Globe Trekker

Chapter 65 A false alarm

In just two days, the news that Zhengjue Temple was set on fire and robbed by bandits spread throughout Zhejiang and neighboring Jiangxi like wings, causing great panic among people everywhere, especially the major monasteries and wealthy gentry.

At noon the next day after the incident, the Quzhou Special Administrative Office and the Changshan County Government rushed to Zhengjue Temple and Chen Dashan's other courtyard to investigate after receiving the urgent report. , Zhaoxian Town, located in the center of the vortex, was in chaos.

All of this seems to have nothing to do with Wu Ming. After returning successfully with one blow, Wu Ming seemed to have completely forgotten about it. Not only was there no look of joy, but he even said that he didn't expect there to be so few, and then, regardless of Lu Zhengde's reaction, he led his mangy horse to the stream to wash in a rather disappointed manner.

In the next few days, Wu Ming's life was very regular. He got up every day to practice martial arts with his two apprentices. After breakfast, he led his mangy horse covered with homemade sulfur ointment. Went to the school where the desks and benches had been set up, and discussed matters such as enrollment, academic system, and teaching materials with the three gentlemen, and then returned to his small building to write the "Villager Code", "Maoliangwu Construction Plan", "Mine Safety Code" and other developments Programs and Bylaws.

In the blink of an eye, a week passed, and nothing that the brothers were worried about happened, and the scene of construction was in full swing inside and outside the village.

The sun was in the west, and Wu Ming, as usual, took his ugly horse, which could already see the color of the piebald color, to the stream, and talked with two apprentices who were also allocated beautiful horses while washing the horse.

To Wu Ming's regret, the leader of the She ethnic group was unwilling to let the children of the clan go out with him to serve as soldiers. Although many strong and shrewd young men of the She ethnic group in various villages wanted to go out with Wu Ming, they had no choice but to let their parents and elders in the clan He resolutely opposed it, so he had no choice but to watch Lei Peng's glory alone. Fortunately, the big head finally let go and agreed to send three to five people from each village to join the Maoliangwu militia.

The three masters and apprentices were talking lively, when Zhang Dongning came on horseback, got off the horse before the horse stopped, and ran to the stream to report loudly: "Brother Ming, it's not good, the officers and soldiers are here!"

Wu Ming was taken aback, dropped the brush and jumped ashore: "How many have come? What weapons are there?"

"Twelve of them came, all with one person and two horses. The empty horses seem to be carrying a lot of things. Except for the leading officer, everyone else has two guns on their waists. The elder brother has already called the brothers to carry the guys to the entrance of the village. I'm worried about the third brother and the caravan brothers who went shopping in Changzhou yesterday!" Zhang Dongning replied panting, his sunburned face getting darker.

Wu Ming was stunned for a moment: "Do the officers and soldiers have long guns and machine guns?"

"No, they are all short guns, but I don't know if there will be a large group of people behind these officers and soldiers." Zhang Dongning was extremely worried, thinking that the case of Zhengjue Temple had been discovered.

"go!"

Wu Ming didn't have time to explain, so he and Zhang Dongning rode to the entrance of the village on the same horse. When they got to the hill by the river, they got off their horses and rushed up the hill. They quickly rushed to the side of Lu Zhengde, who was waiting in full force, and looked south.

Lu Zhengde quickly informed: "The officers and soldiers found us, and they all got off their horses and hid behind the messy rocks by the river, as if they were discussing something."

Wu Ming watched intently, but unfortunately he couldn't see the invading officers and soldiers clearly from a distance of more than a hundred meters, but he could see the khaki military uniforms on the officers and soldiers from the occasional figures: "What kind of army is this? Could it be the Changshan Security Regiment or the Quzhou Security Regiment? The style of the military uniform is wrong..."

Before the words fell, a horse ran out from behind the chaotic rocks in the distance. Immediately, the soldier picked up a white handkerchief with a stick and came slowly. When he walked to 50 meters, he shouted: "Don't shoot, we are from the Security Command, Feng Fang Commander's order, I have urgent matters to find Brother Wu Ming! Don't shoot!"

