Jiang Suo is her junior brother, and she knows that this junior brother is very interesting to her. But the junior brother is four years younger than her and can only be regarded as a half-grown boy. She is unwilling to marry a man younger than herself. She has been delaying it like this.
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However, she did not dare to disclose this feeling to anyone, even Jiang Niang, who was usually the closest to her. This was not only a wishful thinking, but even if it could come true, it would end badly. The sisters who were traveling with her were raped by wealthy gentry and took concubines.
There have been some, but most of the results were not good. Either being disliked by others is what a woman in the world has to endure, or she is abandoned after getting tired of playing with her.
Sanliang's preparations for war were in full swing, but Shi Zhiqi was living a leisurely life in Shiwan. After Shiwan was captured, he did not continue to advance - the waterways in this area were complicated and there were no ready-made navigation charts. From the hometowns of local people and captives,
Yong also learned from Yong that Sanliang Town, not far from here, was heavily guarded. Shi Zhiqi asked the detachment to be stationed in Shiwan. While liquidating the large households that organized Xiang Yong, he also assessed "reasonable burdens" to inspect the properties of "hostile elements".
He set up the detachment headquarters in the ancestral hall of a wealthy family at the east end of Shiwan, close to the harbor. The houses here are neat and tidy, and there is a garden. Not only is the living comfortable and convenient, but it is also close to the troops for easy command - as soon as there is any trouble, he can
Boarding the ship and setting off. Shi Zhiqi sent many spies to inquire about information - most of these spies were poor people from the Pearl River Delta region who had just arrived in the past month. Everywhere the detachment went, in addition to asking the villages and towns to bear "reasonable burdens",
All the captured rice and silver would be used to provide relief to the victims and take in orphans and poor people. Many people who were too poor to survive simply followed the detachment. Regardless of whether they were thieves or not, if they followed, they would at least have enough to eat and wear clothes.
Decent clothes. There are more and more of these people, so much so that every ten days, Shi Zhiqi has to send a ship to transport these people to Humen, and then transfer them to the purification camp on Hong Kong Island.
Some of them stayed in the team and followed the army. They were organized into a separate team, armed with captured swords and guns, and served as laborers with the army. Those who were more clever and whose loyalty was guaranteed were sent out to act as spies, collecting various information everywhere.
Local spies have many advantages in their activities, at least there are no flaws in their words. Even if a few are lost in the operation, it doesn't matter. Shi Zhiqi relied on the activities of the spies to clearly grasp the trends of the people within a radius of dozens of miles.
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All kinds of people flock to his headquarters every day. Most of them are poor people who come to ask the Australians to "kill big families", and some of them come to complain and report - since they hanged several people in
After the evil gentry became famous as a bully, the number of people who came to file complaints and reports increased greatly, and some even came from more than a hundred miles away. Every day, there was a sea of people at the entrance of the ancestral hall, wanting to see the "big boss of Australia".
Some people not only brought writ papers, but also brought "evidence" such as bloody clothes and bloody knives with them. Some people carried papers with densely written words, all of which were the size of the fonts under the name of a certain big family, the number of fields, and the number of hidden treasures.
How many treasures and so on. It looks so coveted. Every time Shi Zhiqi sees this piece of paper, he can't help but want to take people to "beat the rich" himself. It's not that he is greedy for money and treasures, but that there are many
The sight of a lot of treasure being carried out in front of him gave him a heartfelt sense of satisfaction. And the more he captured, the more his merit would be awarded during the post-war evaluation.
However, there are policy restrictions on checking the property of large households. The Government Affairs Council strictly prohibits "attacking local tyrants" beyond the scope. In addition to the organizers and leaders of group training, it mainly cracks down on local bully landlords and the like. Therefore, the scope of the attack is not large.
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There are quite a few people who have come to complain about "bully landlords". Shi Zhiqi was very interested in becoming "Master Qingtian" at first, but after meeting the people for a day, he was no longer willing to engage in "on-site office work". People
Not only did the sources of information coming to complain, report, and tip off be complicated and difficult to determine the authenticity, but there were also some who wanted to use the power of the Australians for personal revenge. Shi Zhiqi couldn't figure out whether it should be done or not.
