Under One Person: One Person Goes

Chapter 344 Bet
In April of the 26th year of the Republic of China, it was just over two months away from the July 7 Incident, a historical turning point in the outbreak of the full-scale war of resistance against Japan.

As the conflict between the Japanese troops stationed in Fengtai and the nationalist troops in Peiping and Tianjin intensified, the Beijing dignitaries, who had already seen the signs of trouble, hurriedly brought their families, gold and silver jewelry, and antiques and paintings that they had salvaged from the imperial city, and asked Wang Yi's Sitong Company to transport them away.

This period of time was truly an eye-opener for Wang Yi. Wang Yi estimated that many of the things here were so real that even the treasure appraiser at a certain musical note in his previous life could not tell whether they were real or fake. He did not mind taking some of the things left by his ancestors as handling fees as a freight forwarder, and also giving part of them to those senior officials of the government who had already retired but were still eyeing the company's benefits.

He always kept in mind these two sentences: Stepunk cultivates, and the Golden Buddha on the Jade Throne paves the way.

Without these tributes, it would not be easy to safely send these things left by our ancestors out of the capital.

Of course, he had used the Studebaker before. The Studebaker brand cars were supposed to have come into the sight of senior officials of the Nationalist government after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, when the United States sent some military instructors to support the Nationalist government. However, because Wang Yi himself had American capital to support him, he sent out three cars in the first two years.

The first two were naturally given to the bald couple, and the last one was naturally given to General He, who was carrying out the twelve-word inhumane policy of "bald stones must be burned, knives must be shed with blood, and people must be replaced" in the old area of ​​​​Gan.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to rescue nearly 500,000 civilians and soldiers from Gan on the pretext of human trafficking and fill them in the four major regions of North China, East China, South China, and Northwest China. The senior officials of the National Government also pretended that they saw nothing.

They had all eaten up their filial offerings, and were also defeated by Wang Yi and broken into small pieces. In their opinion, they were unarmed and could not make any waves.

In order to preserve these ancestral items that had passed through his hands and were transported out of the capital to the greatest extent possible, Wang Yi also gave these Beijing dignitaries a direction, asking them to arrange all these assets to the mountain city in the southwest region.

The reasons given are very sufficient. Looking at the current situation, if a war really breaks out with the Japanese, North China will be the first to suffer. If North China is not defended, then East China, Central China, and South China, these core areas will definitely be the first places that the Japanese want to capture.

Let’s not worry about whether the Japanese can take us down in the end or whether we can hold on to it. Leaving so many things left by our ancestors exposed to the flames of war is the biggest problem in itself. It would be better to do it in one go and transport them to the southwestern mountain city which is easy to defend but difficult to attack, so as to minimize the losses. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

As for transporting it out of the inland and sending it to the British-administered Hong Kong Island, Wang Yi also asked them to give up this idea.

The reason is very simple. The British have troops stationed in Hong Kong Island. If the Japanese really send a large army to attack us, we will lose our place very soon. After all, they are not Chinese. Will they fight with the Japanese for an overseas colony and the Chinese people in the colony? This is like burning newspapers in front of the graves - fooling the ghosts!
As for why it was not shipped abroad, Wang Yi did not say, because these powerful people understood it better than Wang Yi.

It’s just four words: People feel worthless when they leave their hometown!
They have no one to rely on overseas, and it is still unclear whether these things of theirs belong to them once they are overseas. Many of them have witnessed their ancestors burning down the Old Summer Palace by the British and French forces, and they all understand that these good things have nothing to do with them once they have gone abroad and landed in foreign territory.

After analyzing the pros and cons, these dignitaries thanked Wang Yi profusely and asked him to take more good things back.

Wang Yi did not hesitate to pack up and took away some ancient paintings such as the Fuchun Mountain Dwelling, as well as fine items inlaid with gold and jade such as the Golden Buddha on a Jade Throne, and a set of bronze chimes that were said to be from the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

He was very cunning in selecting the areas. Although things like calligraphy and paintings were priceless, in this chaotic world of war, they were not as valuable as those antique porcelains inlaid with gold and jade. After all, they could be directly exchanged for money. Calligraphy and paintings, to put it bluntly, were just pieces of paper. They would be ruined if they were lit on fire or soaked in water. They were too troublesome to preserve and were the easiest to forge.
When he gets these, these powerful people will laugh at him behind their backs, saying that Wang is just a nouveau riche who has cultivated himself, made his fortune through trickery, and only knows how to pretend to be cultured.

As for using fake goods to fool Wang Yi, they didn't have the guts to do that. There were all kinds of people in the capital, and if they took the goods for appraisal, they would be the ones in trouble.

