At two o'clock in the morning, the area around Sanqiao was very quiet. Only the lights were on in the newspaper office. More than thirty skilled typesetting craftsmen were composing wooden movable type overnight. Newspapers were time-sensitive, and the engravings were useless after one use. The cost was too high, so we had to
Use movable type, so typesetting is one of the most important processes.
Generally, typesetting is done at night, printing starts before dawn the next day, and the printed newspapers are distributed around noon.
In the entire newspaper office, except for the chief writer, chief editor, news spies, etc. who go home at night and are away from the newspaper office, other craftsmen such as typesetting, proofreading, printing, and stewards are all busy in the newspaper office.
At this time, neither the printing craftsmen nor the proofreading craftsmen were in the newspaper office. The situation was special tonight. They were all resting at a nearby inn and could return to the newspaper office at any time.
There are only thirty-five typesetting craftsmen busy in the entire newspaper. They read a paragraph, quickly take out the corresponding movable type, quickly arrange it, and then continue reading. Because many words are repeated, a large amount of movable type is needed, so it is not easy to open a newspaper.
, requires skilled workers and a large amount of movable type.
So much so that the Southeast Times, which is preparing to compete with them, has not yet been launched. It has enough staff but not enough movable type.
In addition to the typesetting craftsmen, there were also fifty internal guard soldiers led by Zhong Huan, and ten intelligence station warriors led by Wei Yanwu.
This was an order given to them by Chen Qing. Once the imperial court was forced to cancel the Song-Jin alliance, Wan Yanchang would most likely vent his anger on the newspaper office. They must protect the newspaper office from being attacked by Jin people at night.
At this time, Wei Yanzong ran to Zhong Huan and whispered: "There are suspicious people outside. They are tall and martial arts practitioners. They are monitoring the newspaper office."
This was a sign that the other party was going to attack the newspaper office. Zhong Huan immediately ordered: "Order all craftsmen to evacuate immediately!"
The order was passed down, and the craftsmen were prepared in advance. They immediately put the assembled movable type into the movable type folder and put it into the big box where the movable type was stored. Everyone picked up their own big box and hurriedly evacuated to the backyard dock.
A large, pre-arranged boat was moored on the pier in the creek outside the backyard. There were internal guards monitoring the area, but no suspicious circumstances were found.
The craftsmen got into the boat one by one, and before long, thirty-five people were all seated in the boat. The boatman held up the bamboo pole, and the boat swayed away into the distance.
The lights in the newspaper office were still bright, but everyone had evacuated. In fact, except for this house, all the newspaper office materials and machines were evacuated in the afternoon. Of course, many materials in the warehouse were not evacuated in time, such as paper, ink, and spare parts.
Printing machines, etc.
Sixty internal guards and warriors armed with crossbows, spears and shields were hiding in the newspaper office, patiently waiting for the enemy to come.
Zhong Huan is hiding on the side of the roof of the main hall. There happens to be a hiding place here, and the terrain is also the highest. He can see the situation of the entire mansion. The Zhong family gun he has practiced is good, but compared to the archery skills he has practiced hard for ten years,
Marksmanship is nothing. Chen Qing has evaluated his archery skills. Although his experience is slightly inferior to Liu Qiong's, his archery skills are already on par with Liu Qiong's. More importantly, he is both civil and military, and he is a Jinshi.
The grandson of Master Zhong.
His eyesight is different from ordinary people. He can shoot incense and fire from a hundred steps away, so he is aware of the surrounding situation clearly.
He had seen countless black figures running on the street, including twenty or thirty people. He immediately imitated the cicada chirping, and three times in a row, the companions around him understood the meaning of his three cicada chirps. There were about thirty enemies, and they all
I couldn't help but tighten my grip on the crossbow. Two against one, they should be able to win.
It was almost the third watch, and Li Qingzhou led his men to the front of the house. The men sent to monitor in advance reported: "Report to the commander, no abnormality was found!"
"Are you all asleep now?"
"The typesetting craftsmen should be still busy. They are sitting in the middle hall. There are about thirty people. They are all very quiet and there is no sound. The other printing craftsmen must be sleeping, and their dormitories are in the side courtyard."
