"Good, good, what a thing to do, worthy of being a senior in the business world, with a broad mind and demeanor." Wang Zhenyu naturally tried to elevate the businessman in front of Chen Hongji, but in his heart, he was thinking that the fortune teller Zhang Jichang and Zhu Zhida met couldn't be the same person. Cheating people out of their family's wealth is really too bad. However, Wang Zhenyu also drew a conclusion from Chen Hongji's words: if he wanted to develop himself in this era, the first step was to have his own territory, and for now, Xiangxi was his chosen first territory. This place has a poor location, with Hubei to the north, the Northern Army can come down from Changde at any time, Shen Hongying of Guangxi to the south, and to the west is the ambitious Yunnan-Guizhou army, while the east is the provincial capital's power. If it weren't for the fact that Xiangxi has many mountains and is easy to defend but hard to attack, and due to its own weak forces, Wang Zhenyu would not have chosen to enter Xiangxi at all. In his opinion, even Shaoyang with a dense population was better than Xiangxi in terms of location, but now it seems that Xiangxi is a treasure land after all.

  Wang Zhenyu and Chen Hongji hit it off immediately, and their conversation gradually deepened.

  "Mr. Chen, haha, Wang has actually asked you here today because he needs your help with something!"

  "How dare I, how dare I! General Wang, if you have any orders, please just give the word, and I will certainly carry them out!"

  "It's not a big deal, after all, the Qing Emperor has abdicated and the North and South have united, but the major merchants of this Jingzhou Prefecture are all armed to the teeth. This is no problem for me as a general, but it's very inauspicious for pacifying the area."

  Chen Hongji, the old man, understood that the young general in front of him hoped that the merchants would bring out their armed men. All the governors of Jingzhou had this intention, but none succeeded.

  He thought for a moment and replied truthfully, "This is natural, but General Wang, you are unaware that over the past decade or so, the entire Jingzhou Prefecture has had very poor public security, with bandits roaming about. We merchants have no one to protect us, how can we dare to travel? Moreover, in these four counties, there are wild wolves, wild boars, leopards, and tigers. If one is unarmed, it's likely to be quite dangerous!"

  Wang Zhenyu had long known that Chen Hongji would say so, and he smiled: "Understood, understood. However, illegal possession of weapons is not a long-term plan, Mr. Chen, listen to Wang's idea before making a decision?"

  "I also hope that General will give me some guidance."

  "Jingzhou established a Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Chen was appointed as the president. All merchants' armed forces were unified and handed over to the Chamber of Commerce. Wang promised to eliminate bandits within half a year and provide protection for traveling merchants. Moreover, Wang would organize people to hunt wild beasts, reducing their harm to humans and livestock. Half a year later, if Wang's words were true, the Chamber of Commerce's armed forces would be handed over to the state government, what do you think?"

  Chen Hongji was somewhat skeptical and hesitated.

  "Director Chen, this is my final condition. There's one thing I want everyone to understand: I will use my power to protect your thriving businesses, but I absolutely will not allow a second armed force to exist within my sphere of influence."

  Seeing Chen Hongji still hesitating, obviously with the intention of haggling, Wang Zhenyu simply stood up and directly interrupted his unrealistic fantasy. What a joke! How could I let others snore beside my bed? I'm not Jiao Dafeng, if you really have military power, I don't know when I'll be killed.

  Although the April night was cool and refreshing, Wang Zhenyu's strong momentum still made Chen Hongji, who thought he had seen it all, break out in a cold sweat: "Naturally, naturally, just as you say, sir."

  Three days later, Chen Hongji took the lead and the Jingzhou Chamber of Commerce was established, with Chen Hongji as its president. Wang Zhenyu personally came to congratulate him, which was considered giving enough face.

  He Jian then sneaked into the Hongjiang area to continue gathering intelligence...

  In the next few days, the wolves roaming in the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture (now Jingzhou County) will be hit by a disaster. However, they do not know this yet and are still living happily here, with humans seemingly no longer in their sight.

  Operation Code Name: Wolf Extermination Plan.

  Wang Zhenyu specially approved 500,000 bullets and formed a wolf-destroying strike team consisting of the first battalion of Tao Xianyue's first regiment, Song Haomin's instructional team, Zhang Xuanguang's special operations company, and Tang Hai Rong's reconnaissance company. Wan Yaohuang served as the commander-in-chief. The team of over 900 people marched into the western part of Jingzhou Prefecture, beginning to implement the brigade commander's wolf-destroying plan.

  Wang Zhenyu made three special arrangements with these soldiers before the rapid response team set out:

  "Firstly, this operation is not simply a wolf-extermination action, but also an action to establish friendly relations with the local people. Therefore, during the operation, we must abide by discipline, be civilized and courteous, respect the living habits of the local people, especially the ethnic minorities, truly help them, and gain their recognition and support.

  Secondly, the first step of the operation is to clear the trade routes and protect the villages, so we must pay attention to protecting and building the trade routes.

  Thirdly, everyone must pay attention to their own safety, don't get bitten by wolves before you even fight them, those who return safely will be rewarded with 5 yuan, but if you die, you won't get anything."

