Chapter 441 Demonstrate in person
The composition of the inmates in the Haihan hard labor camp is very complex. There are prisoners from Yazhou Prison, criminals among naturalized civilians, bandits and pirates captured in the mainland last year, and South Vietnamese prisoners of war from Annan Kingdom. The total number There are thousands of them, and they are engaged in the most cumbersome and arduous manual labor at dozens of construction sites on Qiongzhou Island. These people were sentenced to varying lengths of prison terms, ranging from one month to life. Those with short prison terms may still have hope, but some people who have no hope of leaving the hard labor camp alive will inevitably have some desperate thoughts.
This is not the first time that people have escaped through the supervision loopholes in working in the field. This is not the first time in a hard labor camp. This kind of thing happens almost every month. However, since the establishment of the hard labor camp, no one has actually managed to escape. Because most of the places where these hard laborers work are within the Haihan control area, these hard laborers have neither identity plates nor any supplies or circulation coupons to purchase supplies. Even if they can escape from the construction site, it is often difficult to escape. Hiding his whereabouts for a long time. The consequence of being caught by a fugitive, if the crime does not lead to death, is often to be sent to a remote black soil port to engage in the work of refining coal tar, which is extremely harmful to the human body.
However, this was the first time in history that the hard laborers escaped directly from the construction site into the city under the control of the Ming government. But no matter where they fled, Qiao Zhiya could not let these daring slave laborers become the first batch of pioneers to successfully escape. Therefore, even if he adopted a tougher attitude, Qiao Zhiya must let the militiamen enter the city as soon as possible to arrest these batch of slaves. Prisoner.
In such a small city, it was difficult for outsiders to find a suitable shelter, so the militiamen who entered the city quickly discovered several hard laborers under the city wall. Some of them ran away immediately when they saw that the situation was not good, while others knelt on the ground and did not dare to raise their heads when they saw the shadow of the militia soldiers - they probably also understood that it was basically impossible to escape from these evil stars again. Possible things.
The militiamen were not in a hurry to hunt down the prisoners who escaped again, because Xiao Laosan had ordered the city gates to be closed an hour ago when these prisoners escaped into Changhua County. Therefore, no matter how they escaped, they could not leave this small county. .
Almost all of these militiamen who were sent to Changhua to perform tasks had participated in the battle in Annan. They can be regarded as veterans with formal combat experience. They were very familiar with handling these captured fugitives. They pinned them to the ground and used them very quickly. In a matter of seconds, his hands and feet were tied up with hemp rope so that he could not move. Then someone brought strings of shackles and locked these people one by one. This kind of fine iron shackles are generally only used in the process of transporting hard labor. Ten or even twenty people are worn in a string. They must act collectively and cannot escape at all. However, these shackles are usually removed during work to increase the number of workers. Labor efficiency.
The arrests went smoothly at first. Within ten minutes of entering the city, the militiamen had already captured nearly half of the fugitives. Xiao Laosan and Qiao Zhiya were also supervising the arrest process at the city gate. After all, these militiamen came to the city in the name of "assisting the government in apprehending fugitives", and each team of militiamen also sent several guards to follow them. to avoid an out-of-control situation.
Xiao Laosan saw the shackled fugitives walking slowly towards the city gate under the escort of the militia. He seemed to say unintentionally: "The Haihan militia is really well-trained. It seems that in the past two years, the Yazhou area It makes sense that there will be stability and the disappearance of bandits.”
When Qiao Zhiya heard this, his mind immediately started to work. It seemed that Xiao Laosan's words were not without purpose, but had some kind of overtone. He responded tentatively: "Over in Yazhou, the government has great trust in our militia. Now the people in several inspection departments have been replaced by people from the militia. This can save the government a lot of money." In terms of personnel expenses, there are a large number of Li and Miao youths in the militia, which can also help solve some of the livelihood problems of these mountain people.”
Xiao Laosan responded: "This method is not bad. Our Changhua County is vast and sparsely populated, and the number of garrison troops is small. In the past years, we were often harassed by Nanyang pirates, and the people suffered terribly... I am an official of the imperial court, and I often fight for this. I can’t sleep at night, I don’t know how to solve it!”
Speaking of which, even if Qiao Zhiya is an ABC who grew up in the West and doesn't quite understand the twists and turns in Eastern culture, he already understands what Xiao Laosan wants to convey - that is, to take the initiative to come and hug him. Thighs!
Qiao Zhiya coughed dryly and said: "Since the people of Changhua have this need, we are also willing to provide money, people and efforts to help the local people solve this hidden danger. Mr. Xiao, what do you think of this? We will provide the people, weapons and supplies ourselves. In addition, an amount of office funds will be donated to the Changhua Garrison every year, on the condition that the Haihan Militia can have a name for legal activities in the local area.”
Xiao Laosan knows that the Haihan people want money and people, and their strength is far superior to that of the local government. Since they have reached out to Changhua, sooner or later this place will become their territory like Yazhou. Instead of sitting back and watching, it is better to It's better to take this opportunity to get some benefits for yourself. However, since he holds a military position, the scope of authority he can use is relatively limited. If he wants to get the Haihan people to pay bribes, the methods he can use probably have to be linked to the power in his hands. Xiao Laosan thought about it before finally coming up with such a solution. Today, the Haihan militia came to the city to catch fugitives, which was undoubtedly the best time to communicate with the Haihan people. Xiao Laosan has heard of the term "office expenses" before. The people in Yacheng Yamen can now lie at home and eat free meals because of the so-called "office expenses" paid to the Yamen by the Haihan people on schedule. As for what exactly these funds are Everyone knows whether it is used in the office or elsewhere. Since Qiao Zhiya said all this, Xiao Laosan naturally understood it.
"How can this happen!" Xiao Laosan pretended to decline.
"Xiao Laosan, there's no need to refuse. When today's matter is finished, someone will come to discuss the details of cooperation with you. You just have to wait." Qiao Zhiya didn't give Xiao Laosan any time to hesitate, and quickly finalized the matter with a few words. . As for the subsequent details, Qiao Zhiya does not have the power to make commitments alone due to financial issues involved.
Similar forms of cooperation have been carried out many times before, not only in Yacheng, but also in Ganfen County between Changhua and Yazhou, as well as in Lingshui and Wanning in the northeast of Sanya. situation. The garrison strength in these places is weak, and the soldiers have limited knowledge. They think that since the Haihan people are willing to contribute money and effort, they are happy and relaxed. Anyway, they can collect money while sitting at home, which is much better than being exposed to the wind and sun outside. .
Whether it is the Executive Committee or the Military Commission, they are all happy to see this form of "cooperation". It can not only avoid direct armed conflict with the Ming Dynasty, but also achieve the purpose of actual control. As for the money spent on bribing Ming Dynasty officials in the process The relevant departments don't particularly care about the money raised. After all, this amount is really just a drop in the bucket compared to the military expenditures needed to start a war.
When Qiao Zhiya and Xiao Laosan were chatting in high spirits, they suddenly heard the sound of musket shooting coming from the city, and there were more than one. The expressions of both of them changed, and Qiao Zhiya immediately said: "I'm going to see what's going on!"
"Let's go together!" Xiao Laosan was also afraid that something would get out of control, so he followed Qiao Zhiya and ran towards the direction of the gunfire.
The incident occurred only two blocks away from the city gate, and the two of them arrived at the scene quickly. A group of militiamen blocked the entrance of an alley. The naturalized civilian officer leading the group saw Qiao Zhiya coming in person and quickly reported the current situation to him.
It turned out that five fugitives escaped here under the siege of the militia. In a panic, they grabbed a passing mother and son and used them as shields. However, these fugitives were not familiar with the roads in the city, and ended up retreating into a dead end. The militiamen who were chasing them opened fire directly, killing two of the slower fugitives. The three remaining fugitives and the mother and son they held hostage are still in the alley. "Take hostages!" Qiao Zhiya nodded, took off the rifle from behind, and began to move his hands and feet. Ordinary militiamen probably couldn't handle this kind of thing properly, so Qiao Zhiya decided to take matters into his own hands, and also let Xiao Laosan see what a powerful soldier was.
"Please Mr. Xiao, please raid the formation for me!" After saying that, Qiao Zhiya walked into the alley with a gun in hand, without waiting for Xiao Laosan's consent.
This alley is not long. Qiao Zhiya visually estimated that it should only be about 20 meters long. Both sides and the other end of the alley are surrounded by courtyard walls about two meters high. When Qiao Zhiya walked into the alley, he saw three fugitives trying to use a ladder to climb over the wall, while the hostage mother and son were huddled in the corner and shivering.