"Chief Ma?"

Wu Ming cried out in surprise, put away his pistol and stood up quickly: "Chief Ma, why is he here?"

Ma Zhizhai in the distance finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Wu Ming standing up on the hill, and he slowly rode forward and shouted: "Brother Wu, I finally found you, haha! Tell your brothers, don't Fire!"

Lu Zhengde stood up suspiciously: "What's going on? Do you know him?"

Wu Ming was completely relieved: "His name is Ma Zhizhai, the former adjutant of our elder brother Fang, the chief of the operations section of the West Zhejiang Security Command, he probably came to urge me to take up the post... It's okay, tell the brothers to put away the guns, I will take the lead." You go to meet the guests."

Lu Zhengde immediately breathed a sigh of relief, gave some instructions, and hurriedly followed Wu Ming down the mountain. Ma Zhizhai, who was all dressed up in a heroic spirit, had already dismounted and waited there.

"I'm really sorry, Chief Ma. I didn't know it was you who came here. I thought it was the officers and soldiers who came to force the tax collection. I'm sorry, please forgive me!" Wu Ming saluted from afar.

Ma Zhizhai smiled all over his face and didn't care. After seeing the ceremony, he looked at Lu Zhengde who was beside Wu Ming: "This hero is..."

"This is my elder brother Lu, named Lu Zhengde, the village chief of Maoliangwu." Wu Ming introduced politely.

Lu Zhengde cupped his fists and saluted: "I'm sorry, Commander Ma, I didn't know the Commander was here, brother, you are being reckless!"

Ma Zhizhai smiled boldly: "It's okay! The world is in chaos these days, and places that are slightly remote are all united to protect themselves. Brother, I have long been used to it, haha!"

Wu Ming suddenly asked in surprise: "Brother Lu, the rank of lieutenant colonel on your collar is..."

"It was just issued, and the commander in front took office five days ago. The first order was to clean up the military appearance and strictly enforce military discipline. It happened that the order for the overall reorganization of the security forces in the province was issued. Shangfeng attaches great importance to our commander. The first batch of replacements [-] sets of new uniforms and military rank badges are given priority to our Zhexi Command, but our department is undergoing training, and most of the new uniforms have not been replaced. Brother Yu is with Commander Fang, and he will be the first to win! Brother Wu, there is also a part of you here. Brother Yu not only brought your letter of commission this time, but also twenty sets of military uniforms and horses and guns to equip your men." Ma Zhizhai introduced in detail very kindly.

Wu Ming felt relieved, and politely asked Ma Zhizhai to call his brothers into the village to rest. Lu Zhengde happily apologized, and led the brothers back to arrange a banquet.

Ma Zhizhai threw the reins to the guards who came quickly, pulled Wu Ming and walked side by side, took dozens of steps and turned around the hill, then stopped suddenly, looked at the clear river with a width of more than [-] meters on the right, and then turned to the left for more than [-] meters. Mi Gao's hill, smiled, and asked politely: "The terrain of this place is very good, can Brother Wu take me up there to have a look?"

Wu Ming's heart turned like lightning, he wasn't sure what Ma Zhizhai was thinking, so he could only agree first before saying, "Brother Ma, please!"

When the two climbed to the top of the hill, Ma Zhizhai looked around and nodded frequently: "It's a good place! Surrounded by mountains, surrounded by rivers, winding roads, and a wide field of vision, what's even more rare is that the river bends 200 meters ahead and faces east. The green hill is not high, but it is steeper, and the only road along the river passes through it. We only need to build a few strong fortresses under our feet and set up two machine guns, and we can completely keep the incoming enemies out."

"Furthermore, on both sides of the road hundreds of meters ahead, there are steep mountains and narrow terrain. If someone really wants to lead his troops to attack this place, it will be difficult to deploy more than one battalion of troops. Moreover, based on the terrain I saw when I came, Apart from mortars, I’m afraid there’s no use for any artillery fire! Haha, Brother Wu, don’t you think so?”

