Chapter 151: Jianghu

"Tch, I thought these Wu Lin folks were so mighty, but they just relied on being a bit faster to launch sneak attacks. It forced me to specially deploy the ten best spearmen from our company to deal with him," Ha Shi sneered at the captured Wu Lin member after wiping out the bandits.

Hearing Ha Shi's mockery, the captured Wu Lin member was so angry he wanted to curse his mother, but of course, he dared not, since it was his first time as a prisoner; what if the Revolutionary Army didn't treat prisoners well as everyone claimed?

Then he would have suffered terribly, yet the Revolutionary Army's bullying behavior and the words just spoken were simply too oppressive.

Since the Revolutionary Army arrived here, the bandits in this area have been behaving properly, not descending the mountain to rob for a whole month, but if bandits don't rob, what do they eat and drink?

But the Revolutionary Army's combat power was too fierce, so they dared not touch the areas near the county town, having to pick and choose a remote, impoverished place to plunder.

The brothers endured for a month; descending the mountain naturally meant they had no restraint, committing murder, robbery, and rape without missing a single act. The Big Boss couldn't restrain them and didn't dare to restrain them. Come on, these people had endured for a month; if you stood up to stop them, they would kill you too.

Everyone didn't feel anything special, after all, bandits plundering villages was something the county magistrate never managed in the past, but the People's Government not only managed it but did so quickly; only two or three days passed before troops were dispatched.

What was dispatched wasn't even the local guerrilla units stationed there; what was dispatched was a regular army that had fought major battles, a proper field army.

The weapons these people held killed the Jurchen elite Iron Pagodas as easily as killing chickens.

They were just a gang of fifty bandits; any one of the three patrol units stationed in the county town on a normal day could beat them until they cried for their mothers and fathers. There was no reason for a field army to even bother with them. The Iron Pagodas, this dream unit, they didn't even have the qualification to see once.

They never imagined in their lives that someone would dispatch a hundred and twenty soldiers capable of killing Iron Pagodas like killing chickens to wipe them out. Were they worthy? Moreover, they lacked the pride of an elite unit entirely; to attack them in the dead of night was a sneak attack.

Having figured out their daily routine, they crept over to the location of their stronghold in the dead of night. It was only because he had practiced martial arts since childhood that he sensed someone approaching immediately.

But he didn't run far before fainting, fainting from pain. Waking up, he realized he had more than a dozen wounds on his body; the man had been beaten into a sieve by those who had no martial ethics.

Now, as a sieve, he heard this company commander mock him with utter disdain and reveal he had specially arranged the ten best marksmen to deal with him.

He just wanted to ask one question: how did a person with imperfect skills who was expelled from his sect have the ability to face ten soldiers who killed Iron Pagodas like killing chickens?

And those were the ten best marksmen in your hundred-person unit.

"Director Zhang, you were formerly a disciple of the Beggar's Sect. Do you know this fellow's Wu Gong style? If you know his Wu Gong style, then his affiliated sect must hold dissatisfaction with our People's Government, so they secretly dispatched disciples from their sect to support nearby bandits and disrupt our public security situation."

Ha Shi said this to Zhang Ming standing nearby with a serious expression.

"Hmm, I think this fellow's Wu Gong style resembles the Iron Mountain Shoulder of the Iron Blood Sect. He must be a member of the Iron Blood Sect. The Iron Blood Sect is not a small faction; it was formerly a guest of honor at the court of the provincial inspector, with hundreds of disciples inside. Wu Lin folks like this are considered low-level within the Iron Blood Sect," Zhang Ming explained patiently to Ha Shi.

"Although Wu Lin folks like this are not very capable in direct combat, they are experts at launching sneak attacks after fleeing. They would be a significant trouble in deep mountains and wild forests, and causing trouble in bustling markets would also create considerable issues. Dealing with such a faction requires extreme caution."

The captured Wu Lingaoshou listened to Ha Shi's words expressionlessly. Had heroes of the Jianghu like them fallen to the point of committing crimes in bustling markets and launching sneak attacks in remote wilderness?

"Director Zhang, this situation is very serious. I suggest reporting it immediately. This matter is not something a company commander like me and a director like you can resolve."

Without any hesitation, the two separately reported the situation here to the brigade headquarters and the municipal party committee.

What they did not know was that reports like theirs were numerous throughout the Guanshan region. The municipal party committee leaders and the stationed brigade headquarters jointly convened an emergency meeting.

Jianghu wandering knight-errant factions and bandits are extremely detrimental factors to public security.

Some of these people might practice chivalry and kill the rich to help the poor, but such people are a minority. After all, humans need to eat. If Jianghu factions and bandits want a stable source of income while ensuring they are not surrounded and annihilated by the government, the most suitable path is to become the government's black gloves.

With the government acting as their protective umbrella and gentry landlords providing them with stable money, grain, and property, they can survive.

Since they accepted the protection of the county magistrate and the money and grain provided by the gentry, they must inevitably do work for them; killing people, robbing goods, and eliminating political enemies are all things they must do.

To put it bluntly, you can understand them as modern-day triads.

Such groups might have knights like the Seven Monsters of Jiangnan, but there are more figures like Li Mochou, Mei Chaofeng, and Sha Tongtian.

"Seven Masters, you were all Jianghu folks before. Do you have any suggestions on how to eliminate such groups?" Guo Jing said, handing the reports transmitted from various places to Ke Zhen'e.

Ke Zhen'e did not look at them. Having been a Jianghu man for decades, how could he not understand the conduct of most Jianghu folks?

Bullying men and women, forcing the virtuous into prostitution, those were trivial matters. Some Jianghu folks even kidnapped children, disabled them, and sold them for street performance. He no longer wanted to speak of such methods.

"Now that this place is where the people rule, there is no reason to let these beasts oppress the common people. In the past, when we seven brothers were weak and alone, we still fought these people to the end. Now, with three hundred thousand soldiers around us, what reason is there to tolerate them?"

"There is nothing good to say. Kill them if they must be killed. Before killing, hold criticism sessions. Let the common people and those people know that this is not a place where these beasts run rampant. We have already defeated the Jurchen dogs and corrupt officials; are we afraid of the dogs they raise?" Ke Zhen'e spoke these words with great righteousness.

He simply didn't believe that a force of three hundred thousand troops holding firearms, which could make the Jurchen dogs flee in terror, could not clean up a group of Jianghu hooligans.

It wasn't that Ke Zhen'e looked down on them; these people couldn't even teach the Song Dynasty army a lesson. Although he disliked the Jurchens, he had to admit that the Jurchen troops crushed the Song army.

But the Revolutionary Army's combat power crushed the Jin army. Ke Zhen'e felt that just one squad would be enough to slaughter a locally famous sect.

Several tens of thousands of Revolutionary Army troops cooperating with local guerrilla units could clean up the bandits and Jianghu sects of Guanshan, let alone three hundred thousand Revolutionary Army troops.