Chengmai County originally had tens of thousands of kilograms of grain in stock. Now the officers and soldiers have sealed up the grain in the county treasury for military use, and ordered big households to "donate grain." Song Zonghui is the richest man in the county, and of course he is a big fat sheep.
, not only was he forced to donate a hundred shi of grain, but also "happily donated" 500 taels of silver, which made him complain endlessly. Guest soldiers often had very bad discipline when entering the country. Although the general suppressed them, extortion from large shops still occurred from time to time in the city, and even some
Killings, injuries, and robberies occurred. If Zhao Ruyi and his staff had not lived in his house, he, the head of the Chengmai family, would have become a piece of fat for the deputy men.
"The Kun thieves in Shishan are alone behind the enemy's rear. They will naturally retreat when the food is exhausted. Once the food road is clear, there is no need to worry about military food! Don't bother yourself!" Lu Yizhong ate half a snack and said, "You are the deputy regiment commander of this county's regiment.
, As long as you work hard, you will be rewarded based on your merits." He said, shaking off his sleeves and shaking off the pastry crumbs. He Rubin had lost several battles in a row, but Lu Yizhong still took it calmly.
I feel that this is just a temporary setback, caused by overestimating the enemy at the beginning. Lu Yizhong's argument at every meeting is a simple "stalemate" - fighting a war of attrition. Using the strength of Guangdong Province to fight against Lingao, even if it is
He also dragged the Kun thief from Lingao to death.
"Yes, yes." Song Zonghui was still frowning. He carried the name of "the richest man" on his back, and all kinds of money-breaking errands would always fall on him. If he hadn't gained the title of "supervisor" a few years ago, I'm afraid
My little family fortune has long been taken care of by the government.
Gou Chengxuan sat on Qian Taichong's table without saying a word. He was of low status and had no official staff status, so few people paid attention to him. He was very scheming, knowing that this group of people did not think highly of him, and he was Cong Kun.
The thief escaped, and the war went well. If the war went badly, he might be beheaded as a "spy". Therefore, he adhered to the purpose of speaking as little as possible along the way. Among the staff, except Qian Taichong, he held an important position.
In addition to giving Lingao the idea of "fixing the aftermath" and often talking to him about Lingao's geography and people's sentiments, it was as if this person did not exist on weekdays.
His mood was very low. Gou Chengxuan originally held out hope for the army's conquest: he believed that the Kun bandits had few soldiers, and the people in Lingao did not dare to work for them anymore when they heard the army's arrival. Kun was weak and weak.
The thieves would probably be forced to retreat. He also had other ideas: as soon as the officers and soldiers arrived at Lingao, he would mobilize the gentry and form a regiment to help the officers and soldiers fight. Including preparing humble words to implore Huang Shoutong to become the regiment commander,
Ask Liu Dalin to come out and be the general manager of the "Aftermath Bureau". Gou Chengxuan feels that in this way, by acting as an "assistant officer", he can not only actually control part of the power, but also re-establish power in Lingao to lay a solid foundation for the future.
But after the officers and soldiers fought several head-on battles with the Kun thieves in Chengmai, Gou Chengxuan knew that the battle could be an undefeated draw at best, and that it would be impossible to attack Lingao and force the Kun thieves to retreat. He was very depressed.
, and worried about Lai Da - he was deeply afraid that Lai Da would find his father and Uncle Hu when he returned to Lingao, and raise a flag to meet the army. As a result, the officers and soldiers would not arrive, but he would be killed.
At this time, he was drinking tea in silence, thinking about what he should do after the failure of the expedition against Kun. Mr. He was unreliable. He didn't take himself seriously at first. After the defeat, the court investigated him
He was finished. It was impossible for him to expect He Zongbing to take revenge and revive his family business...
Suddenly, there was a "boom" sound outside, and the sound was very clear. The sound of the cannon was dull. It was not the sound of the Kun bandit's cannon, but the sound of the official Hongyi cannon.
Then, two more shots were fired in succession, and everyone heard clearly that the sound of the cannon seemed to be coming from the Nancheng side. The staff present could not help but be startled, and they all raised their ears attentively.
"What's going on?" Everyone was very surprised. In the past few days, neither the bandits nor the officers and soldiers were dispatched to fight, and the cannons were not fired. It was almost the end of the year, it was the dead of night, and the moonlight was hazy - could it be?
