Film and Television World Life Record

They've been collecting tolls on the river for several months now. Since the amount collected is minimal, they don't bother passing merchants. If they hear of bandits somewhere, they'll even go and patrol the area. Everyone seems quite cooperative.

Some outsiders don't care about the security forces at all, and forget about getting tolls.

Among them, several merchant ships from Shanghai were the most unruly, with dozens of gunmen on board and even machine guns mounted on their vessels.

If any of the security guards who collected tolls dared to approach, they would immediately be met with a burst of bullets. Seeing the security guards fall into the water in a sorry state, the boatmen burst into mocking laughter.

This trading company passed through here once a month, and Li Mu quickly found out their background: they were transporting opium.

During the Republic of China era, what was most rampant was opium, or more specifically, opium, which was also one of the most profitable industries.

No wonder his firepower is so good, so that's what he does. Li Mu doesn't feel guilty about dealing with people who sell this kind of stuff.

Chapter 412 Bandit Suppression and Speculation

After passing Xindian Port, sailing along the Baihe River for more than 30 li, there is a small dock nearby, next to Xinye County, which is close to a relatively prosperous town.

According to Li Mu's understanding, those ships transporting opium would often stop here overnight to find women and have some fun.

This is the opportunity.

Li Mu would not directly rob them. As a member of the security force, he had come here to suppress bandits before and knew that there was a group of ruthless bandits in this area who frequently robbed merchants, killed people, and stole goods.

He once led his security team in a battle against them, losing several brothers in the process. Seven or eight of the opposing team were also taken down, and the two sides were deadlocked for half a day.

So they sent a message that as long as the other party didn't set foot on Xinye County, they would leave them alone.

The other party also realized that the security force was not to be trifled with, and indeed, they reduced the number of robberies they committed in Xinye County afterward.

Afterwards, Li Mu conducted a special investigation into the gang of bandits. There were seventy or eighty of them, all young and strong, and they were extremely greedy. Sometimes, they would kill and rob for a cartload of ordinary goods worth a dozen silver dollars.

Finally, after analysis by Li Mu, it was concluded that the biggest weakness of this gang of bandits was their lack of intelligence and inability to find good targets for robbery.

Now, they're being given a huge windfall; according to his estimate, those few ships of opium are worth about 100,000 silver dollars.

They'd be envious of goods worth a dozen silver dollars and wouldn't let them go; if goods worth a hundred thousand silver dollars came right under their noses, wouldn't they go crazy?

There's no way we can let them go.

So, a few days ago, Li Mu secretly had someone inform the bandits where the boat was docked, how many people there were, how much weaponry and equipment they had, and the value of the goods they were escorting…

Sure enough, last night, taking advantage of the fact that many people on the ship went ashore to have fun and were less vigilant, and that there was no leader, the bandits launched a direct attack.

Although the tobacco escorts were outnumbered and caught off guard, their firepower was formidable, and the two groups were locked in a fierce battle.

Then, the people who went to town to have fun heard the commotion and ran back with their guns, making the scene even more chaotic. In the nearby towns, every house closed its doors and turned off its lights, leaving only two groups of people fighting in the vicinity.

Of course, there's also someone who wants to reap the benefits without lifting a finger.

In the end, the bandits went to call for reinforcements, and all their elite young men were sent out. In the end, they won a pyrrhic victory, with only a dozen or so survivors remaining. They finally managed to capture the ships of opium.

Once the bandits had their guns and had gathered some able-bodied men from the town to help them transport opium to their stronghold, Li Mu had already openly led his security regiment to suppress the bandits.

According to intelligence, there were only five or six bandits guarding the stronghold, plus a dozen or so others, all of whom were wounded, bringing the total number to no more than twenty.

Li Mu sent the first and second battalions to surround the stockade and attack it in turns. He wasn't in a hurry; he treated it as training.

As for him, fighting is such a dangerous thing, how could he possibly go himself? So he led his guard company and waited at the foot of the mountain.

The old man who sells tea, Mr. Sun, is from a nearby town. He was specially invited here to set up a tea stall to provide tea.

Lost in thought, he casually asked, "How's the bandit stronghold? When will we take it?"

Liu Peiming replied, "While you were asleep, Commander, I asked around. A full-scale attack now would be too costly. The enemy only has a dozen or so men; they can't possibly defend against us. If we wear them down a bit more, we should be able to take them down before nightfall."

Li Mu nodded: "Tell them not to rush, the food and wine are ready, and they can celebrate their victory."

Liu Peiming replied, "Yes, Commander." He then turned and hurried towards the bandit stronghold.

Li Mu got up and walked around to adjust to the August weather; the sun was blazing hot.

He stretched his legs a little and looked himself over. He had a holster on his waist with a Mauser pistol inside, commonly known as a box pistol.

On the ground next to it lay a brand-new Type 24 rifle, a new model produced by the Gongxian Arsenal and launched in 1935.

Then I thought about the time again. Today is August 5, 1937. The July 7 Incident happened a month ago.

On the 29th of last month, Beiping and Tianjin fell one after another. In eight days, the three-month-long Battle of Shanghai would begin.

Currently, Japanese warships have blockaded the sea and are on high alert, causing widespread panic throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Nanyang, located inland, remained relatively calm. The smoke of war from afar had not yet reached them, but it wouldn't be long before the entire nation began its resistance against Japan.

After a moment of reflection, Li Mu picked up his Type 24 rifle, called out to the guard company, and strode towards the bandit stronghold.

