Zhou Yuji's army of 14,000 men marched straight to Tongzhou City along the official road beside the Tonghui River in billowing smoke.
At this time, the big warehouse in Tongzhou had been emptied. When the rebels arrived and found that not even a grain of rice was left, they set fire to the big warehouse with a burst of evil fire.
Looking from a distance, thick smoke penetrated the sky and could be seen even in the capital.
Zuo Liangyu, Hu Dawei, and Meng Ruhu fled into Tongzhou City with eight hundred remnants. They just couldn't stop it. This time, there were fifty to sixty thousand soldiers in the camps and garrison who rebelled. After looting the surrounding counties and towns, they all rushed to Tongzhou.
Because a large amount of materials transported by the Grand Canal are stored here.
After a large number of rebels robbed everything around them, they poured into Dingyuan Bo's territory eastward. As a result, they were attacked head-on by nearly 100,000 militiamen. Beat them to pieces and piss them off.
They had no idea that the militia composed of Dingyuan Bo's domestic slaves was better equipped and trained than them.
The rebels came in groups of hundreds to harvest wheat, and the militiamen also fought them out in groups of hundreds. Because these harvests are owned by the family, and the Yang Mansion does not charge farm rent, any amount of grain harvested is their own. Apart from the cost of seeds, guano, pesticides, and agricultural machinery, they have no other expenses.
[In view of the general environment,
To snatch wheat is to snatch rice from their bowl. For a time, everyone was rushing to be the first.
Fortunately, Xiao Niangpi did not intend to intervene in the rebellion and just drove them out.
Many of the rebels who were killed were hung by the militia on ropes from trees on the border to deter other rebels who were ready to come in and rob.
During this time, the rebels who came to the east gradually disappeared. Because several county towns were opened in the west. The officers and soldiers were completely defeated, and they shrank significantly and retreated westward. Now they are huddled in Tongzhou and dare not come out.
After hearing the news, rebels from all over the country gathered towards Tongzhou. If Tongzhou is opened, it will open the door to the Gyeonggi region. Over there are the estates of dignitaries, with even more wealth.
At this time, more than 40,000 people had gathered near Tongzhou. After the rebels in Xianghe County were defeated, they fled in all directions. In order to escape arrest from various places, they also came to Tongzhou.
Dong Jishu stood on the city wall, holding on to the crenellations, and nervously looked at the densely packed rebels in the wilderness outside the city. These people have gone crazy. They no longer looked like Ming soldiers. There is no difference between them and gangsters at this time.
These ten days of bloody massacre also inspired the bestiality. Once military discipline is corrupted, there is no bottom line at all. The so-called doing good is like ascending, doing evil is like falling.
Dong Jishu has received the emperor's order, and he still has to focus on recruiting these people. After all, these people have been wiped out, and Jizhen will be empty. There are no soldiers left.
But at this time, he looked at the rebel soldiers below who had plundered many women and carried large and small bags of property. He shook his head heavily. These rebels have become wild-minded and cannot go back.
They are no longer soldiers or bandits. All we can do is kill them. Otherwise, there will be thunderstorms sooner or later.
Even if these rebels are temporarily appeased, they will still be in danger if there is any trouble. Even if we were to defend against them, we would still be wasting the few troops we had.
Then, he smiled bitterly and shook his head. These things were not his place to think about. Let's think about how to defend Tongzhou first. If Tongzhou falls, none of them will be able to escape, and Your Majesty will have to kill them all.
There are still more than 2,500 battalions of soldiers in the city. Most of them were remnants who had been defeated several times and had lost morale and fled back. Only a thousand men under his command have not yet engaged with the rebels, and their morale is still good. In addition, His Majesty transferred more than 6,000 soldiers from two guards.
The guardsmen were in ragged clothes and looked like beggars. But at least it can be used as a personal field. Dong Jishu first gave them new mandarin duck jackets, opened the granary, and asked them to eat before talking.
Although the strength of more than 8,000 troops is not large, the defense can still last for a while.
Dong Jishu was observing the enemy's situation. At this time, a group of cavalry appeared on the horizon and galloped towards here.
Lin Mengya felt a little uncomfortable because of the little girl's tears.
She could understand Qingran's feelings, and after thinking about it, she changed her tone.
"Actually, I asked you to stay outside so that you could do me a very important favor. And only you can do this."
Upon hearing this, Wei Qingran didn't even bother to wipe her tears and asked hurriedly: "Sister Gong, just tell me what you want me to do, and I will definitely be able to do it!"
Lin Mengya clapped her hand, then turned back to talk to Long Tianyu and Ren Yi.
Then, he said to Wei Qingran: "Now it is impossible for us to enter through the two main entrances, but this secret passage is also guarded now."
"If we want to sneak in, we need someone to lure the guard away for us. Otherwise, if we make them think that they have fallen into a trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain, then even if we sneak in, we will still be in a very dangerous situation."
Wei Qingran thought hard and suddenly had an idea.
"I know! I can help you lure these people away!"
Just now, Lin Mengya thought of a way to divert trouble to the east.
When they caught the female killer before, the other party revealed that many of the desperadoes who escaped from Level 13 had revenge in mind.
