The Military and Political Committee was opened, but the criticism meeting against Feng Ruhu was held as a research meeting on the next steps of the Dazhu Guardian Team. It was not that Cai Shaohu was merciful and opened up to Feng Ruhu, but that the captives brought back by Feng Ruhu provided important information.

The captive was the big minion under Li Hu, the leader of the local tyrants, and Li Hu's palm plate was the local tyrant Huang Harrier Jing Keqin who was entrenched in Dazhou and near Xinning. After receiving a confession and a promise not to kill, the captives immediately confessed everything they knew.

Li Hu knew three or four days ago that a small group of officers and soldiers had arrived from the direction of Chongqing Prefecture. However, the specific target of this group of officers and soldiers was Dazhou or Dazhu, and Li Hu did not know. So Li Hu sent a captive to lead more than ten people along the main road to the south to see where this group of officers, soldiers, and horses had gone. Li Hu's wishful thinking was: If the officers and soldiers do not know whether they are alive or dead, and continue to advance in the direction of Dazhou, and they look easier to bully, then they will set up an ambush between Dazhu and Dazhou and grab something. This morning, the captives led their men out of Huaying Mountain. But as soon as he walked to the avenue and wanted to rest, he encountered three officers and cavalry who rushed quickly.

Although there are few officers and soldiers, they have war horses, long swords, armor and bows and arrows, which come and go like the wind, and they are also skilled in martial arts; Although there are many thieves, they only have knives, spears, two sticks, and no horses, armor, bows and arrows. The two clashed, and in the blink of an eye, seven or eight people were killed, and the rest fled in all directions. The prisoner was targeted by the officers and soldiers, and he couldn't win or run away, so he had to surrender.

In addition to the above, the captive also confessed more important information. Because the encirclement and suppression of Bazhou by the official army was imminent, Yuan Tao, the king of heaven, Bai Jiaolong, the king of heaven and other big plates sent heroic posts to the leaders of all walks of life, inviting them to attack separately and find some trouble for the official army. Now that the autumn harvest has passed, it is a good time to go down the mountain to rob grain. Huang Harrier ordered his subordinates to go south to Dazhu and Linshui, and west to Dazhou, Kaixian, and Xinning. It not only robbed grain and property, but also restrained the attack of the official army on Bazhou. But the specific dispatch time of Huang Harrier Jing Keqin, the position of this captive is too low, and I don't know.

……

Cai Shao went out of the city and found nothing; Feng Ruhu went out of the city and harvested useless heads and useful information. Xu Gou'er went out of the city, but brought back a teenager. But no one knew that the siege of Dazhu County by the local rioters was caused by this teenager.

Wang Ping (Note 1) is a martial artist who has taken the township test in the provincial capital, while his grandfather is a serious martial artist (Note 2). According to the rural tradition of "learning literature from the poor and learning martial arts from the rich", the Wang family is naturally a large squire. Xu Gou'er was ordered to march to the southwest of the county, and when he arrived at a place called Tuanba at the foot of Tongluo Mountain, he encountered Zhuang Ding led by Grandpa Wang Ping. Grandpa Wang Ping not only hated the harassment of the local tyrants in the countryside, but also had a very good impression of the image of the royal soldiers, so he happily sent his grandson to serve in front of the army.

At the military and political committee, Wang Ping suggested that the country bullies south of Dazhu County should be swept away first. These bullies often collude with bandits, endanger the common people, and pass on news to bandits. If these bullies are not defeated, not only will the conscription and grain collection be impossible, but also the grain and grass supply line from Chongqing Prefecture to Dazhu County will be threatened, so the Zhuang Guardian Team will not be able to stand in the county seat at all.

Wang Ping's suggestion was supported by Cai Shaoyan and Xu Gou'er. Cai Shaoyun even proposed that the local riot brigade was about to go out of the mountains to rob, and all the people near the county town should be immediately transferred to the city. At present, a large number of people have fled, and there are not many strong people. Houses in the city are largely vacant and uninhabited: a large amount of farmland outside the city is deserted, and no one comes to cultivate it. Enriching the population of the county is equivalent to increasing the source of food for the village guards and reducing the harvest of thieves.

