Hobbes said in his work "Leviathan": "The rule of a government cannot be perfect, and the pain caused by civil war caused by the government is not strong enough, or the chaos caused by fighting and plunder because there is no strong legal restraint." The government’s shortcomings pale in comparison.”
All in all, it expounds the point of view that "the worst government is better than no government", and it is perfectly appropriate to use the current bad situation in the disaster area to support this point of view.
"Everyone, stand back! Disperse! Don't gather here!"
At three o'clock in the morning, in front of the ruins of the Kyushu Bank Caozhou Branch, several patrol policemen in tattered and stained clothes were holding pistols as if they were facing an enemy.
What they faced was a crowd of people on three levels inside and three outside, at least 200 people.
As a police officer at the Liuermiao Police Station of the Inspection Division, Yu Zhang was thankful that his shift last night ended in the early morning patrol duty, otherwise he would have been buried under the rubble by now.
His wife, who was three months pregnant, returned to her parents' home. Her parents and others were also in the countryside and could not be contacted now, so Yu Zhang, who was unconcerned, chose to continue performing his duties.
Although there was no prescribed procedure for dealing with such a situation, he followed his instinct and rushed straight to the nearby bank.
In the next few hours, several surviving patrol officers came over one after another, but including him, there were only five of them, one of whom was a female clerk and had never even touched a gun.
Behind them are banks that store real money and large amounts of banknotes.
In fact, from yesterday morning to evening, sneaky guys came over from time to time to take a peek, and there were also people walking around the bank in small groups, muttering something in a low voice, but in the end they were stopped by the patrol officers. .
But the situation took a turn for the worse this morning. These guys seemed to have reached an agreement after a night of discussions, and their willingness to plot evil became stronger.
What further boosted their confidence were several shotguns and pistols, which they picked up or snatched from no one knows where.
"Stop!"
"If you come here again, we'll shoot!"
Faced with the hoarse warning, dozens of people holding kitchen knives, wooden sticks, shovels, and steel bars were still approaching step by step, and there were also a few guys with guns mixed in among them.
"Bang!" A nervous patrolman fired into the air again.
Yu Zhang, with a stern look on his face, stopped him: "They are obsessed with money. Warning is useless. Don't waste bullets!"
When a gunshot was heard from the crowd that was pressing closer and closer, the two sides immediately started shooting at each other, and a gun battle broke out!
The people who were shot and fell to the ground let out pitiful screams, but the crackling gunfire and shouts at the scene completely drowned out their wails.
The female clerk, who did not have a gun and could not use a gun, tried her best to keep calm and shouted loudly: "This is an act of banditry! If you take advantage of the situation, you will be beheaded! Stop it!"
These dozens of people relied on the broken walls and cars on the street. Those with guns continued to shoot, and those without guns randomly picked up pieces of bricks and stone and threw them over.
An arrogant voice came from the crowd, "After killing you, then running away after grabbing, changing clothes, who will know ten days and a half later? Hahahaha——"
His words made the dozens of people present even more excited. The usually idle scoundrels were so happy to encounter such a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Isn't this God's reward?
"Come on, why are you dawdling?"
"Don't be afraid, there are only a few of them!"
"Let's go all at once!"
Just when they were about to swarm up, a roar of engines came from behind.
The noise became louder and louder, and they all looked back in unison, only to see a gray-green off-road vehicle speeding towards them.
What does a military vehicle mean?
For the thugs who tried to take advantage of the situation with violence, military vehicles represented order and absolute violence, and were the core manifestation of the Ming Dynasty's dictatorship.
The more than a hundred people wandering around the periphery simply dispersed. These people were timid to begin with. They came mainly to watch the excitement, but they also wanted to get a small share of the pie after others succeeded.
"Beep beep beep——"
Zhou Changfeng turned the steering wheel and honked the horn fiercely. The harsh sound of the horn suddenly drowned out the sound of gunfire.
The Xunlei 18-type off-road vehicle lay across the middle of the dilapidated street. Before it came to a complete stop, he and Luo Fu quickly jumped out of the vehicle and relied on the body to find cover.
The latter shouted at the top of his lungs: "Hold your head and kneel down! Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"
Zhou Changfeng, on the other hand, had already placed a Type 20 automatic gun on the hood and aimed it at the chaotic crowd.
Perhaps because only one military vehicle appeared, the scoundrels who had just been shocked felt that they were okay again.
"boom!"
