Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 646
There used to be tens of thousands of catties of grain in Chengmai County in stock, but now officers and soldiers have sealed up the grain in the county warehouse for military use, and ordered big households to "donate grain."Song Zonghui was the richest man in the county, and of course he was a fat sheep. Not only was he forced to donate 500 shi of grain, he also "happily donated" [-] taels of silver, which made him complain endlessly.The discipline of guest soldiers is often very bad when they enter the country. Although there are generals to suppress them, extortion of large shops and merchants in the city still occurs from time to time, and there are even murders and robberies.If it weren't for Zhao Ruyi and his staff all living in his house, his first household in Chengmai would have already become a piece of fat for the deputy.

"The thieves in Shishan are alone in the enemy's rear. When the food is exhausted, they will naturally retreat. Once the food road is opened, why worry about military food! You don't want to be mediocre!" Lu Yizhong ate half of the snack, "You are the deputy head of the regiment of this county. , as long as you work hard, you will definitely be recommended in terms of merit and deeds." He shook his sleeves and shook off the crumbs of pastries.He Rubin has lost several battles so far, but Lu Yizhong still takes it calmly. He feels that this is just a temporary setback, caused by the fact that he underestimated the enemy at the beginning. Lu Yizhong's arguments in every meeting are simply "stalemate"— - Fight a war of attrition.To attack Lingao with the strength of the whole province of Guangdong, even if it is dragged, it will drag the bandit in Lingao to death.

"Yes, yes." Song Zonghui is still frowning. He bears the name of "the richest man" on his back, and all kinds of financial errands will always fall on him. My own family business has long been tossed by the government.

Gou Chengxuan sat on Qian Taichong's table without saying a word.His status is low and he has no formal staff status, so few people pay attention to him.He was very scheming, knowing that this group of people didn't value him very much, and they escaped from the gangsters. It's okay to say that the war went well, but if the war didn't go well, they might be regarded as "spies" and beheaded.So along the way, we adhere to the purpose of speaking as little as possible.Among the staff, except Qian Taichong who often talked with him about Lingao's geography and people's conditions in order to "clear up the aftermath" of Lingao, it seemed that there was no such person on weekdays.

His mood was very low. Gou Chengxuan originally had hope for the conquest of the army: he thought that there were few bandit soldiers, and that the people in Lingao would not dare to work for them when they heard the arrival of the army. The thief is likely to be forced to retreat.He also had a lot of ideas: as long as the officers and soldiers arrived in Lingao, he would come forward to mobilize the gentry and form a regiment to help the officers and soldiers fight.Including his prepared humble words to implore Huang Shoutong to come out as the head of the regiment, and ask Liu Dalin to come out to be the head of the "Rehabilitation Bureau".Gou Chengxuan felt that in this way, if he came forward in the name of "assistant", he would not only be able to actually control part of the power, but also enable him to re-establish power in Lingao in the future to lay a solid foundation.

But after the officers and soldiers had fought head-to-head with the Kun bandits in Chengmai, Gou Chengxuan knew that this battle could at best be an undefeated draw, and it would be impossible to attack Lingao to force the Kun bandits to retreat.He was very depressed, and worried about Lai Da—he was deeply afraid that Lai Da would find his father and Uncle Hu when he went back to Lingao, and raised a banner to meet the officers and soldiers, but in the end, the officers and soldiers would not arrive, but he would be killed instead.

At this time, he was drinking tea alone in silence, thinking about what he should do after the failure of cutting Kun this time.Zongbing He is unreliable. He didn't take himself seriously at first. After the defeat, the court will be finished as soon as he is held accountable. It is impossible for him to count on Zongbing He to avenge his revenge and revive his family business...

Suddenly, there was a "boom" outside, and the sound was very clear.The sound of the cannons was dull, not the cannons of the bandits, but the cannons of the officers and soldiers.

Afterwards, there were two more shots in succession, and everyone could hear clearly that the sound of the cannon seemed to be from Nancheng.The staff present here couldn't help being startled, and they all turned their ears intently.

"What's the matter?" Everyone felt very surprised. The gangsters and the officers and soldiers hadn't been dispatched to fight these days, and the cannon had never fired.It's almost the end of the Hai, it's the dead of night, and the moonlight is hazy again—could it be that the Kun bandits came to rob the village?Everyone tensed up.

