The Yellow River Patrol Battalion, starting from November last year, the Yellow River Patrol Battalion has begun to patrol fixedly, starting from Baotou, along the Yellow River, back and forth for hundreds of kilometers, gunboats in the inland river, absolutely called a big killer, occasionally some bandits who do not have long eyes, crashed into the boats of the Yellow River Patrol Battalion, and the final fate can definitely be said to be miserable.

The gunboat is very powerful, the 105 mm smoothbore gun, at sea, I am afraid that it is not even counted as a branch firepower, it can only be used to defend against torpedoes, the battleship still thinks that it is not fast enough, placed on the inland river, but it is a big killer, flexible and powerful, used to deal with ordinary ships, it is simply a cannon.

With the help of gunboats, the waterway can be said to be the vertical and horizontal Yellow River, almost ensuring the safety of the Yellow River for more than 400 miles, so that the ships can safely go from Baotou to Sanmenxia, or transshipment, or through the guò land, which is much more convenient, and a lot of goods in Baotou are transported by guò waterway.

The waterway was clear, but on the land, problems kept appearing, and the bandits were not only not extinguished, but became more and more violent.

Wang Jinming's eyebrows were almost locked together, in his hands, there was a thick Wen jiàn, which started from November last year, to this year's bandits, to be honest, from the formation of 3,000 militias, under the strong request of Yang Yuanzhao, arranged the militia to suppress the bandits in batches, the horse bandits in the northwest are slightly different from those in the northeast, they have no fixed residence, there is no fixed nest, the horse bandits are all on the horse, it is difficult to catch its traces, unless it is encountered.

The team of 3,000 people can not be divided into too small, often with 100 people as a basis, no matter how small, maybe it will be eaten by the horse bandits, every month to patrol the Quartet, but also met a few not long eyes, the real results are not much, the bandits are not only not extinguished, but more and more prosperous, countless horse bandits are as many as cattle hair.

As far as the information at hand is concerned, Wang Jinming can be sure that there are at least 300 shares, bandits of different sizes, gathered around Baotou, as little as 30 or 50 people, as many as 100 or even 1,000 people, it can be said that the number of famous horse bandits in the entire northwest has basically gathered near Baotou, and now it has developed to Henan, Shaanxi, and even Ningxia There are also horse bandits.

Why is this so, the wealth is moving, Baotou has produced a large number of industrial products, attracted businessmen from all over the world, from November last year to the present, the number of businessmen, at least 10 times, every day is still rising, Baotou is already remote, now, from the border town, has become a distribution center for industrial production, the property circulating in Baotou for a short time, in tens of millions of calculations, such a rich property, like locusts smell food, sharks smell fishy smell, from all sides to surround up.

Sharks will eat meat, bandits will also see blood, gunshots and robberies will be heard almost every day, and some adventurous small businessmen will not be able to go a hundred miles at all.

In the war room of the Yellow River patrol battalion, according to the habits of the Northeast, Wang Jinming set up a staff room here, although it is said that Baotou here, the literate youth, than the Northeast is much less, the short man is a general, it is also considered a normal progress, from the clever, understand some cultural soldiers, Jane pulled some, plus the previous from the Northeast, a huge sand table with Baotou as the center, in the war room, in the center of the sand table, of course, Baotou, the smaller is the original Baotou urban location, a little bigger, It is an industrial zone, and now the two gradually have a hint of blending, more than 100 kilometers to the north, Baiyun Obo is another dense building belt, more than a month, just completed the foundation of the foundation, large-scale projects, but also to spread out.

The territory of Baotou has expanded, the number of militia groups has not increased, only the patrol battalion has expanded a little, from Baotou to Taiyuan, 8 toll stations, and from Baiyun Obo to Baotou, from Zhangjiakou to Baotou, almost 15 or so, according to a toll station stationed 30 people, it went to 450 people at once, under the shift change and maneuver, it is seven or eight hundred people out, Baotou local, the Yellow River patrol battalion, and Baiyun Obo side, stationed in turn, and thousands of people, fortunately, when Feng Yuxiang was transferred back to Guannei, Nearly 1,000 redundant personnel were sent over, some of them were enriched into the patrol battalion, and some of them entered the militia group, and now the total strength of Baotou has reached 5,000 people, Rao is so he has on hand, the troops that can be used are limited, and only about 2,300 people can be drawn out, divided into 23 teams to suppress bandits and patrol, it is simply not enough, Baotou is on the edge of the grassland, there are roads in all directions, and there are no checkpoints or the like, for the horse thieves who come up and go like the wind, it is really anxious.

