Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 442: 88-year-old Lao Xiangrui wants to see a river of blood~
Yuexiu Mountain, four-sided artillery fort.

We received 200 reinforcements and 300 dan of ammunition, shells and food from Guangzhou City.

but,

Because of the damn return of the south wind, the food started to mold and rot after only 2 days of storage.

Yan Jiu was feeling thankful and cursing the horrible weather at the same time.

"Guard, the Wu army is getting fierce today."

"Cruel? Master Yan has never been afraid of cruel people. Today, I must let the northerners experience the power of our Lingnan heroes."

……

Yan Jiu stood on the battlement of the fort, opened his arms, and felt the warm breeze containing the moisture of the Pearl River.

He was so excited that he even urinated from a high position.

Until in the distance, the sound of horns of Wu's army advancing was heard.
He turned around and said:

“Open the powder keg.”

"Whoo."

It’s not that Yan Jiu is too careless, but the gunpowder will easily get damp and become scrapped if it is opened prematurely.

Even if it can be used, its power will be greatly reduced.

The Qing army’s gunpowder production technology was too backward, the proportion of charcoal was too high, and it was particularly absorbent.

The Wu army's gunpowder ratio was more scientific, and the charcoal ratio was much lower than that of the Qing army.

and,

There is also a process of particle polishing and graphite powder application, which greatly improves the moisture-proof performance.

……

The 1st Expeditionary Army started running without any armor, carrying ignition materials on their shoulders.

According to military orders, each person had to throw the bundle he was carrying into the woods to complete the mission.

There was a rumble of artillery fire on the top of the mountain.

The shells fell, and the casualties were all God's will.

In order to prepare for today's barbecue, the 5th Corps' food was completely devoid of oil and fat, and all the fat was given to the Qing Dynasty.
The artillery batteries on all sides were ready to face a formidable enemy, waiting for Wu's army to emerge from the woods and appear in the open area.

But strangely, there was not a single ghost.

Yan Jiu poked his head out and muttered:

"These losers should have climbed to the top of the mountain long ago. They climbed to the top of a small hill that was more than 20 meters high in one breath. What happened today?"

"Master Jiu, look."

Yan Jiu's pupils shrank as he looked at the Wu army retreating like a tide.

"Who dares to go down and investigate? I'll give you 5 taels of silver."

No one said a word.

"20 taels!"

……

20 taels is enough to live a carefree life for a while.

A gambler volunteered to lower the turret along the rope.

The time for one stick of incense has not yet come.

He came back in a rage, holding a bunch of straw in his hand:
"Master Jiu, they are going to set the mountain on fire."

Yan Jiu grabbed the straw, sniffed it, and rubbed it. Sweat immediately poured down his forehead.
"Not good, not good."

"Master Jiu, the fire can't cover a large area, right? Look how damp it is, even the leaves of trees are soaked."

……

Yan Jiu had no idea and could only wait.

He felt that Wu Jun might just want to interfere with the view.

Return to the South to burn the mountain?
I'm afraid the Yankees are a bit fanciful.

He turned his head and glanced at the bustling city of Guangzhou in the south.

I thought that the Qing Dynasty still had to be protected by the Green Camp soldiers, and the garrisoned Eight Banners were a bunch of cowards.

On the Guangzhou city wall,
Governor Yilhang also stared at this strange scene and asked:

"Brother Fumin, what do you think Wu Zetian is doing?"

Fumin shook his head:
"I don't think they will attack the city today. The sun will set in half an hour."

Governor Zhao Shisheng hesitated to speak. He had guessed something, but felt it was too difficult.

……

The heat and tension are superimposed,

Sweat appeared on the foreheads of the three giants, and the more they wiped, the more beads of sweat appeared.

Even the local specialty herbal tea couldn’t suppress the heat in my heart.

Looking at the flag soldiers around, they all had solemn expressions and were sweating profusely.