The bandits came to rob the stronghold? Everyone became nervous.
"Boom! Boom!" Several more muffled sounds were heard. This time it could be heard clearly. In addition to the cannons being fired at the city gate, cannons were also being fired in the villages outside the city.
"It's the sound of artillery, the artillery fire!" Qian Taichong stood up first, waving his arms and shouted.
But the others still sat there and didn't move: "Is it the sound of cannons?" "That's right?" "Could it be that the bandits were robbing the stronghold?!" Finally, everyone no longer maintained their reserved attitude and gave a "coax" sound.
They all stood up.
"Yes, it's sex!"
"Quick, send someone to take a look!"
Immediately, a servant was sent outside to inquire about the news. Everyone was a little worried. It was really strange for the Kun thieves to suddenly come to rob the stronghold! There were nearly 20,000 officers and soldiers outside the city of Chengmai, and the combined forces of the Kun thieves only amounted to no more than ten thousand people.
. Could it be that they suddenly received reinforcements? They couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
"No problem, our troops are heavily guarded. The city is impregnable inside and outside. If the thieves come to rob the stronghold, they will only suffer a bloody blow..." Lu Yizhong just said this, and only heard a "bang" sound outside.
The sound of the cannon was sharp, followed by a whistling sound. In an instant, there was another loud bang.
"The thief Kun is firing!" Five or six people opened their mouths and shouted in unison. The sound of the cannon was the sound they had heard so well in the past few days. And the loud noise that followed was the sound of the thief Kun's cannon. Everyone suddenly
Get nervous.
Lu Yizhong's face turned a little pale for a moment, and he pretended to be calm and said: "The thief Kun set off the cannon...haha...haha..."
The sound of cannons rang out one after another outside. At this time, everyone couldn't stay any longer. Qian Taichong waved his hand: "Let's go out and have a look!" After that, he lifted his legs and walked out. The rest of the people hurriedly walked out.
They followed him swarmly and walked out of the garden together to the main entrance courtyard of Song's house.
It was almost midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the floating clouds, appearing and disappearing. A large, continuous cloud was dyed with a strange layer of silver, but this sight did not attract everyone's attention. Because
What occupied everyone's minds at this moment was that the sounds outside the courtyard wall became clearer. In addition to the constant sound of cannons, there were also the chaotic sounds of people and the barking of dogs on the street, making a chaotic noise.
Nervous shouts, the clash of armors and weapons, and the sounds of scolding and crying could be heard from everywhere in the street. Suddenly, a long horn sounded in the distance.
The servant sent out to investigate ran in in a panic.
"What happened?" Song Zonghui asked in panic.
"Replying to the master, there is a commotion outside. It is said that the bandits have brought a huge cannon and are about to bombard the officers and soldiers' camp!"
"What?"
"Oh, some people are also saying that the bandits from Shishan are coming from the other side and want to attack the officers and soldiers in Chengmai!"
Both of these news are possible. Everyone was in a panic, and Lu Yizhong expressed disapproval:
"What kind of giant cannon? If there was a giant cannon, Kun Thief wouldn't have shipped it early, so why wait until today to use it. It's the middle of the night. Even if there is a giant cannon, wouldn't it be possible that Kun Thief has a pair of night eyes and can see things in the dark?"
"Yes, it must be the thieves attacking at night!" someone agreed.
"Hey, let's go out and have a look!" Qian Taichong was not willing to sit back and talk in vain. Without waiting for everyone's agreement, he led his servants out.
As expected, the street was noisy. In the night, only soldiers and regimental heroes were seen. The people were running with swords, guns, lanterns and torches. Looking at the city tower, it was already brightly lit. Some soldiers guarding Song's house were gathered together in groups.
, while discussing in a low voice, they stretched their necks and looked in the direction of the cannon fire. The roaring sound of cannons and the explosion of exploding shells continued to be heard from afar...
They stopped a commander, and then they realized that there were many bright spots on the sea. It seemed that the navy of the Kun thieves was coming for reinforcements. The sound of cannons just now was the cannons of the official army in Xiaoyingchang intercepting the thieves of the Kun thieves.
"What? The thief wants to seize Xiaoying's field?"
"I don't know what the bid is, it's just that everyone is talking about it." Mr. Ba said and hurried away with others.