"Da da!"
Someone fired at them with a shotgun, and Zhou Changfeng immediately fired back.
Two rounds of .351-inch Winchester round-nose bullets carried 1,800 joules of kinetic energy and flew out of the muzzle, immediately knocking down the guy holding the Baocheng brand shotgun.
I really can't care too much at this moment, I have to scare these guys as soon as possible, otherwise I will be in big trouble.
In just a few breaths, he killed several other gun-wielding bandits with precise double-shot short bursts, which made Luo Fu, who was fighting back randomly with a pistol in the black uncle shooting posture, sigh.
"Don't run! Kneel down!" Zhou Changfeng shouted while changing the magazine.
However, these dozens of people were frightened by the sharp blows among the lightning and flints. A group of bully guys immediately ran away when they saw that something was not going well.
Amidst the short and rhythmic "ta-da" sounds, four or five of the gangsters who fled were knocked down one after another. Some of the devastated guys chose to kneel down and beg for mercy, but some of them escaped by chance.
"You have no deterrent effect with a small pistol." Zhou Changfeng smoothly took out a Type 34 submachine gun from the trunk of the car, and then handed it to Luo Fu, "Take it! I told you earlier , deterrence first, shooting second.”
More than two dozen frightened robbers were driven to the ruins of the bank by the two men holding guns. Then they selected three of them and asked them to tie up the hands and heels of the others.
What makes Zhou Changfeng helpless is that after all this, there are still people who dare to be clever and deliberately tie them tightly to make them look loose.
He didn't say much, he just shot him, and a pool of blood quickly appeared under the body that fell to the ground.
"It's really stubborn." Yu Zhang spat.
After speaking, he bowed his hands to Zhou Changfeng and said, "Sir, where are you coming from? Has the imperial court sent troops to rescue you?"
The latter nodded slightly, but then shook his head and said: "We sent, but the earthquake caused serious damage to the roads, and the large troops will not be able to get in for a while."
"Alas, the situation in this mansion is really miserable..."
At this time, the female clerk suddenly exclaimed. Everyone looked at the sound and saw a large area of red on the waist of a patrol policeman, with faint drops of blood visible.
Obviously, everyone was in a state of high tension due to the fierce shooting match just now, and it was difficult to feel the pain due to the large amount of adrenaline secreted.
Fortunately, the patrolman's injuries were not serious. The bullet only opened a gash in his waist, and his skin and flesh were torn. Although it was scary, it was not fatal.
Luo Fu trotted to the car and got a first aid kit. He rinsed it with boric acid disinfectant and then sprinkled it with white medicine. After bandaging it, it was fine for the time being.
"Now we first need to get in touch with the state government and the police station." Zhou Changfeng raised his hand and glanced at his watch and asked, "Are you familiar with this place? I mean the whole city."
"Sir, don't worry. I've been studying in the city since I was a child and running around. I know how to get around Caozhou City just by feeling!" Yu Zhang replied without thinking.
Later, Zhou Changfeng and Luo Fuxian drove around and called out loudly to see if there were any lone patrol policemen and militiamen, or any reservists who had received training.
Ancient militia systems such as Tuanlian and Xiangyong have also been greatly modified and are now managed by state and county military depots and government military halls.
After bringing back two militiamen and a reserve soldier, Zhou Changfeng left behind a submachine gun. Together with the several pistols and shotguns left behind by the bandits, at least everyone in the house could have a gun.
Then they took Yu Zhang with them, and he led the way straight to the state government office.
During the bumpy journey, both sides of the road were filled with stained citizens, including old men with white hair and women holding babies.
All eyes were fixed on this car that brought them hope. People all remembered what the notice that the goddess dropped like flowers yesterday said - pay attention to aftershocks and help each other. The court has already dispatched personnel to provide disaster relief. Those who take advantage of the situation and rob them will be severely punished.
Some people asked when other people from the government would arrive, and some people came directly to ask for help.
But there was nothing Zhou Changfeng could do now and he could only comfort him: "Hold on, rescue will definitely come."
When passing through a block, even though it is in ruins, you can still tell that it was originally a bustling commercial area.
However, it is now a mess. Five or six bodies are lying on the ground, and some bullet casings can be seen here and there.
Looking at the corpses of two of the patrolmen, Yu Zhang said in a deep voice: "This used to be several jewelry stores and gold and silver stores. They must have been looted."
