The north wind swept the white grass and folded, and the snow flew in August.

When Zhou Hexuan left Dunhuang with a reluctant grace, it had already ushered in the first light snow of the year. Xia Nai, Lin Guoda, Wu Zuoren and Lin Fengmian all stayed in the Mogao Grottoes, and only Wanrong, Sun Yongzhen and Zhu Guozhen were left by Zhou Hexuan's side.

It's already cold during the day, and the temperature is frighteningly low at night. The broken truck broke down from time to time, and Zhou Hexuan and the two bodyguards had to go into battle to repair the car in person, and it was really disturbing on the way back.

Everyone walked and stopped, and finally crossed the boundary of Wuwei, and a few days later entered the jurisdiction of Yongdeng County.

"Your voice is better, isn't it?" Zhou Hexuan asked while driving, because they were in a hurry for days, the three men were all changed to be drivers.

"It's better, but I've always wanted to drink water." Wanrong replied in a low voice.

The autumn and winter climate in the northwest is dry and cold, and Wanrong is estimated to have suffered from pharyngitis two days ago, and her throat is very uncomfortable. Fortunately, with the preparation of medicines, otherwise you can only carry it, and it is not easy to find medicine in Gansu at this time.

Sitting in the car body, Zhu Guozhen suddenly said: "Sir, change me to drive, you can rest for a while." ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "It's almost time to get to the county seat, no need to change the driver!" ”

"Dada......"

At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded on both sides of the road, startling Sun Yongzhen and Zhu Guozhen hurriedly got up and looked.

"It's bandits!" Sun Yongzhen shouted.

Zhu Guozhen turned over and climbed to the top of the cab, holding a Thomson submachine gun in his hand and shouted: "Sir, speed up and rush over!" ”

Sun Yongzhen also carried a submachine gun and said: "Lao Zhu, you fight on the left, and the bandits on the right belong to me." ”

In order to prevent the bandits from harassing him, when Zhou Hexuan left Xi'an, he specially asked Hu Zongnan for two submachine guns and a number of bullets.

"Fuck me!"

Zhou Hexuan was shifting gears and accelerating, but suddenly saw the situation in the middle of the road in front of him, and hurriedly said: "Don't shoot, the bandits have machine guns blocking the road, and we can't rush through." ”

Sun Yongzhen shouted: "Reverse, reverse, go back!" ”

Dozens of nearly a hundred bandits swarmed in, all on horseback, and soon surrounded Zhou Hexuan and their trucks far away.

"Bang!"

A bandit leader fired his gun into the sky and shouted: "Stop, we only rob goods and don't kill people, and you're welcome to move any more!" ”

Zhu Guozhen asked, "Sir, what should I do?" ”

Zhou Hexuan assessed the situation and stopped: "It's important to save your life, I have the money." ”

During the Republic of China, bandits in the northwest had generally accepted rules, such as being incognito after joining the gang, not allowed to eat grass next to the nest, not investigating the history of their accomplices except for the big bosses, not killing people at will, insulting women at will, and not acting privately.

Of course, there are also blatant violations of the rules, such as the big bandit Ma Zhongying.

This guy burns, kills, loots, and does all kinds of evil, and the places he passes are almost white, which arouses the anger of people and gods. At that time, not only the Han people in Gansu, Qingdao and Ning provinces rose up to resist, but even the Hui, Tibetan and Mongolian people also attacked it en masse, and everyone abandoned their ethnic barriers and joined hands to fight Ma Zhongying.

In fact, Ma Zhongying was not born as a bandit, he went to a military school, his father was still an officer, and he was essentially a warlord after he started the army. But the northwestern provinces all regarded him as a bandit, just because his behavior was too bad, and he could be called the living king of Hades and a-stirring stick in the great northwest.

He first made trouble in Gansu, was beaten by Feng Yuxiang and fled to Ningxia, then was beaten by Feng Yuxiang's subordinates to flee to Inner Mongolia, and then was forcibly absorbed by Ma Hongkui. After a year of stopping, Ma Zhongying rebelled again, and was beaten by Ma Bufang to Xinzhuang, but he fought with Sheng Shicai in Xinzhuangcai for several years, and finally fled to the Soviet Union to study, and has not been heard from since.

This is Lu Bu in the northwest of the Republic of China, who votes for whom, and wherever he goes, is regarded as a big trouble by the local warlords, and he has fought with almost all the big warlords in the northwest in the past ten years. Of course, he only has Lu Bu's character, but he doesn't have as strong combat power as Lu Bu, and he deserves to be chased all the way to escape to several provinces.

