Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 530: Slaying demons and destroying evil spirits, rituals break Mayang~
Outside Mayang City.

It drizzled for three consecutive days, and the water in the river became noticeably turbid.

The defenders in the city were delighted.

Wu Jun was anxious.

Smoke curled up in the tent covered with oil paper.

"Everyone, the food reserves in the camp are only enough for two days. We are in big trouble."

"Can logistics be delivered?"

The captain shook his head.
"No, a small escort will be eaten up by the local armed forces that are everywhere. From the moment we enter the mountains, the logistics team may be attacked at any time."

Everyone was silent.

The experience along the way has already explained the problem.

……

However, due to the continuous rain, the ambushers lying in ambush in the mountains and forests could no longer bear it.

Mud, cold, and bugs~
Without any choice,

The fifth son of the Zeng family ordered all the ambush troops to withdraw to Mayang, as the ambush had lost its meaning.

He has peeped.

The outermost trench of the Wu army camp was filled with rainwater.

The second line of defense is a formation of caltrops and sharpened bamboos. There are many bamboos in western Hunan, so they can be used locally.

The third lane is for empty trucks, connected end to end.

The defense is like an iron barrel!

He is indeed a Jiangdong rat, not generous at all.

……

In the light rain,
Countless soldiers stood in silence in the shelter from the wind and rain, silently watching the performance of our great immortal.

There are military chaplains in Europe.

There is a great immortal accompanying the army in the east.

In the open space between the two armies, a thin man wearing an embroidered cassock and a Taoist hat on his head was performing a ritual in the rain, holding a peach wood sword in his right hand and shaking a Sanqing bell with his left hand.

Sometimes he howled to the sky, sometimes he spun around barefoot.

There was an eerie aura about the whole person.

He carried the hopes of 3000 people, praying for clear weather.

When the ritual reached its climax, the soldiers in the camp shouted in unison to cheer them on.

……

Mayang City Wall,

The defenders were not willing to be outdone and invited two old wizards.

The two wizards wore crowns and robes, held large rattles in their hands, and chanted something.

The sound of bronze drums gradually became more intense, penetrating the rain and fog.

All the defenders knelt on the ground devoutly and chanted something.

巫：
The upper one reaches the sky, the lower one stands on the ground, and there is a vertical line in the middle that connects heaven and earth.

According to legend, the great witch can not only communicate with the gods of heaven and earth and talk with gods, but can also call the wind and rain.

Rain-making business counterpart.

……

Both sides were looking at the French bulldog nervously.

The battle has reached this point, and the uneducated frontline soldiers are no longer willing to listen to any big principles and only want to do something mysterious.

Even the well-read staff officers joined in the prayer.

This is called letting go of rationality and integrating into the group.

Also known as: sociable.

A gunner held the gun rope, hesitating.

He really wanted to fire and inject some of the Thunder God's spirit into his own immortal, but he was afraid that it would be against the rules.

After thinking about it, he gritted his teeth.

"Damn, give it a try."

A puff of white smoke blew out of the muzzle.

A solid bullet whizzed and landed 60 feet away from the city wall.

Mud and water splash.

Our great immortal was shocked.

The other wizard was shocked.

……

Our great immortal was shaking violently and threw away his robes, which had lost their color.

Shouting:

"Everything is empty, all dharmas are empty."

After shouting, he raised the Sanqing Bell again:
"Tai Shang Tai Xing, constantly adapting to changes. It drives away evil spirits and traps evil spirits, protects life and body. Wisdom is clear and pure, and the mind is peaceful. The three souls are eternal, and the soul has no loss. Urgency is like a law."

Then, he made a circle with the sword, with the tip of the sword pointing to the sky.

Drink loudly:

"Sun, please come out."

After a few dozen breaths, the rain became noticeably lighter.

The big raindrops turned into fine rain, and a breeze blew.

3000 Wu soldiers shouted in unison:

"Sunny, sunny, sunny!"

The Mayang defenders also became anxious, clinging to the battlements and shouting:

"It's raining, it's raining hard."