Li Qingzhou waved his hand and said to everyone: "Go in from three directions and kill the people in the middle hall together. Then go to the side. The marshal has ordered that no chickens or dogs will be left behind!"
"Follow the order!"
Thirty-five men climbed over the walls from both sides and sides of the main entrance to enter the house, and rushed towards the atrium from all directions.
The lights in the atrium lobby were bright and filled with craftsmen. The warriors were overjoyed and rushed towards the lobby. Li Qingzhou suddenly realized something was wrong. They were all dressed in clothes.
"There's an ambush!"
He shouted, but it was too late. Powerful arrows were shot from all directions. They were all powerful divine arm crossbows. Ordinary leather armor could not stop them. The warriors were caught off guard and screamed when they were hit by the arrows.
"Break out!"
Li Qingzhou shouted again, and he also exposed his identity.
An arrow 'Whoosh!' shot from the roof at an extremely fast speed. In the chaos, Li Qingzhou did not hear the sound of the wind. "Pfft!" The arrow hit his neck. Li Qingzhou covered his neck and screamed, and his body strength disappeared quickly.
He stumbled and fell to the ground.
The inner guard soldiers and samurai fought out from both sides one after another. They were armed with short steel spears and shields. They were decisive and experienced in killing. The two sides fought fiercely in the wide atrium.
Zhong Huan fired arrows on the roof, and his arrows were all fired. Every time an arrow was shot, one person would fall to the ground. In just a moment, thirteen people were shot down, which accounted for half of the surviving enemies.
In just two sticks of incense, the last warrior was pierced by three short steel spears and screamed to death.
Li Qingzhou was lying on the flower bed. An arrow in his neck caused him to lose his fighting ability. Then he was stabbed by a spear. The sharp steel spear penetrated his left chest and nailed him to the flower bed. He stared at the sky with wide eyes.
Never die with peace of mind.
"search!"
Zhong Huan stood on the roof and shouted, Wei Yanzong waved his hand and ran outside with his men.
After searching around, no fish was found that had slipped through the net. At this time, two subordinates on the periphery reported that no one had escaped.
Everyone looked at Zhong Huan, who slowly said: "We ambush the enemy here tonight. This was arranged by His Highness King Yong. He knew that the enemy would come to attack the newspaper office at night, and he asked us to fight back resolutely and decisively.
Let’s all carry the oil-skin bags on our backs!”
Everyone rushed to the warehouse, carrying a bag of kerosene on their backs. They boarded two boats and took the waterway to the Jinguo Pavilion two miles away. At the fourth watch, sixty subordinates arrived about 50 meters away from the Jinguo Pavilion.
Under the walking bridge, people came ashore one after another and rushed to the Jinguo Pavilion.
Soon, everyone surrounded the Jin Guo Pavilion and sprayed fire oil into the pavilion. Wei Yanzong and several of his men fired gunpowder arrows into the pavilion, and several corners of the Jin Guo Pavilion began to burn.
"withdraw!"
Zhong Huan gave the order and led his men to rush under the bridge. The boat had already turned around. Sixty warriors boarded the boat. The two boats quickly left and disappeared into the night.
At this time, the fire in the Jinguo Pavilion was getting bigger and bigger. The entire Jinguo Pavilion covered an area of fifty acres, and there was a small military camp inside. The soldiers were used to living in large tents. People in the pavilion were awakened by the fire, and saw the flames raging into the sky.
, thick smoke billowing.
Wanyanchang was so choked that he couldn't open his eyes and was helped out of the room by two soldiers.
"Help the marshal to go through the east door!"
A commander shouted anxiously, "Everyone, please take the east side door. The fire at the east side door is small!"
Groups of golden soldiers and the accompanying guards in the pavilion covered their noses and fled towards the east side door.
The Jinguo Pavilion did not allow Han people to stay overnight in the pavilion. All the pavilions were Jurchens, even the maids were Jin women found in Liaodong.
Everyone fled the Jinguo Pavilion in embarrassment, but no one around came to put out the fire. The two-foot-high courtyard wall also blocked the fire from spreading to the outside. Wan Yanchang was filled with flames and filled with thick smoke. He knew it well.
Li Qingzhou and his men must be doomed.
The Western Army's revenge is really fast. This is Chen Qing's style! It's not ambiguous at all.