The cannon is cast in steel, the inner chamber is polished, very smooth, and the shotgun against the infantry has long been loaded, all of which are sharp iron triangles, densely packed in round shells, and a pull of the cannon rope firing pin hits the thunder mercury at the bottom of the projectile, igniting the gunpowder, and the cannonball is more domineering than the steam-powered cannonball, and a burst of iron rain is fanned over, and suddenly the sky is full of blood, and the stumps and broken arms are flying everywhere.

The weather was hot, and most of the left army went into battle shirtless, without the slightest armor, and they became the best prey for pneumatic machine guns, which were already relatively backward weapons, and still had their own unique characteristics in dealing with unprotected swarms

"Puff" muffled sound, where did the soldiers of the left army withstand this kind of blow, suddenly crying dad and shouting mother, scattered and fled, the cavalry of the red shirt army got on the horse and assaulted, holding a knife in one hand and a short gun in the other, blocking the retreat of the thief army, although the left army was brave, but was knocked unconscious by the big killer, and there was no officer to organize resistance, they knelt down in groups and asked to surrender, they were thieves and surrendered is a very accustomed thing, when they used to fight with the official army, they played the trick of recruiting an every once in a while, received the salary, and then reversed, and then recruited An again, and was not tired of it.

Liu Ziguang, of course, knows this style of the left army, and now he has opened a killing ring, and there is no turning back arrow when he opens his bow, if he lets these people run back to Wuchang to report the news, this errand will be considered a waste, with his own 500 people to carry out a surprise attack and occupy Ezhou, he may have a few percent chance of winning, but he has no chance of winning when the two sides officially start a face-to-face war.

The scene was chaotic, there were three or four thousand left troops on the dock, except for those who were killed and wounded, the rest threw their weapons on the ground and asked to surrender, but the people in Ezhou City saw the battle, and immediately closed the city gate, and the city sounded war drums, Hou Sui beat his chest, and complained that Liu Ziguang was acting recklessly, Liu Ziguang was furious, and told him to shut up, and at the same time ordered the artillery to attack the city immediately.

"What about these captives?" One of his subordinates pointed to the left army soldiers all over the ground and asked, although these guys were lying on the ground and shouting surrender, but one by one, their eyes changed their hands wildly, and they secretly touched the weapons thrown on the side, so many prisoners were in front of the two armies, and there was no manpower to take care of them Liu Ziguang, so he waved his hand and shouted: "Kill!" The cannon sounded again, the prisoners were bombed into flesh and blood, they immediately pulled out their legs and fled, the redshirt regiment let go of the way, let them run towards Ezhou City, but the people on the city wall were afraid that the imperial army took the opportunity to enter the city, but did not open the door, but fired arrows, these ghosts cried wolf and walked around the city, at the same time, Liu Ziguang's artillery was also loaded with live ammunition for the siege, ten cannons were on the dock, and the eight-pound cast iron ball was fired at the city wall, and the pneumatic machine gun also raised the elevation angle to strafe the soldiers on the city wall, and the soldiers of the left army returned fire with their shields, and the iron nails of the machine guns smashed on the shields, like rain, fortunately, the strength was insufficient, and they could not shoot through the shields, but the hundreds of firearms were different, the bullets whistled and could shoot through the shieldThe wooden shield of cowhide hit the city bricks, and the stone chips flew indiscriminately, and the left army was unable to probe and release arrows, so they could only hide under the battlements and tremble.

The recoil of the cannon is very strong, and every shell fired has to move violently backwards, fortunately, the gun body is fixed to the back seat of the carriage, and when the wheels are retreated, it can reduce part of the recoil, and the horses pulling the cart are also trained to this deafening sound of cannons, otherwise they must be shocked.

Ezhou City is the fortress in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, when the Song Dynasty general Lu Wenhuan had blocked the Yuan army here for many years, the current city wall is still repaired on the basis of the Song Dynasty, the city wall collapsed for a long time, the gate was broken into pieces, the cavalry swept in like a storm, saw the person with the weapon, cut it down, along the way, Liu Ziguang instilled in them many times that Zuo Liangyu's army was strong in combat effectiveness, and it must not be taken lightly, the reason why these people fought with the spirit of twelve points and opened the killing ring, in fact, the left army is just a soldier ruffian and a thief, which is the opponent of these hundred refined soldiers, the biggest strength of the soldiers is not to fight, but to save their lives, seeing that the general trend has gone, who still has the heart to take it one by one with these fierce and vicious cavalryThe weapons scattered and fled out of the city for bandits.

Five hundred elite soldiers quickly entered the city to control the official office, the treasury and the Ezhou station, the streets were full of soldiers and hungry people, the scene was extremely chaotic, the Ezhou station connected Huangshi and Wuchang station in the warehouse, there are still a lot of Huangshi transferred over the pig iron station defenders are the real elite under Zuo Liangyu, the two sides fought extremely fiercely, the red shirt regiment used cannons to shoot at close range to solve the stubborn enemy, there was still a train full of coal and water parked on the station, did not have time to leave.

Liu Ziguang personally swung his knife into battle, and the whole body was bloody, Ezhou City was bloody, and the refugees outside the city also took advantage of the chaos to enter the city to plunder, with 500 men and horses, it was difficult to control the overall situation, Liu Ziguang thought that Ezhou had been captured, it was better to take advantage of the victory to attack Wuchang, and the imperial army could also enter from Ezhou, the plan was not as good as the change, and it was carried out according to the original plan, it was definitely not possible, he immediately ordered to leave a group of men and horses to control the ferry, and the rest of the people took the train to Wuchang, and at the same time telegraphed Wu Sangui's army and asked him to take over Ezhou quickly.