……

Mayang City Head

The two wizards also panicked. They shouted loudly, jumped onto the parapet, and started a more exciting psychic performance.

He chanted something and sprinkled nectar out from time to time.

In the Wujun camp,
"Second Lieutenant, we are asking for help to help our great immortal suppress the wizard on the other side."

The lieutenant was stunned:
"Go."

Then, a group of scattered soldiers wearing straw hats and raincoats walked out of the camp with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Boots are difficult to walk in, so I just go barefoot.

Protect the flintlock from rain as much as possible.

……

Our great immortal might have overdrawn his physical strength. He sat in the mud and water, looking very energetic.

at this time,

On top of the Mayang city wall, two great witches were standing on the battlements, performing a ritual: one was standing on one leg like a golden rooster, and the other was spreading the wings of a white crane.

Completely disregarding the safety rules for working at heights.

The Mayang defenders cheered in unison.

Next second,
I saw our scattered soldiers raising their long-handled magical weapons, and boiling justice burst out of their chests.

The sound of gunfire cuts through the rain curtain~
One great wizard was suspected to have been shot and fell, and the other one fell accidentally because his feet were slippery.

battlefield,

It was suddenly terrifyingly quiet.

The rain stopped and the wind stopped blowing.

"It's over."

Old Madam Zeng felt dizzy and fell backwards from the stone stairs on the city wall.

……

The immortal climbed out of the mud and turned his head towards our camp.

roared:
"The other evildoer has been brought to justice. Brothers, when will we slay the evildoer?"

One call and a hundred responses.

The soldiers even forgot to ask the commander what he thought, and rushed out of the camp and headed for Mayang.

The cannon was heavy, and the gunners shouted slogans, pulling forward, pushing back, and pushing left and right.
The mortar is relatively light and can be maneuvered by a team of four.

Mules pulled the ammunition cart forward.

After a while, gunfire rang out.

The Wu army's infantry formed a line outside the city and fired in groups.

The front row missed, and the back row crossed over and continued shooting.

The defenders of Mayang also fought desperately, and the middle area was filled with gunpowder smoke.

However, the failure of the fight made the particularly superstitious Mayang defenders feel uneasy, as they felt they had been abandoned by the mountain god.

……

When the mortar shells fell like rain, hitting the bricks of the city with clanging sounds.

The defenders completely collapsed.

A quarter of an hour later, the Wu army broke into the city.

After 2 quarters of an hour, control the city wall.

"Surrender and you will not be killed."

"If you don't surrender, I will kill your whole family."

Under the dual effects of gunfire and threats, Mayang City gradually returned to peace.

The Zeng family ancestral home is a large mansion with a history of one hundred years, built with a bluestone foundation and blue brick walls.

Compared with ancient houses in Pingyuan, Zeng's house was designed with more consideration for military defense.

There were firing holes in the walls, and arrow towers were built at the four corners of the wall. A little deeper, there were narrow alleys and twists, and there were traps everywhere.

The Wu army encountered fierce resistance here.

……

The soldiers who suffered the loss were furious and surrounded the enemy on all sides.

After destroying several arrow towers with artillery, they started setting fires and threw bundles of burning wet straw into Zeng's house one after another, burning and fumigating the house.

Wait until there is no movement inside before sending troops in.

at last,

Before sunset, Wu's army captured Zeng's house.

134 bodies were obtained, 26 people were captured, and 5 people were killed.

The fifth son of the Zeng family was shot dead in the fight.

The tenth brother was suffocated to death by smoke, and the eleventh brother was captured and executed by cannon.

the next morning,

Wu Jun counted the Mayang treasury.

A total of more than 22000 dan of rice, 8000 jin of various tea, salt, and medicinal materials, 1500 pieces of cloth and silk, more than 3 jin of copper, iron, and lead, and 41 cannons of various types were seized. More than taels of silver were successfully excavated from the old house.

Since he had nothing to do, he insisted on torturing the Zeng family members every day, and the amount of hidden silver seized continued to increase.

