Zhao Hanfeng spread his hands and said: "Commander, you don't know something. The suppression of bandits has been going on for decades. Banditry has been wiped out in the world. Now there are only a few stubborn bandits in western Hunan and western Hubei. They are extremely cunning and tricky." "
Yao Liangchuan also felt the same way. He recalled: "My ancestral home is in Jingzhou. When I was a child, I often heard my ancestors talk about the rampant banditry. It was indeed extremely vicious and cruel. There are too many deep mountains and old forests in Huguang, stretching for several kilometers. Ten, hundreds of miles, if you drill down there, hundreds of thousands of people won’t be able to search them all.”
Zhou Changfeng looked at Zhao Hanfeng and asked: "What is the situation with the stubborn bandits who attacked Yiling after the New Year? Is there any specific information?"
The latter rummaged through the folders on the side for a few times, but didn't seem to find it, so he could only try to remember and answer:
"The current leader of this group of bandits seems to be called 'Wan Tianhu', and his real name is unknown. They caused trouble decades ago, and because they know the local area very well, they often escape."
"However, his group was severely wounded several times, and the bandit leader was killed many times. However, each time the remnants of the group ran into the depths of the mountains and forests and then reunited together. At the same time, they continued to absorb and annex other remnants of bandits and fugitives."
"They are active in the Guizhou and Yidu areas, wandering between Chutai Mountain, Tianbao Mountain, Lijiashan, Liujiashan, and Zhaizi Mountain, and their size ranges from 200 to 400 people."
"This group of bandits is well organized. Although their behavior is brutal, they are not sloppy and very fast. When the local garrison hears the news and arrives, they often have already let them escape."
After listening to his brief description, Zhou Changfeng took a sip from his tea cup and started thinking with interest.
Suddenly, he tilted his head and asked, "By the way, can I apply for this bandit-suppression mission?"
Several people present were immediately confused, and then looked at each other in confusion.
Grass! This is an absolute chore! What are you planning?
Fan Qijin, who has always been a man of few words, couldn't help but speak, "Commander, this is feasible, but it is really difficult to go to such a place to suppress it, and it cannot be regarded as a great achievement, so no one is willing to do it."
What is it like to go to the high mountains of western Hubei to suppress bandits? Every day I go into ravines and climb over mountains and ridges, and I have to beware of all kinds of venomous snakes and insects, which can kill people half to death.
Bandits who are familiar with the terrain can fire eastward and explode westward to confuse the invading troops.
In this way, after all the hard work, he caught up and fought, and even if he came back victorious, it was only a small achievement.
how? Can you brag about killing a bandit? Obviously, neither the military nor the civilian population recognizes this very highly.
As a result, no one is willing to perform such tasks.
It's okay to endure hardships and dangers. As long as they can achieve great achievements, there will be no shortage of people who are willing and even eager to do it. However, the job of suppressing bandits is hard, tiring and has no results, so it is naturally disliked by the local garrison.
Therefore, the Metropolitan Government usually chooses to mobilize troops from other places to carry out this task, because the troops are still somewhat aware and take protecting the country and the people as their own responsibility. They also publicize the bandits' evil deeds, so their morale and motivation are still full at the beginning.
But before long, after suffering all the hardships, their ambition and motivation were drained away.
Everyone looked depressed. When Zhou Changfeng saw this, he said seriously: "I know this is hard work, but someone has to do it, and our future combat environment is also complicated. Not to mention beach landing, we also have to go deep into the jungle. Fighting. It’s possible in cities, mountains, or deserts, so it’s good to practice before that.”
This is different from public security warfare. Taking the initiative to go deep into the mountains to reconnaissance, search, pursue, and annihilate those extremely cunning and stubborn bandits is a major challenge for the troops, and it tests the cooperation and organizational capabilities of various departments.
Many mistakes and flaws cannot be discovered through training and exercises, and cannot be discovered without an actual battle.
Seeing that their interest was not high, Zhou Changfeng thought for a while, waved his hand and said: "Don't worry about it now, let's finish this drill in a down-to-earth manner first."
"Yes." The officers present all clasped their fists and saluted.
Although in Zhou Changfeng's view, the suppression of these stubborn bandits was an excellent training opportunity, it was beneficial and harmless. When the war begins in the future, the performance of the Marine Regiment will definitely be better.
However, he also knew that he should not overestimate the consciousness of the Ming army, especially since it was still peacetime. If he really wanted to rush the ducks, the morale would be relatively high at the beginning, and then quickly fade away.
In the next two days, the entire regiment's officers and soldiers devoted themselves to the enthusiastic landing and swimming training.
People boating on Taihu Lake discovered that there were long warning lines connected by buoys, and a large area of the lake was turned into a "no-passing area."
From a distance, you can see a huge crowd of people, which are heavily armed soldiers conducting armed swimming training.
Zhou Changfeng, who was riding a speedboat, shouted with a loudspeaker, "Recite the formula, don't forget the essentials! Don't move your legs when paddling, close your hands and then your legs, first extend your arms and then kick your legs!"
Farther away, "iron cans" floated on the sparkling lake, followed by a trail of snow-white waves.
On the first day of early February, the application for war sent by the First Marine Regiment to the Ministry of War was approved.
During this time, he sent messages to the Admiral's Office and the Navy Department of the Eastern Fleet to inquire. Although Xu Zhanming, Yang Zhen and others found it strange, they all expressed understanding after hearing his explanation.
Yes, at least he understood the principle of "first bitter and then sweet", and tried every means to improve the combat power of his subordinates. Xu Zhanming suddenly no longer felt sorry for his dozens of bottles of Maotai and Mianzhu Daqu.
In order to boost morale, Zhou Changfeng made a request to Xu Zhanming - could he be given greater credit for suppressing this group of bandits?
The latter, who was in a good mood, generously expressed that if he did a good job, he would go and take credit for it in person.
With the assurance from the commander of the Eastern Fleet Admiral's Office, everyone felt at ease. On the night after the exercise ended, we began to discuss how to deploy it at that time.
It was particularly interesting to listen to these guys talking about the attack strategy. However, while Zhou Changfeng was listening with interest, a guard came in and reported: "Captain, I have a call for you."
"Okay, here we come."
Are you specifically looking for yourself at night?
After arriving at his tent, Zhou Changfeng picked up the phone and asked: "Who is it? I am..."
Before he finished speaking, a familiar female voice came from the other end of the phone, "You can always do something extraordinary."
Grass! Why is it you again?
Zhou Changfeng, who felt baffled, thought for a while and replied: "Eliminating harm to the people is one thing, but it is also a test and temper. It kills two birds with one stone."
"What you see as killing two birds with one stone is something that others can't avoid." There was a hint of helplessness in Zhu Lingjing's tone.
She, who is busy with epidemic prevention and control, only learned about this today. It can be said that she is very speechless - no, why do you rush to do things that others are not happy with, so you like to show off?
The last time I risked my life to go to Batavia was already outrageous, so why not come again this time? Do you like dirty work so much?
(End of chapter)
