Chapter 335 The second batch of reinforcements arrives

Pure infantry using cold weapons and lack of protective measures, and without the cover of long-range firepower, in this case, trying to attack the fortifications guarded by troops with live ammunition by charging into the formation is basically the end of the chopping block. Personal opinion

Wu Yong was of no use in the face of the organized army. The gap in combat effectiveness between the two sides was fully exposed in the battle between the two rendezvous on this day.

In this wave of offensive in the afternoon, although more bandits broke through the barbed wire and reached the parapet defense line, they were unable to achieve any substantial gains. In addition to the iron spear array in the morning, what awaited them behind the parapet was

The density of firepower far exceeded that of the musket array in the morning. Even the lucky ones who had avoided all the bullets during the charge had no luck after they rushed to this position. They were all beaten to pieces by the dense lead.

This wave of bandits obviously did not have the courage of the wave of death squads in the morning. Although the number was more than double that of the morning, after the vanguard troops who rushed to the parapet were killed, the crowd at the rear immediately started to flee back.

The bandit leaders who were supervising the battle in the rear were so angry that they jumped to their feet and cursed. But it was impossible to ask them to lead the charge. The musket formation in Lijiazhuang was no joke. After a day of hard work, they had already been killed and injured.

Hundreds of people were killed, and the high casualty rate made most people feel a little scared.

Li Jifeng, who was hiding on the roof of his house and watched the entire battle, was no longer as nervous as he was two days ago. He twirled his beard and shook his head and praised: "This Haihan militia is really a tiger and wolf army. With such fighting power, even a rogue bandit can do it."

Even if it is doubled, it will not be able to take over my Lijiazhuang!"

Li Nai added softly from the side: "The Haihan militia has not yet used artillery. If it had used artillery, I am afraid these bandits would have been scared away. I heard that the Haihan warships did not fire a single shot on the Shawan waterway today.

, they drove away the water bandits from Xinhui County and captured more than a dozen people."

Li Jifeng couldn't help but sigh: "If our Ming army had such fighting power, these bandits would not be so rampant. What a pity!"

Seeing that the sky was slowly starting to darken, the bandits also withdrew their troops and returned to camp without planning to attack again. The civilians in Lijiazhuang seized the time and began to clean up the battlefield outside the village. There were hundreds of corpses to deal with. For civilians who had never experienced such a scene,

It was also a big test for them. After Xiao Liang and Chen Yixin deployed sentries on their respective positions, they led their men back to the station to rest.

"The reinforcements are coming." After contacting the second batch of reinforcements that were rushing in, Xiao Liang announced to the Li family and his son the good news that completely reassured them: "The fleet has passed the Humen waters and will reach it tonight.

Lijiazhuang. The executive committee has sent two more companies this time. Even if these bandits grow three heads and six arms, they will definitely be killed here!"

"I will bear in mind the kindness of the Executive Committee for helping Lijiazhuang this time! I wonder which officer is leading the team this time?" Li Jifeng asked cautiously.

Although the news of the arrival of Haihan's second wave of reinforcements was exciting, Li Jifeng began to feel a little worried. As the saying goes, bandits are like combs and soldiers are like grates. In terms of their ability to loot places, these soldiers are much more ruthless than bandits.

Well, the Haihan people sent so many troops at once, which was more than enough to drive away the bandits outside Lijiazhuang. Li Jifeng was a little worried that if these people got over their ideas and pointed their guns directly at Lijiazhuang, it would be really troublesome.

Okay - with the combat capabilities of the Haihan Militia, there is no doubt that they can capture Lijiazhuang.

Although the soldiers trained by the Haihan people still carried the banner of the militia, after Li Jifeng saw it, he knew that these people did not regard themselves as ordinary militia. From the military uniforms, weapons and equipment to the command system, the standards were far beyond

They are ordinary militia groups. Apart from not displaying a banner, they are actually a well-established regular army. Although the Li family has a very close cooperative relationship with the Haihan people, there are people in the Bao Buqi army who are jealous of money. Knowing that there is money in the Li family village, they mark it as a regular army.

He came up with other crooked ideas. Of course, if there were famous and high-ranking officials from Haihan's side, perhaps this kind of chaos wouldn't happen.

Xiao Liang did not expect that Li Jifeng had so many twists and turns in his heart. When he asked, he replied: "The person leading the team this time is Captain Wang Tom, the commander-in-chief of the navy of our militia, and he will also take over the local combat force."

supreme command authority."

Wang Tom had performed escort missions to Guangzhou many times. Li Jifeng had also met him before. Knowing that this officer named Wang had a very high status in the Haihan Army, he immediately responded: "I met him last time.