The Red Shirt Army gave up Ezhou City, a part of the men and horses occupied the ferry, gathered the machinery and boats, and waited for the army to cross the river, and the remaining 300 people took the train to light a fire and burn the pot, and went straight to Wuchang, and the train would be able to reach Wuchang before the Ezhou rebellion.

At this time, Zhong Shouyong and Da Wenxi's Nanchang special team has infiltrated Wuchang, Wuchang is known as the thoroughfare of the nine provinces, the traffic is extremely high, in recent years, there is no war, so the access control is not very strict, they stuffed a few silver dollars and successfully mixed in, and lived in the inn in the city, near the inn is the Yamen of He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, the entrance of the Yamen is the school of the left army, called Yuemachang, and there is an elite cavalry of the left army stationed nearby, a guard named He Renlong is responsible for guarding Wuchang, and Zuo Liangyu is in Wuchang, Hankou, Hanyang has an official residence, as the so-called three caves of the cunning rabbit, these three cities are horns of each other, even if one is broken, the other two can be defended according to the danger.

The left army of 100,000 people, Ezhou 10,000, Huangshi 10,000 people, Changsha 30,000 people, the rest of the 50,000 people are in Wuhan, the three towns, Wuchang has a shipyard, Hanyang has an iron factory, Hankou has a large number of shops, Wharf business Zuo Liangyu entrenched here for six years, the operation is not bad, the grain depot is stored in hundreds of thousands of stones, hundreds of warships are parked on the wharf, the flood flooded countless fertile fields along the river, hundreds of thousands of victims live outside the city with simple sheds, it is impossible to say not to panic, after all, these people and fields are their own foundation, but Zuo Liangyu does not want to put grain for disaster relief, because his grain is for the army to eat, not to do good deeds, this year, with the army, there is everything, Huguang suffered, it doesn't matter, I can enter Jiangxi, Guangdong, so Wuchang city under the hungry people, but only a few people open porridge sheds, refugees are hungry, there is a possibility of chaos at any time, and people are dying every dayThe weather is hot, and the plague can break out at any time.

Zuo Liangyu behaved very calmly, the more critical the situation, the more difficult it was for him, the boss, the more he could not mess with the flood, which led to the interruption of communication information in several nearby states and counties, and the railway from Ezhou was also washed away by the flooding of Liangzi Lake, resulting in a batch of pig iron could not be transported, and there was no news from the fine work stationed in the capital and other places.

In the past two days, He Tengjiao has been asking people to write to himself, saying that he must open a warehouse and release grain, otherwise he is a sinner through the ages, Zuo Liangyu was very impatient and reprimanded He Renlong, who spoke for He Tengjiao.

He Renlong was born in the border army, his qualifications are very old, he was reprimanded by Zuo Liangyu, and he was extremely unhappy, in addition to being in charge of the cavalry troops in the left army, he also had a task to take care of He Tengjiao, He Renlong is different from Zuo Liangyu, he is a martial artist, he is a serious officer, and when he encounters a court member like He Tengjiao, he naturally has a sense of intimacy, and after a long period of contact, he can't help but accept some of He Tengjiao's ideas, and now he is reprimanded by Zuo Liangyu in public, and he can't help but feel antipathy.

In the evening, a noodle shop with the guise of Cai Linji in the racecourse, Da Wenxi and Zhong Shouyong were eating noodles with a big bowl, and here you can just see the gate of the Yamen of the Governor of Huguang, and after seizing Huguang, He Tengjiao must be used, because although this person has no real power, he has a good reputation in the Huguang area, and several times he and Zuo Liangyu have fought to reduce taxes for the peasants, and the soldiers and ruffians who have harmed the people know that even the murderous Zuo Dashuai is afraid of Governor He.

At present, the Qincha team is about to arrive in Wuchang, and according to the plan, the issuance of the holy decree should be carried out in the governor's palace, so it is necessary to say hello to He Tengjiao in advance.

In the shop, there is also a fan of Nanchang stationed in Wuchang, he is a local, familiar with the situation in the city, and saw a general in military uniform walk into the governor's mansion, who lowered his voice and said: "This person's name is He Renlong, nicknamed He Madman, excellent martial arts, is Zuo Liangyu's general, in charge of the ten battalions of cavalry, if you can kill him, Zuo Liangyu will go to an arm." ”

"What is he doing with Governor He so late?" Da Vinxi asked.

"I don't know what tricks he's doing, but he's in there, let's not go in and wait and see." Fanzi replied, obviously very scruples about He Renlong.

After a meal, He Renlong came out of the Governor's Mansion, after he left, the two put down the soup bowl, sorted out their clothes, and walked towards the Governor's Mansion, Zhong Shouyong was too big, and his face was too fierce, too attention-grabbing, so he left Wangfeng Governor's Mansion was a small flag under He Renlong's subordinates, responsible for guarding, He Tengjiao's subordinates had no soldiers, only a few servants, and the maid master did not need to be closely monitored, so the soldiers were very slack, and the disguised identity was a big dung merchant, who specialized in cleaning the toilets of the rich families in the city, and the soldiers knew him, so he said hello and went in, Da Wenxi pretended to be a new dung picker, and he was not subject to any interrogation。