. Simply push the matter to the civil and intelligence personnel, and hide in the backyard to relax and meet the landlords from all over the country. They are all afraid of the terrifying power of the "thieves" and come to give gifts to please them.
Shi Zhiqi felt that instead of facing a group of shabby and hateful common people and listening to their scrambling accusations, it would be better to sit comfortably in the imperial chair and talk to the wealthy people who were full of smiles, drink tea, and take a look at their
Accept the gift list again. A double harvest of spiritual and material benefits.
There were piles of things delivered, ranging from gold and silver treasures, antique calligraphy and paintings, silks and cloths to rice, pigs and sheep, and even maids and servants. Shi Zhiqi accepted them all. Although he had to hand them all over to the public, the feeling of being valued was pleasant.
. Various belongings were piled under the eaves of various courtyards of the ancestral hall, just waiting for the ships to transfer them.
Since a large number of the detachment's ships and personnel were used to transport loot and people, the military operation against Sanliang was postponed for a few more days. It was not until October 25th that Shi Zhiqi's E Detachment officially launched the military operation.
At this time, the E detachment participating in the battle had been strengthened to a certain extent. The detachment had more than 300 troops and more than 20 sampans and long dragons. Because it was heard that the enemy was conducting blocking operations in the river, the shallowest draft without deck was
I brought a few extra small sampans with me to pass through the blocked areas.
After Shi Zhiqi's fleet set off from Shigang, they walked four or five miles before turning into the river heading for Sanliang. The terrain here surprised Shi Zhiqi. The river became narrow, with an average of less than 20 meters, and there were a large number of aquatic life along the coast.
Plants, and from time to time he would encounter patches of small woods. He realized that the terrain in this area was very conducive for the enemy to organize attacks on ships on the river bank - the enemy could completely approach the river from both sides of the river in a concealed manner, and then use bows and arrows to
Firearms attack ships in narrow rivers, causing heavy damage to them.
"Order all ships to erect fenders!"
The protective board is a piece of equipment that has only recently been equipped for sampans - it is a protective equipment made in response to the close range bows, arrows and artillery fire that the detachments encountered during the inland river operations in the previous stage.
It looks like a large rectangular shield, with brackets and hinges that can be densely arranged on both sides of sampans and dragons. It is used to protect sailors and soldiers on board. This kind of shield is wrapped with iron and can withstand all bows, arrows, and birds.
Shotguns and most small cannons fire scatterers. Soldiers hiding behind protective panels can effectively protect their torso without hindering shooting and observation.
However, after the protective panels are set up, the sailing speed is greatly reduced, the ship becomes bulky, and it takes more effort to row forward. Therefore, it is usually only set up when a battle is approaching. If the enemy's firepower is not strong,
Commanders prefer not to use this protection in order to make ships more mobile.
Shi Zhiqi's judgment was correct. On the advice of several martial arts masters, Luo Tianqiu specially selected a number of rural warriors who were good at archery. They were led by dedicated personnel and lurked on both sides of the river, waiting for opportunities to attack the Kun thieves' boats as a disturbance. And in
Where the ship sank and the wooden piles were laid to block the river, Luo Tianqiu ambushed a small group of Xiangyong armed with small cannons, muskets and bows and arrows. Everyone thought that the thieves might not be able to clear the blockage - because they had many sampans and could easily pass through.
Blocked areas. However, when they passed these places, they would inevitably slow down. At this time, the Xiang Yong who was ambushing nearby fired artillery and arrows, causing a lot of damage to the bandits on the ship.
"Send a vanguard group to search both sides of the river to cover the passage of the fleet!" Shi Zhiqi gave the order, and then asked someone to bring his helmet - if an arrow flew from the river bank at this time, it would be very likely to kill him.
big.
Four groups of vanguards landed on both sides of the river, searching the river banks and advancing alternately to cover the passage of the fleet. They soon had a firefight with the Xiangyong who were ambushing in the reeds and woods. The vanguards' reconnaissance, stealth and observation training allowed them to stay far away.
