Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

407 Chapter 2
Wang Rui and more than 20 men marched hard in the cold mountainous area.

It has been several days since they left the Heluo New Army.A major feature of the Heluo New Army is their high efficiency. No matter what they do, they are swift and resolute—including picking up girls. After accepting Yang Menglong's order, they made all preparations with amazing efficiency. They left Nanyang and entered Jingxiang by boat. In the area, in the mountains and forests where refugees occupied the risk of being intercepted and killed by bandits.They encountered a group of bandits a day ago and had a fierce fight...then the guy who was most familiar with the situation in the area became their guide, and the bandit den became their base.Now two bandits as thin as monkeys are leading this group of uncles, enduring the biting cold wind, running like flying in the mountains and forests, and they want to visit the phosphate mining area.

It was very cold, not only cold, but also very humid, completely different from the dry and cold in the north.To put it simply, it is also winter. In Beijing, you wash your clothes and hang them in the bathroom, and they will be completely dry the next day. But in Hunan and Hubei, if you don’t prepare a few more sets of clothes, you may soon have no clothes to wear. It's for a change of laundry... In this damn weather, the clothes can't dry at all.It's not going to be much easier to spend time in the mountains in this kind of ghostly weather. The two bandits secretly complained in their hearts whether the new boss had taken the wrong medicine, and they had to go up the mountain in the cold weather!

After finally climbing over a mountain, a rugged path appeared in front of them, intermittently extending toward the depths of the mountain forest.The thinnest bandit wiped off his sweat, pointed to the path and said, "Master, we're almost here. Walk along this path for a few miles and you'll arrive at the Jiguanshan mining area."

Wang Rui took out the binoculars and looked towards the deep mountain. The white mist was so vast that he couldn't see anything.He asked: "Monkey, when did the Jiguanshan mining area start mining?"

The monkey said: "Two years ago. At that time, many people came from Nanyang to buy phosphate rocks everywhere, and the mining was quite expensive. Everyone found that there were many such ores in their own land, and they mined them one after another to exchange them for food." Yes. There is also such ore in the Jiguanshan mining area. Peng Baotou led thousands of people to mine there, earning dozens of taels of silver every month. Those people escaped from Shaanxi and Ningxia, and they were very vicious. Those of us who are in charge don’t dare to provoke them.”

Another little bandit who was leading the way sighed: "At first we saw that mining could make money, and the head of our family was also moved. We planned to partner with the owner of Sangong Village to mine and have something to eat. Who wants to be this bandit who has today but no tomorrow?" ? But Gou Ri’s court gave all these mining areas to the damn King Xiang, and officers and soldiers went to the mountains to seal the mines every day, so everyone had nothing to play with.”

Wang Rui took out two big cakes and threw them to them: "Stop talking, eat something quickly, and then continue to lead the way."

The two little bandits were all smiles, they didn't even thank you, they grabbed the big cake with both hands and gnawed desperately, choking and rolling their eyes.The flatbread was cold and hard, hard to swallow, but for them, it was an incomparable delicacy, and they couldn't eat it a few times a year.Don't think that being a bandit can be delicious and spicy food. There are not a few bandits who can't eat enough and have no clothes to wear. Of course, the village master and the most capable leaders can eat delicious food and spicy food, but these fifteen or sixteen-year-old children It's not bad for the bandits to have a full meal.

A chief of staff pointed to the big mountain in the shape of a rooster's comb in front of him, and said to Wang Rui with a smile: "Hey, the name of Cockscomb Mountain is really amazing, it really looks like the comb on the head of a rooster."

Wang Rui said: "Yes, it's amazing. The mountains here are high and dense, and the mountains are rugged. It's not a problem to hide thousands of troops..." He stopped talking suddenly, frowned, and listened attentively.

The monkey who was gnawing on the pancake was startled, its cheeks puffed up, and it asked vaguely, "What's the matter, head?"

Wang Rui said: "There is a situation!"

The chief said: "Someone is coming, hurry up and hide!"

At this time, there was a burst of noisy voices from a distance. It was obvious that someone was walking towards this side along the mountain road, and there were quite a few of them. Everyone dared not neglect, and hid behind trees and stones one after another.The monkey was surprised to see that these evil spirits took out a crossbow equipped with a pulley block to string it up. Using this kind of crossbow, they called the big masters, the second masters, the third masters, and the fourth masters one by one, and then all the young men urinated decisively, kneeling in front of their leather boots and singing conquest.

