In the early winter of 1924, on this evening, five people dressed as peasants came down from Jigong Mountain in Xinyang, Henan Province. They lived in an abandoned land temple.
These 5 people were the assassination team sent by Duan Qirui, the prime minister of Beiyang, to assassinate Wu Peifu.
The short and fat man at the head is called Wang Yiwu, who is Duan Qirui's personal bodyguard; the second is called Xiao Buckle, who is a snitch, who has a unique skill of walking on the wall with one hand, and the third is called Gong Beard, who is not only good at martial arts, but also knows fortune telling. The remaining two are grappling masters, one is called Wu Mazi and the other is called Li Monk.
Wang Yiwu stayed overnight in the temple, and the next morning came to the highest peak on Jigong Mountain, in front of the mansion where Wu Peifu lived.
Wang Yiwu and the others carefully inspected and found that the defense here was extremely tight, and there were three layers of guards surrounding the defense of the mansion, and it was impossible to get close at all.
So Wang Yiwu thought of Gao Lantang, president of the Jigong Mountain District Association. He and Wu Peifu have a friendship. I consulted with Xiao Button and others.
Xiao Button suddenly remembered that there was a fellow villager surnamed Li who was on an errand at Gao Lan Tang's manor, and if he could find him, everything would be easy to do.
The next day, a merchant who made up a small button to sell medicinal materials came to the Gaojia Manor, inquired, and sure enough, he found his hometown surnamed Li.
Therefore, Xiao Button bribed this fellow with heavy money, and learned from his mouth that Gao Lan Tang would feast on Wu Peifu at the manor these two days.
Xiao Button hurriedly returned to report the news to Wang Yiwu.
Wang Yiwu heard the great joy, so he immediately decided that Wang Yiwu and Xiao Button would enter the mountain villa that night to ambush, and Gong Beard and the three of them would be responsible for receiving them outside the manor.
At 9 a.m. on this day, Wu Peifu sat in an apricot-yellow car and was protected by more than 30 heavily armed guards to the manor.
Wu Peifu got out of the car and was welcomed into the manor by Gao Lantang and the guards.
Wu Peifu and Gao Lantang chatted for a while, and the banquet began.
At this time, Wang Yiwu and Xiao Button quickly jumped into the kitchen from the back window. Wang Yiwu forced the cook with a pistol, and the small button hid in the aisle to drag the waiter who delivered the food into the toilet.
Then quickly put the waiter's clothes on his body and returned to the kitchen, the small button placed the pistol on a soup plate, then covered it with a rag, picked up the soup plate with both hands, and strode toward the restaurant.
At this time, Gao Lantang, Wu Peifu, Deputy Jiang and several other people were sitting around the table. Behind Wu Peifu stood the captain of the guard with 2 German-made barge guns inserted at his waist, and he vigilantly scanned the door.
The little button fixed his mind, and as soon as he entered the door of the restaurant, he suddenly saw Gao Lantang stop talking and look at him in amazement. Ask: You, what are you?
Originally, there was a rule in Gao Lan Tang that all people in the villa should lighten their steps when entering and leaving, but the little button did not know this rule, so the footsteps were particularly heavy.
As soon as Xiao Baozi saw that he was recognized by Gao LanTang, he instantly threw away the soup plate, grabbed the pistol, and fired two shots at Wu Peifu.
The captain of the guard realized that something was wrong, violently pushed Wu Peifu down, raised the double box gun and fired a salvo, and the small button immediately fell to the ground and died.
The captain of the guard pressed his gun against Gao Lantang's head and asked in a loud voice: "Mr. Gao, are you inviting the Grand Marshal to the Hongmen Banquet?"
Gao Lantang was frightened and stammered, at this time, Wu Peifu, who was relieved, said: Stop, I have seen the situation of the assassins coming in just now, this matter has nothing to do with Mr. Gao, you will arrest Yu Dang immediately.
Adjutant Jiang led the soldiers to search carefully and found the body of the waiter in the toilet. The stunned chef said that another Assassin had escaped through the window.
Therefore, Deputy Jiang strictly investigated everyone, and finally locked the nursing home surnamed Li and shot him.
Wu Peifu luckily escaped the disaster, and his heart palpitated. At this moment, Xiao Yaonan, the overseer of Hubei, sent someone to take Wu Peifu to Wuhan. Arranged for him to live in a mansion by his chief of staff, Zhang Housheng, on the Han River.
After Wu Peifu lived in the Zhang Mansion, he lived in a simple place, and except for the political dignitaries, idle people were not seen at all.
After Wang Yiwu learned that Wu Peifu had arrived in Hankou to live in Zhang Housheng's mansion, they began to study the assassination of Wu Peifu again.
Wang Yiwu said: Wu Peifu likes fortune telling, and Zhang Housheng's wife Qin Chunjuan is even more superstitious about this set of face measurement, I wonder only from this arithmetic to find opportunities!
Wu Mazi and Monk Li agreed with this plan when they heard it, but only Gong Beard, who understood yin and yang gossip, had a calm face and did not say a word.
Wang Yiwu looked at Gong Beard and said: Our opportunities are not much, the guards in the Zhang Mansion are strict, we only have this one way, that is, to use the opportunity of the face-to-face to control Wu Peifu and hold him out, and the 3 of us will prepare a car outside the mansion to pick him up, and immediately kill him after getting on the bus. Gong Beard agreed.
This morning, Qin Chunjuan took a car to Guiyuan Temple to worship the Buddha and incense, and when she returned, she suddenly met Gong Beard, who was pretending to be Mr. Face-to-face, at the entrance of the temple.
Gong Huzi did not wait for Qin Chunjuan to open her mouth, he said a few family affairs about her, and Qin Chunjuan was very surprised. So he immediately let him get in the car and take him into the house to see the picture.
As soon as Gong Beard arrived at the mansion, Deputy Jiang peifu by Wu Peifu's side heard about it. He thought, "The Grand Marshal is very upset these days, why not let this divine warrior crack it for him?"
Therefore, Deputy Jiang ordered the guards to search Gong Beard's whole body and take him to Wu Peifu's office in the backyard.
Wu Peifu was sitting in his office drinking tea, when Deputy Jiang came to report and invited a divine priest to relieve the grand marshal's boredom. Wu Peifu originally liked to gossip and look at faces, and when he heard it, he suddenly came to the spirit and said a word of please.
Gong Beard couldn't help but look at Wu Peifu with some nervousness, and he gave Wu Peifu a salute and said: Please ask the marshal to extend his left hand. Wu Peifu smiled and said: "You show it to my adjutant first!"
Deputy Jiang put his hand out, and Gong Beard suddenly punched him in the ear. Deputy Jiang was immediately knocked unconscious, and at the same time Gong Beard grabbed Wu Peifu's wrist, and with his right hand, he took out a sharp dagger from his sleeve and aimed it at Wu Peifu's neck. Holding him hostage, he walked outside.
The guards outside the door did not dare to shoot, afraid of injuring Wu Peifu by mistake. Gong Beard shouted: "Let Lao Tzu dodge away."
At this time, Wu Peifu's guard commander flew to the backyard to untie a big wolf dog he had trained. The big wolfhound jumped up like an arrow and bit down on Gong Beard's wrist.
Gong Beard cried out in pain, and the dagger landed on the ground. At this time, the guards pounced on it and tied up Gong Beard.
Wu Peifu personally interrogated him.
Gong Beard knew that he was doomed, and in order to suffer less from the pain of flesh and skin, he had to give a full explanation. Wu Peifu executed the assassins.
