Episode 68 Slaughter Village

The primeval forest in the middle of the night is eerie and terrifying, especially by the river, all kinds of insects and frogs chirp, so loud that it is like a big free market.

The two lifeboats, each carrying ten sailors, paddled silently towards the shore. A dozen oars are handled with care, trying not to make a splash or make a sound. The light machine gunner in the bow of the ship lay low in the dinghy, muzzle pointed ahead. When there are still 500 meters from the shore, the two dinghys separate, one upstream and the other downstream. In the middle of them is a pirate village built on the banks of the river.

The task of these 20 sailors is to be the first to land, grope their way to the edge of the pirate village in the jungle by the river, and then use flashlights to signal the destroyer to guide more sailors to land and block the village from the outside.

According to the pirates' accounts, this pirate village stretched about "five or six hundred steps" along the riverbank, and about "two or three hundred steps" in depth. The pirate said how many steps, and the captain converted it, which was about two or three hundred meters long along the river bank and more than a hundred meters wide inward. As far as the village is concerned, it is not small. The 120 temporary "marines" of the Kui Wood Wolf would definitely not be able to encircle such a large area, let alone in the dense forest. But the main killing must be done by the ship's weapons, and the sailors who come ashore merely form a series of firing points around the village to kill and injure as many pirates as possible who flee by.

The dinghy downstream first paddled into the mangrove forest on the shore. The dense mangrove forest stretches all the way to the river. It was difficult to paddle in the mangrove forest, so some sailors put away their oars, grabbed the branches of the mangroves directly with their hands, and pulled the dinghy forward. The squad leader immediately shouted in a low voice:

"Don't scratch the branches! You don't know what's up there! ”

The sailor was so frightened that he quickly withdrew his hand. Yes, in this kind of rainforest, you don't know what might be on the branches, and if you catch a snake or a poisonous spider, you will die before you even start fighting.

The sailors carefully paddled the dinghy as far as they could, but after paddling in it for a while, it still did not reach the land, and the mangroves soaked in the water seemed to be endless.

Suddenly, the machine gunner at the front "shh

The Heavy pointed forward with his arm. Everyone looked along his arm, and very close in front of him, that is, less than ten meters away, stood a tall bamboo building, black. Several "tall legs" stood in the water, and a small boat was tied underneath. Then I looked inside carefully, and found the second and third stilted bamboo buildings...... It seems that the pirate village is also like a mangrove forest, extending into the water.

The sailors found an edge of the pirate village, turned the dinghy, and paddled down the river. On the left, you can find tall bamboo buildings near and far, many of which are still lit by firelight, and there is a noisy sound of drinking and laughing in Malay, and there are bursts of alcohol wafting from them.

After rowing for a while, the bamboo buildings on the left side were scarce, and gradually disappeared. The sailors looked at each other and knew that this was the edge of the village. The squad leader made a gesture, and the dinghy turned around again and quietly rowed in the direction of the shore.

After paddling more than ten meters, I couldn't move anymore. The sailors tried their paddles into the water, and the water was already shallow and almost landed. At the order of the squad leader, the sailors quietly overturned the boat, pushed the boat in knee-deep water, and dragged the boat ashore.

The sailors hid the boat, then quickly looked around and determined that it was the edge of the village.

"There are still twenty or thirty meters of mangrove forests from here to the river," the squad leader took out a flashlight, frowned, and said, "I don't know if you can see it on the ship when the signal is sent here." Only to try. If it doesn't work, you have to row it out. ”

He pointed his flashlight in the general direction of the destroyer, opened the pillar of light and waved.

……

The Timber Wolf lay quietly on the river, without a glimmer of light, like a black reef. The observers' eyes widened, and they stared intently in the direction in which the signal should have come. The captain, Qiu Qiu, and Xiang Xiaoqiang also stood on the bridge, staring nervously at the riverbank, and looking at the luminous pocket watch from time to time.

"Captain, signal!"

An observer suddenly shouted in a low voice. Immediately afterward, everyone saw it too. More than 200 meters downstream on the right, in the umbrella-like dense forest, there was a faint light shaking. If it weren't for the darkness in the sky and the earth at this time, such a bright light would not be visible if you were not careful.

"Didn't you let them send a signal at the edge of the village?" Xiang Xiaoqiang raised his binoculars to observe the place, and muttered in wonder, "Why did you get ashore and run so far?" ”

After a moment of silence, Qiu Yu guessed:

"Maybe the river stretches all the way in, and they can't see the village if they don't row in."

