afterglow

Chapter 218

Hobbes said in his book "Leviathan": "The rule of the government cannot be perfect, and the pain caused by the civil war caused by the government is not strong enough, or the chaos, strife and plunder caused by the lack of strong legal constraints. The evils of government are trivial by comparison."

All in all, it expounds the point of view that "the worst government is better than no government", and it is perfectly appropriate to use the current bad situation in the disaster area to support this point of view.

"Stand back! Let go! Don't gather here!"

It was high in the sun, and in front of the ruined walls of the Kyushu Bank’s Caozhou branch, a few patrolmen in tattered and stained clothes were holding pistols as if they were facing an enemy.

And what they faced was a crowd of three floors inside and three floors outside, at least 200 people.

As an assistant police officer of the Liuermiao Police Station of the Inspection Department, Yu Zhang is glad that his shift arrived at the early morning street patrol yesterday, otherwise he might have been buried under the rubble at this moment.

His wife, who was three months pregnant, returned to her natal home, and her parents and others were also in the countryside, and they couldn't be contacted now, so Yu Zhang, who had no worries, chose to continue to perform his duties.

Although there were no prescribed procedures for dealing with such a situation, he followed his instinct and rushed straight to the nearby bank.

In the next few hours, several surviving patrolmen also came over one after another, but including him, there were only five of them in total, and one of them was a female clerk who had never even touched a gun.

Behind them is a bank that stores real money and a large amount of banknotes.

In fact, from yesterday morning to night, from time to time, sneaky guys came over to take a peek, and there were groups of people wandering around the bank, muttering something in a low voice, but they were stopped by the police in the end. .

But the situation took a turn for the worse this morning. These guys seemed to have reached an agreement after a night of discussions, and their willingness to plot evil became stronger.

Moreover, what boosted their confidence were a few shotguns and pistols, which they picked up or snatched from no one knew where.

"Stop!"

"Come again and shoot!"

Facing the already hoarse warning sound, dozens of people with kitchen knives, wooden sticks, shovels, and steel bars were still approaching step by step, and there were a few guys with guns among them.

"Bang!" A nervous patrolman fired another shot into the sky.

Yu Zhang with a stern expression stopped and said: "They are obsessed with money, warnings are useless, don't waste bullets!"

When a gunshot was heard from the pressing crowd, the two sides fired at each other immediately, and a gun battle broke out!
The people who were shot and fell to the ground uttered miserable screams, but the crackling gunshots and shouts at the scene completely overshadowed their wailing.

The female clerk, who didn't have a gun and didn't know how to use a gun, tried her best to keep calm and shouted: "This is an act of robbery! Taking advantage of the fire will kill you! Stop!"

These dozens of people relied on the ruined walls and cars on the street. Those with guns continued to shoot, and those without guns randomly picked up bricks and stones and threw them over.

An arrogant voice came out from the crowd, "After killing you, run away after grabbing, change clothes, who will know after ten days and a half months? Hahahaha——"

What he said made the dozens of people present more excited. To meet such a good opportunity to take advantage of the fire, the rascals who usually do nothing are simply overjoyed. Isn’t this God rewarding money?
"Come on, what are you dawdling for?"

"Don't be timid, there are only a few of them!"

"Let's go all out!"

Just when they were about to rush forward, a burst of engine roar came from behind.

The movement became louder and louder, and they looked back at the same time, only to see a gray-green off-road vehicle approaching at high speed.

What does military vehicle mean?
For the rogues who tried to take advantage of the fire with violence, military vehicles meant order and absolute violence, which was the core embodiment of the dictatorship of the Ming court.

The more than 100 people who wandered around the periphery directly acted like birds and beasts. These people were timid and came here mainly to watch the excitement, but they also had a small idea of ​​whether they could get a little share of the pie after others succeeded.

"Beep beep-"

Zhou Changfeng honked the horn fiercely while turning the steering wheel, and the piercing sound of the horn immediately overwhelmed the sound of the gunfire.

This Xunlei [-] off-road vehicle lay across the middle of the dilapidated street. Before it could come to a complete stop, he and Luo Fu quickly jumped out of the vehicle, relying on the body to find cover.

The latter roared at the top of his voice, "Hold your head and kneel! Rebels will be killed without mercy!"

And Zhou Changfeng had already mounted a Type [-] automatic gun on the hood, aiming at the chaotic crowd.

