Episode 62 Lightning Liberation

The platoon commander of the Qing army post was under the supervision of the squad leader of the Ming army, and the telephone bell was still ringing one after another, very urgently.

The squad leader of the Ming army carried a submachine gun and motioned for him to answer the phone:

"Answer the phone! How can you say that you know it in your heart? Don't make it ugly. ”

The platoon commander of the Qing army squeezed out a smile and nodded:

"Yes, yes...... There are a number of brothers. ”

Then, tremblingly, he picked up the microphone, breathed a sigh of relief, and said as naturally as possible:

"Hello?"

The squad leader of the Ming army also came to him, with one ear on the other side of the earpiece, and clearly heard the voice shouting:

"Who? Three guns? Well, I'm Hu Jinbao! Are your brothers there? ”

The platoon commander of the Qing army, who was called the "Three Artillery", glanced at the squad leader of the Ming army and replied carefully:

"Hey, company commander, the brothers are here, you command."

On the phone, Commander Hu muttered two sentences indistinctly, and then complained:

"Alas, there is another saying from above, saying that he came down from the division...... Explain that the army may have to fight Hanzhong in the past two days, and said that we should be careful in the defense area, and pay attention to it, don't let the Ming army touch it in the middle of the night, and I don't know...... It is said that depending on the situation, the Ming army will not be able to come for a while, and we will assign tasks to our officers and surprise to rectify the morale of the army, and everyone must be responsible for the words and deeds of the brothers under them, and it is forbidden to spread rumors. The leaflets over there are coming, and they must also do the 'three no's', not to read, not to transmit, not to believe...... Alas, you can tell me about it, anyway, pay attention to these two days. …… It's going to rain and my mother is going to get married, I said it anyway, grandma is x ......"

The other party hung up the phone in a rambling manner.

The third artillery did not dare to hang up the phone, but respectfully handed the microphone to the squad leader of the Ming army. The squad leader of the Ming army also heard it and hung up the microphone directly.

"Sir......" Sangun smiled cautiously, "brother...... Brother, I didn't talk nonsense, did I? ”

The squad leader of the Ming army smiled, patted him on the back, pushed him out of the bunker, and said with a smile:

"Okay, now that you are all prisoners of the Ming army, you can talk nonsense in the future. Let's go. ”

……

The staff officers of the reconnaissance battalion of the Ming army came in the commander's car and immediately interrogated the more than 20 Qing soldiers, asking them what other checkpoints they had on the mountain road ahead, how their troops were, how they were on alert, what weapons they had, and so on. Although it was called an "interrogation", there was no interrogation at all, and the people of the reconnaissance battalion did not make any effort at all. These 20 or so soldiers did not have the consciousness of "betraying their comrades-in-arms" at all, but they all laughed and rushed to say one sentence at a time, knowing everything, saying everything, and soon pouring out everything they knew.

It's not like interrogating enemy soldiers in a battlefield at all, it's like a tourist asking for directions with a fellow countryman......

Before the Ming army marched in, the intelligence agencies naturally had a rough grasp of the situation of the Qing army in Ankang. Now, after the interrogation in the field, I have more first-hand information. Originally, from Hanzhong to Ankang, there were only three such outposts on the mountain road in between, all of which had only small pillboxes and no heavy weapons. Traditionally, this was originally behind the mountain defense line of Daba Mountain, which belonged to the rear, and there would be no large troops of the Ming army at all, and these posts were also to guard against the small-scale infiltration of Ming army agents and commandos, as well as the people who fled south.

Now it seems that the Qing army did not increase its troops here, but it was only a phone call just now to remind the outpost to be vigilant. It seems that in order to maintain the stability of the army's morale, the Qing army also blocked the information that "Hanzhong has surrendered" to other troops. Presumably, Beijing would not have thought that the Ming army would suddenly march into Ankang during the negotiations, and it was only until now that it gave a brief warning to the sentinels.