Feng Ruhu was very happy that Cai Jianjun didn't trouble him, how could he object? Cai Shao's motion was immediately adopted. Feng Ruhu decided to personally lead the team to attack the local tyrants tomorrow morning, but was opposed by the other two. In the end, the three of them divided labor, and Feng Ruhu stayed to guard the city; Cai Shaoxun went to the villages around the county seat to mobilize villagers to go to the city; And Xu Gou'er, who had just come back, was familiar with everyone, and Wang Ping led the way, and first arrested Xiong Chun, the landlord of Xiongjiaao. That Xiong Chun blatantly colluded with the local thugs in the mountains to oppress the local people, and was a well-known bully within a few dozen miles southeast of Dazhu County. If you want to open up the situation in Dazhu, then Xiong Chun must be eliminated.

Before dawn the next morning, Xu Gouer led a team to quietly leave the east gate of Dazhu County. They crossed the river over the hill and immediately turned south. After marching about twenty miles, one rider broke away from the brigade and headed straight to the south, while the rest left the main road and, led by Wang Ping, to a small village among the hills. But before they could enter the village, a dog barking revealed their whereabouts. The team had no choice but to run into the village and march towards a compound in the village. While they were delaying, a horse fled the village with the well-known man in disheveled clothes.

Xu Gou'er looked at the back in the distance hatefully, hating his poor riding skills. The people didn't catch up, and they almost fell off their horses and fell into the ditch, making the soldiers laugh at it in vain. In these years, horses are extremely expensive, and the one who ran away on the horse must be a character, and it is likely to be the target of their trip, Xiong Chun!

The compound was followed by a mountain cliff, and it was impossible to besiege it in a roundabout way. The courtyard wall is high, the gate is closed, and there are people shouting behind the door. Wang Ping kept urging Xu Gou'er, saying that the Xiong family had a dozen or so family members at most. As long as he broke through the gate and rushed in, none of the Xiong family's minions could escape.

Xu Gou'er listened to Wang Ping's nagging, and an evil fire couldn't help but rise from his belly. He threw the boy down, yelling at the soldiers to prepare the powder packets, and urging the soldiers to line up.

The squad leader of the fire gun class is Han Changsheng, the boss of Han Dashu. The line he had chosen was no more than twenty paces from the gate. The firecrackers were sparsely lined up, leaving gaps between them, allowing the short spearmen in the formation behind them to pass through smoothly, and also allowing the extended line of fire to be close to a fan shape, covering the gate without dead ends.

When the formation was ready, Xu Gou'er waved his arm downward. A soldier with a ten-pound gunpowder bag under his rib belt rushed over. The gunpowder bag had been tied with layers of oilcloth and a three-foot-long piece of bamboo had been tied as a pole. The soldier was not attacked by a bow and arrow, and ran smoothly outside the gate. He dropped the pole to the ground, the powder bag pressed against the knocker, and ignited the fuse with a fire breaker. After confirming that the lead was sparkling, he quickly clenched his fist and gave a thumbs up to gesture backwards, then turned and ran back.

"Boom!"

The powder pack exploded violently. A flash of red light and white smoke rose up. There were several screams and then a howl at the gate. Before Xu Gou'er could see the movement of the gate, several men had already come out of the smoke with knives and guns, and rushed straight towards the front line of the Zhuang team with strange screams.

Han Changsheng aimed at the person in front of him and shouted, "Release!" The trigger was pulled.

The torch clamped on the dragon's head flipped forward and downward, igniting the gunpowder. As soon as the finger is released, the faucet immediately springs back into place. The spark on the medicine tray ignites the propellant in the chamber through the fire hole on the gun tube, and the propellant explodes and burns, releasing a large amount of heat and gas. The high-temperature gas expands rapidly, pushing a three-third-thick hollow pine plug forward. The high-temperature gas that seeped into the pine plug under high pressure carbonized the tissue paper in front of the pine stopper, burned it to ashes, and exposed the eight small pieces of iron weighing two coins wrapped in it.

"Bang!"

The fire bolt slammed into Han Changsheng's right shoulder socket with a huge recoil, causing his entire body to shrug back. A large amount of white smoke instantly erupted from the gun's mouth, obscuring Han Changsheng's vision, making him unable to judge whether he had hit or not.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Almost simultaneously, twelve firebolts rang out in succession, and the white smoke that erupted from the mouths of the guns formed a dense wall of fog.

