Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 36 Cai Bingwen: If it is lost, it is not considered lost!

Li Yi said with a grin.

"My idea is that we can bury some gunpowder in the Qing Yao's military camp, and then make a few self-igniting steel wheel fires as firing devices and set up a few traps."

"If you can kill a big fish by chance, you'll make a lot of money. Even if you fail, it's just a waste of gunpowder."

The "self-inflicted steel wheel fire" mentioned by Li Yi was personally developed by Qi Jiguang during the Wanli period when he was the commander-in-chief guarding Jizhou, Yongping, Shanhai and other places.

Historical records state: "Under the walls of the border platforms, we chose a flat and wide place where the enemy could gather, dug the ground and buried stone cannons inside. In the middle was a wooden box, and the signals of all the cannons were put into the box. The bottom of the box was filled with gunpowder. In the middle was a steel wheel, and flint was placed beside it, and it was hidden on the ground. When the enemy's horse stepped on the mechanism, the steel wheel would turn, fire would come out of the box, and all the cannons would be raised at the same time, so the enemy would know where it came from."

To put it bluntly, it is the original version of the mine.

Although this thing is not very popular in later generations, Li Yi was originally a hereditary soldier and knew something about it.

And what Li Yi was going to plant this time was not some self-inflicted steel wheel fire, but a real landmine, which he bought from the Golden Finger Mall.

The so-called self-inflicted steel wheel fire is nothing more than an excuse Li Yi made up for the origin of the landmine.

Chen Yucheng nodded immediately.

"What the brigade commander said makes sense. I will arrange it right away!"

Soon, under Fan Xiyuan's arrangement, the people of Xunzhou began to gather in groups on the streets to help Li Yi and his team transport supplies.

Although they were unwilling to follow the thieves, the feeling of being hungry was really unpleasant.

With the help of the people of Xunzhou, Li Yi and others carried the seized materials and headed out of Xunzhou City.

Wang An had already buried gunpowder in the Qing army camp, and then followed the main force and left Xunzhou.

……

By the time Zhou Fengqi led a group of defeated soldiers and rushed back to Xunzhou day and night, the city of Xunzhou was already deserted.

The open city gate seemed to be telling everyone that Xunzhou City had just suffered a tragic experience of being brutally ravaged by bandits.

Especially the banner hanging on the city gate tower with the words "Swear to kill the Qing demons and bring peace to the world" was extremely eye-catching.

Looking up at the Xunzhou City in front of him, Zhou Fengqi took a deep breath and then said.

"Enter the city!"

It is obvious that the bandits withdrew quickly after capturing Xunzhou.

Although Li Yi's decisive retreat showed his guilty conscience.

However, due to the fear that the bandits would attack again, Zhou Fengqi had no intention of pursuing them.

Soon, Zhou Fengqi led his men into the city.

He had just entered the city and was fleeing around with several yamen runners. The Xunzhou prefect Cai Bingwen, who was fighting guerrilla warfare with Li Yi, came to him on his own initiative.

"General Zhou! General Zhou, you are finally back!"

"The people of Xunzhou have long awaited the royal army's help."

Zhou Fengqi looked at Cai Bingwen who was in a very embarrassed state in front of him and smiled bitterly.

"Your Excellency the Prefect, as soon as we received the news that Xunzhou was attacked, we immediately led our troops back to provide assistance."

"In order to cover the retreat of the army and return to Xunzhou as soon as possible, Iktambu even took the initiative to lead the troops to cover the retreat and died bravely at the hands of the bandits. It can be said that he was heroic."

"Please tell us how Xunzhou City was lost!"

Iktambu died and his town emblem also suffered heavy losses. This is a fact that cannot be changed.

Therefore, Zhou Fengqi planned to maximize the benefits of handling Iktambu's funeral and recover his losses as much as possible.

Rather than advancing lightly and being trapped in the enemy's encirclement and dying in battle, it would definitely sound better to lead the troops on their own initiative to cover the main force of the army and die heroically.

The court will also look better!

By then, the imperial court will be able to give more pensions to Iktanbu and Zhenbiao, and Zhou Fengqi will also be able to make more money.

Cai Bingwen was surprised when he heard this. "General Zhou, please stop talking nonsense. When has Xunzhou City ever been lost?"

"Hasn't this always been in my hands?"

"Although Xunzhou was attacked by a small group of bandits and was briefly invaded by bandits, I was fortunate to have commanded the city and led the yamen soldiers in the city to fight bravely with the bandits, and General Zhou led his troops to come to the rescue in time."

"With our cooperation, the bandits and spies who entered the city have been completely wiped out and expelled."

"Is not it?!"

Although Xunzhou's treasury, granary and arsenal had been emptied by the bandits, and the prefectural yamen and garrison had been captured by the bandits...

But as long as Cai Bingwen was still in Xunzhou City, even if he was chased like a dog by the bandits in the city, he was leading his people to fight bravely against the bandits.

Then the city of Xunzhou would be lost.

Well, if it’s lost, it’s not considered lost!
Zhou Fengqi was completely stunned when he heard this.

He originally felt that he had been cruel enough to change Iktambu's "underestimating the enemy and advancing rashly, resulting in being surrounded and killed" into "heroically staying behind and dying a martyrdom".

Unexpectedly, Cai Bingwen is even more evil-hearted than him.

Obviously Xunzhou was conquered by the enemy troops, but when he described it in the style of the Spring and Autumn Period, it seemed as if these people were not only innocent but also meritorious.

As expected, the one who plays with the pen has the dirtiest heart!

However, Zhou Fengqi said he liked it.

Who told him that he and Cai Bingwen are now “on the same side”?

Not to mention that Cai Bingwen was just trying to cover up a defeat. Even if he exaggerated this incident into a great achievement, Zhou Fengqi would only agree with him wholeheartedly.

Who asked Cai Bingwen to do this? It is also very beneficial to him.

So Zhou Fengqi nodded vigorously.

"That's right, that's right, I made a mistake."

"However, our army only defeated the enemy but did not capture any heads. I am afraid we will not be able to explain this to our superiors..."

Upon hearing this, Cai Bingwen sighed hypocritically and then said.

"Although there are many loyal officials and righteous men in Xunzhou who followed me and fought bravely against the bandits in desperate situations, there are also many spies of the bandits who lurked in Xunzhou City and cooperated with the bandits from inside and outside. This is why the bandits were lucky enough to break into Xunzhou City."

"Now that we have driven out the bandits, it is time to investigate the bandits and spies in Xunzhou City."

"What do you think, General Zhou?"

Zhou Fengqi couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he heard this.

Are you trying to kill innocent people and take credit for it?

He is familiar with this.

Thinking that he could probably make some more money in the process, Zhou Fengqi nodded immediately.

"What the prefect said makes sense!"

"But I think the bandits' spies should be outside the city, not inside. What do you think?"

The reason why Zhou Fengqi said this was not because he had a change of heart and could not bear to harm the people of Xunzhou.

As a foreign soldier, he would not have these concerns.

To put it bluntly, it was because Xunzhou was the provincial capital and there were too many people paying attention to it. After they killed innocent people in the city and took credit for it, it was difficult to cover up the follow-up.

The best option is to start with the people in the mountains and fields outside the city.

Cai Bingwen nodded when he heard this.

"Well, what General Zhou said makes sense. I was negligent in this aspect..."

(End of this chapter)