Chapter 59: A So-So Victory

“Bastards, bastards! Cowardly rats!” Shen Hu was so angry that he cursed. He could see clearly from the small hill that only a few dozen people had come from the flank by the sea. They could have drowned them with a single spit from each person. His carefully organized force of more than a thousand people was actually being chased by these dozens of people!

But no matter how much he cursed, it was useless. There were only twenty trusted followers left by his side. If he didn’t run to gather his men, his entire fortune would probably be scattered. He had no choice but to run down the hill and flee with his trusted followers.

Shen Hu’s men were in a state of panic. The marine platoon pursued them relentlessly. The marines were on a killing spree, and anyone in front of them was met with a bayonet. They didn’t even bother to load their guns. The laborers pushed the mountain howitzer and pursued them, stopping from time to time to fire a shot, which intensified the chaos of the bandits’ rout.

Looking out from the watchtower, the scene outside Hon Gai was now a magnificent spectacle. A large group of black, ant-like people were fleeing in panic in front, and in the rolling dust and smoke, a small group of almost invisible blue-clothed soldiers were in hot pursuit behind.

“Damn, they’re too easy to beat,” Bei Kai said in surprise. He remembered that during the defense of Bopu, the pirates had at least attacked several times. In some places, they had even fought hand-to-hand with the marines. This time, they had simply collapsed without even putting up a fight.

The marines were enjoying the chase. Bei Kai was afraid that they would suffer losses because they were few in number. He ordered a squadron of naturalized laborers to leave the fort to reinforce them and capture prisoners. They pursued them for five or six miles until the main force of the bandits had completely collapsed before they finally withdrew their troops.

Many of the bandits had been walking since early in the morning and had not eaten a single grain of rice for most of the day. They were already dizzy with hunger and couldn’t even run. They simply lay on the ground waiting to die, either panting heavily or prostrating themselves on the ground begging for mercy. Some people who were huddled on the ground with their heads in their hands had even defecated and urinated.

Around Hon Gai Fort, there were all kinds of rubbish left by the bandits, people lying on the ground, and corpses. The labor squadron, holding long spears, drove all the people who could still move together and counted them. A total of more than six hundred people were captured. In fact, the casualties of the bandits were not great, and less than three hundred corpses were left behind.

Although the marines were out of breath, they were in high spirits. Such a thrilling battle was simply a pleasure. Bei Kai was very pleased with himself—it seemed that he was a military genius. He thought about how to write the telegram to Lingao and couldn’t help but let out a smug laugh, which made the people around him feel baffled.

Bai Guoshi was envious, jealous, and hateful. Needless to say, the credit for this great victory belonged to Bei Kai. He had neither commanded any troops, nor contributed to the battle, nor had he planned and strategized. He was purely a spectator. If he were to be evaluated for his merits, he could only be ranked last with Zhao Xue. Of course, Zhao Xue certainly didn’t think there was anything wrong with that, but when everyone divided the spoils of victory in the future, she would definitely be the one to complain that he was an “incompetent person.”

Dugu Qiuhun came out of the labor camp stockade holding a large sword—he had not fired a single shot during the entire battle, and the bandits had never even reached the front of the earthen wall. This made Dugu Qiuhun, who had been preparing for a passionate battle, very disappointed. Seeing the bandits lying on the ground, all in rags and with hateful faces, he was suddenly inspired and raised the GLOCK 17 in his hand and shot the unlucky bastard closest to him. The 9mm bullet immediately blew his head open. The bandits lying on the ground were all scared out of their wits, and a few of them immediately defecated and urinated.

The prisoners were being counted, and the spoils of war were being collected. Just as the entire Hon Gai Fort was immersed in a happy and relaxed atmosphere, Fanhai Bao’s fleet arrived.

Fanhai Bao was a local pirate. By the standards of the South China Sea coast, he was a very small group, at best at the level of the former Gu Dachun’s gang. Fanhai Bao was also very self-aware and never went far out to sea. He basically operated along the coast of Vietnam, occasionally raiding Hainan Island and the coast of Guangxi. When he had no business, he would also go fishing. In short, in the Halong Bay area, Fanhai Bao was also one of the small sea lords. Shen Hu invited him to attack Hon Gai Fort together. The two sides hit it off. Fanhai Bao felt that the chances of success were great. After capturing those ships, he would send people ashore to attack the fort together, and they would split the spoils fifty-fifty.

When Fanhai Bao’s fleet appeared on the sea, the battle on the shore was already over, and the battlefield was being cleared. Fanhai Bao did not know the situation on the shore. He originally wanted to wait for Shen Hu to send someone to contact him, but after waiting for a long time, he did not see any small boats arriving. While he was suspicious, he saw that the large ship moored on the shore had already raised its sails, obviously preparing to set sail. He immediately decided that no matter what the situation on the shore was, he would first capture the ships on the shore.

“Everyone be careful!” Zhang Dabala had been watching the good show on the shore for a long time, but he had never had a chance to make a move. Seeing that the pirates had come from the sea, he was overjoyed. He quickly ordered his men: “Quick! Battle stations!”

