Chapter 53: I'm Going to Kill the Ghost

  The Boxer movement in Heilongjiang Province developed to its peak in June, but due to the decisive implementation of Kang Youwei's suggestion by Shoushan and Huifeng, etc., that is, under the condition that the Boxers did not affect the daily life order of the people in various places and did not pose a threat to the lives and property of the people, the government adopted a policy of appeasement and dispersal. If there were any violations, they would be resolutely suppressed. Therefore, the Boxer movement in Heilongjiang Province was always within controllable range from beginning to end.

  After the Boxer Rebellion in the Beijing-Tianjin area was quickly suppressed, the Boxer Rebellion here also disappeared quickly. Therefore, Russia's plan to send troops to Heilongjiang on a large scale by taking advantage of the chaos caused by the Boxers became a bubble. In order to vent their dissatisfaction, they immediately began to persecute the Qing dynasty overseas Chinese living in several Russian cities across the river from Heilongjiang. At first, but out of fear that their own nationals living in the Qing Empire would also be retaliated against by the Qing military and civilians, they did not dare to do evil openly, but instead instructed some local rascals, disguised soldiers and police to achieve this despicable plot of the government.

  Fortunately, due to the good development momentum in Heilongjiang Province in recent years, most of the Qing Dynasty's overseas Chinese living in Russian territory have returned to settle in Hunchun, which is only separated by a river. The number of Qing Dynasty's overseas Chinese living on the Russian side has become a minority. However, even if they are a minority, they are still the Qing Dynasty's overseas Chinese, and Kang Youwei will not sit idly by.

  Hailun District has always been the main economic center and population concentration area within the vast Heilongjiang border region. After the development plan was launched, it gradually attracted residents from hundreds to thousands of kilometers around, as well as intellectuals, businessmen, technicians, craftsmen, farmers, workers and others from inland areas. It also attracted a large number of Qing dynasty immigrants who originally settled in Harbin, the largest city in Russia's Far East at that time, to settle in Hailun City.

  Hailanpao was originally called Mengjiatun. In 1858, Russia forced the Qing government to sign the unequal Treaty of China and Russia, which ceded a large area of Qing territory north of the Heilongjiang River, including Hailanpao, to Russia and designated Hailanpao as the capital of Russia's Amur Province. By the end of the 19th century, the city's population had grown to nearly 40,000 people, with more than half being Qing immigrants who were mainly engaged in commerce, handicrafts, agriculture, and labor. There were over 500 large and medium-sized businesses operating in the area. For these Qing immigrants living under Russian rule, it was a great opportunity to return to their own country's territory with better development prospects. Therefore, within a short period of time, a large number of immigrants crossed the river to leave, leaving behind only a few foolish Russians who were unable to support the local economy on the verge of collapse. The economy of what was known as the capital of Russia's Amur Province also became a mere shell of its former self.

  Just as Kovan had hoped, the agricultural development in Ya Huan District has made remarkable progress. The state-run farms established in Ya Huan, Nenjiang and Xunke have become a thriving scene, with tractors, hydroelectric equipment, agricultural aircraft and new-style agricultural machinery playing a huge role, bringing about a revolutionary change to the local agriculture. At the same time, the infrastructure and industrial construction of Ya Huan City have also taken shape, with some infrastructure and enterprises starting operation. The highway connecting Shanxi and Heilongjiang - Taiya Line (Taiyuan to Ya Huan) has also started construction work on cement pavement and related infrastructure after its opening.

  With such a good start, the plan to build Hailun County into a new base with agriculture as the mainstay and industry and commerce as the auxiliary can be gradually realized. After this plan is completed, it will have the basic conditions for building this place into an anti-Russian bridgehead, and on this basis, it will gradually realize the strategic intention of defending the entire Northeast region.

  In early July, Kang Fan received intelligence from the Security Bureau and led the guard battalion to drive to Hailun, where they merged with the special forces of the Security Bureau who had arrived earlier, preparing to launch a rescue operation for the Qing dynasty overseas Chinese.

  This special warfare unit was formed by the Security Bureau with the approval of Kang Fan, and its members were selected from the regular army, internal security forces, and patrol teams through voluntary registration. As Kang Fan himself was a special forces soldier, he personally wrote the admission standards and training manuals, which were quite professional. Therefore, out of nearly 10,000 applicants who passed the initial selection, only about 1,000 people remained after three months of rigorous training at the Security Bureau's training base, and these remaining soldiers eventually became this special warfare unit, known as the crème de la crème!

  The commander of the special forces, Captain Li Jinqing, was originally a member of the Blue Demon Team. He was later selected by Kang Fan to join the Intelligence Class and followed him into the Security Bureau as it expanded. He participated in several operations with Kang Fan, including the Ningwu and Yunzhongshan bandit suppression, the UK ransom, the Beijing city guard, and the "Heavy Hammer" campaign against Japan. He is a versatile and capable individual with outstanding personal abilities.

  "Principal has come here in person, I suppose you're itching for a fight again." Captain Li said with a smile.

  Kang Fan also laughed, "With Captain Li here, how could Principal Yan not be?"

  Huifeng walked over, also fully armed, "Kangdi, the border defense troops' speedboat is ready."

