The firearms carried by the hoeing company this time include grenades, small squatting tiger guns weighing only more than 30 kilograms, and newly developed landmines. The technical principles of landmines and new grenades are similar. The friction between copper wire and glass generates sparks that detonate mercury fulminate, which in turn detonates gunpowder. However, landmines have a larger charge and are much more powerful. When key raw materials such as mercury and copper were in short supply, the arsenal devoted all its mercury and mercury resources to manufacturing grenades. At present, the production of mercury fulminate has stabilized, and glass has also begun to be produced on a small scale. Once raw materials were no longer in short supply, small batches of mines were manufactured.
The garrison brigade is the main user of landmines. Yu Zhu ordered people to lay mines in core fortresses and key forward defense locations to prevent enemy sneak attacks. Different from the pressure mines used by the garrison brigade for defense, this time the hoeing company carried ten offensive mines, and they were detonated by pulling ropes. According to Ouyang Xuan's request, the anti-traitor company must wipe out this group of political bandits. To achieve this goal, controlling the detonation time of landmines is extremely important. Except for two of these mines that were laid on the road at the mouth of the canyon, the other eight were laid on the cliffs beside the road. The road leading out of the mountain has a cliff on one side and a creek on the other. It is almost as steep as the mountain road in Wanjiaping, but the water volume of the creek is much greater than that of Buwenjing River, and the cliff is much shorter. The height is just right for the Pili Army to detonate landmines.
The traitorous county captain was like a wolf, leading a pack of hungry wolves to hunt fat sheep, but he did not know that he had become the prey in the eyes of the hunter. Seeing that the scout walked out of the mountain pass safe and sound, the bandits behind him walked out of the mountain pass confidently and boldly. When all the bandits entered the ambush circle, the landmine in front was detonated, and the huge power sent several bandits around the explosion point immediately to the west. Just when the bandits saw that the situation was not good and ran back one after another, the mines laid on the cliff were detonated one by one. These mines were hidden three to five meters above the road at intervals of twenty meters. Their explosive shrapnel completely covered the narrow mountain road, killing the bandits and injuring dozens of people.
The remaining bandits were in shock, and just as they were congratulating themselves on their luck, dozens more iron lumps were dropped from the top of the cliff above. These iron lumps blew up the fleeing bandits again, and they had to turn back and rush towards the entrance of the ravine. It's just that the mouth of the ravine is not born. The light artillery and muskets of the Perak Army also constitute a death zone here. The bandits who suffered a head-on attack had no choice but to flee back, and as expected, took another grenade. Seeing that there was no way out, some bandits jumped into the stream below the road. However, although the stream was not frozen, it was very cold and biting. What's even worse is that the bottom of the creek is full of smooth rocks. The bandits can't stand firmly among them. They fall into the water one after another. In the blink of an eye, their faces turn pale and their whole bodies tremble with cold. This made the bandits who were about to follow suit give up the idea of escape, and simply knelt on the ground and surrendered directly.
In this ambush, except for a few bandits who fled to the bandit den ten miles away, more than 200 bandits were killed, more than 50 were killed, nearly 100 were injured, and only about 70 prisoners had their hands and feet intact. The traitorous county lieutenant had one of his thighs broken off by a landmine. He lost too much blood and saw that he was dying. A soldier from the Perak Army stepped forward and chopped off his head with a knife. Because they hated these bandits for being willing to be the lackeys of the Mongols, and also hated them for robbing the Perak Army caravan, the anti-rape company was extremely ruthless this time. The heads of all the bandits who were killed were cut off, and those who were seriously injured were given a suspended death sentence and were thrown into the creek beside the road. The prisoners, including those with minor injuries, were tied up with ropes and prepared to be escorted to Lizhou. Those with minor crimes were sent to the Huoshan Mine for hard labor, while those with serious crimes were sent to Zelang's caravan. Slave trading is also a common business in the Tibetan area, and the profits are very lucrative. As for the miserable slave life, it was the punishment of these traitorous bandits by the Perak Army.
