Lu Ming

Chapter 517 Show and Shock

The news that Guitouwa Laoqi was wiped out and Zengcheng County Government's bandits' announcement caused an uproar in the bandit circles in the surrounding areas.

At this time, all kinds of life are reflected.

The first to respond were some small groups of gangsters.Just like the people who went to new stores in later generations, the ancients also understood this truth: the first to eat crabs, there is a high probability that it will be beneficial.

As a result, there were a few bandits with small numbers and small boats who could turn around, and ran to the county government immediately, openly correcting their evil ways and begging to be taken in.For those with a little literacy, the brothers even played performance art with their bare upper bodies and thorns on their backs.

Magistrate Gu of course happily forgave them.

Master Gu must be happy: He doesn't have to worry about the resettlement of Jiangren, and he can show his political achievements in front of the elders in the county. Even the reward money for Jiangren has been paid out, so why is he unhappy?
Then, seeing that the limelight was not right, the rogues in the vicinity began to run away one after another.

Banditry is also divided into nature, there are thieves, bandits, and bandits.For the rogues, since the current situation in Zengcheng is chaotic, it is better to go first and wait and see.

In the end, after these two waves of screening + extrusion, the tide receded, and the remaining companies began to sit on wax.These groups of bandits, like Guitouwalaoqi, occupy a favorable terrain, inherit N generations, have a reputation in the local area, and sit on the ground to share the spoils.

However, at this time, the disadvantages of large companies are revealed: slow decision-making, two-headed and two-headed, a few groups of people don't want to run away like bandits, and they can't do so many people to smear their faces and run to the county to surrender.

Just sit back and watch.

Not wanting to wait and see, Beishan Fotou Village was once again besieged by pioneering troops.

Fotouzhai is located in Gaoling, north of the county seat, with a dangerous location.This place is just adjacent to the land road from Zengcheng to Yingde, Qingyuan and other places. It is a good place to open a toll station, and a large number of bandits gather all year round.

Then when this group of people woke up early in the morning, they suddenly found that the mountain had been surrounded by a large number of gray-clothed men with the "Cao" banner, and none of the previously arranged sentries had returned.

Although the bandit village in the valley in eastern Guangdong didn't know what the character Cao represented, the current posture was enough to cause chaos in the village.

The strange thing is that the men in gray didn't take advantage of the situation to attack. Instead, they assigned people to cut off all the roads down the mountain, and put on a posture of long-term siege.

This action inadvertently gave the bandits in Fotouzhai time to unify their thinking and strengthen their confidence.

The boss of Fotouzhai immediately judged that the civilians under his feet were the same as the previous officers and soldiers.

Unlike Guitouwa, which has no natural dangers, Fotouzhai has a dangerous terrain and sufficient reserves. As long as everyone guards the village firmly, after a long time, these people below will naturally disperse and send troops outside to burn money. So they surrounded Fotouzhai.

So the two sides confronted each other like this.During the period, the gangsters also sent people to rush out to test it out, but after being shot back by random guns, the gangsters completely sealed the gate of the village with stones and could not hold on.

In the next two or three days, both sides seemed to accept this situation.The people at the bottom of the mountain did not attack the stronghold, but kept clearing the road and building a camp, assuming a long-term siege posture.

And because the people on the mountain don't know the strength of their opponents, they also think that this is a normal situation.

At noon on the fourth day, the situation changed slightly: Zhengtang Gutai of Zengcheng County went out in person, and brought a support team sent by the gentry of the county to work in the army!

In fact, as early as three days ago when Fotouzhai was besieged, Zengcheng County Yali sent a large number of Yamen servants as messengers to convey the order of the county magistrate to all parts of the four townships.

The content of the order is very simple: each large household must send a team led by someone at the management level to provide material support to the team that is suppressing the bandits ahead—each household only needs to provide a load of rice.

The big households who received the order expressed their emotional stability: Since ancient times, whenever the government has something to do, it has always distributed food and errands in this way, and I have seen it a lot.Although there is an extra steward leading the order this time, the minimum material limit is only one load of rice, so it is not a burden.

So three days later, the food delivery team assembled in the county town was led by County Magistrate Gu to Fotouzhai.

After these people arrived at the scene, they realized that it didn't seem to be the case.

Dressed in gray clothes, it is said that the magistrate of Gu County borrowed private soldiers from Cao Zongbing in Guangdong. It didn't look like they were short of food and grass at all.In fact, all the labor materials brought this time were actually bought by people with white silver pancakes.

If it weren't for the large number of pioneer soldiers, everyone would have thought this was Cao Zongbing's servant.The people who reacted after that saw the legendary side of Cao Zongbing, a local tyrant.

Then the food delivery team saw more extravagant acts.The expensive military tin cans and white rice on the market are open for supply here. In addition, the equipment and various weapons worn by this group of private soldiers also made the stewards secretly dumbfounded: it is no loss that they are the private soldiers under the commander-in-chief, officers and soldiers If it is all spent like this, I am afraid that even Jinshan will be defeated!
Demonstrating financial power is the first step in overcoming the subtle influence/deterrence of natives.For many thoughtful landlords, they would rather face a vicious gangster than a rich man—money is a resource, and a rich man has inexhaustible resources.Although there was no concept of capitalists in the Ming Dynasty, many people still understand this truth.

After demonstrating financial strength and conveying enough information, the next step is to demonstrate force.

Then these indigenous propagandists from the whole county, who brought their own dry food, saw a clean military operation to destroy the village.

First of all, it is still a row of guns to hold down the position.

On a specially selected afternoon with the right wind direction, gunshots from the Pioneering Army exploded, overwhelming the people on the wall of the village.

When the thick gun fog drifted towards the gate of the village with the mountain wind, covering everything in mist, the blaster with three explosive packs rushed out with the gun on his head.

A few minutes later, with an earth-shattering loud noise, all the melon eaters sat down on the ground.In their horrified eyes, the gate of the Fotou village in the distance, as well as many bandits and parts, were all blown up into the sky at this moment, and they took an earthen plane.

Next, on the mountain road where only three people can walk side by side, soldiers wearing shiny heavy steel armor and holding large shields began to charge, and behind them were musketeers who followed in line.

The battle ended here: before the remnants of the bandits bleeding from the ear holes recovered from the loud noise, they were slashed and killed by the soldiers rushing in on the slope in front of the door, and they had no strength to fight back.

Afterwards, the teams that came to deliver food received free battle souvenirs: the pickled heads of the leaders of Fotouzhai.

Not long after that, the gangsters in Zengcheng County surrendered and fled far away. Overnight, the law and order was improved, meeting the initial requirements of the crossing crowd.

(End of this chapter)