"Boom! Boom!" There were a few more muffled sounds.This time it can be heard very clearly that apart from the cannon firing at the city gate, the other villages outside the city are also firing.

"It's the sound of cannons, it's firing!" Qian Taichong stood up first, waving his arms and shouted.
The others still sat still: "Is it the sound of cannons?" "That's right?" They all stood up.

"Yes, it's a cannonball!"

"Quick, send someone to take a look!"

Immediately, a servant was sent out to inquire about the news.Everyone was a little worried, it would be so strange if the Kun bandits suddenly came to rob the village!There are nearly [-] officers and soldiers in Chengmai city and outside the city, and the combined army of the Kun bandits is no more than [-].Did they suddenly get reinforcements?I can't help but feel a little uneasy.

"No problem, our soldiers are heavily guarded. The inside and outside of the city are as solid as gold. If the thieves come to rob the village, they will only be beaten to death..." Lu Yizhong had just said this, only to hear the sound of "bang" outside, The gunfire was sharp, followed by a whistling sound.There was another loud bang in an instant.

"The Kun thief fired a cannon!" Five or six mouths yelled in unison, and the cannon sound was exactly what they had heard a few days ago.And the loud noise that followed was the sound of the gun thief's flowering cannon.Everyone suddenly became tense.

Lu Yizhong's face turned pale for a while, and he pretended to be calm and said: "The gangster fired the cannon...haha...haha..."

The sound of rumbling cannons sounded one after another outside.At this time, everyone couldn't stay any longer, Qian Taichong waved his hand: "Go, go out and have a look!" After speaking, he raised his legs and walked out.The rest of the people hurriedly followed, walked out of the garden together, and walked to the main courtyard of the Song residence.

It was nearly midnight, and the moon was hidden behind the floating clouds, appearing and disappearing.A large continuous cloud was stained with a strange silver edge, but this scene did not attract everyone's attention.Because what occupied everyone's mind at this moment was that the voice outside the courtyard wall became clearer.In addition to the continuous sound of cannons, there are chaotic voices of people and dogs barking on the street, making a chaotic noise.

Nervous shouts, the clash of armor and weapons, and the sound of scolding and crying could be heard from all over the street.A horn sounded suddenly in the distance, and it sounded long.

The servant sent out to investigate ran in in a panic.

"What happened?" Song Zonghui asked in a panic.
"Returning to the master, there is a commotion outside, saying yes, saying that the gangsters have brought huge cannons, and they are about to bombard the officers and soldiers' barracks!"
"what?"
"Oh, some people are also saying: Shishan's bandits are coming from the other side, and they are going to flank the officers and soldiers in Chengmai!"
Both messages are possible.Everyone was in a hurry, Lu Yizhong expressed disapproval:

"What giant cannon? If there is a giant cannon, the thieves wouldn't have brought it here early. Why wait until today to use it. It's midnight. Even if there is a cannon, don't the thieves all have night eyes and can see in the dark?"

"Yes, it must be the Kun bandits attacking at night!" Someone echoed.

"Hey, let's go out and have a look!" Qian Taichong was unwilling to just sit back and watch empty talk like this.Without waiting for everyone's consent, he led the servants out first.
The street was really noisy.In the night, I saw soldiers, regiment braves, and folks running around with knives and guns, lanterns and torches.Looking at the city tower, it is already brightly lit.Some soldiers guarding Song's house gathered together in groups, talking in low voices, while stretching their necks, looking in the direction of the cannon fire.And the sound of booming cannons and the explosion of flowering cannonballs are still coming from a distance...

They stopped a general, and only then did they realize that there were many bright spots on the sea. It seemed that the navy of the gangsters had come to reinforce them.

"What? The Kun bandits want to take over Xiaoyingchang?"

"I don't know about the bid, but everyone is talking about it." Said the boss and hurried away with others

Qian Taichong suggested to go up to the city gate tower to have a look, so that standing on the street can't see anything clearly.Some people were afraid of being hit by gunfire from the robbers when they went up to the tower and dared not respond, but some were willing to go, and half of them went down.

