Wu Mingjin lost his composure for a moment and was very moved in his heart. He knew that because of his eagerness for public justice and his love for justice, Wu Mingjin would often lead his tribe and villagers to fight out banditry in the local area. He had already lost several nephews and nephews from close branches, but he did not expect this. Even one of his sons died. 【Read the latest chapter】
"Old sir, please express your condolences. After the thief retreats, the student should report to the superior and ask for compensation and honors for your noble son." Huang Dahu has no fame, but he has a son who is a scholar, and Wu Daling intends to promote him, so he calls him on weekdays. A "Old Sir".
"The dogs were born to pacify the country. I, the Huang family, have received the favor of the country. I shall serve the imperial court and defend my hometown to pieces. I am not greedy for this honor." Huang Shoutong does not want to talk more about his sons - although he has three sons My son, even though he was born as a commoner and had no fame, the pain of losing a son was still heartbreaking.
"Shou Tong is here to alert the Ming government." He said straight to the point, "The pirates this time are not as good as usual, and I will be in big trouble!"
"Why did the old gentleman say this?" Wu Mingjin was shocked. He knew that the old man was calm and tenacious and not a big talker.
Huang Shoutong then told the story of how his son and a dozen local warriors ambushed three pirate spies near Bairentou Beach yesterday. Although he himself did not participate, the description of the escaped Xiang Yong surprised him. A round of bow and arrow attacks only shot down one person. Although there is an old saying that three arrows are not as good as a sword, and the bow used by Xiang Yong was not good, but the opponent was unarmored. The two big men were hit by seven or eight arrows, but they still charged all the way, killing several people, and finally killed his son.
He closed his eyes and remembered the tragic situation after Xiang Yong brought his son's body back. Half of his cheek was almost broken and one eye was missing. He listened to Xiang Yong describe the whole process. This person was hit by several arrows and was surrounded and beaten by Xiang Yong. , his son, who had been fond of dancing with guns and sticks since childhood, was killed in only one round in his hands. Such figures are rare warriors even in the army.
He wasn't too worried about personal bravery alone. But another thing Xiang Yong brought back made him very worried.
"Pirates' firearms are very powerful. One of them used a small hand gun to kill several people without even containing any medicine. Ming Mansion, please take a look -" He handed over a cloth bag in his arms, and Wu Mingjin opened it. At first glance, there is a piece of black-blue iron inside. It looks very small and looks like a gun used by a red-haired man, but its appearance is simple, with no unnecessary lines and no place to hold the match rope.
"Is this a gun?"
"Exactly." Seeing Wu Daling's confused look, Huang Shoutong said that Xiang Yong picked it up when he returned to the battlefield afterwards, and it was probably lost by the pirates in the melee.
"This, is what Xiang Yong said credible?" Wu Daling still didn't believe it. He was a scholar, but in the past twenty years, scholars and officials have been talking about military affairs and firearms. Although all kinds of firearms have not been seen in real form, the drawings are still the same. I've seen it in books. This thing has nothing to do with any musket, except that it also has a muzzle and a trigger.
(Note: In the late Ming Dynasty, there was a discussion among intellectuals about firearms and gunpowder. Of course, most people just talked about it on paper. Song Yingxing criticized this trend in "Tiangong Kaiwu"
"Believe it or not, this gun doesn't need to be loaded. It can be fired by pulling the trigger." Huang Shoutong said with a twist of his beard, "I tried a shot after I got it back. It was quite powerful. It can also penetrate a thick wooden cannon five feet away. But if you shoot it again, it won't fire. I think multiple molecules of medicine are stored in this gun, and the trigger machine can shoot one portion at a time."
"That must be a very powerful thing." Wu Mingjin looked at the small dark blue object in front of him, worried. If the pirates have many such firecrackers, how can they resist the bows and arrows of the brave people in the field? It seems that relying on artillery to defend the city is the best strategy.
"I came to the county this time, firstly, to warn the police, and secondly, to ask the Ming government to allocate some equipment."
He is now the head of the six-village joint protection group. He has hundreds of men under his command, but there is a shortage of weapons. Except for the big and small bosses and some servants who have swords and guns, the average village warrior only has wooden sticks. Lingao originally lacked iron tools and even fewer weapons. The swords and guns used by his servants were left behind by their ancestors many years ago. Although there are many bows and arrows, the climate in Hainan is not conducive to bows and arrows, and they are not comfortable to use.
Wu Mingjin couldn't refuse, so he gave him twenty waist knives from the arsenal, ten cards for playing, forty tiger forks, and five iron spears. He was also given some gunpowder and iron pieces - there were some iron cannons in Huangjiazhai, but gunpowder was banned by the government, so it was difficult to purchase.
Huang Shoutong was about to say goodbye and go to rest when his disciples came to report that the spies who had gone out for reconnaissance in the morning had returned. Since Pirates Landing 6, the county has sent a group of spies every day to inquire about the situation. These people are all from the local area and are familiar with the terrain and paths.
The city did not dare to open the door, so they only put down the prepared large baskets and pulled people up to the city. The spies went out every day without any harm, but came back today in great panic. Seeing them like this, the people in the city started talking a lot.
"What, road construction?" Wu Daling asked in surprise.
"Yes, Master." The spy knelt on the ground and glanced at the Master secretly.
"It was built from Bopu to Bairentou Beach. There are markers along the way. The pirates piled dirt into the road. It has been built for almost five or six miles."
"Five or six miles away, are you reading that correctly?!" Huang Shoutong rushed forward and asked.
"You read that right." The spy took a fearful look at this famous figure in Lingao.
