Chapter 2040
As an officer who has led troops to fight overseas all year round, injuries are a common occurrence for Sun Bing. During the battle in Korea last year, he was briefly hospitalized for treatment due to injuries. However, the Datongjiang base at that time was put into battle just after it was built. Various facilities, including field hospitals, were very crude, and the conditions were far inferior to those in Jinzhou.
Sun Bing still remembers that the "ward" he lived in at that time was just a temporary tent. A tent used to house patients was filled with twenty camp beds under the fortress. In addition, even the operating room is located in a tent, and medical staff are recruited from all over the country. The operation of the entire field hospital is really chaotic.
The Jinzhou side has been in business for much longer and has more complete infrastructure. This field hospital, which is only a few miles away from the isthmus defense line, is made of bricks and stones. Each ward has only eight beds. It is far less crowded than the Datongjiang Field Hospital, and the environment and medical conditions are obviously a higher level.
From the second day after Sun Bing was admitted to the hospital, people started to visit him one after another. In addition to the subordinates under his command and the naval colleagues who fought side by side in this operation, there were also local civil and military officials in Jinzhou, as well as a group of gentry and elders who came to express condolences to the wounded on behalf of the local people. This was something Sun Bing had never enjoyed before. treatment.
Although these people who came to visit the wounded may not know what kind of combat missions Sun Bing and others performed on the front line, sources pointed out that General Chen Yixin, who was guarding Jinzhou, rushed back from the front line yesterday just to visit these people who were sent for treatment. of wounded. For the high-ranking General Haihan to pay so much attention to this shows that these injured people are not just ordinary people. Some people with special information channels inquired further and found out that these wounded soldiers were all members of the Marine Corps. They were an ace unit that could be on par with the special operations group. No wonder General Chen took it so seriously.
Whether it was because Chen Yixin's demonstration worked or because he wanted to get to know the heroes of the Marine Corps, many people came to join in the fun. Sun Bing thought it was quite refreshing at first, but after receiving four or five groups of people, it became a bit overwhelming.
Later in the afternoon, there were finally fewer visitors, and Sun Bing breathed a sigh of relief. As the commander of this group of wounded soldiers, he was almost always the main target of visitors. By the end of the day, not only was his mouth dry, but his face was also frozen.
Sun Bing was just taking advantage of this free time to rest for a while, when he turned around and saw another outsider entering the ward, and it was someone he knew, Liu Shang, who was in charge of local civil affairs and publicity affairs.
He had already met Liu Shang when he got off the ship yesterday, and naturally he would not mistakenly think that the other party came specifically to visit him. Most of the time he appeared here because he had business matters to discuss with him.
As expected, when Liu Shang opened his mouth, he was talking about business: "Company Commander Sun, I am planning to write a press release for your combat mission. Do you think it would be convenient for you to cooperate with me and accept an interview?"
Sun Bing smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Liu, you are too polite. You wrote an article to praise the Marine Corps. It's too late for me to thank you, but can you please let me slow down first? There are too many people visiting today. After talking all day, my voice is a bit hoarse. Yes, I’m coughing badly now.”
Liu Shangdao: "This is easy to handle. I will immediately ask someone to get some medicine to clear your throat and moisturize your lungs to help you relax."
Before Sun Bing answered, Liu Shang hurried out of the ward again. It seemed that he was not just saying a few polite words, but actually going to discuss the matter.
Liu Shang was originally transferred to serve in the north, first in Shandong, and later in Liaodong. However, these two places were military-controlled areas, so most of the people he dealt with were soldiers. Liu Shang is in charge of political propaganda. It is a task that he does almost every year to conduct promotional tours for the various troops stationed in the north to maintain morale and consolidate the loyalty of these troops to the Executive Committee. Therefore, most of the officers who had stayed in these two places for a long time knew Liu Shang, and Sun Bing was no exception.
Sun Bing still had a very good impression of Liu Shang. He remembered that when he was stationed in Jinzhou earlier, in addition to conveying official news from the "Haihan Times" during propaganda activities, Mr. Liu would occasionally be in high spirits. Sometimes he would also perform a storyteller for everyone, most of which were legendary stories about the Haihan Army's early battles in various places, which was very popular with the soldiers. Moreover, Liu Shang's storytelling skills are quite good. It is said that before he became an official, he was a professional who made a living as a storyteller in teahouses in Sanya. After becoming an official, he did not have any obvious official airs. This made Sun Bing, who was also a commoner, also admire him. A little more favorable.
