Section 95 burned the company camp

Originally, there were tens of thousands of catties of grain in Chengmai County, but now the officers and men have sealed the grain in the county treasury and prepared it for military use, and they have ordered large households to "donate grain." Song Zonghui is the richest man in the county, of course, he is a big fat sheep, not only forced to donate 100 stone of grain, but also "willing to donate" 500 taels of silver, which made him feel miserable. The discipline of the guest soldiers entering the city is often very bad, and despite the pressure of the generals, there are still extortion of large shops from time to time, and even killing, injury and robbery occur in the city. If it weren't for Zhao Ruyi and his staff living in his house, he, the first household in Chengmai, would have already become a piece of fat for the deputy masters.

"The thieves in Shishan are lonely behind the enemy, and when the food is exhausted, they will naturally retreat. What kind of military food is there to worry about when the grain road is passed! You don't want mediocrity to disturb yourself," Lu Yizhong ate half a piece of snack, "You are the deputy head of the county's regiment, as long as you make a good contribution, you will be rewarded for meritorious deeds." He shook off his sleeve and shook off the crumbs of the pastry. He Rubin has been defeated several times in a row, but Lu Yizhong is still calm, he feels that this is just a temporary setback, nothing more than because he underestimated the enemy at the beginning, and Lu Yizhong's argument at each meeting is simply "holding each other" -- fighting a war of attrition. With the power of the whole province of Guangdong to fight a Lingao, even if it is dragged, the thief of Lingao will be dragged to death.

"Yes, yes." Song Zonghui is still sad, he carries the name of "the richest man" on his back, and all kinds of errands that break the fortune will always fall on him, if it weren't for the fame of a "prison student" a few years ago, I am afraid that his family business would have been tossed by the government a long time ago.

Gou Chengxuan sat on Qian Taichong's table without saying a word. His status is low, and he has no official status as a staff, and 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 thieves, and it was good to say that the war went well, but if the war didn't go well, maybe they would be beheaded as "spies". So along the way, adhering to the principle of opening as few mouths as possible. Except for Qian Taichong, who often talked to him about the geography and people's conditions of Lingao with the idea of "cleaning up the aftermath" for Lingao, it was as if there was no such person on weekdays.

His mood was very low, Gou Chengxuan originally had hopes for the conquest of the official army: he thought that there were few thieves, and the people in Lingao did not dare to work for them anymore when they heard the arrival of the official army, and the weak thieves were likely to be forced to retreat. He also had a lot of ideas: just after the officers and soldiers arrived at Lingao, he would come forward to mobilize the gentry and form a regiment to help the officers and soldiers fight. Including his humble words to implore Huang Shoutong to come out as the head of the regiment, and ask Liu Dalin to come out as the general office of the "Aftermath Bureau". Gou Chengxuan felt that in this way, he could not only actually grasp part of the power by coming forward in the name of "assistant", but also enable himself to re-establish power in Lingao in the future to lay a good foundation.

However, after the official army fought a few battles with the thieves in Chengmai, Gou Chengxuan knew that this battle could be an undefeated draw at most, and it was probably impossible to attack Lingao to force the thieves to retreat. He was very depressed, and he was worried about Lai Da -- he was deeply afraid that when Lai Da returned to Lingao, he would find his father and Uncle Hu, and raise the banner to meet the officers and soldiers, but instead the officers and soldiers did not arrive, but caused the disaster of death.

At this time, he drank tea alone in a muffled voice, thinking about what he should do after the failure of this felling. He Zongbing is unreliable, he didn't take himself seriously in the first place, and as soon as the court pursues him after the defeat, it is impossible for him to count on He Zongbing to take revenge and revive the family business......

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

Then, two more sounds rang out in succession, and everyone heard clearly, and the cannon sound seemed to be on the side of Nancheng. The staff present couldn't help but be stunned, and they all tilted their ears attentively.

"What's the matter?" Everyone was very surprised, the thieves and the officers and soldiers had not been sent out to fight in the past few days, and the artillery had not been fired. It was now approaching the end of the night, in the dead of night, and the moonlight was hazy - could it be that the thieves had come to rob the village? Everyone suddenly became nervous.

