"There are so many difficulties in the world. I don't care what you call difficulties. I only know that the banditry in western Hubei has not been put down for more than ten years. It has been successful many times, but it only takes a few months for it to happen again, again and again. And three, is this concealment or dereliction of duty?"
Elevating the nature of this matter to the level of bullying and dereliction of duty, the emperor's attitude was already obvious.
Lin Xi, who was indirectly related to this matter, received a lot of criticism. Although he was completely unaware of it, he had to take responsibility for it in his position. There was nothing to complain about.
The other cabinet ministers had their own affairs to be busy with, so he made a phone call to the staff office of the Governor's Mansion.
"Zhizao, what happened? It's just three things. I'm afraid the report from the Hubei Governor's Office is false."
The person who answered the phone was Cheng Han, a colleague from the staff office. After hearing Lin Xi's helpless words, he looked helpless and said with a wry smile: "You have only been in the cabinet for a short time, so it is normal to not know the actual situation. The banditry in these two places is very serious." It's like this every time, but they can't be caught, and even if they are caught, they often let them slip away. It takes a lot of effort to defeat them. Every time, most of them are wiped out, and only a few of the remaining ones escape..."
"Then it comes back again?" Lin Xi, who had been criticized, was in a bad mood at the moment. He clicked his tongue and said in a deep voice: "This incident has shocked the government and the public. It should not be underestimated. It must be eradicated!"
"Cut the grass and root it out? My Mr. Lin Ge, you said it's easy, but how many people and things will be wasted in doing it?"
"No, it's about the prestige of the court. It's a political issue, regardless of cost and expense."
In fact, in Cheng Han's view, taking the initiative to suppress these stubborn bandits is not worth the gain.
It's not like there is no precedent in the past. When a large army is dispatched, it costs a lot every day. In the end, it often takes several months to achieve certain results, and some remnant bandits will eventually escape. Especially after being defeated, it becomes even more difficult to trace the remaining bandits in twos and threes.
For the same expenditure, it is better to strengthen the defense and defense of surrounding states and counties.
But since this is the order, we can only obey it.
Since it "shocked the government and the public", this matter was naturally known to Zhou Changfeng.
However, after being surprised, he just complained and then continued to be busy with business.
The "cross-regional exercise" he applied to the Ministry of War years ago was finally approved, so the entire Marine Regiment was preparing intensively for it.
The so-called "exercise" is actually a joint exercise. The exercise process applied for this time is to start from Yingtianfu, go to Wuxi Prefecture in a field march, and then conduct landing training at Taihu Lake.
The intermediate distance is more than 370 miles. The reason why the transportation is not carried out by railway is because Zhou Changfeng feels that it is harmless to conduct a long-distance field march training.
In the early morning of the 17th day of the first lunar month, more than 4,000 officers and soldiers of the entire regiment were reorganized by the river and immediately set off.
Since it is called a place where the elites of the entire army gather, all the soldiers of the 1st Marine Regiment can be said to be well-trained. Even the so-called "new recruits" have gone through a complete three months of recruit training.
At that time, the Navy was very strict when it came to selecting soldiers - individual soldiers were allowed to have at most one good score in their military assessment, and everything else had to be excellent in order to be eligible to be transferred to the Marine Corps.
A unit composed of such a group of officers and soldiers quickly formed a certain combat effectiveness after months of running-in, but Zhou Changfeng believed that this was just a passing grade.
"You need to be very careful along the way. If there is any disturbance to the public and someone takes a copy of it, it will be embarrassing for me."
Yao Liangchuan took off his square half-rimmed glasses, blew on them, and then put them back on.
Zhou Changfeng raised his hand to look at his watch and casually replied: "We must try to avoid it, but any situation may happen. One hundred percent precaution is not as good as eighty percent prevention and twenty percent remedy."
In early spring, everything will begin to recover, and the desolation of autumn and winter has not yet completely faded away.
Unlike the 3rd Mixed Brigade, which is all motorized, the 1st Marine Regiment can only be said to be half draft horse and half motorized - the artillery unit and the regiment's baggage units are equipped with trucks for towing and transporting goods, while the subordinate battalions are still equipped with trucks. It is mainly carried by mules and horses, with only a small number of motorcycles and off-road vehicles.
The long procession marched on the wide concrete official road, the dust was flying, the trees on both sides of the road were still bare, and the buds of new branches and leaves had just appeared.
The sun rises and the moon sets, the sun sets and the moon rises.
The Marine Corps' drills and doctrine are copied from those of the Army in many respects, at least in terms of marching doctrine.
The 1st Marine Regiment marched toward the destination along the official road according to the marching regulations in wartime conditions, passing through Jurong County, Danyang County, and Wujin County. The marching speed was maintained at about 40 kilometers per day, which is the standard speed of regular marching.
It can be said that the whole group is a little excited. After all, after training boringly for so long, it is so refreshing to be able to "take a trip".
However, things went against expectations. Along the way, Zhou Changfeng tormented everyone a lot.
Sometimes it is "encountering enemy landmines, immediately organize their elimination", sometimes it is "discovering the enemy's air-dropped delayed aerial bombs, organizing detonation", sometimes it is "suddenly encountering an enemy force, and changing to a combat posture on the spot".
All of this, coming up every now and then, suddenly made the officers and soldiers lose a bit of their original enthusiasm.
"There are still five miles to go before the scheduled resting place. Captain, we will arrive in about two-quarters of an hour."
"Oh, it's so fast. In this way, send the order. If the enemy reconnaissance plane is discovered, everyone will take cover on the spot and prepare for air defense."
Zhao Hanfeng grimaced and hesitated: "We just practiced yesterday afternoon, do we still want to practice today? I'm afraid we won't be able to make it to the campsite tonight."
"Hey, you are a staff officer, how can you not take this kind of thing into consideration?" Zhou Changfeng waved his hand, "The actual combat situation is changing rapidly. If a war breaks out, you may have to rush on time despite the enemy's air raids. "
"Yes. After the air defense posture is ended later, the entire army will switch to a rapid march and accelerate for two hours, so that they can reach Wuxi before sunset."
"No problem, just organize and adjust it."
Soon, a sharp air raid siren sounded.
Several communication soldiers shook the hand-cranked alarms in their hands vigorously, and the shrill and piercing sound shocked the tired soldiers.
"Quick! Anti-aircraft stance!"
"Get over the edge!"
"Damn it, why did you fold up the camouflage net yesterday? It's such a mess!"
"Take care of the ruts! Get the shovel!"
Although there were some scattered mistakes, the entire team still completed the initial concealment in just half a quarter of an hour.
Soldiers were lying on both sides of the road. Artillery, trucks, and tanks were parked under the trees and covered with camouflage nets. A dozen anti-aircraft machine guns from the battalion and regiment were also deployed, with their long barrels pointing diagonally towards the sky. .
"Look, the progress is still very obvious, getting better every time."
From the initial delay and confusion to the current speed, it can be said that the Marine Corps has made considerable progress, and Zhou Changfeng is very satisfied with this.
He put down the telescope, put his hands on his hips and ordered: "Later, the big break will be turned into a small rest, and then speed up, and arrive in Wuxi before dark. The marching drill will be successfully concluded. Send a report to the local county government and let them prepare. Get some ingredients and have a good meal tonight.”
(End of chapter)