The guard company reacted quickly, immediately forming ranks and following closely.

Upon arriving near the bandit stronghold, Li Mu observed it through binoculars for a while. Then, he nimbly climbed up a nearby slope, took a closer look, raised his rifle, and fired a shot. Three hundred meters away, a bandit who had just poked his head out fell to the ground.

Aside from a bit of talent, marksmanship is mostly developed through practice with bullets.

Li Mu has been fed a lot of bullets, especially in the last world, where he participated in many police system competitions and practiced with pistols and rifles.

This is a condition that many people in this era do not possess.

In addition, Li Mu was physically strong and had extremely precise control over all aspects of his body, so his marksmanship was naturally even better. In the Republican era, it would not be an exaggeration to call him a sharpshooter.

Over the next half hour, Li Mu fired six shots, and five more bandits fell down. The guards around him stared in disbelief. They never expected that their regimental commander, who rarely handled guns or went to the front lines, would be so skilled with a gun. No wonder he had studied at a military academy abroad.

Now, the bandits were completely suppressed, and no one dared to show their faces again. The First Battalion seized the opportunity and advanced directly to the foot of the bandit camp. Just as they were about to break through the camp, a bandit boldly peeked out and was about to fire a shot.

With a bang, Li Mu fired another shot, and the bandit fell to the ground.

Now, no one dared to show their face anymore.

Half an hour later, the bandit stronghold was captured, and all the bandits were beheaded.

The bandit stronghold was quite poor. Apart from the opium, gold and silver jewelry, silver dollars, and legal tender they had just stolen, the total amounted to less than two thousand silver dollars.

Such a large village, such a group of ruthless bandits, and such meager possessions—it's quite pitiful.

This is precisely why the garrison is not actively suppressing the bandits. Such bandit strongholds require dozens of casualties and a large amount of ammunition to take down. And the gains from capturing a bandit stronghold don't even outweigh the losses.

Who would want to do something so thankless and exhausting!

Besides Li Mu, we can use the bandit suppression campaign as an opportunity to train our troops.

The security regiment's residence was a rather large farm. Apart from the two courtyards where Li Mu lived, which looked rather elegant and stylish, the rest were basically barracks.

Besides himself, Li Mu's residence also had two old women who took care of his daily needs. The idea of ​​him eating and sleeping with soldiers was simply not true.

I drank quite a bit of alcohol in the evening and was slightly tipsy. I drank a bowl of hangover soup, took a shower, and then rested.

The next day, Li Mu got up early again and ran five kilometers before the soldiers of the security regiment began their morning exercises one after another.

Once everyone had arrived, Li Mu shouted, "At ease! Attention! Right turn! Follow me!"

Everyone instinctively followed Li Mu and started running. Several battalion and company commanders looked at each other and, without saying a word, also started running.

Li Mu slowed down and ran in circles for five kilometers before returning to the training ground. Everyone performed quite well; although they were exhausted, covered in sweat, and panting, only about twenty people fell behind.

Three of them suffered from heatstroke.

Li Mu hadn't expected this. In the sweltering summer heat, running five kilometers, even in the morning when the temperature was high, could easily cause some people to suffer from heatstroke.

Having gained a preliminary understanding of everyone's physical capabilities, Li Mu gestured to the battalion and regimental commanders.

"You guys continue training."

Several battalion and company commanders led their men and began training.

Li Mu watched for a while. The training material was the same one he had taught before. There was no other way; he was the only one here who knew a little about it before, so he had consulted a lot of military materials and textbooks for it.

It was practically a makeshift operation, with only a few dozen people in a company and a little over a hundred in a battalion.

Although it's called a security regiment, in terms of size it's only about the size of a battalion.

After finishing breakfast, Li Mu wandered around the neighborhood for a bit, then called Liu Peiming over and gave him a few instructions. He then began to look through the military books and materials he had bought before. He was also a military novice, and he also had to familiarize himself with traditional Chinese characters again.

Finally, he took out a fountain pen and ink and began to familiarize himself with the structure and writing of traditional Chinese characters, which he would inevitably need in the future.

The next morning, Liu Peiming came to report, "The people we invited have arrived."

As Li Mu walked outside, seven or eight merchants saw him and immediately clasped their hands in greeting, "Commander Li!"

Li Mu smiled and said, "Gentlemen, without further ado, please..."

As he spoke, Li Mu led the birthday children to a nearby warehouse and gestured to the two soldiers on guard to open the door.

"Gentlemen, the goods are all inside, come in and take a look..."

Several merchants filed in, inspected the goods carefully, and nodded: "The goods are good, top-quality imported goods from Shanghai."

One businessman hesitated, asking, "Where did these goods come from..."

Li Mu smiled and said, "What do you have to worry about about the origin of this stuff?"

He continued, "But I won't lie to you, these are spoils of war from the bandit suppression, and their origins are perfectly legitimate!"

The businessmen looked at each other in bewilderment. In the past two days, word had spread in the neighborhood that a trading company from Shanghai had been targeted and robbed by a notorious gang of bandits, leaving few survivors.

The bandits then forced able-bodied men from nearby towns to escort goods to their stronghold, an act that many people can attest to.

Then it was heard that the security regiment, which had become very famous in the past year and was cracking down on bandits all over the area, rushed over upon hearing the news and wiped out this gang of ruthless bandits.

Looking at the so-called spoils in front of me, in a sense, their origins are indeed quite clean.