1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2040
As a military officer who has been leading troops overseas for many years, it is common for Sun Bing to be injured. During the Korean war last year, he was also hospitalized for a short period of time due to injuries.However, at that time, the Datongjiang base was put into battle just after it was built. The various facilities, including the field hospital, were very simple, and the conditions were far inferior to those in Jinzhou.

Sun Bing still remembered that the "ward" he lived in at that time was just a temporary tent, and a tent used to accommodate patients was full of twenty camp beds.In addition, even the operating room was set up in a tent, and the medical staff were recruited from all over the place. The operation of the entire field hospital was really chaotic.

On the Jinzhou side, because the operation time is much longer, the corresponding infrastructure is more complete. This field hospital, which is only a few miles away from the isthmus line of defense, is built of bricks and stones. Each ward has only eight beds. It is far less crowded than the Datongjiang Battlefield Hospital, and the environment and medical conditions are obviously higher.

From the second day after Sun Bing was admitted to the hospital, people came 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 from Jinzhou, as well as a group of senior gentry and elders who came to comfort 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 carried out on the front line, there is news that General Chen Yixin, who was guarding Jinzhou, came back from the front line yesterday to visit these wounded people who were sent for treatment. the wounded.For the high-ranking Haihan generals to attach so much importance, this already shows that these injured people are not idle roles.After some people with special information channels inquired again, they knew that these wounded soldiers were all from the Marine Corps. They were the ace troops that could be on an equal footing with the Special Operations Regiment. No wonder General Chen took it so seriously.

Whether it was because of Chen Yixin's demonstration, or because he wanted to get to know the heroes of the Marine Corps, in short, many people came to join in the fun.Sun Bing thought it was quite new at first, but after receiving four or five groups of people, it became a bit annoying.

In the late afternoon, when the number of visitors finally decreased, Sun Bing breathed a sigh of relief.As the commander of this group of wounded, he was almost the main target of the visitors. Not only did he speak dryly during the day, but even his face became stiff.

Sun Bing was taking advantage of this free time to rest for a while, when he turned his head and saw another outsider entered the ward, and it was someone he knew, Liu Shang, who was in charge of civil affairs and publicity affairs locally.

He had already met Liu Shang when he disembarked yesterday, so he naturally wouldn't mistakenly think that the other party came to visit him specially, and most likely he appeared here because he had business matters to discuss with him.

Sure enough, when Liu Shang opened his mouth, he was talking about official business: "Company Commander Sun, I am going to write a press release for your combat mission. Would it be convenient for Fang to cooperate with me to accept an interview?"

Sun Bing smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty Liu is too polite. It's too late for me to thank you for writing an article praising the marines, but can you let me take it easy? There are too many people visiting today, and after talking all day, my voice is a little hoarse." Yes, I'm coughing badly now."

Liu Shangdao: "It's easy to handle, I'll send someone to get some medicine to clear the throat and moisten the lungs, so as to help you relax."

Before Sun Bing answered, Liu Shang hurried out of the ward again. It seemed that he was not just saying something politely, but was actually making a fuss about it.

Liu Shang was originally transferred to the north to serve, first in Shandong, and later transferred to Liaodong, but these two places are military-administered areas, so most of the people he deals with are soldiers.Liu Shang is in charge of political propaganda, and it is almost an annual task to make tours to 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 military 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 good impression of Liu Shang. He remembered that when he was stationed in Jinzhou earlier, besides conveying the official news from the "Haihan Times" during the preaching activities, Mr. Liu would occasionally be in high spirits. From time to time, a storytelling will be performed for everyone, most of the content is also the legendary story of the Haihan Army's battles in various places in the early years, which is very suitable for the preferences of the soldiers.Moreover, Liu Shang's level of storytelling is quite good. It is said that before he became an official, he was a professional storyteller in a teahouse in Sanya. After becoming an official, he didn't have any obvious official airs. A little more goodwill.

Not long after, Liu Shang came back with an extra porcelain cup in his hand: "You are lucky, the doctor said that there is only the last sip of clear drink in stock, and I'm about to come over, let's make a cup for you to drink first."

Sun Bing thanked him repeatedly, and took the porcelain cup from Liu Shang, it was still hot as expected.Liu Shang continued: "This Qingyan drink is a good thing. It contains ebony plums, Ophiopogon japonicus, raw licorice, bellflower, sand ginseng, and scrophulariaceae. I talk too much in my business, and my throat can't hold it. I drink this stuff. It will be a lot easier.”

After taking a sip, Sun Bing replied, "Master Liu is an expert, and the things he recommends are definitely not wrong."

Liu Shang waited until Sun Bing finished drinking the medicine, and then brought up the matter again: "About the combat mission performed by the Marine Corps this time, I heard that in the future, it will ask the Ministry of National Defense for credit, and the Times will definitely have related reports at that time, so we 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 stop you first while you can’t walk.”

Sun Bing said: "Master Liu has worked hard, but the task that is to be carried out this time is subject to confidentiality regulations and must not be disclosed to the outside world. I hope Master Liu will forgive me."

Liu Shangying said: "Sun Lian's mouth is strict...don't worry, General Chen's consent has been sought for this matter. This is a warrant issued by him. Take a look."

Sun Bing was not very literate, so he could barely understand [-]% to [-]% of the contents of this warrant. However, there was Chen Yixin's signature and seal at the bottom, which he could 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 Datongjiang base when Jinzhou discovered the clues of the Qing Army Musketeers before, so since he has agreed to There was no need for Sun Bing to resist this special interview.