These dignitaries laughed at Wang Yi for being pretentious, but Wang Yixiao and his friends had no connections. The cultural heritage left by their ancestors, just because they had no connections overseas, did not mean that he had no connections overseas. He had better ways than them to preserve these calligraphy and paintings during the war.

As for the rest, he asked Gao Jin to mark and make a list using the magic method of the second uncle of the Huang family outside the Great Wall, whom he worshipped. He would have to take them back from these powerful people later.

It was the marking method. Wang Yi still remembered it vividly. The immortal's true form was a weasel, so it was fine if he used this trick, but how come you, a disciple of a horse-riding master, also copied him! Damn it, his fame was ruined by Gao Jin's trick of taking off his pants and farting. Wang Yi couldn't be blamed for this.

Logically speaking, anyone who encounters his friend suddenly taking off his pants to fart would have to suffer a few seconds of strong control. Just these few seconds of strong control made Wang Yi witness another method between the disciples and the immortals. Wang Yi didn't know whether he gained or lost.

The business deal was settled, and Wang Yi was responsible for helping these dignitaries transport all the antique paintings and calligraphy to the mountain city. Some of those with quick minds simply followed Wang Yi's transport team, bringing their families with them to the mountain city and settling down early.

Wang Yi didn't need to follow up on the subsequent matters and could just leave it to Gao Jin to handle. He would then have time to go to Mr. Lan's house to have tea and chat with him.

"I didn't expect Mr. Wang to have such insights in military affairs. He pointed out the problems between China and Japan and gained a lot of benefits. I admire him very much."

"Mr. Lan, please stop flattering me. Even if you let me take back the Japanese military deployment before the war and hand it over to the government, do you think we can gain the upper hand and win?"

"It's useless. With Chiang Kai-shek here, the Nationalist army can't win."

Mr. Lan gave the answer without any hesitation. As a progressive person active in the Kuomintang government, he had actually seen through it, but still clung to a last bit of unrealistic fantasy about the Kuomintang government.

"That's it. Since Lao Jiang is unreliable, Mr. Lan, you should make plans early. The capital is not a place to stay for long."

"Boss Wang, don't worry about me. I, Lan, have friends all over the world and can go anywhere. But what about you, Boss Wang? You are well-known among the Japanese. If you continue to stay in Beijing, are you not afraid that the Japanese will take action against you? Or are you reluctant to leave your property in Beijing? Or these relatives and friends? If so, you should make plans earlier, right?"

"Oh, of course I have plans, but Mr. Lan, you know me. I am a cultivator, and a very powerful one. Although it is no longer the era of cultivators, this is better than this, but I have to prove it. I will not attack my own army, but I don't have to worry about the Japanese. If I can't defeat them, can't I just run away?"

Wang Yi took out a Browning M1903, also known as the famous "Continental Rifle," from his arms and suspended it in mid-air. Under the traction of Wang Yi's magnetic field, it was decomposed into parts, and then reassembled in front of Mr. Lan and fell on the table.

Although Mr. Lan had already witnessed many of Wang Yi's miraculous methods, this is how the methods of a cultivator are. You never get tired of watching them, and there are always new tricks that will surprise you.

Wang Yi's move also gave Mr. Lan new ideas for his previously interrupted plan.

"Boss Wang, since you and I both know that Chiang Kai-shek is unreliable and the Japanese are untrustworthy, why don't you try to cooperate with me and us?"

"you?"

My goodness, why does this conversation seem so familiar? Am I Zhu Qianlong?
Complaining in his heart, Wang Yi looked at Mr. Lan in front of him, waved his finger, and closed the study door.

"Yes, we, Boss Wang, do you want to hear my story?"

"I'd like to hear more details." "My real name is Zhang, and my given name is Muzhi!"

When Mr. Lan said his original name, it also confirmed Wang Yi's guess about Mr. Lan.

"Zhang Mazi of the South."

"Haha, I knew that Boss Wang could guess this. Indeed, I am Zhang Mazi, who was quite famous in the South before the eighth year of the Republic of China. As for why I am Mr. Lan now, that is another story. In the early years, I followed General Songpo. Later, the general died of illness in Japan, and I returned to China. It was just when the warlords were fighting and the people were living in misery.

I didn't want to be in the same boat with my old colleagues, nor did I want to fight them, so I took a few brothers who had been following me and became bandits, robbing the rich to help the poor. By chance, I and six brothers and an adopted son fought against the iron master in Echeng, pretending to be the county magistrate. We won the fight with the master, and I distributed all his five-generation family property to the people in the city.

