(Thirty-six) Be both hard and soft when doing official business

  "Everything will get better." Yang Shuo Ming said with a smile, "As long as we work together."

  After hearing Yang Shuo Ming's words, Xu Yuan Jin smiled and shook his head, then nodded.

  "By the way, how did you get the news of something going wrong here?" Yang Shouming suddenly remembered something and asked.

  "Of course someone informed on me." Xu Yuanjin looked at Yang Shuoming with some surprise, "What? Didn't you send your people to find me in town?"

  "Didn't I send someone?" Yang Shuo Ming was taken aback and asked back, "Wasn't it your arranged scout who discovered it?"

  "No, the scout was discovered later!" Xu Yuanjin thought back to last night's scene, his brow starting to furrow bit by bit. "Could it be someone sent by Old Wu? That doesn't seem right either..."

  "No! The messenger isn't one of our people!" Xu Yuanjin suddenly shouted, "That person... is a woman!"

  "A girl?" Yang Shuo Ming was also startled after hearing Xu Yuan Jin's words.

  "That's right, it was definitely a woman! At the time, I didn't take immediate action because I was afraid of being ambushed. While waiting for the scout's report, her expression was simply...” Xu Yuanjin said, “It's strange, what's her background? Why did she want to help us?”

  "Did she bring a gun?" Yang Shuo Ming suddenly thought of someone and asked immediately.

  "She was wearing very thick clothes, and you could only tell that there was a gun hidden inside the clothes, but what kind it was, I had no idea." Xu Yuanjin said, "She was wearing ordinary clothes, at the time I just thought she looked unfamiliar, and I even thought she was a new employee from your company..."

  "Is she carrying a pair of guns?" Yang Shuo Ming interrupted Xu Yuan Jin's words and asked again.

  Xu Yuanjin thought for a moment and nodded firmly.

  "I almost know who this woman is." Yang Shuo Ming nodded and told Xu Yuan Jin about the encounter with Tang Jiong, the master of Tianyun Mountain, and his daughter Tang Jiuniang on the mountain that day.

  "Tianyun Mountain's people are informing us? What a strange thing to do!" Xu Yuanjin said with some amusement, "But why is that? They and Liu Damazi of Tieliu Mountain are on the same path, after all."

  Yang Shuo Ming thought of those blank letters of attorney that he had handed over to Huang Yunzhi for safekeeping, and involuntarily shut his mouth.

  "The strength of Tianyun Mountain is slightly stronger than that of other mountains. Last time, I heard that they formed an alliance and Tang Jing had the intention of becoming the leader," said Xu Yuanjin. "This time, he actually wants to help us, could it be because of being recruited by people sent by Old Yuan?"

  "It's also possible that this is the case," said Yang Shuoming. "In any case, if he really helped us out, we should thank him sincerely."

  Two men were talking and walking forward, soon, in front of a stone pier, Yang Shouming saw a corpse with half of its body blown to blackness, the clothes on its body had become shredded strips. Next to it, there were several corpses killed by cannonballs and machine guns.

  Xu Yuanshen kicked the deceased's face over with his foot, and what entered Yang Shouming's eyes was a long, ugly face covered in acne. At this time, the face was staring with two eyeballs fully exposed, with an expression of not closing one's eyes even in death.

  A security guard handed over to Xu Yuanjin and Yang Shouming the items found on the corpse, which included a finely crafted pipe gun, a left-handed revolver, a package of opium, a crumpled letter of appointment, and a green paper with numbers written on it.

  Yang Shuo Ming carefully looked at the appointment letter, and indeed, it was written that Liu Wenxuan was appointed as the brigade commander, and also stamped with the large seal of the Beijing Army Department. The format and wording were exactly the same as those blank appointment letters Yang Shuo Ming had picked up in the mountain crevice.

  "Look at this!" Xu Yuanjin handed the green paper with numbers written on it to Yang Shouming, "Twenty thousand big yuan, they are really willing to spend money!"

  Yang Shuo Ming took over the paper and looked at it carefully. At first, he was stunned, then burst out laughing.

  This piece of paper turned out to be a bank check with a value of 200,000 yuan under the name of "General Headquarters Logistics Department".

  "Either give you this money, or let Captain Xu take over as the brigade commander," Yang Shuoming said with a half-joking and half-serious tone, handing the check to Xu Yuanjin. "The team led by Captain Xu is definitely a hundred times better than someone like Liu Dama."

  "I actually think highly of you." Xu Yuanjin waved his hand, not taking the check, but instead spoke seriously to Yang Shouming, "To be honest, it's only been a few months, take a look, what does our security team look like now? Can we still call it a security team?"

  Yang Shuo Ming did not expect him to say that, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond. Xu Yuan Jin lovingly looked at the military cap with a broken corner and a hole in it, put it back on his head, then smiled and patted Yang Shuo Ming's shoulder before turning around and jumping onto his horse.

  "There's nothing much going on here, I'll take the people back to town first." Xu Yuanjin looked at Yang Shouming who was still a bit dazed and smiled, "Don't just focus on running factories, opening mines, and building schools all day, go train your horse properly."