Wu Ming finally understood Ma Zhizhai's intention of taking the school entrance examination. After thinking about it, he decided not to hide his clumsiness: "Brother Ma is worthy of being a talented student in Baoding Military Academy. He can tell the truth with just a quick glance. It's admirable! I'm admirable about military affairs. I don’t know much, but I still know a little about civil engineering, so I have long planned to build a series of solid fortifications at the place under my feet, as well as the front and rear areas.”

"Oh? Could you please introduce Brother Wu in detail?"

Ma Zhizhai was greatly surprised. As Fang Youchun's confidant, he had just been promoted to the position of chief of staff of the headquarters. According to his recent knowledge, Wu Ming had not received any military education. Fang Youchun planned to appoint Wu Ming as the lieutenant of the headquarters. The adjutant and director of ordnance didn't think so, so he took this opportunity to find out Wu Ming's depth.

Wu Ming is also not polite: "I have drawn the construction drawings, but I am still hesitating whether it is necessary. If Brother Ma is interested, I will take them out later and ask Brother Ma for advice. My plan is to use this integrated With the limestone hill as the center, two double-layer prismatic fortresses with a radius of ten meters are poured with reinforced concrete. The thickness of the walls and top of the fortress is not less than 1.5 meters. The shooting port of the project was lined with steel plates during pouring, and then excavated by blasting. According to the undulating natural terrain at the foot of the mountain in front, two blocking trenches with a height difference of 50 meters and a distance of 20 meters between the front and rear were built. The trenches were two meters wide and two meters deep. , the top is covered with logs and sandbags every five meters, and a blast hole that can accommodate ten people is built every [-] meters in the trench. Afterwards, the traffic trenches leading directly to the village wharf will be integrated into one, so that the folks in the village may be able to keep their safety for a while.”

Ma Zhizhai was already stunned, and the two lieutenants who did not know when they came behind were also shocked, with incredible expressions in their eyes.

After being stunned for a while, Ma Zhizhai clasped his fists solemnly at Wu Ming: "Brother Wu is a genius! I hope I will forgive Brother Yu for his momentary arrogance. Brother Yu will apologize to you!"

Wu Ming hurriedly replied: "Don't say that, my little brother is purely talking on paper, I'm afraid there's not even half a bucket of water in my stomach, I only know what's going on, I don't know why, and I haven't done it. Take care of the two brothers, if there is something wrong, please forgive me and give pointers!"

"Where is there? Brother, you are slapping me in the face! To tell you the truth, you and I are brothers in the same robe that the commander trusts very much. We should help and support each other, right?" Ma Zhizhai saw Wu Not only did Ming not take offense, but he was so sincere and frank that he was ashamed and finally relieved.

Wu Ming smiled, nodded and politely invited everyone to go down the mountain. From a distance, he saw Lu Zhengxian and Lu Zhengde leading a group of brothers standing there waiting, and immediately speeded up to greet each other.

Walking on the flat and wide road in the village, Ma Zhizhai and his brothers were shocked by the wealth of the village and the waves of golden rice. The west and north are full of construction sites in full swing, and everything is so incredible.

Under Ma Zhizhai's constant questioning, Wu Ming introduced the situation of the village while walking, focusing on the Maoliangwu militia that Lu Zhengde was forming.

Ma Zhizhai heard that all the tribes of the She ethnic group in the surrounding area have started fair trade with the village, and there are more than [-] young and strong She ethnic groups who want to join the militia. He was moved and immediately made a promise:

"Brother Yu came here in a hurry and didn't bring any presents. I'm deeply ashamed! How about it? Said fifty guns and ten thousand rounds would still do."

Lu Zhengde and the others were overjoyed when they heard the news, and when they returned to the gate of the village chief's yard, Lu Zhengde opened his mouth and shouted, "Bring out the best tiger penis wine", scaring a group of women who were helping the cook at a loss.

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(End of this chapter)