At the same time, he sent ships down the Chen River to convey the victory news of the capture of Mayang to Chenxi and Changde.

……

Actually,
Before the good news reached Chenxi, the bodies floating downstream had already arrived.

After capturing Mayang, the defenders fled from the north gate and attempted to swim across the Chen River.

Unfortunately, due to the continuous rain, the Chen River is turbulent and the flow rate is very fast.

The Wu army lined up on the city wall and shot at those who were swimming across the river. The blood dyed the Chen River red, and hundreds or even thousands of corpses floated down the river.

The Chenxi garrison guessed at that time that Mayang had been captured.

After laughing,

They couldn't laugh anymore.

The military medical officer gave strict orders to retrieve the body, burn it, sprinkle it with lime and bury it.

Otherwise, if you soak it for too long, Xiangxi will probably be the worst place to die this year.

A paragraph was added to the latest "Wu Clinical Guidelines".

In war zones, rotting corpses are the source of all diseases and pollute water sources. Ignorant people get sick after drinking polluted water, and eventually, it harms our personnel.

then,

The troops stationed in Chenxi and Luxi cursed and swore.

He scolded the Mayang garrison for only caring about killing but not burying, leaving the brothers to follow suit.

……

However, the troops stationed in Mayang did not dare to relax.

Busy identifying prisoners and sorting out the people in the city.

As per the old rules, all of them were sent out of the mountain.

The soldiers supervised the people to go up the mountain and cut down trees to make simple small boats, and then connected them together.

then,

Groups of people got in with oars in their hands and drifted all the way to Chenxi to report.

The garrison did not care at all.

During the drifting process, it doesn’t matter if people run away or the boat sinks.

If the people went to Chenxi obediently and were then sent to Changde, it would mean that they were not loyal to Zeng Di.

After Xiangxi is cleared, they can be released back to their hometowns.

If anyone escapes halfway, he can go to Phoenix City to seek refuge with Zeng Di.

On the one hand, it can increase Zeng Di's food pressure, and on the other hand, they can be completely regarded as enemies and annihilated when attacking Phoenix City.

……

According to His Majesty's instructions on anti-guerrilla warfare,
The staff drew up regulations for the resettlement of people in the war zone, and the officers strictly implemented them.

In short, the 13 armed Wu soldiers are loyal to Your Majesty.

The 4th Army is a special case and will not be discussed.

……

Anyway,

Mayang has become quiet and safe.

The Wu army only left a small number of prisoners to perform hard labor to repair the city’s defenses and prevent Zeng Di from counterattacking.

after that,

Using Mayang as a base, they went out of the city to clear out the countryside, and covered all the villages in the river valley plain.

Powerful deterrence, everyone relocated.

War is cruel.

The process of clearing the countryside was accompanied by resistance and suppression.

The officers also knew that the resistance fighters might not all be Zeng Di’s accomplices, and might just be defending their homeland instinctively, but they had no choice.

The struggle for imperial hegemony is a huge game in which everyone is a chess piece.

War, let mercy go away.

Long-term pain is worse than short-term pain.

……

As the war intensified, Lin Huaisheng trekked upstream under the escort of his guards and five infantry battalions.

along the way,
He saw the strange fog.

It comes when it comes and it ends when it ends.

When it is thick, you can't see through more than 3 meters; when it is thin, the mountains seem to be covered with a veil.

The humidity was even more frustrating, and the flintlock gunpowder often failed.

Along the way, they were constantly attacked.

The open and hidden arrows, the falling rocks and trees, the slow marching speed and the collapsed mentality of the soldiers were all impressive.

……

Lin Huaisheng, who was dressed in ordinary soldier's uniform, wiped his sweat and asked:
"How far is it from Yuanling?"

"Marshal Lin, we're almost there, about three miles away."

at this time,

The fog rose again.

It seems like there are monsters lurking in the mountains and forests.

The white mist quickly closed in.

"alert."

The soldiers were no longer able to curse; they numbly squatted or leaned against the baggage carts, holding their guns.

Due to too many attacks, most people abandoned the single-barreled bullets and switched to iron sand.

