Early the next morning, the situation was similar to the previous day. Lin Mo got up after having enough rest. At this time, the ship had already set sail, heading to the port of Suzhou to replenish coal and change anchorage.
Taihu Lake is not a good place. Bandits are rampant. Reports of the suppression of bandits in Taihu Lake almost spanned the entire Republic of China. In the 18th year of the Republic of China, the Jiaxing Branch of the Bank of China was robbed by bandits and nearly 100,000 yuan was robbed.
Despite the sensational incident, bandits are still running rampant, which shows that the problem of banditry in Taihu Lake is really serious.
After the liberation, East China suppressed bandits. This place was as famous as the Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi border area for banditry in mountainous areas at the junction of multiple provinces. Moreover, the water network here was dense, allowing bandits to move around. The bandits themselves also fled everywhere. There was no grassroots level after liberation.
It is difficult to eradicate them with that kind of control, otherwise the government would not be able to allow banditry to wreak havoc in the center of its core area!
This morning, I saw a suspicious ship swaying around the big ship. After setting sail, I followed it for a while before leaving for unknown reasons. After docking in Suzhou, Zhang Guangjia came to report that someone reminded him of this matter.
While this guy was fishing at the stern of the boat to provide cover, he chatted with someone on a sailboat. The other person was a local official and businessman from Suzhou, who also came to the boat to escape the summer heat. Obviously, they were not the only ones doing this to provide cover.
It's just that their boat was smaller, but there were fewer people, and they only wandered around the city. Zhang Guangjia bragged to them about catching big and big fish, which almost made these people want to run into their boat.
However, after I heard that a group of people were already crowded on the boat, especially the good boys who went on the boat to spend the summer studying and studying, they were not allowed to bring women on board, and they were also running around reading thousands of books and traveling thousands of miles.
He immediately gave up the idea and told Zhang Guangjia not to make any noise about these things outside.
Zhang Guangjia immediately beat his chest and stamped his feet, and followed the other person's words and poured out his bitterness, saying that he was forced to be put on this boat by his family elders, how uncomfortable it was, and he was very envious that they could listen to music and make music on the boat, and finally gave it to everyone on the boat.
After giving him a pair of fishing rods, the other party reminded Zhang Guangjia about the bandits and asked them to be more careful.
Lin Mo is not a headstrong person, nor is he a superstitious person who only trusts the information in hand. Moreover, the current information collected and recorded is still relatively limited, so Lin Mo immediately arranged for someone to go to the city to investigate.
Some ask them to find out more at well-informed places such as docks and teahouses, while others give them an address and ask them to go there with tokens and letters of introduction, and naturally someone will provide them with the information they need.
When the news came back one after another, Lin Mo and Zheng Junshan both frowned. The situation was a bit beyond their expectations. Before he entered the military academy, he had also heard about the bandits in Taihu Lake, but Hangzhou was a bit far away from Taihu Lake.
, and as a student, I don’t have a clear understanding of this matter.
And at that time, the national government arranged for the army to go into Taihu Lake to suppress bandits and bandits. However, in recent years, the national government has spent all its attention on our party. Yes, it no longer has the energy to take care of these bandits. At most, it is the local police.
The security group also "suppresses bandits" from time to time.
But when the bandits robbed Jiaxing Bank, they attacked the Marine Police first, and even robbed the enemy's gunboats. They even had problems guarding the town. Letting them suppress the bandits was just a lonely act, so they just put on a show to calm the public's anger.
Sometimes even the results of battles and even dispatches may be falsely reported, so banditry in Taihu Lake has increased again in recent years.
The situation of the marine police may be better, but the situation of the local security corps is even worse. You can think of many of them as bandits with a layer of skin. The bullets in the hands of the bandits may have flowed from their hands, and some are even
You collude with bandits, and even pretend to be bandits, and you still hope to let them suppress the bandits?
Based on a comprehensive inventory, there are at least hundreds of bandit gangs active in Taihu Lake and its surrounding areas, ranging from three to five small thieves to hundreds or even hundreds of people, and dozens or dozens of boats.
The bandits are estimated to number in the thousands, and they have between one and two thousand guns.
"Look at this. During the day, they use fishing, scavenging, and selling goods as a cover to explore routes. When it gets dark, they wait for opportunities to commit crimes. There are many small groups of bandits. Sometimes a small boat is robbed several times.
In this case, if our ship wanders around here for a long time, it will definitely inevitably run into these people. It is not that we are afraid of them, but it is just a bit disgusting. We have to act in a low-key manner. It is impossible to identify ourselves and we have no time.
Use other flags, but you won’t be able to scare the opponent..."
Zheng Junshan was a little worried and helpless in his words, Lin Mo also nodded and said: "I'm really not afraid, if we really want to do it, we people are fully capable of destroying them, but in this case, the situation of this ship and our position is very likely to happen."
It will be directly exposed to the eyes of the Japanese.
Our urgent task now is the actions in Shanghai, not these gangsters. But as you said, if we don't deter or frighten these people, it will definitely cause trouble and trouble to us, so we still have to think of something.
Method."
After saying that, Lin Mo pondered for a moment and then said: "I remember that in these reports, the information mentioned was that the other party used small wooden boats to plunder. There seems to be no such thing as iron-hulled boats, right?"