Qian Taichong suggested that we simply go up to the city gate tower to have a look, as we could not see anything clearly from the street. Some people were afraid of going up to the city tower and being hit by gunfire from the bandits and did not dare to answer, but some people were willing to go, and half of them were gone.
They were all military staff, and the general guarding the city tower recognized Qian Taichong and others and let them go up. They climbed up to the city tower and watched. It was dark and nothing unusual outside, but there were lights on the seaside, and it seemed that many ships were coming. From time to time, they could see
I saw a flash of fire and the dull sound of artillery. There was also the flash of artillery fire in Xiaoying Field, and it seemed that the two sides were engaged in an artillery battle.
"The thief Kun is sailing late at night..." Before Chang Qingyun could continue, someone screamed in surprise. Everyone followed the sound and saw a bright fire rising in the sky by the seaside, as if a fireball was flying in the air.
"Comet!" someone shouted.
But they soon discovered that this was not a comet. The speed of this bright spot was very slow, and its height was constantly decreasing, and it seemed to be heading towards the county seat. Everyone was frightened and was at a loss. They saw this ball of fire passing over the city gate tower.
, it hit the outside of the city, and a violent explosion sounded immediately, with flames shooting out.
"What the hell is this?!" Chang Qingyun exclaimed.
At this time, more and more light spots rose from the seaside, flying densely towards Xiaoyingchang and the nearby officer and soldier camps.
"The enemy fired rockets!" Chang Qingyun had read a lot of firearms books, and he immediately understood that this was Kun Thief firing rockets. Apart from books, he had never seen rockets actually fired. Seeing the fire in the sky became more and more intense.
It came more and more densely, like a rain of fire, and I was stunned and stunned.
Rockets dragging orange flames are constantly flying from the seaside, falling in rows and groups towards Xiaoyingchang, like a huge fire rain falling on Xiaoyingchang. The camp, which originally had only a few lights, is now constantly
There were huge fires and explosions. Balls of flames rose from time to time under the dark night sky, and some places were obviously already burning.
Suddenly, a huge flame rose from the direction of Xiaoying Field, and a dull explosion like rolling thunder came. Everyone was shocked, knowing that it was probably the gunpowder magazine in the officers and soldiers' camp that exploded.
With the explosion of the gunpowder magazine, the fire at Xiaoyingchang became more and more powerful, illuminating the seaside. But the Kun thief's rockets continued to fall from the air into the camp, exacerbating the chaos. Qian Taichong
He lost his voice and said: "Xiaoyingchang is going to be lost!"
Sure enough, a large group of people rushed out from the direction of Xiaoyingchang. Under the cover of the fire, it could be clearly seen that they were the officers and soldiers guarding Xiaoyingchang. At this time, they were fleeing in chaos towards the main camp.
"The thieves are trying to cut off my supply of food by sea!" Qian Taichong exclaimed. Although he didn't think transporting food by sea was a good idea, the purpose of the thieves suddenly setting fire to Xiaoyingchang was self-evident.
"What, what should I do?" Someone was holding on to the battlements and stamping his feet anxiously.
"It depends..."
Chang Qingyun only said half of what he said, as flames also flew from the direction of Kun Thief's camp, and more than a dozen light points were piercing the sky towards the county seat and the camp.
"Rockets!" The soldiers on the city tower screamed and hid under the battlements one after another. In an instant, a rain of fire fell towards the camp outside the city.
Qian Taichong shouted: "Everyone, run away!" As he said that, he had already shrunk under the battlements. Some of the others were rolling and crawling towards the towers, and some were running towards the horse path, wanting to run down to the city.
.It was dark and I was in a panic. The staff all wore wide robes and long-sleeved Confucian shirts. In the chaos, some had their robe corners stepped on, some had their sleeves pulled, fell down and trampled on them, and cried loudly.
"It's so polite!" Qian Taichong watched as some of his companions fell to the ground, their buns were messy, some just ran for their lives and didn't even need their shoes, and some were so panicked that they missed the path and rolled and crawled off the road.
Rolled down...
The first wave of rockets shot into the camp of the army with hissing noises. The camp suddenly became chaotic. Gongs were banged for a while, and people everywhere were shouting: "The water is leaking!" "The water is leaking!"
Qian Taichong poked his head out from between the battlements and saw fires all over the camp. It was already a mess. While he was panicking, he heard the sound of rockets piercing the air again.
