Chapter 3: Rebuilding the Security Team (New Book Seeking Attention)

  Even if it is a compulsory task without a system, the security team Chen Feng must be rebuilt. After all, wanting to mix in this one mu and three points of land in Xinghe is not just relying on a provincial appointment certificate, everyone fears those armed soldiers, not the empty-handed commanders holding the appointment certificate.

  After receiving the appointment letter, Chen Feng's first task was to gather the scattered troops. The next afternoon, in the original security regiment's large drill ground, Chen Feng saw his soldiers.

  Looking at the more than thirty guys in front of him who looked more like beggars than soldiers, Chen Feng frowned. The last battle had thoroughly defeated the Xinghe County Security Regiment, with over 600 troops fleeing back and only about a hundred people returning, while these hundred or so returnees were also disheartened. After Chen Feng issued the summons, only more than thirty homeless troops returned to the security regiment, and the rest of the troops were unknown.

  "Is there an officer among you? Step forward and let me take a look?" Chen Feng said with furrowed eyebrows.

  More than thirty wounded soldiers looked at me, I looked at them, but none of them stood up. After a while, a young man in his late twenties finally stood up and said: "Report to the commander, I am Zhou Tiedan, the squad leader of the 3rd squad of the 2nd platoon of the 2nd company of the 1st battalion. Our regimental commander, battalion commander, company commander, and platoon commander are all dead. I am now the highest-ranking officer here."

  To be precise, the platoon leader couldn't really be considered an officer, at most he could barely pass as a non-commissioned officer. But now Chen Feng had something to ask him, so he didn't mind this anymore.

  "Why is it just you few? Where did all the others go?"

  "Reporting to the commander, more than 90 of them escaped back, but they were all frightened and would rather go home to farm than eat military rations, so they came with us." Zhou Tiedan replied.

  "Then you few aren't afraid, maybe next time on the battlefield it will be you few who die?" Chen Feng continued to ask.

  "How could we not be afraid? Those bandits were really too fierce, riding those tall horses, rushing over with a loud whoosh. The formation that our commander Li had arranged beforehand was like a paper-thin ball, and it was immediately crushed. Our brothers' guns were no match for the bandits' swords, and in an instant we were scattered. Only a few of us managed to escape by fleeing quickly, or else we would have become corpses on Huangshi Cliff." Zhou Tiedan said with lingering fear.

  Although Zhou Tiedan's northern dialect made Chen Feng frown, he still roughly understood what had happened at the time. That Li Tuan was also a blockhead, and he actually deployed his troops in formation to fight a field battle against the cavalry. It was lucky that he could think of such a thing. In the absence of effective automatic firepower to suppress the powerful impact of the cavalry, the Security Regiment was no different from sending people to their deaths. Several hundred men were finished just like that.

  "Where are your guns?" Chen Feng asked, suppressing his anger as he looked at the few men who didn't have a single gun in their hands.

  "Commander, who would still dare to hold a gun at that time? Those bandits specialized in killing people with guns. To escape with their lives, the brothers all threw away their guns." Zhou Tiedan continued to answer.

  "Trash, you're holding guns, not cooking utensils, how can you be wiped out by a few bandits? It's really embarrassing." Chen Feng couldn't help but curse.

  "Good heavens, Commander! You don't know that it's not just a few bandits, but tens of thousands of horse bandits, swarming over like a tidal wave. No matter how many people we have, we can't hold them back. And the guns in our hands are no better than firewood, most of their rifling has been worn off, and each gun only has less than ten rounds of ammunition left. The brothers have done all they can." said Zhou Tiedan.

  "Damn it, if there were really tens of thousands of them, they would have taken down Xinghe County City long ago. Would they still need to fight a guerrilla war with General Li?" Chen Feng said in anger.

  "Commander, the bandits are really numerous, at least several thousand people, everyone has a horse, and there are many Mongolians among them. Their curved knives are very fierce, one by one, our brothers' heads were cut off. The commander of the Li battalion was beheaded by a female bandit in an instant. And when we escaped, I heard that female bandit shouting to attack Xinghe!" Zhou Tiedan continued.

  "Are those bandits really shouting to take down Xinghe County?"

  "Commander, Russia didn't cheat you, if you don't believe me just ask those few." Zhou Tiedan said hastily.

  Chen Feng wasn't worried about these defeated soldiers cheating him, because there was no need to, but he also didn't believe Zhou Tiedan's claim that the horse thieves had several thousand people, which was completely impossible. If there really were such a large gang of horse thieves in the northwest region, how could Fu Zuoyi and Yan Xishan be so carefree? The destructive power of several thousand cavalrymen was not to be underestimated.

  In terms of cavalry formation, three thousand people can form a cavalry brigade. In terms of combat effectiveness, a well-trained cavalry brigade is equivalent to two well-equipped infantry regiments. As far as Mu Chenglin knows, except for the provincial capital Hohhot and Baotou, where there are garrison troops, other places in Suiyuan Province are controlled by security teams. If there were such a large group of bandits, it would be easy to take down several county towns in Suiyuan Province overnight. Would Fu Zuoyi, the chairman of Suiyuan Province, dare to take this risk?

