Chapter 28: Take People’s Money, Eliminate Their Disasters
Fifty silver dollars in these times was no small amount, already equivalent to a year and a half’s wages for an ordinary worker in Shanghai; it was absolutely enough to support a family of four.
Since there were simply too many silver dollars, Qiao Erdan’s hands couldn’t fully hold them all, so he could only gather up his lapels to scoop up the excess.
Seeing this, Su Yaoyang helplessly shook his head and gave a look to Xu Dapeng nearby.
Xu Dapeng, getting the hint, took a small cloth bag from the motorcycle and tossed it to him. “Here… put them in the bag and keep them safe yourself. If they’re robbed or lost, the officer won’t replace them for you.”
After finally stowing the silver dollars in his personal belongings, Qiao Erdan dashed to Su Yaoyang in one bound, looking at him with resolute eyes. “Officer Su, since you’ve given me the silver dollars, from now on, I’ll follow you.”
“And me!”
“And me…”
Song Xilian was right; Su Yaoyang was buying horse bones for a thousand gold, or in other words, finding someone to lead by example.
Now that there was a leader, the routed soldiers immediately realized that the officer in front of them wasn’t just stringing them along; at least he was really handing out silver dollars.
In an instant, everyone’s eyes burned hotter, and voices rose one after another.
In less than ten seconds, more than a dozen people stepped forward.
Su Yaoyang didn’t waste words; he had Xu Dapeng distribute the silver dollars on the spot, and soon the scene was filled with the clinking of metal.
Seeing the soldiers who received the silver dollars grinning from ear to ear, Su Yaoyang couldn’t help but remind them: “Brothers who’ve taken the silver dollars, I have to remind you of one thing.
Since you’ve taken my silver dollars, you’ll have to risk your lives for me later. If anyone doesn’t obey orders or tries to sneak away midway, I may know you, but the gun in my hand won’t. Don’t blame me for being merciless then.”
Someone immediately said: “Don’t worry, officer. We know the rules—take people’s money and eliminate disasters for them. Since we’ve taken the officer’s reward silver, our lives belong to the officer.”
“I hope so.” Su Yaoyang said noncommittally.
Soon, word spread along the riverbank that an officer was recruiting men on the spot to fight back to Nanjing City to rescue people, offering 50 silver dollars as reward; more and more soldiers began surging toward the dock.
“Division commander… should we go up and stop them?” Seeing the crowd growing, a staff officer-looking man whispered to Song Xilian.
“Stop what?” Song Xilian countered. “Stop them from handing out silver dollars? Or stop them from fighting back to Nanjing City?”
“This…” The staff officer was at a loss for words.
Their division had been ordered to block people at the riverbank; now that these men wanted to fight back, they had no reason to stop them.
Half an hour later, Xu Dapeng, panting, found Su Yaoyang: “Officer… there are more and more people. What do we do?”
“What do you mean what do we do?” Su Yaoyang glared. “People are willing to come, and you’re complaining?”
“No…” Xu Dapeng grew anxious. “But… we’ve already given out most of our silver dollars, and people keep coming endlessly. The silver dollars we brought won’t be enough.”
“Not enough? How is that possible? We brought twenty thousand silver dollars.” Su Yaoyang couldn’t believe it at first.
“See for yourself, officer.”
Xu Dapeng jerked his chin; Su Yaoyang turned and saw… good grief, unbeknownst to him, hundreds of soldiers had gathered behind him. Some were grinning and counting their silver dollars, while others chatted and laughed with companions but occasionally flashed worry in their eyes.
“Fumin, you’ve gone mad!”
Not far from Su Yaoyang, two young men in khaki military uniforms were arguing.
A tall captain with a square face angrily said: “Don’t you know that once we cross the river, we’re safe? You want to risk your life for a mere fifty silver dollars? You, a top graduate of the Central Army Officer Academy, are selling yourself too cheap!”
“Cheap?” The slightly shorter young man with lieutenant insignia pointed bitterly at the riverbank and said: “Brother Qiujie, in these chaotic times, how much do you think we so-called academy top graduates are worth?
Besides, rather than being blocked here and bombed or shelled to death by Japanese planes and gunboats, it’s better to follow that officer back to Nanjing. At least we can send these silver dollars home for our old mother to use for medical treatment.”
“Fumin… you’re being too pessimistic. We…” The captain wanted to comfort his companion but stopped midway; in this situation, even he couldn’t keep deceiving himself.
After a long while, he said helplessly: “Fine, fine then. In that case, I’ll go crazy with you. Let’s go together!”
With that, he pulled his companion and squeezed forward…
“What… you two want to join too?”
Looking at the two officers standing before him, Su Yaoyang was astonished.
Though he had now gathered over four hundred routed soldiers, they were almost all privates; not to mention officers, there were hardly any NCOs.
After all, fifty silver dollars was indeed a lot for privates, but not necessarily for officers.
“Yes, officer. Are you still taking people?” asked the higher-ranking captain of the two.
“Of course we’re taking.” Su Yaoyang sized them up again; they wore the distinctive khaki uniforms of the National Revolutionary Army, covered in dust, clearly just withdrawn from the battlefield.
“Tell me, which unit were you originally from? Your names and positions.”
“Report, officer. We two are from 2nd Army Group 48th Division. I’m Zhang Zhihao, artillery company commander. He’s Xiong Junfeng, my deputy.”
“You’re artillerymen?”
Hearing this, Su Yaoyang immediately straightened up, his eyes lighting up.
No matter the era, artillery was a top technical branch, especially in these times when it was even classed as special forces, showing how scarce it was.
Though Su Yaoyang had redeemed six mortars, he lacked gunners. If these two had been there this morning, with six 60mm mortars, the Japanese wouldn’t have gotten within three hundred meters of the church or he’d lose.
“It’s you two!”
Su Yaoyang didn’t ask about their backgrounds; he slapped his thigh and turned to Xu Dapeng: “You’re both selected. One hundred silver dollars each. Come with me now!
Xu Dapeng, you stay here and keep recruiting. I’ll send someone with more silver dollars soon.”
With that, without waiting for them to speak, he jumped onto the three-wheeled motorcycle and shouted at the still-dazed pair: “What are you standing around for? Get on the vehicle!”
“Wait, officer.”
Not waiting for them to speak, Su Yaoyang motioned them aboard. Seeing his impatient look, Xiong Junfeng and Zhang Zhihao had no choice but to board reluctantly.
Once they were on, Su Yaoyang loudly told the soldiers who had already received silver dollars: “And you lot… follow behind my motorcycle. If anyone dares slip away midway… see that iron donkey in the back? The machine gun on it doesn’t know friend from foe!”