Ma Zhongying, a half-warlord and half-bandit, can burn, kill and loot in the northwest for ten years and escape. If other bandits make too much trouble, it will inevitably attract encirclement and suppression from all sides, and for the sake of sustainable development, most bandits will not kill people easily.

Especially after 1935, the Red Army moved to northern Shaanxi to vigorously suppress bandits, and the Nationalist Government also strengthened its control over the northwest. The Kuomintang and the Communist Party plus the warlords of the Northwest and the Northwest, all forces have coincidentally cracked down on the bandits, and now the more than 1,000 bandits in the Northwest basically do not exist, and the remaining small bandits are more cautious.

Zhou Hexuan had a detailed understanding before he left, so he dared to give up resistance now, and he was not afraid of losing his life at all, at most he would be robbed of some property.

The bandit leader led the crowd and laughed happily: "This trip is full of oil and water, I actually grabbed a foreign car and drove back to make a sedan chair for the pole head (the owner of the village)!" ”

The bandits next to him said, "But none of us can drive a foreign car." ”

The bandit leader was stunned, scratched his head, and said, "This is a big problem. ”

"Commander, the wild ghost has a gun in his hand!" One of the bandits shouted.

"Wild ghost" is the name of the bandits in Shaanxi, Gansu and Suiyuan to the robbed, the robbery is called "scraping the wild ghost", "scraping" is the meaning of looting, the robbed is not the lonely ghost of the ghost?

The bandit leader also saw the situation clearly, and hurriedly shouted: "Put down the gun quickly!" ”

Sun Yongzhen asked in a low voice: "Lao Zhu, are you sure to kill the bandit leader?" ”

Zhu Guozhen shook his head and said, "It's okay to use a rifle to give me time to aim, the submachine gun is too floating." ”

"Throw the gun away." Zhou Hexuan is afraid of accidents.

The two bodyguards could only put down their guns, and they didn't dare to gamble with Zhou Hexuan's life.

The bandit leader rode to the side of the car and asked with a smile: "There are foreign cars and foreign guns, are you a member of the government?" ”

Zhou Hexuan said calmly: "Escort me to Lanzhou, and I will ensure that you will be a big official." ”

The bandit leader laughed: "What's so good about being an official? They are all corrupt officials and corrupt officials, more bastards than us bandits. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "There are also good officials. ”

"This is unusual, I have lived for more than 30 years, and I have never seen a good official." The bandit leader sneered, "Hand over all the goods, this is not far from the county seat, and it will take a day to walk along the road, and you won't die of hunger." ”

Zhou Hexuan couldn't cry or laugh, he had to go to the county seat in the cold this day, and when Lao Tzu went back, he would immediately bring troops to kill you!

The bandit leader's attendant reminded: "Commander, we won't drive a foreign car." ”

"Yes, yes," the bandit leader patted his head and pointed at Zhou Hexuan, "You stay and drive, and the rest will go to the county seat by yourself." ”

"I'll stay!"

"I can drive!"

Sun Yongzhen and Zhu Guozhen shouted in unison.

"Yo, you're still loyal to the Lord, you're a man!" The bandit leader gave a thumbs up.

The attendant reminded: "Commander, it seems that a senior official has been arrested this time, why don't you tie him back to the village as a meat ticket?" This man can afford to drive a foreign car, and his men can afford to use the flower mechanism (mistaking Thomson), and it must be worth a lot of money. ”

"That makes sense," the bandit leader waved his hand, "bring them all back, let Lao Bai press the water, and see how much they're worth." ”

"Pressurized water" is also the black language of bandits, to put it bluntly, it is a commercial evaluation, and the value of meat tickets is estimated according to different situations.

The results of bandits in the northwest of the Republic of China are generally like this, the highest level is the pole head (the owner of the village), the second level is the door god (commander-in-chief), the master (chief of staff), the white fan (secretary), the account frame (accounting), and the third level is the kanshou (bandits), patrol wind (guards), tread the line (target reconnaissance), insert the sign (intelligence investigation), and press the water (evaluation and negotiation).

The bandit leader who led the crowd to intercept Zhou Hexuan was the door god (commander-in-chief) in the bandits' den, who was responsible for the robbery. They have already scouted in advance, and once they do it, they will definitely succeed, and if they are not sure, they will choose to let it go directly.

