All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

The first operation in Wuzhishan has officially come to an end!

Three dead and seven wounded; forty-seven enemy soldiers were killed; forty-nine rifles of various types, two pistols, a quantity of bullets, and other valuables were seized!

If Bai Jiaxuan were here right now, he could only say one thing: this is a case of suffering from a lack of experience!

The night wind howled. In the middle of the night, in the wheat field, a man slowly got up. Although the battle had ended eight hours ago, the fear in his eyes had not completely faded.

This man was Tian Fuxian. He looked around and, like a wild rabbit in the shadows, ran towards the county town as if his life depended on it!

Chapter 44

The day afterward, Bai Jiaxuan ordered the villagers to carry the bodies out of the wheat field and the irrigation ditch. Forty-seven bodies were lined up in a row on the wide road, surrounded by villagers who came to watch the spectacle.

The crowd's faces showed a mix of emotions: some were afraid, some were worried, but most were terrified, and occasionally some even showed a gloating expression of revenge.

Bai Jiaxuan, however, maintained a cold expression. Although this matter occurred on Bailu Plain, Bai Jiaxuan had no intention of dragging Bailu Plain into the mess.

Bai Jiaxuan was about to instruct Lu San to go to the county town to report the news when he suddenly saw the timid Lu Zilin in the crowd. He immediately smiled, stepped forward, pulled the other man out, and said with a smile.

“Lu Xiangyue, this happened on our Bailu Plain, you have to take care of it. I think you should report this to the county and ask them to send someone over to take a look!”

Upon hearing this, Lu Zilin trembled in fright and waved his hands repeatedly to decline, muttering nonsense that he couldn't handle the matter.

Seeing Bai Jiaxuan's treacherous smile, Lu Zilin felt a chill run down his spine. Although he felt that this matter had nothing to do with Bai Jiaxuan, why did he feel that this matter was inextricably linked to him when he saw the other party's smile?

Seeing Lu Zilin's frightened appearance, Bai Jiaxuan stopped teasing him and had Lu San take Lu Zilin to the county to report the news.

Amid Lu Zilin's reluctant complaints, the two boarded a horse-drawn carriage and headed towards the county town.

In fact, the county magistrates in the town were already in an uproar. Last night, a soldier who had narrowly escaped death stumbled back to the county, and countless people saw him along the way.

In just one night, the news has spread like wildfire throughout the county: the entire fifty-man grain-collecting team has been wiped out. For County Chief He, this is an uproar.

Upon learning of the incident, County Magistrate He immediately made three arrangements. The first was to close the city gates immediately to prevent the bandits from entering the city.

The second arrangement was to send people to the provincial capital overnight to find a backer and arrange an escape route. No matter what, he could forget about being the county magistrate. Moreover, such a large force had emerged in Zishui County. Whether it was bandits or some other force, he didn't want to be the county magistrate anymore.

The third arrangement was to send people to bring all the grain collection teams that had gone to the countryside back to the county. Each of the hundreds of grain collection teams had a gun. No matter how many more they could gather, they would still be a considerable force. At least they could ensure their own safety before the provincial rescue team arrived.

After arranging these three matters, County Magistrate He began to anxiously await his fate in the county government office.

As for sending people to Bailuyuan, County Magistrate He didn't even dare to think about it. The people who came back were probably trying to save their lives, or they were scared out of their wits. They boasted that they encountered hundreds of armed bandits on Bailuyuan, and that the bandits fired a burst of bullets, and then they were silenced.

The fear brought about by such remarks increased exponentially. By the early hours of that day, Tian Fuxian stumbled to the city gate and finally brought back some news that was somewhat more accurate.

The reason Tian Fuxian survived was not only due to good luck, but also because Bai Jiaxuan had intentionally spared his life and made some arrangements for Zhang Xiaopeng.

Tian Fuxian was indeed lucky. Although he had Bai Jiaxuan's instructions at the time, bullets don't discriminate. If he had been accidentally killed, it would have been his fate.

