The two Alpine warriors grinned, waved the crescent-shaped machetes in their hands, took a few steps back, and then turned and quietly disappeared into the misty jungle.

"Xiucai, you stay here for now, wait for our signal." The captain pointed to the bamboo whistle hanging around Lin Hongmin's neck and said.

Lin Hongmin nodded, indicating that he understood.

Although he has also been to the "training ground" and is not weak, combat is not his strong point after all.

He came here with everyone, more of a "consultant" role.

The captain began to assign tasks, and soon, the mist cleared, and the captain made a gesture and gave the battle order.

Luo Yongxuan looked at Lin Hongmin, who seemed to have nothing to do, smiled, got up and disappeared into the jungle with his companions.

And just a few minutes later, a crisp gunshot rang out in the distance!

Lin Hongmin held a telescope and carefully observed the situation in the village in front of him, and the gunfire became more and more intense.

In the binoculars, he suddenly saw the Alpine warrior smiling at him, who was jumping into a simple machine-gun position, raising the crescent scimitar in his hand, and slashing off the head of the man who tried to use the Maxim machine gun, and then stabbed another knife into the heart of another machine gunner.

Seeing the blood gushing out of the neck of the headless corpse, Lin Hongmin's stomach couldn't help but constrict.

Although it was not the first time he had seen a murder, such a scene would still make him uncomfortable.

As if knowing that he was watching, the Alpine warrior grinned at him, grabbed the decapitated head, shook it at him, and then turned and disappeared again.

Lin Hongmin looked around again, cautiously rushed down the hillside, he made a detour forward, came to the village, he jumped into the machine gun position that the Gaoshan warriors had just killed, carefully helped the corpse away, and observed the model of the Makqin heavy machine gun.

When he recognized that it was an old British-made Maxim machine gun, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a sneer.

At this moment, a strange member of the team ran over, and in front of him, two men with rifles were running for their lives.

Lin Hongmin was afraid that they would run away, so he didn't touch the old-fashioned Makqin, but raised his combat pistol and started shooting, while the team member raised the "flower mechanism" in his hand and followed the shooting.

The bullets kept shooting, Lin Hongmin felt that he should have hit the other party, but the target disappeared at this time, Lin Hongmin and the team member stopped shooting, and the gunfire in the distance also subsided, and there was a moment of calm.

At this time, the whistle sounded, Lin Hongmin jumped out of the machine gun position, and ran forward with the team member, and they found the two bodies on the side of the road 100 meters away. Between the two bodies, a man knelt trembling with a rifle in his arms.

For the third person who suddenly appeared, Lin Hongmin and the team member felt a little inexplicable, and they didn't know where he ran from.

"This guy seems to be frightened." The team member looked at the other man and said, raising his foot and kicking him.

"He seems to have malaria, don't be too rough with him. Give him some water, give him something to eat, try to calm him down. The figure of the captain appeared, he looked around, and said to Lin Hongmin, "Come here, Xiucai." ”

Lin Hongmin followed the captain to a place that looked like a warehouse, they came to a room, at this time the room was full of beaten corpses covered in smoke, Lin Hongmin stepped over the corpses on the ground, came to the table, the table was full of scattered papers with blood stains, Lin Hongmin picked up a piece of paper and looked at it, his brows furrowed.

"It's supposed to be just a staging point." "Not their warehouse." ”

"Are there crows here?" Lin Hongmin asked, flipping through the documents on the desktop with his hand.

"There are some, but not many." The captain looked out the window, where the two team members were opening the door to a warehouse with boxes piled high.

Lin Hongmin quickly flipped through the documents, and when he saw a few familiar names, he couldn't help but sneer.

"The amount of opium that Liu Wencai ate was much larger than I imagined." Lin Hongmin said.

"This should be their real warehouse location, right?" The captain noticed a few hand-drawn maps, picked them up and looked at them, and asked.

Lin Hongmin glanced at the maps and nodded at one of them.

"Judging by the traffic conditions, it should be here." Lin Hongmin said, "We can ask the captive. ”

"Let's get out of here first." The captain said. He and Lin Hongmin left the room and blew the bamboo whistle.

In a few moments, when everyone left, the whole village was in flames.

"The fire is so big, it won't set this forest on fire, right?" Looking at the blazing fire behind him, a team member said with a smile.

"No, the climate here is hot, humid and rainy, and the fire is hot, and it will rain soon." Lin Hongmin glanced back and said.

"Actually, it's in vain that we're doing this." Luo Yongxuan said suddenly.

"Why do you say that?" One of the team members asked.

"Even if we find real warehouses and destroy them, the people here will grow more opium." Luo Yongxuan looked at Lin Hongmin and said, "Isn't it, Xiucai?" ”

"Not bad." Lin Hongmin's voice revealed a hint of grief and indignation, "We didn't hit their source. ”

"What is the source?" One of the team members asked.