"Ahh

The first set of signals is there, and now it's time to wait for the second set of signals. The second group of dinghys is paddling upstream, which will definitely be slower. But after waiting a little longer, a hundred meters upstream on the left, the signal of the second group was also seen.

The captain immediately ordered the follow-up troops to follow. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth dinghys were all lowered. Forty sailors paddled their oars towards the flashlights at both ends of the pirate village.

This time, with the light guidance, it's much faster. Following the previous six lifeboats, six inflatable dinghys were lowered, carrying 56 sailors along. The 116 sailors groped around the edge of the pirate village, completely ascertaining the size and shape of the village, set up 36 ambush points in the dense forest one or two hundred meters on the periphery, and set up light machine guns on two roads out of the village.

With their pockets furnished, the company commander of the temporary marine company ordered three sailors to go into the village to reconnoitre. Beware of this possibility: the two pirates deliberately pointed them out to an ordinary fishing village, and in the end, they killed them for a long time, only to find that they were all ordinary fishermen......

After a while, three sailors returned, still dragging one man. The man made the bundle strong and tight, and his mouth was tightly stuffed. The company commander shone a flashlight on his face, and the guy was still staring at him, and there was a muffled "hmm" in his throat.

The company commander called in a Malay interpreter and interrogated him. The two pirates on the ship weren't lying, this village was a pirate village. When the interpreter asked if everyone was in the village, the pirate was careful to say that there were only half of the people in the village, because two of the chiefs had gone out with their men to work last night and had not yet returned.

In this way, everything is on the right track.

The four 102mm guns, two 40mm ping-pong guns, four 20mm machine guns, and two 12.7mm machine guns on the Kui Wood Wolf all lowered their muzzles and aimed at the pirate village, which is the demarcated area between the flashlights at both ends. The 60-mm mortar, which had been airlifted from the Songkhla base, was also assembled on deck, and the two gunners were in position and the firing angle was adjusted.

Although the power of this mortar is not comparable to that of the main gun, the curved trajectory of the mortar is more effective against targets such as villages in the dense forest than the straight trajectory of the naval gun. And as a mortar, it fired more shells in a minute than four naval guns combined.

The captain and Qiu Yu both held binoculars and stared at the two flashlights on the shore without moving. When the flashlights in both places become double, that is, the signal "confirmed and ready" is sent from the shore, and the ship can open fire.

Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't have the patience of them, and he kept pacing back and forth, back and forth between the command room and the bridge, like his tail was on fire.

Suddenly, the flashlight in the downstream shook a few times, and there was another flashlight next to it.

After a while, the flashlight upstream also changed from one to two.

The signal was unmistakable: this was the Pirate Village, and the shore was set up and ready to fire.

……

The captain picked up the ship's phone and ordered:

"40mm gun, flares."

"Bang Bang ......"

A series of loud noises resounded across the Gamba River, the flames were dazzling, and the 40mm ping-pong cannon roared, first firing a string of flares into the village and the surrounding dense forest. After firing four magazines, there was a ceasefire.

The flares burned, lying on the ground, in the woods, in the water, and constantly spraying bright magnesium light, and soon the whole area was illuminated like daylight. Countless birds and beasts chirped, and flocks of birds that had fallen asleep flapped their wings and fled in all directions through the canopy. At this time, many people in the village also shouted, both male and female. These pirates and ** don't know what's going on yet. The entire Gamba River and the nearby forests were awakened.

The captain commanded again:

"All guns, free fire!"

The four main guns roared one after another, and the whole destroyer trembled. It was as if the river below him was trembling. Followed by 40 mm, 20 mm, and 12.7 mm guns, they all joined the chorus, and countless fires flew towards the dense forest on the shore, and soon a sea of fire formed in the forest. Two mortarmen knelt on the deck and kept reloading the barrels with shells. Although there was only one gun, the rate of fire was several times higher than that of the main gun, so to speak, "pouring" shells.

The whole area was as bright as day, and the red light illuminated half of the sky. In the strong light, the outlines of the bamboo buildings can be seen clearly. With each explosion, there were bamboo buildings that burned and flew into the sky, and then the debris burned and scattered over a vast area. In the firelight, from time to time, you can see people's stumps and broken arms being thrown high. More often than not, the broken canopy branches and leaves are constantly flying in the air and falling horizontally and vertically.

The officers on board the ship held binoculars and looked at the hellish village on the shore. Xiang Xiaoqiang also held the binoculars and watched the battle with full attention. He was so excited now, the blood in his whole body was boiling, and his heart was full of the pleasure of revenge.

