Chapter 2040

As an officer who has led troops to fight overseas all year round, injuries are a common occurrence for Sun Bing. During the battle in Korea last year, he was briefly hospitalized for treatment due to injuries. However, the Datong River base at that time was put into battle as soon as it was built, including a field hospital.

All the facilities there are very crude, and the conditions are far inferior to those in Jinzhou.

Sun Bing still remembers that the "ward" he lived in at that time was just a temporary tent. A tent used to house patients was filled with twenty camp beds. In addition, even the operating room was set up in a tent, and the medical staff

The personnel were also recruited from various places, and the operation of the entire field hospital was indeed a bit chaotic.

The Jinzhou side has been in business much longer and has more complete infrastructure. This field hospital, which is only a few miles away from the isthmus defense line, is made of bricks and stones. Each ward only has eight beds.

It is far less crowded than the Datongjiang Field Hospital, and the environment and medical conditions are obviously a higher level.

Starting from the second day after Sun Bing was admitted to the hospital, people started to visit him one after another. In addition to the subordinates under his command and naval colleagues who fought side by side during this operation, there were also local civil and military officials in Jinzhou, as well as representatives

A group of gentry and elders from the local people came to express condolences to the wounded. This was a treatment that Sun Bing had never enjoyed before.

Although these people who came to visit the wounded may not know what kind of combat missions Sun Bing and others performed on the front line, sources pointed out that General Chen Yixin, who was guarding Jinzhou, rushed back from the front line yesterday just to visit these people who were sent for treatment.

The wounded people. For the high-ranking General Haihan to pay such attention to them, it already shows that these injured people are not ordinary people. Some people with special information channels inquired again and found out that these wounded soldiers were all members of the Marine Corps.

, that is an ace unit that can stand on an equal footing with the special operations group. No wonder General Chen takes it so seriously.

Whether it was because Chen Yixin's demonstration worked or because he wanted to get to know the heroes of the Marine Corps, a lot of people came to join in the fun. Sun Bing thought it was quite refreshing at first, but after receiving four or five groups of people, he became a little overwhelmed.

It's annoying.

Later in the afternoon, there were finally fewer visitors, and Sun Bing breathed a sigh of relief. As the commander of this group of wounded soldiers, visitors almost always targeted him. At the end of the day, not only did he talk until he felt dry,

Dry, and even my face became stiff.

Sun Bing was just taking advantage of this free time to rest for a while, when he turned around and saw another outsider entering the ward, and it was someone he knew, Liu Shang, who was in charge of local civil affairs and publicity affairs.

He had already met Liu Shang when he got off the ship yesterday, and naturally he would not mistakenly think that the other party came here specifically to visit him. Most of the time he appeared here because he had official matters to discuss with him.

As expected, when Liu Shang opened his mouth, he was talking about business: "Company Commander Sun, I am planning to write a press release for your combat mission. Do you think it would be convenient for you to cooperate with me and accept an interview?"

Sun Bing smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Liu, you are too polite. You wrote an article to praise the Marine Corps. It's not too late for me to thank you, but can you please let me slow down first? There are too many people visiting today. After talking all day, my voice is a bit hoarse.

Yes, I'm coughing badly now."

Liu Shangdao: "This is easy to handle. I'll send someone right away to get some medicine to clear your throat and moisturize your lungs to help you relax."

Before Sun Bing answered, Liu Shang hurried out of the ward again. It seemed that he was not just saying a few polite words, but was really going to discuss the matter.

Liu Shang was initially transferred to serve in the north, first in Shandong, and later in Liaodong. However, these two places were military-controlled areas, so most of the people he dealt with were soldiers. The affairs Liu Shang was in charge of were political propaganda.

It is an almost annual task to conduct promotional tours for the various units stationed in the north to maintain morale and consolidate the loyalty of these units to the Executive Committee. Therefore, as long as they are officers who have stayed in these two places for a long time,

Most of them knew Liu Shang, and Sun Bing was no exception.

Sun Bing still had a very good impression of Liu Shang. He remembered that when he was stationed in Jinzhou earlier, in addition to conveying official news from the "Haihan Times" during propaganda activities, Mr. Liu would occasionally be in high spirits.