The three short spear squads formed three horizontal columns and were deployed behind the horizontal columns of the fire gun squad. Just wait for the official to give an order, and he will rush to the gate. But the company commander's command to charge was never given.

"What's going on?" Xu Gou'er looked at himself and said to himself, "Why is there no movement?" ”

Perhaps it was his answer, and the screams of killing pigs and sheep suddenly sounded in the smoke. The screams were fleeting, and there was no movement.

"A platoon proceeds cautiously and finds out the situation! Reload the firecracker class on the spot! ”

Xu Gou'er, who has been on the battlefield many times, does not change his cautious style. He did not rush to disband the formation and move quickly, but carefully advanced in formation to prevent a thief from suddenly rushing through the smoke to slash and slash.

A breeze blew and smoke drifted away.

The sight surprised Xu Gou'er and everyone, including the initiators of the Fire Gun Class. After the displacement, there was no one left who could stand. Six people lay on the way to the charge. Two of them were lying face down, motionless, with a large pool of blood under them; The remaining four were not dead, and the blood hole on their bodies was still gurgling with blood, and their mouths were moaning faintly. Seeing that the officers and soldiers came up to mend their swords, they immediately struggled and begged for mercy. The spearmen did not have time to talk to them, and the wailing ceased.

"This firebolt is so powerful!"

Wang Ping rushed out from behind Xu Gou'er, trying to grab Han Changsheng's firecracker, but was glared back by Han Changsheng's vicious eyes. He was bored, and ran to straighten the head of a deceased man with his toes, admiring the deceased's last expression.

Wang Ping was watching interestingly, and Xu Gou'er suddenly roared in his ear: "Wang Ping, since you want to join us, you must abide by the discipline of the National Protector Army!" There is battlefield discipline on the battlefield! By the way, run around, disrupt the formation, that's going to kill your head! You know? ”

Xiong Chun ran away, and Xiong's house was burned to the ground. Although most of the people in Xiongjiaao are surnamed Xiong, and many of them are related to Xiong Chun, after recognizing the reality, they did not wait for the mobilization of the village protection team, and immediately went home to pack their things, and honestly waited for the village protection team to take them to an unknown place. Several people also asked Xu Gou'er if they could notify the nearby villages and let the villagers move away with them. In those villages, there are various relatives and friends such as their daughters who have married off, the brother-in-law of the eldest daughter-in-law, and so on.

Xu Gou'er was puzzled by the initiative of the villagers of Xiongjiaao, and the villagers hurriedly explained to him: Xiong Chun is not dead, and according to his temperament, he will definitely attract the revenge of the local tyrants. Whoever doesn't leave, who may become his punching bag!

Letting go of Xiong Chun actually has this benefit!

Xu Gou'er, who understood it, was overjoyed. He hurriedly seized the opportunity to announce that he was bringing the personal soldiers of the Shu Palace. The place where the villagers went was not the deep mountains and old forests, but the county seat. There are vacant houses in the city, and there are good barren fields outside the city. Houses can be divided among them to live in, and fields can be divided among people to plant. However, if you want to enter the city to divide the land, you must agree to two conditions: first, the local rioters, including Xiong Chun, are coming, and everyone has to take up arms to defend the city; The second is that rent must be paid according to the rules of the Shu Palace.

If you follow the royal soldiers, you will inevitably be coerced by the royal soldiers. The villagers, who had long been accustomed to being coerced, had long been psychologically prepared for this and silently accepted the arrangement of fate. The villagers didn't expect such a good thing as being able to divide the house and land.

Many villagers immediately surrounded Xu Gou'er in the middle and launched detailed consultations on the issues they were concerned about. Seeing that Company Commander Xu really couldn't get out, Wang Ping, who was thinking about his grandfather, said hello to Han Changsheng, and ran to Tuanba Wangjiazhuang, which was more than ten miles away.

Note 1: The little hero of the anti-thief in Dazhu County. He is recorded in many historical books.

Note 2: The martial arts system of the Ming Dynasty was not perfect. After Chongzhen, there was a saying of Wu Zhuangyuan. The perfection and prosperity of the martial arts system was mainly in the Qing Dynasty.