Chapter 129: The Remnants
“We put a lot of effort into handling Li affairs in Lingao and did so much work, so of course it’s peaceful there. This isn’t Lingao,” Yu Zhiqian said. “I don’t think you can be too complacent about this.”
As they were talking, a soldier rushed in.
“Report!” he said, saluting hastily. “Something might have happened to the Zhaopu Village work team!”
“What?!” they both exclaimed at the same time.
The news came from a long-range patrol team. During a routine patrol, they had spotted a large amount of thick smoke in that direction.
It was the rainy season, and the climate was humid, so wildfires were rare. The patrol leader sent a scout to investigate and found a large number of artificially felled and piled trees on the mountain road to Zhaopu Village. The leader judged that a serious incident had occurred in the direction of Zhaopu Village. While trying to clear the road, he sent someone back to request emergency assistance.
“Quick, sound the assembly drum!” Yu Zhiqian commanded. “Light Infantry Company, assemble!”
Liu Yixiao ordered a medical team to be dispatched with the troops. He himself fastened his own military belt.
“What, you’re going personally?”
“Yes, I have to see for myself.” Liu Yixiao sensed that something was wrong. He was anxious to find out what had happened on the scene.
“The situation is unclear; you can’t go,” Yu Zhiqian stopped him. “You are the first-in-command in Danzhou, with great responsibility. Let the company commander go with a walkie-talkie.”
So, it was decided that Lin Shenhe would lead the team. He was in his tent, deeply engaged in a discussion about some work-related issues with the cipher clerk, and they were just getting into the swing of things. A messenger coughed outside the tent.
“Company Commander!”
“What is it?” Lin Shenhe poked his head out of his officer’s personal tent after a long moment.
“The battalion commander requests your presence. There are orders to be issued!”
“I’ll be right there.”
Ten minutes later, he arrived at the command post, dressed in a neat and well-fitting uniform.
“Trouble’s here,” Yu Zhiqian said, explaining the mission. “Take the Light Infantry Company to investigate. Report any situation immediately via the walkie-talkie.”
“Where is Zhaopu Village?”
“Here,” Yu Zhiqian drew a circle on the glass plate of the large map. “The road is very bad. Be careful of ambushes along the way.”
“Alright, I’ll prepare. We’ll set out in fifteen minutes.”
Lin Shenhe led the Light Infantry Company on a march of more than ten li, then cleared the road and moved logs in the mountains. It was a difficult journey, but they finally opened a path and reached Zhaopu Village.
The thick smoke had dispersed, but black smoke still rose from the camp. The watchtower was completely destroyed, with only the charred remains of its wooden posts still standing. Bodies were scattered haphazardly around the camp. They were all wearing uniforms, and some had been decapitated. Lin Shenhe suppressed his nausea and looked around, seeing that all the heads had been hung on the camp gate.
More than a dozen bodies were neatly laid out in the center of the camp, but they showed no signs of having been in a fight. Were they killed after being captured? Although there were marks of spear thrusts and sword cuts on their bodies, there was not much blood.
A woman in a gray uniform was curled up in a trench, her head bowed to her chest. There was a terrible wound on her throat, and a blood-soaked bayonet lay by her hand. This must be Liu Bin—she was the only woman on the work team’s roster.
“Any survivors?”
“None,” the company sergeant reported. “But the body count doesn’t add up. We’ve only found twenty bodies. The work team should have had thirty-five.”
Had some escaped? Lin Shenhe quickly dismissed the thought. If they had escaped, they should have shown up by now. Perhaps they had been captured. Just then, he noticed that the ground had been disturbed.
Soon, they unearthed another fifteen bodies. Lin Shenhe gave them a cursory look and found that, except for a few, the bodies had no external injuries.
Next, they found some buried personal belongings of the work team members and soldiers. Lin Shenhe noticed a lot of scattered paper ash in the camp—it must be the remains of burned documents.
“Report, Company Commander. We’ve found the remains of 18 rifles. The other rifles and handguns are all missing.”
“And the ammunition?”
“No trace of any leftover ammunition. It was probably all taken.”
Not a single Minie rifle cartridge could be found on the scene. Lin Shenhe didn’t believe the work team had had time to expend their entire ammunition supply of 100 rounds per person. It was more likely taken by the attackers.
“This is big trouble,” he sighed.
Seventeen Minie rifles, if each had 50 rounds, would be enough to cause them a lot of trouble. Lin Shenhe didn’t think the enemy would never learn to use the Minie rifle—many natives had seen the loading method during firing drills.
“Company Commander! There are a lot of Minie balls on the ground!” a soldier suddenly shouted.
