The Gaojia Village Peasant Association in Nangong County terminated its formal operation on September 27, 1906. Although all members shouldered their own responsibilities, the formal operation had ended, and members were all dispersed. The person who witnessed this history was Pang Zi. He watched Chen Tianhua go away from an inconspicuous place at the edge of the village. He saw other members also begin to evacuate. And old Mr. Jing Tingwen stood alone at the gate of the Peasant Association compound, lighting a pipe of dry tobacco.

On that day, among the last few households of farmers who refused to leave the village, three chose to evacuate. Two households still stuck to their homes. Pang Zi didn't care about these small changes at the end. What he knew was that there were no forces friendly to him in Nangong County anymore. Other forces were lurking, waiting. The Beiyang Army in the distance must have received the order to move out.

Pang Zi originally wanted to escape as soon as possible. After Uncle Jing's uprising back then, in May, the Qing army surrounded the important stronghold of the uprising army—Jianzhi Village in Guangzong County, attacking fiercely with artillery fire. Uncle Jing led the army to fight bravely, finally breaking out of the encirclement, fighting in Cheng'an, Linzhang, and other places. In June, Uncle Jing was defeated and captured. In July, he was escorted to Yuti Village in Wei County and executed by lingering death.

A team of more than a hundred thousand people was completely defeated in just over two months. After being defeated for the first time, the team lost the courage to fight. Large numbers of people escaping, plus the heavy encirclement and suppression by the Beiyang Army. That was why the failure was so thorough. Pang Zi didn't want to repeat the same mistake. He planned not to wait for Pang Tianshuo anymore, and take the team to the Taihang Mountains first himself.

Since making such a plan, Pang Zi began to mobilize the brothers of the Escort Agency. Several backbone brothers could understand, but unexpectedly, quite a few of the brothers below didn't want to leave Nangong County. Such a result was greatly beyond Pang Zi's expectation. He originally thought that for saving lives, brothers temporarily leaving Nangong County shouldn't be a problem. But in fact, some brothers actually didn't think so at all.

Gao Songling and the others came back to tell Pang Zi that some brothers felt they might as well scatter to other places like the common people. Some brothers felt they should wait and see; maybe the official army wouldn't come. There were also a few who even felt the Beiyang Army was nothing special. Fighting is just fighting; everyone might not need to fear the Beiyang Army.

Pang Zi really didn't expect brothers to have such varied ideas. Before, with one order from Pang Zi, brothers followed without saying a word. At that time, when going to other places to transport goods, brothers rushed to go. Unexpectedly, such a situation would be encountered now.

"This is not even as good as the Peasant Association!" Pang Zi said hatefully. That group of people in the Peasant Association usually looked far less united than the brothers of the Escort Agency, but when talking about evacuation, they could actually leave so cleanly. His own brothers had so much nonsense instead. Don't know how Chen Tianhua treated those people of the Peasant Association usually, actually being able to persuade the people of the Peasant Association...

Although annoyed in his heart, Pang Zi couldn't explode like this. He ordered to gather the brothers, persuading them personally himself. Just after gathering everyone in the village, looking at the angry brothers, before Pang Zi had time to speak, he heard a burst of gunfire from the north of the village.

Everyone was stunned. The gunfire was sometimes tight and sometimes loose, and soon stopped. Calm was restored soon, "Everyone mount!" Pang Zi shouted. Brothers who were pricking up their ears to listen to the movement immediately turned and ran towards the stable. Pang Zi took a few brothers and ran towards the north of the village.

"Shouldn't be!" Pang Zi felt very puzzled in his mind. The Beiyang Army shouldn't come so fast. Counting fully from defeating the Canal Defense Battalion, it was only the fifth day now; how could the Beiyang Army come so fast? Pang Zi excluded this option instantly. But if the comers were not the Beiyang Army, who could it be?

Running, he saw a figure riding a horse appear in front. The person on the horse was a man dressed as a local farmer wearing a gray felt hat. He covered his rib tightly; the bumps of the horse obviously caused him great pain. His posture was obviously reducing the impact on the body when the horse galloped.

"Big Brother, that's Du Laosi!" The brother beside him had sharp eyes and already recognized the comer. In a blink of an eye, Du Laosi arrived in front of Pang Zi and the others. Brothers hurried to grab the reins. Du Laosi dismounted with the help of others; his shoulder and armpit were still dripping blood.

