About a thousand of his men took off their badges, rolled up their military flags, and were scattered in several villages along the canal. As soon as the soldiers entered the village, they controlled the entire village and were not allowed to enter or leave. Every night, General Qian would control the entire village.
He led the team and went out in batches to plunder. Kong Youde did not allow them to go out sporadically, for fear that the local heroes would counterattack and capture a few alive. He only sent spies out every day to spy out where there were big households, so they went out at night with black faces.
He didn't stay long in any place, and would definitely move somewhere in two or three days. Because all of his men were cavalry, he was very free to choose his route. Sometimes he would suddenly leave the canal for dozens of miles, and then change directions.
Turning back, it is impossible to figure out his movement pattern and camping location.
Some of the looted property was handed over to the "grain platform", and some was distributed to the officers and soldiers according to their ranks. Within a few days in Dongguang, everyone's bags were full, the soldiers were well fed, had some money in their hands, and became bolder.
, some people ignored Kong Youde's orders and went out in groups to rob and commit adultery.
We can't stay here any longer, Kong Youde thought. The soldiers will slack off if they stay here for a long time, and besides, they can't keep it secret - it's impossible to have such a large-scale "horse bandits" in Hebei. They can't hide it if they stay here any longer. The local officials are just pretending not to
Knowing does not mean knowing nothing.
If the rioting by his officers and soldiers really continues, sooner or later the local officials will be unable to cover it up. When the rioting really starts, not even Sun Yuanhua, let alone himself, may be able to deal with it.
Now it's almost time to get back on the road and continue to Shanhaiguan.
The night before, Kong Youde ordered the Chinese Army to invite all his officers above the rank of General Qian to his residence to announce the next specific itinerary.
Unexpectedly, at the meeting, his order to reinforce the main road of Shanhaiguan was met with opposition from many of his subordinates: In the past ten days of robbery, the officers had made a fortune. This pair of people had been trapped in Dengzhou for a long time.
, it is a great stimulus for middle and lower-level officers who have no extra money except embezzlement of military pay.
They were fed up with the anger of the Shandong soldiers and the Southern soldiers in Dengzhou. They were already complaining, but now they have to go to Liaodong as soon as they get some benefits. Many people are unwilling to give up the opportunity to "continue to make a fortune", let alone go there.
Liaodong "sends death".
Kong Youde was very isolated at the meeting. Except for a few of his cronies, most of the officers expressed their unwillingness to go to Liaodong. Li Jiucheng, who had just arrived, not only did not help to persuade, but instead frequently moved among soldiers and junior officers in private.
, inciting soldiers to "go back to Dengzhou".
This was something Kong Youde didn't expect - he originally expected Li Jiucheng to help suppress the troops. Unexpectedly, he secretly gave himself eye drops!
Because of the strong backlash among the generals, Kong Youde did not dare to order the departure immediately, so he had to stay in the local area, a small village by the canal, for one more day, preparing to continue convincing everyone in the evening.
That day, Kong Youde had just gotten up and washed himself up, and was thinking of having a good talk with Li Jiucheng and others. Suddenly someone came to report that there was a suspicious cavalry activity more than ten miles away from here.
Because he was doing this job in a shady way, he sent out 24 cavalrymen day and night to detect abnormal movements about 20 miles away. Recent news shows that there are unidentified scouts following his men and horses. His men
His scouting horses tried to capture the opponent several times, but the opponent tried his best to avoid conflicts and was always able to detect the opponent's movements before his cavalry and avoid them. The appearance of these scouts was also one of the factors that made him eager to leave this place.
"how many people?"
"There are only about twenty people, all wearing plain clothes and carrying swords." Tang Ma hesitated. "But they are all good horses!"
"Is he a figure in the world?"
"It's not like that. The team is neat and orderly."
"I'll go down and rest first." Kong Youde was worried secretly in his heart. After asking Tang Ma to retreat, he ordered people to go to various campsites and notify the generals to come to his place for a meeting in the evening, preparing to try to persuade everyone again.
At this time, Chen Sigen and his team had arrived less than twenty miles away from Kongbu. After hearing the news that Tangma from Kongbu had discovered his traces, he ordered the whole team to turn back and quickly escape from Tangma.
Detection range.
In a small forest, he sent out a guard post, and then sent out a scout cavalry to confirm the specific location and situation of several candidate targets. More than twenty young team members wore cotton jackets and bare sheepskin jackets commonly worn by small traders and farmers here.
The temperature outside has dropped to zero degrees, but everyone is still in high spirits.
"How about it, you didn't freeze the eggs," Chen Sigen joked. The team members all grinned, and white mist sprayed out from their mouths and noses.
"Okay. Let's rest here for a while, and then go out to do errands in the evening!" Chen Sigen said, picking up a branch and drawing a simple diagram on the ground. "Our attack target tonight is a road beside the South Canal.
Chuzhaguan. It is about twenty-five miles away from Dongguang County."
