novelonline Chapter 1237 Returning with Honor
Chapter 1237 Returning with Honor
Chapter 1237 Returning with Honor
Walking in the morning glow, a cloud of dust rose on the loess road.
Qin Hao walked at the front of the team, followed by more than 20 regiment soldiers carrying Hanyang-made rifles. They were escorting six bandits who were tied up and carrying the wounded. A group of children were in the middle of the team, looking here and touching there curiously. The mighty team marched towards Wangjiazhuang.
"Brother Hao, Wangjiazhuang is just ahead." Heiwa wiped the sweat from his forehead, his dark face full of excitement.
Qin Hao nodded, his eyes sweeping across the vague outline of the village in the distance. He turned his head to look at the soldiers behind him. Although they were all sweating, they stood straight with an unprecedented light in their eyes.
"Line up!" Qin Hao gave the order, and the regiment soldiers immediately adjusted their pace and lined up in two neat rows. Even those who were carrying the wounded tried their best to maintain their formation.
The entrance to the village was crowded with people, men, women, old and young, who stood on tiptoe to look around, and some even climbed up the earthen wall. When they saw the regiment's brave team appear, the crowd burst into cheers.
“Here they come! They’re back!”
"The militia from Bailu Village really rescued the children!"
The cheers came like a tide, and the soldiers straightened their backs unconsciously.
As soon as the team entered the village, they were surrounded by enthusiastic villagers. Parents whose children were kidnapped rushed over like crazy, looking for their children in the team.
"Goudan! My son!" A woman rushed to a thin boy, hugged him tightly in her arms, her face covered with tears and snot.
"Mom!" the boy burst into tears, his little hands tightly grasping his mother's clothes.
Similar scenes were constantly played out around the team. There were fathers holding their sons and kneeling on the ground, crying loudly, grandmothers holding their grandsons’ hands and chanting “Buddha bless you”, and young couples holding their children and kowtowing to the regiment warriors.
"Benefactors! You are the benefactors of our entire family!" A white-haired old man grabbed Heiwa's hand and was about to kneel down, but Heiwa hurriedly held him back.
"Uncle, you can't do that!" Heiwa's face turned red and he looked at Qin Hao helplessly.
Qin Hao was also surrounded by several parents and was unable to take care of himself.
"Make way! Make way!" There was a commotion at the back of the crowd, and Patriarch Wang squeezed over with the help of several elders. In his arms was a little boy of five or six years old, his only grandson.
“Brother Hao!” The old man of the royal family burst into tears, his voice trembling: “This old man, this old man…”
Before he could finish his words, the old man was about to kneel down.
Qin Hao rushed forward and supported him: "Patriarch Wang, you are shortening my life!"
"My Wang family has been a single-child family for three generations, and this is our only child!" Patriarch Wang hugged his grandson tightly, as if he was afraid that the child would disappear if he let go: "If it weren't for you, if it weren't for you..."
As he spoke he burst into tears.
At this moment, the faces of those usually honest peasants showed an expression they had never had before - a sense of honor and pride. They may have never thought in their lives that they would one day become "heroes" in the eyes of others.
"It's worth it," a soldier whispered, "No matter how hard the training is, it's worth it."
Hei Wa felt the same way. Who would care at this moment that he was just the son of a farmhand? He looked at Qin Hao and found that he also had a smile on his face.
“Brother Hao.” Patriarch Wang finally calmed down a bit, and after being reminded by an elder, he remembered the main business: “This is the reward I promised to give you.”
He waved his hand, and several strong men came over carrying two large wooden boxes. When the boxes were opened, the white ocean shone brightly in the sun.
"Three thousand dollars, not a cent less!" Patriarch Wang pointed to the other side, "Over there is a thousand kilograms of grain, which has been loaded into the truck."
Qin Hao didn't pretend to refuse, and winked at Heiwa: "Count them."
Heiwa brought a few regiment warriors forward and started to count carefully.
The roaring sound of the ocean caused the villagers who were watching to exclaim in amazement.
"Oh my god, so much money!"
"Bailu Village is now very prosperous."
"They paid for it with their lives, they deserve it!"
After the count was completed, Heiwa nodded to Qin Hao: "Brother Hao, the number is correct."
Qin Hao bowed to Patriarch Wang and said, "Thank you Patriarch Wang for keeping your promise. It's getting late, we should go back. The villagers are still waiting for news."
"How can this be possible!" Patriarch Wang grabbed Qin Hao's sleeve and said, "The banquet is ready. You have to eat before you leave!"
"Yes, yes!" Several elders also gathered around and said, "Let us do our best!"