"You, come down!" The bandit leader pointed at Wanrong and said.

After Wanrong got out of the car, the bandits' eyes lit up, and the attendant said, "Commander, this woman can be brought back to be the wife of the pole head." ”

The bandit leader immediately scolded: "We only need money, we don't rob women, we don't kill people!" Have you even forgotten the rules? ”

"Hehe, I'm just talking." The attendant said embarrassedly.

In the past few years, the big bandits in the northwestern provinces have basically disappeared, and they have either been exterminated or recruited. The remaining little bandits have also learned how to save their lives, and they don't dare to mess around too much, and the older the bandits, the more cautious they become.

Especially when dealing with Zhou Hexuan, a "wild ghost" who drives a foreign car and makes a foreign gun, the timid ones don't dare to touch it at all, and the bold ones just grab money and kidnap tickets. Tearing your face is not good for anyone, and it may even attract the government to encircle and suppress you.

Of course, this is in an ordinary year, and you can't care so much about it in a famine year.

In 1943, when there was a catastrophe in the northwestern provinces, the bandits had nothing to rob, so they simply attacked the county seat in groups, burning, killing and looting. Even many of the bandits, who themselves belonged to good people, were so hungry that they panicked and joined the bandits, and these new bandits killed people more fiercely than the old bandits, because they did not think about tomorrow at all.

On the way back to the bandits' den, the bandit leader personally sat in the co-pilot, pointed a gun at Zhou Hexuan and was responsible for escorting.

As for Wanrong, she was driven into the car by the bandits.

Zhou Hexuan drove leisurely while chatting: "Your equipment is good, everyone rides a horse and holds a gun." ”

The bandit leader was a little surprised and asked, "Aren't you afraid?" ”

"Does it work to be afraid?" Zhou Hexuan asked rhetorically.

"It's kind of interesting," the bandit leader laughed, "you must be a big official, ordinary people are already scared to the point of urine." ”

Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said, "I'm just a petty official, and I came to the northwest to deliver the orders of the national government." ”

The bandit leader laughed: "The more you say that, the more I don't believe it." You must be a big official, and you're afraid that if you say it, we'll kill people. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "Then will you kill people?" ”

"It could be." The bandit leader laughed.

Zhou Hexuan said: "I hope we can solve it peacefully. ”

The bandit leader said, "Tell me, who are you?" I always feel that you are not ordinary. ”

Zhou Hexuan said: "This has to be discussed with your boss." But then again, you guys are quite disciplined, and the robbery also has the style of a Liangshan hero. ”

The bandit leader boasted to himself: "Of course, before joining the gang, I and everyone should be swordsmen." Do you know what a knife is? General Yang Hucheng, you know, he used to be a swordsman. We swordsmen specialize in robbing the rich and helping the poor, eliminating harm for the people, not ordinary bandits. ”

Zhou Hexuan smiled: "The swordsman also robbed? ”

"We are robbing profiteers who are unkind to the rich, and dog officials who are corrupt and pervert the law!" The bandit leader forcibly cleared himself.

Originally, the swordsmen were the collective name of the chivalrous men in the Shaanxi and Gansu regions, and their usual identities were smugglers, vagrants, and dart masters, and gradually formed gangs. To put it bluntly, in fact, there is no difference from the Green Gang and Brother Pao, but there are indeed a lot of chivalrous people.

The swordsmen who do bandit work are called "pseudo-heroes", commonly known as "thieves stunned" - traditional swordsmen are called "swordsmen stunned babies", and the bandits who robbed Zhou Hexuan are "thieves stunned".

Compared with other bandits, the "thief" professes to believe in chivalrous ways. What he said is just a layer of disguise, but after pretending to be true for a long time, at least he has to make a look of robbing the rich and helping the poor, unlike killing good people at will like bandits.

The really feared bandits in the northwest are: bandits, soldiers, bandits, tobacco bandits, and kidnappers.

As the name suggests, bandits are bandits who have been bandits for generations, soldiers and bandits are all gathered together, bandits are gangs that have metamorphosed, tobacco bandits' main business is opium, and bandits specialize in human trafficking.

These five types of bandits are not easy to provoke and are the targets of severe crackdowns by the government and warlords. Nowadays, except for the smoke bandits, the other categories are basically extinct. The rest are not on a large scale, and two Thomson submachine guns can teach them how to behave.