Chapter 20 Blood Debt

Just as the tragic massacre occurred in Wudaojiang, Xinbin, Liuhe, Qingyuan, and Tonghua were attacked by the Russians almost simultaneously.

In Yongling Town of Xinbin, the events unfolded almost identically to those in Wudaojiang. The town mayor, holding the same naive notion as Zhang Deqing, opened the gates. As a result, the entire town was butchered by the Russians. A few individuals who dared to resist had their heads severed and their bodies chopped into minced meat by the Russians, who then used the flesh to make dumplings that evening, forcing the captured women to eat them.

Ma Wucai, a wealthy landowner from Dachai in Tonghua, showed considerable courage when the Russians suddenly surrounded his settlement. He led the local militia in fierce resistance while immediately dispatching messengers to seek help from the county magistrate and Qian Yao’s Fourth Regiment. Although Qian Yao was absent, the Fourth Regiment still sent reinforcements. The Tonghua county magistrate also dispatched local officials to negotiate with the Russians.

The Russians ignored the magistrate's negotiations and executed the officials he had sent. The Fourth Regiment charged multiple times but failed to break through the Russian encirclement. Refusing to give up, they instead mobilized all nearby militias to provide support, hoping to rescue their elders and fellow villagers trapped in Dachai.

However, the Russians gave them no such opportunity. A fierce barrage of artillery fire turned Dachai into a wasteland! The entire village was engulfed in a sea of flames, and even the women and children hiding in the tunnels were shaken to death by the Russian bombardment! The escape tunnels were never completed, and of the more than one thousand villagers, only a single deaf-and-mute elderly man survived.

Powerless to save Dachai and seeing the Russians turning to attack them, the bandits of the Fourth Regiment had no choice but to retreat to ensure they were not devoured by the Russians themselves.

In Liuhe, the situation was slightly better.

The bandits of the Second Regiment engaged the Russians in a fierce half-hour battle, covering the villagers as they retreated into the mountains. However, they lacked experience in organizing the retreat, and the entire scene was chaotic. The villagers brought along everything they could carry from their homes, severely slowing their escape speed. By the time the Second Regiment could no longer hold their ground, the Russians caught up, and more than five hundred villagers who failed to escape fell into Russian hands.

This was entirely different from the tactics the Russians used against Feng Delin. If the attack on Feng Delin could be called an ambush, the assault on Yang Xiaolin was a textbook hunt! Furthermore, this hunting operation was executed with meticulous perfection. Like hunters closing in on a fierce wolf, they crept up quietly, surrounded the target, cut off all possible escape routes, and then slowly advanced to annihilate him.

An army of fifty thousand! This troop strength was enough for the Russians to launch a major campaign against any nation. Commander Kuropatkin clearly did not repeat the mistakes of his predecessors. He attached great importance to this hunt and maintained sufficient vigilance toward his prey, Yang Xiaolin.

Qingyuan was likewise subjected to an attack by the Russian forces. Yang Xiaolin never expected that a military exercise would evolve into actual combat. The accidental encounter startled both sides. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the attacking Russian soldiers left behind more than a hundred corpses and retreated in panic, checking the momentum of the Russian offensive.

Taking advantage of this, Yang Xiaolin led his troops to retreat into the nearest settlement, Tukanzi Tun, which offered some crude fortifications for defense. Meanwhile, the Russians redeployed their forces, keeping a close eye on Yang Xiaolin while sending messengers to request reinforcements from nearby Russian units.

At this point, they still did not realize that the bandits they were facing were none other than Yang the Devil.

Observing that the enemy across from them was in no rush to attack, Yang Xiaolin felt no sense of relief. The Russians' movements made it clear that this encounter was a premeditated military operation. What was the situation in the other sectors? Yang Xiaolin felt a rising wave of worry.

He had already ordered all the regimental commanders to return to their respective garrisons, immediately secure the evacuation of the villagers upon arrival, and then withdraw their forces deep into the Changbai Mountains. However, he did not know whether doing so now was still in time.

Sui Bing hurried over from the side, shouting, "Commander, the villagers have mostly evacuated, but some young people in the settlement refuse to leave. They want to fight alongside us!"

Yang Xiaolin saw a young man dressed in silk following closely behind Sui Bing. His name was Liu Zhongtian, the commander of the local militia and the eldest son of the village's wealthy landowner, Master Liu.

Liu Zhongtian cupped his fists toward Yang Xiaolin and said, "Chief, these foreign devils have invaded our settlement, and I thank you for your righteous assistance. My father has already led the elderly and the weak to safety. My father said we cannot let you face the Russians alone, and he sent me to lend a hand!"

Looking at the resolute expression on the young landowner's face, Yang Xiaolin smiled inwardly. He knew this type of young master all too well: righteous and eloquent before the battle starts, but once the Russians open fire, it would be a miracle if he could even hold a gun steady!

That being said, having good intentions was enough; it showed that Sui Bing had done a commendable job in this regard. Yang Xiaolin patted Liu Zhongtian on the shoulder. "Master Liu, I took up arms precisely to protect you all. The Russians are currently gathering reinforcements, and their new attack will likely begin before long. If you truly want to help me, do as I say: immediately send men to contact the neighboring villages and urge the villagers to flee into the mountains! Remember, keeping yourself and the villagers alive is the greatest help you can give me."