"I appreciate your kindness." Qin Hao said firmly: "The villagers must be anxious, and the wounded need to be treated as soon as possible."
Seeing that Qin Hao was determined to leave, Patriarch Wang didn't want to keep him. He sighed and said, "Well, I'll come to thank you in person some other day!"
The regiment soldiers lined up again, escorted the prisoners, pushed carts full of food, and left Wangjiazhuang under the watchful eyes of the villagers.
Patriarch Wang stood at the entrance of the village, looking at the team that was getting farther and farther away, with complex light flashing in his eyes.
"If we can have such a group of brave soldiers, which blind bandit would dare to attack Wangjiazhuang?"
The elders standing by also became concerned after hearing what was said. It was really unpleasant to be at the mercy of others.
But some people shook their heads and said, "It's difficult. Just those dozens of guns will cost a lot of money."
"Dozens of guns shouldn't cost more than three thousand dollars, right?" someone objected.
"But having guns alone is useless. We don't have anyone who can train them. I heard that this group of brave warriors was trained by the eldest son of the Bai family."
"No one in the Bai family's ancestors had ever trained soldiers. How come the eldest young master of the Bai family could train the regiment so well?"
"You don't understand this, right? The eldest son of the Bai family was sent to Xi'an to study in a new-style school when he was young. It is said that those who study there are either rich or noble. Maybe he learned his skills there."
Patriarch Wang listened to the elders' discussion, thinking deeply. Suddenly, his eyes lit up: "Got it!"
"What good idea did the Patriarch come up with?"
Patriarch Wang stroked his beard and smiled shrewdly: "In a few days, I will go to Bailu Village in person and invite Bai Jiaxuan to have a drink..."
……
At the same time, the sun was scorching at noon, but there were still many villagers guarding the entrance of Bailu Village.
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed child pointed into the distance and shouted.
"Here I am. I'm back."
The crowd became agitated and everyone craned their necks to look.
At the end of the loess road, a team was slowly moving towards Bailu Village.
Soon, villagers who received the news came from all directions, looking forward to it, with concern and nervousness in their eyes.
When the team approached, many villagers felt a pang in their hearts. They saw that many soldiers were covered in blood, some were wrapped in bandages, and one was even carried back on a stretcher.
Bai Jiaxuan came with his wife and children, and recognized his son walking in front at a glance.
Xiancao was holding Bai Ling, and the two brothers Xiaowen and Xiaowu were standing beside her.
The two children jumped excitedly and kept asking, "Where is Big Brother? Why can't I see him?"
When Qin Hao and his party arrived at the archway, Bai Jiaxuan rushed to Qin Hao in two steps and looked him up and down: "Where are you hurt?"
Qin Hao shook his head: "It's all the blood of bandits."
Bai Jiaxuan then breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that the blood on his son's clothes had dried and turned dark red.
Xiaowen and Xiaowu took the opportunity to hug Qin Hao's thighs on the left and right.
"Brother!" Bai Xiaowu raised his little face, his eyes sparkling, "I want to join the regiment when I grow up!"
Bai Xiaowen curled his lips and said, "What's the point of being a regimental warrior? If you want to be one, just be the regiment leader, and be as majestic as the eldest brother!"
Bai Jiaxuan scolded: "Nonsense, you became the leader just to show off..."
Qin Hao smiled and interrupted his father: "A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier." He squatted down and looked at Xiaowen, "But if you want to be a regiment commander, it's no problem. You have to have the ability to do so."
Bai Xiaowen blinked: "What skill?"
"One useless general can tire out the whole army." Qin Hao said seriously: "Without real ability, others will not obey you. If you really want to be a regiment leader, you have to train harder than others and do better than others."
Xiaowen's face suddenly fell. What he feared most was training. He still remembered the pain of being pulled out of bed by his elder brother every morning.
Heiwa, who was standing by, raised his lips in disdain when he heard this. He respected Qin Hao, not because he was the eldest son of the Bai family, nor because of their friendship since childhood, but because every time he trained, Qin Hao was the first to arrive and the last to leave. Whether it was physical fitness, marksmanship or fighting, Qin Hao was unbeatable. If someone else became the leader, he would be the first to disobey!
The ancestral hall was packed with people, young and old from the whole village squeezed in. Qin Hao stood in front of the ancestral tablets and reported the results of the battle in a loud voice.
"During this campaign, we killed nine bandits, captured six, and rescued sixteen kidnapped children."
He paused and said, "Five of our men were slightly injured, one was seriously injured, and no one was killed."
The villagers exclaimed in amazement, and some began to discuss in low voices.
“That’s amazing!”