  Kang Fan nodded, "Alright. Brother Hui Feng will be in charge of picking up and sending back the rescued overseas Chinese, ensuring their safe withdrawal."

  The Jin army troops responsible for the Heilongjiang border defense were newly equipped with patrol boats produced by the Tianjin Shipyard. This type of patrol boat has a displacement of over 30 tons, a steel-framed wooden hull, and uses an improved diesel engine from the "Iron Horse" automobile, allowing the patrol boat to reach a top speed of 30 knots.

  This torpedo boat was originally designed to undertake coastal defense tasks, but the development of torpedoes has not been completed yet, and relevant naval personnel are not in place. Other equipment, such as new-style naval guns and radar, are also under development and cannot be installed on the boats for the time being. Therefore, under Kang Fan's instructions, this batch of boats was modified and equipped with existing weapons to patrol the Heilongjiang River border area first. Although it may seem a bit wasteful, it can effectively enhance the defense capabilities of the Heilongjiang River border area, which is not a bad measure.

  This batch of speedboats has a 96-style general-purpose machine gun installed on both sides of the upper structure behind the driver's cabin, and an 82 recoilless cannon is installed at the rear of the boat that can be rotated for shooting. All weapons are equipped with armored shields to protect the shooter. Under normal circumstances, the ship's cabin can carry 30 fully armed soldiers. The bow of the boat was designed with a retractable landing ramp, which facilitates the landing of soldiers. This time, all 12 speedboats of this type were planned to be deployed, and it is estimated that each speedboat could squeeze in more than 60 people at most, maintaining a speed of over 20 knots. Although it cannot reach its top speed, any Russian ship on the Heilongjiang River will not be able to catch up with it.

  Kang Fan explained the action plan to Captain Li and Hui Feng: Currently, Heihe, the capital of Russia's Amur Province, which is across the river from Mohe, is a concentrated residence for Qing dynasty immigrants, with a total number of about 1,000 people. They are all stubborn elements who do not want to return home for some reason or another. Therefore, if they have not personally experienced Russian persecution, they will absolutely not voluntarily evacuate. Intelligence personnel disguised as locals by the Security Bureau have already mobilized these people, but there are very few respondents. So, our rescue action must wait until the Russian persecution begins before we can proceed, otherwise it would be difficult to get the immigrants' cooperation and implementation would be extremely difficult. According to my information, the Russians will start large-scale actions on July 16th. Today is July 12th, so we'll cross the river tonight to lie in ambush, just in case. The rescue action will begin when the Security Bureau's wireless call sign is received, which is "Zhong Kui".

  "Zhōng Kuí? The old man who kills ghosts." Captain Li smiled knowingly.

  Hui Feng also smiled and continued: "The old man who specializes in killing Russian devils."

  "Yes. We're going to kill the ghost!" Kang Fan said.

  At midnight, Kang Fan led 120 guards to cross the wide Heilongjiang River in a hidden skin boat and lay ambush in the forest on the opposite bank. Li Dui led 200 special warfare soldiers into the suburbs of Hailanpao City, hiding in the predetermined location found by the security bureau's intelligence personnel, implementing close-range operations. Meanwhile, Hui Feng was stationed at the fast boat unit at Huachuan Wharf, ready to respond at any time. At the same time, the Jin army stationed on the Heilongjiang River gathered at Huachuan, with 24 130mm cannons raised high, aiming at the Russian targets on the opposite bank of the river. The local garrison in Huachuan also made preparations for battle.

  In the summer, Heilongjiang forest is sweltering during the day and chilly at night. The dense undergrowth makes it impossible to breathe, and mosquitoes are countless. Although we set up tents, they don't provide much comfort, and the mosquitoes still wreak havoc, leaving us with nowhere to hide. It's been raining for days on end, and our sweat and rainwater keep pouring down. Our military uniforms have never dried. We can't start a fire or take a bath, so every meal is cold canned food and compressed dry rations eaten with cold water. The night is so cold that our teeth chatter, and the suffering is unbearable.

  On the third day of hiding, the rain stopped in the afternoon, and the sun briefly showed its face, but the sunlight was blocked by the tall trees, and not much reached the ground, making the water vapor in the forest evaporate, hot air swirling, even more suffocating!

  Kang Fan was able to endure, when he first served in the special forces, that kind of wilderness survival mission with no food or water supply, unable to move, day and night, was a common occurrence. Now there were tents, enough food and water, and they could move around in a small area, the conditions were already quite favorable. It could be seen that the guardsmen were all taking him as an example and enduring with great effort, although he didn't know their true feelings, but from their wooden facial expressions, Kang Fan could still sense their inner anxiety and helplessness.

  "Doesn't feel good, does it?" Kang Fan asked a soldier beside him.

  The soldier smiled awkwardly, "It's okay. If the principal can bear it, we can too."

  Another soldier interrupted: "Principal, the fact that these overseas Chinese do not want to return to their country means they are not patriotic. Since they are not patriotic, why must we rescue them?"

  Kong Fan smiled, "We are soldiers, protecting our countrymen is our mission. Letting our countrymen suffer from foreign bullying, losing face for our entire nation and army, has nothing to do with the good or bad character of these overseas Chinese. As long as they are Qing Dynasty overseas Chinese, we must rescue them, we have no choice."

  The soldier didn't ask further, as if he was thinking.