He marked the terrain with branches and stones, and quickly explained the terrain directions one by one. This location was carefully selected by him among more than a dozen alternative locations reported by scouts. This attack location must first be a place where ships on the canal can dock for the night.
The place is usually a relatively prosperous riverside market or village. This is to ensure that there are enough witnesses. Secondly, the location must not be far from the village where Kong Youde's men spent the night.
Although Kong Youde paid great attention to hiding his whereabouts along the way, Chen Sigen knew from the report of the reconnaissance cavalry that the local people already knew that a group of officers and soldiers were looting the area, but the people did not know where they came from - the county magistrate
All the villagers have been summoned, and every village and village has also stepped up their vigilance.
However, there are no defensive measures at this gate. Although this gate is not a cash gate where tax collectors are stationed, it is still a small dispatch agency under the Water Transport Yamen.
The South Canal is located in the north. In order to maintain the water volume of the canal and cross the watershed, many sluices were built along the way to regulate the water volume of the canal.
These sluices are guarded and maintained by gatekeepers, who open them regularly every day to release water and boats. Therefore, they are also official institutions. Ordinary bandits and rebels would not dare to attack here. After all, this is the official territory.
Abolition of this place will involve not only Dongguang County, but the entire Caoyun Yamen. Its nature is far more serious than the massacre of several villages. By then, Kong Youde, who is nearby, will have no other choice but to rebel.
.
Originally, Chen Sigen considered blowing up the sluice gate - he brought some c4**. Blowing up the sluice gate would obviously be more helpful in exacerbating the chaos of the entire incident, but Zhu Mingxia and Lu Wenyuan thought this was too much beyond Kong Youde's ability.
Furthermore, the motive is difficult to explain clearly. Therefore, the attacks are limited to targets with economic value near the sluice.
The most valuable targets are the residences of several local lock officials stationed there: the canal is close to water, and the opening and closing of the locks is related to the time and convenience of shipowners' navigation. Since the officials who manage the locks have the power, they naturally want to seek rent, so they personally
They were so rich that Chen Sigen was ready to take action on them.
"Everyone knows the target. The first is the residences of several gatekeepers, and the second is the canal boats on the pier." He pointed the direction on the temporary sand table, "You guys must remember that we are soldiers, although we can't do our job well.
It is a shameful job, not a bandit or robber. During the operation, you are not allowed to kill innocent people indiscriminately, you are not allowed to rape women, you are not allowed to set fires at will, and everything seized must be returned to the public!"
"Understood!" the team members replied crisply.
At night, Kong Youde and his generals were in a meeting to discuss the next step: most of the generals still insisted on going back to Dengzhou. Kong Youde was still unable to convince everyone, and gradually the meeting got out of control, and several generals even revealed that
It means "you have to do it", and it is very clear that if Kong Youde does not comply, he will fight on the spot. Li Jiucheng constantly appears in the middle as a mediator, but in fact he is forcing him to make a decision.
Just as everyone was chattering and the atmosphere was getting tense, soldiers suddenly came to report: There was black smoke and fire on the bank of the canal seven or eight miles away, and there were faint sounds of killing. The battalion sergeant and his horse
They all became a little commotion.
"What?" Kong Youde was startled. He stood up and looked at the window - sure enough, there was fire in the distance, and the sky turned red. He suddenly turned around and scanned the generals: all his generals were there.
, should not be one of his subordinates.
However, there were only more than 1,000 bosses present, so it’s hard to say whether the boss or even the small boss went out privately to cause chaos.
The generals also felt puzzled and looked at each other in confusion.
Kong Youde immediately ordered Tan Ma to go and have a look. In less than a meal, Tan Ma had already galloped back and brought a terrible news: more than a hundred cavalry were burning, killing and looting at the sluice.
"Whose troops are they from?" Kong Youde was very anxious. The sluice gate was official land, and making trouble would be a big deal. He turned back and glared at Li Jiuzheng, guessing that Li Jiucheng had ordered his men to do this. This was
Forcing him to do it with them!
"Ritu!" Li Jiucheng saw that his eyes were not good and knew what he was thinking. He was afraid of causing misunderstanding. After all, Kong Youde led this team, and he would not be able to get away with it if it really broke down. He immediately came out to express his position: "
We all just want to go back to Dengzhou and die in vain if we don’t go to Liaodong. We have no other intention! Let alone do anything to feel sorry for you! This is not our fault! If I, Lao Li, dare to tell a lie,
Immediately, there were five thunderbolts from heaven!”
"Reporting to the General, I can't tell where the men and horses are." Tan Ma said. He could only vaguely see that they were all riding fine Mongolian war horses. They were wearing robes and sheepskin jackets, but they seemed to be wearing
Got the number.
The most important thing is that the weapons of this group of cavalry are very neat, unlike ordinary bandits whose weapons are messy, so they must be officers and soldiers of some battalion.
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