Eunuchs who traveled through the Qing Dynasty

The people in the village had already run away, and Sheng Bao was angrily directing the soldiers to burn the village.Xiao Ran hastily left a message for him and E Longze, and he brought a matchlock team of 200 people to chase north.Since this is a mountainous area, it is inconvenient to ride a horse, everyone is tired and out of breath, but knowing that the imperial envoy is really in a hurry, no one dares to stop.Follow the plank road until the sky turns white, and you have reached the city of Xingyuan County.I saw a land temple from afar, and I followed it up to see that Duan Xingnian, Xueyao, and a dozen or so veterans were panting there.

Xue Yao's little face turned pale from being frightened, and when she saw Xiao Ran, she didn't care about being shy, she threw herself into his arms and started crying.

After this night's rapid march, everyone was so tired that they couldn't straighten up.Xiao Ran ordered to drive into Xingyuan County and rest on the spot.Wu Minzhi, the county magistrate of Xingyuan County, heard that the imperial envoy was coming, so he went out of the city to greet him in a hurry, and prepared delicious wine and food for everyone.It was a coincidence that at that time Xingyuan County had an epidemic. Although it was not a fatal disease, it made people vomit and diarrhea, and the diarrhea continued. More than 200 soldiers ate a meal, and more than 100 were infected. Even Xiao Ran himself complained about ten times a day.

Xiao Ran was furious, and commanded soldiers to surround the county government office, insisting on charging Wu Minzhi'an with the crime of collaborating with the country.This time Wu Minzhi was flattering to the horse's feet, so he had no choice but to take out money to clear it.He donated more than 3000 taels of silver in spite of himself, and the matter was just given up.Xiao Ran tasted the sweetness, so he simply put up a notice to raise donations for the country at the gate of the city, singled out the wealthy and gentry in the city, and scraped the land for five or six days until it couldn't fit in his pocket.

On this day, Xiao Ran was leading a group of people wandering around against the autumn wind, when he suddenly saw a group of Qing soldiers who had fled from the front line rushing into the city, looting everywhere.The soldiers in the yamen saw this situation bravely and ran faster than anyone else, how could they dare to control them?Fortunately, none of Xiao Ran's subordinates were vegetarians. With a matchlock gun, he first knocked down the three or four leaders, and the rest obediently surrendered.

It was only after calling them over that they found out that these guys were actually Ruilin's troops.It turned out that the news of the great victory at Nianzishan reached the capital, and the people of the imperial court were excited. bandit.But the foreign devils in Tongzhou resisted desperately and attacked the city for several days in succession, causing heavy casualties to the Qing army.At this time, a large number of reinforcements from Tianjin also arrived, and the foreign devils took the opportunity to counterattack and defeated all the Qing soldiers from the three routes.

Xiao Ran was also taken aback, and hurriedly led his men to rush for reinforcements.Along the way, countless Qing soldiers fled.Just after passing Nianzi Mountain, E Longze led a hundred soldiers and retreated angrily. When he saw Xiao Ran, he burst into tears.In the first two days, he and Duan Meng joined the Shengbao Department, and they fought pretty well. The foreign guns and cannons they captured played a big role.But the ammunition was quickly used up. The bullets of the Qing army shotguns were 12 mm, while the diameter of the bullets of foreign guns was 9 mm, which could not be used universally.Without powerful weapons, the Qing soldiers had to be beaten. The Shengbao Department was defeated, and the 700 people in Duanmeng's Jianrui Battalion were made dumplings by foreign devils. Even Duanmeng was killed in battle.

Xiao Ran knew that the situation was over, so he had no choice but to retreat to Xiaowangzhuang area.Xiaowangzhuang had been burned down to white ground by Shengbao that day. Before entering the village, there were waves of smoke rising from the ruined walls.Er Longze said: "It might be General Sheng's troops." He was about to ask his subordinates to speak up, but Xiao Ran was extra careful and ordered the troops to lie in ambush in the woods outside the village, ordering Duan Xingnian to bring two agile He quietly sneaked into the village to inquire.

After a while, Duan Xingnian came back in a panic and reported: "Foreign devils! There are foreign devils inside!"

Er Longze was taken aback: "How is it possible? They were still in Tongzhou in the morning, how did they come so fast!"

Xiao Ran said: "About how many people are there?"

Duan Xingnian said: "There are quite a lot, at least six or seven hundred people."

