The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 304 Bloody Night

At 1732 p.m. on November 11, 14, an army of hundreds of people slowly came from the southwest and stopped at a village on the river with the support of several scouts.

It can be seen that the village has been completely destroyed and in a mess, with ruins and debris everywhere. A gust of wind blew, dust flew, smoke filled the air, and a dark scene.

There were some farm tools scattered in the farmlands outside the village, in a disorganized manner and discarded everywhere. There were also flocks of birds flying from different directions, occasionally disturbing the originally silent air.

All the houses here have been burned to ruins, not a single one is intact. A wooden bridge by the river has also been burned, with broken wood leaning crookedly on the river bank.

The walls of every household were no longer standing, only broken pieces of earth and tiles remained. A few hungry animals were disturbed by the soldiers searching everywhere, and they emerged from the walls, howling heartbreakingly, and then quickly fled into the wild.

Here, life is so fragile, and people's fate is as uncertain as fallen leaves. There are bloodstains and death everywhere, and the neglected lives can hardly survive even though they live here. There is a heavy smell everywhere, as if reminding people of the misfortune that happened here.

"What is this place?" Meng Yuanyou, deputy chief of staff of the 19th Mixed Brigade of the Army and lieutenant colonel, sat on a stone block with his horse and sword, took off his general's cap, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand.

"Reporting to the commander, this place is Shanting Township (now Koronadal, a city in southern Mindanao), which is under the administration of Liping County." An intelligence staff officer responded: "According to the information feedback from the civil affairs department, this is the immigrant settlement farthest from the sea. Yes, this time the native riots also started from here."

"Were all the residents here slaughtered?" Meng Yuanyou took a look at the dilapidated scene around him, and an uncontrollable evil fire suddenly surged in his heart.

"Probably... not." The intelligence officer hesitated for a moment and said, "Before the native riot, Shanting had more than 260 residents. As for how many unnaturalized laborers there were in the nearby plantations, there is no accurate data, but a rough estimate is that there should be about 70 to 80 people in total. After the riot, more than 170 people finally escaped safely to Liping County."

"That means half of the people in Shanting were... killed by the natives?"

"……Yes, sir!"

"Damn it!" Meng Yuanyou cursed in a low voice, then glanced at a Black Guard officer with a bad look and asked coldly: "The natives made such a big scene, are you Black Guards all eat shit?"

"Sir..." Lieutenant Renyong and Fu Baozhong of the Black Guards who came with the army responded with bitter expressions: "Shanting is located in the hinterland, sparsely populated. Even if we Black Guards have a large number of people and great magical powers, we can't detect the movements of the natives in advance here. I think that the natives' riot this time should be a sudden situation. As everyone knows, the treatment of the native coolies working in the plantation, what kind of oppression and abuse they will suffer, are self-evident. Therefore, the natives are making trouble, or making some big noise..."

"The sudden rebellion of the natives may have had a reason, but what about the little native prince who was elected as the leader of the rebellion? It is said that there are also a few True God charlatans fanning the flames. As a result, in such a short period of time, three to five thousand people gathered and made such a big commotion! Don't tell me that you, the Black Guards, have no supervision measures against these former native royal family members, tribal leaders and True God charlatans!"

"Sir, those people are naturally under the strict supervision of our Black Guards and will not rashly jump out to stir up trouble." Fu Baozhong replied carefully: "So, I think that the little prince who was elected as the leader of the native rebels should be a... fake! As for the few True God charlatans, they may have been hiding in the mountains. You know, it has only been more than 30 years since we completely destroyed the several native kingdoms on Shanyi Island (now Mindanao Island). There must be many stubborn remnants of the native states and religious diehards hiding in the mountains, waiting for an opportunity to act."

"You are so stubborn!" Meng Yuanyou stared at Fu Baozhong fiercely. "If we defeat the rebellious natives this time and capture them alive, and it is proven that everything was caused by the negligence of you Black Guards, I will definitely send you to the military court and peel off your skin."