Perhaps because only one military vehicle appeared, the rogues who had just been taken aback felt that they were doing it again.

"boom!"

"Da da!"

Someone fired at them with a shotgun, and Zhou Changfeng immediately shot back.

Two .351-inch Winchester rounds flew out of the muzzle with a kinetic energy of [-] joules, and immediately knocked down the guy with the Baocheng brand shotgun.

At this moment, I really don't care too much, I must frighten these guys at the first time, otherwise the trouble will be serious.

In just a few breaths, he shot and killed the other gun-wielding robbers with precise double-shot short bursts, which made Luo Fu, who was fighting back with a pistol in the shooting posture of Uncle Hei, sigh endlessly.

"Don't run! Kneel down!" Zhou Changfeng yelled while changing the magazine.

However, these dozens of people were already frightened by the sharp blows of lightning and flint, and a group of bullying guys ran away immediately when they saw that something was going wrong.

In the short and rhythmic "da da" sound, four or five of the hooligans who fled were knocked down one after another. Some of the despondents chose to kneel down and beg for mercy, but some escaped by luck.

"You don't have a deterrent effect at all with a small pistol." Zhou Changfeng took out a Type [-] submachine gun from the trunk of the car, and handed it to Luo Fu, "Hold it! I told you earlier , Deterrence comes first, shooting comes second.”

Two dozen trembling robbers were driven to the ruins of the bank by the two of them with guns in hand, and then they selected three of them and asked them to tie up the hands and heels of the others.

What made Zhou Changfeng helpless was that, now that this was the case, there were still people who dared to play tricks and deliberately tied them tightly.

He didn't say much, just shot, and a pool of blood soon appeared under the fallen body.

"It's really stubborn." Yu Zhang spat.

After finishing speaking, he bowed his hands to Zhou Changfeng and said, "Where did you come from, sir? Has the imperial court sent troops to help?"

The latter nodded slightly, but then shook his head and said: "The faction is indeed sent, but the earthquake caused serious damage to the road, and large troops will not be able to enter for a while."

"Oh, the situation in this residence is really miserable..."

At this time, the female clerk suddenly exclaimed, and everyone followed the sound, only to see a large patch of red on the waist of a patrolman, with blood dripping faintly visible.

Obviously, the intense shooting just now put everyone in a state of high tension, and it was difficult to feel the pain under the condition of a large amount of adrenaline being secreted.

Fortunately, the patrolman was not seriously injured, only a gash was cut in his waist by a bullet, and his skin was torn apart. Although it was terrifying, it was not fatal.

Luo Fu trotted to the car to get a first aid kit, rinsed it with boric acid disinfectant and then sprinkled it with Baiyao.

"The first thing to do now is to get in touch with the state government and the police department." Zhou Changfeng raised his hand and glanced at his watch, and asked, "Are you familiar with this place? I mean the whole city."

"Sir, don't worry, I have been studying in the city since I was a child, and I have been running around. I know where to go in Caozhou City!" Yu Zhang replied without thinking.

Later, Zhou Changfeng and Luo Fuxian drove around in a circle, calling loudly to see if there were any single patrolmen, militiamen, or reservists who had received training.

The ancient militia system such as regiment training and village bravery has also been greatly adjusted and reformed, and it is managed by the military houses of the prefectures and counties and the military halls of the prefectures.

After bringing back two militiamen and a reserve soldier, Zhou Changfeng left behind a submachine gun, and counting the pistols and shotguns left by the previous bandits, at least everyone could have a gun.

Then they took Yu Zhang with him, led the way, and went straight to the state government office.

Halfway through the bumpy road, there were smudged citizens on both sides of the road, including old men with white temples and women holding babies.

All eyes were locked on the car that brought them hope, and people remembered what was said in the notice that the goddess dropped like flowers yesterday - pay attention to the aftershocks and help each other. Those who take advantage of the fire to rob will be punished severely.

Some people asked when other people from the government would arrive, and some people came directly to ask for help.

But Zhou Changfeng can't do anything now, he can only comfort him: "Hold on, rescue will definitely come."

When passing through a block, even though it has been ruined, you can still tell that it was originally a bustling commercial place.

But now it is a mess, with five or six corpses lying on the ground, and some bullet casings can be seen here and there.

Looking at the bodies of two of the patrolmen, Yu Zhang said in a deep voice, "There used to be several jewelry shops and gold and silver shops here, so they must have been ransacked."