The sound of footsteps became clearer, and a triumphant laugh came from the other side of the mountain road: "Hey, Mr. Tian, ​​we have gained a lot from this trip!" Wearing Ming army battle jackets, holding plain knives or spears in their hands, there are about two hundred people walking quickly, talking and laughing.Seeing them, Wang Rui and the others frowned:
Many soldiers of the Ming army carried a bloody human head in their hands, there were as many as seventy or eighty heads!

Those heads have lost their color, but it is still possible to vaguely identify that many of them are women. Regardless of whether they are men or women, they all have high cheekbones and are obviously very thin. Needless to say, they are most likely refugees hiding in the mountains to mine.There were also a dozen women with messy clothes and dull expressions. They were tied into a string and staggered forward under the threat of spears. Needless to say, these were prisoners and the spoils of war for this Ming army.A Ming army general was wearing a decent set of armor, holding a human head in his hand, with long hair in his hand. The head was shaking, but his eyes were still wide open, and Wang Rui looked at it. I was frightened.One of the hundred households was carrying a clucking hen and said cheerfully to the general: "This time we beheaded more than eighty people and seized a large amount of food and money. It can be considered a great achievement, right? Plus, we beheaded more than eighty people. These dozen or so girls...hahaha..."

Mr. Tian also smiled and said: "It's a pity that the leader of the gang of untouchables ran away, otherwise our contribution would be even greater. Hmph, these untouchables are really daring to mine in the prince's fief, and they dared to use force to resist the law and injured us." A dozen or so brothers are really tired of living!"

The hundred households said: "I don't know how much money the superiors will give us for handing in these heads? It must be quite a lot?"

Tian Ba ​​always said: "Don't think too much, it's good enough for the brothers to drink. But it doesn't matter, didn't they arrest a dozen little girls and sell them to brothels, no matter what, they can be worth a few hundred taels silver."

Wang Rui's facial muscles twitched slightly, and he clenched his fists.Based on what he saw and heard in the past few days, he roughly knew what happened: this team of officers and soldiers was ordered to go into the mountains to drive away the mining refugees. A bloody conflict broke out between the two sides. At that point, more than a dozen girls were arrested!These bastards are really devoid of conscience!

Another hundred households said: "It's a pity that the young and strong of the untouchables escaped. Half of the heads captured were women's, which are not very valuable..."

Mr. Tian swung the head in his hand in a circle, and said, "Isn't it enough to ask someone to make it look like a man? The boss must give us a little carelessness, right?" He glanced at the head in his hand with regret, Said: "This girl is quite beautiful, I am reluctant to kill her, but unfortunately she is too strong, she was killed on the point of the gun, what a pity. She has delicate skin and tender flesh, and it is not easy to put on makeup. Forget it, let her Stay here." Throwing the head into the thorn bushes like throwing garbage.

A girl let out a mournful howl: "Sister——"

The officers and soldiers escorting them kicked her down, and said cursingly, "What are you screaming for, hurry up! When you get down the mountain, go back to the barracks, the uncle will let you howl!"

The girl was lying on the ground, staring at the officers and soldiers with resentment, and said in a stern voice, "You...you beasts in human skin are not capable of fighting Mongolian Tartars and Jiannu, but you can't deal with us unarmed ordinary people. One is more powerful than the other! You will die badly, all of you will die badly!!!”

The officer and soldier was furious: "Stinky bitch, I think you are tired of working!" He raised his foot and kicked the girl's abdomen, causing her to roll several meters away and spit out a mouthful of blood.This young girl was also stubborn enough, she was twitching all over from the pain, but she still stubbornly raised her head and stared at the officer, without any expression of begging for mercy, but her resentment grew stronger, she coughed blood and said: "You guys ...a terrible death!"

