Chapter 67: Gou Family Village (Part 4)

That evening, the military group held a brief staff meeting based on the results of the reconnaissance and prisoner interrogation. The meeting was led by Wu De, the person in charge of this operation. In 21st-century terms, he would be the “Gou Family Village Demolition Project Manager.”

Wu De was going to carry out a violent demolition, so of course, he needed troops. Whether by coincidence or design, several key leaders of the military group were not in Bairen City. The only remaining army faction leader in the military group’s leadership was He Ming. He Ming was an old soldier, known for his obedience to orders, adherence to command, and strong principles, which made it relatively easy to coordinate with Wu De, who came from the navy faction.

In addition to the military group personnel, representatives from the professional groups of various committees also attended the meeting. Gou Family Village would be their first prize. Although it was just a small, tyrannical village, it was a prelude to capturing larger county seats, prefectural cities, and even the capital in the future. They had to be prepared for how to pacify the populace, confiscate materials and property, and conduct propaganda and agitation after occupying a settlement.

Based on the available information, the defensive level of Gou Family Village was not very strong, even by the standards of this era. It would not be difficult to break through with direct force. The military group proposed the simplest and safest plan for their personnel: use rifles to clear the militiamen from the village walls, and then use armored engineering machinery to ram the gate directly. No matter how thick the wooden gate was, even if covered with iron sheets, it couldn’t withstand a bulldozer with several hundred horsepower. However, this plan was a bit extravagant. The terrain from Bairen City to Gou Family Village was flat, which posed no problem for tracked vehicles, but the distance was a bit long. Besides the fuel consumption, the operating hours of the machinery itself would also be considerable.

A simpler approach would be to have the assault team use scaling ladders or even form a human ladder to get onto the village walls, capture the gate, and then open it. However, after scaling the walls, they would most likely face a counter-attack from the militiamen, and might have to engage in close combat. Most of the military group were not afraid of a bayonet fight, but if casualties occurred, the loss would be somewhat irreparable.

“We can’t always plan for a foolproof victory,” He Ming said, lighting a crumpled cigarette. “Soldiers are forged in battle, not coddled like this.”

“The gate isn’t a big problem,” said Ji Tui Si, speaking for the chemical group. “Our chemical group has already produced a batch of explosives that can be used to blow open the gate. If necessary, we can also provide hand grenades.”

“Explosives?” Everyone was a little surprised. To avoid trouble, no explosives or pyrotechnics had been purchased during the material preparation phase. Where did these explosives come from?

“Is it black powder?” someone remembered that they had captured over a hundred catties of black powder from the militiamen last time.

“Not that low-grade.” Ji Si Tui smiled smugly. For the past two months, due to a lack of necessary raw materials and energy, the entire chemical group had been mainly engaged in infrastructure projects: installing several sets of production equipment. Now that the factory and equipment installation was almost complete, this group of highly capable madmen immediately began the trial production of a transmigrator’s ultimate tool—explosives.

The foundation of explosives is the chemical industry. Currently, the chemical group had complete sets of equipment and technology but lacked raw materials, especially coal and salt. Therefore, the basic three acids and two alkalis had not yet been put into production. Fortunately, the chemical group had long considered the military’s needs. When purchasing chemical raw materials, they had specifically bought a batch of finished ammonium nitrate fertilizer—this was not for Wu Nanhai use. Now, using this fertilizer as a raw material, they had produced an upgraded version—ammonium nitrate explosives.

Anyone with a little knowledge of explosives knows that ammonium nitrate itself is a low-power explosive. Of course, the chemical group was not satisfied with using fertilizer directly as an explosive. Firstly, it wouldn’t showcase their skills, and secondly, it would be a waste of limited resources. The method to upgrade ammonium nitrate to ammonium nitrate explosives is to add other components. There are several formulas, some involving the addition of high explosives, others adding combustible materials. Ammonium nitrate explosives are mostly used in blasting projects, but can also be used to fill explosive weapons like landmines and hand grenades. During the War of Resistance, both the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army purchased ammonium nitrate from enemy-occupied areas and processed it for use as explosives. The advantages are that its power is acceptable and its sensitivity is low; it won’t detonate whether shot by a bullet, burned, or shaken.

The finished product the chemical group came up with was ammonwood explosive, which, as the name suggests, involved adding wood powder—something readily available everywhere in the Bopu sawmill. The chemical group produced about fifty kilograms using simple equipment. They didn’t dare to make more, as this stuff easily absorbs moisture and becomes ineffective immediately after getting damp. In a place like Hainan, the air humidity is relatively high all year round.

As for the saltpeter for detonation, the chemical group had no mercury available and couldn’t produce mercury fulminate for the time being. However, black powder is also a good booster explosive. Although the quality of the black powder captured in the Battle of Bairen Beach was a bit poor, using a slightly larger quantity would suffice. To ensure its ignition quality, the chemical group even reprocessed and granulated the black powder, packing it into individual paper rolls sealed with wood tar and asphalt for moisture-proofing.