Fu Min was a native bannerman of Guangzhou. He was able to hold this position because his father had served as governor and his father-in-law had served as general of Guangzhou.

Therefore,
According to seniority, he should also take this position.

Fu Min boasts of his ability and that he can be the leader among the 8000 dwarfs in the city.

He was 5 feet and a half tall and weighed 1 stones. He had studied Confucianism and learned the art of war. He could shoot a bow and ride a horse, and he was not too concerned about money.

Unlike some of my colleagues who, when they see money, are like flies seeing blood and cannot be driven away.

He prides himself on being a man of high character, and there is indeed nothing wrong with that.

……

"Your Majesty, we are ready."

"It will start in a quarter of an hour."

After giving the order,

Li Yu rode away in a hurry.

They retreated two miles in one breath, which made Miao Youlin nervous.

He whispered to a guard:

"Brother, is that rocket dangerous?"

The guard smiled and said nothing.

Anyway,

On the hardwood frame, rockets took off into the sky, trailing long flames, which was quite spectacular.

Li Yu squinted his eyes to look at the trajectory. Overall, the trajectory was not quite what he expected.

really,

The rocket just needs to be launched, and the rest depends on God's mood.

One of them suddenly fell to the ground and flew no more than a mile away.

One of them shot straight into the sky, as if it had missed its target.

One of them began to sway, as if drunk.

finally,
Less than one-third of it fell on Yuexiu Mountain.

……

The second wave took off into the air.

This time it's much better, obviously corrected.

It fell into the forest and flames rose up.

Miao Youlin was surprised:

"Your Majesty, is this an incendiary weapon?"

"Correct."

The Guards Corps responsible for launching rockets was very busy, constantly loading new rockets onto the racks and lighting the fuses.

They said privately that it was a skyrocketing monkey magnified a hundred times.

The shape and principle are similar.

Both the attackers and defenders were talking loudly about this rare scene before their eyes.

Eight Banners stationed in Guangzhou:

"The fake King Wu really knows witchcraft!"

5th Army Staff:

"The east wind blows thousands of flowers into the night~"

Hakka civilians:

"A flying dragon in the sky! Miracle~"

The cavalry lieutenant Wu Laoer's eyes turned red:
"It's great, it feels like Chinese New Year."

Zhang Laosan, the officer of the 1st Expeditionary Army Camp, grinned and said something very profound:
"We are really strong now, so strong that even we are afraid of it."

……

The Guards Corps operated slowly and there was no one within a hundred feet around.

The sun gradually sets.

But it does not affect the launch of Lee's rockets~
Fifteen rounds were fired, and the iron rockets burned fiercely after landing, igniting the grease-soaked straw.

Under the blazing flames, water vapor was rising in the woods.

Fire and water are evenly matched.

The result was a lot of thick smoke.

The smoke was getting thicker.
It was so big that from a distance, the entire Yuexiu Mountain was shrouded in grayish-white smoke, with a hint of red light.

Like a fairyland.

If it weren't for this war, the people of Guangzhou would have shouted:

Guanyin appeared!
……

Li Yu put down the telescope and pointed at Yuexiu Mountain in the distance:
"The four-sided battery is finished."

"Your Majesty is holy."

at this time,

The Qing troops at the Sifang Fort coughed and struggled violently.

Many people left the fort to survive.
But they were soon forced back by the thick smoke.

The smoke was mixed with sulfur and pepper, and the smell was suffocating.

The defenders of the fort continued to die.

Yan Jiu knew that Yuexiu Mountain was finished!
Guangzhou is finished!

The Qing Dynasty is also finished!
The most urgent thing is to save your life! Escape!

When he returned to Guangzhou, he was killed by his own people. When he was caught by Wu Jun, he was also killed.

……

When the fort was first built, a water cellar was specially built to prevent the soldiers from being trapped and having no water to drink.

The principle is similar to the underground water cellars used to collect rainwater in the arid northwest region.

even though,
The water quality in water cellars in the south is very poor.