"Boom, boom, boom" came again with a few muffled sounds. This time, it can be heard very clearly, in addition to the cannon being fired on the city gate, the villages outside the city are also firing cannons.

"It's the sound of cannons, it's fired," Qian Taichong stood up first, waving his arms and shouting.

The others still sat still: "Is it the sound of cannons?" "That's right, right?" "Could it be that it is a thief robbing the village?" Finally, everyone no longer maintained a reserved attitude, and with a "coax", they stood up one after another.

"Yes, it's a hit*"

"Quick, send someone to see"

At that moment, he sent a servant who was waiting outside to inquire about the news. Everyone was a little worried, it was really strange that the thieves suddenly came to rob the village, there were nearly 20,000 officers and soldiers outside the city of Chengmai, and the combined army of the thieves was no more than 10,000. Could it be that they suddenly got reinforcements? I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy in my heart.

"It's okay, our soldiers are fighting strictly, inside and outside the city are impregnable, if the thieves come to rob the village, they will only hit their heads and bleed......" Lu Yizhong just said this, only to hear the sound of "bang" outside, the cannon sound was sharp, and then there was a whistling sound. In an instant, there was another loud bang.

"The thief has hit," five or six mouths shouted in unison, and the sound of the cannon was the same one they had already heard the other day. And the loud bang that followed was the sound of the thief's flowering cannon. Everyone suddenly became nervous.

Lu Yizhong's face turned a little pale for a while, and he pretended to be calm and said: "The thief fires the cannon,...... haha…… haha……”

Outside, there was a rumbling sound of cannons. At this time, everyone couldn't stay any longer, Qian Taichong waved his hand: "Let's 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 gate courtyard of the Song Mansion.

It was nearly midnight and the moon was hidden behind the floating clouds. A large continuous cloud was stained with an eerie silver edge, but the sight did not attract everyone's attention. Because at this moment, what occupies everyone's minds is that the sound outside the courtyard wall has become clearer. In addition to the constant sound of cannons, there was also the chaotic sound of people and dogs barking in the streets.

Nervous shouts, the clashing of armoured weapons, and the sound of scolding and screaming could be heard all over the street. Suddenly a trumpet sounded in the distance, and it sounded for a long time.

The servant who had been sent out to inquire ran in in a panic.

"What the hell is going on?" Song Zonghui asked in a panic.

"Back to the master's words, there was a commotion outside, saying yes, saying that the thieves had brought a huge cannon and were about to bombard the camp of officers and soldiers."

"What?"

"Oh, some are saying: The thieves from Shishan have come from the other side and are going to attack the officers and soldiers in Chengmai"

Both messages are possible. Everyone was in a hurry, and Lu Yizhong expressed his disapproval:

"What kind of cannon, if there is a cannon, the thief will not be transported early, why wait until today to use it. At this time, it is the middle of the night, even if there is a huge cannon, is it possible that the thieves are all a pair of night eyes, and they can see things at night? ”

"Yes, it must be the thieves who attack at night," echoed someone.

"Hey, let's go out and have a look" Qian Taichong was unwilling to sit back and watch empty arguments like this. Without waiting for everyone's consent, he should lead the servant out first.

The streets were bustling. In the night, I saw soldiers, regimental warriors, and people running away with knives and guns, lanterns and torches. Looking at the castle tower, it is already brightly lit. Some of the soldiers guarding Song's house gathered in groups, whispering while stretching their necks and looking in the direction of the cannon. And the sound of the roaring cannons and the explosions of flowering shells continued to come from a distance......

They stopped a general, and then they learned that there were many bright spots on the sea, it seemed that the sailors of the thieves had come to reinforce them, and the cannon just now was the official artillery of Xiaoyingchang intercepting the ships of the thieves.

"What? The thief wants to take the small British field? ”

"I don't know if it's marked, it's just that everyone is so legendary." The general said that he took people and left quickly

Qian Taichong suggested that he simply go up to the city gate tower to have a look, so that he could not see anything clearly from the street. Some people were afraid that they would be hit by the gunfire of thieves when they went up to the city tower, but some people were willing to go, and half of them went at the moment.