While the Perak Army was cleaning the battlefield, they sent people to chase them to the bandits' den. Although this bandit's den is easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are only a dozen bandits who escaped and stayed behind. When the heavy village gate was blown down by gunpowder charges, the bandits in the village knelt down and surrendered. In this bandit's den, there were not only a large amount of grain, tea, cloth and other goods, but also dozens of mules and horses, as well as gold, silver, silk, silk and other property. They even found several letters to and from the Mongols and Cao Zhizhou. From these letters, we learned that the Mongols asked this group of bandits to recruit troops to serve as internal support for the Mongolian army to occupy Ya, Li, Diao, Yan and other states. Cao Zhizhou gave this group of bandits money and food support. In addition to telling them not to attack Yazhou officials, he also asked them to recapture Baizhang City from the Perak Army. After that, he made the traitor county captain the county magistrate.
With mules and horses, all valuable captures can be taken away. As for those bulk goods such as grain that could not be taken away, they were given to the mountain people in the ditch. There are several small villages in this ravine. Being neighbors with this group of bandits will obviously expose you to a lot of bullying. It's just that the Pili Army promised the mountain people that they could freely use everything in the village, which made them extremely happy. The Perak Army not only helped them eliminate their evil neighbors, but also gave them an unexpected fortune. Of course, they were grateful to the Perak Army.
After waiting for another half day, the hoeing company met up with the caravan heading to Lizhou. During these two days, the anti-trafficking company was divided into two parts. One part went to Lizhou with the caravan with the captured and prisoners, and the other part took the severed bandit heads back to Baizhang City. For the sake of unnecessary trouble, I still took the small road back to Baizhang City.
The more than fifty bandit heads brought back were treated with quicklime embalming and hung outside the Baizhang City. At the city gate, notices were also used to inform passing business travelers and passers-by of the bandits' crimes. The notice listed the three major crimes for which the bandit leader must die, namely: as a court official, he forgot his ancestors, killed the magistrate of Baizhang County, and took refuge with the Mongols; robbed and killed people and passing merchants; bullied men and dominated women, and plundered in the name of "tax collection". Properties of nearby mountain residents. Of course, these crimes are not fabricated out of thin air, but are supported by sufficient evidence. The Perak Army copied hundreds of these evidences and posted them not only in Baizhang City and other areas under the rule of the Perak Army, but also sent people to secretly post them everywhere within the boundaries of Yazhou and Lizhou. They even carved dozens of wooden boards and threw them into the river to flow downstream. Meizhou, Jiading Prefecture, Xuzhou and Luzhou.
Lu Dezhi also ordered people to compile the story of this rape into a storytelling, and let the storyteller spread it widely in the jurisdiction. Of course, regardless of whether it is a notice or a storyteller's commentary, a lot of content has been blurred and elevated, and some places have been avoided to prevent secrets from being leaked. For example, Cao Zhizhou's affair with bandits was not made public. If it were made public, it would destroy the prestige of the court and push this wallflower to the Mongols. For another example, new weapons such as landmines have also been blurred. It is only said that the new firearms of the Perak Army are more powerful, comparable to gods descending from the earth, and can make the enemy piss off once used. The main function of such large-scale propaganda was to warn the corrupt officials in the Southern Song Dynasty. Being a traitor will never end well, and taking refuge with the Mongols means becoming an enemy of the Perak Army.
Of course, this is also a good opportunity to shape the image of the Perak Army. In fact, the main reason why the Southern Song Dynasty suffered repeated defeats against the Mongols was that the government was corrupt, which chilled the hearts of a large number of ambitious people and alienated the people at the bottom. Ouyang Xuan knew very well that for the great cause of resisting Mongolia to be successful, it must be carried out with "guns and pens". He must use the pen to publicize the political ideas of the Perak Army and its determination never to surrender, so that more people can gather under the banner of resisting Mongolia. Down.