The officer and soldier became angry with embarrassment: "Smelly bitch, it's okay not to show you some color! If you stare again, I will dig out your eyes!" As he said, he kicked over again!
call out!
A sharp whistle suddenly sounded, and a crossbow arrow about a foot long came through the air, hitting the officer and soldier in the temple, piercing the entire skull cavity, going in from the left and out from the right, and the strong impact knocked him over.Almost at the same time, there was a loud banging and trembling on the mountain road, and crossbow arrows fell like raindrops. The proud officers and soldiers were hit by arrows one after another, and once they were hit by arrows, they were all pierced from front to back. There were loud screams on the mountain road, and those walking in front All the officers and soldiers fell on their backs, dead and wounded everywhere.The Baihu who was trying to flatter Mr. Tian was shocked and shouted: "There's an ambush! There's——" The word "ambush" just hit the tip of his tongue when Mr. Tian suddenly pulled him away. Come over and block in front of him, and then, a crossbow arrow hits his forehead.Mr. Tian took a breath when he saw it, what a terrifying crossbow!

When a round of crossbow arrows came, more than [-] officers and soldiers were shot down, completely messed up.Let them bully those refugees, of course they are one against ten, they are unstoppable, but if they fight against an army that is equally well equipped, they will drop their weapons and run away without hesitation in all likelihood, only fools will go up and risk their lives !Now that they were ambushed by gangsters, more than [-] of them were shot down in one face-to-face. It would be a miracle if they didn't urinate.The timid ones lay on the ground trembling all over, and the smarter ones threw away the spoils in their hands and fled. Some officers were roaring loudly, trying to organize this group of unsatisfied subordinates to fight their way out.The mountain road is just so big, so many people will naturally huddle together, and no one can move. There are screams, screams, and curses for a while, and they are extremely embarrassed.

The second round of crossbow arrows shot over quickly.The powerful crossbows equipped by the gangsters who ambushed them are not only extremely lethal, but also have a rate of fire more than twice that of ordinary crossbows. A row of crossbow arrows swept across, and the group of officers and soldiers were shot over twenty more One, almost without exception.At this time, those officers and soldiers were already shattered, and many even knelt on the ground and kowtowed, shouting: "Grandpa, please forgive me, please forgive me, we will never dare again!"

Wang Rui sighed, handed the formation-breaking crossbow to the monkey, and drew out the long knife.With the brainstorming of many top Chinese and Western technical engineers, the Heluo New Army's formation-breaking crossbow has been improved several times, and now the range has reached 340 steps. It is very difficult to pull such a strong crossbow, but due to the extremely ingenious design Pulley block, it is not much harder to draw than to draw a strong bow.The most amazing thing is that its arrow groove has also been converted into a magazine-type device. This device is made of tinplate, and there are five crossbow arrows inside, with a spring under it. After one shot, the spring automatically pushes the next one into the Arrow trough, the archer only needs to pull the crossbow to launch, eliminating the need for a series of actions such as taking arrows from the quiver and inserting arrow troughs, the firing process is greatly simplified, and the rate of fire is greatly increased. Two to three arrows per minute increased to an average of four arrows per minute, and an archer with good hands and feet could even shoot five arrows per minute.He just shot two arrows, and there are three more in the arrow box. He only needs to pull the bowstring and pull the trigger, and he can easily kill three lives, but he thinks it is a waste to use such precious crossbow arrows on this bunch of rubbish. resources and a waste of time.He brandished his long knife and yelled, "Kill! Not one left!"

More than 20 officers of the Heluo New Army brandished long knives and rushed silently at the officers and soldiers in disorder, killing anyone they saw.More than half of them have stayed in the Heluo New Army for three full years. The belief of "Facing a strong enemy, be fearless; protect the weak, be worthy of the law of nature" has penetrated into everyone's bone marrow and become their code of conduct. Because of this, they are extremely angry at the bestiality of these officers and soldiers.These bastards, wearing this skin in vain, pointed their knives at the unarmed ordinary people. What kind of garbage like this has the right to live in the world, they should all die early!They were like tigers rushing into a herd of sheep, and the officers and soldiers standing in front of them were knocked down one by one like straw handles, and the screams and cries of the officers and soldiers became louder and louder.In the chaos, the girl who was kicked to vomit blood laughed wildly, clapped her hands and shouted joyfully: "Good kill! Kill! Kill them all! I told you that you will all die, and now the retribution is coming? You deserve it, you deserve it!" !"

(End of this chapter)