Chapter 124: Armed Parade

The news that the “Kun bandits” were camping by the sea quickly spread to the nearby villages. It was obvious that this force of over two hundred fully armed men, dragging cannons, was not here for tourism. Before the sky turned dark, the various villages within a radius of more than ten li spontaneously sent envoys, bringing wine, dried meat, chickens, and ducks to pay a visit.

“I was just about to send for them, and they came to our door themselves. Let them in!” Xi Yazhou had already been tasked by the Executive Committee to pacify the various villages along the way and demand their submission.

A radio had already been set up in the headquarters tent, and a laptop was open, displaying Xi Yazhou’s beloved war game, which had now been converted into a combat simulation command system. Outside the tent, two soldiers were pedaling furiously on a two-person foot-pedal generator.

Xi Yazhou sat on a folding canvas chair in front of the headquarters tent. Behind him were two flagpole spears, flying his favorite red and yellow triangular flags—these were his personal command flags. As for the flag of the Transmigrator Army, it was still under debate. Watching this group of old men in their best clothes, bent over and walking step by step from the camp gate, he quite enjoyed this sense of power.

Through three translators, Xi Yazhou explained to these elders—besides the Lingao dialect, there were also people who spoke military dialect and Qiongzhou dialect here—that they were just passing through and would be setting off early the next morning. As for the things they brought, the Transmigrator Army would not accept any of it. Unexpectedly, this statement made these old men burst into tears, kneeling on the ground and begging piteously, almost wanting to hug his thighs.

“What’s wrong?” Xi Yazhou was bewildered.

Xiong Buyou, who was serving as a translator, also couldn’t figure out why such a declaration of not taking a single needle or thread would get such a result. After asking kindly for a long time, he finally learned that these elders thought they were not satisfied with the things they brought and wanted to demand more. They were all crying and complaining that their villages were so poor that they were about to starve to death.

“Alright, alright, then we’ll take all the wine,” Xi Yazhou was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and also deeply felt the pity of the common people. “We don’t want the dried meat, chickens, and ducks. Tell them to send some fresh vegetables, eggs, and duck eggs instead.”

Hearing Xi Yazhou’s instructions, these people all got up as if they had received an imperial pardon. Then the various villages jointly presented “Chief Xi” with 50 taels of silver. Xi Yazhou once again firmly refused, and then he received a round of praise such as “the general is incorruptible and pure,” “the chief is truly honest and upright.” Xiong Buyou translated a few sentences and then was too lazy to translate anymore.

Xi Yazhou had a serious expression. In accordance with the spirit of the Executive Committee, he announced that each village must send people to Bairen City to report before the thirtieth day of the first month of the second year of the Chongzhen era to discuss the important matter of “defending against bandits and preventing theft.” Anyone who failed to go by the deadline would be dealt with as “colluding with bandits.”

“Everyone knows what happened to the Gou estate, which colluded with sea pirates,” Xi Yazhou’s eyes flashed with a fierce light. “We have come to Lingao and deeply feel that the people’s livelihood here is withered and bandits are rampant. We have now formed a militia to ‘eradicate the strong and support the weak, protect the territory and pacify the people,’ and to maintain peace for the court. Anyone who does not cooperate with our actions is going against all the people of Lingao. Going against the people of Lingao is going against the court. Going against the court is being a traitor and a rebel! Everyone has the right to kill them.” He fiercely chopped his hand down. “As for the villages that did not come today, you will inform them.”

The people kneeling below were almost confused. Weren’t these “Kun bandits” themselves sea pirates? Why were they making a fuss about “for the court”? Confused as they were, the story of the bloody massacre of the Gou estate, after being embellished and recreated by countless people, had become a horror legend. Who would dare to say “no”? They just meekly agreed, and secretly rejoiced that their village had been sensible enough to come on their own initiative.

Xi Yazhou also demanded that each village send a liaison officer to accompany the army, and also asked for a few guides who were familiar with the local mountain roads. Only then did he let them leave.

“Have all the villages sent people?” Xi Yazhou asked Xiong Buyou. He was marking the villages that had reported to the camp on a map.

“All within a ten-li radius have come. Three have come from within a fifteen-li radius.”

Xi Yazhou was full of confidence. “After we take care of Baitu, more villages will come.”

“What are they going to do in Bairen City?” Xiong Buyou was a little curious.

“Levy troops and grain,” Xi Yazhou looked at the topographic map on the table. “We no longer have any opponents in Lingao County. The next step is to utilize the human and material resources here. Chief of Staff Ma wants to capture the county town and be the county magistrate himself, but Chairman Wen wants to encircle the cities from the countryside, use force to coerce the various villages, and establish our own administrative network. The county town is not important at all.”

“I don’t think the county town is worth much either. It’s just a county yamen. We can take it whenever we want.”

“That’s right, the common people are the foundation.”

“Report, Navy Commander Chen has arrived!”

From the next day, the troops would be marching into the mountains. The navy’s support fleet could only supply the army after arriving at Baitu. After coordinating with the fleet commander, Chen Haiyang, the two sides decided to advance separately the next day. The army would advance to the outskirts of Baitu Village at 3 p.m., and then they would try to persuade the villagers to surrender. If the persuasion failed, Xi Yazhou would fire three red signal rockets, and the “Fubo” would begin to bombard Baitu Port. If the persuasion was successful, a green signal rocket would be fired—since they had recruited the firecracker maker, although they could not yet make signal flares, signal rockets were still possible.