Lin Hongmin turned his head to look at him and said, "British." ”

"What do you mean?" Listening to his answer, many team members were stunned.

"It was 1825, and a heavily armed British expedition arrived in the area where we are today, after surveying the terrain. They quickly expelled most of the indigenous people with advanced weapons that the locals had never seen before, and set up camp in Kokang County, just north of here. The British thoroughly examined the area and found it to be ideal for opium cultivation. The British soon began to experiment with planting, and after three years, it was very successful, so they began to plant on a large scale in Kokang, Damengyang and other places. Most of the opium harvested was sold to the interior of our country, poisoning the Chinese people. The British were strongly opposed by the Burmese dynasty at the time, and the local ethnic groups of Shan States rose up to fight against them, and the Manchu government also intervened at the time, so they were quickly expelled. However, the British, whose basic national policy is aggression and expansion, have fully understood the economic value of Burma and its geostrategic value as a future invasion of China. So soon the British India as a base, the war against Burma, two armed occupations, the destruction of the Burmese dynasty, and the annexation of India as a province. In 1840, the First Opium War between China and Britain resulted in a crushing defeat for the Manchu Dynasty. On July 24, 1886, under the coercion of the British army, the Qing Dynasty signed the humiliating "Sino-British Conference Burma Treaty" with the British army, ceding the four counties of Kokang and Banhong in southern Yunnan to the British. In this way, the British took full control of the area and began to sow opium on this land. Eventually, it became the world's base for opium cultivation. ”

Lin Hongmin's voice was not loud, but at this time, every member of the team could hear it clearly, and many people showed grief and indignation on their faces.

"How do you know so much about what's going on here?" One of the team members asked curiously. And Lin Hongmin just looked at him and didn't answer.

"Xiucai is the descendant of the Blue Flag Army." The captain looked at everyone and replied for him.

"Blue Banner Army?"

"Yes, Blue Banner." Luo Yongxuan looked at Lin Hongmin and said, "There is still a long way to go, Xiucai will tell everyone about it, so that everyone knows what is going on." ”

Lin Hongmin raised his head, looked at the jungle in front of him, and told a story that had been sealed for a long time.

After the peace agreement was reached, Lin Honglie, the former prefect of Kokang County, angrily resigned from the post of Cheli prefect granted by the Qing court after learning that Kokang had been ceded, and led more than 1,000 loyal officers and soldiers under his command to fight against the British army alone. The local Shan chieftain, Luo Zhiman, also fiercely opposed the British military service and caused his people to grow opium, and rose up against the British army. Luo Zhiman was soon bloodily suppressed by the British army, and was forced to lead the remnants to retreat into the mountains and persist in the struggle. After Lin Honglie raised his troops, Luo Zhiman led his troops to defect and joined forces with Lin Honglie, which was the 'Blue Flag Army'. ”

"After the formation of the Blue Banner Army, with Lin Honglie as the generalissimo and Luo Zhiman as the general, it recruited loyal and brave soldiers, supported more than 20,000 soldiers, and fought against the British army for a long time for five or six years. During this period, a large number of opium fields were destroyed, and the living forces of the British army were wiped out, giving it a powerful blow. The British army suffered repeated defeats in the battle against the Blue Flag Army, so while increasing its troops, it adopted diplomatic means to put pressure on the Qing court, asking the Qing court to send troops to cooperate with the British army to suppress the Blue Flag Army. And the [***] incompetent Qing court was forced to accept the demand. Although the Blue Banner Army was brave and good at fighting, it could not stand up to the enemy on both sides, and there were no reinforcements, although they swore to resist to the death, they were outnumbered and began to retreat. In the end, Lin Honglie and Luo Zhiman led 5,000 soldiers to retreat to the Salween River, where they were surrounded by the British and Qing troops. The 5,000 righteous soldiers finally ran out of ammunition and food, stained the Savin River with blood, and all died heroically. ”

"And it was after the defeat of the Blue Flag Army that the British were able to vigorously cultivate opium among the local people, which is still to this day."

After Lin Hongmin finished speaking, he put his pistol back into the leather sheath, drew out his machete, and walked forward silently.

"Let's go." The captain waved his hand, glanced at everyone, and motioned for everyone to leave.

None of the soldiers said anything more, but set off silently, just like Lin Hongmin.

Before they came here, some of them didn't quite understand why they had traveled so far in a plane to attack some villages, but now they all understood why they came.

What they are doing today is what the soldiers of the Blue Flag Army did not accomplish back then.

After walking for a while, while resting, the only remaining captive began to speak for the first time after taking malaria pills.

"What does he do?" The captain said.

"Say he's just an ammunition porter." Said the team member who acted as the interpreter.

"Ask him about the warehouse." The captain said again.

"He said he knew there, but not the map." The interpreter said after showing him a map handed to him by [***] Hongmin.

