Regiment’s colors in the Changzhi landfill!" He stood up and turned away. "It’s getting late. Monk, see our guest out!"

"Wait, General Liu! General Liu!" Chen Gongshu hurried forward to intercept him, only to be hauled back by Wei Dayong.

Back in his office, Liu Jianguo immediately made a phone call. "Fan La, send a message to Old Man Yan. Tell him the New First Division is interested in turning enemies into friends with the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army. We want to use the Sakata Regiment’s colors to strike a deal."

...

Before long, Old Man Yan, far away in Jincheng, received the news.

"What!?" Yan’s eyes lit up instantly. "Liu Jianguo wants to trade the Sakata Regiment’s colors with me?"

The colors were a treasure! What others didn't know was that Yan had long maintained secret channels with the Japanese. He had learned from them that Terauchi Juichi had offered a bounty of 20 million silver dollars and ten tons of gold for those very colors. If he could get his hands on them and flip them to Terauchi, it would be a massive, risk-free profit.

His mood improved immediately. "It seems this Liu Jianguo isn't a young man who doesn't know the times. He wants to mend fences—he knows who really holds the cards in Shanxi."

Just then, Yang Aiyuan stepped forward to report. "Commander, I heard that the 'Baldy' sent people to the New First Division headquarters this morning. They even promoted Liu and awarded him the Order of Blue Sky and White Sun. If we want to act, we must be quick!"

"Hmph!" Yan had no love for the "Baldy." "Our Generalissimo wants to play the 'empty-handed wolf' trick? Does he think everyone else is a fool? But Liu Jianguo isn't easy to swindle either. To get those colors from him, we’ll have to offer some real sweetness."

He felt a pang of heartache for his private treasury, but thinking of the lucrative reward from the Japanese, he gritted his teeth. "Xingru, send word to Liu: if he hands over the colors, I will turn Luoyang over to him."

What? Hand over Luoyang? Yang Aiyuan was shocked. As one of the four people Yan trusted most, he knew better than anyone the extent of Yan's influence. At the peak of the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army’s power, besides his home province of Shanxi, Yan had controlled Hebei, Shandong, and the newly established Suiyuan and Chahar provinces. Even after the Central Plains War forced him back to Shanxi, he had kept his fingers in many pies. Luoyang, on the south bank of the Yellow River, was under his secret control. It was a prosperous, strategic city, easy to defend and hard to attack. Since the fall of Taiyuan, much of Shanxi's capital had flowed there; it was one of Yan’s key retreat options.

Seeing the hesitation on Yang’s face, Yan shook his head. "Xingru, you are still too young. You must look further ahead. In these times, money and guns are everything. Once we rebuild the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, we can reclaim any lost territory. Besides," Yan’s eyes turned cold, "the Yellow River won't stop Japanese warships. Luoyang will fall eventually. Exchanging a city that will inevitably be lost for the Sakata Regiment’s colors is a bargain."

...

It was well known that if Li Yunlong didn't stir up trouble for a day, he felt physically unwell. Barely two days after the New First Regiment began resting, he went to find Liu Jianguo, grinning. He treated the division headquarters like his own home, casually greeting the staff before opening Liu’s liquor cabinet and pulling out a bottle of Fenjiu.

Liu Jianguo shook his head helplessly. "Li Yunlong, shouldn't you be busy reinforcing your northern positions? Why are you over here drinking my booze?"

"It’s not like you’re short on wine! Put that down and get out of here!"

Li ignored him, guzzling the liquor in one breath and letting out a satisfied belch. "Division Commander, this is the kind of wine a real man should drink! Those Japanese sakes are like water—no kick at all!"

Liu laughed despite his annoyance. "Stop with the nonsense. Spit it out—what do you want?"

"Haha!" Li laughed. "You always know how I am, Commander! Well, since the New First Regiment doesn't need everyone working on the fortifications, I was thinking of picking up a little side business."

"A side business?" Liu rubbed his chin. "I suppose that’s possible. Tell me, where are you going, and what are you planning?"

Li grinned. He knew Liu had essentially agreed. "Long Wenzhang has gone to gather up the stragglers, right? I was thinking there must be many good soldiers in the Japanese POW camps. They’ve held out this long, so they must be itching to fight the Japanese. I want to rescue them and bring them into the New First Division—it’ll add to our strength. I’ve already picked the place: I’m taking five or six hundred men to Pingyao."

...

A day later, outside Matou Mountain, south of Pingyao County.

"Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!"

Hearing the rhythmic bird calls, the tense expression of the New First Regiment sentry softened. He pursed his lips and responded with the same rhythm. "Cuckoo!"

A dozen seconds later, Zhang Dabiao and three soldiers appeared in his line of sight. Crossing the hill, Zhang quickly approached a mountain hollow where the surrounding New First Regiment soldiers were waiting, fully armed.

Li Yunlong, who had been closely monitoring the situation, approached them immediately. "Dabiao, how did the scouting go? Any new discoveries?"