They are all staff members of the army, the guards of the tower put Qian Taichong and the others they knew, so they let them go up.Climb up the tower and watch.It's no different from the darkness outside, but the lights on the beach are lit up, as if there are many ships coming.From time to time, you can see the flash of fire and the dull sound of cannon.There are also flashes of artillery fire here in Xiaoyingchang, and it seems that the two sides are fighting with each other.

"The thieves are sailing late at night..." Before Chang Qingyun could finish his sentence, someone yelled in surprise. Everyone followed the sound and saw a bright fire rising in the sky by the sea, which seemed to be a ball of fire flying in the air.

"Comet!" Someone yelled.

But immediately they discovered that this was not a comet, the speed of this bright spot was very slow, and its height was constantly decreasing, as if it was heading towards the county.Everyone was overwhelmed with fright.I saw this ball of flames passing by the city gate tower, and hit the outside of the city, and there was a violent explosion sound, and the flames shot out.

"What the hell is this?!" Chang Qingyun exclaimed.

At this time, more and more light spots rose from the seashore, densely packed towards Xiaoyingchang and the nearby officers and soldiers' camps.

"The enemy fired rockets!" Chang Qingyun had read a lot of books on firearms, and he immediately understood that this was a gun thief firing rockets.He'd never seen a rocket actually fired, except in books.Seeing the flames in the sky getting denser and denser, like a rain of fire, he was suddenly stunned.

Rockets with orange flames are continuously flying from the seashore, falling in groups towards Xiaoyingchang, like a huge rain of fire is falling on Xiaoyingchang.Originally, there were only a few lights in the camp, but at this time, huge flames and explosions continued to rise.Groups of flames rose from time to time under the dark night sky, and some places were obviously already burning.

Suddenly, a huge flame rose from the direction of Xiaoyingchang, and there was a dull explosion like rolling thunder.Everyone was shocked, knowing that the gunpowder depot in the officers and soldiers' camp probably exploded.

With the explosion of the gunpowder magazine, the flames on the side of Xiaoyingchang became more and more powerful, illuminating the seaside brightly.However, the Kun thief's rockets continued to fall from the sky into the camp, which aggravated the chaos.Qian Taichong lost his voice and said, "Xiaoying Field is about to fall!"

Sure enough, a large group of people rushed out from the direction of Xiaoying Field. Under the cover of the fire, it could be clearly seen that they were the officers and soldiers guarding Xiaoying Field, and they were fleeing towards the camp in a mess.

"The Kun thief wants to cut off my food by sea!" Qian Taichong exclaimed, although he didn't think shipping food by sea was a good way, but the purpose of the Kun thief's sudden fire to Xiaoyingchang was self-evident.

"Well, what should I do?" Someone supported the battlement and stomped anxiously.

"It depends..."

Chang Qingyun only spoke half of what he said, and flames also flew from the direction of the bandit's camp, and more than a dozen light spots were coming towards the county town and the camp.

"Rocket!" The soldiers on the tower screamed and hid under the battlements one after another. A rain of fire fell on the camp outside the city in an instant.

Qian Taichong shouted: "Everyone, get out of here!" As he said that he had already shrunk down to the battlements, some of the others ran to the tower, some ran to the horse path, and wanted to run down to the city .It was getting dark and panicked, and the staff members were all wearing Confucian shirts with wide robes and large sleeves. In the chaos, those whose robe corners were stepped on, those who pulled their sleeves, fell down and trampled, and cried loudly.

"It's really gentle and sweeping the floor!" Qian Taichong watched as some of his companions fell to the ground with disheveled buns, some of them just ran for their lives and didn't even want their shoes, and some of them stepped on the ground in a panic and crawled from the horse path get off...

The first wave of rockets fired into the camp of the officers and soldiers with a hissing sound, and there was a sudden chaos in the camp. For a while, the water gong was beating violently, and people everywhere were shouting: "It's water!" "It's water!"

Qian Taichong poked his head out from between the battlements, he saw that the camp was on fire everywhere, it was already a mess.While panicking, I heard the sound of rockets piercing through the sky again. This time, countless rockets were fired from the bandit camp, and many rockets were fired from the bandit ships by the sea.