"Old Four, who is coming?" Pang Zi asked hurriedly. He was the scout sent by Pang Zi to investigate the north.

"At least a battalion of Grey Skins (*Hui Pi Zi*), four or five hundred people all have horses and fast guns (*rifles*), and several big guys (*heavy weapons*), and a large number of mules and horses..." The man gasped, "These gray-skinned dogs are very cunning. San'er (*Third Child*) took a few brothers and just touched the edge a bit, and a volley came over, injuring quite a few... couldn't get closer anymore."

"How far are they from us now? Whose banner?" Fatty pressed.

"Didn't see the banner clearly. They are less than three *li* from us. I ran back and they didn't chase." After Du Laosi finished speaking, his body sat down softly.

"Who the fuck is this?" Pang Zi thought angrily. "Bandage Old Four's wound first. Bring me a horse." Pang Zi shouted.

The training of these few days finally had some results. More than two hundred brothers were divided into five teams, now rushing over under the leadership of their respective leaders. Pang Zi also mounted at this time. Brothers rushed to the north of the village in a swarm. Seeing at a place two or three *li* opposite, a team of cavalry in gray uniforms lined up neatly. The banner couldn't be seen clearly from afar. They lined up leaning against a jujube forest. The shoulders of the leading officer shone, unknown what military rank.

The color of these Qing army uniforms was different from the blue uniforms of the Beiyang Army, which made Pang Zi breathe a sigh of relief.

"Songling, curse the formation (*Ma Zhen* - challenge/provoke)!" Pang Zi ordered.

Gao Songling had a loud voice. Hearing Pang Zi's order, he urged his horse forward a dozen meters, took a deep breath, and then a roar burst out from his throat, "Government troops opposite, I fuck your grandmothers!" A burst of laughter immediately erupted among the brothers behind. To be honest, suddenly encountering such a team of government troops, brothers were all nervous in their hearts. Suddenly hearing such an angry curse, everyone felt relaxed in their hearts.

Pang Zi didn't laugh. He let Gao Songling curse at the government troops violently, while he himself retreated into the formation. Brothers behind had pushed something over. This was a Gatling machine gun. Speaking of which, this machine gun was thanks to the Canal Defense Battalion. When coming to find trouble this time, don't know what they were thinking, actually bringing this machine gun along. The funniest thing was that when the whole army fled, the machine gunner threw this thing down earliest. It was captured by Pang Zi.

Pang Zi was very familiar with this machine gun. When the Beiyang Army and foreign devils attacked Uncle Jing back then, how many good brothers were killed by this thing that could spray fire continuously! Pang Zi remembered clearly. So afterwards, Pang Zi cared about this weapon very much. Unexpectedly, he could grab one too. Although this machine gun was extremely heavy, Pang Zi still let brothers transport it back. There was a machine gunner among the captives. Other captives were released by Pang Zi. Only the machine gunner was brought back. In these few days, Pang Zi had been forcing the machine gunner to teach everyone how to use this thing.

Listening to Gao Songling greeting the female family members of the government troops opposite for seven or eight generations with foul language. Pang Zi looked out from the gap between people. The government troops opposite had at least more than three hundred. Letting his own brothers fight them head-on, they definitely couldn't win. He still remembered that when his own brothers charged the Qing army and foreign devils with horse teams back then, the other party didn't move at all, first shooting with this kind of machine gun. Brothers rushing at the very front were the bravest and most capable of fighting, killed and injured many by this kind of machine gun. When his own brothers were at a loss, the enemy launched a charge. Just one charge, his own brothers collapsed. Pang Zi prepared to adopt the same tactic to deal with these government troops.

Those government troops in gray uniforms just stood quietly in the wilderness, letting Gao Songling curse like this. Only a few figures were moving. As the sun broke through the low clouds with a few lines of golden light, suddenly amidst the shaking of the government troop banner, a team of horses came out from the crowd and rushed towards Pang Zi and the others.

This group had more than fifty horses. The sound of more than two hundred horse hooves treading came from far to near. Everyone felt the vibration under their feet gradually. Almost subconsciously, brothers began to retreat. Gao Songling also turned his horse back into the team.

"People in front don't move. Move when I let you move." Pang Zi shouted.

Hearing this order, the brothers stopped their figures, but Pang Zi saw these brothers' hands were trembling slightly, and some people's legs were also trembling. Before Pang Zi issued the order, the government troops opposite suddenly straightened up on horses, slowed down the horse charge speed slightly, then raised their guns and fired at Pang Zi and the others.

