Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Chapter 53 Liu Family Courtyard (Seeking follow-up reading)

"Keep your eyes open at night, don't be lazy. If the Eighth Route Army sneaks in, we'll all be dead."

Liu Ergou, the chief guard of Liu Dabang, a traitorous rich man from Liujia Village, shouted loudly, scolding the two lackeys who were keeping watch on the arrow tower in the front yard. It was not even three o'clock in the morning, and these lackeys were snoring one by one!
As a big landlord in Liujia Village, Liu Dabao's old house covers an area of ​​more than one acre, with three entrances and three exits. From the gatehouse to the front yard, there are the left and right wing rooms, where servants and guards live. Two doors separate the inner yard and the front yard. It is a typical quadrangle courtyard, where Liu Dabao's family of three wives and four concubines live.

The Liu family has accumulated wealth for hundreds of years and occupied most of the 3 acres of fertile land around Liujia Village. It is considered the largest family in the area within dozens of miles. The outer walls of the Liu family compound are made of stones more than one foot thick and more than meters high. There are more than a dozen servants guarding it all year round. It has been through many hardships over the past hundred years and has withstood many wars and banditry.

After all, the Liu family lives in the deep mountains and forests, and there are not many opportunities for real soldiers to pass through. What they encounter are groups of thirty or fifty soldiers and bandits. With such solid guards, closed copper doors, and guarding the arrow tower above the wing rooms, it is naturally as difficult as attacking a city for the soldiers and bandits armed with knives, guns, sticks and clubs.

He ensured peace for the Liu family for more than a hundred years and was like a local emperor in Liujia Village.

But when the Japanese came, they asked the traitors in the city to make a list of the wealthy families in the surrounding villages and towns. Liu Dabang was naturally on the list. Originally, Liu Dabang ignored the "invitation" from the county maintenance association, but when the Japanese came with a small cannon and a small team of people, Liu Dabang immediately surrendered. Not only did he agree to become the chairman of the Japanese maintenance association in Liujia Village, but he also had a seat in the Yuping County maintenance association.

He started out helping the Japanese to maintain local order, collect food, fodder and labor. After working for a while, he found that this was a good job, and he made a lot of money from it. He used some tricks to take advantage of others and made the Liu family more prosperous.

Later, they even applied to form a baojia system for the Japanese, and their own family set up a so-called Liujia Village Self-Defense Force. They recruited a defeated soldier named Liu Ergou as the captain, selected fourteen or fifteen people from the servants and defeated soldiers, bought more than ten guns, and guarded the Liujia compound tightly.

With its thick stone walls and more than ten guns, the Liu family compound's defense capability is no worse than that of the Japanese artillery towers. Not to mention the guerrillas, even for the main force of the Eighth Route Army that lacks heavy weapons to attack, the Liu family is a tough nut to crack. It's not that it can't be taken down, but the price paid is not worth it. If dozens of people were killed or injured in order to take down the Liu family compound, in Li Yunlong's words, it would be a huge loss.

Although Liu Ergou, as a platoon leader who had served in the Nationalist Army for a few years, had not learned many skills, he was more than capable of leading a dozen soldiers and servants.

The team members were trained to shoot and organize defense, and they learned the Japanese artillery towers quite well. Compared with the puppet army, the only thing missing was the supply of soldiers' wages.

That's why Liu Ergou once boasted that the Eighth Route Army guerrillas could do nothing to the Liu family compound he was guarding.

Because once the gunshots here are heard, the Japanese artillery tower not far away will receive the message. As long as we hold on for half an hour, the Japanese reinforcement team will arrive on motorcycles.

Liujia Village is connected to the outside road, and transportation is much more convenient. For the Japanese, having such a lackey to help them do things greatly makes up for the lack of manpower, and they spared no effort in providing support.

However, after a long period of peace, the self-defense forces in Liujia Village naturally became lazy, and often a group of people would sleep together while on night guard. Liu Ergou, who was paid 20 yuan a month, was quite conscientious and often got up in the middle of the night to check the sentries. Tonight, he caught them being lazy again.

However, Liu Ergou did not dare to be too harsh on these lackeys. After all, if they were provoked, they would simply run away and join the puppet army. Now the county town did not have enough puppet troops, and they often recruited able-bodied men. Of course, they welcomed the lackeys from Liujia Village who had experience in shooting. However, the advantage of Liujia Village was that they did not have to follow the Japanese to raid, and the safety factor was higher. These lackeys just stayed here, and a delicate balance was formed between the two sides.

Liu Ergou scolded the lackey who was on night watch and woke him up. He looked around for a while from the lookout of the arrow tower. The moonlight was bright and the area several hundred meters in front of the arrow tower of the Liu family compound was unobstructed and could be seen at a glance.

The Liu Family Courtyard occupies the best central location in Liujia Village. There are other houses in other directions, but there is no house in front of it.

Naturally, the ancestors of the Liu family had consulted a Feng Shui master to look at the Feng Shui layout. Now, it is also convenient for defense. The four arrow tower holes can accommodate up to 4 people. With these guns, it is really difficult for a hundred people to attack.

Almost at the same time, Li Yunlong lay on the roof of a villager's house a few dozen meters away from the backyard of the Liu family compound, observing carefully.

After looking at it for a while, he also felt a little confused.

"Old Kong, the Liu Family Courtyard is a little difficult to attack. You see, the three courtyards are separated by thick walls. If we break through the wall from one place, we will face street fighting in every room. The Liu Family Courtyard Arrow Tower is high above, and it is also a huge threat to the entire courtyard. If we fight like this, the casualties may be too great. This is a losing deal, we can't do it!"

"Old Li, we've already observed before that there's an arrow tower, so we can't charge in headfirst. Otherwise, there's only two or three hundred meters of open space, and not even a company can fill it. We can only use explosive packs to blow up the walls from the backyard or the left and right wings. We really don't have any other tricks. But even so, we really can't avoid the problem of the arrow tower you mentioned. It would be much easier to fight if we had a cannon to blow up the arrow tower." Kong Jie observed with a telescope for a while and said in a low voice.

"You really dare to think so. The independent regiment doesn't even have a mortar now. It only has a few grenade launchers. What use can they be against such a thick wall?" Li Yunlong poked Kong Jie and whispered.

"Let's go back and discuss it. The Liu family compound is a hindrance to our mining, and we have to get rid of it no matter what. Let's go back and call Da Biao, Brother Ren and others to discuss it. Maybe we can get some good ideas." After Li Yunlong finished speaking, he slowly went down along the roof.

This family is an activist that has been developed. Today, while borrowing their roof, Li Yunlong basically understood the situation.

Frankly speaking, the Liu Family Compound Guard was nothing special. They didn't even have a machine gun. They just had a stone arrow tower which was quite annoying and as difficult to attack as a blockhouse.

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(End of this chapter)