Chapter 10: Investigating Bandit Village (Fourth Update)

  The next day, when Xia Jun got up and blew the wake-up call, he was shocked to find that Zhang Si Dog and his gang of bandits had all cut off their queues.

  "Squad leader, from today on, we're all in this together." Zhang Si'erguan said with a flattering tone.

  Xia Jun was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said: "Great! The captain naturally welcomes you with open arms. From today on, you are all members of the production team. I'll have military uniforms issued to you later."

  Production teams are no different from their current state, still laborers, but with a new name, dressed in military uniforms, and naturally, the guns are not issued.

  Xia Jun did not trust these bandits, he only trusted honest farmers of peasant origin.

  Zhang Si Dog heard that military uniforms were issued and for a while he didn't react, he was overjoyed and soon joined the morning run.

  Twenty minutes of morning running left a group of people panting, and it was time to eat. Then Xia Jun had someone bring twenty-three sets of military uniforms from the warehouse and distribute them to Zhang Si Gou and his men.

  Zhang Si and his men didn't realize until they received their military uniforms that Xia Jun was not issuing them firearms.

  "Production teams are in charge of production for the regiment, so you won't need to use guns. However, if there's a need for combat, you'll be drafted." Xia Junru said, making Zhang Si and his group feel extremely frustrated.

  Xia Jun's foundation is not very stable now, and what he is cultivating now are his confidants, it would be better if they have a clean background.

  The trusted followers have been cultivated, and it's okay to absorb these more principled bandits, as long as military discipline is maintained.

  ……

  Training is going on day by day. After 23 bandits were organized into a production team, they took care of everything from cooking to washing clothes.

  In terms of logistics, Lin Debao was in charge. Every three days, he would go to the outer village to buy pigs and send them up the mountain. Sometimes, he would buy sheep or cattle instead.

  Fifteen soldiers within the team gradually mastered regular combat skills under Xia Jun's training.

  Every morning, get up and go for a run, followed by half an hour of queue training, then weight-bearing marching, 5km cross-country and other training projects.

  Afternoon began shooting targets, throwing hand grenades, and bayonet fighting.

  In firearms training, Xia Jun adopted a deformed training method, hanging bricks on the muzzle, lighting incense at night, and letting soldiers shoot at the incense head.

  "The five people with the best marksmanship will be rewarded with 10 silver dollars." Xia Jun said to them, on the exchange platform everything is expensive, except for bullets and daily necessities which are not expensive.

  Most of the evening was still spent giving them ideological education, including those 23 bandits.

  "What you're holding in your hands is the most advanced weapon in the world."

  "I'm teaching you military thought and concepts that are also the most advanced in the world."

  "The Qing dynasty is now on its last legs, the Eight-Nation Alliance has already defeated the Qing army, although they have a few new troops now, their weapons are not as good as ours, and they do not have the support of the common people."

  "We must overthrow the brutal rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty and the oppression of the Chinese people by foreign powers, so that every compatriot can live a good life."

  Xia Jun constantly repeated these words to build their confidence and faith.

  Of course, all these remain mere slogans.

  After half a month of training, Xia Jun felt that it was almost enough. The 15 soldiers in the team had already possessed preliminary combat effectiveness, and their marksmanship had also improved rapidly.

  Xia Jun had already made up his mind about his development plan.

  His development plan was before the Xinhai Revolution, with rural areas surrounding cities. Once the Xinhai Revolution broke out, he immediately occupied various county towns.

  The specific method of rural areas surrounding cities is to incorporate rural areas into the jurisdiction of the security militia, and then resist taxation by force.

  To control the countryside, one must first gain the support of the people.

  This summer, Jun thought it out and decided to use high-yielding crops to buy off the landlords and common people. As for the tyrannical landlords in the countryside, he would strike them down, while maintaining good relations with those who had a better reputation.

  At the same time, the security team often goes down to the countryside to help villagers. When villagers are in trouble, they provide assistance to win over their hearts.

  The security team will establish a main force and a second-line force based on towns.

  The secondary troops took the designated towns as their activity area, violently resisting taxes within the region, buying people's hearts, and eliminating bandits. The main force was responsible for dealing with the Qing counterattack.

  Violent resistance to taxation and maintenance of law and order are crucial. Xia Jun wants to expand his own strength based on the countryside, first of all, he must ensure that the tax revenue in the countryside is not taken away by the government.

  The tax burden of the Qing government was very heavy, and the administration was also extremely corrupt. For every 100 million taels of taxes collected by the Qing court, the lower levels had to bear 400 million taels, with dozens of miscellaneous taxes.

  Under such circumstances, the development of national industry is impossible. A commodity itself has no advantage in production technology over foreign goods, and the only advantage lies in transportation costs. Foreign goods have to be transported from a distant place, while domestic goods do not need to be.