“Let’s use a ‘conscienceless cannon.’ It’s simple to make and powerful,” Zhang Bolin said with an excited face. He felt that just delivering an explosive charge wasn’t exciting enough; they had to bombard Gou Family Village with a cannon.

“Completely unnecessary.” He Ming shook his head repeatedly. “The range of a projected explosive charge is insufficient, and it’s inaccurate. Heaven knows where the charge would end up.”

“Yes, the damage would be too great. If it landed in a residential area, it would cause significant casualties. We are targeting the great landlord Gou; the ordinary people should be protected as much as possible,” Wu Nanhai firmly objected.

Zhang Bolin raised a sharp question: “Alright then, who are you going to send to plant the explosive charge? The enemy has bows, arrows, and cannons at a distance, and rolling logs, stones, lime pots, and hot manure up close.”

He Ming laughed, “With 50 SKS rifles suppressing the top of the wall, the firepower will be more than enough.”

“But the enemy can hide behind the crenels!”

“You don’t know the power of the M43 round, do you?” said Lin Shenhe, the sniper present, with a smile. “At 100 meters, this thing can definitely penetrate that layer of bricks on the crenels.”

The continuous fire from fifty SKS-D semi-automatic rifles with 20-round magazines would be comparable to a machine gun. Even an invincible iron giant couldn’t withstand it, let alone someone trying to drop rolling logs and stones from above.

“I’m still not satisfied without a cannon,” Zhang Bolin said, still wanting more.

The plan to breach the gate was thus decided. The military group would organize suppressive fire on the top of the wall, then deliver an explosive charge to blow open the gate, and everyone would charge into the village together.

“It’s not over after we break into the village,” He Ming said, pointing at the map. “Actually, there’s not much inside the village itself, just ordinary people’s houses. We just need to occupy the intersections and send people to patrol the walls to prevent anyone from escaping—this is very important! The key is the Gou family’s residential complex. Once the outer wall is lost, all their forces will retreat inside to make a last stand. So, after we enter the village, the first step is to quickly occupy the intersections at the front and back gates of the Gou family’s residence to prevent scattered enemy troops from retreating into the complex. The fewer people who get in, the easier it will be for us to deal with them.”

Wu De said, “During the interrogation of the prisoners just now, we learned that there are over two hundred militiamen and retainers in the entire Gou Family Village. Most of them are wanted criminals from the mainland. Many of these people have blood on their hands. If they retreat inside and fight to the death, it will cause us a lot of trouble.”

“Is the inner residence very strong?”

“We drew a map based on the prisoners’ testimony.” Wu De posted the map on the blackboard. “Entering through the main gate, there is an east-west cross street. Along this street are seven rows of courtyard houses. The larger ones have five courtyards deep, the smaller ones at least three. These main and side courtyards, large and small, are all inhabited by members of the Gou clan. In addition, there are many side courtyards, servants’ quarters, and storage yards. All these courtyards have their own walls. However, as soon as our army enters the village, the Gou family, young and old, will be trapped like turtles in a jar with no escape. They will probably offer huge rewards to make their retainers and guards fight to the death for them, and their clansmen will likely fight desperately as well. There are several wells inside the complex, and they usually store a lot of grain, firewood, and charcoal. If they really want to resist to the death, we will have to rely on a frontal assault.”

“Attacking the residence won’t be difficult. With rifles and explosives together, we can take it down quickly.”

“The most valuable things in Gou Family Village are in the inner residence. If we destroy it, it will be meaningless to us,” Wu De repeatedly emphasized their objective. “And we also have to be prepared in case they set fire to the houses in desperation. All the gold, silver, treasures, and grain inside would be gone.”

“I wonder how much treasure the Gou family has,” someone was already starting to daydream.

“Haven’t you heard? The Gou family is also a pirate’s den. The things they’ve plundered from the sea must be immense. We’re going to strike it rich!”

“Right now, the most useful thing for us is not treasure, but grain!” Wu Nanhai was more anxious than anyone because he knew the food reserve situation better than anyone else.

“Grain or treasure, it will all be ours once we take it down,” Wu De laughed. “But speed is of the essence in war. Our scouts killed men of the Gou family’s second master today. Even if the Gou family are all pigs, they should know that someone is coming for them. They might try to move or hide their property. I propose we organize a team to set out tomorrow and control the area around the village first.”

“After taking the village, there will undoubtedly be a lot of loot. We can’t move it all out with just our own people. Using cars is not an option as there are no good roads. We’ll have to rely on manpower to transport it out, which means we’ll have to mobilize the masses.”

“I almost forgot if you hadn’t mentioned it,” Wu De remembered. “Aren’t the people of Saltworks Village readily available? Xi Yazhou is doing a great job over there. We’ll have the work team mobilize everyone in the village, young and old. We can’t count on them for fighting right away, but they’ll be useful for standing guard and carrying things.”

Everyone then discussed how many people to deploy, how much siege equipment and supplies to bring, how to arrange for medical support, what to write in the public notices for propaganda, and how to screen and provide relief to the common people. They discussed until almost midnight before all the details were settled.