Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

At 7:30 in the evening, after dinner, in the newly cleaned-up combat command room of the regiment headquarters, several battalion-level officers, Su Zhengyang, Qin Huaiyi, and Liu Gangding sat around a long table, looking at the map of Sanjiang County on the table.

Qin Huaiyi, who had been appointed by Su Zhengyang as the chief of staff of the Sanjiang County Security Corps, pointed to the map of Yanlin Town, 40 miles south of Sanjiang County, and said, "There are four powerful bandit forces near Sanjiang County. They are Lv Guoquan from Qingfeng Mountain in Yanlin Town, Liu Chengxu from Fengshan, and Wang Mazi, nicknamed the King of the Kidnapper, who is entrenched in Shuizhaigou."

"Among them, Lü Guoquan of Qingfeng Mountain has the largest number of troops and the best equipment. There are more than 600 bandits gathered in Qingfeng Mountain. They rob houses, abduct women, oppress the people, burn, kill, and plunder. They do all kinds of evil. More than 70% of his 600 men have guns. There are not many old-fashioned equipment such as flintlock rifles and hunting rifles. Most of them have old Dongyang-made sleeves. I heard that Lü Guoquan should have two light machine guns in his hands."

"Although Liu Chengxu's troops on Fengshan Mountain only have more than 300 people, Liu Chengxu was born in the Northwest Military Academy and has military experience. He has a method for fighting and is very good at leading troops. His men are also the most powerful. Although their equipment is not as good as Lu Guoquan's, and the gun-carrying rate of his men is only 40%, he has repeatedly made the former head of the security group, Wang Er, suffer losses, and even lost his life at the foot of Fengshan Mountain."

"As for Wang Mazi, there's no need to mention him. He has only about a hundred men under his command and only twenty rifles. Shuizhaigou is relatively remote, and he has not touched the interests of the forces in Sanjiang County, so he has lived a relatively free life. However, this old bastard has done a lot of immoral things. Last year, villagers near Shuizhaigou complained to the county, saying that their daughter was forced to death by Wang Mazi. After Wang Mazi ordered someone to give Director Wu three hundred dollars, the matter was left unresolved."

Liu Gangding observed the map and pondered, "From this point of view, Wang Mazi is the easiest target. I estimate that if we send out a company, we can completely wipe out the banditry in Shuizhaigou. On the contrary, the bandits in Fengshan and Qingfengshan are not easy to deal with. I am curious about where Lu Guoquan, an illiterate bandit, got so many guns, including light machine guns."

Qin Huaiyi smiled and said, "In fact, this Lu Guoquan is the cousin of the county magistrate Ma Jiawei. He robbed houses on Qingfeng Mountain, and gave 70% of the ill-gotten gains he made every year to the Ma family. These equipments were bought from the troops of the Guo faction warlord through the Ma family's connections."

Su Zhengyang was holding an enamel mug, drinking tea with his eyes slightly narrowed, thinking constantly in his mind. Among these three bandits, except for Fengshan Liu Chengxu who had a mortal feud with the Du family, the other two had more or less connections with these big families in the county.

After thinking for a moment, Su Zhengyang patted the table.

"Just attack Qingfeng Mountain and Shuizhaigou. Liu Chengxu from Fengshan is a talented person, so let's not attack him yet."

Qin Huaiyi smiled as expected, and then said to Su Zhengyang: "Captain, according to the rules, for any large-scale action, the security group must first report to the county government office and obtain approval before sending troops. Given the relationship between Ma Jiawei and Lu Guoquan, will our action be approved?"

Su Zhengyang showed a sinister smile and said, "Just tell our county magistrate that we are going to Fengshan to suppress the bandits. In fact, we are just pretending to build a plank road to attack Chencang. We will fight against Lu Guoquan! If Ma Jiawei investigates it later, we will slowly settle the matter with him."

"The leader is wise!"

After looking at each other, everyone smiled knowingly and shouted in unison.

The next morning, Liu Gangding arrived at the county government office under Su Zhengyang's instructions.

Secretary Yu was very polite when he saw Liu Gangding. He invited him to the county magistrate's office, served him tea and said with a smile, "Deputy Head Liu, please wait a moment. The county magistrate is in a meeting and will come to see you soon."

On the second floor of the county government, in a small room specially reserved, Ma Jiawei was sweating profusely while doing strenuous exercise with a charming woman. Two minutes later, Ma Jiawei shuddered all over, revealing a satisfied smile, lit a cigarette, and put his left hand around the woman beside him, walking up and down.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Ma Jiawei hurriedly put on his clothes, covered the woman with a quilt, opened the door, looked at Secretary Yu outside, and said gloomily, "What can't you say after I come down?"

"County magistrate, Deputy Commander Liu of the Security Corps is here. He said he wants to discuss the matter of suppressing the bandits with you. He is waiting in your office now."

"I know, I'll be down right away."

Ten minutes later, Ma Jiawei walked into the office with a fake smile and was extremely enthusiastic. He said to Liu Kangding, "I heard that Deputy Head Liu is here. I was in a meeting upstairs just now. I neglected Deputy Head Liu. Please forgive me."

Liu Gangding stood up, saluted Ma Jiawei and said, "Hello, County Magistrate Ma, my regiment asked me to come to the county office to report on the bandit suppression operation that our security regiment is about to carry out!"

Liu Gangding looked serious on the surface, but he was actually complaining in his heart. What the hell was he holding a meeting? The slutty old woman's moans could probably be heard clearly by the entire county office. However, County Magistrate Ma in front of him might not be able to handle it. After listening to the noise for two or three minutes, it was over.

Ma Jiawei sat in his office chair and said, "Your security team has only been training for a few months, and now you are ready to show your swords. Your team leader is really worthy of being a general. I wonder which bandit force near Sanjiang County you are going to wipe out?"

Liu Gangding took out the action report drafted by Su Zhengyang himself and handed it to Ma Jiawei, saying, "Mr. County Governor, our regiment commander is going to wipe out Liu Chengxu's gang of bandits entrenched in Fengshan. Please approve it, Mr. County Governor."

When Ma Jiawei heard Liu Gangding say that he was going to wipe out the Fengshan bandits, his eyes suddenly lit up and he became interested.

"Okay, this Liu Chengxu and his gang have been harassing villagers all day long and robbing the property of passing caravans. The people have long been unable to bear the harassment and are suffering. However, Liu Chengxu came from a military academy and is good at leading troops in battles. You'd better be careful."

"Reporting to the county magistrate, our group leader said that we must wipe out this gang of bandits within half a month and completely solve the bandit problem in Fengshan!"

"Okay! In that case, I approve your bandit-suppression operation this time!"

Ma Jiawei took out a red pen, put a check mark right below the report, and wrote his name.

In fact, in the report on this bandit suppression operation, Su Zhengyang played a trick and only wrote about the bandit suppression operation. As for which specific bandits were to be eliminated, he did not specify. Ma Jiawei did not want to read the report written by Su Zhengyang carefully. He just glanced at it and agreed.