"Yes, those bandits all have guns! They are ruthless and will kill without blinking an eye."
"No, I heard that the young master of the Bai family killed five or six bandits by himself."
Qin Hao signaled Heiwa to bring up the spoils. Several regimental warriors worked together to move two large wooden boxes to the front of the stage and opened the lids.
“Wow——” The ancestral hall suddenly exploded.
The white ocean sparkled alluringly under the light of the oil lamp, and the villagers stared with their eyes wide open.
"Oh my god, so much money!"
"Three thousand dollars is enough to feed our village for many years!"
“How to divide it? By household or by person?”
The discussion was getting louder and louder, and some people were already calculating how much they could get. Seeing this, Bai Jiaxuan walked to the front of the stage and raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.
"Dear elders," he turned to the white-haired old men sitting in the front row, "I would like to hear your opinions on how to distribute this money."
The elders looked at each other, and the oldest one spoke up: "I think it should be divided equally among the households. That's fair!"
"Not right, not right," another elder shook his head, "The family with more males has contributed more, so the distribution should be based on males!"
During the argument, Lu Taiheng stood up with the help of a cane.
"I think," Lu Taiheng said in a low but powerful voice, "the brave men of the regiment have risked their lives, and they deserve a generous reward. Why not give them one thousand dollars, and divide the remaining two thousand among the villagers? As for the one thousand kilograms of food, leave it to the brave men as fodder, and save the villagers from having to pay for food."
As soon as this proposal was made, the ancestral hall became lively again.
Some people agreed, thinking that the regimental braves should indeed get more points; others opposed, thinking that this was unfair.
Bai Jiaxuan looked at Qin Hao, asking for his opinion with his eyes.
Qin Hao nodded imperceptibly. All the young and old in the village were eyeing this money. If he insisted on keeping it in his hands, he would inevitably be criticized. It would be better to let the villagers taste the sweetness first, and then he could push for some things later to reduce the resistance.
"Okay!" Bai Jiaxuan made the decision: "Let's do as Uncle Lu said!"
As soon as the decision was made, all the soldiers in the regiment were delighted.
If one thousand dollars is divided among thirty people, each person can get more than thirty dollars, which is much better than farming!
Although the other villagers were a little jealous, they had nothing to complain about when they thought that they could get a share of the money without doing anything.
Qin Hao looked at the excited villagers below the stage, with a slight smile on his face. He knew that after this battle, Tuan Yong's status in Bailu Village would be completely different.
More importantly, the villagers began to realize the importance of armed forces.
After this battle, whenever the regiment soldiers passed by the ridges of the fields during training, the villagers would subconsciously stop what they were doing and look at them with admiration and worship.
The status of the regiment warriors in the family also improved rapidly. Even the unlucky guy who broke his leg due to excessive pursuit was taken care of by his wife while he was recuperating at home. She did not despise him at all for not being able to work in the fields. The Bai family had already hired someone to do his work, and this time he was given more than 30 yuan. Under normal circumstances, they could not earn more than 5 yuan a year even if they worked hard.
……
Early that morning, Bai Jiaxuan was preparing to go to the fields to work when there was a knock on the Bai family's door.
When Bai Jiaxuan opened the door, he saw that it was the patriarch of Wangjiazhuang.
"Da, why are you here? Come in and have a rest."
Bai Jiaxuan looked at the other person's staggering body, fearing that he might accidentally fall down in the Bai family, so he hurriedly helped him in.
After Patriarch Wang sat down, he looked around, then took Bai Jiaxuan's hand, tears in his eyes: "Jiaxuan, I really don't know how to thank you, the Bai family, for your great kindness."
"Da, please don't say that. All the villages in our Bailuyuan are one family." Bai Jiaxuan patted the other person's hand.
"To be honest, I shouldn't have taken so much money from my family members when they helped me..."
Patriarch Wang frowned when he heard this: "Hey, Jiaxuan, what are you saying? The men of Bailu Village are risking their lives to fight the bandits under gunfire, so shouldn't we pay them some money? Besides, if you don't take the money, we can only give it to the bandits, and who knows if these damn bandits will let our kids go."
Seeing that the other party was so "sensible", Bai Jiaxuan felt a little embarrassed.
Patriarch Wang looked around and asked, "Where is your boss?"
"Oh, he is leading the regiment in training. He is probably in the threshing ground now."
"Can you take me to see it?"
Bai Jiaxuan looked at the other person's old arms and legs and hesitated.
Patriarch Wang also guessed what Bai Jiaxuan was thinking, and immediately stood up with his cane: "Don't worry, walking a few steps won't tire me out."