Although Xiang Xiaoqiang is not from a formal military academy, he has much more actual combat experience than the officers on the ship. He soon realized that although "ten thousand guns fired at once" on the ship, nearly half of the killing, or destruction, in the village was caused by the 60-millimeter mortar. The 102 mm guns were too slow to fire, and the 40, 20, and 12.7 mm guns were fast, but the caliber was too powerful to be effective if they didn't hit people directly. Moreover, they were all flat fire, and a considerable part of the ammunition was blocked by the dense forest and did not enter the village.

Xiang Xiaoqiang is really glad that he asked the Songkhla base for this mortar.

After a while, muzzle flames flashed a few hundred meters around the village. It was on the road leading to the outside of the village, and the ambush fire point was opened. Xiang Xiaoqiang's telescope quickly moved to that location. He carefully discerned the size of the fire and the frequency of the fire, and quickly determined that they were two light machine guns. It was obvious that the pirates in the village had reacted and began to flee into the dense forest outside the village. Soon, the same muzzle flame flashed on another road.

Within a few minutes, within a distance of one or two hundred meters around the village, more than a dozen fire points had been fired. Four light machine guns were the most powerful, so they were arranged on two roads. Because it would certainly be the pirate's main escape route, the two points of fire were the strongest, with two light machine guns and two submachine guns each. In the other 34 firing points, the main weapon is submachine guns, two in each place.

Those pirates were awakened from their sleep and found themselves on the verge of death, and they must have fled without clothes, let alone weapons. Even if some pirates caught weapons, the few broken rifles and machetes were no match for the two submachine guns. Now there are only a few dozen pirates in the entire village, and any single point of fire can hold them all down.

At the edge of the mangrove forest by the river, some people swam out. They all fled deep into the forest and were hit back by fire. There are a few observers on the destroyer, staring at the mangrove forest near the river. As soon as these pirates showed their heads, they were immediately discovered. Without saying a word, the two 12.7mm machine guns lowered their muzzles and began to fire into the river. Small columns of water rise in strings by the river. The water column was white at first, and then turned red in a few seconds.

The pirate who was hit screamed once or twice at most, and then sank. This 12.7 mm huge bullet is not used to hit people at all, but is used to hit semi-hard targets such as airplanes and torpedo boats, and a bullet is the size of a pen. Now it's like chopping melons and vegetables. Hit on the torso, the effect is like being smashed through by a sledgehammer; hit on the head, and the whole head will generally explode; When hit on the limbs, it was as if it had been cut by large shrapnel, and at most it could be broken a little.

The destroyer simply turned on the searchlight and shone on the surrounding river, and many pirates in the river immediately had nothing to hide, and they were shot one after another, were beaten into blood gourds, and sank.

In the distance behind the village, more and more fire points were fired. The captain counted 36 fire points, and 25 had already been fired. This shows that the pirates are panicked and have been scattered. In this case, it can be said that the overall situation has been decided, and it is possible to attack the village.

The captain asked for the opinion of Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the village in flames with a telescope, judged the situation, and felt that he could enter the village. The captain immediately turned his head and ordered:

"A ceasefire on the whole ship."

The gunnery commander immediately picked up the ship's phone and ordered:

"Ceasefire on the whole ship!"

In a matter of seconds, the entire destroyer's guns, large and small, stopped.

The whole river was much quieter at once, except for the irregular sound of submachine guns in the distance, intermittently. The village on the shore was on fire, and the sound of the trees burning "crackling" and some faint screams were faintly heard.

A flare was raised from the ship, which was the signal to order the troops on the shore to enter the village.

……

From the moment the cannon fire on the river stopped, all the firing points on the periphery understood that they were about to attack. The sailors craned their necks, and when they saw the signal flares rising from the sky in the distance, they immediately got up from their hiding places, and approached the pirate village with submachine guns, bayonet rifles, and light machine guns.

When I entered the village, my sight became extremely good. The fires burned everywhere as if it were daylight, and the village was bombed the worst, and the once lush mangrove trees were now lying on the ground with a wide view.

"Beware of pirates hiding in broken trees on the ground!"

The commanders reminded their soldiers to be vigilant. But looking at the tragic situation, the collapsed and burning bamboo buildings, the charred black branches and leaves, the mutilated corpses everywhere, and the large and small craters, it is hard to imagine that after such a catastrophe, there will be pirates bravely ambushing the sailors.