  As he watched Xu Yuanjin and the others disappear into the distance, Yang Shaoming looked around at the bustling crowd helping to clear the battlefield, then glanced down at the check in his hand, nodding thoughtfully.

  In the evening, Huang Yunzhi saw Yang Shuoming sitting at the table, writing hard after a busy day, and couldn't help but feel a little strange.

  "What are you writing?" Huang Yunzhi came to Yang Shuoming's side, gently placing her hands on his shoulders and softly asked.

  "Give Captain Xu a battalion commander's position." Yang Shuoming smiled and handed the letter to his beloved wife.

  Huang Yunzhi took over the letter and looked at it carefully.

  “…Recently, the Iron Manganese Mountain bandits Liu Wenyuan, Yao Changkui, He Changli and more than 2,000 others robbed military uniforms and firearms, pretending to be part of your unit. On New Year's Eve, they attacked and looted the "Renhe Company" headquarters and its affiliated salt mines, claiming to be under the command of General Zhang Jingyao to take over. Fortunately, I saw through their scheme, and the bandits' plan was foiled. They then launched a fierce attack, but we fought back with cannons, killing and wounding many bandits. The security team led by Xu Yuanjin arrived just in time to reinforce us, first defeating the bandits who had fled into the mining area, and then joining forces with us to launch a pincer attack, dealing a crushing blow to the bandits. We killed 763 bandits, including their leader Liu Wenyuan, and rescued 12 hostages.

  This time, the bandits dared to gather in large numbers and attack our mine because the local counties are located in remote areas, making it difficult for troops to come and go. I respectfully request that General Zhang Jingyao sincerely accept our surrender and reorganize the local security team and militia into a new army division to protect the area.

  Xu Yuanjin has been stationed in this area for a long time and is familiar with military affairs. He has also fought against the bandits many times, so I request that he be appointed as the commander of the division. If this appointment is approved, we are willing to serve the country loyally from now on.

  I humbly submit this report for your review. The head of the bandit leader Liu Wenyuan has been sent to General Zhang Jingyao's headquarters, along with a forged letter of appointment and a military supply receipt worth 20,000 yuan. Please have your soldiers bring them back...”

  "This letter is written with a gentle tone on the surface, but actually contains hidden intentions, expressing sincerity and loyalty while also implying threats," Huang Yunzhi said after reading the letter, a hint of admiration flashing in her eyes. "You're using both soft and hard tactics, sending both heads and checks, maybe it'll really work."

  "In these times, even ghosts fear evil people, and cannot stop Zhang Jingyao from not following. Yang Shuo Ming smiled and said, 'I have long since figured out the bottom line of him and that Li Dudo, if they don't follow, thinking to come here to provoke us, can only end up like Liu Da Mazi.'"

  After listening to Yang Shuo Ming's confident words, Huang Yunzhi still had some worries. At this time, she didn't know that Yang Shuo Ming said so not without basis.

  Shortly after the end of "Gan Ning's Campaign", Yang Shuo Ming arranged for people to collect relevant battle reports, summarize and analyze them. What surprised him was that although they had already entered the era of firearms, the battles of "Gan Ning's Campaign" still had too much flavor of the cold weapon era.

  In the first 20 years of the 20th century, China's warlords and their armies had not yet learned how to fight wars, nor did they want to. The guns in their hands were merely tools for collecting taxes and amassing wealth. Although many people controlled large numbers of troops, the actual combat effectiveness of these soldiers was extremely limited. They didn't even dare to confront bandits hiding in the mountains or gangs in the cities. In some cases, when a warlord's father back home was kidnapped by bandits, their first thought was to pay ransom rather than send troops to rescue him.

  The Chinese new-style army, which has not come from the era of cold weapons for a long time, has a big problem with the mastery and use of modern weapons. For example, artillery will not fire indirectly (the situation in the navy is slightly better), machine gunners do not know how to eliminate simple faults. Many armies, when fighting, have commanders who either ride horses or sit on sedan chairs at the front line, carrying large flags to command troops to charge forward. If they fail to break through the enemy's position after several charges, they can only retreat and turn their horses around or abandon their sedan chairs to escape.

  What's even more deadly is that the current Chinese soldiers, regardless of which army they belong to, have very poor basic training. Many people only know how to fire guns, and most of them still have the bad habit passed down from the Qing Dynasty, which is to fire guns frantically as soon as they engage in battle, without even aiming. This kind of gunfire is similar to the drumming used by ancient armies to boost morale, or to give themselves courage. When the bullets run out and the enemy hasn't retreated, it's time for them to retreat quickly. This level of warfare can almost be said to be inferior to that of the Middle Ages.

  In the Battle of Liang Lake, the battle between Li Chun's unit and Lin Hu's unit under Li Liejun was a close-range gunfight, with both sides firing at each other to see who had more bullets. Lin Hu's unit had fewer bullets and ultimately retreated in defeat. When the Northern Army attacked the western artillery position of the Liang Lake fortress, they surprisingly used infantry to directly charge the artillery position, but were heavily bombarded by Li Liejun's unit with cannons, suffering heavy casualties. In the end, it was only when the naval ships on the river surface destroyed the artillery position with their shipboard guns that the Northern Army was able to capture the Liang Lake fortress.