……

The Ming army completely knew the details, so they no longer used tanks to open the way, but just let the two military trucks drive a few hundred meters in front of the large army, and there was a platoon of scouts sitting on the cars, all of which were submachine guns and light machine guns, and they were specially taken down before the Qing army post reacted and made a phone call.

This trick really worked, and at about 11 o'clock at noon, the second Qing army post was also taken down directly without even making a phone call.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the valley widened, and some farmland villages appeared on both sides of the road, and a small stone town appeared in the turn of a mountain pass.

Hanyin County has arrived.

As soon as Hanyin County arrived, it meant that more than half of the mountain road between Hanzhong and Ankang had passed.

The convoy of the Ming army sped up, ignoring the stunned peasants at the entrance of the fields and villages under the highway, and did not enter this humble small county town, but simply drove past an armored car, disarmed the two Qing soldiers at the gate of the city, and threw down the Beiqing national flag on the head of the city, and hung up the Ming national flag.

Before the people present could react to what was going on, Hanyin County had already recovered.

Then, the cheers gradually rang out, overwhelming and shaking the valley. However, the Ming army of the brigade did not stop at a single step, but accelerated its march more and more, and passed in front of the small county town.

Because they knew that after Hanyin County, the news would definitely be reported, and the suddenness of the surprise attack would be lost within ten minutes if it was slow.

Fortunately, from Hanyin to the east, the valleys are relatively wide, and the mountain roads are no longer as winding and rugged as before, and the normal road speed can be maintained. After passing through Hanyin County for an hour and a half, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, the vanguard of the Ming army rushed into the Ankang Basin.

It was not until this time that the news of the Ming army's invasion from Hanzhong was reported to the Qing army division headquarters in Ankang City. But by this time it was too late, and the Ming army's military vehicles had already rushed into the small Ankang Basin like a flood.

……

The Ankang Basin is a small and narrow basin, which is 30 kilometers from east to west, and the widest place from south to north is less than 10 kilometers.

Before the commander of the Qing army called to learn the details, he heard the voices of people outside the headquarters. Then a guard ran in, panting and shouting:

"Shizuo, the Ming army has entered the city! Fast...... It's almost outside the headquarters! ”

Before the division commander could react, the office glass shattered, and a brick flew in from the street and smashed on the table.

He was startled, and his first action was to draw his gun. But as soon as he took the pistol in his hand, he heard many shouts and whistles in the street outside, and he could barely hear them shouting, "Drag out the officials inside and skin them alive......

Immediately after, the second brick and the third brick flew in one after another. Every time they flew in, there was a huge crowd of people in the streets.

"When! …… When the long ......"

A big thing flew in, jumped twice on the ground, and spun in place.

When I looked closely, it was a steel helmet, which had been smashed into a large piece and had a large piece of blood......

The division commander was suddenly terrified, and he didn't care about whether to resist or not, surrender or not, so he quickly covered his head, bent down and howled:

"Quick! Lead people to guard the bottom, don't let the people rush in! Don't let them go upstairs! Fast! Look for the white flag! Look for the white flag! …… Can't find it? Then go to the dorm room and get a white sheet! We went up to the top floor with the sheets and waited for the Ming army to come to our rescue! If we let the people come in first, we'll be finished! …… I said, "Bring me a steel helmet!" ”

……

At the entrance of the police station, there were more than a dozen idlers around, watching the excitement. Next to the white marble lion more than a foot high at the entrance of the police station, there are two standing cages.

The standing cage, also known as the standing flail, is a unique torture instrument of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It is a wooden cage more than one person high, and the upper end is a flail. After the tortured person was imprisoned, his head was stuck in the flail and he could only maintain a standing position, unable to bend over or squat. Generally, there are a few bricks under the feet, and the severity of the sin and the length of the life are all determined by the number of bricks removed. If the bricks are placed just right, the person inside can only keep their necks breathing on tiptoe at all times. In this way, it is better to die after a few days, either to die of exhaustion or to suffocate to death. Anyway, they were all tortured to death.

Some condemned prisoners will be executed after three days in this way, and some will stand alive like this.

