Chapter 33

When the sky was bright, the Independent Regiment, which had marched urgently overnight, had already arrived at a forest not far from the border of your province. On He Zhengdao's orders, they all rested. They would wait for the reconnaissance company to bring back news before deciding which direction to head into your province. Such a large force of over two thousand men marching in broad daylight would inevitably raise suspicion.

Compared to the soldiers of the Independent Regiment, who began to lie down and sleep soundly in the mountain camp, the Security Regiment soldiers who had been drugged the night before felt dizzy and weak when they woke up. They found themselves bound and gagged with their own stinky socks, which naturally frightened them into a cold sweat.

The Security Regiment soldiers, feeling fortunate to have survived, saw others gradually waking up in the room. They helped each other remove the socks from their mouths by rubbing them against each other in a manner similar to kissing.

The first thing they did after spitting out the stinky socks was to spit on the ground as hard as they could until the strange taste in their mouths was gone. Then, based on their rank, they used their teeth to untie the first person's hands. As the first person was freed, the others in the room, who were also bound, gradually escaped.

Perhaps worried that the noise of untying the ropes would attract attention from outside, they waited until everyone in the room was free before an officer ordered the soldiers to open the door and check the situation outside. What they saw was that the warehouse they were guarding had been completely emptied, leaving nothing but empty space that could starve rats.

Realizing the severity of the situation, the warehouse soldiers, seeing no one outside, dared not speak loudly. They cautiously came out of the room and began to inspect the warehouse. Finding no one there, they checked the streets outside, which were also empty.

They knew that after they were drugged last night, someone must have robbed their warehouse. But in this city, besides them, there should be many other Security Regiment soldiers, right?

Could it be that they also had a similar experience?

Thinking about this, the leading officer immediately led the soldiers, who had stripped off their military coats, to the Security Regiment headquarters. They found a group of headquarters soldiers who were startled by the sound of footsteps.

Upon learning that they had also lost consciousness after drinking and eating, the Security Regiment officers knew they had been tricked last night!

When all the Security Regiment soldiers, who had been detained by the Independent Regiment, gathered at the headquarters, wearing only shirts or bare-chested, they discovered that they had all been knocked out after drinking and eating, and knew nothing about what happened. Some who hadn't drunk were now truly resting in eternal peace.

The deputy company commanders, recalling that all the Security Regiment officers had gone to the Yuebin Restaurant to drink, led these soulless soldiers to the Yuebin Restaurant.

What they saw were the bodies of the guard company soldiers piled up on the first floor of the restaurant. The bodies clearly showed that they had been killed without any defense.

When they rushed upstairs, they found no sign of their officers or the regiment commander. It wasn't until the restaurant owner and waiters were rescued from a room that they learned that the kidnappers had worn the same uniforms as them, which made the Security Regiment soldiers, who had just woken up to a changed world, feel bewildered.

Hunanese robbing Hunanese? They had never heard of such a thing!

As for the officers who had been drinking upstairs and their regiment commander, they seemed to have been taken away by the people who arrived at the restaurant. After a thorough search, many of the incapacitated officials and battalion and company commanders were rescued from a storage room next to the restaurant. However, their regiment commander was still missing.

When the disheveled Security Regiment soldiers, like headless flies, searched everywhere for their regiment commander, Wu Baoguo, who had been in a cellar, climbed out and saw the soldiers running over, calling out "Regiment Commander."

Wu Baoguo, who had been fed by mosquitoes all night in the cellar, said irritably, "What are you shouting for? Do you want everyone to know that our Security Regiment has lost so much face?"

Seeing the Security Regiment officers report that all the military supplies stored in Jingzhou City had been taken, Wu Baoguo gritted his teeth and said, "Damn the Guangxi Army! I won't let you off! Wearing Hunanese uniforms and pretending to be the Red Army, do you think I'm a fool?"

Hearing this, the Security Regiment officers, who knew nothing about the previous night, immediately said, "Regiment Commander, you mean the ones who raided our warehouse are the Guangxi people? Do they have the nerve? The supplies in the warehouse were prepared by the Chairman for the anti-bandit campaign. If they steal the supplies, won't the Chairman hold them accountable?"