During the first wave of attacks, he lay on the ground and pretended to be dead. He didn't run with the others afterward. It wasn't that he didn't want to run, but he was so scared that he wet himself and his legs were weak. He simply didn't have the strength to keep up with the group. Later, when they were finishing off the attackers, they deliberately let him go, which saved his life.

After returning to the county government office, Tian Fuxian tearfully recounted his experience.

Tian Fuxian was so frightened that he was completely disoriented, and his account of the experience was somewhat distorted, but it was still much more truthful than what the soldier who escaped back told him.

According to Tian Fuxian's description, they encountered about a hundred bandits this time. They were very good marksmen and very well organized, because during the battle, he hardly heard any shouts from the other side.

The reason he knew the other party was a bandit was because when he was finishing off the enemy, someone said a few words to him, and Tian Fuxian remembered those words clearly.

The gist of those words was that the other party planned to build a bandit stronghold in the Bailu Plain area and establish themselves there. With their 170 or 180 brothers, they could easily become bandits and rule the mountains.

The information brought back by Tian Fuxian finally allowed County Magistrate He and others to breathe a slight sigh of relief. Since the other party only intended to occupy the mountain stronghold in the Bailuyuan area, it was not a big deal. As long as they did not attack the county town, everything would be fine.

Of course, the reason Tian Fuxian was able to bring back this information was because Bai Jiaxuan wanted him to bring it back. The person chatting and shouting next to Tian Fuxian at that time was Zheng Mang.

Sure enough, the information Tian Fuxian brought back greatly eased the atmosphere in the county town.

The next afternoon, Lu Zilin and Lu San went to the county to deliver the message and asked them to collect the body. The group of old men in the county were once again caught in a dilemma.

After some discussion, the county government finally sent Tian Fuxian and some cart drivers to the county town. They pulled seven or eight donkey carts and hauled all forty-seven corpses back.

Throughout the journey, Tian Fuxian was terrified, but fortunately, they eventually managed to bring the body back safely.

After this incident, the county dared not send anyone to Bailuyuan to collect grain taxes for the time being. Whether or not to send troops to suppress the bandits was also something the province needed time to discuss, which gave Bailuyuan a rare period of free time.

Taking advantage of this rare free time, Bai Jiaxuan organized the villagers to quickly harvest the wheat. Only after the grain was stored in the warehouse did everyone feel a little relieved.

The bandits of Wuzhishan also became famous in one battle. In several surrounding counties, everyone knew that there was a band of 170 or 180 people in the Bailuyuan area. Their record was outstanding, and they dared to fight against government troops.

However, the bandits of Wuzhishan were extremely low-key, and there was no news of them for more than ten days after the incident.

But of course, this matter wouldn't end there; everything was part of Bai Jiaxuan's plan.

More than half a month later, after the wheat harvest on Bailuyuan was completed, Zheng Mang led seven or eight older monkeys on big horses down the mountain and headed straight for Bailuyuan Village.

Zheng Mang appeared in Bailuyuan Village with seven or eight bandits, which really scared the whole village into chaos. Zheng Mang and his men went straight to Bailu Ancestral Hall. Outside the ancestral hall, Zheng Mang fired a shot into the air, attracting everyone's attention.

The bandits' incursion into the village and their disturbance at the ancestral hall was an utter disgrace to the farmers of that era. Many of the older folks were so enraged that they grabbed their canes and tried to fight back, only to be pulled back by their families.

This matter naturally required Bai Jiaxuan to step forward, and he was quickly elected by the villagers. Lu Zilin was so frightened that he hid in the cellar and wouldn't come out no matter who called him. Just a few days ago, the corpses were still vivid in his mind, and who knew if these bandits would massacre the village.

Bai Jiaxuan, feigning politeness, led a group of villagers to the ancestral hall to negotiate with Zheng Mang. Fortunately, Zheng Mang's purpose in coming down the mountain this time was very clear, with two objectives.