They were all staff members in the army, and the guards of the city tower always recognized Qian Taichong and others and let them up. Climb the tower and watch. It was dark and dreary outside, except that the seaside was lit up with lights, and it seemed that many ships were coming. From time to time, a flash of fire could be seen, and a dull sound of cannon could be heard. There are also flashes of artillery fire here in Xiaoyingchang, and it seems that the two sides are engaged in an artillery battle.

"The thief sailed late at night......" Before Chang Qingyun could continue, he heard someone scream, and everyone followed the reputation, and a bright fire rose in the sky by the sea, as if a fireball was flying in the air.

"Comet," someone shouted.

But they soon realized that it was not a comet, and that the bright spot was slow and decreasing in altitude, and seemed to be heading towards the county seat. The crowd was overwhelmed with fear. I saw this fire pass through the city gate tower, and hit its head outside the city, and a violent explosion was heard immediately, and the flames were everywhere.

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

At this time, more and more points of light rose from the seashore, densely flying towards Xiaoyingchang and the nearby officer and soldier camps.

"Enemy Rockets" Chang Qingyun has read a lot of firearms books, and suddenly understands that this is a thief who is casting rockets. He'd never seen a rocket cast before, except in books. Seeing that the firelight in the air was getting denser and denser, like a rain of fire, he was suddenly stunned.

The rockets dragging the orange flame are constantly flying up from the seaside, 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 fires and explosions continued to rise. Clusters of flames rose from time to time under the dark night sky, apparently already burning in some places.

Suddenly, a huge flame rose from the direction of Xiaoyingchang, and a dull explosion like rolling thunder came. Everyone was shocked, knowing that most of the powder magazines in the officers and soldiers camp had exploded.

With the explosion of the powder magazine, the fire on the side of Xiaoyingchang became bigger and bigger, illuminating the seaside brightly. The thieves' rockets continued to fall from the sky into the camp, exacerbating the chaos. Qian Taichong lost his voice and said: "Xiaoyingchang is going to be lost"

Sure enough, a large group of people rushed out from the direction of Xiaoyingchang, and under the cover of the firelight, it could be clearly seen that they were the officers and soldiers guarding Xiaoyingchang, and they were fleeing in the direction of the camp in a chaotic manner at this time.

"The thief is going to cut off my food by sea" Qian Taichong exclaimed, although he didn't think it was a good way to transport grain by sea, but the thief's purpose of suddenly burning Xiaoyingchang was self-evident.

"This, how is this good?" Someone held on to the battlements and stomped his feet in a hurry.

"It depends on ......"

Chang Qingyun's words were only half spoken, and flames also flew from the direction of the thief's camp, and more than a dozen points of light were breaking through the sky in the direction of the county seat and the camp.

The soldiers on the tower of the "Rocket" city screamed in surprise, and they all hid under the battlements, and a rain of fire fell to the camp outside the city in an instant.

Qian Taichong shouted: "Everyone quickly dodge" said that he had shrunk down the battlements, and some of the others ran to the city tower, and some ran to the road, wanting to run down the city. It was dark and panicked, and the staff were all Confucian shirts with wide robes and big sleeves, and those who were trampled on the corners of their robes in the confusion, and those who pulled their sleeves fell and trampled on them, crying loudly.

"It's really Sven sweeping the floor" Qian Taichong watched his companions fall to the ground, their hair was scattered, some people just ran for their lives, and they didn't even want their shoes, and some people didn't choose the road because they panicked, stepped on the air, and rolled off the road with a rolling belt......

The first wave of rockets continued to shoot into the camp of the officers and soldiers with a hissing sound, and the camp suddenly became chaotic

Qian Taichong poked his head out from between the battlements, only to see that the camp was on fire everywhere, and it was already a mess. In the midst of the panic, I heard the sound of rockets breaking through the air again, and this time countless rockets were constantly being fired from the bandit camp, and many rockets were also fired from the thieves' ships on the seashore.