In the huge sand table, in addition to the blue military flag on behalf of the militia flag, the dense black flag, almost the entire Baotou is wrapped, from the easternmost Zhangjiakou, to the west of Gansu, the north of Mongolia, to the south of Shanxi, on the broad land, everywhere is a flat grassland, one by one, like an encirclement, more than 300 shares, large and small bandits, distributed in a vast land, conservative estimates, the number of horse bandits, in the tens of thousands, There is a growing momentum.

"Taiyuan calls!" A non-commissioned officer quickly ran to the center of the staff room, took out a telegram and said, "The Qujia caravan has been robbed!" ”

"Qu family?" Wang Jinming was a little moved, the Qu family is one of the eight families, the same as the Yang family, the Liu family, and the Wei family, although the background of the business is a little worse, but with the accumulation of hundreds of years of accumulation of the Qu family, hundreds of carriages can be taken out casually, and the escort team is all the new military equipment with deep pockets, which is very powerful.

"Yes, a caravan bound for Shaanxi, a total of 240 carriages, all of which were robbed!" The non-commissioned officer said solemnly.

"240 wagons, without an escort?" A staff officer who heard the incident asked.

"Yes, the Qu family sent a total of 170 guards and 150 fast guns, all of which were purchased in the German and American companies before, and all the troops were wiped out!"

"None of them came out?"

"Two of them fell behind, they ran out, and they reported the results!"

Everyone took a breath of cold air, the German and American company after the New Year, set up a store in Baotou, specializing in the distribution of various foreign products, of course, including arms, Baotou's more and more lively business, will inevitably attract the attention of the surrounding forces, the necessary armament is still there, so that the caravan guards, from the original Wanguo, into a standard weapon, not only reduce losses, but also expand sales, this is not, in just 2 months, in Baotou sold tens of thousands, most of them are sold to caravan guards, The caravans made more money, and in a sense, it came back.

150 guns, 170 guards, this force is definitely not small, these people are not strictly trained soldiers, how to say, they are also guards, and they have urgently trained firearms shooting, it should be relatively strong, usually, horse bandits do not dare to attack the team with so many guns and so many guards.

Wang Jinming pondered for a while, and then said, "Is there any specific information!" ”

"Yes, the telegram is detailed!" The non-commissioned officer said, handed the telegram to Wang Jinming, Wang Jinming took it, looked down carefully, and his expression was slightly dignified, because according to the news of the Qu family, at least 700 bandits, under firepower, frantically attacked this caravan, just revealing the font number, there were seven or eight large and small horse bandit gangs, including a line of red, iron harriers, and the Northwest Gang.

The staff officer next to him, after reading the telegram in Wang Jinming's hand, exclaimed: "The bandits have merged!" ”

The confluence of bandits is a sign that has only recently appeared, because of the non-stop activities of the Baotou militia group, especially the Yellow River patrol battalion, they are all soldiers who have received professional training for more than one year, and within the army, they also adopt the practice of lifting and lowering, and the patrol battalion, suitable soldiers, are added to the militia as officers, and then the militia regiment, recruits with strong tactical ability are added to the Yellow River patrol battalion, so that under the flow, the Yellow River patrol battalion has become a reserve of officers, and its strength is far stronger than before.

The bandits have a saying, it is better to meet the militia than to meet the patrol, and the patrol will surprise the king of Hades.

It can be seen from this that the patrol battalion is strong, and even last month, there was a patrol battalion of 100 people, and against a team of 500 horse bandits, killing and wounding more than half of the opponent, and finally the horse bandits fled in a hurry.

The bandits in Baotou are becoming more and more severe, and some small caravans do not dare to act casually, or attach themselves to the big caravans, or simply, on the highway, relying on the protection of the militia group, the larger and larger caravans, so that many small bandits can not do it, watching others eat meat, they gradually converge, forming a temporary team of one or two hundred people, looting, so that the danger and lethality are much greater, but more than 700 people, it is the first time to appear.

"A line of red, iron harriers, they seem to have merged before, several raids related to them, they have seen the banners of both sides, and the Northwest Gang and others are new to join!" A staff officer looked at the record, and then said solemnly: "There are also two small groups of horse bandits, according to intelligence, all of them, there will be more than 1,200 people." ”

The first-line red and iron harriers, as well as the northwest gang behind, are all bandits in Baotou, who have been crisscrossing the northwest for many years, and it is a little difficult for any of them, the 100-person militia team, not to mention the three together, which will have a huge impact on the patrol team of the militia, if all the members are together, it is difficult for the two squads.

"Immediately order, shrink the force!" Wang Jinming changed color, and hurriedly ordered, although the current focus of attention is on the caravan, just picking up the fat sheep of the caravan, but in case of encountering the militia, when the time comes, it is really hard to say who will lose and who will win.

The militia and the patrol battalion had a fixed line of communication, alternating between gunboats and beacons, and within a day the news reached all the troops, all of whom began to move closer to each other, temporarily grouped together in units of 700 men, waiting for the next order. R1152