1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 687
Qiao Zhiya did not expect that the time-consuming and laborious transport of the three-pound cannon could only hear a sound, and had no substantial attack effect. At best, it could only scare the opponents in the village.Immediately, he ordered Ruan to launch an infantry offensive forward, lest the people in the village see the clues if it was too long.The militia army uses squads as combat units, and each squad is equipped with a ladder that has just been made. Two people are separated to carry the ladder one after the other, and at the same time, two companies with a total of more than 30 squads are dispatched, trotting all the way Rush to the wall of Heishandong.

The wall made of stones outside Heishandong is actually only two meters high, and there is no formed defense system on the top of the wall, only two wooden watchtowers, one east and one west.These two sentry towers are six or seven meters high, and the top floor can accommodate seven or eight archers to fight.However, the power of the soil hunting bows used by the Yili people can only cover a distance of 40 meters. Although the large-caliber short-barreled rifles used by the Annan Second Battalion have a shorter range, they still greatly exceed the original bows and arrows. It is completely possible to drop such a "firepower point" outside its attack range.

The people on the Lidong Watchtower obviously also noticed the offensive launched by Haihan's side. After a few horns sounded, many people appeared on the top of the wall of the village, shooting outwards with bows and arrows.However, I don’t know if the quality of these bows and arrows is too poor or these people are temporary archers. The arrows they shoot are not accurate at all. Some even fall to the ground before flying 20 meters. There is no way to pose a threat to the militia army that is still some distance away.

On the other hand, the militia army, the Annan Second Battalion only fought a real fight with the Dutch in the South China Sea three months ago, and with the results of the battle, they won a collective battle and returned to Sanya for more than a month. When the morale is high, there is no fear at all against a rookie opponent like Heishandong, and they take a squad as a unit to shoot at the top of the wall in a row.Although the hit rate of shooting from tens of meters away is not high, the Li people on the wall are all showing their upper body. Once they are shot, even if they don't die, they will be seriously injured, and they will immediately lose their fighting ability.

Suppressing the scattered bowhunters with uniform musket volleys, the effect is unquestionable, and soon the Li people on the wall were injured and dodged, not daring to show their heads easily.The two sentry towers have also become new targets for the two small-caliber guns of the militia army. Only the thick wooden boards can only prevent bows and arrows, but they cannot prevent metal projectiles from penetrating. Under the salvo of artillery and rifles, the sentry Lou was soon riddled with holes.Except for a few clever people who jumped directly from the sentry tower early when they saw the situation was not good, other people who tried to hide in the watchtower became living targets amidst the flying wood chips.

Soon the infantry rushed under the wall of the village, erected the ladder and put it on the top of the wall.Unwilling to fail, the defenders began to throw heavy objects such as stones and wooden piers from the top of the wall, trying to prevent the opponent from breaking through the line of defense.

However, their thinking is still a little simpler. Although the militia army has made a lot of simple ladders, after seeing the terrain of Heishandong, Qiao Zhiya has changed his mind and let the infantry with ladders carry out a feint attack. But his killing move is concentrated in the direction of the gate.

Taking advantage of the time when the Li people on the wall were beaten back, several engineers had quietly lurked outside the gate of the village, where they would start to set up gunpowder packs for blasting.In order to ensure a success, the engineers placed a pack of five catties of explosives outside the left and right gates of the village, and then released the fuses. When the infantry feigned an attack on the walls of the village, they lit the fuses at the same time to detonate.

Following two loud bangs with almost no interval, the gate of Lidong Village and a section of the wall next to it were blown into pieces. Even the frontline headquarters a mile away could feel the slight tremor coming from under their feet. .

"This new type of explosive is quite powerful!" Qiao Zhiya was also slightly surprised.When he left the chemical industry department, the trial production of new explosives had just begun, but there were no theoretical problems at that time, mainly because some raw materials needed further improvement in the production process to complete the purification process, so as to increase the power of gunpowder.Judging from the explosion effect this time, the power of this **** should have reached the expected level.