There was immediately a burst of exclamations among the Escort Agency brothers. Almost everyone bent down subconsciously to dodge bullets. The Gatling machine gun originally hidden behind the crowd was revealed immediately. Pang Zi couldn't wait for the government troops to rush closer either. "Make way! Make way!" Pang Zi drove away the brothers in front of the machine gun, and then the Gatling machine gun began to spray fire.

"Da da da da da da da da da..." Violent tongues of fire spewed out from the six barrels of the machine gun. The government troops didn't expect Pang Zi and the others to actually have such firepower. Although the impact point was not very good, the cavalry of the government troops attacked in a fan shape. In a blink of an eye, a dozen government troops were hit either themselves or their horses. Cavalry and horses fell to the ground one after another. Other government troops not hit slowed down their charge speed instantly.

Pang Zi had fired the machine gun personally; he knew how loud this gun was. But as soon as the gunshots dense like exploding beans rang out, it still shocked Pang Zi's ears into ringing. And where had the horses of the Escort Agency heard such a sound? Many horses stood up neighing, or simply turned and ran. Brothers who should have controlled the horses were also frightened by this sound. Failing to stabilize the horses effectively, in a blink of an eye, the vicinity of the machine gun was in chaos.

Bullets were finished very quickly. As soon as the gunshots fell, Pang Zi ignored the ringing in his ears. He hurried to rush to his own horse, grabbed the horse spinning around, mounted with the fastest speed, then raised the rifle in his hand, "Brothers, charge!" Then regardless of how reluctant the horse was, Pang Zi knocked the horse's ribs fiercely with both feet. The horse finally obeyed Pang Zi's drive and rushed out towards the government troops.

Originally, Pang Zi practiced this kind of combat in training. As soon as the machine gun stopped, more than a hundred cavalry charged immediately. At this time Pang Zi led the way, but fewer than fifty brothers could follow him to rush out. Fortunately, the opponent had fewer people, and swept by the machine gun, the government troops were also trembling with fear. Finally stopping the horses at this time, seeing Pang Zi leading people to rush over, they simply turned their horse heads and ran back.

Pang Zi ignored whether he could hit or not, raising the rifle and firing a shot. With him leading, the brothers riding horses also remembered to shoot one after another. After a volley, another five or six people fell from the fleeing government troops. This pursuit chased for more than one *li*. Pang Zi hurriedly led the brothers to retreat. On the way back, several wounded government troops trying to stand up to escape were all solved by Escort Agency brothers with guns and knives.

Although using the tactic of machine gun ambush and cavalry pursuit. Facing more than fifty government troops opposite, only less than twenty were killed or wounded. This result was really not great. But this was a victory of head-on confrontation. A burst of ecstatic shouts erupted from the Escort Agency team that had begun to restore order. Everyone's morale was greatly boosted. Many people raised the rifles in their hands shouting sounds with unclear meanings. More people had surrounded the machine gun. Someone didn't know the barrel of the machine gun was scorching hot at this time, touched it with his hand, and then screamed in pain. Triggering another burst of good-natured laughter from surrounding brothers.

Because of a burst of close pursuit, Pang Zi's chest was heaving violently at this time. He thought proudly: *Now those government troops should know our power, right?* He ordered brothers to reorganize the formation on one hand. The machine gun was put at the back of the team again. Watching the brothers' carnival, Pang Zi was actually not too optimistic. He had made up his mind: as long as waiting until night, Pang Zi would abandon this machine gun, then lead the brothers to run south first, then turn west.

Before, the reason why Pang Zi didn't want to leave was that if he ran without fighting a battle, brothers would definitely feel Pang Zi couldn't beat the Beiyang Army. That wasn't a good thing. Looking at it now, Pang Zi's strength would only get weaker and weaker. Not being able to win a battle now, brothers would never have the courage to fight the Beiyang Army head-on whenever the Beiyang Army was mentioned in the future. This was the most terrible thing.

Since being able to win such a round, brothers knew they were not unable to beat the Beiyang Army. When morale was high, it was easier to command brothers to retreat instead. Pang Zi climbed out of a pile of dead people anyway; he actually knew very well in his heart how lucky this victory was.

Looking up at the cloud-covered sky, Pang Zi only hoped the sky would get dark quickly.