About a thousand of his men took off their flags, rolled up their military flags, and were scattered in several villages along the canal. [Full text reading] As soon as the soldiers entered the village, they controlled the entire village, and no one was allowed in or out. Every night, General Qian would lead the team and go out in batches to plunder. Kong Youde did not allow them to go out sporadically, for fear that Xiang Yong would counterattack and capture a few alive. I just sent spies out every day to spy out where there were big houses, and then I went out at night with my face blackened.
He didn't stay in any place for long, and would definitely move somewhere in two or three days. Because his men were all cavalry, he was very free to choose his route. Sometimes he would suddenly leave the canal for dozens of miles and then turn back in another direction. It is impossible to figure out his movement pattern and camping location.
Part of the looted property was handed over to the "Liangtai", and part was distributed to the officers and soldiers according to their ranks. After a few days in Dongguang, all the soldiers had full bags, the soldiers were well-fed, had some money in their hands, and became bolder. Some people ignored Kong Youde's orders and went out in groups to rob and commit adultery.
We can't stay here any longer, Kong Youde thought. The soldiers will slack off if they stay for a long time, and besides, they can't keep it secret - it's impossible to have such a large-scale "horse bandits" in Hebei. They can't hide it if they stay any longer. The local officials are just pretending not to Knowing does not mean knowing nothing.
If the trouble continues by the officers and soldiers under his command, sooner or later the local officials will be unable to cover it up. When the trouble breaks out, even Sun Yuanhua may not be able to deal with it, let alone himself.
Now it's almost time to get back on the road and continue to Shanhaiguan.
The night before, Kong Youde ordered the Chinese Army to invite all his officers above the rank of General Qian to his residence to announce the next specific itinerary.
Unexpectedly, at the meeting, his order to reinforce the main road of Shanhaiguan was met with opposition from many of his subordinates: During the ten days of robbery, the officers made a fortune. This is a great stimulus to the middle and lower-level officers who have been trapped in Dengzhou for a long time and have no extra money except embezzlement of military pay.
They were fed up with the anger of the Shandong soldiers and the Southern soldiers in Dengzhou. They were already complaining, but now they have to go to Liaodong as soon as they get some benefits. Many people are unwilling to give up the opportunity to "continue to make a fortune", let alone go there. Liaodong "sends death".
Kong Youde was very isolated at the meeting. Except for a few of his cronies, most of the officers expressed their unwillingness to go to Liaodong. Li Jiuzheng, who had just arrived, not only did not help to persuade, but instead frequently moved among soldiers and junior officers in private, inciting soldiers to "return to Dengzhou" .
This was unexpected by Kong Youde - he had originally expected Li Jiucheng to help suppress the troops. Unexpectedly, he secretly gave himself eye drops!
Because of the strong backlash among the generals, Kong Youde did not dare to order the departure immediately, so he had to stay in the local area - a small village by the canal for one more day, preparing to continue convincing everyone in the evening.
Kong Youde had just gotten up that day and had finished washing himself. He was thinking of having a good talk with Li Jiucheng and others. Suddenly someone came to report that there was a suspicious cavalry activity more than ten miles away from here.
Because he was doing this job in a dark way, he sent 24 cavalrymen to detect the horses day and night, which could detect abnormal movements about 20 miles away. Recent news shows that. An unidentified scout is following his men. His scouts tried to capture the opponent several times, but the opponent tried their best to avoid conflicts and were always able to detect the opponent's movements before his cavalry and avoid them. The appearance of these scouts was also one of the factors that made him eager to leave here.
"how many people?"
"No more than twenty people, all wearing plain clothes. They have swords." Tang Ma hesitated. "But they are all good horses!"
"Is he a figure in the world?"
"It's not like that. The team is neat and orderly."
"I'll go down and rest first." Kong Youde was secretly worried. After asking Tang Ma to retreat, he ordered people to go to various campsites to notify the generals to come to his place for a meeting at night, and prepare to try to convince everyone again.
At this time, Chen Sigen and his team had arrived less than twenty miles away from Kongbu. After hearing the news that Tang Ma from the Kong Department had discovered his traces, he ordered the entire team to turn back and quickly get out of Tang Ma's detection range.
In a small forest. He sent out guard posts, and then sent out reconnaissance cavalry to confirm the specific locations and conditions of several candidate targets. More than twenty young team members wore cotton jackets and bare sheepskin jackets commonly worn by small traders and farmers here, even though the temperature outside was already as low as Zero degrees, everyone is still in high spirits.
"How about it, you didn't freeze the eggs," Chen Sigen joked. The team members all grinned, and white mist sprayed out from their mouths and noses.
"Okay. Let's rest here for a while, and then go out to do errands in the evening!" Chen Sigen said, picking up a branch and drawing a simple diagram on the ground. "Our attack target tonight is a village beside the South Canal. Chuzhaguan. It is about twenty-five miles away from Dongguang County."