The soldiers knew the battle plan before launching the attack, so they all took cover in time, but the people in Lidongli probably were not so lucky.Although it is not clear how many casualties were caused by the explosion, the screams from the stockade can indicate that the number of wounded is definitely quite a lot.

There was no need for the headquarters to issue orders anymore, the soldiers outside the wall had already flocked to the huge gap created by the explosion.Although the people in the village still tried to block the gap with flesh and blood, the militia army quickly defeated the counterattack of the Li people with their muskets, and began to pour into Heishandong from the collapsed gate of the village.

"Much smoother than expected." Qiao Zhiya put down the binoculars in his hand and said to himself.Even if there are thousands of people in Heishandong who can participate in the battle, they are just a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered in front of the Haihan militia army with absolute superiority in force. The wall outside Heishandong can be regarded as the last line of defense to protect them. After being broken through, the people in the village really have no tricks that can change the situation of the battle.

Of course, for those enemies who insist on fighting to the death, the Militia Army will also give them enough respect and fulfill their wishes with bullets and bayonets.For these Annan-born soldiers, killing these Li and Han people who were enemies of the Haihan group was the same as killing the Dutch in the Abona Islands earlier, and there would be no insurmountable psychological obstacles.

As Qiao Zhiya expected, after the last and only line of defense was breached, the Li people and fugitives in the village became trapped beasts.There are still a considerable number of people who try to resist the invaders with blood and primitive weapons, but this delusion is quickly shattered in front of the howling lead bullets.

The best armor on the Li people is only made of cowhide, which may help them defend against a certain degree of sharp weapon damage in close combat, but for bullets with huge kinetic energy, wearing this layer of armor is equivalent to wearing an extra layer of paper. There won't be much difference in body.The large-caliber rifles equipped by the Annan Second Battalion can shoot through a Liman wearing cowhide armor directly within 20 meters, and still have enough power to damage the second target behind him.A volley of squad-based infantry, supplemented with bayonets, is enough to repel a wave of small-scale charges launched by 30 people.But in order to cause effective damage to the militia army, the coalition forces of Li people and fugitives often have to pay dozens of casualties to find a chance or two.

According to the combat plan formulated in advance, the militia army did not rush into every boat house to search and arrest, but first cleared the people outside, gradually compressed the encirclement, and blocked the escape route.About three to ten minutes after the battle started, the front line sent back news that the situation had been basically controlled, and the rest was to clean up Heishandong door by door, and arrest the fugitives and resistance elements hiding in it one by one. caught.

This process took much longer than the time required to break through Heishandong. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, the soldiers did not rush into the dark and narrow boat-shaped house to search, but first let the Li soldiers outside Call out, urging the people in the house to come out and surrender.Only more drastic methods will be used to hunt and kill the enemies who are trying to continue to resist.Qiao Zhiya did not intend to kill all the people in Heishandong. The hard labor camp lost almost a thousand people in this riot. It was time to replenish the labor force. As long as those who dared to resist were wiped out, the rest would still be All can be driven as labor force.

If there is no benefit at all, even if they win the battle and go back, they will definitely still complain about the military expenditure of this operation.Qiao Zhiya was originally a member of the military, so he naturally knew about these ins and outs. Obviously, there was no such thing as gold, silver or treasure in Lidong, but if he was able to capture a group of laborers and go back, he could be regarded as a superior.

In the evening, the militia army found a suspected body of Zhao Ye during the search and immediately notified the headquarters.Qiao Zhiya didn't dare to be careless, and led Li Qingyang to the scene immediately.

This is a boat-shaped house located in the center of Heishandong, and it is also the last batch of buildings to be inspected.The body and all the things in the house have been moved out and put outside. The squad leader who was in charge of searching the house saw Qiao Zhiya coming, and immediately stepped forward to pay a military salute and reported: "Reporting chief, when we check this house The body was found in the house. According to the identification of the Li people in the village, he was the planner of this operation. His surname was Zhao. He had been in Heishan Cave for several months, and he had been regarded as VIP hospitality."