The unconscious Xiang Yong could be detected at a distance and annihilated quickly. Since this operation was not a secret sneak attack, Shi Zhiqi did not require the cleanup work to be kept quiet - he just wanted to cover the fleet quickly and safely through the river.
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In this way, once the leading soldiers discovered that there was an ambush of Xiang Yong, they would shoot with rifles from a long distance. In the sporadic gunfire, the Xiang Yong on both sides of the strait were quickly eliminated. The living people did not dare to stay on the shore anymore and rushed to the shore.
Go back and escape.
After walking in the winding river for more than two hours, the vanguard soldiers finally encountered a large group of rural warriors for the first time. With the support of the cannon on the ship, the rural warriors quickly escaped, leaving behind several
With a small cannon, Shi Zhiqi found that he could no longer move forward. The sampan had reached the bottom - they encountered the first blockage line.
The skilled sailors on the boat went into the water to explore and found that a blockage point consisting of three rows of wooden piles had been set on the river here. The wooden piles were so thick that they almost came out of the water. Even the sampan could only barely reach the top of the wooden piles.
Pulled over. Sometimes the soldiers on the ship had to disembark to reduce the waterline.
“Put a rope on the stake and paddle hard!”
This method is very crude, but it has been effective in actual combat. When the Spanish conquered Mexico City in the 16th century, they used this method to clear the wooden piles that the Mexicans had built in the lakes around Mexico City.
The rope was quickly tied to the wooden pile and fastened, and then several sampans rowed at the same time. The rope was pulled straight, and the stern of the sampan was half-sinked, but the wooden pile remained motionless.
Then they tried several wooden stakes, but none could be pulled up like the Spaniards did. However, one sampan almost capsized.
"Weird, isn't that what the Spaniards did?" Shi Zhiqi scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. He got this knowledge from what others told him and didn't read the original book, so he didn't know the tonnage the Spaniards used when pulling out the stakes.
Many schooners.
Seeing that he had wasted more than an hour without making any progress, Shi Zhiqi decided not to waste time on this. He had neither the right tools nor enough manpower to clear the underwater obstacles, so he could only jump over the obstacles and continue moving forward. But in this way
All the long dragons can only stay outside the barrier, and only the sampans can continue to move forward. All the artillery is assumed to be on the long dragons.
Shi Zhi strangely ordered that 12 pounds of mountain grenades be broken down and scattered on the sampan. The sampan's draft was too shallow to carry much ammunition, so the two cannons only carried 40 rounds of shells, half of them solid shells and half shot shells.
. Then he ordered a few people to stay and guard the ship, while the others dragged the sampan over the wooden piles one by one and continued moving forward.
After walking for more than two miles, the vanguard soldiers once again exchanged fire with the Xiang Yong guarding the blocking line. At this time, the artillery could not fire for support. The vanguard soldiers with only one squad soon could not withstand the bows and arrows of more than a hundred Xiang Yong.
and local artillery, and were forced to retreat. The village warriors rushed very close to the sampan before they were repulsed by the rifle fire on the sampan. However, they did not withdraw from the front line, but only retreated from the meter.
out of the effective range of the rifle, waiting for an opportunity to continue attacking.
Shi Zhiqi once wanted the troops to march ashore, so that they would not be able to use their firepower effectively and would be difficult to hide on the ship - they would be simply living targets. But he was shocked when he boarded the river bank in person. There was no land here at all, and there were rivers and water everywhere.
Ponds, rice fields. It can be seen that simple bridges were once erected at some river branches and embankments, but they have all been dismantled now. It would take a lot of time for the troops to abandon the ship and land on the shore and just march on foot to build the bridges all the way. He would not
There was no choice but to order the troops to continue advancing by boat.
As they continued to advance while shooting at each other, the resistance they encountered became more and more intense. Probably because they found that the bandits could not use artillery, the country warriors became rampant. When the sampan tried to cross the Japanese line, the country warriors
They fired violently with cannons and bows and arrows until the marines boarded the river bank and launched a charge to drive them away. Battles across the river front line came one after another. The country warriors took advantage of every time the fleet was delayed by blockages and stayed on the river surface unable to exert their firepower.