The first thing is that from then on, all the more than 1,000 villagers in Bailuyuan were protected by the bandits of Wuzhishan. As for the protection fee, each person received one silver dollar per year.

Upon hearing Zheng Mang's words, the villagers exchanged bewildered glances. Seeing their hesitant expressions, Bai Jiaxuan coughed lightly and deliberately voiced the villagers' concerns.

"Now that we've paid protection money, we should at least do something practical!"

Zheng Mang also made a perfunctory promise to the villagers that from now on, Bailuyuan Village would no longer need to pay grain tax to the county. He added that if the county dared to force them to pay taxes, they would be sent back home lying down.

Zheng Mang's guarantee surprised and delighted everyone. If the bandits of Wuzhi Mountain could really guarantee that the county magistrates wouldn't come to collect taxes, then the protection fee of one silver dollar per person per year would really be worth it.

Besides this purpose, Zheng Mang had another goal: to acquire the medicinal herbs on Bailu Plain. From then on, the bandits of Wuzhi Mountain would monopolize the medicinal herb business on Bailu Plain.

Regarding this issue, everyone turned their attention to Bai Jiaxuan. Bai Jiaxuan was the one who ran the herbal medicine business, while the other villagers each only had one acre of land and were just scraping by.

Zheng Mang's request was nothing more than a scheme orchestrated by Bai Jiaxuan himself, and after a lecture, both sides agreed to the arrangement.

From now on, the acquisition of medicinal herbs will be entirely entrusted to the bandits of Wuzhishan. The villagers will only be responsible for drying and packing the herbs, while the bandits of Wuzhishan will take full responsibility for the transportation.

After settling these two matters, Zheng Mang led a few men and rode away on horseback, leaving everyone looking at each other in bewilderment. The bandits of Wuzhi Mountain were completely different from what the villagers had imagined!

Bai Jiaxuan watched Zheng Mang and the others ride away with a smile, as if everything was under his control.

Although he was the one who orchestrated all of this, and he was the mastermind behind it all, the risks to Bailuyuan and himself were reduced through this process of entering and exiting the market. It was a transfer of risk and a way to avoid risk!

In this chaotic world, Bai Jiaxuan had no intention of becoming famous. He would rather be a peaceful clan leader!

This herb is about to have her second child, so she should just enjoy her own life!

Chapter 45

For the next month or so, nothing much happened in either Zishui County or Wuzhishan. Everyone was testing each other, but no one actually took action.

County Chief He has been pulling strings lately, hoping to be transferred, but before that, he doesn't want anything else to happen in Zishui County, so even the grain collection teams that go to the countryside have been staying in the county town and haven't gone out.

One didn't want to fight, and the other didn't want to cause trouble; everyone spent the entire autumn harvest season in this harmonious atmosphere.

The Republic of China at that time was not the Nationalist government twenty years later. At the beginning of the Republic of China, the local areas were in complete chaos. In Shaanxi, the people were fierce and bandits were rampant. A small bandit gang in a local county could not really cause too much trouble.

This chaotic beginning also gave Wuzhishan an opportunity to develop.

In late September, the herbs finally reached maturity. After some handling, Zheng Mang and his men transported more than ten cartloads of dried herbs to Wuzhi Mountain.

The area around Wuzhi Mountain is becoming increasingly lively, with constant shouts and gunshots during daily training sessions – all of which involve live ammunition.

Since the last operation, Zhang Xiaopeng has learned from the experience, summarized the team's shortcomings, and begun to increase the intensity of training.

He referenced some of Bai Jiaxuan's training materials and, combined with the characteristics of these little monkeys, began to conduct targeted training for the team.

Bai Jiaxuan has rarely come to Wuzhishan recently, but he has come a few times and is very satisfied with Zhang Xiaopeng's performance.

This young man has a strong learning ability and can summarize his experience in a timely manner after failure. He is a very promising talent.

