The wind blows from the South Sea

Chapter 40 The Southern Trade Route comes to a perfect conclusion

Facing the stern military formation approaching from the bottom of the mountain, Tian Qiwen's eyes were really splitting at the moment, and he was still filled with unwillingness under the huge fear.

He has no choice but to retreat now, because behind him are the only remaining members of the Tian family, the Tian family's ancestral hall and manor, and the wealth accumulated by the Tian family's more than two hundred years of struggle overseas.

No matter what, I have to fight to the death!

Tian Qiwen turned and walked aside, then turned his head and shouted wildly;

"Young and old men of the Tian family, if you raise your head, it will be a knife, and if you shrink your head, it will be a knife. We will fight with them."

Under the instigation of the clan leader, the enthusiastic men of the Tian family roared and raised their weapons, and rushed down the mountain with a roar...

Since the stone mountain road is only more than 4 meters wide, and there are dirt shoulders on both sides, Feng Guohui can only line up a queue of 10 people, making it difficult to fully utilize his firepower.

The sword-and-shielder unit commanded by He Qiang was at the front, with a total of 30 sword-and-shielders forming a covering shield formation.

Behind him is the captain Hu Laohu, who personally directs 100 musketeers to carry out the attack. The specific method is that the ten musketeers in the front row squat down and shoot, and the ten musketeers in the back row stand and shoot.

After a salvo is completed

The musketeers in the front row handed over their muskets to the rear in turn, then received the loaded flintlock muskets, followed the order again, aimed and fired.

Looking at the ferocious faces of the Tian clan members running all the way down the mountain, they roared and waved the swords and guns in their hands, quickly reducing the distance between the two sides from more than 120 yards to more than 50 yards.

Only then did Hu Laohu look bloodthirsty. He steadily raised the command knife in his hand and suddenly swung it down, giving a loud order: "Hold the rifle straight and fire!"

The "cracking" sound of gunshots like a violent bean suddenly rang out, splattering the blood of the Tian clan members who rushed forward, leaving blood holes visible to the naked eye.

The running body lost all its strength in an instant, fell to the ground weakly, and rolled down several times with all its remaining strength.

This round of volleys immediately knocked down more than 10 people.

What people never expected is that

The corpses of more than 10 people who suddenly fell down became an obstacle to their progress. The man rushing down from behind could not stop his feet and stumbled over the corpses in front.

They all turned into rolling gourds, and their forward momentum suddenly stalled.

Many people behind saw it and screamed, wanting to stop their feet, but where could they do it?

The people further behind could not see what was happening in front of them and kept rushing forward. As a result, all the people in front of them were knocked over to the ground and rolled down the stone road.

When they realized something was wrong, they couldn't stop themselves.

What's even more hateful is that the enemies on the opposite side are constantly firing. Row after row of hot bullets are mercilessly killing people. Those who are still standing have become the first targets.

The distance was short and people were crowded together. When hit by concentrated fire and volleys of gunfire, the casualties were particularly heavy.

After a while

When the remaining Tian clan members stopped in horror, there were densely packed corpses lying on the ground in front of them, stacked one layer after another, with some places being three or four stories high.

The most pitiful thing is that many of the people trapped underneath did not die. They either had their ribs or legs broken by being stepped on, and they were trapped underneath and struggling in pain.

In just this short time, nearly half of the Tian clan members were killed or injured on this mountain road, most of them were young and strong men, who were slaughtered like chickens and sheep.

When the enthusiasm faded, great fear came.

After the remaining Tian clan members withstood two rounds of volley fire, more than twenty people fell down, and the rest were all blown up.

They dropped their weapons and backed away with frightened expressions. Some of them ran directly into the grass on both sides, ran all the way back home, closed the door, and hid under the bed.

Facing the blocked mountain road, Hu Laohu reluctantly ordered to break up the formation, and some sword and shield players stayed in place to clear the battlefield and touch up the wounded one by one.

Hu Laohu led the others around the bushes on both sides and pursued them all the way up.

Surrounded by a large group of soldiers, Feng Guohui walked up the mountain road and dispatched He Qiang's sword and shield hand team to clear the houses on both sides.

The shouts of death and gunshots continued intermittently for more than an hour, and only stopped completely near 3 p.m.

After-the-fact inventory

In this battle, about a thousand Tian's gangsters were wiped out, and all the men who were taller than a wheel were slaughtered. Tianjia Town has since had another name, called "Widow Town".

After this round of bloody massacre, the Nanyang Company's reputation resounded throughout East Java, and almost everyone knew about it.

Everyone knows that Nanyang Company is very protective and will retaliate for every irritation. It is a ruthless character that should never be offended.

The corpses that were thrown into the Sesamenu River floated down the river and soon entered the Java Sea. The indigenous people along the way looked at the densely packed corpses floating on the river, swollen and horrified.

It was so scary that my scalp was numb. As a result, Nanyang Company's vicious methods spread throughout the coastal areas of East Java, and soon spread to Central Java.

decades since

Even if the indigenous people in the middle and lower reaches of the Zhiminu River are hungry and eat grass roots, they generally don't eat fish. That's another story.