Today's Liu Shang has long given up the idea of ​​working for Daming, and he is at ease as an official of Haihan, heading for a better future.At that time, he entered Haihan to lurk with him. The few people who knew his identity had all died on Hainan Island, and the higher authorities must have thought that he died in the same shipwreck. No one would have thought of a storyteller as a cover. The Daming spy was able to completely change his identity, successfully blended into Haihan's bureaucratic system, and had a tendency to climb higher and higher.

Although Liaodong is very far away from the mainland of Haihan, Haihan did not hesitate to deploy heavy troops here to confront the Qing army all year round, which shows that the importance of this place is no less than that of any overseas ruled area.The scope of work that 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, it is because his personal ability has 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 kind of environment also left more room for Liu Shang to play, allowing him to win many opportunities to express himself-for example, becoming the chief special writer of "Haihan Times" in the Liaodong area.

"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. Many times, the official will use this platform to release rumors and guide public opinion.

In particular, Haihan Kingdom has had frequent foreign wars over the years. If it were any other country, it might have already complained about such conquests that cost a lot of money and materials. However, Haihan Kingdom is extremely effective in controlling and guiding public opinion. 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 of the people, making them more and more full of expectations for each crusade against a foreign country.

Of course, Haihan has been victorious and undefeated in foreign wars, and has obtained many benefits from it. Not only is it enough to make up for the consumption of the war, but it can also benefit the country and the people. This is how public opinion guidance can play a role root cause.If there were a few more defeats, or if the casualties of the army increased greatly, then it is estimated that the wind direction in the country would not be as one-sided as it is now.

As a platform for the official voice, the writers of many articles in the Times are actually officials from various departments. Sometimes the headlines on the front page are even written by the bosses of the Executive Committee. Liu Shang only gradually understood after entering the propaganda department. to these details.Being able to become a special contributor to the Times is a special qualification in itself, and it is definitely an extraordinary honor for Liu Shang.You must know that in the entire Liaodong region, he is the only naturalized official who holds this honor. Apart from him, only two big bosses, Chen Yixin and Sha Xi, can have this privilege, and these two are usually not He will personally write articles for the Times, so in fact, Liu Shang is the only one in Liaodong who is responsible for this job.

For overseas wars, in addition to the military’s internal reports, there will also be local writers like Liu Shang who will write press releases on the battle situation and results for the “Hai Han Times” to publish when needed .But as Sun Bing mentioned, most of the combat operations are classified as military secrets, and there are many contents that are not suitable for public disclosure, so such manuscripts may not always appear in newspapers.

However, Liu Shang will still try his best to complete his task.He had heard that the Marine Corps' mission to the north was likely to be of great success, so it was automatically his task to write a detailed press release for it.After applying to Chen Yixin and getting the warrant, Liu Shang came to the field hospital to interview the client.

With Chen Yixin's endorsement, Sun Bing didn't need to worry about leaking secrets. He began to talk about how to enter the forest near Jinshitan to hide, how to secretly observe the enemy's situation, and how to investigate and confirm the combat effectiveness of the target. According to Liu Shang's question, he gave a more detailed answer.

It was not the first time for Liu Shang to interview an officer who led troops to fight, but he was quite surprised by the special mission performed by the Marine Corps.In fact, the Haihan army entered enemy-occupied areas many times to perform combat missions in the past, but most of the time they escaped with one blow, and immediately withdrew to the sea after they succeeded, and would not stay there for too long.

However, this combat operation commanded by Sun Bing was obviously different from the previous military operations. According to what he said, they had been lurking in the local area for more than half a month before they got such a chance to do it.Although the risk of exposing their whereabouts to attack was extremely high, in order to better complete the task, Sun Bing's troops chose to do it, and they also paid the price of dozens of casualties.In order to chase them down, the Qing army almost ignored their own casualties, and took their lives to confront the marines, and those who were able to retreat to Jinzhou safely in the end can be considered lucky.

Although Liu Shang has a good brain, he still feels that the amount of information in this operation is too large.He knew that the military has always valued the safety of its soldiers. As long as there is a choice, it will generally not fight the enemy for life in battle, but this operation commanded by Sun Bing has obviously broken this practice, and the Marine Corps still The ace unit in the army lost dozens of people in one operation, which can definitely be regarded as a major battle loss.

With so many casualties during the execution of the mission, the commander will not be held accountable, but will be rewarded for his merits. Divide and fast.According to Sun Bing, it should be 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 an interpreter during the operation. It's a pity that if we can catch someone alive, maybe we can find out the real identity of the intermediary." Sun Bing recalled the course of the operation, and he was still a little worried about this detail.Although they succeeded in destroying the musketeers of the Qing army, the investigation task they had undertaken was not successfully completed, and the origin of the middleman was still not found out.

Liu Shang himself was a spy and was very sensitive to details, so he immediately asked: "Did you ever bring back the translated body? Maybe you can find some clues from its body shape and belongings."

Sun Bing nodded and said, "The corpse was brought back to the boat on a horse, but we don't know how the autopsy is progressing yet."

Liu Shang is a very curious person. When he was lurking in Sanya as a storyteller, he liked to go to the municipal library to look up various materials. Later, he was transferred to Shandong. You have to reveal your identity.However, since he came to Liaodong, there hasn't been a situation that made his curiosity burst out for a long time, and Sun Bing's mission seems to have once again stimulated his interest in exploring the truth.

(End of this chapter)