Traveling back to the Northern Song Dynasty: Picking up a princess as my wife

Chapter 141 The Gun Loss Incident in Anyang City

In an inconspicuous corner of Anyang city, a soldier dressed in the uniform of the Li family army held a long object wrapped in burlap. Although the snow had stopped, the temperature of minus twenty degrees Celsius still made it unsuitable for people to stand for long periods.

Soldier Li San stomped his feet and complained, "These bastards made me wait here in the freezing cold for so long. I'll have to ask for more compensation for my hard work later."

"Creak, creak..."

The sound of footsteps crunching on the snow came from behind, and two people dressed in thick fur coats walked over.

Did you bring your things?

Li San glanced at the man who spoke and said irritably, "If I didn't bring it, why would it have been frozen for so long? Did you bring the gold?"

The slightly overweight man next to him smiled and said, "Brother Li San is indeed a straightforward man. Here are ten taels of gold. You can hand over the goods to us now."

The man took out a gold bar wrapped in cloth and handed it to Li San. Li San did not give the man the long strip of cloth in his hand, but instead bit the gold bar hard with his teeth. Only after seeing the teeth marks on it did he hand over the item with satisfaction.

"This is our issued semi-automatic rifle, and there are five bullets left. Here you go."

The tall man who had spoken earlier asked somewhat disgruntledly, "Didn't we agree on ten bullets? Why are there only five?"

Li San carefully hid the gold bars on his person: "You think those officers are easy to talk to? Even these five bullets were tricked from the sentries. I can't go back to the barracks. I'll leave the city and return to my hometown in a bit. That's all."

The two men disappeared into the snowy landscape. Soon after, the two men dressed in furs arrived at the grain store owned by the Jin Dynasty merchant and handed over their semi-automatic rifles and bullets to the store manager, Zhang Xinghai.

Looking at the sparsely populated street outside, Zhang Xinghai asked, "Is no one following us on the road?"

"Don't worry, Lord Mouke, we were very careful on the way back, and we even took a long detour."

Looking at the weapon in his hand, Zhang Xinghai was so excited that he trembled slightly: "We must send it out of the city as soon as possible. Once it reaches Zhongdu, craftsmen will make a replica. Then, the army of our Jin Kingdom will be invincible."

While the Jurchens were discussing how to send the newly acquired semi-automatic rifles out of the city, Li San was already strolling leisurely on the main road outside the city. He had been feeling restless for the past few days, so he went out and had a few drinks with some close soldiers, and then went to a nearby brothel for some fun.

Unexpectedly, his battalion commander found out about it and stripped Li San and his men naked, tied them up on the parade ground, and whipped them. From then on, Li San thought about leaving the Li family army, but he was unwilling to just leave like that, so he stole his issued semi-automatic rifle and secretly sold it to the Jurchens in the city.

Li San touched the ten taels of gold at his waist. He thought that with this capital, he could go back home, buy more than ten acres of land, and build a few large brick houses. Wouldn't that be better than suffering in Li Family Army?

When Li San was leaving the city, the soldiers guarding the city asked him why he was going out in the freezing cold. Li San said that his battalion commander had sent him out on an errand. Seeing the same uniform and familiar face, they let Li San out without even performing the most basic registration.

Just as Li San had walked three miles out of the city, he heard the sound of a car behind him. Li San knew something was wrong and immediately quickened his pace.

Li San's battalion commander only learned of Li San's desertion during the changing of the guard. It turned out that Li San had taken his own rifle under the pretense of standing guard for someone else, and had also taken the sentry's issued ammunition. When the next group of sentries took their posts, they were dumbfounded to find Li San nowhere to be seen. Realizing something was wrong, they immediately reported to the officer on duty.

After searching the city to no avail, the battalion commander concluded that the guy must have left the city, so he reported the situation to the regimental commander. After being scolded by the regimental commander, the soldiers of the entire regiment split into several groups and went out of the city to search.

When the rifles were being issued, Li Zhen repeatedly emphasized that the firearms must be strictly managed and must not fall into the hands of the enemy. Now that such a thing has happened, the regimental commander's forehead was covered in sweat.

The battalion commander, sitting in the passenger seat, saw Li San running through the snow. His eyes widened in fury: "That's the guy! Catch up with him and I'll skin him alive!"

"Stab!"

The truck's tires slid a long distance on the snow before coming to a stop. Immediately, more than a dozen soldiers jumped out of the truck and surrounded the panting Li San, armed with rifles.

The battalion commander got out of the vehicle and came to Li San's side, angrily demanding, "Where are the rifles and bullets?"

Half an hour later, the grain store owned by Jin merchant Zhang Xinghai was surrounded by a group of armed soldiers, but apart from a few errand boys, everyone else had disappeared.

A soldier ran over to report: "Reporting to the battalion commander, we found a secret passage in the grain store's warehouse. Judging from the direction, it should lead out of the city."

The battalion commander glanced at the young men and said to the soldiers, "Take them all back and send men to chase them out through the secret passage. Make sure you get the gun back."

At this moment, Zhang Xinghai and the other two were uncovering the cave entrance hidden by haystacks outside the city. They were riding their warhorses, which had been prepared long ago, and galloping eastward for their lives. Zhang Xinghai had a semi-automatic rifle strapped to his back. As long as he delivered this gun to Zhongdu, he would achieve unparalleled merit.

They chased Zhang Xinghai until nightfall, but the soldiers of Li's army still couldn't catch up with him. The regimental commander, looking dejected, kicked the battalion commander hard: "Damn it! You've really ruined my life. We'll just have to wait to be punished."

The next morning, Li Family Village received a message by carrier pigeon. The letter's cover was red, indicating that the matter was extremely urgent. Bu Liang quickly received the urgent report. After reading its contents, he disregarded the fact that Li Zhen was still in bed and immediately began kicking and pounding on Li Zhen's door.

Startled awake by the banging on the door, Li Zhen opened it while cursing, "You pedantic scholar, you'd better have a reasonable explanation, or you're in for a beating today."

The man didn't speak, but handed over the red letter. Li Zhen was taken aback when he saw the red letter, then, disregarding the fact that he wasn't wearing a cotton-padded coat, he immediately opened it to read its contents.

After a long while, Li Zhen angrily cursed, "These bastards actually let someone take the gun right under our noses. This Kong Erlengzi regimental commander doesn't want to work anymore."

Then he said to the thugs, "Pack your things, we'll head to Anyang City now."

Zhang Xinghai endured the biting cold all the way, and finally delivered the semi-automatic rifle to the imperial palace in the capital of the Jin Dynasty two days later.

Wanyan Liang held the strangely shaped weapon in his hand: "What kind of weapon is this? Can it really take a person's life from a hundred paces away?"

Zhang Xinghai knelt on the ground and said, "Your Majesty, please issue an order to allow me to test it out. I learned how to use it in Anyang Prefecture."

Wanyan Liang gave a look to his personal guard, who handed a bullet to Zhang Xinghai. Zhang Xinghai skillfully pulled back the barrel of the semi-automatic rifle, inserted the bright yellow bullet, and then closed the barrel.

He glanced at the bronze bell outside the hall that signaled the start and end of court, then aimed and fired.

"Snapped!"

"Boom!"

The heavy bronze bell was not penetrated by the bullet, but it left a deep scratch on it. Seeing such power, Wanyan Liang's expression lit up: A divine weapon! This is a divine weapon!

Wanyan Liang said in a deep voice, "Immediately summon the skilled craftsmen from the Ministry of Works."