"Damn it, it looks like this is the advance team of the foreign devils. They are in such a hurry to go, I'm afraid something big happened ahead!" Xiao Ran pondered for a while, and said: "No matter what, these guys can't be safe and sound. Sneak away from under our noses. Even if we can't beat him, we must disgust him!"

"What to do, I'll listen to you, old man!" Er Longze and Duan Meng were sworn brothers, and they were eager to take revenge at this time, their eyes were red.

"Okay, let's tune the tiger away from the mountain, so..."

Not long after, the foreign devils were about to start their meal, when suddenly a burst of sparse gunshots sounded from the east of Zhuangzi, judging from the sound, it should be a small group of rout soldiers.A hundred or so devils rushed out excitedly, and sure enough, they saw a dozen or so Qing soldiers turning around the foot of the mountain.Just as he was thinking about whether to go after him, there was another burst of gunshots from the south. It was still like a fart, and after ten or so rings, there was no movement.The foreign devils were wondering when suddenly there was loud gunshots from the west, but this time there were ping-ping-pong-pong bangs. It seemed that this was the main direction of the enemy's attack.When a large number of foreign devils hurried to the west, they were shocked again, there was not even a shadow of a ghost in front of them.

The devils were so angry that they set up artillery, and fired wherever there was gunfire.Unexpectedly, as soon as the gunfire rang out, there was no movement on all sides, and as soon as the gunfire stopped, the gunshots rang out sparsely again.After tossing and tossing like this for a while, the devil couldn't hold back, gathered three or 400 people and rushed out of Zhuangzi, and went straight to the happiest west valley where the trouble was just now.

There were indeed forty or fifty Qing soldiers in the valley, and all of them were used to traveling across mountains and ridges. Seeing the foreign soldiers chasing them, they rushed to the mountain ridge.And they refused to go far, only outside the range of the muskets, yelling in unison in broken English: "*** YOU!", "Shit", "British pigs!"Coincidentally, these foreign devils were actually British soldiers, and after being scolded this time, they wished they could swallow these Qing soldiers in one gulp.

Those who were chased away in this way have been chased for seven or eight miles.Suddenly he heard gunshots behind him, and then he realized that he had been fooled, so he turned around and went to Xiaowangzhuang for reinforcements.On the mountain ridges on both sides of this road, sharpshooters of the Qing soldiers kept ambushing and fired sniper shots. From time to time, one or two foreign soldiers would fall down screaming, making the hundreds of people panic and panic.

Panting, he ran out of the valley, and before he entered the village, a random gunshot from inside was fired at him, and shells were thrown over one after another, immediately knocking down a large area.The foreign devil thought he was under fire from his own family, so he ran into the Zhuangzi even more desperately, screaming "Dongshute! Dongshute!", but the artillery fire inside intensified.When more than 200 people finally passed through the open space in front of Zhuangzi, there were less than [-] people left.

After finally escaping into Zhuangzi, there was a burst of shouts of killing that sounded like thunder, and countless Qing soldiers rushed out of the ruins, wielding the gleaming Turghut waist saber, and swept towards them like a tiger descending a mountain.Losing the advantage of firearms, the foreign soldiers fought desperately for a while, and most of them became dead souls.The remaining dozens of people retreated in a hurry, but Taniguchi had already ambushed a small group of sharpshooters, and those who escaped became living targets without exception.Seeing that the general situation was over, the foreign soldiers had no choice but to kneel down and surrender.

It turned out that while they were chasing into the valley, Xiao Ran commanded the other 200 or so Qing soldiers to kill the Fulu sentry, and touched Zhuangzi from the east.There are only about 200 foreign devils left here, and half of them are gunners. Where are the opponents of the Qing soldiers?Seeing that the situation was not good, they wanted to surrender, but it was a pity that the Qing soldiers didn't do this at all. They swung their big knives like cutting melons and vegetables. Except for two officers, they all fell down.

Quickly resolving the battle, Xiao Ran commanded the soldiers to set up the flowering cannon, and gave the reinforcements a hard blow.Because the smoke from the black powder was very thick, it was impossible to see who fired the cannon, and the Qing army at that time would not use this kind of breech-mounted cannon, which made the devil soldiers fall into another big trick, mistakenly Thought it was my own family, none of the more than 600 people escaped.

Except for a few foreign soldiers who surrendered in officer uniforms, the rest were shot and killed.The Qing soldiers happily competed to kill the prisoners, and for a while Xiaowangzhuang was crying and howling, cursing, crying, begging for mercy, praying, and there was a chaotic sound.