  But foreigners enjoy preferential tariff policies, while national industries have no privileges, only exploitation by officials and tax collection stations everywhere. Those that can develop are some official merchants, namely businessmen who maintain good relations with the government, such as modern entrepreneur Zhang Jian.

  After controlling the countryside, Xia Jun can also set up some factories. There are equipment in the exchange platform, as long as there are enough points.

  The premise is that there are points, and eliminating bandits is very important.

  ……

  According to Zhang Sigou, there was a clan with the surname Lu in Xixiang, and this clan had been bandits for generations.

  The Lu family's clan is one of the hereditary bandits, with over 200 households, and for generations they have been secretly carrying out murders and arson. They highly esteem the way of the bandit, believing: "Born to be a strong thief, even in death there will be no regret." "Rather I deceive people, than be deceived by them." "If you don't bully others when young, you'll regret it when old." "A man is not afraid to die, after death he will be reborn early." "If you can't rob others, you'll suffer poverty all your life." "It's better to die as a bandit and gain eternal fame, than to die of illness without making a sound."

  Zhang Si Dog was quite different from these Lu family members.

  Zhang Si's body still had some remnants of the heroic outlaws, his subordinates did not bind poor civilians, nor did they kill people indiscriminately, nor did they rape women. They only robbed the rich, and he said it was to rob the rich and help the poor, but this was just a slogan, what they actually did was rob the wealthy and benefit themselves.

  The Lu clan is a gang of bandits, wherever they set their sights on, that place will be looted and left empty, with people killed, kidnapped, raped, and ravaged. In the areas of Xixiang, Xiaosong, Dongyou, and Dongfeng, their notorious reputation is well-known.

  The Lu clan was able to become a powerful outlaw gang mainly because the Qing government's control over society had completely collapsed by the end of the dynasty, and the entire society was out of control to some extent. The reason it could be maintained was that there were still local gentry and implicit rules in place. The Qing court took an attitude of laissez-faire towards this type of bandit who did not challenge their ruling status, and if they made a big noise, they would be pacified.

  The Xinhai Revolution was like a fuse that pierced this thin layer of paper, and the Qing court's loss of control over society was fully exposed in the Xinhai Revolution.

  This phenomenon also occurred in the late Ming dynasty, when many clans appeared to be fine on the surface, and some even had sons who became jinshi or gongshi, but secretly they were engaging in murder and arson. As the imperial court's control over society weakened, their behavior became increasingly brazen.

  "This is a bit tricky! Four Dogs, do you know where they are hiding?" Xia Jun asked Zhang Si Gou.

  "It's in the mountains, but their village is quite complex, with an earthen wall outside," Zhang Si Dog said. "If our thirty or so people enter the alleys of the village, I'm afraid we'll get lost."

  Xia Jun hesitated for a moment, but still decided to conduct a thorough investigation first. As long as the Lu family's clan was resolved, the Security Team would also be able to make a name for itself in one battle, and it would be easier to move around afterwards.

  The next day, Xia Jun let Lin Chenggui stay in the mountain stronghold and he set off with four personal guards, also bringing Zhang Si along. The Lu family clan was entrenched in a mountain valley forty miles away, the journey was relatively far, but they could arrive in half a day.

  Xia Jun arrived at the outskirts of Lujiacun village that noon, but he didn't continue further because he saw some farmers weeding in the rice fields.

  These people are obviously from Lukou Village, continuing on will easily expose us.

  Then Xia Jun decided to approach Lujia Village again after nightfall, and conduct a reconnaissance of the terrain in Lujia Village at dawn the next day. The six people hid in the woods, waiting for the arrival of nightfall.

  Xia Jun was bored waiting, his heart wanted to accomplish everything with one order, and his younger brother would take care of all the matters. There is still a long way to go. Entrepreneurship is indeed difficult!

  ……

  In the late afternoon, villagers who were farming in the fields returned to the village one after another. Xia Jun then led his men out of the forest and moved towards Lu's Village. When they arrived at the outskirts of Lu's Village, Xia Jun got a general idea of the terrain from a distance.

  Lujia Village is built on the mountain waist, the mountain is not very high, nor is it very dangerous, it can only be considered a hillside. There is just a two-meter-high earth wall outside the village.

  Looking over the earth wall, there are still several watchtowers inside. The village is estimated to be full of alleys everywhere, and those who are not familiar with the terrain will get dizzy after entering.

  Xia Jun still saw two bandits patrolling with guns in the telescope.

  In the dim light, Xia Jun quickly drew a topographic map of Lujia Village on paper and said, "Think of a way to sneak around to the back mountain tonight."