Zheng Junshan nodded in affirmation and said: "It seems that they all use sampans and awnings to plunder. There may also be large iron-hulled ships, but there are definitely not many, and the function may be similar to our ship. It is the opponent's mobile suppression.
After all, the enemy's plundering relies on concealment and flexibility, and the big ship is too conspicuous and eye-catching, so it is not suitable for this job."
"...That's enough..." Lin Mo nodded. He had the same idea. He didn't immediately answer the curious Zheng Junshan's doubts. Instead, he had someone call Zhang Guangjia over first.
"Let's do it! There is a task assigned to you." After asking Zhang Guangjia to sit down, Lin Mo said: "You can go out by boat later and find those young officials and merchants who have communicated with you before, and ask where in Suzhou there are more courageous people.
, it would be best if a factory that can perform machining can find a way to make private guns.
Don’t worry, as long as you don’t reveal any flaws in your words, you will definitely be able to ask them something. If you ask, you can ask for a recommendation and let the factory or gun dealer help process a few weapons."
"Weapons?" Zhang Guangjia was stunned for a moment and said in confusion: "Captain Lin, can't we just let the repair shop handle the weapons? If these people can do it, it will definitely not be difficult for the repair shop, and we will probably repair it every time we go there.
The Machinery Institute is also faster than them."
Lin Mo waved his hand and said: "It's not for these reasons. It's because our current situation is not suitable for the repair shop to participate, so as not to expose the identity of the ship and us.
And our purpose is to avoid crossfire as much as possible, so as not to attract excessive attention and scrutiny, and reduce the chance of exposure. If you ask them to do this, some information will be spread. When the gangsters find out that we are not easy to mess with, they will
They will not easily influence our ideas, this is what we really need."
After Zhang Guangjia nodded, Lin Mo drew a rough sketch and introduced: "It is similar to the Qing Dynasty's big gun. You can also understand it as a shotgun with an additional number, with an extra rotating gun stand. Remember the stand
It must be able to adapt to the fixed bayonet reserved on our ship or be fixed on the ship's string rail."
"...Wonderful..." Zheng Junshan couldn't help but speak, saying: "The small wooden boats they use have basically no protection. This thing is hitting them one after another. Those small boats that dare to get close will be shot by this thing.
, it is estimated that a boatload of people can be reimbursed directly. Moreover, this thing does not have much technical content, it is just an enlarged shotgun. Even if it is used, it is impossible to suspect us, but to be on the safe side, we still need to find some excuse for it.
"
"This thing is called a boat gun. There is a prototype in the United States. It is used to hunt wild ducks. Wild ducks flying in groups can shoot down a lot of ducks at once. I have newly designed this thing. It does not need to be lifted by anyone, and the recoil can also be controlled by the boat.
It's a burden, and it's just right to put it on a boat to fight bandits.
The gangsters definitely didn't have very accurate marksmanship. Even if their marksmanship was good, they wouldn't be able to shoot accurately on that rickety boat. Besides, their purpose was to rob, so they had to get close. Even if the gun didn't have a long range, it wouldn't affect him.
deterrence.
There is no need to carve rifling in the gun. It does not have much technical content. However, in order to speed up the loading speed, they can find a way to create a loading structure for a center-folding shotgun. The caliber is between 30 and 40 millimeters.
Ask them to find out if there is a copper bullet case that can be used. If not, they can use a cardboard or iron case.
The materials should be available in such factories or workshops, and the most troublesome is pipes. If they can't find them at the moment, you can give them the pipes from the big tent on the top of the ship. Those are high-quality pipes imported from abroad.
, there shouldn’t be any problem doing this.”
After Zhang Guangjia heard it, he repeated it, and the three of them summed up what they said after that, and also simulated it, and designed their demeanor, expression, and tone. Many of these officials and businessmen were excellent people.
In the past, when we met by chance, the other party might not pay too much attention to it, but now if you ask the other party for something like this, the other party will definitely be alert, so you can't act carelessly.
After some preparations, Zhang Guangjia took the Li family's small steamer and left. He looked for him in the direction in which the other party left. Fortunately, the other party did not run too far. After walking around for a while, he saw the man fishing at the bend of a spacious lake.
Everyone.
"Brother Li, I'm here to bother you again. I just saw you catching a big fish from a distance! Congratulations..." Zhang Guangjia cupped his hands and jumped onto the other party's boat.
The young man who was called Brother Li had a depressed look on his face and said: "It's just a big fish as big as a palm, or a ball? What you caught are all small fish and shrimps. You kid won't fool us, right?"
"...Definitely not..." Zhang Guangjia hurriedly comforted him and said: "The time is wrong. Fish like to bite in the morning or evening. It is too hot during the day. We are all too hot. How can the fish still have an appetite? Believe it or not, anyway, I
What I said is true, but not all of it was caught by me..."
"...I'm afraid it's not all of them, but none of them..." Looking at Zhang Guangjia, who was hesitant, Brother Li joked.
"...I...I...anyway...anyway, I have caught big fish..." Zhang Guangjia looked guilty and lacking in confidence.
"...Hahaha..." This appearance made everyone burst into laughter, but their attitude towards Zhang Guangjia was actually much more friendly. After all, it was the same experience that made them...