Now the two people in the cage, one is a middle-aged man in his thirties, or he is wide and fat, and he looks like a rich man. The bricks under his feet are "just right" and can only be breathed on tiptoe. His face was pale and sweaty, and he gritted his teeth and persevered, his legs trembling. After a while, he let out a terrible scream, then hummed in his nostrils, spat some white foam in his mouth, and continued to grit his teeth and hold on. After a while, another scream was made, and then gritted his teeth and persisted.

In the other cage stood a young man of seventeen or eighteen, skinny and glasses, like a student. This young man also "stood on tiptoe", and obviously no longer worked, his face was blue and yellow, his legs were shaking like dry wood, and he could barely stand on tiptoe anymore. His head and neck were stuck in the wooden shackles, his nostrils were bleeding, and from time to time, new blood spurted out. He closed his eyes tightly, as if he had resigned himself to his fate.

Two young policemen with guns on their backs leaned on white marble lions, munching melon seeds, laughing and chatting.

An old man of sixty or seventy years old knelt in front of them, burst into tears, kowtowed his head with a "poof, poof", and shouted in a trembling voice every time he kowtowed:

"Director Cao has a long life! Full of children and grandchildren! …… Seven hundred and twenty-one! …… Director Cao is a great person! Director Cao was promoted to make a fortune! Many happy returns! Full of children and grandchildren! …… Seven hundred and twenty-two! ”

Then he kowtowed again, shouted again, and kept kowtowing, shouting, and counting.

After a while, he straightened up tremblingly, and said in a trembling voice:

"Two Officers...... Today's thousand heads, kowtow enough to count......"

A young policeman was chatting happily with his companion, and it took a long time to turn his head to look at him and say with a smile:

"Enough for today? When you have enough, go and feed the porridge. ”

"Ahh......h Thank you, Officer, thank you, Officer......"

The old man crawled up to the ground, carried a basket on the ground, cried and threw himself next to the young man's standing cage, took out a jar, poured out half a bowl of rice porridge, and comforted him in a trembling voice:

"Grandson...... Grandchild...... Come, drink some porridge...... Drink some porridge and have energy, hold on for two more days...... When Grandpa kowtows to Director Cao for 10,000 rings, we'll be able to go home......"

……

Some of the spectators next to him watched the excitement for a while and left. Some had just passed by and stopped to look at it for a while. Anyway, there are always a dozen or so people to watch the excitement. Someone quietly asked:

"What's wrong with these two people? What's wrong with this old man? Why did you offend Cao Jingui? ”

"Alas," a person next to him shook his head and whispered disdainfully, "The kid in the cage is the grandson of this old man's single heir, and he doesn't know what kind of illness he is doing at school, saying Cao Jingui...... said that he couldn't do that, he did too many bad things, and cut off his children and grandchildren......"

"Oh......"

The other nodded, immediately showing a knowing expression. He shook his head and sighed:

"Cut...... Who in the county doesn't know about this...... In the end, it's a young man who doesn't know the depths, and he said this in public, isn't that unlucky......"

Both nodded, sighing and sighing.

"Hey, isn't that fat man the shopkeeper of the old Duan family's gold shop? How did you get in too? ”

The first whispered:

"The jewelry that Cao Jingui's mother-in-law ordered with him is probably not pure gold...... The old lady ran to his son-in-law's house to make trouble, and asked his son-in-law to arrest the shopkeeper...... Cao Jingui was filial and afraid of his wife, so he arrested the shopkeeper Duan and stood in a cage......"

……

A circle of spectators was shaking their heads and sighing, when they suddenly heard the end of the street gradually boiling, from far to near.

At the same time, the ground seemed to shake slightly. It was as if even the iron chains on the wood of the two standing cages sounded softly.

On the other side of the street, there seemed to be some behemoth, roaring closer.

Accompanied by the tremors, there was the shouting of the crowd in the distance, which was faintly recognizable:

"Hooray......

"Daming ......"

"Don't let you run a ......"

“…… Kill all ......"

“…… Police station...... Cao Jingui ......"

"Peeling...... Cramp ......"