Lin Shenhe squatted down and took a closer look. Indeed, many Minie bullets were scattered on the ground. He picked one up and examined it. The bullet had no rifling marks but was scorched. He searched further and finally found the spot where the ammunition had been set on fire. In the pile of ashes, there were still many Minie balls that hadn’t been blown out.
“Thank goodness!” he muttered to himself, feeling a sense of relief. These soldiers had faithfully fulfilled their enlistment oath: “Never leave weapons for the enemy.”
“Gather everything up as quickly as possible! Don’t miss even the fragments. As long as a body can be identified as one of ours, take it back for cremation.”
He sent a squad to search the nearby village, but they only found a few old men and women who hadn’t fled. They were too frightened to speak. After a while, Lin Shenhe managed to piece together the general course of events from their words.
But he still couldn’t understand how a platoon-sized force, defending a fortified camp, could be wiped out in less than half a day. It should have been able to hold off an enemy ten times its size.
He summoned the old men who had remained in the village.
“Go and bring the villagers back immediately. I have questions for them.”
The old man said timidly, “This humble one doesn’t know where they are.”
The company sergeant, already burning with rage at the gruesome scene, lost his patience with the old men’s evasiveness. He thrust his bayoneted rifle forward, pressing it against the old man’s chest.
“Go now!”
“Even if you kill this humble one, I still won’t be able to find them,” the old man said, seemingly resigned to his fate.
“Don’t do that,” Lin Shenhe stopped the sergeant, his tone softening. “I just want to ask the villagers some questions. Our Fubo Army never kills people indiscriminately! You should know that!”
“Yes, yes, the masters commit no offense against the populace and love the people as their own children…”
“So you must bring everyone back to me, not one less,” Lin Shenhe said slowly. “Listen carefully. I’ll give you half an hour. If the villagers aren’t back by then, I will set fire to the village.” Lin Shenhe pointed to the fields outside the village. “If they still don’t come back after the village is burned, I will burn all the crops in the fields and block up the springs and wells here. Then I will plow the fields three times, and each time, I will sow them with salt. You should know: the private salt from Lingao is very cheap.”
The old men stared at each other with terrified eyes. They had been prepared to die, but they hadn’t expected the other side to be so ruthless, not using killing as a means of venting anger.
If they didn’t comply, the entire material basis for the village’s existence would be gone. Zhaopu Village would be completely wiped off the map.
“Yes, yes, this humble one will go now,” the old men said, flustered, and scurried away.
When Liu Yixiao heard Lin Shenhe’s report, he could no longer sit still. This incident was too serious! So serious that he couldn’t explain it to the Senate—a work team, protected by a military force, had been wiped out!
“…It seems it’s not that simple,” Lin Shenhe’s voice came through the walkie-talkie. “There are many suspicious points, and it’s hard to explain them all at once. I suggest a special investigation.”
“Who were the attackers?”
“We only know it was a group of bandits for now,” the walkie-talkie crackled with interference—the signal in the mountains was very poor. “We are searching for the bandits’ burial ground, hoping to find something.”
Liu Yixiao said, “It seems we must send another work team to Zhaopu to find out what happened as soon as possible.” He sighed, almost able to picture himself sitting in the Senate hearing, being bombarded with questions.
“Strengthen security measures from now on!” he slammed his fist on the table. “Every work team must be protected by a full platoon! All work teams within communication range must carry a walkie-talkie! For now, we will not send work teams to places that are too remote and cannot be effectively defended.”
From the villagers who gradually returned, Lin Shenhe learned the full story. He also understood why many of the bodies had no external injuries—they had been poisoned.
This shocked him immensely.
“Where is the village liaison?” he asked, his voice filled with hatred.
“He ran away,” an old man said quickly. “After what he did, he didn’t dare stay in the village. He fled with the bandits.”
“He abandoned his family?”
“He wasn’t married. His parents died long ago.”
“He won’t get away,” he said, looking at the numb-faced villagers. Their faces showed only a general fear, their eyes dull and ignorant. They had watched impassively as the work team that had come to improve their lives was poisoned, besieged, and killed to the last man. Not a single one had even thought to send a message.
If help had come just one or two hours earlier, perhaps some lives could have been saved. Lin Shenhe took deep breaths, trying to calm his anger.
“You, go back to the village for now. But you are not to leave. Be ready to be called upon at any time.”
The bandits’ hastily dug mass grave for their fallen was found the next day. Lin Shenhe ordered laborers to excavate it. In the end, they dug up more than 70 bodies. The one on top was the missing liaison. Hu Lanyan, unwilling to part with the twenty taels of silver he had given him, had simply killed the man who had outlived his usefulness as they retreated.