These words left Liu Zhongtian feeling deeply unsettled. He felt somewhat belittled, yet he also deeply admired Yang Xiaolin's righteousness. Hesitating for a moment, Sui Bing chimed in, "Master Liu, you and the others should leave first. Go back and tell Master Liu to stay in the mountains for a while, and do not come out until the Russians have left. Also, your father's health is not the best, and the mountains are too cold. You need to go take care of him, understood?"

Sui Bing's phrasing made it easier for Liu Zhongtian to accept. The young landowner glanced at Yang Xiaolin and said with some difficulty, "Then... I shall not cause trouble for the Chief."

Yang Xiaolin nodded. "Good. Remember to help me notify the other villages: those who can leave should leave, and those who cannot should head to the county seat. After all, it is a Qing dynasty county town; the Russians should not dare to go too far. Also, have Sui Bing write a letter for you to deliver to the county magistrate, warning him to be on his guard as well."

Just as Liu Zhongtian departed with Sui Bing's letter, a bandit came sprinting from the frontlines, shouting from afar, "Commander! Commander, this is terrible! Everyone in Liu Family Village has been slaughtered!"

Yang Xiaolin's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. "What happened?"

Knowing the principle that an isolated city is hard to defend, he had sent men to contact Liu Family Village a few miles away immediately after retreating back, both to urge the villagers to flee quickly and to secure another tactical option by stationing his brothers across two settlements for mutual support, which would make the fight easier.

The bandit stopped in front of him to catch his breath and then told Yang Xiaolin that he and a few others had arrived a step too late. By the time they reached Liu Family Village, the Russians had already breached it. These Russian fiends had tied up the villagers, ripped open their chests with bayonets one by one, and tossed their internal organs along with the corpses into the small river beside the village. The river water instantly turned scarlet, and the riverbed was choked with bodies.

He spoke with intense agitation. Hearing this, Yang Xiaolin felt an overwhelming surge of fury ignite in his chest! He slammed his fist against a nearby tree trunk, roaring, "Those animals!"

The other bandits remained silent, staring at Yang Xiaolin's figure. After a long moment, Yang Xiaolin turned around and ordered, "Sui Bing, hold your position here until dark. Nyerere, gather our men, let's move."

Nyerere glared at him and grabbed Yang Xiaolin by the arm. "Yang, I don't think you should abandon your brothers right now, you know?"

Hearing this, Yang Xiaolin immediately realized his words had been too brief and had clearly caused a misunderstanding. Looking back at Sui Bing, though the young man said nothing, his face betrayed an unconcealable sorrow—the raw expression of someone who felt betrayed and abandoned.

"You've misunderstood. Am I the kind of man who would abandon his brothers? It's just that the greatest threat the Russians pose to us is their heavy artillery. Those things have a long range, and we can't hit them at all! No matter how formidable we are in close combat, if they refuse to close in, we can only sit here and take a beating. That's why I intend to wipe out the Russian artillery positions."

The surrounding bandits understood upon hearing this. Yang Xiaolin knew he could not leave now because his men needed him here; only by standing and sharing life and death with his brothers could they hold out!

He immediately changed his mind and pulled Nyerere closer. "Nyerere, you will help me carry out the task of destroying the Russian artillery!"

Nyerere nodded.

Yang Xiaolin patted his sturdy shoulder. "Of course I trust you. Remember, the Russians' first artillery barrage will inevitably expose the positions of their heavy guns. You must locate them before the second barrage! Furthermore, you must time the destruction of the Russian artillery perfectly—let them fire their second round of strikes first, understand?"

Yang Xiaolin had already perceived the Russians' hunting strategy, which was why he refused to be driven back to Gulong Mountain! To escape this killing ground, he had no choice but to take the risk and charge straight out through the Russian front! This was Yang Xiaolin's only chance, because in Commander Kuropatkin's operational deployment, the one thing the Russians failed to anticipate was that Yang Xiaolin would be in Qingyuan at this very moment!

The Russians' first artillery barrage would not be overly intense, and Yang Xiaolin estimated he could withstand it. Once they repelled the first wave of the Russian assault, the Russians would immediately launch a second artillery barrage. This second barrage would be the critical turning point of the entire battle. Yang Xiaolin had to survive this second bombardment, and Nyerere had to take out the Russian artillery positions right after it ended.

When the Russians launched their second wave of assault, Yang Xiaolin would lead his troops in a counter-charge! Without artillery support to block them, the Russians would find it difficult to stop him. However, if Nyerere failed to eliminate the Russian artillery positions, he would only be able to lead his men out to be blown to pieces by the Russians, which would be disastrous!

Furthermore, if Nyerere struck too early, denying the Russians artillery support and causing them to abort their second assault, Yang Xiaolin would be forced to make a frontal charge against the fortified Russian positions, which would inevitably result in heavy casualties. Therefore, the timing had to be executed with absolute precision.

Nyerere naturally understood Yang Xiaolin's intent. Entrusted with a matter of such life-and-death importance, Nyerere was genuinely moved. His thick lips trembled slightly as he said, "Rest assured!"

Yang Xiaolin trusted Nyerere, and among all his subordinates, he believed Nyerere was the most suitable person to accomplish this mission, if only because he was the only one who had received formal military training.

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