The battle between Fanhai Bao’s fleet and the Zhennan did not last long. Because the Zhennan was only a single large ship, it was easy for the enemy to get close and board it if it was caught in a melee. This was very disadvantageous for the Zhennan. The Zhennan was not equipped with an engine and had no advantage in maneuverability. It was only superior to the pirates in terms of firepower and the organization and discipline of its sailors. Therefore, from the very beginning, Zhang Dabala kept the Zhennan on the outer line of the enemy’s formation, never allowing the enemy’s ships to form a pincer formation. In this way, he could use the range advantage of his artillery to continuously bombard the enemy from a long distance without letting the enemy get close.

This tactic relied on very strong boat handling skills. Zhang Dabala was obviously an expert in this field—he had his sailors lower four large oars to provide additional maneuverability to support his steering.

The cat-and-mouse battle between the two sides lasted for more than an hour. The Zhennan used its superior artillery to hit Fanhai Bao’s ships multiple times, and soon sank two smaller ships, forcing a ship that was hit and on fire to run aground on the shore—the pirates who went ashore were quickly eliminated by the marines and militia on the shore.

Fanhai Bao lost confidence in continuing the fight and simply led his fleet straight to the Hon Gai Fort pier, preparing to take the pier in one go and let the pirates on board go ashore to make a score before leaving—the enemy only had one large ship, and they wouldn’t dare to land and compete with him in numbers. But as soon as his ships approached the pier, they were bombarded by the artillery on the salient of Hon Gai Fort. The high-explosive shells fired from the salient caused great panic among the pirates. In the chaos, the pirates lost another ship that ran aground, and the other ships quickly turned their rudders and escaped from the battlefield.

The battle at sea brought the campaign to a less than perfect end. Of course, it was not very realistic for the single Zhennan, which was not outstanding in performance, to completely annihilate Fanhai Bao’s fleet. Although the results of the sea battle were limited, both the land and sea battles were essentially routs, so the results were also barely satisfactory. After all, in the defense of Hon Gai, only 30 marines could be called regular armed forces.

The prisoners were driven into a temporarily built enclosure, and the corpses were thrown into the sea. Not many spoils of war were captured in the battle. The bandits were dirt poor, and even the things they had snatched and left all over the ground were not worth a second glance by the elders—it was simply a pile of rubbish.

The most valuable spoils of war left by the bandits were themselves. More than five hundred prisoners could be used as labor, and more than a hundred local women who had been plundered by the bandits were also taken in. Bei Kai instructed the translators selected from the local laborers to go to the nearby villages to announce and appease the people, and to ask the villages to come to Hon Gai to claim their women and property, in order to build a good reputation among the local people and attract more people to come to Hon Gai to work and sell goods.

Dugu Qiuhun suggested that Bei Kai should kill a batch of prisoners outside Hon Gai Fort to set an example, “to fully let the monkeys know our power and not dare to have any ideas about Hon Gai again!” he said with great passion, continuing to wave the katana in his hand.

Bei Kai hesitated and expressed his opposition: “That’s not good, killing prisoners for no reason.” As an administrative leader, he subconsciously regarded all living people as labor. Five hundred prisoners would be of great use whether they were used in the mine pits or on the roads. It was a pity to kill them.

“If we don’t kill people, how can the monkeys know our power? Not only do we have to kill, but we also have to kill with artistry!”

“I object, we can’t kill the innocent indiscriminately!” Zhao Xue was most afraid of death. She hid in the house during the battle and did not dare to come out. Now that she heard that the prisoners were to be executed, her compassion was greatly aroused and she was firmly opposed.

“Nonsense, what innocent, they are bandits.” Dugu Qiuhun was foaming at the mouth. “If they had won today, wouldn’t we all have had our heads chopped off…”

Bai Guoshi felt that it was meaningless to execute the prisoners for no reason and also opposed it. The grand execution in front of Hon Gai Fort proposed by Dugu Qiuhun was not approved, and the bandits in the prisoner camp escaped a disaster.

The day after the end of the first defense of Hon Gai, a reinforcement fleet arrived from Lingao. Six Type I patrol boats escorted the coal transport ships of the Great Wave Shipping Company to Hon Gai. The ships brought two platoons of marines as reinforcements, more grenades, and 50 Minie rifles. After receiving Si Kaide’s report, the Executive Committee immediately held an emergency meeting. After discussion, it was finally decided that the navy would establish a patrol base in Hon Gai and deploy patrol boats there on a long-term basis. In addition to protecting Hon Gai and escorting the fishing fleet, it would eventually form a grid-like patrol system with the navy patrol boats deployed in various ports on Hainan Island to cover the Gulf of Tonkin.

The role of the squadron of naturalized laborers in an emergency was proven and received attention. In an emergency, the militia composed of established squadrons of naturalized laborers played a very important role. Therefore, it was decided to formally establish the Hon Gai Militia General Command in Hon Gai, with Bai Guoshi as the deputy commander and Bei Kai as the commander-in-chief.

The person who brought these orders was none other than Si Kaide himself. He came to Hon Gai to conduct research—of course, the main purpose was to avoid the inquiry of the Standing Committee of the Senate, the so-called “lying low.”