He marked the terrain with branches and stones and quickly explained the terrain's directions one by one. The site was one he had carefully selected from a dozen alternative locations reported by scouts. The attack location must first be a place where ships on the canal dock for the night, which is usually a relatively prosperous riverside market or village. The goal is to ensure there are enough witnesses. Secondly, the location must be not far from the village where Kong Youde's men spent the night.
Although Kong Youde paid great attention to hiding his whereabouts along the way, Chen Sigen knew from the report of the reconnaissance cavalry that the local people already knew that a group of officers and soldiers were looting the area, but the people did not know where they came from - the county magistrate All the village warriors have been pulled up, and every village and village has also stepped up their vigilance.
However, there are no defensive measures at this gate. Although this gate is not a cash gate where tax collectors are stationed, it is still a small police station under the Water Transport Yamen.
The South Canal is located in the north. In order to maintain the water volume of the canal and cross the watershed, many sluices were built along the way to regulate the water volume of the canal.
These sluices are guarded and maintained by gatekeepers, who open them regularly every day to release water and ships. Therefore, they are also official institutions. Ordinary bandits and rebels dare not attack here. After all, this is the official territory.
Abolition of this place would involve not only Dongguang County, but the entire Caoyun Yamen. The seriousness of its nature is far greater than the massacre of several villages. By that time, Kong Youde, who was nearby, had no other choice but to rebel.
Originally, Chen Sigen considered blowing up the water gate - he brought some C4**. Blowing up the water gate would obviously be more helpful in exacerbating the chaos of the entire incident, but Zhu Mingxia and Lu Wenyuan believed that this was too beyond Kong Youde's ability. Furthermore, it is difficult to explain clearly the motivation. Therefore, attacks were limited to targets of economic value near the sluice.
The most valuable targets are the residences of several local lock officials stationed there: the canal is close to water, and the opening and closing of the locks is related to the time and convenience of ship owners' shipping. Since the officials who managed the floodgates had power, they naturally wanted to seek rent, so they all became extremely rich. Chen Sigen was ready to operate on them.
"The target is clear to everyone. The first is the residences of several gatekeepers, and the second is the canal boats on the dock." He pointed the direction on the temporary sand table, "You guys must remember that we are soldiers, although we can't do our job well. It is a dirty job, not a bandit or robber. During the operation, you are not allowed to kill innocent people indiscriminately, you are not allowed to rape women, you are not allowed to set fires at will, and everything seized must be returned to the public!"
"Understood!" the team members replied crisply.
At night, Kong Youde and his generals were meeting to discuss their next move: most of the generals still insisted on going back to Dengzhou. Kong Youde was still unable to convince everyone, and gradually the meeting became out of control. Several generals even expressed the intention of "having to do it", and it was very clear that Kong Youde was going to fight on the spot if he didn't comply. Li Jiucheng kept appearing as a mediator in the middle, but in fact he was forcing him to make a decision.
Just as everyone was talking with parched lips, the atmosphere was getting tense. Suddenly, soldiers came to report that there was black smoke and fire on the bank of the canal seven or eight miles away, and there were faint sounds of killing. The soldiers, soldiers, and horses of the camp became a little commotion.
"What?" Kong Youde was startled. He stood up and looked at the window - sure enough, there was fire in the distance, and the sky turned red. He suddenly turned around and glanced at the generals: all his generals were there, and they were probably not his own.
However, only CEO Qian and above were present, so it was hard to say whether the boss or even the small boss went out privately to cause chaos.
The generals also felt confused and looked at each other in confusion.
Kong Youde immediately ordered a detective horse to go and have a look. In less than a meal, Tan Ma had already galloped back, bringing terrible news: more than a hundred cavalry were burning, killing and looting at the sluice.
"Whose troops are they from?" Kong Youde was very anxious. The sluice gate was official land, so making trouble would be a big deal. He turned back and glared at Li Jiuzheng fiercely, guessing in his heart that this was most likely done by Li Jiuzheng's instructions to his subordinates - this was forcing him to do it with them!
"Ritu!" Li Jiucheng saw his unkind look and knew what he was thinking. He was afraid of causing misunderstandings - after all, Kong Youde single-handedly led this team, and he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if it really broke down. Immediately came out to express his position: "Everyone just wants to go back to Dengzhou. If you don't go to Liaodong and die in vain, you have no other intention! Let alone do anything sorry for you! This is not our fault! If I, Lao Li, dare to say If you tell half a lie, there will be five thunderbolts from the sky immediately!"
"Reporting to the General, I can't tell where the men and horses are from." Tan Ma said. He could only vaguely see that they were all riding fine Mongolian war horses. They were wearing robes and sheepskin jackets, but they seemed to be wearing Got the number.
The most important thing is that the weapons of this group of cavalry are very neat, unlike ordinary bandits whose weapons are messy, so they must be officers and soldiers of some battalion.