"..." Upon hearing this, Fu Baozhong felt his scalp tighten and he couldn't help but swallow a few mouthfuls of saliva with difficulty.

As a result of this native riot, not only will the local officials of the entire Jing'an Prefecture be held accountable and punished, but those spies who were collecting intelligence will also inevitably suffer the consequences.

These damn natives!
"Bang! Bang!"

Suddenly, two gunshots were heard at the entrance of the village. Several officers present immediately stood up and turned to look in the direction of the gunshots.

"Sir, several natives were spotted outside the village, and a platoon of soldiers has been sent out to pursue them." An officer on duty hurriedly reported.

"Didn't the natives go far?" Meng Yuanyou's expression changed.

"Could it be a lone native?" The intelligence officer was also surprised.

"Do you think the rebellious natives are hiding in the nearby mountains and forests, waiting for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on us?"

"Night attack?"

"If we can wipe out our vanguard of more than 300 people at once, it will not only greatly boost the morale of the natives, but also allow us to seize a large amount of weapons and ammunition, thereby expanding their strength."

"Can they eat it?"

"What if?" Meng Yuanyou smacked his lips. "How do you know if you don't try?"

"Sir, although this village has been completely destroyed, with the help of some of the ruins and our superior firearms, even if the natives attack with all their might, they may not be able to defeat us."

"It has been almost a month since the native riots."

"..."

"You said, if the natives use this time to make some advance preparations for the raid, it shouldn't be difficult."

"..." Upon hearing this, several officers suddenly thought of something and their faces changed instantly.

"Go, before it gets dark, we need to prepare countermeasures." Meng Yuanyou waved his hand and sent away several officers.
-
Night had fallen over the earth, and to make matters worse, a thin layer of mist had fallen over the entire land, making all the scenes on the field a little blurry.

The Qi army entered the village in the evening and arranged the camp into a simple square position. They also set up two barbed wire fences around the camp and hung countless barbs on them.

As if to make their camp an indestructible fortress, the militiamen who came with the army also threw a large amount of caltrops between the two barbed wire fences.

It was reported that the poorly equipped natives, not to mention the few decent muskets - the natives had captured several abaca plantations in Shanting Township and the surrounding areas, and must have seized a lot of firearms and iron weapons - did not even have a single shoe on their feet.

If the natives really attacked at night, these caltrops scattered on the ground would definitely give the barefoot natives a big "surprise".

As for barbed wire, this thing is entirely a product of the rise of the plantation economy.

More than a decade ago, in order to protect its mature cocoa fruits from being poached and eaten by animals, a cocoa plantation on Weiyuan Island (now New Guinea Island) hired armed guards to patrol the plantation. The plantation was also surrounded by large bundles of wire and sharpened wooden sticks were inserted into the wire.

Later, they felt that the method of inserting wooden sticks was not effective and could easily be dismantled and damaged, so they ordered a large number of metal hooks from the hardware factory and twisted them to hang on the wire.

No one knows how, but the military learned about this method of fencing with barbed wire and hanging barbs, and they immediately realized that this thing would be extremely effective for the army to camp outdoors or build temporary defensive positions!

Therefore, after several offensive and defensive exercises, the military has indeed proved that barbed wire has a great bonus effect on the defender and is the best defensive tool for the army to temporarily camp. It is much easier than digging a few trenches with great effort.

Soon, barbed wire became the most important equipment in the Qi State Army.

In the camp, more than 200 people consisting of an army platoon and local police, gendarmes, and militia were deployed in the east and south directions which might be subject to the enemy's main attacks, while more than 100 people consisting of temporarily recruited militiamen were deployed in the west and north directions where it was difficult to deploy offensive formations.

As for the remaining dozen or so staff officers, military police and black guard spies, they were used as reserve forces and would be deployed to any direction that was in urgent need. There were several gaps between the sections of barbed wire, and two deep pits were dug between the gaps, with caltrops scattered at the bottom of the pits. These gaps were to leave enough roads for the officers and soldiers in the formation to charge out. At that time, they only needed to lay a few wooden boards to charge out of the position smoothly and pursue the defeated enemy.