When Commander Wang met, he felt that he was extremely capable and would become a great talent. Unexpectedly, he was promoted to the position of commander-in-chief of the navy so quickly. After he arrives, I will congratulate him in person."

Xiao Liang then added: "In order not to disturb the enemy, our fleet will enter the Shawan Waterway after dark. Boss Li, please arrange your manpower and go to the east bank of the river in advance to respond."

"I'll arrange this right now." Li Po immediately took over the task without waiting for Li Jifeng to say anything.

Li Jifeng said: "I'll prepare a few tables of water and wine tonight to express my condolences to all the officers. Since Captain Wang is coming soon, let's take care of him by the way!"

The fleet led by Wang Tom had arrived at the confluence of the Pearl River and Shawan waterways before dark, and then, under the leadership of the Li family, two companies of land troops quietly entered Lijiazhuang.

"Hurry up and hurry up, you still missed this good show!" After listening to Xiao Liang and Chen Yixin's battle report, Wang Tom couldn't help but sigh: "This time I specially brought all the trainee officers here.

I just want them to accumulate more practical experience, but I didn’t expect you to start so quickly!”

In addition to the two companies of the Haihan Army and the trainee sailors on the two "Exploration-class" warships, the team brought by Tom Wang this time also included dozens of officers from the officer training class who had recently enrolled, including even

North Vietnamese student Zheng Ting and others. The military believed that the combat targets this time were relatively weak and it was a good opportunity for these officers to test the Haihan combat method on the spot. Therefore, they were sent with the team to come to Guangzhou specifically to observe the Haihan people.

regiment's battle. However, the battle progressed obviously much faster than the base camp expected. After Wang Tom listened to their battle report, he could basically conclude that the bandits who attacked Lijiazhuang had been injured in today's battle, but he was not sure yet.

Will they give up the target and choose to retreat overnight?

"It's not that we acted quickly, it was just that the other party rushed to die. During the whole process, we were in a passive defensive state and never took the initiative. Everyone in the Li family can testify to this." Xiao Liang immediately defended himself.

road.

"They may not retreat. After all, we don't have any hope left." Chen Yixin also smiled and answered: "Brother Xiao specifically told not to use cannons, just for fear of scaring them away. After all, every attack can

Once we reach the location of our defensive wall, it seems that we are just a little short of being able to break into Zhuangzi. If we give up now, they will have lost so many casualties in vain."

"I hope so. I don't want to take a boat ride for several days to come here in vain." Wang Tom did not have much hope for this. Maybe when he gets up tomorrow morning, he will find that all these bandits have been evacuated.

net.

While everyone was talking about the military situation, a Haihan militiaman came in and gave a military salute and said: "Report, one of the survivors we captured was recognized by the militiamen on the village. He used to be from here. This person said that he had important military information to report.

!”

Wang Tom looked at the banquet in front of him. He really couldn't say "Don't eat, let's go and interrogate the prisoners first." He coughed dryly and said, "Then bring the people over! Anyway, there are no outsiders here, so everyone can

Let’s listen together.”

The prisoner who was tied up with Wuhua was soon pushed and escorted to the banquet hall by the militiamen. However, before the militiamen could kick him, the prisoner knelt down very knowingly: "My dear military lords, the young man is a good man. He is a good man."

ah!"

"Li Maozai, is that you?" Li Nai's sharp eyes immediately recognized the identity of the man kneeling on the ground. He couldn't help but angrily shouted: "You are a thief who was expelled from my village, and you actually joined a gang! You said,

Were you the one who brought the gang that attacked Lijiazhuang?"

This Li Maozi was also considered lucky. During the afternoon offensive, he was forced by Liao Dabi to serve as a vanguard and responsible for charging into the formation. After rushing through the barbed wire fence on wooden planks, he finally saw the darkness behind the parapet, holding muskets and waiting.

He followed his militiamen and even saw a few artillery pieces. At that moment, Li Maozi knew that Liao Dabi and his boys were doomed this time. Lijiazhuang was clearly a big trap, waiting for these people to run towards it on their own.

Jumping into the pit. However, although Liao Dabi was dead, Li Maozi thought he could still be saved, so he wisely chose to fall to the ground and pretend to be dead before the gunfire sounded. Anyway, in the chaotic situation at that time,

No one would check to see if he had actually been shot.

However, once Li Maozi fell down, he had no chance to stand up again. The few people following him were not so lucky. They were all hit by the bullets that flew over. After falling, they fell directly on top of him.

He couldn't move. In the end, when the civilians were cleaning the battlefield, they moved the six or seven corpses on top and dragged out the half-crushed Li Maozai. Although his face was covered with blood at the time, he was still taken down by the villagers.

The civilian husband recognized his identity, and the result was quickly reported to the officer.

