20 years of the Republic of China

Chapter 514 Night Attack
The axe flew past, and it no longer mattered who killed the person, because it was definitely a member of the Axe Gang.

It seems that there is no definitive answer as to whether the killer is extremely accurate or the victim is simply unlucky.

All we know is that the Qing Gang disciple fell into the river, and the sampan swayed with it. The edge of the boat stuck close to the surface of the river, filled with a lot of water, and then struggled to get up, and it almost capsized on the spot.

Upon seeing this, Ye Chaosan immediately jumped onto the sampan, spread his legs, bent his body in a horse stance, and became one with the boat, finally gradually stabilizing his center of gravity.

The waves and foam that had just splashed on the surface of the river also slowly spread out and subsided without a trace.

Ye Chuo lay crouching on the sampan, not having time to worry about the rafts upstream. He just stared vigilantly around, fearing that a long pole would suddenly emerge from the bottom of the water to lift the boat.

Not far away, the gunshots became sparse and no longer as intense.

It's strange to say, the river is rushing and the boat is bumpy, so it's not easy to hit the target with a gun. If the muzzle is off by an inch, the bullet will be off by ten feet, and aiming is not as accurate as guessing. Therefore, after a short exchange of fire between the two sides, there were not many casualties. Instead, an axe flew in for no reason and took a life on the spot. It's ridiculous to think about it.

But the Water Police Battalion and the Anti-smuggling Camp were officials after all, with plenty of guns and ammunition and undiminished firepower, and soon forced the front-row members of the Axe Gang to abandon their boats and escape.

Gradually, everyone realized that the Axe Gang actually had very few guns.

As the raft approached, they immediately dived into the water, swam silently for a while, and when they poked their heads out of the river again, it seemed that they were swimming towards the east bank of the Huangpu River.

The dozen or so rafts behind them didn't even dare to get close. They changed direction early and headed towards the east coast as quickly as possible.

Seeing this, the Qing Gang disciples gradually came to their senses and were no longer panicked. They picked up the sticks and weapons on the boat and immediately started shouting and cursing.

"Brothers, those little bastards are scared, grab your weapons and fight them!" Someone took the lead in shouting.

Everyone waved their sticks and clubs, and responded in unison: "Okay, let's fight them!"

"Damn it, you Amulin, why are you fighting? Get the local products ashore first!" Ye Chuosan cursed loudly, and then shouted to the water police fleet, "Captain Lian, there is nothing special about their rafts, right?"

The Marine Police Battalion and the Anti-smuggling Fleet immediately raised their lights to search the water. Before they could even open their mouths, the crew on the steamer said, "It's nothing special. It's just a dozen rotten wooden rafts!"

Ye Chaosan breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly called out to everyone, "Hurry up, hurry up, let's talk about it after we get ashore!"

"Third brother, are we going to catch those little bastards?" Captain Lian turned around and shouted.

Ye Chaosan hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head: "The local products are more important. I know who sent them. They can't run away. Escort Ala to shore first!"

After that, the fleet of the Marine Police Battalion and the anti-smuggling forces slowly approached. The lights of the ships seemed to form a line on the river, and they slowly approached the dock with the opium of the Sanjin Company.

As soon as the boat docked, Ye Chaosan immediately jumped off the sampan and glanced at the dock approach bridge. He still couldn't see Rong Qingrui, so he turned around and called a few brothers, saying, "Follow me, the rest of you, unload the goods onto the shore first, don't move!"

Everyone nodded in response, and Captain Lian led two teams of officers to guard the shore.

Ye Chao and his three gang members, along with several of his brothers, walked quickly towards two military trucks not far away.

The distance is very close and you can get there in just a few steps.

As soon as the two sides met, they asked in unison: "Is everything okay over there?"

"It's fine over there. One little Bala died and two brothers from the anti-smuggling team were injured. The pirates ran to the east coast." Ye Chaosan replied briefly, and then asked, "How is it over here? Where is Rong Qingrui?"

Originally there were four military trucks here, but now there are only two left, and the number of armed escorts has naturally been reduced by half, but other than that, there seems to be nothing unusual.

The leader of the team was named Ai, spoke with a foreign accent, and his rank was unknown.

He said calmly, "The robbers are in the water, what can we do here? It's pitch black on the river and we can't see clearly. We can only wait here for you to come ashore. Hey, where's the cargo? Is it lost? If it's not lost, move it here quickly and transport it away. Don't waste time."

These soldiers were here under the orders of the military protector to help the Sanjin Company with armed escort. They didn't care about any gang feuds at all. They just wanted to do their job, transport goods, divide the money, and that was it. They didn't want to get involved in anything else.

"Where did Rong Qingrui and the other brothers go?" Ye Chaosan frowned and asked, "Didn't we hear gunshots here just now?"

Commander Ai was a little impatient: "Isn't it because something happened on your side that we opened fire? Rong Qingrui was afraid that you would lose the goods, so he took his men to find a boat downstream to intercept those pirates."

"I asked him to wait for me on the shore, but why did he leave so suddenly? Doesn't this disrupt our plan?" Ye Chaosan complained.

"We have people on the shore, why are you panicking?" Commander Ai waved his hand nonchalantly, "Since the local products are all here, move them into the car quickly. Don't be so fussy. It's late at night, and our brothers don't have time to stay here with you!"

He Fenglin, the Shanghai Guard, is the backer of the Green Gang's "Three Big Bosses" in Chinese society.

Half of the opium ordered, guaranteed and underwritten by the Sanjin Company was unloaded on the west coast, and half was landed on the east coast. Without Commander He's permission and armed protection, these contraband goods would not only be subject to heavy taxes, but could also be intercepted by the government at any time or robbed by bandits.

Therefore, soldiers like Commander He never take the disciples of the "Three Tycoons" seriously and often speak to them in a condescending tone.

Ye Chaosan didn't dare to talk back, and nodded quickly, saying: "Okay, okay, I'll let them come over to move the goods. But there are still a few boxes of goods on the steamer, so please wait a moment." "Then stop talking nonsense and hurry up!" the soldiers urged unhappily.

Ye Chaosan turned around and walked a few steps toward the riverside, calling on the Qing Gang disciples on the sampan to hurry up and unload the cargo. He also sent a few people back to the river to move the few remaining boxes of local products from the steamer down.

After experiencing the turmoil just now, the brothers knew that tonight would definitely not be peaceful, so they worked extra hard, diligently and skillfully.

People were coming and going over there, moving cargo boxes, so he looked downstream along the river bank, searching for Rong Qingrui, but he found nothing.

"Where on earth did this kid run off to..." Ye Chaosan raised the telescope and looked into the distance, muttering to himself.

Soon, the third truck was also filled with local products.

Everything was the same as before. The pirates did not come to harass us again. Except for the fact that Rong Qingrui had not returned yet, the transportation of the opium was smooth and without any danger.

However, Ye Chaosan felt a little strange and suspicious, and always felt that something was not right, so he walked up to the soldier and said with a smile: "Captain Ai, the situation tonight is a bit abnormal. Let's wait until the trucks are full and everyone is gathered before leaving. I am worried that something might happen later."

"Okay, okay, okay. Hurry up, it's better than anything else. Hurry up!" Commander Ai lit a cigarette for himself.

Just at this moment, two sharp gunshots suddenly came from a dark block not far away!

"Boom-boom-"

After the gunshots, there was a burst of rapid whistles!
Ye Chaosan and Commander Ai were suddenly startled and looked quickly towards the upstream of the river.

But in the dark night, a figure came out from the corner of the alley in the distance - it was Camel, a thug from the Axe Gang - followed by two, three, four...

A large black group, at least seventy or eighty people, like a thick dark cloud, were approaching the beach rapidly.

When they were nearly a hundred steps away from the beach, the group of people almost simultaneously put their hands behind their waists, stretched them out lightly, and revealed their blue eyes - the Axe Gang!

"Fuck it, someone really dares to rob the goods?" Commander Ai pulled out his gun and shouted to his fellow soldiers, "Come on, take out all your weapons!"

After saying that, he raised his hands to the sky and fired a warning shot!

About twenty soldiers stationed in Shanghai, together with the Marine Police Battalion, anti-smuggling agents and Green Gang members, immediately sharpened their knives and responded to the challenge in unison.

Only Ye Chaosan still had a bit of rationality and knew what was important and what was not. He hurriedly urged his brothers to hurry up and load the goods. Then he quickly walked up to the military police and urged them: "Captain Ai, these people are here for the local goods. We have trucks, so there is no need to confront them head-on. The most important thing is to hurry up and get the goods shipped."

"Bullshit!" Commander Ai cursed, "Everyone in the foreign land knows that the local products of Sanjin Company are protected by the military guards. They knew we were here to escort them, but they still dared to come and attack us. This is a provocation. If we are busy transporting the goods, they will dare to come next time. We must fight this battle!"

Captain Lian also sneered and said, "Damn it, these little bastards dare to rob local products with a broken axe in their hands?"

Ye Chaosan said, "This is still the French Concession. If the commotion gets out of hand, the Municipal Council will blame it, and even Inspector Huang won't be able to defend himself. Moreover, if the truth is known and public opinion is stirred up, the military and police won't be able to stop it!"

Back then, the "Little Eight-Part Party" mobilized public opinion to put pressure on the British Concession, thereby suppressing Shen Xingshan in terms of momentum.

Now the Axe Gang is using the same trick on the "Little Eight-Legged Leg Party". Ye Chaosan can certainly distinguish the interests involved.

Local products are local products!

Even if everyone knows it, even if it is an open secret, it can never be made public.

If the matter of helping Sanjin Company to transport local products becomes a big deal, there will always be a few scapegoats to take the blame. Who will be the scapegoats then?

Commander Ai and Captain Lian were stunned on the spot. After a brief thought, they realized that this was a thankless task, so they quickly changed their minds and called out to their men, "Transport the local products first, and drive directly into the city. When you come to an intersection, turn into the Chinese area. Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

The military and police still wanted to make a big deal out of a small matter and to move the local products away as quickly as possible to get rid of all the trouble.

But the Axe Gang members in the distance disagreed. Although they used axes as their main weapons, the leader Camel and others also had several imitation Brownings. They immediately raised their guns towards this side and pulled the trigger!

"Bang! Bang bang bang!"

"Fuck him!" Commander Ai cursed loudly and quickly ordered his men, "You guys cover them, the rest of you get in the car with me, and leave quickly, leave quickly!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a bullet suddenly made a "clang" sound and shattered the windshield of the truck.

The military and police refused to give in and quickly fired back.

For a moment, the crowds on both sides scattered, and the sound of gunfire crackled like firecrackers, suddenly ringing out at the intersection of the Bund and Shiliupu Wharf in the French Concession. The wide river surface and the cleared streets made the Huangpu River like a natural megaphone, amplifying the sound of the fighting bit by bit, spreading throughout the entire foreign concession...

(End of this chapter)