The downpour struck again, and it continued for three days, washing away all traces of the bloody battle in Tianjia Town.

But this once prosperous and lively town is no longer the bustle of the past.

On the last day of December, Tianjia Town became lively again. A total of 12 mule and horse carts were fully loaded, 44 of which were loaded with confiscated spices and other goods. This was the old treasure accumulated by the Tian family. The foundation has now been wiped out.

The remaining twenty-seven mule and horse carts were loaded with many crying young women. They were carrying their few small bundles and were about to leave with the Nanyang Company's mule and horse caravan.

There were also some young women who followed on foot, totaling about 420 people.

Feng Guohui considered that there should be some rewards for the caravan members, allowing each soldier to take away a young woman and keep the collected property.

The extra women were reserved as rewards for the sake of the brothers left behind in Yanwang City and Surabaya City.

The roadside at the entrance of the town

Mr. Lu Zhenchao and He Qiang, who were tall and thin in Tsing Yi, were leading the people who stayed behind to bid farewell to Feng Guohui vaguely, with a look of reluctance on their faces.

Feng Guohui took a fancy to Lu Zhengchao's great role in developing the westbound caravan, and his performance was particularly outstanding, showing his super ability.

He was specially recruited from Bromo Town and appointed as the mayor of Tianjia Town, in charge of the production and living affairs of two plantations and a tea mountain in Tianjia Town and more than a dozen surrounding villages.

Lu Zhengchao was also born in a merchant's family in Yanwang City. He has always been a marginal character, and although he is in his thirties, he has not achieved any great achievements.

But talent is talent, and if given a chance, it will shine brightly.

Faced with Feng Guohui's trust, Lu Zhengchao was so grateful that he bowed to the ground and vowed to protect the Sesame Nu River for Dong Weng.

Feng Guohui plans to open a Nanyang daily necessities store in Tianjia Town in the future, but unfortunately it is out of stock now, so he can only wait until the next mule and horse caravan to bring it over.

Tianjia Town allowed his men to search, but in fact the real Tianjia old house on the top of the mountain was privately occupied by Feng Guohui, and of course the wealth here fell into his pocket.

After a detailed search, some antique calligraphy, paintings and jewelry were not included for the time being, and the cash including gold and silver was worth more than 7 silver coins.

Feng Guohui left 2 silver coins for the town, and arranged for He Qiang and others to stay in the town to guard, and appointed him as the guard captain of Tianjia Town. He left a total of 137 people, which can be regarded as his old guard.

He Qiang is allowed to continue to expand his team, with the total number not exceeding 320. He will mainly recruit young Chinese people with clean financial status (excluding Tian clan members living in the countryside), with priority given to those who are literate.

It doesn't have enough power, and it can't deter the surrounding gangsters.

The remaining personnel were selected from those who were unwilling to continue fighting, and there were actually 17 veterans of the Nanyang War who were willing to stay.

This made Feng Guohui feel deeply heartbroken and somewhat regretful.

Damn it, the conditions given are too generous.

Seeing that there were so many vacant houses of the Tian clan on the mountainside, he allowed these veterans to choose one as a reward, and in the blink of an eye, more than forty houses were distributed.

Many veterans returned to Tianjia Town to take care of themselves and enjoy the days of their wives and children when they couldn't work anymore.

And these seventeen veterans couldn't wait. Anyway, every family had a woman, and some people even got two women. In addition, they had made a small fortune these days.

Land twenty or thirty acres of land, hold a woman in your arms and give birth to a litter of cubs. Wouldn’t she be delicious?

The words Feng Guohui said were like water thrown out. It was useless to take them back at this time, so he could only agree with a curse.

Then Tianjia Town was entrusted to Lu Zhenchao. He Yong and a group of veterans closed the Tianjia mansion and ancestral hall before leaving, and asked them to manage this property carefully.

The first task

It means mobilizing people from eight villages in four townships to build roads during slack periods. At least the dirt roads should be padded with gravel, and drainage ditches should be dug on both sides of the roads to prevent water accumulation on the roads after rain.

As long as the road is repaired, the road from Tianjia Town to Sishui City will only be more than 140 kilometers, and it can be reached in two days by driving a mule, horse and cart.

If we put it now, it would take about ten days.

Mobilizing 2,000 to 3,000 strong laborers to build roads would only take some time by smashing stones. Renovating the roadbed is very fast, and it takes about thirty or forty days.

By then, whether it is Tianjia Town, Bromo Town, Yanwang City or other places, as long as the roads are repaired, it will be very fast for help from Surabaya City.

After waving goodbye

Feng Guohui led 44 mules and horses, and escorted by more than 50 cavalry, the team of hundreds of people meandered and soon disappeared among the rich green mountains.

At this point, the Nanyang Company's series of actions to expand trade routes southward came to a successful end.

The southern trade route in the entire East Java area has been completely opened, and three central pivots have been established in Yanwang City, Bromo Town and Tianjia Town, which can radiate to the surrounding areas.

It took more than a month, and I finally made the journey step by step.

(End of this chapter)