After talking with Lu Daoming and Wu Youping, He Rui headed to the headquarters with Xu Chengfeng. On the way, Xu Chengfeng said, "Governor, I want to write a letter to my father asking him to contribute some money."

He Rui answered frankly, "No need. I don't mean to look down on your respected father, but the objects we want to attract investment from right now are really foreigners. Moreover, since your father would be contributing this money, he would certainly have expectations."

Xu Chengfeng nodded. "The Governor has been talking about the issue of organizational purity in party classes recently; I agree very much. We absolutely cannot let opportunists mix into our ranks. However, we are short of money right now. I am my father's son after all; I have decided to tell my father the truth and will absolutely not deceive him."

Hearing that Xu Chengfeng's attitude was correct, He Rui patted Xu Chengfeng's shoulder. "Chengfeng, just tell your father about our economic policies truthfully. Your father is a businessman; business is business. If he is willing to pay, he will certainly make some requests. If we can agree, we agree; if we can't, we must make it clear."

The two arrived at the headquarters. The young officers were already waiting inside, and the bandit suppression meeting began immediately. Everyone thought Cheng Ruofan would speak first, but the one who opened his mouth first was Hu Xiushan.

"Governor, I made a plan. Please take a look, everyone." After speaking, Hu Xiushan took out a rolled-up map and spread it on the table.

After just a few glances, Cheng Ruofan sighed, "It's actually so detailed!"

The map was hand-drawn, with the terrain of all villages and towns in Siping on it. There were detailed markers for known bandits, from large bandit gangs to small groups of sporadic bandits. Their activity areas and numbers were recorded clearly.

Besides these, the map clearly marked targets that had been attacked by a large number of bandits. Based on the number of people in the attacked villages, arms, terrain, time, and the weather at the time, clear deductions were made regarding the direction of bandit actions, numbers, and escape routes.

Through such meticulous work, combined with the bandit situation already understood, Hu Xiushan made inferences about how many cases were committed by local bandits and how many by bandits from outside the area.

He Rui hadn't expected the usually reticent Hu Xiushan to complete such excellent staff work. Just as he wanted to ask, Zhong Yifu, who came from a staff officer major, smiled. "Governor, I've been fully focused on training troops recently. I only answered Hu Xiushan's questions when he came to ask me. These things were all done by Xiushan himself."

Xu Jia followed, "Governor, Xiushan asked me for the records of bandit troubles submitted by the cadres in each village. Our land reform is going well now, and the village cadres are enthusiastically informing us of the news. Xiushan has really worked hard."

He Rui understood the intelligence sources and technical support for Hu Xiushan's plan, so he let Hu Xiushan describe the plan.

"Our troop strength is only 1,500 now, and most are recruits who just joined not long ago. If the forces are scattered, there will definitely be various omissions. Now every village has a Militia Captain, and after land distribution, militias can be gathered. For those individual bandits, each village can deal with them or even catch them if they encounter them head-on. For those who escape, the standing Armed Work Teams in the towns will be responsible for setting up roadblocks and searching suspicious areas after receiving news from the villages; they should be able to handle it too. The regular troops don't need to worry about these solo bandits; we need to deal with those organized bandit gangs."

Saying this, Hu Xiushan pointed to the two largest bandit gangs locally. "Annihilate them first."

After speaking, Hu Xiushan pointed to the surrounding terrain and roads, beginning to explain where to deploy troop checkpoints to cut off the bandits' escape routes. Then, how to shrink the encirclement, gradually compressing the bandits' range of activity, and finally wiping them out in one fell swoop.

After explaining these, Hu Xiushan pointed out a few more key points. They were clearly marked on the map as major traffic routes for outside bandits entering and leaving the Siping area. "Dispatch troops and mobilize militias to defend these areas. Prevent bandits from other places from coming in to commit crimes during our action to exterminate local bandits."

When Hu Xiushan finished speaking, everyone was full of admiration. However, most of the admiration was directed at Hu Xiushan's intelligence collection and analysis. The specific tactics of bandit suppression were not complicated: either besiege their lair and wipe them out at once, or pursue them relentlessly after discovery. Everyone had discussed these methods, and Hu Xiushan adopted the same ones.

But bandits' movements were erratic; they would never foolishly wait to die in one place. Moreover, bandits had complex backgrounds. Many looked like ordinary farmers on normal days, only putting on masks to commit crimes when summoned by accomplices or seeing an opportunity.

With Hu Xiushan's detailed analysis, there was a rough outline of the bandits' direction of action. Even just an outline allowed for targeted actions.

He Rui was completely relieved at this point and handed the work over to the comrades. He just added two points: "First, banditry is a security issue and also a manifestation of social contradictions. If they can be captured alive, try to capture them alive. Those with blood debts will be executed after a public trial. Accomplices will be sent to labor camps for reform through labor. Second, we must conduct psychological warfare against the bandits, making them confess about their accomplices and other bandit situations they know. This cannot be accomplished by torture and extracting confessions. Don't let them feel that being caught is just bad luck, then act like heroes in front of us to shield other bandits. Xu Jia, for this interrogation work, find a few comrades who can do this kind of job."

Xu Jia nodded heavily immediately.

Zheng Silang looked at Xu Jia and said, "If there aren't enough hands, count me in for this job."

Hearing this, Xu Jia didn't know how to answer for a moment. After all, Zheng Silang was a cavalry major; he had a fiery temper usually and was very strict during training. For exterminating bandits, Zheng Silang was absolutely the best candidate. But persuading captured bandits to truly confess without torture—could Zheng Silang do it?

He Rui nodded to Xu Jia and said, "I actually think we can let Silang try."

Xu Jia could only answer, "Alright!"

He Rui stood up and said, "Since we have a plan, everyone revise the plan and then start executing it. Discuss more if there are any problems."

Xu Chengfeng, Hu Xiushan, Zheng Silang, and the others stood up together and answered, "Yes!"