But at a critical moment, having spoiled water to drink is better than dying of thirst.

Yan Jiu found the location of the water cellar, opened the door, and jumped in.

The water smelled fishy.

After holding my breath for a while, I quickly grabbed the edge of the water cellar and climbed up to leave.
A man stumbled down the mountain, avoiding the red lights along the way.

My respiratory tract was smoky and my head was dizzy.

The boots seemed to have been burned through and the soles of the feet were bleeding.

……

It’s only a hundred feet down the mountain, but the King of Hell follows him like a shadow.

Yan Jiu miraculously ran down the mountain, and his wet clothes had been half dried.

The city of Guangzhou was brightly lit and no one dared to leave the city to rescue.

The Wu army also withdrew, with patrols occasionally appearing on the edge of the battlefield.

night,

Not suitable for combat.

The scorching hot Yuexiu Mountain is not suitable for human beings to set foot on.

Relying on his familiarity with the geography, Yan Jiu walked around Guangzhou City and finally heard the sound of water.

Pearl River
He stumbled down and drank water in big gulps, feeling the coolness of the river water. His burning wounds suddenly felt much cooler.

……

Guangzhou, a sleepless night.

The Eight Banners soldiers looked up at Yuexiu Mountain in the north from time to time, suspecting that there were monsters in the faint red light and mist.

Everyone was in despair and couldn't even eat dinner.

"Enlu, do you think the imperial court will send reinforcements?"

"There will be."

"When can we arrive?"

Enlu shook his head, tightly held the heavy musket in his hand, and leaned against the bricks of the city wall.

The companion who asked the questions was called Shouquan.

When people are afraid, some will remain silent, while others will become talkative.

Obviously, Shou Quan is the latter.

He recalled his family history in a rambling way:

"My ancestors followed Governor Li Lutai south and settled in Guangzhou. It has been about 130 years, a total of six generations."

Enlu was silent and hummed.

……

Shouquan continued to chatter:

"My grandfather's grandfather's name was Efei, which means pheasant's foot cover in Manchu. My grandfather's father was named Samala, which means a big wooden bowl. My grandfather's name was Absa, which means birch barrel. My sixth-generation ancestor was funny. His name was Sakda, which means female wild boar in Manchu. How come they named people so funny? They pointed to an old forest and named five generations of people after it, hahahaha."

Enlu remained silent and hummed.

"Look at us now. Our names are so elegant. What a wonderful day. But, but~"

A deputy commander walked by and shouted in a low voice:

"Enlu, Shouquan, listen up, you two bastards. All the people in Jiangning, Zhapu, and Hangzhou are dead. If we can't hold on, even a yellow dog in Guangzhou will be skinned alive and used as a soup hotpot."

"In short, if you surrender you will die, and if you don't surrender you will also die."

"Kill one and you'll break even. Kill two and you'll break even. Kill three and you'll make a killing. Do you understand?"

……

Shouquan burst into tears.

En Lu stood up and glared at his own commander with bloodshot eyes, shouting:

"I understand, isn't it just death?"

The captain remained silent, reached out and patted him on the shoulder, not showing any anger at being offended by an ordinary flag soldier.

This night,
No one in Guangzhou was asleep. Everyone was silently wiping their swords and guns and familiarizing themselves with firearms.

Many families stuff their ancestral tablets into cotton armor, preparing to offer a blood sacrifice to their ancestors in this way.

Within the city,

Sporadic gunshots continued to ring out~
This is the flag soldiers who usually neglect military training getting familiar with the cold weapons in their hands and teaching each other.

Especially the elderly, the weak, women and children,

The family gathered under the oil lamp and reloaded nervously.

Everyone is hoping,

Be familiar with the weapon and become one with the gun.

It’s just that the hands that can usually play mahjong skillfully and hold a pen easily now seem a little clumsy.

