Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

"Tonight, all of you better keep your eyes wide open! Don't you dare slack off on me! If the Eighth Route Army sneaks in, we're all dead!" Liu Ergou, the head of the defense force for Liu Dabang, the traitorous rich man of Liu Family Village, shouted loudly, cursing the two lackeys guarding the watchtower in the front yard. It wasn't even midnight yet, and these lackeys were already snoring up there!

As the biggest landlord in Liu Family Village, Liu Dabang's mansion occupied more than an acre of land. It had three courtyards in a row. Entering from the gatehouse into the front yard, there were left and right wing rooms where servants and guards lived. The inner courtyard was separated from the front yard by a second gate, forming a typical quadrangle courtyard where Liu Dabang lived with his three wives and four concubines.

The Liu family had accumulated wealth for over a hundred years, occupying most of the three thousand acres of fertile land surrounding Liu Family Village, making them the wealthiest family for dozens of miles around. The outer walls of the Liu family compound were made of stone more than a foot thick and over three meters high. They had maintained over a dozen guards year-round and had weathered many wars and bandit attacks over the past century.

After all, the Liu family was located deep in the mountains, and there weren't many opportunities for large armies to pass through. They usually encountered groups of thirty to fifty soldiers or bandits. With such solid defenses, the copper-clad gate could be closed, and the watchtowers above the wing rooms could be defended. For soldiers and bandits with knives, spears, and clubs, it was as difficult as attacking a city.

This had ensured the Liu family's peace for over a hundred years, making them like local emperors in Liu Family Village.

But when the Japanese devils came, the traitors in the city compiled a list of wealthy households in the surrounding villages, and Liu Dabang was naturally on the list. Initially, Liu Dabang ignored the "invitation" from the county town's collaborationist government, but when the Japanese devils arrived with a small cannon and a small team, Liu Dabang immediately surrendered. He not only agreed to become the chairman of the collaborationist government in Liu Family Village but also held a seat in the Yu Ping County collaborationist government.

He began to help the Japanese devils maintain local order, collect grain and laborers, and after a period of time, he found that it was quite good. He embezzled a lot of money from it, using methods like plucking feathers from passing geese, making the Liu family even more prosperous.

Later, he even applied to the Japanese devils to establish a Baojia system, and he also raised a so-called Liu Family Village Self-Defense Force. He recruited Liu Ergou, a former officer who had been defeated in the Kuomintang army, as the captain, selected fourteen or fifteen people from the guards and defeated soldiers, bought more than a dozen guns, and guarded the Liu family compound tightly.

With its thick stone walls and more than a dozen guns, the Liu family compound had better defensive capabilities than the Japanese devils' blockhouses. Not to mention guerrillas, even for the Eighth Route Army's main force regiment, which lacked heavy weapons for attacking fortifications, the Liu family was a tough nut to crack. It wasn't that they couldn't take it down, but the cost would be too high. In Li Yunlong's words, it would be a huge loss to sacrifice dozens of people to capture the Liu family compound.

Liu Ergou, as a platoon leader who had served in the Kuomintang army for a few years, hadn't learned much, but it was more than enough for him to lead a dozen or so rogue soldiers and guards.

Because as soon as the gun fired here, the Japanese devils' blockhouse not far away would receive the news. As long as they held on for half an hour, the Japanese devils' reinforcement team would arrive on motorcycles.

Liu Family Village had a road connected to the outside world, making transportation much more convenient. For the Japanese devils, having such a lackey to help them was a great supplement to their lack of troops, and they spared no effort in providing support.

It was just that after a long period of peace, the members of the Liu Family Village Self-Defense Force naturally became lazy. Often, a group of people on night watch would collectively sleep. Liu Ergou, who received a high salary of twenty silver dollars a month, was quite conscientious and would often get up in the middle of the night to check the sentry posts. Tonight, he caught them slacking off again.

However, Liu Ergou didn't dare to be too harsh on these lackeys. After all, if he angered them, these people might simply run away and join the puppet army. Now the puppet army in the county town was also short of manpower and often recruited strong men everywhere. They would naturally welcome lackeys like those in Liu Family Village who had experience shooting guns.

The only good thing about Liu Family Village was that they didn't have to follow the Japanese devils on raids, and the safety factor was higher. These lackeys were just getting by here, and a delicate balance had formed between the two sides.

Liu Ergou scolded the lackeys on night watch awake, and then looked around the lookout of the arrow tower for a while. The moonlight was bright, and there was no shelter for hundreds of meters in front of the Liu Family Courtyard arrow tower. It was an open view.

The Liu Family Courtyard occupies the best central location in Liu Family Village. Other directions have other houses on the left and right, but only the front is endless and there is no house.

Naturally, the ancestors of the Liu family found a Feng Shui master to look at the Feng Shui bureau. Put it now, it also facilitates defense. Up to 8 people can be placed in the 4 arrow tower holes. Relying on these guns, it is really difficult for a hundred people to attack.

Almost at the same time, Li Yunlong was lying on the roof of a villager's house dozens of meters away from the backyard of Liu's compound, observing carefully.

After watching for a while, he also felt a little scratchy.

"Lao Kong, this Liu Family compound is a bit difficult to attack. Look at these three courtyards separated by thick walls. If we break through the wall from one place, we will face room-to-room street fighting. The arrow tower of Liu Family compound is condescending, and it is also a huge threat to the entire compound. If we fight like this, the casualties may be too great. We can't do this losing business!"

"Old Li, we have observed the front before. There is an arrow tower, so there is no way to rush it. Otherwise, in that two or three hundred-meter open area, a company is not enough to fill it. Only from the backyard or the left and right wing rooms, we can use explosives to blow up the walls. We really have no other tricks. But even so, the arrow tower problem you mentioned, we really can't avoid it. It would be much easier if we had a cannon to blow up the arrow tower.", Kong Jie said in a low voice after observing for a while with binoculars.

"You dare to think about it, the Independent Regiment doesn't even have a mortar now, just a few grenade launchers, what's the use of resisting such a thick real wall.", Li Yunlong poked Kong Jie and said in a low voice.

"Go, let's go back and discuss it again. This Liu Family compound is a tough bone to get through our mining. We have to remove it no matter what. Go back and call Da Biao, Brother Ren, etc. to discuss and see if there is a good idea.", Li Yunlong said, slowly sliding down the roof.

The newest novel is first published on 69shu.com!

This household is a developed activist. Today, borrowing his roof, Li Yunlong basically figured out the situation.

Frankly speaking, the Liu Family Compound Guard is nothing, not even a machine gun. It's just that they have a stone arrow tower that is very irritating, like a blockhouse that is not easy to chew.

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