Taking the opportunity to launch attacks again and again, bows and arrows and cannons fired from cannons came like raindrops. Although there were not many casualties, it greatly delayed the progress of the detachment. The detachment had almost covered the waterway of less than ten miles in total.
During the morning, one person died and ten others were injured. There was also a sampan whose bottom was scratched when it was dragged over a wooden pile, causing water leakage and sinking.
Shi Zhiqi's face was livid, this embarrassment was too big! As soon as the e detachment entered the battle along the Pearl River, they attacked villages and villages along the way, and no one was killed. The ship was lost, but now a soldier was killed by Xiang Yong.
We sunk a sampan! It would be too embarrassing to go back.
At this moment, the sampan in front opened fire again. He quickly raised his telescope. The leading sampans were already shrouded in thick smoke from the firing of Minie rifles. Only the spray of the rifles from the firing could be seen in the smoke.
There were loud flames. There were loud gongs and drums on the river bank, many people were shouting and screaming, and there was a lot of noise. Suddenly a cloud of thick smoke rose from the trees, and there was a thunderbolt, and many small water jets crackled on the river. Some iron pieces directly hit
There was a clanking sound on the fenders on the sampan.
"Fire in the direction of the thick smoke!" the sergeants on the nearby sampan shouted, guiding the shooting direction. A dozen Mini rifles fired simultaneously into the smokey trees. The sound of gunshots and the tearing sound of bullets passing through the branches and leaves.
The sounds of cracks and human screams were mixed together. Shi Zhiqi nervously observed the river bank with a telescope. Several sampans had already rowed to the river bank without waiting for orders, allowing the navy to land and drive away the enemy.
Dense arrows flew out from the bushes. The sailors hid their heads behind the protective board. The arrows were densely inserted all over the protective board. From time to time, there were several roars of gunshots. Iron hits the protective board.
There was a loud bang. The sailors poked their guns out from behind the protective panels and fired back continuously. After a few minutes of exchange of fire, the shore gradually stopped shooting and became silent.
After driving away Xiang Yong, the fleet slowly passed the blockage line. There was a bend in the river in front of it. The river narrowed and the current was rapid. The two banks became steep. In order to avoid the current in the center of the river, the first sampan turned
The boat approached the river bank. At this moment, several figures suddenly jumped out of the grass on the river bank and pushed a dark thing onto the sampan.
Before Shi Zhiqi had time to scream, the first sampan exploded with a cloud of smoke.
Almost at the same time, the sampan behind them opened fire at the same time. The grass was beaten and branches and leaves were flying everywhere. A village hero was shot from the river bank and fell into the river.
The other sampans quickly moved closer. The bombed sampan was still floating on the water. The protective panels on both sides and part of the hull were blown away. More than a dozen sailors and sailors on board fell to the bottom of the ship.
He was dripping with blood. There was a possibility that an explosive exploded in his arms. A hole was opened in his stomach, and his dark red internal organs were exposed. There was a smell of burnt blood and fireworks.
"Ten thousand enemies!" shouted a naval officer.
Ten Thousand Enemies is a Chinese-made firearm: a clay jar is used to make a bomb, and seven to eight kilograms or dozens of kilograms of black powder are placed in it, plus various irons, small stones, porcelain fragments and other killing fragments.
Ignite the fuse and drop it from the top of the city. The killing effect is very impressive according to the standards of the time. It is a powerful weapon for defending the city. However, "Ten Thousand Enemies" is very heavy and cannot be used as a grenade. No one thought that Xiangyongmen would be there.
Used in field battles.
I didn't expect that they would take advantage of the terrain characteristics of the cliff on the river bank. When the boat passed by, they directly pushed down the ten thousand enemies and exploded them without any bias. This thing exploded on the crowded small sampan.
.The power can be imagined.
All eleven people on the sampan were killed in this sneak attack, and all their weapons were destroyed. The losses were heavy. After the navy landed, they only found a few corpses of local heroes who had been shot randomly nearby.
"Fuck!" Shi Zhiqi waved his command knife angrily, "Charge into Sanliang City! Leave no one behind!"