According to her, the Thirteen Levels are highly hierarchical but extremely chaotic.
The locations for the first few levels are okay, but the further back you go, the more cruel the rules become, and the bloodier and darker the life becomes.
By the way, she also revealed an extremely important news.
That is, within the thirteen levels, each level has a level master.
Others can only obey the orders of this master, otherwise, they will be sent deeper, which means that life will not be like this.
But this time, several rather difficult thorns escaped from the deepest part of the Thirteenth Level.
The woman didn't say how dangerous these people were, but Lin Mengya clearly felt that when she mentioned those people, there was a hint of hidden fear in the woman's expression.
According to the woman, these people had hated the abuse in the Thirteen Levels.
Naturally, they will not let go of the group of ancient people outside.
Therefore, the first thing they did when they escaped was to take revenge on these people from the ancient tribe!
"Qingran, listen, this time I not only hope that you can help us lure those people away, I also hope that you can help me create an illusion. In this way, even the members of the secret society will not suspect us. It will be safer for us."
"Sister Gong, can I do it?"
Wei Qingran had been confident before, but now he suddenly became depressed when he heard that the matter was so serious.
She was afraid that she had done something wrong and delayed Sister Gong's affairs.
But in my heart, after all, I was a little unwilling.
Everyone is protecting her, so she has to do something for everyone.
"I believe you can do a good job." Lin Mengya pinched her little cheek, took out a handkerchief, and wiped the tears on her face.
"You are attentive, so you can naturally notice some details. And you are so smart that you can flexibly handle the information I give you."
These are Wei Qingran’s shining points.
What's more, even when someone is watching, Wei Qingran can still be careful not to let himself encounter any danger, which is not simple in itself.
This girl's perception is quite sharp.
This is definitely a talent that others can only dream of!
"By the way, has the person who monitored you recently shown up yet?" Lin Mengya asked in a low voice.
Wei Qingran, who happened to have the topic changed, had no time to be nervous and thought of another thing.
She frowned slightly and shook her head.
"It hasn't happened recently, but I always feel like that person won't give up so easily."
"So, you noticed something?"
Wei Qingran's face was a little complicated, but after lowering his head and thinking for a moment,
Dong Jishu discovered these cavalry immediately. They came from the direction of the capital. Probably some scout scouts.
Chu Zhentang took the lead and quickly rushed to the front of the camp where these rebels gathered. A total of eighteen riders seemed to be in a deserted place, and then turned their horses and climbed up the small slope next to them. Observe condescendingly.
He is the scout squadron leader of the regiment training and holds the rank of deputy battalion commander. He was one of the first batch of veterans recruited by Yang Fan. From the rocky beach to the recent Battle of Miao County, we have experienced almost all battles.
If the position of scout was not so important, Yang Fan would have put him out as the leader.
Seeing the cavalry coming, the rebels became a little commotion. Soon some cavalry rushed over.
Chu Zhentang immediately rode away and refused to fight with them. Now that we have observed clearly, we are ready to go back. Their mission is to conduct reconnaissance, there is no need to fight them.
Seeing a dozen reconnaissance cavalry running away, they gathered fifty-six people and immediately chased them.
The attire of these people is very strange. Dark green straight German military uniform, black leather boots, and a black hooded cloak. He looked very energetic and did not look like those sloppy soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.
The chasing cavalry simply saw their horses. Everyone's eyes were almost red. Good horses are very expensive in Ming Dynasty. It is similar to the sports cars of later generations.
These horses are extremely handsome, tall and muscular, which makes these cavalrymen uncontrollably greedy. Immediately afterwards, more than a hundred cavalry rushed out.
During this period, they looted too many good things, and people were already drifting away. It seems that no one in the capital can stop them. Now that I see a good horse, I naturally think that it should belong to me.
One hundred fifty or sixty cavalrymen gave chase. While chasing, he fired arrows and yelled.
Baihu Wang Xinmai looked back at the pursuing rebels. Said: "The camp, these rubbish, slapped on the nose and face, there is no end."
After running up a hillside, more than a dozen people stopped and turned around to look at the chasing soldiers who were shouting and chasing after them.
"These flies are very annoying. If we beat them, we will be quieter," Chu Zhentang said. "Get ready with rifles. After two shots, we charge down. After approaching thirty meters, we shoot with muskets, then charge with sabers, penetrate their formation, and then fight back. No one should dare to pursue them."
The rebels were a little surprised when they saw that the cavalry on the opposite side actually stopped running.
After all, there are only eighteen of them, while there are more than one hundred and fifty on their side. No matter how you look at it, they will not fight head-on with their side. This is suicidal. Their horses are good and they can run freely.
But no matter what they think, it doesn't matter anymore. These rebel cavalry rushed towards them immediately.
Tan Jizhong was the leader of this group of rebels. He was originally from a hundred households. After rebelling, he led his cavalry to loot everywhere and robbed a lot of money. Soon some stragglers came to join them. Now it has this scale.
When he rushed to a distance of about a hundred meters, he clearly saw the eighteen riders on the opposite side raising their cannons in uniform movements. Although he couldn't see it clearly from a distance, he knew it was a blunderbuss.