  Everyone burst out laughing at the last sentence.

  A strange Han army suddenly appeared in the mountains, although the guide who led the army repeatedly explained to the mountain people that these soldiers were there to help them fight against wolves. However, it was still impossible to eliminate the doubts of the mountain people, and they remained vigilant and on guard against this unfamiliar Han army.

  These Han troops were also very strange, they didn't rob or plunder. If the mountain people disagreed with them spending the night in their village, they would set up simple tents on one side of the village and spend the night by the fire. This made the mountain people very curious and their impression improved a lot.

  Of course, Wang Zhenyu didn't plan to give his men mosquito repellent and snakebite medicine. First, there were a lot of mosquitoes and poisonous insects in the mountains; second, there were many snakes. Without the repellent and medicine, it's likely that these soldiers would have run back with their bodies covered in bites by the next day. Those who were unlucky might even die from poisoning.

  Commander Wan Yaohuang soon discovered that the wolves here were indeed a disaster.

  The first night of camping outdoors, all the officers and soldiers were frightened by the howling wolves and didn't sleep for a whole night. Wan Yaohuang immediately decided that no matter what, they had to enter the stockade the next day to spend the night, otherwise this day would be unbearable.

  As a result, hundreds of wolves roamed around the village in broad daylight, shocking everyone who saw them, and it was too arrogant.

  As the number of wolves increased, the soldiers' initial laughter turned into extreme seriousness and tension.

  Many years later, at a veteran symposium, when Wan Yaohuang and Li Zongren, as participants in this battle, recalled the annihilation of the wolf action, they both said in unison: "Never underestimate the intelligence of animals."

  When the soldiers killed a dozen or so unsuspecting wild wolves one by one, the wolf pack became smarter. They chose to hide in low shrubs, keeping a safe distance, and watched the direction of the village with their green eyes. At the same time, they transmitted information to farther places with mournful howls, and farther away, there were also howls echoing, like a relay.

  The elder in the village heard the mournful wolf howl, his face changed greatly, he immediately grabbed the guide to see Wan Yao-huang, using a dialect that was completely unintelligible, saying: "You have offended the wolf god, soon there will be countless wolves coming to attack this mountain stronghold, you have brought disaster to the mountain stronghold."

  Wolf God? Wan Yao Huang was stunned for a moment before the guide continued to translate, saying that several months ago, a village had offended the Wolf God and as a result, was surrounded by tens of thousands of wolves, leading to the destruction of the village and the death of its people. Over 100 villagers were killed, with only one six-year-old child surviving by hiding in a rice jar.

  Wan Yao Huang was not intimidated by the old man's exaggerated performance, but instead found it amusing. What era is this? Is he still worshipping wolf gods?!

  However, after all, on someone else's turf, Wan Yaohuang still didn't forget to thank the elder for his kind reminder. At the same time, he also accepted a fact that although the simultaneous emergence of ten thousand wolves was rare, it was not impossible, so he called over the commanders of several combat units to discuss how to defend this stronghold.

  Right, Wan Yaohuang suddenly remembered something, what was the name of this village?

  This question was never answered until the end, but this place later had a very domineering name, Wolf-Exterminating Mountain.

  A military meeting was held in a clearing in the village, and the commander of the first battalion, Tao Xianyue, raised a very worrying issue: "These beasts are much more agile than humans, brave and fierce but also very cunning. Therefore, whether it's machine gun sweeps or rifle shots, the killing effect on them is very limited, especially at night when we're at a disadvantage. Moreover, I've observed carefully that although the village is surrounded by wooden fences, they're not reliable, and wolves and dogs are relatives - this fence can block people, but I think it's unlikely to stop wolves."

  Wan Yao Huang was very satisfied that Tao Zongyue could think of the problem so carefully, he nodded and said: "Tao Ying Zhang is absolutely right, so now let's gather everyone together to see if there's a way to solve these problems. Everyone must not underestimate these wolves just because they are beasts, I just heard from the elder of this village that these wolves had previously attacked and broken into a village, killing more than 100 people."

  Song Haomin, Li Zongren, Zhang Xuguang and others exclaimed in unison, apparently this news was a bit beyond their understanding. By the way, here's an aside, because of his meritorious capture of Mei Xin, Li Zongren is now the deputy commander of the training team, with the rank of captain.

  It was Tang Haorang, who had a somewhat lazy temperament, who wasn't surprised at all. He nodded with his legs crossed and said: "When I was young and went hunting in the mountains with my grandfather, I also heard that these little beasts are very intelligent, many old hunters have encountered them before, and when night falls, it's their territory. Right, General Wan, I just took a look at the situation outside, these wild wolves may launch a nighttime raid..."

  After you said a word and I said another, everyone finally realized that these wolves might be even harder to deal with than humans.

  What to do? If it were a wolf, everyone wouldn't even need guns, one person with a stick could beat it to death. But ten thousand wolves, obviously exceeded everyone's cognitive range.

  But no matter, everyone here is a genius and soon came up with a bunch of solutions.