Huang Shoutong was very surprised. He turned around and handed over his hands and said: "Ming Mansion, our village warriors went to fight yesterday, but there was no road along the way..."
Wu Mingjin nodded and said in a deep voice: "The road construction is indeed what I saw with my eyes, and there is no exaggeration? If there is even the slightest lie, I will not forgive you!"
The spy kowtowed repeatedly: "I don't dare to deceive the master. It is true that the road has been built for five or six miles." He also said that the pirates have sorcery. Many of their cars can travel without wheels and have huge iron arms that can be used. The giant shovel digs the soil, and the hill-like soil can be dug out and carried easily...
Another witchcraft! Wu Daling didn't believe in the theory of strange powers and chaos, but the pirates were getting more and more things beyond his comprehension and their abilities were getting bigger and bigger, which really worried him. Just talking about road construction and bridge repair in the county, it's not that he has never thought about it, but he always has to deal with various things. Either he is short of money and cannot recruit migrant workers, or the landlords on the land are noisy. Refuse to give ground. Even if everything went well, he still wouldn't be able to build a five- to six-mile road in two days - he would still pile dirt into the road. What kind of characters are these pirates?
However, the problem at this time is not the road, but why the pirates built the road. Since they are bandits, they cannot be doing it to accumulate merit; they intend to rob, and doing so is unnecessary. Besides, what is there to grab at Bairentou Beach? There are only a few masons there, and most of them have fled now.
In hesitation, he quickly ordered the officials in the county government, Liu Dalin, and hundreds of households who came for reinforcements to be invited, and everyone discussed countermeasures together. After hearing the situation of the spies and Huang Dahu, all the officials and gentry in the hall remained silent. Originally, they thought that the pirates could be as bad as they were when they landed on the mainland. At most, they would rob the people and burn down a few villages and markets. Since the Song Dynasty, this county has never been conquered, whether by civilian riots or pirate plunder. Some people were lucky that this group of pirates landed after the Mid-Autumn Festival. If they had arrived before the beginning of winter when the autumn grains were available, the losses would have been much more severe. However, bad news came one after another in the past few days. First, the spies reported that the other party had set up a camp in Bobu and unloaded goods to the shore day and night. Then came the defeat of Huangjiazhai Xiangyong, who had always been known for their bravery and daring in battle. Now the pirates were actually building roads again. No one could figure out what this group of thieves wanted to do.
Wu Mingjin looked at Liu Dalin, who was a senior counselor: "What do you think, sir?"
Liu Jinshi put his forehead with his hand and said after a long while: "Ming Mansion, this matter is very dangerous."
Wu Daling and Wu Ya who were present were both surprised. Wu Daling hurriedly raised his hands and said, "Please teach me, sir."
"I'm afraid that the Konkai pirates' intention is to attack the city!"
"How can I see it?"
"Most bandits and pirates are light-armed and plunder, so why do they need to build roads? If they build roads, the only solution is that they intend to attack the city. Dalin thought that the pirates must carry siege equipment, which is very heavy, and it would be difficult to build roads without building roads. It cannot be transported to the city."
Roads need to be built to transport siege equipment to the city. How big and heavy are the items? Everyone above and below fell silent. Wu Mingjin trembled: "Could it be the Hongyi Cannon..."
"Other than that, it's hard to think of anything else."
Hainan is close to Guangdong and Macau, and red-haired barbarian ships often pass by. The imperial court's purchase of cannon from the red-haired barbarians in Guangzhou was also known in official circles. Wu Mingjin knew that this cannon was very heavy, but its power was amazing, and the imperial court used it to defend Liaodong. The siege of Guangning last year relied on this cannon to hold on; it can be called a weapon in the army.
If such a thing were to be brought to the city now - Wu Daling couldn't imagine what the consequences would be.
"What should we do? This county is just a small town." Wu Ya had already screamed in shock. In fact, what he meant was that the officials and gentry present all understood that there was nothing worthy about Lingao, a small border town. Something so inspiring? What evil had Lingao done to deserve a killing weapon like the Hongyi Cannon?
At this time, they did not know that they were facing something more evil than the Hongyi Cannon, just as the storyteller in the Baijia Bookstore in Laigao City later said: "What a tragedy!"
Everyone turned their attention to Sun Baihu, who was wearing a mandarin duck standing coat. This hereditary Baihu thought it was a good job. When he got off the horse in the city, he received a reward of ten taels of silver. The reward given to the soldiers by the county was also Half of it was taken away by him. The past two days of feasting and feasting were much more comfortable than the half-dead days in the guardhouse. As for the pirates attacking the city, he felt that this was impossible.
Seeing everyone in the room looking at him, he couldn't help but panic. He knew very well that although he had the title of a hereditary householder, he was actually a small landowner. He brought thirty big soldiers and spent more time holding hoes than holding swords and guns. The only thing with any power is the Folan cannon. How can he come up with countermeasures? Besides, the pirates were really going to drag the Hongyi Cannon, and it was too late for him to escape. I knew in my heart that nothing I said would be good, so I just pretended to be calm and said nothing.
Magistrate Wu secretly cursed Sun Baihu as a waste, but he didn't really expect the guardsmen to do anything. I'm afraid we still have to ask General Tang to send troops for this matter.
"The only plan at the moment is to attack and harass." Liu Dalin said, "Thieves building roads cannot gather together all the time. We send more local warriors, promising heavy rewards, or harassing them with bows and arrows, or taking advantage of the opportunity to set fire to them. Harassing them day and night will make it impossible for them to live in peace. They will certainly be able to prevent them from building roads."