"I protest!" A yellow-haired officer stood up angrily and shouted in broken Chinese, "Chinese, despicable!"

"Oh, then how do you say it's not despicable?" Xiao Ran looked at him with great interest.

"Soldiers, be aboveboard! You, despicable methods, and kill prisoners! Inhumane!"

"Fuck you!" Er Longze kicked him down, "Mr. Xiao Qin, let my old man cut these guys with my own hands. Damn, it's rare to see such an ugly head. It's all itchy."

Xiao Ran shook his head and sighed: "Your brother is really good, he knows how to behead his head and make foreign friends laugh at us for our lack of quality." He waved his hand and called Duan Xingnian, "Go and prepare some bamboo sticks and wooden sticks, so that these people from far away Friends, try the ten torture methods of the Qing Dynasty."

Duan Xingnian chuckled, found a piece of bamboo, and cut it into sharp bamboo sticks.Xiao Ran patted an officer on the shoulder and said, "If I ask you something, you can answer me obediently, okay?"

The officer had a hard temper, spat hard, and turned his face away.Xiao Ran looked at him sympathetically, and sighed: "Good comrade! Brother Duan, nail his nails."

Duan Xingnian asked two soldiers to push the officer to the ground, raised a bamboo stick with a grinning grin, and gesticulated back and forth on his fingers.The officer finally understood his intention, his face turned pale with fright, he screamed strangely, looking back desperately and shrinking his hands.But Duan Xingnian's palm is like an iron hoop, how can he shrink back?In desperation, he shouted: "Forgive! Forgive! I say!"

"What a good boy!" Xiao Ran patted him on the head, "Unfortunately, it's too late!"

"Ah—" As Duan Xingnian sent his arm away, the officer let out a half-cry, and then passed out from the pain.

The faces of the remaining four devil officers were ashen, their teeth were chattering, and they couldn't even mutter prayers.Xiao Ran asked someone to bring the second one: "What is your mission here?"

The man was about to speak with trembling lips, when the yellow-haired officer yelled in English: "Don't say it! Tell him that we are just an outpost and are preparing to return to Tongzhou!"

"***YOU! You son of a bitch, have you never passed the sixth level of bullying me, have you? Do you think I don't understand?" Xiao Ran cursed in English, "Come on, nail all ten nails on me! "

The officer never expected that this young guy could speak English, rolled his eyes, and passed out directly. "I said, I said!" The officers' last line of defense suddenly collapsed, begging for mercy.

It turned out that this force was a mixed battalion of the British Expeditionary Force, and was ordered to rush from Tianjin to Tongzhou for reinforcements.But yesterday evening, a French army traveled from Yongqing to the north of the river, all the way to Longwang Town, and surrounded a strange Chinese team there, resisting extremely tenaciously.And from Beijing, Zhuozhou, Rongcheng and other directions, Qing soldiers rushed to reinforce desperately. This made the British and French armies realize that they had caught a big fish, and immediately divided their troops into three groups and went straight to Longwang Town.

After hearing this, Xiao Ran drew a series of question marks in his heart.Who will this big fish be?Duanhua?Ruilin?It doesn't look like it when you think about it.After Tongzhou was defeated, they should have slipped back to Beijing alone. With the astonishing escape instincts of these two old gentlemen, there was absolutely no reason for them to be surrounded by the enemy.Then there is another possibility that this army is not here to fight Tongzhou, it is very likely a guerrilla army.But I was a little puzzled: even the troops from Zhuozhou and Rongcheng had been mobilized, so it seemed that this "fish" was really not an ordinary character.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty scratched it out, except for Sushun and Yixin, even Prince Yi Zaiyuan and Liuer Fu Jingshou might not have such weight.But both Sushun and Yixin were powerful ministers, and they would never dare to leave Beijing at this juncture.

It can't be Xianfeng's idiot Bo Yiyu driving himself, right?As soon as Xiao Ran thought of this, he immediately denied it.Because there has never been such a thing in history, and now that foreigners are forced to their doorsteps, Xianfeng is not so aggressive.Besides, he was plagued by illnesses, even if he had the heart, he might not have the strength.

Xiao Ran asked the soldiers to behead a few devil officers, and after pondering for a long time, he said: "Old man, do you want to make a big deal with your buddies?"

"No problem! Brother Xiao is the flag of our firearms battalion. Wherever you point it, the old man will hit it!" E Longze said while slapping the mountain on his chest, spitting and flying.