Li Qingyang leaned down, first identified the face of the corpse, then stretched out his hand to stroke its body, finally found a slightly yellowed ivory token at his waist, and presented it to Qiao Zhiya: "Please look, sir, this is It’s Zhao Ye’s identity certificate, I’ve already experienced it in a humble position, this is indeed a token issued by Jin Yiwei.”

"Does anyone recognize it clearly?" Qiao Zhiya is not an archaeologist, and he doesn't know whether this thing is true or not. He is more concerned about Li Qingyang's confirmation of its face and appearance.

Li Qingyang responded: "This person is about five feet two inches tall, with a white face and short beard, a mole on his right cheek, and a scar on the back of his left hand, all of which are basically consistent with the confessions we obtained in Danzhou and Shilu. It is Zhao Ye himself who is correct."

"Can you find out the cause of his death?" Qiao Zhiya continued to ask.

"His expression is painful, and there are traces of vomiting. It is very likely that he died of swallowing arsenic." After Li Qingyang finished speaking, he added in a low voice: "Swallowing poison and committing allegiance is the rule of Jinyiwei. When Beizhi was arrested At that time, he also carried arsenic on his body."

Qiao Zhiya nodded silently, thinking that this Zhao Ye was a man of integrity, he would not surrender even after being forced to such a situation, and would rather commit suicide by taking poison than being a prisoner.But he thought about it again, if Zhao Ye is really caught, Li Qingyang will be tortured and interrogated slowly after he is taken back. The pain must be much greater than suicide by taking poison. It is not a bad idea for him to choose to die now relief.

"People related to him still need to carefully identify their identities. Now that the culprit has been caught this time, we must wipe out all his henchmen and don't miss anyone!" Qiao Zhiya told Li Qingyang: "As for Zhao Ye's follow-up matters, I'll leave it to you."

"A lowly post takes orders!" Li Qingyang bowed in response.

About Zhao Ye's specific identity, in fact, even most of the soldiers who participated in this operation did not know, and his identification and follow-up processing were basically led by the Ministry of Security.So before departure, Li Qingyang volunteered to join the army, and Qiao Zhiya did not express any objection.As for how many people will be arrested and how many heads will be killed after this incident, it is really a matter for the Ministry of Security. Qiao Zhiya does not want to take this responsibility on himself.

The last person to be searched was the residence of the owner of Dongdong in Heishan. This is a compound surrounded by fences. There are six or seven boat-shaped houses in the courtyard, and there are more than [-] members of Dongzhu's family.After a brief negotiation, the cave master finally chose to surrender-of course he seemed to have no other choice.

Dongzhu is an old man who is nearly sixty years old. When he was escorted in front of Qiao Zhiya, he still couldn't restrain the angry expression on his face and spoke a word in Li dialect.An interpreter next to him immediately explained the meaning to Qiao Zhiya in a low voice. Qiao Zhiya stared at Dongzhu and shook his head, "You shouldn't ask why we came to destroy your village, you should ask yourself why you chose to fight against us Haihan .Everyone has a greedy side. Your village and your people were all destroyed by your greed. So many people didn’t have to die, but it’s a pity..."

After Dongzhu listened to the translation, Qiao Zhiya waved his hand and said, "Take him away, and carefully examine his statement tonight, and carry out the execution tomorrow morning. We don't need to take him back to Shilu."

Such a restless leader of the Li people, Qiao Zhiya would not rest assured to let him enter the hard labor camp, maybe if he was not careful, there would be another riot.It would be better to settle the matter as soon as possible to avoid possible future troubles.As for the trial, sorry, the commander authorized by the executive committee in wartime already represents the law.Even if Qiao Zhiya's handling was reported to the executive committee, no one could accuse him of doing something wrong.

"Clean up the battlefield as soon as possible, and we have to deal with several nearby villages tomorrow." Qiao Zhiya looked up at the darkened sky, and told Ruan Xiangqian next to him: "Also count the casualties of both sides. After dinner, you take me Go visit the wounded warrior."

Although Heishan Cave is one of the most powerful Li Caves in the Qiongzhong area, it was declared a failure before being able to last even a day in the face of the Haihan militia's offensive.

(End of this chapter)