Seeing that the target was unobstructed, in order to avoid missing the opportunity, Qiao Zhiya did not issue a warning, directly aimed the gun, then pulled the trigger, firing at a rate of two bursts per step while moving forward. . The three fugitives were almost caught off guard and were beaten to pieces by instantaneous bullets. The huge kinetic energy at close range caused the bullets to push their bodies heavily against the wall, making them living targets without the ability to resist.
Qiao Zhiya emptied the magazine with a steady rate of fire. At this time, he was less than ten meters away from the position of the three fugitives. Qiao Zhiya put the rifle behind him, then pulled out the MK23 pistol inserted in the quick-draw holster on his chest, and used the standard "Mozambique shooting method" to shoot three more shots at the three fugitives who were slowly sliding down against the wall - —Two shots to the torso and one to the head, ensuring that these three people would never die again.
In fact, when Qiao Zhiya fired with the rifle, these three people had already been shot several times, and there was basically no chance of survival. Qiao Zhiya's follow-up shot was not so much to ensure that he killed the enemy, but rather to show off his force—— Especially showing off to the stunned Xiao Laosan.
When Xiao Laosan just saw Qiao Zhiya single-handedly carrying the strange-looking firecracker into the alley, he couldn't help but wonder how he could kill three fugitives with one firecracker. But from the moment Qiao Zhiya opened fire, Xiao Laosan was already stunned. The gun in Qiao Zhiya's hand could be fired continuously without loading ammunition, and it seemed to be extremely powerful. The bullets were almost like nails, killing the three The fugitive was nailed to the wall. After that, Qiao Zhiya fired again with a pistol at close range. Xiao Laosan was so shocked that he was numb - he could even fire the handgun continuously!
Qiao Zhiya closed the safety of the pistol, put it back into the holster, and then waved towards the entrance of the alley, and then the militiamen swarmed in. These militiamen were all veterans. They had seen Haihan leaders using these sharp and strange weapons to kill enemies on the Annan battlefield, so they were not as shocked as Xiao Laosan.
Qiao Zhiya ordered: "Send these two hostages out first and let them go home. Find a car, take the bodies of these three guys back, and show the itchy prisoners what the consequences will be if they escape! And , clean this place and pick up every bullet casing for me!”
Qiao Zhiya returned to the entrance of the alley and asked Xiao Laosan, who was still in an out-of-body state: "How did Xiao Ba think I behaved just now?"
Xiao Laosan murmured: "So...so amazing..."
"Look, my performance just now proves that we are fully capable of protecting the safety of the local people, don't you think so, Mr. Xiao?" Qiao Zhiya continued to ask very proudly.
"Yes, yes!" Xiao Laosan finally came to his senses at this time, nodding his head like a chicken pecking at rice: "What Major Qiao said is very true, I admire you very much."
When Qiao Zhiya saw that his eyes were always on her and the two guns walking back and forth while he was talking, she asked with a smile: "Xiao Ba always wants to play with these two weapons of mine?"
Xiao Laosan quickly waved his hand and said: "No, no, no, I didn't mean that. I just saw Major Qiao using it with great power, so I took a second look. Dare I ask Major Qiao, this kind of weapon is also produced by Haihan ?”
"Of course, but the manufacturing process of this kind of weapon is very complicated, and only senior officers can equip it." Qiao Zhiya said boldly. Whether it is HK416 or MK23, these high-end weapons cannot be produced in ten or twenty years in this time and space, but from what he said, Haihan already has the ability to produce such weapons.
Xiao Laosan didn't know the trick. In his opinion, the two weapons used by Haihan officer Qiao Zhiya were invincible. One person could serve as a team of musketeers. If 35,000 soldiers were equipped with these weapons, People, I'm afraid they can conquer the world. In this small Changhua County, the garrison combined together may not be able to defeat Qiao Zhiya alone. It seems that it is a wise move for me to choose to cooperate with the Haihan people instead of confronting them.
Because Qiao Zhiya had just fired a burst of gunfire, the sound of gunfire was almost heard throughout the small county town. The people all ran home and hid. At this time, there was no one in sight on the street. . However, in this way, it clears the way for the arrest of the remaining prisoners.
(End of chapter)