  Moreover, cavalry warfare generally adopts group charges, not too many people, five or six hundred cavalry look majestic, plus the kind of overwhelming momentum when cavalry charge straight ahead, indeed has a kind of frightening feeling, making Zhou Tiedan and others think that thousands of troops and horses are still possible.

  "Alright, no more talk. Now you people form a platoon, Zhou Tiedan as the platoon leader, and each squad leader will be arranged by Zhou Tiedan himself. Also, quickly change into clean clothes and go to Old Chen's house to receive a gun each. We'll go out on the streets to recruit more people under Commander-in-Chief's orders, the more the better." Chen Feng commanded loudly.

  "Yes!"

  Although Zhou Tiedan and his men were a bit soft when it came to fighting, they were still very efficient in getting things done. By nightfall, they had recruited nearly two thousand people, which left Chen Feng truly astonished.

  "Zhou Tiedan, you'd better tell the truth to Commander Ben. Where did you gather so many people from? They're all locals, don't make me go door-to-door to catch them, I'll lose face." Chen Feng said loudly.

  "Reporting to the commander, I didn't dare to, these people are all refugees from the south, they have nothing to eat or drink in the city, when they heard someone was recruiting, they rushed to come, and couldn't be stopped. I thought the commander wanted soldiers, so I kicked out those with families. These are all without families, a total of 1,882 people, if it's not enough, I'll go recruit again tomorrow." Zhou Tiedan said proudly.

  As soon as Zhou Tieren said that, Chen Feng suddenly remembered what his father, Chen Binggong, had said yesterday. After the North China Incident, the North China region was actually controlled by the Japanese army, so a large number of refugees poured into neighboring provinces such as Suiyuan and Shanxi. Xinghe County was one of the counties closest to the disaster area, so every day there were large numbers of refugees pouring into Xinghe County.

  There are more refugees, and the security situation is getting out of hand. Recently, the security team in Xinghe County was disbanded, so the uncontrolled refugees, driven by hunger, have become even more lawless. Several grain stores in the city were looted, including their family's store.

  "Hmm, Zhou Tiedan, you've done a good job. However, you've recruited too many people. The province only assigned one regiment to our commander, with a maximum of 800 people. Now, leave 800 people behind, reorganize them into two battalions, and the rest will follow our commander." Chen Feng shouted loudly.

  "Commander, take us in, we haven't eaten for two days!" a middle-aged man begged.

  "Yes, Commander, we beg of you, take us in! We don't want military pay, just give us enough to eat and we'll be set!"

  "Commander, just spare our lives and take us in, I'll kowtow to you!"

  Looking at the large crowd of people kneeling on the ground, Chen Feng's eyes became moist. The ordinary people of this era were really suffering too much. In times of peace, they were exploited by big and small warlords, and in times of war, they were left homeless and without even a mouthful of food to save their lives.

  "Everyone, get up! Letting you follow me is not abandoning you, but the military camp can't accommodate so many people. I am the young master of Chen's grain store, and our Chen family needs a large number of grain escorts. Although it's not being a soldier, you can still eat food, as long as you follow me wholeheartedly, I guarantee that if I have one bite to eat, you will also have one bite to eat." Chen Feng said loudly.

  "Thanks, Commander! From now on, I, Li Daniu, will entrust this body of over 100 catties to you!"

  "Thank you, Commander..."

  Chen Feng indeed brought them back to the Chen family and soon incorporated them into the grain escort team.

  At night, the study of Chen's family was still lit up, and Chen father and son were sitting across the table from each other.

  Chen's father closed the account book in his hand, rubbed his eyes and asked: "Feng'er, how is the recruitment going?"

  "That's about it, today we recruited over 1,800 people, all of whom are strong and capable young laborers. The vast majority of them are refugees who fled from the south." Chen Feng replied.

  "That's good, these people aren't easy to come by, and it's even harder for them to escape here alive. Let's recruit as many as we can, consider it a way to give them a chance at life, and also accumulate some virtue for our Chen family ancestors." said Chen Fu.

  "Uh-huh, got it. Dad, what's the situation on that mountain?" Chen Feng asked.

  "It's all set, but are you really going to station troops there? If people find out, it'll be a matter of losing one's head." Chen Bingong asked anxiously.

  "It's okay, the big green mountain has always been a single path since ancient times, easy to defend and difficult to attack, it's a good place to train troops. Besides, our Chen family is big and prosperous, how can we not leave a way out? Moreover, I am now the garrison commander of Xinghe County, if everything is peaceful within my jurisdiction, how can I ask Chairman Fu for money, guns and troops?" Chen Feng explained.

  "Feng'er makes sense, but this matter must be kept confidential."

  "Don't worry, Dad. We just need to take advantage of this period when others are not paying attention, and send money, grain, weapons, ammunition, and soldiers up to Daqing Mountain. After that, we don't need to worry about it anymore, Xu Hu and the others will handle it well." Chen Feng said.

  "Hmm, Feng'er you've grown up now, handle these things yourself!" And with that, the conversation between Chen and his son came to an end.