Li Maozi denied it continuously: "Third Young Master, please do not wrongly accuse a good person. The villain can guarantee with his life that he has never done anything to attract thieves! Although the villain made a mistake in a moment of confusion and was expelled from Lijiazhuang, he never held a grudge.

Recently, I heard that out-of-town bandits were preparing to attack Lijiazhuang. I risked my life and moved into the bandit camp. I wanted to find out the news and then rushed back to warn. Unexpectedly, these thieves were extremely guarded and I couldn't escape for a while. Today, I was forced to go into battle.

Participate in the attack, but the villain has no intention of doing so!"

"You are so eloquent, who will believe you!" Li Nai obviously did not easily accept Li Maozai's words: "Sirs, this person has been accustomed to thievery before. He was convicted of stealing family property a few months ago.

, he was expelled from his hometown and expelled from Lijiazhuang. This man has always told lies. You must not believe what he says!"

When Li Maozi was about to complain, Li Jifeng picked up the wine glass and threw it on his head: "You thief, you still dare to quibble! Someone, drag him out and sink him into the river!"

"Wait a minute!" Tom Wang stopped Li Jifeng's actions: "Even if this person is really the culprit, that's okay. I would like to hear what information he has that can save his own life."

Li Maozi's ability to adapt to the wind has undoubtedly reached an advanced level. After hearing this, he immediately said: "This military master, I have been lurking in the bandit camp for many days. I have found out the leaders of each bandit. I am waiting for you to come one by one."

.This time the bandits gathered to attack Lijiazhuang. The leader was Liao Dabi, the bandit leader from Conghua and Qingyuan. In addition to him, there were also bandit leaders Lai Dingji, Zhang Weichong, Zeng Aniu and others who participated. This was led by Liao Dabi.

There are more than 2,000 troops in total, responsible for the main attack on the west road..."

At this time, in order to save his life, Li Maozi poured beans directly into the bamboo tube and sold all the gangs headed by Liao Dabi. He even knew where these gangs came from, how to divide work and cooperate, how to communicate, and even how to distribute the post-war war.

All were seized and recruited. Tom Wang did not interrupt him and allowed him to continue talking.

On the other hand, the Li family father and son were secretly frightened when they heard this. Judging from what Li Maozai said, there may be nearly 5,000 bandits besieging Lijiazhuang this time. If the Haihan militia had not arrived for reinforcements, just with the help of

It's hard to say whether the Lijia Vigilante Group can defend Lijiazhuang based on their own capabilities. Although today's combat results look good, there are still three to four thousand gangsters outside the village, and they are still not careless——

Of course, now that a new batch of reinforcements have entered the village, the possibility of accidents in the subsequent battle has basically been eliminated.

"Let me ask you, based on your understanding of these gangs, do you think they will withdraw overnight?" Wang Tom's concern is not the strength of the gangs, but that he has come all the way across the sea with his team.

Is there any chance of putting it to use?

"This..." Li Maozi couldn't figure out what the other party's intention was when he asked him this, and he was a little hesitant for a moment.

"I just asked this question and you can't answer it, so what's the use of keeping you?" Wang Tom sneered and threatened Li Maozi.

Li Maozi immediately woke up from his hesitation and gritted his teeth and replied: "From what I can see, these thieves will never look back until they hit the south wall. Although the battle situation is unfavorable today, they will definitely go out in full force tomorrow to attack."

Attack Lijiazhuang with all our strength!"

"Why? Is there any reason why they are willing to continue coming to die?" Wang Tom asked.

Li Maozi swallowed his saliva and said: "It is said... these bandit leaders heard... that there are countless treasures in Lijiazhuang. After taking Lijiazhuang, everyone can get one thousand eight hundred taels of silver. With so much money in front of them,

, how can these thieves retreat willingly if they don’t capture Lijiazhuang?”

"It sounds reasonable!" Wang Tom nodded, but what he agreed with was not Li Maozi's reason, but the fact that the other party would choose to continue attacking.

"Captain Wang, this man is cunning and lies a lot. Don't believe it all!" Li Jifeng was startled by Li Maozai's statement and quickly persuaded Tom Wang. He was originally worried about the arrival of the Haihan soldiers.

Li Maozai actually has other thoughts. He actually claims that Lijiazhuang's money is a target for attracting thieves. Isn't this deliberately causing trouble for Lijiazhuang? What if the Haihan people asked the Li family to hand over the money to them for safekeeping in the name of protection?

, then will we cooperate or not?

Wang Tom nodded and said: "Don't worry, Boss Li, I have my own sense of discretion. Take the people first and lock them up, but don't take them to Shenjiang. Don't let this labor go to waste. We happen to have a construction project under construction at the Pearl River Estuary.
To be continued...