Sailors from various firing points entered the village in twos and threes, restored the squad platoon formation in a vacant lot in the village, and then began to search the village. The shelling lasted for 40 minutes, and there were few still standing bamboo buildings in such a small village. Most of the bamboo buildings are lying on the ground, some have turned into a pile of bamboo charcoal, and some are still burning. From time to time, I stepped on a leg and an arm on the ground. There were also dying pirates, on all fours, struggling to crawl on the ground. But the intestines all flowed out, dragging on the back, sticking out for a long time.

To the surprise of the sailors, there were still many living pirates in the village. Most of them were naked, apparently jumping straight out of bed. They instinctively crouched in the crater, and several of them were already scared to pee. The sailors lifted them out without much difficulty and forced them at gunpoint to a clearing in the village. After counting, there were 18 people in total. Among them were several women, all of whom were dark-skinned and ugly-looking, and at first glance they were indigenous women from nearby fishing villages. Most of them were also naked, squatting on the ground, covering their bodies, and crying incessantly.

The company commander ordered the interpreter to stand in a row of the 18 natives, and then the sailors lined up behind them, took their submachine guns, and set up four more light machine guns. All sailors understood what to do next.

At this time, some soldiers couldn't bear it in their hearts. After all, there are women in it. But the company commander seemed to see through their thoughts, and said in a loud voice:

"Brethren, let's think about what these pirates have done! Think of the crumbs in the sea! Think about the Xiangjiang incident! Hundreds of innocent lives were sunk in the sea! Hundreds of young ladies and wives were sold by them as **! Have they ever had pity on our women? Didn't you have a good head in the afternoon when you were working on a dozen pirates? What's wrong? Isn't it out of breath, and now sympathy is born? ......***, give me a harder heart, and have compassion, but not for these brutes! ”

A few words suddenly knocked out the compassion in the hearts of some sailors. When it comes to the Xiangjiang incident, almost all Ming people will grit their teeth. They all remembered how they hated it when they first saw it in the newspaper. At that time, I wished I could catch those pirates and put them to death. Now these pirates are in front of them, and they are waiting to be killed, so they won't be unable to do it.

These pirates and ** heard the interpreter tell them to line up, and thought they were going to tie them up, so they were still very cooperative. Little could they have imagined that the regular army did not intend to take them back for trial, but to execute them summarily.

The company commander shouted:

"Ready!"

The sailors stood in a neat row.

"Raise your gun!"

"Bang la-la", 18 submachine guns were raised, aiming at the back of the pirates.

Some pirates felt that something was wrong, turned their faces to look, and immediately shouted loudly, and many pirates reacted quickly and ran away.

"Put!"

No matter how fast he ran, there were no bullets, and more than a dozen submachine guns opened fire at once, and more than a dozen fell down at once. The few remaining quick ones had already run some distance, but were still swept to the ground by the bullets. There was also a desperate run, and in the blink of an eye he ran dozens of meters. A light machine gun fired at him, knocking out the last "Scud".

"Alright, riflemen!" The company commander ordered, "Everyone make up for them!" ”

A dozen or so riflemen came up with bright bayonet rifles and plunged into the backs of the pirates on the ground. At this time, several sailors began to vomit. Soon, quite a few riflemen with bayonets also vomited.

The company commander knew that they were vomiting, not sympathizing with these pirates, it was simply that the recruits suddenly saw too much blood and couldn't stand it. He didn't ask for anything, but pulled out his pistol and helped them replenish the remaining corpses with his own hands.

……

Then the sailors began to count the corpses in the village. Most of these bodies are incomplete, and it is difficult to count them accurately. From point to time, there were about 30 people in the village who were killed by the bombing and burned to death in bamboo buildings. Add to that the eighteen that had just been executed, that is, nearly fifty.

The company commander then asked the sailors at each point of fire to report that he had killed about a few people in the forest. There were more fires on the two sides of the path, and there were more than a dozen in each place. There are more than 20 small fire points left, and one is almost one or two.

That's about a hundred. Among them, there are almost sixty or seventy pirates, and the rest are nearby **. Sixty or seventy pirates, plus the forty or so pirates killed on the Yong'an Princess in the morning, added up to more than a hundred, which is about the same number as the two pirate captives said.

In other words, there will not be too many pirates in this pirate village, even if there are still those who have slipped through the net.

"Sir, what is this?"

With the wind that rolled up the fire, some pieces of paper flew over. A soldier grabbed one casually.

"Ah, it's money! It's banknotes! ”

"Bills?!"

Several soldiers built "pieces of paper" on the ground and held them to look at in front of them. The company commander also picked up one.

"It's guilders!"