Bai Jiaxuan didn't interfere too much with Zhang Xiaopeng's arrangements. In this world, he had no intention of cultivating anyone. This kind of laissez-faire development was fine as long as it was within his control.

Perhaps Zhang Xiaopeng also realized that Bai Jiaxuan did not want to expand Wuzhishan, so he began to intentionally train the hundred-man team of Wuzhishan in the style of special operations.

The quality of an army is more important than its quantity. Since grasping this training direction, Zhang Xiaopeng has begun to vigorously develop in this direction, and the usual training content has been doubled.

Zhang Xiaopeng wanted to train this hundred-man team to be skilled in all kinds of martial arts. At first, he was worried about the bullet problem, but Bai Jiaxuan waved his hand and said that there would be enough bullets!

With Bai Jiaxuan's assurance, Zhang Xiaopeng felt more at ease during training. Marksmanship was a basic training subject for this unit, and Bai Jiaxuan always believed that true sharpshooters were made purely by being fed bullets, so he didn't care about the cost of bullets at all.

This year's herbs have been ground and packaged, and Bai Jiaxuan plans to set off for Shanghai in October.

Last year he only brought Lu San and Zheng Mang with him, but this year, more than thirty people will be traveling with him.

The reason so many people joined the journey was at Zhang Xiaopeng's request. He hoped to treat this process of selling herbs as a special training exercise, and that this kind of training would become their regular training in the future.

Since Zhang Xiaopeng learned about the value of these herbs, he has been very clear about what they represent to Wuzhishan.

Selling herbs is enough to support this 100-man special forces team. If they don't have enough strength, their herbal medicine business will definitely attract unwanted attention.

Although Bai Jiaxuan always seemed carefree and confident, Zhang Xiaopeng had been speculating that perhaps Bai Jiaxuan's purpose in training them was to protect this herbal medicine trading route.

Although Zhang Xiaopeng knew that Bai Jiaxuan was very capable, he didn't really know just how capable Bai Jiaxuan was.

In Zhang Xiaopeng's view, Bai Jiaxuan was their benefactor. Since Bai Jiaxuan needed them to protect the route for selling herbs in the future, he had to ensure that nothing went wrong.

Bai Jiaxuan was speechless after learning about Zhang Xiaopeng's special plan, but he quickly accepted Zhang Xiaopeng's arrangement.

Since Zhang Xiaopeng intends to build this 100-person team into a special operations force, intelligence operations are indispensable.

So Bai Jiaxuan worked overtime to compile a set of intelligence-related teaching materials and gave them to Zhang Xiaopeng, instructing him to teach according to Zhang's aptitude.

The teaching materials have been written, but Bai Jiaxuan has no idea what this team of one hundred people will become in the future!

As long as Zhang Xiaopeng's ambitions don't grow too big and this army remains loyal to Bai Jiaxuan, Bai Jiaxuan is willing to let them develop freely, providing them with money and weapons as needed!

Of course, if in the future this force really gets out of his control and Zhang Xiaopeng has other ideas, then Bai Jiaxuan can clean house at any time. He believes he has that ability!

However, it seems that Zhang Xiaopeng has given him many surprises. No matter how far this one-armed boy, whose name differs from his own by only one character, will grow in the future, Bai Jiaxuan thinks we should wait and see!

Originally, Zheng Mang was the leader of Wuzhishan, but after a year of adjustment, Zheng Mang may have realized that he was not capable enough. After consulting with Bai Jiaxuan several times, he began to gradually hand over power to Zhang Xiaopeng.

Zheng Mang is now only in charge of internal affairs; some military training and arrangements have been handed over to Zhang Xiaopeng.

Before heading to Shanghai, Zhang Xiaopeng organized several anti-encirclement drills for the safety of Wuzhishan.

The exercise simulated the preparations made by Wuzhishan to counterattack when Zishui County sent a bandit suppression team up the mountain.

Zhang Xiaopeng is indeed very capable in military affairs. After two simulated exercises, he found several fatal weaknesses in Wuzhishan.