For a while, rockets rained down, and the entire camp was completely in chaos, and the soldiers could no longer care about fighting the fire and took refuge one after another. The more Qian Taichong looked at it, the more frightened he became: the thief's rockets were like ordinary arrows, and they seemed to be radiating endlessly. In the camp, let alone gathering people and horses to prepare for fighting, there is no place to hide.

The thieves' rockets seemed to have deliberately avoided the county seat, but there were still many misses that hit the city wall, some hit the enemy tower, some hit the city tower, and many crossed the city wall and fell into the residential area to cause a fire, and the city also panicked, knocking water gongs everywhere to put out the fire.

Fortunately, the thieves did not seem to target the county seat, but only shot at the official army camp under the city. Many camps were on fire, and there was chaos everywhere.

Qian Taichong could see that although the rockets flew round after round, the size seemed to be different, and after landing, they were not the same, some just flew out of the fire and burned objects, and some were blooming and exploding with a thunderbolt. He secretly wondered, could it be that there are two warheads in this? Thinking that the seaside is ten miles away from the county seat, and the thief's rocket can actually shoot it, he can't help but be secretly frightened when he thinks of this, if this is the case, the thief's rocket is not a sharp weapon for attacking the city

Suddenly, a figure crawled to his side, and when he looked closely, it was Chang Qingyun.

Chang Qingyun said with a crying tone in his voice, "It's over...... It's over, I'm defeated, and this time it's all over."

The rocket attack lasted for half an hour, and then suddenly stopped. However, the entire official and military camps have become a smoky fire, and many of the camps have been unable to save the fire, and they can no longer be saved, and the generals can only pull people into the camps with relatively small losses, and the people in each battalion are panicked and lose their fighting spirit.

Qian Taichong saw that the fire had gradually decreased, and the noise of the chaos had also subsided, and there was no sign of the thief taking advantage of the gap to attack the village, knowing that there was no danger tonight, so he and Chang Qingyun quietly walked down the city. Some of the colleagues lost their scarves and hats, some lost their shoes, and some of their clothes were torn and opened, and they were all embarrassed. In the past, everyone would have made fun of each other, but no one laughed at each other. The gravity of the current situation can be felt even by those who are not familiar with military strategy.

Qian Taichong saw a black thing on the road, which seemed to be a rocket fired into the city by thieves. He hurried over to pick it up, only to feel that the shell was still hot. He looked at it, and it was a cylindrical object, about two inches in diameter, all of iron, which had been shattered in front of it, except for a large black mouth, but in the back there were many small holes, and three inclined spiral iron plates. It looks very subtle.

He was looking at it, and Chang Qingyun pulled him: "This broken iron shell is very visible, let's go back quickly"

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

When he came down to the tower, he saw that the gate was closed. Many infantry came from all over the city, armed with weapons, and scolded the officers and soldiers outside the city. There was a lot of noise outside the city. It turned out that the officers and soldiers outside the city lost their camps and wanted to enter the city, but the officers and soldiers in the city were worried that the order in the city would be great after the influx of defeated soldiers, and refused to open the city gate on the pretext of not receiving the general's order.

Back in Song Zonghui's house, the people who didn't go up to the city tower were still anxiously waiting for the news, and they also saw the fierce rocket attack just now, but they didn't see it as clearly and intuitively as the people on the city tower. Now I heard that the thief's rockets were shot so violently, and the power was so great, that one by one Zhang Huang was discolored.

"The thief rocket is really powerful, and it burned down many houses in the city" While he was talking, Song Zonghui hurried over, he had just taken the regiment in the city to fight the fire and maintain order, and he was so busy that he stopped just now. Covered in soot stains, his voice trembling when he spoke.

"The thief did not take advantage of the situation to attack the village, it was his mistake......" Lu Yizhong, who pretended to be calm after the fire attack, still had to comment.

"You're wrong, the thief will inevitably attack the whole division at dawn, is it possible that our soldiers can fight again?" Qian Taichong said coldly, "Our soldiers are defeated this time, and the whole army will leave tomorrow, otherwise there will be no place to bury you."