Sometimes he would also perform a storyteller for everyone, most of which were legendary stories about the Haihan Army's early battles in various places, which was very popular with the soldiers. Moreover, Liu Shang's storyteller skills were quite good. It is said that he was in a teahouse in Sanya before he became an official.

He is a professional who makes a living as a storyteller and has no obvious official airs after becoming an official. This makes Sun Bing, who is also a commoner, have a better impression of him.

Not long after, Liu Shang came back with a porcelain cup in his hand: "You are lucky. The doctor said that there is only the last bit of throat clearing drink in stock. I am coming over soon. I will make a cup for you to drink first."

Sun Bing thanked him repeatedly and took the porcelain cup from Liu Shang. Sure enough, it was still hot. Liu Shang continued: "This throat clearing drink is a good thing. It contains black plum, Ophiopogon japonicus, raw licorice, platycodon, and adenophora.

Scrophulariaceae, in my profession, I talk too much and my voice often gets choked up. Drinking this stuff will make it a lot easier."

After taking a sip, Sun Bing responded: "Master Liu is an expert, and what he recommends will definitely be right."

Liu Shang waited for Sun Bing to finish drinking the medicine before returning to business: "As for the combat mission performed by the Marines this time, I heard that they will ask for credit from the Ministry of National Defense in the future. The Times will definitely have relevant reports by then, so I have to

Prepare the manuscript earlier. Once you recover from your injuries, you don’t know where you will be transferred again, so I can only block you while you are still unable to walk."

Sun Bing said: "Master Liu, you have worked hard, but the task I am performing this time is subject to confidentiality regulations and cannot be leaked to the outside world. I hope you will forgive me, Master Liu."

Liu Shang responded: "Lianchang Sun is very strict... Don't worry, General Chen's consent has been sought for this matter. This is the warrant issued by him. Take a look."

Sun Bing didn't know much about literacy, so he could barely understand 70% to 80% of the content on this warrant. However, there was Chen Yixin's signature and seal at the bottom, which he could see very clearly. Although Chen Yixin was not his immediate boss, he was

The military general who knew the inside story of this operation, and the clues that Jinzhou had discovered about the Qing Army's musketeers before, were informed by Chen Yixin to the Datongjiang base, so since he had agreed to this special interview, Sun Bing did not need to

Resisted.

Today, Liu Shang has long given up the idea of ​​working for the Ming Dynasty. He is working as an official of Haihan with peace of mind and heading for a better future. At that time, he went into Haihan to lurk with him. Several people who knew his identity were all

Already died on Hainan Island, and the higher-ups must have thought he died in the same shipwreck. No one would have thought that a Ming spy who used the storyteller as a cover could completely change his identity and successfully infiltrate Haihan's bureaucracy.

, and there is a tendency to climb higher and higher.

Although Liaodong is very far away from Haihan's homeland, Haihan did not hesitate to deploy heavy troops here to confront the Qing army all year round, which shows that he attaches no less importance to this place than any overseas ruling area. And Liu Shang is in Jinzhou. The scope of work they are responsible for is no longer limited to the field of publicity, but is increasingly involved in the management of civil affairs. This

On the one hand, this is because his personal abilities have been significantly improved and he has gained more trust from his superiors. On the other hand, it is also because the number of capable officials in Liaodong is relatively small. However, this environment also left Liu Shang with more problems. With more room for performance, he can strive for many opportunities to express himself - for example, becoming the chief special writer of "Haihan Times" in Liaodong.

"Haihan Times" is the official media of Haihan State at this stage, and the content published on it often represents the official will and attitude. In many cases, the official will use this platform to spread rumors and guide public opinion.

In particular, the Haihan Kingdom has engaged in frequent foreign wars over the years. If it were any other country, they might have already complained about such conquests that cost a lot of money and materials. However, the Haihan Kingdom's control and guidance of public opinion is extremely effective, and the people Instead of objecting to this, they regard it as a symbol of national strength. Successive victories in foreign wars have in turn further consolidated this impression among the people, making them more and more full of expectations for each crusade against foreign countries. .

Of course, Haihan remained undefeated in foreign wars and obtained many benefits from it, which were not only enough to make up for the consumption of the war, but also benefited the country and the people. This is where public opinion guidance can play a role. The fundamental reason. If we had suffered a few more defeats, or if the military casualties had increased significantly, then it is estimated that the domestic trend would not be as one-sided as it is now.