……

Shouquan fired a shot at the outside of the city, then squatted behind the battlement and reloaded clumsily.

The imitation Zanbarak matchlock rifle in his hand is of high quality and very powerful.

Rambling:

"Enlu, shooting is not easy. My shoulder hurts so much."

Enlu rarely spoke and replied:
"Please pack less medicine. Tomorrow, when the Wu bandits attack the city, you can pack more medicine."

"Hey~"

After a while,
An old man with a cane came up with great difficulty.

"Grandpa Suna, why are you here?"

Suna means dog leash in Manchu.

but,

Suna is the oldest man in the city. It is said that he is 88 years old.

……

"Children, the Han people outside the city will surely attack the city with all their might tomorrow. Let's fight hard and let the corpses of the Han army be spread all over the city."

Suna's eyes flashed with ruthlessness, and when he spoke,

Using a cane to hit the bricks of the city wall:

"We Manchus are born warriors. Children, if we fight a battle tomorrow, the blood of your great-grandfathers will return."

"Whoo."

The young people knelt on one knee to show their respect.

88 years old, what a rare longevity.

If it weren't for this war, old man Suna would probably have gone to the capital to attend the "Banquet of a Thousand Old Men".

……

A few years ago, the rumor that Emperor Qianlong wanted to imitate Emperor Shengzu and hold a "Banquet for a Thousand Old Men" had already spread to every city in the world.

In order to promote the auspicious Suna, the Guangzhou Governor's Office

He was allocated 1 dan of rice and 50 jin of pork every month.

As early as 5 years ago,

Fumin began to secretly tamper with the memory of the person involved, trying to increase Suna's age to 99.
The parties involved were also very cooperative.
Based on the principle of gradual progress, if you live one year, you will jump three years and bring glory to Guangzhou.

now,

It has successfully grown to 88 years old, which is like a living auspicious sign.

Emperor Qianlong must have been very pleased when he saw this, and he would definitely reward Suna and the Eight Banners Yamen in Guangzhou.

result~
All came to nothing.

……

Old Xiangrui is very self-aware. He knows that the "Banquet of a Thousand Old Men" will definitely not be able to take place, but the "Night Parade of Ten Thousand Ghosts" is possible.

The old man's greatest wish is to motivate these green hands in the city to fight a tenacious battle to defend the city and make the Han army outside the city flow into a river of blood.

Because I've lived long enough,

So he had no hope in human nature. War meant conquest and killing.

At the beginning,

The Eight Banners entered the Pass, and the fields were filled with killings in field battles and the cities were filled with killings when they attacked the cities.

This happens every time, without exception.

Governor Li Ruotai captured Guangzhou and killed 100,000 Ming soldiers and civilians in the city. The number of corpses was so large that it blocked the Pearl River waterway.

Hundreds of sharks swam in the Lingdingyang Ocean, and fishermen's sampans did not dare to go out to sea for several years.

The wild dogs outside the city were as big as wolves, with bloodshot eyes.

something,
It's reincarnation.

More than a hundred years ago, the Eight Banners killed people crazily. Now, will the Han soldiers not retaliate after entering the city? It is bound to be a river of blood.

……

Old man Suna had fought in wars.

Keep reminding everyone what to do tomorrow.

"Enlu, your helmet is no good. The front is almost rusted through. Go down and find a blacksmith to put a thick iron plate under it."

"Shouquan, you are too thin. When shooting, don't hold it with your left hand, just stand on the parapet and shoot. Pad your shoulders a little thicker, and go down to find some cotton wool to stuff inside.

"When you shoot, don't be stupid and stretch your head to aim. You have to be quick, aim, shoot, and retreat quickly. Otherwise, your head will be blown to pieces."

"Also, why don't you use bows and arrows?"

A fat flag bearer said awkwardly:

"Master Suna, I don't know how to aim."

A thin flag bearer spread his hands:
"I, I can't pull it open."

(End of this chapter)