PFC Chapter 27 The Plan to Launch a Military Campaign
Chapter 27 The Plan to Launch a Military Campaign
As night fell, Wang Liang led his men, limping towards the village entrance. His trouser legs were covered in mud, and dark red blood seeped from the bandage on his forearm.
Seeing this, Chen Feng quickly stepped forward and took his arm, saying, "Thank you for your hard work. How are you?"
"General, we've investigated everything!" Wang Liang's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing. He took the water bottle Chen Feng handed him and gulped down several mouthfuls before catching his breath. "Within a hundred miles to the north, there are three large indigenous tribes and about ten smaller tribes, with a total population of about four thousand."
What's even more troublesome is that most of these tribes are supported by the independence army; I roughly estimate they have at least a thousand rifles!
A thousand?
Damn it!
How many weapons did the Americans actually give to the Independence Army?
He thought he had gotten a great deal by exchanging his Verna for a thousand rifles, but it turned out he couldn't even compare to a fraction of what the other person had gotten.
Chen Feng cursed inwardly, but calmly asked, "Have you found out what the Independent Army's purpose is in making such a large-scale operation?"
Wang Liang licked his dry, cracked lips: "I captured and interrogated a few natives, and they all said that the Independent Army ordered them to assemble in Marolos City on the 30th of this month."
"Maloros?"
Chen Feng muttered to himself, recalling the geography he had been cramming with the soldiers during his spare time.
The city is located in the Ban Gua River Delta, northeast of the village of Balangai, 12 kilometers away; Manila is due south, 45 kilometers away, and only 8 kilometers away from the coastline.
The fact that the independence army brought so many indigenous people over means they're definitely planning something big.
However, given that the city is so close to Manila and outside the range of naval guns, aren't the independence forces afraid of Spanish support?
Do you really think you can conquer Malolos with these Springfield M1861s that are practically useless firewood?
Chen Feng stroked the butt of his gun, his brow furrowed, a series of questions swirling in his mind, yet he couldn't find the answers.
He decided to stop dwelling on it, turned to the exhausted soldiers of the Fifth Platoon following behind Wang Liang, and said loudly, "Brothers, you've worked hard! Go back and rest well, we'll have extra meat for dinner!"
"Serving the Chinese community!"
The soldiers remembered the slogans they had been taught, and their voices, though tired, were still quite loud.
The next day at noon, the sun shone brightly over the village, but Tian Gang and his group still had not returned.
Chen Feng led the veterans in drills early in the morning. After returning to the stone house in the afternoon, he asked Qian Biao to write the "New Recruit Training Manual" and teach him some characters he didn't know how to write.
"Brother Chen!" Feng Qinlan strode into the stone house, her face beaming with joy. "Those seven sisters have all recovered! Three of them still have families in nearby villages and want to go back to reunite with them; the other four had their families killed by the indigenous people, and they're crying and saying they want to join us in avenging them!"
"Hmm? Following us?"
Chen Feng frowned; he hadn't planned to keep these women around.
Seeing his expression, Feng Qinlan assumed he didn't want to keep them and quickly said, "Brother Chen, they are all pitiful people. We can keep them to help with cooking and laundry."
"No! They can stay, but they can't cook or do laundry for the soldiers. They have to do all that themselves. We Chinese Free Army soldiers can't become a bunch of pampered soldiers."
Chen Feng shook his head, pondered for a moment, and immediately came up with an idea: "How about this! Didn't we talk about military uniforms before? We can't find a garment workshop right now, so why don't you set one up? Try making uniforms for our own people first, and later we can take orders from outside and be self-sufficient."
Feng Qinlan's eyes lit up with joy: "Thank you so much, Brother Chen, for taking them in. We happen to have some fabric; what style should our uniforms be? Should we follow the style of the Spanish colonial army?"
"No, if we're going to do it, we'll do it our own way!"
Chen Feng picked up the pencil on the table and quickly sketched on the paper.
The military uniform I chose is definitely the best style of the 20th century.
"This...this is so beautiful!" Feng Qinlan stared at the sketch, her eyes shining, then dimming again. "But we probably can't do it with our skills, and the coat and pants need to be made of wool to be crisp. We only have cotton and coarse cloth right now."
"Technique can be practiced, I'll figure out the fabric." Chen Feng smiled slightly and handed her the sketch. "I'm going to Malolos in the next few days to gather intelligence and see if there's any wool fabric. If all else fails, we'll make a sample with coarse cloth first, so the brothers can have a uniform."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than deafening slogans erupted outside...
The voice was extremely loud, as if hundreds of people were shouting at the same time.
Chen Feng's heart stirred, and he immediately got up and walked out of the stone house.
From the direction of the village entrance, a group of people were marching in with neat steps.
The leader was Tian Gang, followed by seventy or eighty people, some in their early twenties, others in their thirties or forties, all strong and muscular, each with their heads held high and chests puffed out.
"They actually recruited so many new soldiers?"
Chen Feng's face lit up with joy, and he quickly went to greet him.
"General, I have fulfilled my mission!" Tian Gang reported loudly from afar, his face revealing his smugness.
Chen Feng patted him on the shoulder and praised him repeatedly, "Good! Good! Good! Where did you recruit so many people?"
Tian Gang, on the contrary, complained: "At first, when I went to the nearby Chinese villages, the villagers were terrified by the war and most of them were unwilling to join the army."
Manila has Spain's main force, so I didn't dare to approach it rashly. I thought I'd try my luck in the direction of Malolos.
Unexpectedly, all the workshops over there have stopped operating, leaving the workers without work. Those who owned land in the countryside have all returned home, making it difficult for them to make a living.
As soon as I mentioned that our Free Army provides a monthly salary of $2.5 and a monthly resettlement allowance, they immediately started calling on their friends and family to sign up; I couldn't stop them!
He lowered his voice at the end, a hint of embarrassment in his voice: "General, I... I promised them that once they arrived at the camp, they would receive a resettlement allowance and their first month's pay. What do you think..."
The new recruits behind them saw the two whispering to each other, and their anticipation gradually turned into tension, causing a subtle commotion in the ranks.
"I thought it was something big!" Chen Feng immediately laughed loudly, "Everyone line up, I'm going to give everyone their resettlement allowance right now."
Upon hearing this, the recruits' tension vanished, and they all beamed with joy.
"I was worried I'd be scammed!"
"Just by looking at General Tian's appearance, with his square face and wide ears, it's impossible for him to be lying."
"My wife, children, and elderly parents are all waiting for rice to cook. Once I receive my military pay, I need to find a way to send it back as soon as possible."
......
At this moment, Feng Qinlan also came running over quickly, carrying a cloth bag.
Without hesitation, Chen Feng picked up the cloth bag, counted out five dollars, and looked at the young man at the front of the line: "What's your name? Where are you from? How many people are in your family?"
"Replying to the general, my name is Zhang Erhe, my ancestral home is Guangxi, and my family consists of five people."
"We Chinese Free Army soldiers are all brothers, so don't call yourselves villains anymore. This is a month's resettlement allowance and your first month's military pay. Take it well, and follow the army to give your families a better life!"
"Understood, General!"