"Okay, then let's go to Longwang Town and meet these sons of bitches!"

Among the seized weapons and equipment, only more than a dozen front-loading curved-fire guns were selected for the artillery. This kind of gun uses flowering shells, has a long range and high accuracy. The most important thing is that it is small in size and light in weight, so it is easy to carry.Xiao Ran did not choose those breech-loading cannons, which are powerful but extremely cumbersome, and are more suitable for positional warfare.

The little guy from the Dian Military Academy who used to play shooting games for him was called Cheng Tong. He was dressed in a blue flag, and his artillery was really accurate.It is said that 500 meters away, it can even hit the enemy's head with a shell.Xiao Ran dispatched [-] gunners, all under his command.In addition, [-] soldiers with the best kung fu and good at close combat were selected and handed over to Duan Xingnian to command.

Excluding the wounded soldiers, there are less than 200 people left.Since it is equipped with a Brunswick-style front-loading smooth-bore percussion gun, each combat team is adjusted from the original group of five (sharpshooter, three-man loading, one-man ignition) to three-man teams (sharpshooter, two-man loading) , The rate of fire can reach twelve shots per minute, and within a distance of 300 meters, even flies can't even think about flying past.

The current number of more than 200 people can be said to be a real special forces unit, with few but fine skills, quick response and excellent military technology.Facts have proved that it is the sharpshooter team he selected that often turns the tide at critical moments and can finally turn defeat into victory.Xiao Ran was convinced that in the period of large-scale positional warfare at that time, such a team was undoubtedly a sharp knife, which could stab the enemy's heart anytime and anywhere.

In order not to affect the marching speed, he left dozens of wounded soldiers behind and asked them to escort the artillery and Xueyao back to Xingyuan County.The rest of the people followed his order and marched straight into Longwang Town at a fast marching speed.In fact, until this moment, Xiao Ran just had an intuition that this one would catch some fish, but he never imagined what kind of big fish that guy struggling in the net would be.

In the evening, the Huoqi Battalion successfully avoided the harassment of foreign soldiers along the way and arrived at Longwang Town.

Longwang Town lives up to its name, a majestic mountain is like a giant dragon lying down, enveloping the town in its arms.The green water in front of the town winds and flows, just like a necklace made of emerald jade, wearing a bright pearl.

Such a small town surrounded by mountains and rivers used to be a post station in ancient times, so although the place is small, it is surrounded by walls and towers.This is also one of the reasons why the besieged Qing army was able to hold on here for a day and a night.

Another reason is that these Qing soldiers resisted extremely tenaciously.Several gaps in the wall have been blown open, and they were actually filled up with living people. One can imagine the brutality of the battle.Xiao Ran really couldn't think of any army in the Qing Dynasty that had such a strong fighting power.

"Brother Xiao, shall we do it?" E Longze's eyes were red, although he felt a little nervous when he saw the ant-like troops densely packed with foreign devils, it was more of a kind of excitement before the war.He is now wearing a foreign devil's military uniform, probably because he is used to wearing fat robes. He always feels that this military uniform is a bit narrow, and his buttocks are tight, and he can't help twisting.

Everyone put on devil uniforms, and they felt uncomfortable physically and psychologically. Many soldiers kept scratching on the small trees like pigs.

"No, wait a little longer." Xiao Ran's voice was calm, but his face was a little pale.

He's a little nervous.A few miles ahead, foreign devils in three directions, at least tens of thousands of people, surrounded the town tightly.Looking at the three-story iron barrel-like formation there, he certainly knew that today's battle was definitely not something that dozens of sharpshooters could handle.Even if his team is a sharp knife, these well-equipped foreign devils in front of him are undoubtedly a huge melting pot, which can easily melt him down.

But Xiao Ran did not choose to retreat.He himself also felt a little strange, he was like a red-eyed gambler now, the bigger the bet, the more dangerous the situation was, which aroused his desire even more.He knew that in today's game of gambling, if he loses, he will lose all his eggs, and if he wins, he will lose everything.

The party is now lurking in the valley to the east.He also wore the uniform of a devil officer, with long boots on his feet. He felt really good, quite a bit of the prestige of the Napoleon era.At this time, he was on the top of the mountain with Er Longze and Duan Xingnian, closely watching every subtle change on the battlefield.The Qing soldiers in the town were trying to break out from all directions, and the sound of guns and guns kept ringing.But Xiao Ran didn't intend to do anything.There is only one chance, and he must wait for it to be fully grasped.