Luo Fu, whose eyes were full of worry, said: "With such chaos, I don't know if the yamen will collapse... If there is no one to protect it, the granary will definitely be robbed."
Due to the damaged roads and the flood-stricken citizens living on the streets along the way, the car couldn't move quickly at all, and it took more than half an hour to reach the government office in Caozhou.
The plaque with the words "Caozhou Department" fell to the ground, and the gate, ceremony gate, lobby, and houses were all not spared, and they were all turned into rubble.
Fortunately, there are still many figures on the ruins. At a glance, there are probably twenty or thirty people.
"Is Zhizhou here? Who is the biggest here?" Zhou Changfeng shouted as he got out of the car.
A middle-aged man walked over quickly, cupped his hands and said: "Zhizhou died of serious injuries... In Xia Luweizhong, Caozhou Tongzhi, the imperial court's rescue was so fast?"
Zhou Changfeng shook his head and said, "No, it's still early for the main force to arrive. We just came in first to find out the situation."
Hearing the sound, the originally eager eyes of everyone present suddenly dimmed a lot.
At this time, three people in army field uniforms also trotted over and approached. The second lieutenant among them happily clasped his fists and said, "Sir, the navy is here too?!"
Luo Fu glanced at the rank cards of the three of them, "How did you get here?"
The leading second lieutenant replied: "We are from the 35th Division. Because there was no news from this place before, we were ordered to land with a radio to report the actual situation."
"Where's the pilot?"
"Broken bones. When landing...the plane broke its landing gear."
The current situation is that the troops coming from all directions cannot get in in a short period of time, which can range from three to five days at least, to eight or ten days at most.
And because the road damage is more serious the closer to the epicenter, the outer prefectures and counties will receive rescue first, and in one circle inward, it is almost inevitable that Caozhou, which is at the core, will be the last to wait for rescue.
Until then, it's basically up to the survivors themselves.
Zhou Changfeng summoned the officials present and made clear to them the next arrangements.
"The top priority now is to restore order. There are many bandits running around in the city. Banks and jewelry stores have been attacked. We must first ensure the safety of the granary."
Lu Weizhong nodded and said: "Sir Zhou, I ordered to call in manpower to guard the reserve warehouse at noon yesterday, but I don't know what the situation is now."
"We will continue to organize the team later, first ensure the granary, then the power plant, and then the hospital to restore some functions, try to maintain order and wait for the arrival of the large force." Zhou Changfeng, who looked serious, added: "Now is an emergency, we are taking advantage of the fire. Criminal behavior must be dealt with severely.”
"Understood, the crime of violating the law will be increased to the second degree, and the robbers will be executed immediately to shock Xiaoxiao." An official from the police station responded immediately.
How long can we rely on the remaining public security and bureaucracy systems?
To be honest, Zhou Changfeng didn't know what was going on. The most dangerous thing after the disaster was the people's hearts. Everyone was already in panic all day long, and coupled with the attempts of those who feared chaos in the world to add fuel to the fire, the situation couldn't be worse.
At 2:00 noon that day, Zhou Changfeng sent a telegram:
"...There are few houses left in the prefecture city. Cracks in the ground, water leakage, and collapses are common. The rain has gradually stopped, but the water is still up to the ankles. The streets are blocked. The victims are sleeping in the open, without food, clothing, and medicine. The people are panic-stricken. , bandits and gangsters are everywhere, even raiding banks and gold shops. I have arrived in Caozhou day and night, and now I am taking charge of Caozhou affairs, organizing officials and people to save themselves, and trying their best to maintain order..."
After explaining the current situation, he asked for airdrop of supplies.
In fact, as early as yesterday afternoon, the Air Force and Navy quickly organized small-scale airdrops, but they were quickly suspended.
On the one hand, the success rate of airdrops is low due to poor weather conditions, and most of the supplies are unknown where they landed.
On the other hand, considering the chaotic order in the disaster area, these materials are likely to be occupied by bandits after they land, making it impossible for ordinary people to get them.
Fortunately, things have finally turned around, and there is a strange person inside.
Although personal power is small, it still depends on the situation. Some time ago, the government and the public were talking about Mr. Zhou with mixed praise and criticism, but now that they learned that this guy took the opportunity to go directly deep into the epicenter area, many people actually felt a little relieved?
If order is restored and continuous airdrop support is provided, Caozhou's subsequent losses and casualties can be minimized. This is already the best ending to a bad situation.
(End of chapter)