But my son died, my master died, my wife died, and one of my brothers died, but it was all worth it. Until I saw that the brothers who survived no longer wanted to go back to the mountains with me and do this business of robbing the rich and giving to the poor, they parted ways with me, changed into the master's clothes, and went to Shanghai to make a fortune. I was discouraged and took the head of the fake pockmarked man to find my old colleagues. After a lot of twists and turns, I returned to the capital and became Lan Qingfeng, Mr. Lan. "

Wang Yi digested Mr. Lan’s story for a long time before he asked back.

"Since you are already disheartened, why are you still running around for the government, making connections, and coming up with this ridiculous plan to strengthen the army? They say they are going to prepare 60 armies, but the Japanese are about to start fighting, and our national army in Pingjin has not yet benefited from the strengthening of the army."

"I'm not willing to accept this. I'm not willing to accept that the Republic of China that General Songpo risked his life for has become a short-lived regime. I'm not willing to accept this, and neither are my former colleagues. Since Chiang Kai-shek is unreliable, let him step down and replace him with someone more reliable. Boss Wang, I can see that you are a patriot. Otherwise, why would you bother rolling around in the world with all your tricks? In that case, why don't you join us and help us get rid of Chiang Kai-shek? By then, you'll have a good position too."

Wang Yi was stumped by Mr. Lan's question. He stared at Mr. Lan in front of him, releasing magnetic field waves silently, trying to figure out what kind of medicine Mr. Lan was selling.

However, the information fed back from Mr. Lan's brain waves was that he really wanted Wang Yi to reject his invitation.

Wang smiled.

"Mr. Lan, you are such a joker. Chiang Kai-shek is unreliable, but can you be trusted? If you were reliable, how could Chiang Kai-shek come to power? To be honest, I look down on Chiang Kai-shek, but I also look down on your former colleagues. Mr. Lan, you are disheartened, but you are not unconscious. You know better than me that your former colleagues behind you can't accomplish anything, right?"

"Like what you said, Boss Wang, we have to get proof."

"How to prove it?"

"Take the capital as an example. I will mobilize my former colleagues to support the armaments of the Pingjin garrison. If we can hold the capital, it means that my former colleagues still have a chance. Boss Wang, you can join me and help me. If we can't hold it, I will no longer work hard for the government. Together with you, Boss Wang, we will find another way to save the country.

Boss Wang, you should understand that the establishment of a new regime requires people in all aspects. It is true that the government is rotten, but there are many talented people in the government. If you really win, then I will be the one to persuade these old friends and acquaintances, so that we don’t have to fight against each other in the future, which will only increase casualties. "

"Okay! It's a deal, double happiness! Let's high-five as a pledge!!"

Without any hesitation, Wang Yi stood up, took Mr. Lan's hand and high-fived him three times.

Mr. Lan was stunned.

Wang Yi, who had not expected such an unexpected gain, stretched himself and stood up to leave after high-fiving Mr. Lan.

But when he reached the door, Wang Yi stopped and turned to look at Mr. Lan, who was still a little unresponsive.

"Mr. Lan, the fact that you agreed to this also shows that you don't think highly of your former colleagues. You just want to feel at ease. Now, who is still carrying on the legacy of Mr. Sun and General Songpo and carrying forward the past and opening up the future? You and I know it very well. Let's wait and see."

With a confident smile on his face, Wang Yi left in a leisurely manner. Instead, Mr. Lan stood at the door, watching Wang Yi's back, wondering what he was thinking.

And Wang Yi on the road was even happier. He hummed a little tune and staggered towards his house.

Can the capital be defended? If the whole country is united and the government orders are implemented without hindrance, then there will be no problem and we can even fight back.

But the Kuomintang government is rotten from top to bottom. What can the local warlords behind Mr. Lan and the progressive people within the government do?
Transferring military equipment? Oh, he guaranteed with his own head that these military equipment would appear in the hands of the Japanese army or on the black market as soon as they were sent to the defenders of Pingjin. The corruption of the National Government was not enough to describe it.

How can we defend the capital?

He was the winner of this bet from the very beginning, so what did he have to worry about?

As he was walking, Wang Yi stopped and suddenly turned his head, meeting the gaze of someone who was staring at him in the dark. As their momentum collided, a gust of wind blew up from the ground, blurring his eyes.

Wang Yi's figure disappeared, and a muffled groan was heard in the air.

When the strong wind died down, the passers-by looked around, wondering what had happened.

Wang Yi returned to his original place and stood with his hands behind his back like an expert, looking in a certain direction.

"Humph, as expected, you know that you have to get rid of me first in order to capture the capital. This time, someone who catches my eye has come. I want to see what tricks you can play on me!"

After muttering to himself, Wang Yi left as if nothing had happened.

In the dark, a figure looked at Wang Yi with shock and anger, who had his back exposed. However, he did not dare to attack him again. He could only cover his drooping right arm and flee towards the Embassy Street.

(End of this chapter)