Chapter 26: The Security Brigade, A Sniper Company Acquired for Nothing

After all, these people had frequently provided benefits to the Bai family. Hadn't they been paying "protection fees" for all these years precisely for moments like this?

Bai Jiasheng, now in his early fifties, was originally a powerful local figure in the Kaili area. During the "Movement to Protect the Nation," he followed Tang Jiyao and raised a private army. Over the years, this force had grown from a mere five or six hundred men to nearly three thousand. Despite its size, the Fifth Brigade’s discipline was abysmal; calling them a band of bandits would be an understatement. Bai Jiasheng, in particular, was an expert at extortion and had amassed immense wealth over the past decade. These three thousand men served as the muscle for his arrogance, ensuring that local gentry and powerful families in the surrounding counties paid their "protection fees." Whenever a village resisted his tyranny, he would personally lead his soldiers to suppress them, having slaughtered thousands of civilians over the years.

After hearing the grievances from the servants of the local gentry, Bai Jiasheng had a rough grasp of the situation. He had heard that a large Red Army force had entered Guizhou, but they had bypassed Kaili, heading toward Zunyi instead. That was Wang Jialie’s territory, which was none of his concern, and Bai Jiasheng had no intention of meddling, preferring to guard his own patch of land. He never expected that another Red Army unit would arrive, strike without warning, and target the very families that had been paying him tribute for years. If he couldn't put this matter to rest, those local tyrants and gentry might soon lose faith in him. However, he needed to weigh the strengths of both sides before deciding whether to engage.

"How many men do these Red bandits have? How many rifles?" Bai Jiasheng asked leisurely while sipping his tea.

"Reporting to the commander, those Red bandits have only four or five hundred men." The servant’s claim was not entirely false; the Red Army force that had entered Jianhe County was indeed small.

"Only four or five hundred?" Bai Jiasheng felt a surge of confidence. With over three thousand men and twenty-five hundred rifles, he outnumbered them five or six to one. While the Red Army had a reputation for being formidable, Bai Jiasheng reasoned that they were only human, not monsters with three heads and six arms. He had no reason to fear them.

"Is there only one Red Army unit?" Bai asked again.

"Just one, sir. We saw no others. And they looked exhausted when they arrived, clearly having traveled a long way."

This confirmed to Bai Jiasheng that this must be an isolated force, not the main body heading for Zunyi. He stopped worrying; dealing with four or five hundred bandits with his three thousand men would be like snapping a twig. With this in mind, he declared, "Very well, I understand. Go back and tell your masters that I am bringing ten thousand troops to wipe them out."

He exaggerated his numbers to spread word and intimidate the small Red Army force into retreating from Jianhe County. If they fled, he could save face, secure his reputation, and continue extorting the local gentry without firing a shot or suffering any casualties.

Elsewhere, the Red 18th Regiment had been stationed in Jianhe for over a week. Long Wencheng planned to leave in a few days to continue toward Zunyi. The destination was hundreds of kilometers away, mostly over difficult mountain trails. However, just before their departure, word reached them that Bai Jiasheng, the commander of the Kaili Security Brigade, was marching over ten thousand men to destroy them.

Though the rumors claimed ten thousand, Long Wencheng knew these local warlords loved to inflate their numbers; in reality, even a third of that would be generous. After sending Lin Tong’s cavalry reconnaissance company to investigate, his assessment was confirmed: the entire Fifth Brigade had only three thousand men, with at most two thousand combat-ready. Their equipment was decent, but their discipline was poor, and they lacked rigorous training. Many of the soldiers were opium addicts, weak and sickly. They were good at bullying local villagers, but against a regular army, they were nothing more than a rabble.

After consulting with his officers, Long Wencheng decided to seize the opportunity to fight. Not only would it provide them with much-needed weapons and supplies, but it would also rid the region of the cancer that had plagued the Kaili area for over a decade. Just as they finalized the decision to engage the Security Brigade, a young soldier named Xiao Shitou ran up to report that a group of people had arrived at the camp gate, specifically looking for the Red Army.

Long Wencheng was surprised. He wondered if the local villagers had organized a gesture of support knowing they were leaving. When he reached the gate, he found over a hundred young men, most barefoot, dressed in traditional Miao attire and adorned with silver ornaments. The leader, a man under thirty, was of medium build with sturdy muscles, dark skin, and a gaze as sharp as a blade. The leader was visibly surprised to see that the high-ranking officer was even younger than himself. In fact, the Red Army’s officer corps was quite young; some were division commanders at twenty-three. Long Wencheng, at twenty-three, was only a regimental commander, effectively dragging down the average.

The Miao men spoke a little Chinese, though fluent communication was difficult. Fortunately, among the newly recruited Red Army soldiers were several Miao men, and through an interpreter, Long Wencheng learned their purpose. The leader’s name was "Baobao." Long found the name amusing, thinking it sounded a bit soft, but he soon learned that in the Miao language, "Bao" meant precious and "Bao" meant hillside—his name meant "a precious person born on the hillside."

He hailed from the Basha Miao Village in Congjiang County, over a hundred kilometers away, where his people had lived by hunting for generations. Long Wencheng had heard of this village; even in the twenty-first century, they were still legally permitted to carry hunting rifles, though they had long since shifted to tourism. Baobao had brought his tribesmen to join the Red Army and participate in the revolution. Most of his people had been killed in conflicts with local warlords; now, only these two hundred remained, and having heard the Red Army was in the area, they had come to enlist. Every one of them carried a firearm, though they were antiquated flintlocks or even matchlock muskets—their equipment was hopelessly outdated.