The three 55mm light army guns (equivalent to the 4-pound artillery of the same era) carried by the troops were placed on the gaps in the innermost barbed wire, and ammunition boxes were also stored in crudely dug bunkers nearby, so that they would be bombarded fiercely after the natives launched an attack.

Although this 300-strong army was filled with a large number of local soldiers and militiamen, under the guidance of dozens of well-trained army officers and soldiers, the entire camp was arranged like a hedgehog in less than two hours. When the last ray of light in the sky was about to sink into the earth, everyone even had time to finish dinner in batches.

"Here they come!" Suddenly, a brave lieutenant who was sitting next to the broken wall sat up, held the low wall with his hands, and looked out into the pitch-black night, his face full of longing.

Damn it, he didn't get the chance to go to Borneo and Annan to make achievements, but he unexpectedly encountered the situation of the natives making trouble. Although the heads of the natives are not very "valuable", it is still a military achievement, right?
After a while, in the night, there were rustling sounds of footsteps, faint sounds of heavy breathing, the sound of weapons colliding, and the dull sound of people falling to the ground.

"Boom!" The artillery brothers fired an explosive bomb forward. In a flash of fire, in addition to the human bodies that were blown high into the air, there were also dense human shadows.

"Ready!...Ready!" An officer raised the command knife in his hand high.

"shooting!"

Hearing the footsteps getting closer, the officer estimated the distance in his mind and suddenly swung down the command knife in his hand.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

More than one hundred rifles fired at almost the same time. Although affected by the fog and the soldiers' operational errors, the firing rate was still over 80%.

There were faint screams in the darkness, but these sounds were soon drowned out by the denser footsteps. The first row of musketeers who had finished shooting immediately retreated and began to reload quickly under the illumination of torches. The second row of musketeers quickly stepped forward, stood behind the low wall and began to shoot.

In the darkness, beams of flame shot out from the gun barrels, like blooming flowers of death, taking away lives one after another.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!..." Dozens of wooden spears flew into the Qi camp with the sound of breaking through the air. Although the soldiers in the camp took emergency evasive measures and hid behind low walls or carriages under the loud reminders of officers and senior non-commissioned officers, some unlucky ones were still shot in the body and fell to the ground screaming. Several soldiers were even pierced through the body and nailed to the ground, crying and struggling helplessly.

The natives charged at a very fast speed, taking advantage of the mist and the cover of night, and had already reached the outskirts of the camp. But they were blocked outside by the first barbed wire, and they were at a loss as to how to tear open the wire and rush into the camp.

The torches hung on the wooden stakes illuminated their hideous faces. They were shirtless, with a simple short skirt or cloth strip around their waists. They were waving daggers and wooden spears, shouting and yelling loudly.

Those natives who tried to tear open the barbed wire all had their hands pierced by the barbs, leaving them bleeding. Some of the more reckless guys tried to climb over the barbed wire by brute force, but were pierced by the barbs and had blood holes all over their bodies, screaming in pain.

However, the natives behind had no idea why the people in front had stopped. They just kept rushing forward and killed their way into the Qi camp to engage in close combat. As a result, many natives had just stood firm in front of the barbed wire when they were pushed towards the barbed wire by the charging crowd behind them and were tragically hung on it.

The sound of gunfire, cannon fire, shouts, and screams continued to break the silence of the wilderness. As more and more natives were pushed towards the barbed wire by the surging crowd, some clever natives finally realized that they could use the bodies of their companions hanging on the barbed wire as stepping stones to climb over the barbed wire.

They stepped on the bodies of their companions, braved the dense fire of musket bullets and artillery shotgun shells, successfully crossed the barbed wire fence more than one meter high, raised wooden spears, and jumped into the first barbed wire fence howling.

However, as soon as their feet touched the ground, they suddenly let out even more miserable screams, hugged their feet, and fell to the ground in agony.

