"Lingao. i." Bei Wei held an infrared telescope made in Russia and muttered to himself. The scene under the infrared telescope is a bit blurry, but the general outline can be seen clearly.
Bei Wei has traveled all over the mountains and rivers of his motherland in the past. From the well-preserved Pingyao in Shanxi and Fenghuang in Hunan to the ancient cities with only wall foundations left, I have seen various ancient cities. But this is the first time I have seen a county town like Lingao - oval shape, long from east to west and short from north to south. Figuratively speaking, it looks like an olive.
The entire Lingao County faces south, backed by high mountains and facing the Wenlan River. The river flows from south to northeast here, forming a bend. The river environment hugs the city. "Because the river is a pond", there is no special moat.
According to visual inspection, the height of the city wall is about 7 meters. The city's perimeter is very small, Bei Wei estimates it is only 1.5 kilometers. Although it is small, the fortification is not bad. Each city gate has a tower, and there seems to be a gun emplacement. The walls are all covered with bricks and stones. The Ming Dynasty was very willing to spend manpower and material resources on urban fortification. Even small border counties like this were heavily fortified. Bei Wei remembered that he had visited the ruins of an ancient city in the great country of the universe during his travels: the so-called city wall made of random piles of rocks and mud was not as high as the wall of the elementary school where he studied, and the city gate looked like a street tunnel under the train embankment. It is truly worthy of being the largest country in the universe, traveling around the world and spreading the fire of civilization to the four ancient civilizations before finally retreating to the peninsula.
(Note: In the early Ming Dynasty, Lingao County was only one foot high when it was first built. During the Jiajing period, to protect against Japanese pirates, the city wall was raised to two feet high. At the same time, Qiao towers were built and the city wall was covered with bricks and stones.
At this moment, through the infrared telescope, one can see bonfires and lanterns on the city wall. Soldiers are patrolling back and forth. It seems that the defense is very tight. However, even though he had never studied the history of ancient wars, he could see that there were huge loopholes in the city gate's defense. The east and west gates are located at the two ends of the olive, completely protruding outwards, with no cover on either side. Attackers can concentrate on storming the tip of the city gate without worrying about the firepower of the two wings. As for the south gate facing the Wenlan River, it is at the most prominent point in the middle waist of the entire 'olive'.
There were some vague buildings outside the east gate, but there were no lights at all, and it was completely silent. There is also a long stone bridge with multiple arches on the Wenlan River outside the South City Gate. It was rebuilt by County Cheng Liusheng during the Yongle period on the basis of the wooden bridge of Taiping Bridge in the Yuan Dynasty. The bridge has nine holes and is named Lin. Jiangqiao.
(Note: This bridge is also known as Wenshui Bridge. It was renovated in the Qing Dynasty and was heightened and widened in the 1950s. It was used until the end of the 1960s. In 1970, this well-preserved ancient bridge was demolished.
"It seems that the county already knows that we are coming." Li Jun whispered.
"Stop talking and be alert." Bei Wei adjusted the focus of the telescope.
At dusk, Ma Qianzhu approached Bei Wei and asked him to lead a capable reconnaissance team to advance along the Wenlan River inland and penetrate directly to the foot of Lingao County.
"Get under Lingao City as quickly as possible and monitor the county town." Ma Qianxu told him, "It is not your task to survey along the road."
After receiving the order, he immediately transferred three people from the military team who had just taken a break, and another person from the communications team. After selecting the necessary equipment and making some preparations, we set out after nightfall.
"Your mission is not to fight, but to monitor the other party's movements. Don't kill anyone unless necessary."
According to the nature of this mission, the reconnaissance team members all put on camouflage uniforms. In addition to the rifle, they also specially brought a Saiga-3O8 rifle with a scope, an infrared telescope and a 2-watt radio.
Cross-country driving at night may be difficult for ordinary people, but it is not difficult for soldiers. Not to mention they were each equipped with a pair of low-light night vision goggles. What was slightly more difficult was that he did not have a Lingao map of this time and space in his hand, and it was difficult to judge his direction while traveling, so Bei Wei decided to walk along the river as much as possible - according to the geographical data of this time and space, Lingao County is located 12 kilometers up the river. , there are obvious landmarks like Bairen Beach on the way that can be used as a reference. Coupled with the compass and map interpretation, you will not get lost without a guide.
If it is an ordinary road, even an ordinary person can walk 12 kilometers in 3 hours. Although there are no roads at the moment, when the staff traveled, they found that there was basically no complicated terrain on both sides of the Wenlan River, and it would take up to 4 hours.
In fact, they were faster than they imagined. Wearing night vision goggles, the team marched along the river without resting along the way. They already saw the lights of Lingao County in 3 hours.
A small hillside was chosen across the river. This is a forest of mixed trees. It is located between the south gate and the east gate of the county. It faces the city wall across the river and can clearly monitor the south gate and the east gate. The reconnaissance team built an observation position here and sprinkled powder to repel snakes and insects. The night temperature in Lingao in September was already very low and the dew was heavy. The team members set up small sheds with raincloths and began to wait in shifts.
"Captain, the command center has called us and wants us to report the situation." Li Yunxing, the telegraph operator, reported.
"This is Bei Wei at the telegraph machine."
