Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2156
Unlike the militias in the Central Plains, which have suffered from wars and are almost armed to the teeth, although the villages along the Xijiang River also have village valor groups, but because Guangdong is generally considered "peaceful", they are far inferior to the militias in the Central Plains in terms of "armed equipment" , not only are there very few cannons, but there are not many light firearms.The bandits attacked fiercely just now, and when they heard the sound of gunfire outside, they were already a little frightened. When they heard that the bandits were going to bring "cannons", the timid ones turned pale.

On the contrary, Mr. Xu could hold his breath a little bit. He knew Xu Yong all along: he was brave and aggressive, and he would not show timidity easily.With his current attitude, he must have lost his mind.

If he couldn't hold him down at this moment, he might run for his life quietly, and the whole village would be doomed.He immediately got up and said, "Lead the way, I'll go ahead and see..."

"My lord, don't go—the army is in danger!" Someone persuaded.

"Don't be afraid, the bandits can't come in, I'll go ahead and see if there are cannons, I have to think of a countermeasure as soon as possible." After saying that, he ordered Xu Yong, "Lead the way ahead."

"Yes! Master, go this way."

Master Xu took a few young and strong servants, and followed Xu Yong all the way to the entrance of the village.

Unlike many villages in the Central Plains, Xu Gang did not build a wall surrounding the whole village. Instead, it used the intricate rivers, ponds and paddy fields under the hills to build a defense system.Therefore, there are only three roads that can enter Xugang, which are in the east, west, and south directions of the village, and the south is the waterway.The Xu family built a masonry watchtower at the intersection of these three roads. With fences and horse repelling, they can effectively resist the attacks of bandits and criminals from all walks of life on weekdays.

Due to the large area of ​​water in the east, there are densely populated villages, waterways and ponds. The bandits can only attack along a small road, and it is difficult to form a formation; the south is a waterway, and the bandits lack enough ships, so the focus of the attack is on the west. noodle.

Mr. Xu walked all the way through the streets and alleys, only to see that every house was closed and every house was locked.There was no sound at all, even if there were a few people wandering on the street, stretching their necks to visit, they were all old people in their dying years.Master Xu was secretly anxious, but he still had to put on a calm look on his face.

Gradually approaching the entrance of the village, I saw that under the eaves on both sides of the road, there were painted wounds sitting or lying down, some were wrapped in cloth strips, and some had nothing but humming.Blood dripping, very frightening.There is no dedicated person to take care of them here, and many wounded have not bandaged their wounds. Although the groans of pain and water come and go, no one pays attention.

Mr. Xu is not a rich man in dough balls, but when Mu Ran saw so many lottery numbers, he couldn't help being frightened and palpitated secretly, and secretly quickened his pace, not wanting to be pulled by the corner of his robe by a seriously injured lottery on the side of the road again, wailing Begging him to find someone to heal, he had to pull hard to break free.

"The bandits have too many firearms, and the brothers were unprepared—they were all shot." Xu Yong said.

The intersection has been blocked with bricks, tiles and beams from the demolished houses. A few bold Xiangyongs are holding big knives and are climbing on it to look around. , some were holding big swords and bamboo spears, some were holding bows and crossbows, and some had only a whistle stick at all, and all of them showed uneasy expressions.On the threshing ground not far away, a row of corpses were covered with reed mats, there were seventeen or eighteen corpses.

"The master is here, the master is here!" The Yong Ding gathered under the watchtower saw him coming, and hurriedly made way for him, and Master Xu entered the watchtower with a sullen face.The smell of acrid gunpowder mixed with sweat and blood was disgusting.With the help of Xu Yong, he climbed up the folded ladder until he reached the top floor - the parapets and crenels on the top floor were damaged a lot, and there were still bloodstains on the ground.

"Master, the bandits are right there." Xu Yong led him to the back of an intact crenel, and pointed quietly.

Master Xu looked over, passing by the entrance of the village, there were many corpses scattered on the road, in the paddy field, and on the river bank, probably all the bandits who had been shot to death.Less than half a mile away, there is a small village of more than ten households, which is now occupied by bandits. It is not known whether it was a fire for cooking or burning down the house, and it is emitting black smoke.

I saw a lot of people gathered in darkness at the entrance of the village, all armed with swords and guns, and there was a row of cards playing cards at the intersection.Although it's not real, it doesn't look like a bandit when you look at the battle. The card game is bulky and inconvenient to carry. Whether it's a bandit or a Yao who comes here occasionally to grab a hand and leave, they won't use it.

"I think they look like officers and soldiers!" Xu Yong cursed in a low voice, "Their formation and firearms are not something bandits can do."

Master Xu nodded silently, because of the Australians calling, it happened from time to time that officers and soldiers from all over the country broke up and turned into bandits.They have also been harassed here.However, the number of those "soldiers and bandits" is not large, and the equipment is not so sophisticated, let alone so many firearms.

It's really strange!He asked, "Have you taken any prisoners?"

"I caught one, but unfortunately I was seriously injured and died before I could ask."

Master Xu was secretly worried. It seemed that there were at least 400 bandits in this group, and if not all of them, a considerable number of them were officers and soldiers. This was not something the hundreds of strong men in his village could resist.Even if there is no cannon, the village will probably be unable to withstand the attack a few more times.

The only hope is that the Australians in the county come to the rescue in time.

More than half a month ago, shortly after the county changed hands, the county asked the villages to assign "liaison officers" to the county for a "meeting". Strong men and some money and food—it is said that it was used by the county to form the "National Army".Anyway, the Australians have strong boats and powerful guns, and they have to do what they are told to do. Everyone understands this.Later, all the villages were asked to prepare firecrackers, special rockets were distributed, and a pamphlet was distributed, to the effect that they should "call the police" in case of siege or other situations.And at the meeting, he solemnly promised that as long as he "called the police", the National Army in the county would definitely come to the rescue.

To be honest, Mr. Xu was dubious about these words.In his opinion, it is true that the Australians in the county want money, food and strong men. The rescue of this government has been unreliable since ancient times. Accumulated "love points".

Compared with conscience, Mr. Xu still believes in "love", so whether it is apportioning young men or money and food, it can be regarded as "active". The "county magistrate" - they are called "director", went to send a generous gift.Unexpectedly, the director refused to accept the oil and salt, not only refused to accept it, but also reprimanded him with a straight face, which made him very upset.

In this way, Master Xu can only rely on the conscience of the "director".He felt that it was due to his obedience to the Australians' policy words these days, and the Australians couldn't just watch Xu Gang die like this, so in addition to setting off smoke, he also sent a capable butler to the county to "call the police".For the sake of safety, in addition to the servants of the guards, the housekeeper was also asked to bring 500 taels of silver-even if the county director said "conscience", it is difficult to guarantee that the national army below will not.

He looked at the direction of the upper and lower reaches of the West River, watching eagerly, hoping that Australian boats would appear on the river immediately—these days, Australian steamers cruised the river every now and then, sometimes dragging There is a whole bunch of boats, why can't we see any of them at this meeting?
Just as he was anxious, his arm was suddenly shoved, and Xu Yong shouted in surprise and joy: "Australians! The Australians are here!"

Master Xu was taken aback, and quickly looked in the direction of his finger, only to see a dozen small Australian steamers from the upper reaches of the Xijiang River coming here with black smoke.He breathed a sigh of relief immediately, and secretly said: "The Emperor Bodhisattva bless you!" He ordered: "Quick! Let go of the flower rocket to contact!"

"Report! There are residential areas on the north bank of the river launching contact rockets!" The observation post reported loudly.

Zhu Si quickly stood up and raised the binoculars.Sure enough, at a place about 1.5 kilometers away from the fleet on the lower reaches of the river, a red signal rocket flew up, and he silently counted "one, two..." After the two shots were fired, after a while, there were two more bursts. Shooting—this is the signal for warning and calling for help.

He hurriedly took out the map from his map bag and compared it - that's right, the big village on the hills on the north bank downstream is Xu Gang!
"Captain, should we respond with rockets?" the sergeant asked.

"No, let Lieutenant Mi and the others answer." Zhu Si said, "All get ready for battle!"

At this time, Mi Longtao's command boat, who was walking ahead, fired a signal rocket in response.Then, a semaphore came from the front, "All boats are ready to fight, and act according to the plan."

According to the battle plan agreed in advance, the main force under the command of Mi Longtao landed in the first wave and directly attacked the enemy's heavy army group. The squadron under the command of Zhu Si then landed to cover the main force's rear and search for the broken bandits at the same time.

According to the general experience in the past, most of the bandits have no strong will to fight. Once they encounter an attack from the regular army, they will often collapse immediately. There are few complicated tactical actions in combat, so the combat plan is not complicated.

The fleet slowly approached the north bank of the river. Mi Longtao stood on the command platform. There was no trace of the enemy on the river bank—not even a boat. The enemy did not come from the river.

From the riverside to Xugang, the distance is about one kilometer. The terrain is flat but very broken. There are rivers, ditches, ponds and paddy fields everywhere. It is very difficult for troops to maneuver in this terrain, and they can only advance by country roads and ridges.

According to the plan in advance, a platoon of the Fubo Army served as the vanguard and opened the way at the front. The terrain here is flat and the view is good, and the Mini rifle can fire at long distances and shoot accurately.Mi Longtao reckoned that within a few rounds of shooting, the bandits would be defeated by the firepower.

Next update: Volume 360 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)