The densely packed sharp caltrops on the ground easily pierced their feet, causing them to subconsciously drop the wooden spears in their hands and sit on the ground, holding their feet and about to cry out in pain, but suddenly they felt a sharp pain coming from under their buttocks, and they supported themselves with their hands and tried to stand up again. But what made them collapse was that they also had several sharp caltrops on their hands.

The Qi soldiers in the camp fired muskets calmly, and as the natives at the first barbed wire became more and more dense, their results became greater and greater.

At this time, the artillerymen also switched to shotgun shells. At a distance of just a few dozen meters, the dense rain of bullets splashing from the muzzles caused extremely horrific casualties in the surging crowd. Often, a shotgun shell would create an open space in a fan-shaped area in front, and the natives in this fan-shaped area would fall to the ground with screams. Many people did not even make a sound before their bodies were covered with blood holes and they fell to the ground silently.

However, the number of natives was too large. Under the multiple fire attacks, more and more people rushed over the first wire fence and into the fence. Some fierce natives even roared and rushed towards the second wire fence more than 20 meters away, but they were all tripped by it and gathered in front of the wire fence, trying in vain to tear it apart and move it away.

However, they were either hung on the barbed wire by countless barbs, struggling and screaming, or stabbed through the heart by armed militiamen with spears, falling to the ground unwillingly.

As more and more natives rushed in, their corpses even covered the space between the two barbed wire fences. The natives outside the barbed wire fences were also throwing wooden spears inside to disrupt the shooting rhythm of the Qi soldiers. The battle had entered a white-hot stage.

The battle was so brutal that the natives seemed like emotionless beasts. Without any hesitation, they launched a desperate charge fearlessly and at all costs.

The ground in front of and behind the outermost barbed wire was covered with a thick layer of corpses. The air was filled with a very strong smell of blood, which even tended to cover up the smell of gunpowder smoke.

Such a battle put all the Qi soldiers under great pressure. In their view, the charge of the natives was tantamount to suicide, wasting their lives on the periphery of the position, but they could never break into the Qi camp.

But this kind of human wave tactic greatly shocked everyone.

In just over twenty minutes, at least four hundred natives were killed or wounded. Logically, they should have stopped the attack, retreated to the starting position, and rested to a certain extent.

However, these natives were too crazy. Even with such heavy casualties, they were still charging forward one after another.

Don’t these natives know what death is or what fear feels like?
"It's about time." Meng Yuanyou leaned on his saber and looked at the tragic scene in front of the battlefield. He muttered to himself, tilted his head slightly, and listened attentively to the movement behind the formation.

As far as the eye could see, wave after wave of natives stepped on the bodies of their companions, climbed over the first barbed wire, and rushed to the second barbed wire. They roared and raised their spears, short spears, or long knives to kill the Qi people hiding behind the barbed wire.

However, their efforts were curbed by the spear formation formed by armed militiamen who were ready behind the barbed wire. Dozens of people holding nearly three-meter-long spears mechanically stabbed forward at the command of the officers, then retracted them, stabbed out again, and retracted them again.

Every stabbing would cause a stream of blood to spurt out from the chest and lower abdomen of a large number of natives, followed by shrill screams.

Of course, the natives’ frenzied counterattack also caused them some casualties, but after the people in the front were killed or injured, the reserve personnel behind immediately filled in to ensure the stability of the front line.

The artillery continued to fire, and their terrifying lethality was fully demonstrated in this battle. Even the natives who seemed not to be afraid of death were extremely frightened by the roar of the artillery, and would subconsciously dodge or fall to the ground.

In front of the two barbed wire fences, blood flowed like a river and corpses were scattered all over the ground, just like hell on earth.

"Wow..."

"Ow..."

"ah……"

Suddenly, a huge noise and shouting broke out on the silent west side of the camp. The ground seemed to be turned over by a dragon. Countless black shadows leaped out from the ground, waving daggers and rushing fiercely towards the Qi army position more than 20 meters away, like demons rushing out of hell, revealing their hideous faces.

(End of this chapter)