Chapter 294: Chapter 292: Cracking Down on Human Trafficking

Wang Liansheng’s eyes narrowed slightly, and after a moment, he said, “Is there a possibility of human trafficking?”

“Oh, selling them to do dirty work in such places is equivalent to being trafficked…” the other party immediately retorted, but then realized they had misunderstood and quickly added, “You mean buying a wife?”

Buying a wife happens locally as well. It’s usually because for various reasons, older unmarried men, or even confirmed bachelors, go to remote impoverished areas with a matchmaker to offer a dowry and bring back a wife.

Wang Liansheng knew that there were three such cases in Nanli Village. The men would personally travel to the bride’s home, work for a period, and pay some money to bring back a wife.

In such cases, two thousand yuan could fetch a young lady. With a little less money, one could still get a wife, though she might be divorced or even have children.

This could still be considered arranged marriage, but there’s an even worse case of human trafficking, where women are abducted or deceived into being sent to poor areas and sold to those who cannot find wives, including old men, disabled people, or even mentally impaired individuals.

What Wang Lianxiang experienced was likely the first case, but possibly the second. From Wang Lianhua’s expression, it was clear Wang Lianxiang had angered her, and she would certainly handle the matter harshly.

Before Wang Liansheng could think more about it, the friend from the public security office spoke, “You should remind them to be vigilant. Delaying a few days is fine… hmm, soon they’ll be too afraid to do it.”

After saying this, they hung up without further conversation.

Wang Liansheng held the phone receiver for a long while, then his hand trembled, and the receiver clattered onto the desk.

Liu Yan in the office looked over, noticing the leader’s grim expression, he hurried over to inquire, “Leader, is there something wrong?”

He had overheard something about ’human trafficking’ earlier. He thought to himself, the leader’s wife wasn’t home; she was on the front lines… Besides, even if the wife was home, no one would dare traffick her.

The leader’s daughter was too young, ten or eleven, too old to be abducted as a child, and too young for women trafficking; it couldn’t be her. Could it be the sister-in-law and niece staying at his house?

Wang Liansheng waved his hand without explaining to Liu Yan, quickly calling out and leaving in a hurry.

He went downstairs to find a public phone and called the village. The call went to Taiping Commune, or rather, now it’s changed to Taiping Town.

Years ago, when Wu Xiangyang led Ling Chengyan to participate in the county competition, he was promoted to township head at the beginning of the year. When Wang Liansheng called, it happened to be Wu Xiangyang who answered.

Wang Liansheng didn’t waste words, and directly told Wu Xiangyang about the ’recruitment’ matter, explaining the nuances involved.

Wu Xiangyang immediately stood up, grabbing the phone, he said, “Don’t worry about this. Now that we know, we surely won’t let them succeed in abducting anyone.”

Because of Ling Chengyan, Wang Liansheng knew a bit about his character, knowing that this military-born township head was rather swift and resolute in action, and disdainful of evil. Entrusting this to him, Wang Liansheng felt assured.

He exchanged a few pleasantries and hung up the phone.

…

The initial anxiety before setting out, the fear upon first arriving, gradually, these emotions faded away. The team members would wake up every day thinking only about training, about their missions.

After several missions, even the last traces of fear disappeared, and there was a sense of relief, especially as casualty lists were released one after another, particularly when fellow special service members suffered casualties.

The first to suffer casualties were the teams of Qian Xiangjun and Han Daqing.

Three days after Ling Chengyan led the Huicheng Special Service Team to successfully take down three positions and kill over fifty enemies, Qian Xiangjun’s team received orders to rush to a slightly distant position for support.

A fierce conflict erupted over there. An entire platoon of regular soldiers went up for support, and soon it was urgent again. The command center decided to send in both Qian Xiangjun and Han Daqing’s teams.

They were tasked with providing support and delivering a shipment of ammunition and supplies.

The two teams had just been up for a few hours when the news came back; they had reached the supporting position but hit a minefield on the way and also encountered a small enemy ambush, resulting in casualties. Out of the 45 people in both teams, 5 were killed and 7 were seriously injured.

When this news reached the command center, Ling Chengyan was attending a meeting to discuss further actions.

The political commissar announced this news during the meeting, casting a pall of silence over the operations room. Everyone’s expressions were grim, including Ling Chengyan’s.

Regardless of Han Daqing or Qian Xiangjun, those who were killed or injured were their comrades, our soldiers, each with families and parents behind them.

After a moment of silence, the commanding officers in the meeting all volunteered, requesting to go up and avenge their fallen comrades.

Ling Chengyan did not join the shouting. She quietly looked at the scale-model battlefield, and when the commotion died down, she stood up: “Please let us be deployed.”

The political commissar glanced at her, raised his hand to signal her to sit down, then addressed the group, “I understand your feelings. The enemy’s arrogance indeed needs to be curbed, but judging from the battle situation, the enemy on the other side is formidable. If we want revenge, we can’t rely on just hot-bloodedness and recklessness… Let us study carefully how to proceed.”

Ling Chengyan once again did not scramble to speak, but patiently listened to others recount their ideas. When everyone who wanted to speak had finished, she was the last to open her mouth, pointing at a small hill slightly farther on the model: “Our positions and enemy positions are interlaced like teeth. This 07 position is like an enemy tooth penetrating our side. Although it’s slightly farther from the conflict center, taking it will strengthen our defense considerably, preventing the enemy from sneaking behind our lines. Moreover, this hill has gentle slopes on three sides, with a cliff on the northwest side. This terrain limitation is exactly why the enemy has the current advantage here…”

What Ling Chengyan said wasn’t extensive but very clear, and she was the only one who noticed the 07 position, which was slightly distant from the conflict zone.

Before her words had ceased, someone voiced opposition: “Ignoring the position of the 07 site, there’s an enemy town just behind it, and several villages and a road. Even if we manage to capture the position, it would be hard to hold, leaving our squad likely isolated against aggressive enemy counterattacks. I think taking this spot is too risky.”

Ling Chengyan didn’t say more. She had said all she wanted to. She simply lifted her eyes to the political commissar, waiting for his final decision.

The political commissar furrowed his brow, pondering over the scale model for a long while, before ultimately not adopting Ling Chengyan’s suggestion. Instead, he chose a more conservative plan.

Ling Chengyan and her team were not used, sending in two peninsula teams to execute the mission instead.

Ling Chengyan didn’t say much. Her expression remained very calm.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep