Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2187 Recovering Guangning
Just as the troops walked ten kilometers in the mountains with ammunition on their backs and transported the shells and gunpowder to the artillery positions outside Guangning City for transfer, the reconnaissance team sent a message: Guangning City seemed to be guarded by an invincible army.

The top of the city is completely empty, without a single guard.Scouts observed the city with binoculars from a nearby hill, and found no sign of enemy troops gathering near the city wall.

Yang Zeng, who had already arrived at Qianzhi, was secretly puzzled, thinking that this was a "empty city plan"?Just as he was about to instruct the scouts to "come close for reconnaissance", the Guangning city gate, which had been closed all the time, suddenly opened by itself.A large group of people came out of Guangning City with drums and gongs, and walked towards the bewildered Suijiang detachment. They saluted a middle-aged man dressed as a Confucian scholar from a long distance away and saluted tearfully. Heavenly soldiers enter the city."

"This can't be the enemy's trick to lure us into the city to set fire to the new field." Huang Chao muttered.

Yang Zeng sent people to bring several "elders" of the leader.He has seen quite a few "local elders", and this is the first time he has seen them in such a state of embarrassment, all of them with bruised noses and swollen faces, and their clothes were torn in several places.

The "local elders" were searched before they were brought in front of Yang Zeng and others. They all knelt down on the ground and reported their names, "Please enter the city quickly."

Being so active was really suspicious. Yang Zeng ordered a company to occupy the gates and towers of various cities, and a company to search the city.While interrogating the "elders" about the fall of the county.

It turned out that Guangning fell three days ago.At that time, there were bandits in the county rioting, and the county director of Guangning sent the second team to suppress the riots. The original establishment of Guangning County was only one squadron of the national army, and the third team was deployed in Shijian. According to the arrangement, only the 2st squad and the "county militia" that had just been trained were left in the county.There are about 3 people.

In terms of the fortification of Guangning city defense, with the city gate closed, more than 200 people are enough to resist the intrusion of ordinary bandits and soldiers, not to mention a heavily armed National Army squad.So when they got the news that a large group of bandits came from Hezhou, the county director and the squadron leader were not too nervous. They sent people to Shijian to contact them and asked them to pay attention to the enemy's situation; they closed the city gate and prepared for battle. .

However, three days ago, part of the militia in the city mutinied suddenly, opened the city gate, and bandits from outside the city swarmed in. The squadron leader of the national army hurriedly led the team to counterattack, but died suddenly during the battle, and some soldiers of the national army surrendered to the enemy on the spot , the rest of the people were fighting and retreating, and finally opened the city gate with some members of the militia and escaped.

"How many people ran away?" Yang Zeng asked.

"About a hundred or ten people." The middle-aged Confucian scholar said tremblingly, "The young ones didn't see it, they just heard people say so."

"Where are the cadres in the county?"

"I heard... I heard..." The middle-aged Confucian scholar was a little scared, if the leader of the Kunren wanted to vent his anger on him, it would be a disaster.

"What did you hear? Say it!"

"Yes, yes, the cadres in the city, it is said that they escaped with the soldiers of the sky, and seven people including the county magistrate were trapped—that day...that day..."

"killed?"

"Yes, at the intersection of Cross Street." The middle-aged Confucian scholar shrunk his neck, fearing that he would be furious, "...the students, the students and the city's gentry have already collected their corpses, and now they are all parked in the temple..."

Yang Zeng and others inquired carefully, only to find out that after the bandits entered the city, they captured seven naturalized civilian cadres headed by the county director, and all beheaded them at the crossroads. , It is said that it is to "repay the merit".The next day, he killed several gentry and businessmen from the County Advisory Bureau, and also captured many "traitors" who were "attached to the kun" and beheaded them, killing more than 100 people.

Although the bandits who came here claimed to be "officers and soldiers", their military discipline was extremely poor.After entering the city, in addition to asking for various "offerings", stragglers committed crimes, burned, killed, raped, and robbed money.Almost all merchants and gentry in the city were harmed by them.Ordinary people have also been spoiled a lot by them.

Last night, the bandits suddenly started looting the whole city and captured many women. They opened the city gate and escaped early this morning.

"...I'm looking forward to the heavenly soldiers like dry fields, and I'm looking forward to the rain." The middle-aged Confucian scholar finished "crying" with snot and tears, and Huang Chao and Yang Zeng's faces were already livid.Yang Zeng said: "Let's go, let's enter the city!"

Entering the city, the city is already in a mess, every house is open, and the shops along the street are all smashed and looted.There are still dead bodies lying on the street.

The people who survived the catastrophe gathered on both sides of the road to "welcome the heavenly soldiers" with horror on their faces.They have accepted and suffered enough from the bandits, rich and poor, they don’t understand this regime in the past, they just passively accept the regime and have a great impression of it-this contrast is too great!
Although they were plundered by bandits and suffered heavy property losses, the people still placed drinks and food on the roadside to show their hearts.

When Yang Zeng and others came to the intersection, they saw a large black area covered with blood on the sandstone slab.Thinking of the comrades who were killed here a few days ago, I feel resentment in my heart--if I knew the situation here earlier, it would be great!Even if the whole army is forced to march and break their legs, they will come here.

Huang Chao's feelings were different from his. Apart from anger, there was also an inexplicable fear in his heart.Although there was no corpse, the cold reality and the blood on the ground reminded him that the situation he had to face was a hundred times more difficult than the situation in "Fuli" in Hainan back then, and the cruelty was unprecedented.He took a deep breath to calm himself, but for some reason, he felt that the air was full of blood.I couldn't help but hit two disgusting ones in a row.

The corpses of the killed cadres and the national army have been collected by the local "elders" in simple coffins.Yang Zeng sent someone to have a look, and they said he lost his head.

"Where are the heads of the martyrs?" Yang Zeng asked the middle-aged Confucian scholar.

"The heads were hanging at the gates of the county government office and the four cities. They were put away last night, and they were probably taken away."

Human heads are important merit-recording props, so it is not surprising that they were taken away.Yang Zeng was helpless.The caretaker went out to find a cemetery outside the city, and buried the murdered cadres and soldiers.Huang Chao heard that the people in the city had suffered a lot, so he asked the local people to set up porridge sheds and donate porridge, rice and clothes.He also personally mourned the murdered members of the County Council.Some committee members' homes were robbed, and the surviving family members suffered from hunger and cold. He took care of all these people and sent them to Lingao to support them.

From them, it is known that the person commanding this team is a scribe named Li Cungu. Although he is a scribe, he is bloodthirsty like crazy.As soon as they entered the city, killing the captives and the local "fu Kun" local people was not counted, and their family members were slaughtered, even the old and the young, and more than a dozen households were killed in one go.It was the joint pleading of the big gentry in the county that saved the family members of several members of the Advisory Council who were supposed to be killed.

As for what Huang Chao and others are most concerned about is that the gates of the militia should be opened and some national troops surrendered to the enemy, the local people know little about it. Idlers.As for his later life and death, it is unclear, probably he escaped with the bandits.

"The names of these people must be recorded and they will be wanted forever!" Huang Chao said angrily.

However, with just these few plain names, no photos, no fingerprints, and it was an era of endless wars, the possibility of catching them in the crowd was very small.The only thing Huang Chao can comfort himself is that since they ran away with the bandits, they might have died in the battle.

In order to ensure the safety of Guangning, the Suijiang detachment built another stockade on the bank of Suijiang on the north side of Baoding Mountain, blocking the way to Huaiji.The brought Guangning Brigade consists of 1st Squadron and the remnants of the original Guangning Squadron responsible for the safety of the county and surrounding traffic nodes.At the same time, an infantry company was sent to Huaiji to establish contact with the local garrison, especially to bring back the troops and cadres who escaped from Guangning.

The other two squadrons of the Guangning Brigade patrol the interior line between Guangning and Suijiang to ensure smooth communication with the main force; the other maintains law and order in the villages outside the city, and gradually expands the scope of investigation and search to alert the enemy from the north.

The main force of the Suijiang detachment immediately set off to Huaiji.Originally, both Huang Chao and Yang Zeng planned to carry out a large-scale "security rectification" in Guangning and Huaiqing to ensure the safety of traffic lines.However, judging from the current situation, it is no longer possible for them to take steps at every step and fight steadily.The troops must rush to Lianzhou as soon as possible to suppress the riot.

The Wuzhou Squadron was also left behind as a national army, but they were used as a mobile team, responsible for carrying out law and order between Guangning and Huaiji, and at the same time supporting each squadron-the combat effectiveness of the Wuzhou Squadron has been recognized.

The content of the internal law and order is very simple, it is nothing more than going around in circles on a fixed route.The main purpose is to maintain a military presence and deter potential enemies.If there is a small riot, it can be extinguished in time.The supply is timely and safe; the more dangerous thing is the outer line patrol. After all, the north of Quang Ninh is outside the control area, and the surrounding area is full of mountainous areas, and it is easy to be ambushed. The main job is actually to follow the guide along the road from one village to another. .Everywhere we go, we post printed announcements, call villagers to give lectures, call the village elders to explain policies, and assign tasks...Because there is a shortage of civil affairs cadres, and Quang Ninh is not included in the recent occupation plan, these tasks are all done by military officers. To make do with it, Li Song, the staff officer, was sent to the Wuzhou Squadron to guide the work and compile documents, so as to avoid mistakes in the future handover.

If the local area cooperates, it can be granted the power to organize militia groups for self-defense.Include the local militia in the order of the county militia.At the same time, they were required to pay a "reasonable burden"; if they did not cooperate, the village would be destroyed, and the elders and big households would be arrested as local tyrants and evil gentry who resisted the Heavenly Soldiers, and sent to the Guangzhou court for trial—usually fined or exiled to Kaohsiung.

Next update: Volume 391 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)