Countless rockets were fired from it, and many rockets were also fired from the pirate ships on the seashore.
For a moment, rockets rained down, and the whole camp was completely in chaos. The soldiers no longer cared about putting out the fire and fled one after another. Qian Taichong became more and more frightened as he watched: the rockets of the thief were like ordinary arrows, and they seemed to be
There was a steady stream of radiation coming in. There was no place to hide in the camp, let alone gathering people to prepare for the fight.
The thief's rockets seemed to have deliberately avoided the county town, but many missed the rockets and hit the city wall. Some hit the watchtowers, some hit the city towers, and many of them crossed the city walls and landed in residential areas.
A fire was caused, and the city was in panic. People were beating water gongs everywhere to put out the fire.
Fortunately, the bandits did not seem to be targeting the county town, but only shot at the government and military camps below the city. Many of the camps were on fire, and there was chaos everywhere.
Qian Taichong could see clearly that although the rockets were flying in one after another, their sizes seemed to be different, and they were also different after landing. Some just scattered fire and burned objects, while others blossomed with a thunderclap.
Explosion. He secretly wondered, could there be two kinds of warheads here? Thinking that the seaside was ten miles away from the county seat, Kun Thief's rocket could actually reach it. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but secretly feel frightened. If so, Kun Thief's
Aren't rockets a powerful weapon for attacking cities and strongholds?
Suddenly, a figure rolled up to him and when he looked closely, he saw that it was Chang Qingyun.
Chang Qingyun said with a cry in his voice: "It's over... it's over, I'm defeated! It's all over this time!"
The rocket attack lasted for less than half an hour, and then suddenly stopped. However, the entire official and military camps had become smoldering, and many camps had caught fire before they could be rescued. There was no way to save them, and the generals could only pull the people to
In the camps with smaller losses, the people in each camp were panicked and lost their fighting spirit.
Qian Taichong saw that the fire had gradually subsided, the noise had also subsided, and there were no signs of the Kun thieves taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the stronghold. Knowing that there was no danger tonight, Qian Taichong and Chang Qingyun quietly walked down to the city.
Some of the colleagues had lost their net scarves and hats, some had lost their shoes, some had their clothes torn and ripped, and all of them were in a miserable state. In normal times, everyone would have made fun of each other, but no one was laughing at this time. The current situation is such that
Even people who are not familiar with military strategy can feel it seriously.
Qian Taichong saw a dark object on the road, which seemed to be a rocket fired by the thieves into the city. He hurried over to pick it up, but felt that the outer shell was still hot. He looked at it and saw that it was a cylindrical object.
, about 2 inches in diameter, made entirely of iron. The front has been shattered, leaving only a large black mouth, but there are many small holes in the back, as well as three inclined spiral iron plates. It looks very exquisite.
While he was looking at it, Chang Qingyun pulled him: "There is much to see in this broken iron shell, let's go back quickly!"
Qian Taichong had no choice but to carry such an iron guy down to the city.
When I got down from the city tower, I saw that the city gate was closed. Many infantrymen came from all over the city, carrying weapons and scolding the officers and soldiers outside the city. There was a chaos outside the city. It turned out that the officers and soldiers outside the city had lost their camp.
They wanted to enter the city, but the officers and soldiers in the city were worried about the chaos in the city after the defeated troops poured in. They refused to open the city gate on the pretext that they had not received the general's order.
Back at Song Zonghui's house, those who had not gone up to the tower were still anxiously waiting for the news. They had also seen the violent rocket attack just now, but they did not see it as clearly and intuitively as the people on the tower. Now they heard about Kun Thief's rocket attack
The shots were so violent and the power was so great that all Zhang Huang was eclipsed.
"The Kun thief's rockets are really powerful! They burned down many houses in the city!" While they were talking and discussing, Song Zonghui hurried over. He had just led the troops in the city to put out the fire and maintain order. He was so busy that he just stopped. His whole body was covered with blood.
There were cigarette ash stains, and his voice trembled when he spoke.
"The Kun thief made a mistake by not taking advantage of the situation to attack the stronghold..." Lu Yizhong, who pretended to be calm after the fire attack, also commented.
"You are wrong. The whole army will attack at dawn. Is it possible that our soldiers can fight again?" Qian Taichong said coldly, "Our soldiers are defeated this time! The whole army must leave tomorrow, otherwise they will die.