The captive kept talking, and although no one understood it except for the interpreter, when he pointed to the ridge in the distance, it became clear to the secret assault team.

"Ask him if he'd like to help us find there." The captain looked at his watch, looked up at the sky again, and said.

The interpreter asked the captive again, and the captive nodded desperately as he replied.

"He said yes." The interpreter replied simply.

"Let's go." The captain looked at the thin captive with some concern and said.

The assault team continued to set off, and by this time the sun had begun to set, and the commandos and the captive wanted to reach their destination as quickly as possible. But perhaps because of malaria, the captive walked more and more slowly, and by midnight he could no longer walk. By this time, they had walked several kilometers of bumpy, pebble-filled mountain trails. Everyone seemed tired, and the captain ordered everyone to rest. In the wee hours of the morning, they set off again. After another hour of walking, the captive could not walk again. A member of the team dragged him along with him. Not far in front is a small village. When they arrived, they found that it was an abandoned temporary base for the British army, with a canteen area, a single-pitched roof house, and a small hospital, with blood-stained bandages all over the floor. All this indicates that someone has recently lived here and fled in a hurry not so long ago.

"What's going on?" Someone asked.

"We are not the only ones involved in this operation." "There are a lot of people we haven't met. ”

"It's all 'irregular armed forces,' aren't they?" One of the team members said with a smile.

"It's not easy for our army to come forward in this matter." Another member of the team said, "Don't you look at the things we use, aren't they all military standard weapons?" ”

"Don't talk about it." The captain waved his hand to stop his subordinates from talking, "Burn this place, right away." ”

Like the previous village, this abandoned base was soon burned to the ground.

"When dawn comes, we'll run into the enemy." Lin Hongmin looked at the sky and said.

Just as he said, from half past five the next morning, the commandos exchanged fire on and off with the drug traffickers. These men were all armed with the rifles of the British [***] team, and they carried out ambushes in groups of three or five, but they were not very strong in combat, after several successive exchanges of fire. By noon, the assault team had killed 63 of the opposing team, and there were no casualties themselves.

Along the way, the commandos constantly ran into the enemy. At first, it was a single encounter, and then it was a two-person encounter. After that, it was a single one, and finally I met a group. These men were using old British colonial weapons. They were quickly killed, and a wounded leader was captured before he could escape.

After ordering the troops to rest, the captain called in an interpreter and began to interrogate the captive.

The prisoner spoke quickly, and the interpreter told the captain that on the same road, about a minute ahead of them, there was a group of militants guarding a relatively strong defensive position. And here is the border with the Khmer, where a larger group of militants is guarding the warehouse.

As far as the captives knew, the militants in the warehouse did not know that the assault team was approaching them, and the closest way there was a bamboo forest.

"The bamboo forest is not a real jungle, but there are teak and mahogany trees more than thirty meters tall growing in it, and the trees are crawling with thorny rattans and flowering reptiles. Because most of the bamboos don't grow tall, they are intertwined with each other, and they are low above the ground, so they are simply impassable. Lin Hongmin said.

"But if we go around, it's more than twice as far as a straight line." The captain looked at the map and frowned slightly.

"I think it's time for us to stop and stop it." "To attack a fortified position defended by almost a battalion of men, it is necessary to redeploy the troops so that a group of men goes around the enemy's rear to carry out the attack, otherwise the combat operation may be in grave danger." ”

"No, we've got to find it and destroy it." The captain said categorically. Seeing that he had made up his mind, the vice-captain no longer objected, but instead obeyed his orders.

"Get your squad off that trail and stay in scattered formation. You can send two people out to find out what's going on, but tell them to be very careful. ”

"We have to stop the search and concentrate our forces. Gather your team and move north and west as fast as you can, ready for reinforcements. ”

"You move northwest and attack to the left."

"You and I will advance along this path and attack from the front."

Lin Hongmin and Luo Yongxuan were both part of the group that participated in the frontal attack, and after the arrangements were made, everyone split up and started to act. Despite his previous training, Lin Hongmin still felt that this march was the most difficult march of his life. Some of the "nearest paths" were very narrow, and the canopy of trees on the path was dense and thick, and the wheeled heavy machine guns they captured knocked off the bark of the large trees on the side of the road from time to time, and they could be said to have advanced in the middle of darkness all the way, and had never seen the sky. From time to time, there were fallen trees blocking the way, and the wheeled heavy machine guns could not pass at all, so they had to be unloaded and carried by people to go around the bushes next to them. There were quite a few corpses in the bushes, which had begun to decompose, crawling with maggots and flies, and the stench was disgusting. Due to the difficulty of marching, the whole team moved forward slowly, half as slow as expected.

And by the time they came to the bushes in front of the bamboo forest, gunshots had already sounded in the distance.

Lin Hongmin noticed that the bushes in front of him were getting denser and denser, and he couldn't help but feel anxious.

(To be continued)