Not long after, Liu Shang came back with a porcelain cup in his hand: "You are lucky. The doctor said that there is only the last bit of throat clearing drink in stock. I am coming over. I will make a cup for you to drink first."
Sun Bing thanked him repeatedly and took the porcelain cup from Liu Shang's hand. Sure enough, it was still hot. Liu Shang continued: "This throat-clearing drink is a good thing. It contains black plum, Ophiopogon japonicus, raw licorice, Platycodon, Adenophora, and Scrophulariaceae. In my profession, I talk too much, and I often have a problem with my throat. After drinking this thing It will make it a lot easier.”
After taking a sip, Sun Bing responded: "Master Liu is an expert, and what he recommends will definitely be correct."
Liu Shang waited for Sun Bing to finish drinking the medicine before he got back to business: "As for the combat mission performed by the Marines this time, I heard that they will ask for credit from the Ministry of National Defense in the future. The Times will definitely have relevant reports by then, so I have to Prepare the manuscript earlier. You don’t know where you will be transferred after you recover from your injuries, so I can only block you while you are still unable to walk.”
Sun Bing said: "Master Liu has worked hard, but the task I am performing this time is subject to confidentiality regulations and cannot be leaked to the outside world. I hope Master Liu can forgive me."
Liu Shang responded: "Lianchang Sun is very strict... Don't worry, General Chen's consent has been sought for this matter. This is the warrant he issued. Take a look." Sun Bing didn't know much about literacy, so he could barely read the content on this warrant. He understands 70% to 80%, but there is Chen Yixin's signature and seal at the bottom of the signature, which he can see clearly. Although Chen Yixin is not his immediate boss, he is also a military general who knows the inside story of this operation. Moreover, it was Chen Yixin who notified the Datong River base when Jinzhou discovered clues about the Qing Army's musketeers, so since he has agreed For this special interview, there was no need for Sun Bing to resist.
Today, Liu Shang has long given up the idea of working for the Ming Dynasty, and is working as an official of Haihan with peace of mind, heading for a better future. At that time, he went into Haihan to lurk with him. Several people who knew his identity had all died on Hainan Island. The higher-ups must have thought that he died in the same shipwreck. No one would have thought of a storyteller as a cover. The Ming Dynasty spy was able to completely change his identity and successfully sneak into Haihan's bureaucracy, and he had a tendency to climb higher and higher.
Although Liaodong is very far away from Haihan's homeland, Haihan did not hesitate to deploy heavy troops here to confront the Qing army all year round, which shows that he attaches no less importance to this place than any overseas ruling area. The scope of work Liu Shang is responsible for in Jinzhou is no longer limited to the field of propaganda, but is increasingly involved in the management of civil affairs. This
On the one hand, this is because his personal abilities have been significantly improved and he has gained more trust from his superiors. On the other hand, it is also because the number of capable officials in Liaodong is relatively small. But this environment also leaves more room for Liu Shang to develop, allowing him to strive for many opportunities to express himself - such as becoming the chief special writer of the "Haihan Times" in the Liaodong region.
"Haihan Times" is the official media of Haihan State at this stage, and the content published on it often represents the official will and attitude. In many cases, the official will use this platform to spread rumors and guide public opinion.
In particular, the Haihan Kingdom has engaged in frequent foreign wars over the years. If it were any other country, they might have already complained about such conquests that cost a lot of money and materials. However, the Haihan Kingdom's control and guidance of public opinion is extremely effective, and the people Instead of objecting to this, they regard it as a symbol of national strength. The successive victories in foreign wars have in turn further consolidated this impression among the people, making them more and more full of expectations for each crusade against foreign countries.
Of course, Haihan remained undefeated in foreign wars and obtained many benefits from it, which were not only enough to make up for the consumption of the war, but also benefited the country and the people. This is where public opinion guidance can play a role. root cause. If there had been a few more defeats, or if the military casualties had increased significantly, it is estimated that the domestic trend would not be as one-sided as it is now.