"This is Ma Qianzhu at the telegraph machine. How are you doing?"
"Very good. The reconnaissance team arrived in Lingao at 21:12 on September 1st of the lunar calendar." Bei Wei lowered his head and looked at his watch, "Currently under observation."
"How is the current situation in Lingao?"
"We have entered a state of alert. There are about 20 people patrolling and standing guard on the south wall from west to east."
"Continue to monitor and contact us at any time if there is any situation. Over." Ma Qianzhu ended the call and looked up at the clock on the ship. The hour hand was already pointing to 9:30 in the evening. More than ten hours had passed at t on the d day, and the ship was unloaded. A large amount of supplies and equipment are available, and the beach base is beginning to take shape. The current camp is strong enough to withstand an attack by hundreds of local armed forces. However, the reports coming from everywhere are not optimistic. Some basic building materials are in short supply, and most of the facilities that took many man-hours to build are temporary structures. Many basic livelihood facilities are also not in place.
Contact with local people was o. Although the military personnel on the cordon found a lot of traces of human activities, they had not encountered local people yet. The lookout post on the beacon tower showed that there were occasionally a few sailboats passing by on the sea surface, but not a single fishing boat appeared near Changgong Bay, the main fishing ground for Lingao fishermen. Apparently he was scared away by the alarm from Beacon Tower.
At the summary meeting on the first day, many executive committee members believed that the originally planned turtle flow strategy was too conservative. Everything that happened on the dth proved that the turtle flow in Bobu Port was not conducive to the upgrading of the base. The current situation, according to Wang Luobin, is an endless loop: not enough building materials - unable to build a production base - no production base - unable to produce building materials - not enough building materials. To break through this cycle, we must go out quickly and establish an industrial base in a place suitable for development.
According to the news from the reconnaissance team, the locals are now panicked and are just keeping their doors closed and will not attack the travelers at all. This is a good opportunity to quickly expand the scope of control and upgrade the base.
The meeting decided to dispatch a second reconnaissance team at dawn tomorrow, with the task of surveying and mapping the terrain and surveying resources in nearby areas.
"At the same time, we will send out another line survey team to survey and design the Bopu-Bailintan Highway." Wen Desi's colored pencils drew a line on the transparent board of the map. "We are surveying, designing and constructing. In addition to All labor and machinery other than maintaining the necessary manpower and equipment to continue unloading are devoted to this project. Try to open up the connection between the two places within three or four days, so that by D+5 we can start construction work in Bairentan .
"Both survey teams require military teams to perform security tasks, right?" He Ming asked, "The military team must apply to recruit ten additional militiamen to enter active service."
Wen Desi frowned. Human resources were currently in short supply. Once road construction began, it goes without saying that there would be an even greater shortage of labor. However, the military team is indeed stretched to the point where twenty-one people are responsible for the security and lookout on land and sea. Four more were sent out for reconnaissance without any rest throughout the day. The others are still at various towers and sentry posts. Up - they can only take turns taking naps.
"Okay, I can give it to you." Wen Desi made up his mind, "Each surveying and mapping team will send two guards." He glanced at He Ming, "Isn't this a big problem?"
He Ming nodded: "No problem. The labor force is currently tight in the organization. Military personnel must also participate in labor when they are not on duty."
"It's very hard for you to be on guard for a day."
"I have discussed with Bai Yu, Zhao De, and Chen Haiyang to adjust the military team's duty plan. Everyone responsible for security duties must work for 2 hours a day. I took the lead."
The sky was getting brighter, and the early morning of D+1 fell on the first reconnaissance team. Everyone was wearing a camouflage cloak, and the dew made them all wet.
Through the telescope, one could see people on the top of the city yawning as they took down their lanterns and extinguished them. The fires of the torches were extinguished, leaving curls of green smoke in the morning light.
At night, I saw vague buildings outside the east gate. They turned out to be temples and the like. The city is surrounded by open areas, with large areas of wilderness mixed with some paddy fields, and several residential settlements scattered throughout.
Wei Aiwen slowly climbed to Li Jun's observation position and said, "Brother Li, let's do it."
"What do you want to do?"
"Go to the county seat."
"Just the five of us?" Li Jun glanced at the three people sleeping under the camouflage shed. This Xiao Wei is really a left-leaning adventurist.
"We have five semi-automatic vehicles. Are we still afraid of a few natives? We rushed up and scared them all away with a burst of bullets."
"Then you go put on your raincoat first."
"Why?"
"If we dress like us, we will definitely be treated as monsters and splashed with blood and shit."
"..." Wei Aiwen knew this was impossible. His real idea was to shoot. After getting the SKS, he shamelessly got a Russian-made R14 scope and pestered the Beiwei gang. He was practicing, and he had "emptied" dozens of times yesterday when he was on guard. Today he was eager to find a chance to try his marksmanship.
Bei Wei was awakened by their words and said: "Save it, the task given to us by the Executive Committee is reconnaissance, not fighting. Shooting rashly will expose our intentions. Besides, the purpose of this time is reconnaissance and training. Training the team. Didn’t you just fall down tired as soon as you got here and sleep for most of the night before waking up."
"I paid for half the night for you. You must remember to pay me back next time." Li Jun said, "I am in my thirties, and working the night shift is harmful to my health..."