The sound of bronze drums penetrates the fog~
Mixed with unbridled laughter.

The section from Taoyuan to Yuanling was the main area of ​​guerrilla activities under Zhao Zhuangwen. The guerrillas under his command were keen on shooting and shooting, and rarely came out of the dense forest to fight face to face.

……

Whoosh, a bamboo arrow was nailed to the board of the baggage cart.

Lin Huaisheng took down the arrow.
After observing the shape of the arrow, he said:

"This is a homemade bow and arrow. It's less powerful, but it can cause infection."

The dirty arrows will cause infection to the wounded, making up for the lack of power.

There was a vast expanse of whiteness in front of my eyes.

Lin Huaisheng signaled the shooter in the gun-carrying group next to him to step aside. He took over, closed his eyes, and listened to the drum beats again.

Listen to the sound and identify the voice.

Pull the trigger hard.

Bang, the sound of gunfire echoed.

In the mist, one could faintly hear the screams of those who had been shot, and the sound of them rolling down the slope.

Multiple gun-carrying teams opened fire in response to the sound.

After the echo disappeared, silence returned to the battlefield.

……

The seventh harassment of the day ended here.

Lin Huaisheng rubbed his shoulders:

“I didn’t expect that raising the gun would be so useful.”

The people around nodded silently.

There are no weapons that are not useful, only battlefields that are not suitable.

The Wu army's infantry usually didn't need to lift their guns, as they felt that these things were not as accurate as guns and not as powerful as light artillery.

result,

The raised gun is very popular in Xiangxi, and it can carry out long-range coverage shooting at any elevation angle and in any position.

……

When I saw the Yuanling city wall,

A staff officer was filled with emotion and concluded:

The river valleys and cities belong to the Wu army, and the mountains and forests belong to the people of western Hunan.

As the troops entered the city, the soldiers felt relieved and drank water and ate food.

On the city wall, patrols shuttled back and forth. Behind the battlements, light artillery pieces were covered with oil paper.

There is no need for too many heavy artillery in the battle in western Hunan.

Zeng Di's army did not build blockhouses, but was keen on mobile attacks everywhere.

……

Phoenix is ​​shrouded in gloom.

When the news of the fall of Mayang came, Zeng Di wore mourning clothes and cried bitterly.

because,

Wu Jun not only destroyed the Zeng Clan's Ancestral Hall, but also
The messenger cried:

"Master, that thief Wu chopped off the heads of dozens of your family members and hung them on the top of the city wall of Mayang. He also dug up the ancestral graves and left the coffins of the ancestors there to be blown by the wind and exposed to the sun."

Zeng Di's eyes were red, and he cried and wiped his tears:
"I have vowed not to be a human being until I have avenged this."

"My husband, why don't we mobilize all our troops to retake Mayang?" The one who made the suggestion was the daughter of Fenghuang chieftain and Zeng Di's wife.

Zeng Di calmed down and shook his head.

"Send more scouts to investigate the Wu army's movements in Yuanling, Luxi, Chenxi, Mayang, and even Changde. Find the weak points and attack them proactively. It's not a good idea to keep hiding and taking the beating."

"By the way, could you please confirm the current situation of Wang Lin, the commander-in-chief of the Dongting Lake Navy?"

……

In fact, the Dongting Lake navy had long since disappeared.

Last year, they barely escaped the early winter raid by Wu’s warships, but they couldn’t escape the sudden freezing by nature.

The warships were frozen on the lake.

The island was short of food and the snow was knee-deep.

Most of the remaining troops froze to death or starved to death.

Wang Lin and a group of people split the boat planks to make fire and endured until the beginning of spring.

Without waiting for the Wu army to enter the lake for the second time, he obediently took more than a hundred people to Yuezhou to surrender.

now,

He's in jail.

Wu Ting didn't take the naval commander who was a pirate seriously at all.

The navy did not intend to absorb these water rats, fearing that they would pollute the rest of the sailors. His Majesty wanted a fleet comparable to the Saxon Royal Navy.

(End of this chapter)