As an official platform, the writers of many articles in the Times are actually officials from various departments. Sometimes the headlines are written by the bosses of the executive committee. Liu Shang only gradually understood this after joining the propaganda department. Knowing these inside stories, being able to become a special writer of the Times is a special qualification in itself, and it is an extraordinary honor for Liu Shang. You must know that in the entire Liaodong region, he is the only returnee to hold this honor. Apart from him, only two big officials, Chen Yixin and Sha Xi, can have this privilege. However, these two people usually do not write articles for the Times themselves, so in fact, Liu Shang is the only one in Liaodong. I'm responsible for doing this job.

When wars occur overseas, in addition to internal military briefings, there will also be local writers like Liu Shang who write press releases on the battle conditions and results for Haihan Times to publish when necessary. .But as Sun Bing mentioned, most of the time combat operations are classified as military secrets, and there are many contents that are not suitable for disclosure to the public, so such manuscripts often do not necessarily appear in newspapers.

But where the responsibility lies, Liu Shang will still try his best to complete his mission. He heard that the Marine Corps' combat mission in the north was likely to have made a great contribution, so writing a detailed press release for this automatically became his responsibility Task. After applying to Chen Yixin and getting the warrant, Liu Shang came to the field hospital to interview the person involved.

With Chen Yixin's endorsement, Sun Bing no longer had to worry about leaks. He happily started talking about receiving the mission, how to lurk in the mountains and forests near Jinshitan, how to secretly observe the enemy's situation, and how to investigate and confirm the target's combat effectiveness.

I gave a more detailed answer according to Liu Shang’s question.

This was not the first time for Liu Shang to interview officers who led troops in war, but this special mission carried out by the Marine Corps still surprised him. The Haihan Army entered enemy-occupied areas to perform combat missions many times in the past, but it was absolutely

Most of the time, it is a one-shot escape, and immediately retreats to the sea after success, and does not stay there for too long.

The combat operation commanded by Sun Bing was obviously different from the past military operations. According to what he said, they had been lurking in the local area for more than half a month before they got such an opportunity. Despite the risk of exposing their whereabouts and attacking by force,

However, in order to better complete the mission, Sun Bing's troops still chose to take action, and they also paid the price of dozens of casualties. In order to pursue them, the Qing army almost ignored their own casualties and took human lives to follow them.

The Marines fought hard, but those who were able to retreat safely to the Golden State in the end can be said to be the lucky ones.

Although Liu Shang has a good brain, he still feels that the amount of information in this operation is too much. He knows that the military has always valued the safety of soldiers, and as long as there is room for choice, it will generally not forcefully trade lives with the enemy in combat.

Fighting hard, but the operation commanded by Sun Bing has obviously broken this convention, and the Marine Corps is still the ace unit in the army. It lost dozens of people in one operation, which can definitely be regarded as a major battle loss.

There were so many casualties during the execution of the mission. Instead of being held accountable, the commander would be credited and receive rewards. This shows how afraid the military was of the Qing Army's musketry team. It must be

Get rid of it and then quickly. According to Sun Bing, the people who assisted the Qing army in forming the musketeers should be Spanish, but as of now, there is still no clue as to how the Qing army hooked up with the Spaniards.

"We killed a translator during the operation. It's a pity. If we could catch him alive, we might be able to find out the true identity of the middleman." Sun Bing recalled the course of the operation and was still a little worried about this detail. Although they

The Qing army's musketeers were successfully defeated, but the investigation mission they shouldered was not completed satisfactorily, and the origin of the middleman was still not found out.

Liu Shang himself was a spy and was very sensitive to details. He immediately asked: "Did you bring back the translator's body? Maybe you can find some clues from his appearance and belongings."

Sun Bing nodded and said: "The body was carried on a horse and brought back to the ship, but we don't know how the autopsy is going."

Liu Shang is a very curious person. When he was lurking in Sanya as a storyteller, he liked to go to the municipal library to check various materials. Later, he was transferred to Shandong, because he was investigating the corruption inside the immigration camp and almost committed suicide.

His identity was exposed. However, there had been no situation that aroused his curiosity for a long time after coming to Liaodong, and Sun Bing's mission seemed to have once again aroused his interest in exploring the truth.
Chapter completed!