As an official platform, the writers of many articles in the Times are actually officials from various departments. Sometimes the headlines are written by the bosses of the executive committee themselves. Liu Shang only gradually understood this after joining the propaganda department. to these inside stories. Being able to become a staff writer of the Times is a special qualification in itself, and it is an extraordinary honor for Liu Shang. You must know that in the entire Liaodong region, he is the only naturalized official with this honor. Apart from him, only two big guys, Chen Yixin and Sha Xi, can have this privilege, and these two usually do not He would write articles for the Times himself, so in fact Liu Shang was the only one in Liaodong who was responsible for this job.
When wars occur overseas, in addition to internal military reports, there will also be local writers like Liu Shang who write press releases on the battle conditions and results for Haihan Times to publish when necessary. . But as Sun Bing mentioned, most of the time combat operations are classified as military secrets, and there are many contents that should not be disclosed to the public, so such manuscripts may not necessarily appear in newspapers.
But where his responsibilities lie, Liu Shang will still try his best to complete his tasks. He heard that the Marine Corps' combat mission in the north was likely to have achieved great success, so writing a detailed press release for it automatically became his task. After applying to Chen Yixin and getting the warrant, Liu Shang came to the field hospital to interview the person involved.
With Chen Yixin's endorsement, Sun Bing no longer had to worry about leaks. He happily started talking about the mission he received, how to lurk in the mountains and forests near Jinshitan, how to secretly observe the enemy's situation, and how to investigate and confirm the target's combat effectiveness. I gave a more detailed answer according to Liu Shang's question.
This was not the first time for Liu Shang to interview officers who led troops in war, but this special mission performed by the Marines still surprised him. The Haihan Army entered enemy-occupied areas to perform combat missions many times in the past, but most of the time they escaped with one blow and immediately retreated to the sea after success, and did not stay there for too long.
The combat operation commanded by Sun Bing was obviously different from the past military operations. According to what he said, they had been lurking in the local area for more than half a month before they had such an opportunity to take action. Although the risk of exposing their tracks and attacking by force was extremely high, in order to better complete the mission, Sun Bing's troops still chose to take action, and they also paid the price of dozens of casualties. In order to pursue them, the Qing army almost ignored their own casualties and fought hard with the Marines at the cost of human lives. Those who were able to safely retreat to Jinzhou in the end can be said to be the lucky ones.
Although Liu Shang has a good brain, he still feels that the amount of information in this operation is too much. He knew that the military always valued the safety of soldiers. As long as there was room for choice, it would generally not fight with the enemy for lives in combat. However, the operation commanded by Sun Bing had obviously broken this practice, and the Marine Corps was still The ace unit in the army lost dozens of people in one operation. This was definitely considered a major battle loss.
There were so many casualties during the execution of the mission. Instead of being held accountable, the commander would be credited and receive rewards. This shows how wary the military was about the existence of the Qing Army's musketry team. It must be Remove it quickly. According to Sun Bing, it was the Spaniards who assisted the Qing army in forming the musketeers, but there is still no clue as to how the Qing army hooked up with the Spaniards.
"We killed a translator during the operation. It's a pity. If we could catch him alive, we might be able to find out the true identity of the middleman." Sun Bing recalled the course of the operation and was still a little worried about this detail. Although they successfully defeated the Qing army's musketeers, the investigation mission they shouldered was not completed satisfactorily, and the origin of the middleman was still not identified.
Liu Shang himself was a spy and was very sensitive to details. He immediately asked: "Did you bring back the body of the translator? Maybe you can find some clues from his appearance and belongings."
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Sun Bing nodded and said: "The body was carried on a horse and brought back to the ship, but we don't know how the autopsy is going."
Liu Shang is a very curious person. When he was lurking as a storyteller in Sanya, he liked to go to the municipal library to check various materials. Later, he was transferred to Shandong. Because he was investigating the corruption inside the immigration camp, he almost committed suicide. His identity must be exposed. However, there had been no situation that aroused his curiosity for a long time after coming to Liaodong, and Sun Bing's mission seemed to have once again aroused his interest in exploring the truth.
(End of chapter)