Wu Baoguo, angry, scolded them, "Are you all pigs? The supplies were lost on our territory. When the responsibility is traced, who do you think the Chairman will blame? Even if we know it was the Guangxi Army, what can we do? Unless we catch them red-handed, what evidence do you have to prove it was them?"

The Security Regiment officers, scolded, realized that what their regiment commander said made sense.

The civilians saw a group of soldiers in Hunanese uniforms loading the city's supplies onto trucks and taking them out of the city. Now, if they told others that the Guangxi Army did it, where was the evidence? Without evidence, who would believe them?

The Guangxi Army could easily turn the tables and say that the Hunanese Army embezzled the supplies stored by the Chairman. Then they would have no way to argue! This was indeed a cunning move!

Wu Baoguo was so convinced that these people were the Guangxi Army because the soldiers who had taken them here and bound them without even interrogating them had tied their hands and feet, gagged their mouths, and thrown them into the cellar.

Just as those people closed the cellar, Wu Baoguo heard them speaking in fluent Guangxi dialect.

Because the place was close to Guangxi, Wu Baoguo and a few staff officers could hear very clearly. These people were the Guangxi Army pretending to be the Red Army to rob them, in retaliation for the almost complete annihilation of a main regiment in Tongdao by the Hunanese Army.

The reason they weren't afraid of being overheard was simple: the deed was done so cleanly. Without solid evidence, who would believe it was the Guangxi Army?

Realizing that pursuing these issues now was meaningless, Wu Baoguo immediately sent people to borrow several military horses from a merchant to report the serious situation to the regular Hunanese Army in Tongdao.

The reason they didn't use the radio was simple: the radio had been completely destroyed, and the telephone lines had been cut.

As the communication soldiers rode madly toward Tongdao, the Hunanese Army commander in Tongdao, who had found that he couldn't contact Jingzhou City in the morning, felt something was wrong. He immediately ordered the main regiment, which was scheduled to return in the morning, to go back to Jingzhou City to see what had happened.

When they saw a few Security Regiment soldiers riding madly in shirts, they immediately stopped the troops and called over these visibly angry communication soldiers. When the main regiment commander learned that all the supplies stored in Jingzhou City had been taken away overnight, he realized the severity of the situation and quickly reported it to the Hunanese Army commander. The report also included the truth discovered by Wu Baoguo.

Upon learning that the Guangxi Army had pretended to be the Red Army and raided the entire warehouse in Jingzhou City, the Hunanese Army commander was so angry that he jumped three feet high. He immediately reported to He Jian, who was leading the anti-bandit campaign in western Hunan, asking him to return personally to take charge of the situation.

With so many supplies, specifically for the anti-bandit campaign, being stolen, the matter was not simple. As for Wu Baoguo's claim that the enemy pretended to be the 2nd Red Army's Independent Regiment, the Hunanese Army commander, who was familiar with the 2nd Red Army's structure, clearly stated that the 2nd Red Army did not have such a unit. This was clearly a deliberate trick to fool Wu Baoguo.

Upon hearing that the supplies stored in Jingzhou had been stolen by the Guangxi Army pretending to be the Red Army, He Jian was also furious and said, "You ungrateful wolf, to use such a despicable trick on me. It seems you don't want to give me a way out, so don't blame me for being ruthless."

Receiving the telegram and realizing the gravity of the situation, He Jian quickly mobilized a main regiment to accompany him back to Jingzhou from the front lines in western Hunan to investigate the matter personally.

Was it a coincidence that the Guangxi Army had framed the Hunanese Army again?

Feeling very wronged, He Jian believed that the Chairman in Nanjing had seen his efforts in the anti-bandit campaign. However, while he was working hard for the party and the state, someone was always causing trouble in his backyard. If this wasn't stopped, the future of the Hunanese Army occupying this territory would be in question.

He Jian knew that the Chairman now relied on him to eliminate the Red Army, his heart's greatest enemy. Even if the blame was placed on him, he would at most receive a few scoldings. But if he could prove that the Guangxi Army was responsible, the two leaders of the Guangxi Army would be the ones crying in the end.

At least He Jian knew that the Chairman was much more wary of the two leaders of Guangxi than of him. Giving them a taste of their own medicine in front of the Chairman, in He Jian's view, was not excessive. After all, why did they use such a despicable and cunning move?