Everyone also agreed on various communication signals and contingency plans for different situations. It was after 6 p.m. when Chen Haiyang returned to the Fubo by boat—he declined Xi Yazhou’s invitation to stay for dinner and returned to the ship with the vegetables and eggs allocated to the navy. Xi Yazhou was very confident that there was more delicious food on the Fubo. He held a grudge about this, especially when he saw his guard bring him a large bowl of hot rice noodle skins.

Dinner was Grassland No. 3 and Grassland No. 4. The former was rice noodle skins, and the latter was rice vermicelli. They were boiled in a large pot, with a whole package of composite seasoning added: it contained salt, dried shallots, and pepper—unfortunately, there was no chili, otherwise, this would be even better with some chili oil—and there were also many glazed ceramic jars containing fish sauce. The jars all had woven rattan covers to prevent them from breaking during transport. The various vegetables and poultry eggs sent by the nearby villagers also enriched the contents of the soup.

The resulting dish tasted quite good, just that it had no oil. Xi Yazhou once again witnessed the good appetite of the peasants of this time and space: a soldier ate nearly 3 jin of rice noodles in one go before he was done.

The officers’ soup had sliced luncheon meat added to it. The fine tradition of hardship and simplicity once again showed its power here. A 125g can of luncheon meat was shared by two people, and the person responsible for cutting it had to be very careful not to cut too much or too little. In the end, even the grease on the inner wall of the can was washed out with hot soup and consumed.

“I never thought luncheon meat would become a delicacy!” Dongmen Chuiyu took a sip of the rice noodle soup. After adding the luncheon meat, the taste of the soup seemed to have become richer. The luncheon meat also added a mixed flavor of various spices to the soup, which was much more delicious than the noodle soup with just seasoning. It seemed that Grassland No. 3 and No. 4 were not a big problem either. The disadvantage was that there was no oil. If it weren’t for the luncheon meat, the taste of the soup with just the seasoning packet would still be too bland.

He wrote down his feelings about the rations in his notebook, then walked out of the tent to relax, but he felt a little hot in his heart—he kicked something, and with a clang, it rolled far away. He looked closely and saw that it was an empty luncheon meat can.

“What a waste! Who did this!” Dongmen Chuiyu was heartbroken. Tin-plated tinplate was something the industrial department still couldn’t make—when the canteen cooked every day, not to mention the cans, even the vacuum aluminum foil bags and plastic bags were carefully washed and collected and returned to the Planning Committee’s warehouse. He searched around and found all the cans. He hurried to the headquarters to report to Xi Yazhou. As a result, all the officers received an order that night: all finished cans must be washed and recycled.

The commander of the artillery training company, Ying Yu, was marching through the mountains. Sweat had already soaked through his uniform. Was this still winter? He stopped, took a sip of the salt water in his canteen, and looked at the winding mountain road.

The dense forest concealed the marching column. The mountain was not steep, but it was rugged and difficult to walk. But Ying Yu could imagine his subordinates: one artillery platoon of the Army Artillery Training Detachment, with 3 12-pounder mountain howitzers. The cannons were disassembled and carried by horses. According to the standard organization of a 12-pounder howitzer, each cannon was carried by 3 horses. The first carried the barrel, the second carried the carriage and wheels, and the third carried two ammunition boxes. One ammunition box contained 8 rounds: 2 high-explosive shells and 6 solid shots. 2 ammunition boxes were only 16 rounds. Under normal circumstances, the basic load of one cannon was 48 rounds, but all the horses and donkeys in the hands of the transmigrators were not enough. Even though only three cannons were dispatched, most of the horses from the farm had been used—Wu Nan Hai even made Ying Yu promise that all the horses would return safely. For this reason, he even sent Yang Baogui with the expeditionary force to take care of the horses, but he could travel by boat and avoid marching on foot.

A few artillerymen passed by Ying Yu. Like the infantry, they all carried full equipment and rifles. The only one who was not carrying a rifle was a 15-year-old boy. He was an artillery student from the military and political school, as thin as a monkey. Seeing his appearance, Ying Yu gave him special permission not to carry a rifle.

“When will we have fully horse-drawn horse artillery,” Ying Yu sighed.

Behind the artillery platoon were more than a dozen porters, all carrying the artillerymen’s equipment and supplies. These were the “liaison officers” sent by the various villages yesterday. Xi Yazhou had planned that if extra manpower and material resources were needed, he would send these people back to the villages to make arrangements. Ying Yu said that since they had nothing to do anyway, they might as well help him carry some equipment to lighten the burden on the horses. The artillery had too many odds and ends.

Bei Wei led the reconnaissance team and a few guides to scout several kilometers ahead in a screening pattern, clearing out possible ambushes and observation posts. According to the guides, Baitu Village rarely interacted with the surrounding villages. They all went out to trade by boat directly. They ate, used, and even the wood for shipbuilding was transported from the sea. They lacked nothing and lived a comfortable life. It was rare for them to come out of the mountains to go to the market. They often used foreign silver to buy things, and some people had even seen large foreign ships go to Baitu.

Because of the harassment by local bandits, Baitu Village had set up wooden stockades at the key points of the roads leading to the village and sent people to guard them. As for the various heroes on the sea, they did not come to harass them—they often repaired and bought boats in Baitu.