All of a sudden, rockets rained down, and the entire camp fell into chaos. The soldiers no longer cared about putting out the fire, and fled away one after another.The more Qian Taichong looked at it, the more frightened he became: the thieves' rockets were like ordinary arrows, they seemed to shoot out endlessly.In the camp, not to mention gathering people and horses to fight, there is no place to hide.

The rockets of the thieves seemed to avoid the county town on purpose, but there were still many rockets that missed the city walls, some hit the enemy towers, some hit the towers, and many of them crossed the city walls and landed in residential areas. A fire broke out, and the city also panicked, beating water gongs everywhere to put out the fire.

Fortunately, the Kun bandits didn't seem to be targeting the county seat, but just shot at the official army camp below the city.Many camps were on fire, and there was chaos everywhere.

Qian Taichong could understand that although the rockets came round after round, they seemed to be of different sizes, and after landing they were also different. Some of them just flew out fire and burned objects, while others blossomed with a thunderclap. explode.He secretly thought, could there be two types of warheads in it?Thinking that the seaside is ten miles away from the county town, and the Kun bandit's rocket could reach it, he couldn't help but secretly startled. If so, wouldn't the Kun bandit's rocket be a sharp weapon for attacking the city!

Suddenly a figure scrambled and crawled to his side, and when he took a closer look, it was Chang Qingyun.

Chang Qingyun said with tears in his voice, "It's over...it's over, I'm defeated! This time it's all over!"

The rocket attack lasted for half an hour, and then stopped suddenly.However, the entire army camp has become smoldering. Many camps caught fire in time to save them, and they cannot be rescued. The generals can only drag people to the camps with less losses. All camps lost their fighting spirit in panic. .

Qian Taichong saw that the fire had gradually subsided, the commotion had also subsided, and there was no sign of the Kun bandits taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the stronghold, knowing that there was no danger tonight, he and Chang Qingyun quietly walked down the city.Some of the colleagues lost their net towels and hats, some lost their shoes, and some of their clothes were torn and torn.Normally, everyone would make fun of each other, but no one laughed at this time.The seriousness of the current situation can be felt even by people who do not understand military strategy.

Qian Taichong saw a black thing on the road, it seemed to be the rocket shot by the gangsters into the city.He hurried over to pick it up, only to feel that the shell was still warm.He looked at it carefully, and found that it was a cylindrical object with a diameter of about [-] inches, all made of iron, the front had been broken, there was only a big black mouth, but there were many small holes in the back, and three inclined spirals. iron plate.It looks very exquisite.

He was looking at it, and Chang Qingyun gave him a hand: "What's so interesting about this broken iron shell, let's go back quickly!"

Qian Taichong had no choice but to carry such an iron guy to the city first.

When I got down to the city tower, I saw that the city gate was closed tightly.Many infantrymen came from all over the city, armed with weapons, and scolded the officers and soldiers outside the city.There was a commotion outside the city.It turned out that the officers and soldiers outside the city lost their camp and wanted to enter the city, but the officers and soldiers in the city were worried that the order in the city would be chaotic after the influx of defeated soldiers, and refused to open the city gate in the name of not receiving the general order.

Back in Song Zonghui's mansion, those who did not go up the tower were still anxiously waiting for the news. They also saw the fierce rocket attack just now, but they couldn't see it as clearly and intuitively as the people on the tower.Now I heard that the Kun thief's rockets were fired so fiercely and so powerfully that Zhang Huang lost his face.

"The Kun thief's rocket is really powerful! It burned down many houses in the city!" While talking and discussing, Song Zonghui rushed over. He had just led the group of brave people in the city to fight the fire and maintain order, and he just stopped.His body was stained with soot, and his voice trembled when he spoke.

"The Kun thief didn't take advantage of the momentum to attack the stronghold, it was his mistake..." Lu Yizhong, who pretended to be calm after the fire attack, wanted to comment.

"You are wrong, the whole army of the Kun bandits will come to attack at dawn, is it possible that our soldiers can fight again?" Qian Taichong said coldly, "This time our soldiers are defeated! The whole army must leave tomorrow, or die No place to die!"

(End of this chapter)