Luo Fu, who was full of worries, said: "In such chaos, I don't know if the yamen has collapsed... If no one organizes guards, the granary will definitely be robbed."

Due to the damage to the road and the flood-affected citizens living on the streets along the way, the car couldn't get up at all, and it took more than half an hour to reach the state government office in Caozhou.

The plaque with the words "Caozhou Administration" fell to the ground, and the gate, Yimen, lobby, and houses were not spared, and all turned into rubble.

Fortunately, there are still many figures on the ruins. At a glance, there are about 30 to [-] people.

"Is Zhizhou here? Who is the biggest here?" Zhou Changfeng shouted as he got off the car.

A middle-aged man walked over quickly, cupped his hands and said: "Zhizhou was seriously injured and died... In Xia Luwei, Caozhou Tongzhi, the imperial court's rescue is so fast?"

Zhou Changfeng shook his head, and said, "No, the main force is still early, we just came in first to find out the situation."

Hearing the sound, the eager eyes of everyone present dimmed a lot.

At this time, three men in army field uniforms trotted over, and the second lieutenant happily clasped his fists and said, "Sir, the navy is here too?!"

Luo Fu glanced at the military rank cards of the three, "How did you get here?"

The leading second lieutenant replied: "We belong to the 35th Division. Because there was no news here before, we were ordered to bring the radio station to report the situation."

"Where's the pilot?"

"Broken bone. On landing... the plane broke the landing gear."

The current situation is that the troops coming from all directions cannot enter in a short period of time, ranging from three days to five days, and as many as eight days and ten days.

And because the closer to the epicenter area, the more serious the road damage, so the outer counties will be rescued first, and the circles will go inward. It is almost inevitable that Caozhou, which is in the core, will wait for rescue at the end.

Until then, it's largely up to the survivors themselves.

Zhou Changfeng summoned the officials present and made clear to them the next deployment.

"The top priority now is to restore order. There are many robbers running around in the city. Banks and jewelry stores have been attacked. We must first ensure the safety of the granary."

Lu Weizhong nodded and said: "Mr. Zhou, at noon yesterday, I ordered people to go to guard the reserve warehouse, but I don't know what the situation is now."

"We will continue to organize the team later, first to ensure the granary, then the power plant, and then the hospital to restore a little function, try to maintain order and wait for the arrival of the large troops." Zhou Changfeng added with a serious expression: "Now is an extraordinary time, taking advantage of fire to loot Crimes should be dealt with severely."

"Understood, the crime of violating the law is a second-class crime, and the looters will be executed immediately to deter Xiaoxiao." An official from the police department immediately responded.

Relying on the remaining public order and bureaucratic system, how long can it last?
To be honest, Zhou Changfeng has no idea. The most dangerous thing after a disaster is the human heart. Everyone is in panic all day long, and the young people who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic intend to add fuel to the fire. The situation cannot be worse.

At [-]:[-] noon on this day, Zhou Changfeng sent a telegram:
"...There are almost no houses left in the state city. Ground cracks, flooding, and subsidence are common. The rain has gradually subsided, but the stagnant water can still reach the ankles. The streets are blocked. The victims have to eat and sleep in the open. They lack clothes, food, and medicine. The people are in panic. , Bandits and bandits are everywhere, even raiding banks and gold stores. I have traveled day and night to Caozhou, and now I am taking over the affairs of Caozhou, organizing officials and people to save themselves, and trying my best to maintain order..."

After clarifying the current situation, he asked for airdrops of supplies.

In fact, as early as yesterday afternoon, the Air Force and Navy organized a small-scale airdrop very quickly, but it was soon suspended.

On the one hand, the airdrop success rate was low due to poor weather conditions, and most of the supplies did not know where they fell.

On the other hand, considering the chaos in the disaster area, these materials are likely to be occupied by bandits after they land, and ordinary people will not be able to get them.

Fortunately, things have finally turned around now, and there is an extra strange person inside.

Although the power of the individual is small, it also scores the situation.Some time ago, the government and the opposition were talking about Zhou, and there were mixed praises and criticisms, but now that this guy went straight to the epicenter, many people felt a little bit of peace of mind?
If order is restored, coupled with continuous airdrop support, Caozhou's subsequent losses and casualties can be minimized, which is already the best ending for a bad situation.

(End of this chapter)