I was a god in the 18th century

Chapter 532 There is evil in this village!

While the delegation was sitting in the carriage, resting as they went, Xia Qingdai was happily collecting the power of faith in the sky above Taohua Village.

Ever since the men who were kidnapped and taken to the mountains received their wages and returned to Taohua Village in triumph, every household in the village has set up an incense table to worship the ancestral gods of the Wenren family. For a time, the statues of the gods became extremely expensive in the town.

Every time a villager burned incense to Xia Qingdai, she could see the newly appeared small country houses through the glass jar.

The beauty of the thatched houses in the countryside is certainly not as good as those in the city, but they are more rustic. In addition, the villagers like to burn incense to Xia Qingdai in the morning before eating.

It was just dawning, with tiny dots of fireworks below and curls of smoke rising in the morning light, like a picture of mountains, rivers and the country, depicting the ordinary yet extraordinary appearance of the world.

Whoever sees this scene will feel their heart softened. The old and the young are all happy and contented, which is the most beautiful fireworks in the world.

Every time this happened, Xia Qingdai couldn't help but go to the kitchen to pick out food to feed him. Sometimes it was a handful of rice, sometimes an egg beaten in a small bowl, sometimes a piece of fresh vegetable leaf, sometimes a piece of meat...

The villagers, who were originally skinny and pale, gained weight visibly after being fed by Xia Qingdai. They became more energetic and smiled more often.

While the village was enjoying a peaceful and peaceful life, the county government had already sharpened its knives.

Two days after the British delegation arrived in Tongzhou, County Magistrate Zhang could no longer tolerate it and ordered three shifts of yamen runners to march out in a mighty procession of hundreds of people, fully armed, towards Taohua Village.

The four officials who were ordered to do the work all left Taohua Village and never returned. How could this be any different from rebellion? This was a naked provocation to the court and could not be tolerated.

As the sun rose, the road outside the village became noisy. The soldiers and runners had arrived, but Xia Qingdai could not see them. Her vision was limited, and she could only see a few thatched courtyards with incense burning, which was a very narrow range.

Although she couldn't see it, she soon discovered something was wrong in the village. The villagers, who had been standing in the yard with bowls in their hands, chatting with their neighbors, suddenly started running around like headless flies.

"Hey, why are these villains so panicked?" Xia Qingdai frowned, puzzled.

Seeing the little people panicking and gathering around the old village chief, looking in the direction of the village road, Xia Qingdai had some guesses in her mind.

Without saying a word, she lifted the roof of the village temple, took out the stone statue inside, soared into the sky in the shocked eyes of everyone in the village, and flew to the center of Taohua Village.

Not to mention how everyone panicked, told each other, and reflected on themselves when the statue of the god was lost in the temple, the villagers of Taohua Village were also equally shocked.

“God—God—”

The old village chief stammered and pointed at the stone statue, then realized that this was disrespectful and quickly knelt down to apologize. The villagers followed suit and knelt down one by one. After the initial shock, their faces suddenly showed enthusiasm.

At this time, the old, weak, women and children, who were blessed by their faith, could not be scared away even by a group of ghosts, let alone facing the soldiers.

"Am I dazzled? How can I see a shooting star in broad daylight?"

On the hillside outside the village, County Lieutenant Lu, who was riding on a horse, stopped his horse, his face disheveled.

Just now he seemed, as if, or as if he saw something falling from the sky into Taohua Village not far ahead.

what does that mean?
Did a general fall in the dynasty, or did a master emerge in this village?
"Sir, you are not mistaken. I also saw something fall into Taohua Village." His adjutant looked at him and replied with the same look of shock.

County Lieutenant Lu was silent. Before he could come up with a plan, a loud noise suddenly came from the mountain path next to him.

The huge sound of artillery fire accompanied by steel balls falling into the crowd instantly pierced the unsuspecting officers and soldiers. The red, white and yellow mixed together, it was a horrific sight.

The round steel balls continued to roll in the crowd by inertia, killing anyone who stood in their way, destroying everything with ease, and rolling out several bloody paths.

The continuous sound of artillery bombardment exploded in the mountains, frightening the villagers of Taohua Village not far away, not to mention those who had to face the smell of gunpowder.

"Wow wow wow wow!" The yamen runners were frightened by this wave of attack. Their team exploded and they turned around and ran away in a hurry, fearing that if they ran too slowly, they would be smashed to pieces by the artillery fire.

The steel ball, which was about the size of a fingernail for Xia Qingdai, was larger than a wash basin for the little people. Add to that the rolling speed driven by the explosives, and it was impossible to avoid it.

The most important thing is that these steel balls can be fired continuously, and the power will naturally increase exponentially. This is the mini Gatling cannon that Xia Qingdai bought from the modern world for thousands of yuan! Even if the warhead is just a steel ball, the penetrating power is amazing.

After placing the stone statue in Taohua Village, Xia Qingdai's vision suddenly broadened, and she happened to see the scene of Wen Renyi leading his men to ambush and bombard.

This was not a war, but a one-sided massacre of one side by another! The unprepared officers and soldiers were beaten to a pulp by the sudden attack of hot weapons, and the army was completely routed.

"This... I didn't expect Wen Renyi to be as fierce as Van Fleet!" Xia Qingdai muttered to herself, touching her chin.

When he first met Wen Renyi, he was very restrained. As an assassin, he only killed his target and did not kill others.

But I didn't expect that now they would just "boom boom boom" and fire without stopping. Wen Renyi is a perfect example of a poor tactical master and a rich firepower coverage.

This made Xia Qingdai think of Commander Van Fleet, who fired 9 artillery shells in 36 days on the battlefield in the Southern Dynasty.

Although the Qing Dynasty's yamen runners were considered armed forces, they only dealt with local hooligans on a daily basis. If they really encountered rebellion and banditry, they would directly send in the local garrison troops, and it would not be the turn of the three shifts of yamen runners in the county government to fight desperately.

No one could have imagined that in a remote mountain village, there would be such strictly controlled artillery! Moreover, the sound of artillery was continuous, and just hearing the sound of artillery would scare people to death!

You have to know that since the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the imperial court has strictly controlled hot weapons. By the Qianlong period, not to mention the civilian population, most local garrisons did not have them!
During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchus ruled the country. Not to mention the court, even in the army they relied heavily on the Eight Banners and looked down on the Green Camp. There was no equality in military pay, equipment, or treatment.

Just looking at the reception of the British delegation, the Manchu Zhengrui was the imperial envoy, and two Han officials, Wang Wenxiong and Qiao Renjie, were his deputies.

When Wang and Qiao were interacting with Macartney, they both said frankly without any reservation that no matter what the country's affairs were, if they were handled by the Chinese, there would always be Manchus to hinder them.

Back to the army, as far as artillery allocation is concerned, it was mainly given to the Eight Banners Army. No one else could get it, let alone the local government offices.

Kangxi understood modern science and attached great importance to casting artillery, but he was only willing to let the Eight Banners control it. When Jin Guozheng, the general of Shanxi, requested to donate money to make the mother-and-child cannon, he refused, saying that "the mother-and-child cannon is a firearm of the Eight Banners. It is absolutely not allowed for all provinces to make it."

If Kangxi was like this, how could the Qing emperors, who were each generation worse than the previous one, be any better in this regard?

But what was more serious than not developing hot weapons was that the imperial examination system of the Qing Dynasty led to a lack of interest in science from top to bottom. Under such circumstances, modern industry, agriculture and military industry were naturally like duckweed and could not develop.

Xia Qingdai was furious when she saw the officers and soldiers who were forced to flee after being hit by a Gatling gun and were out of her sight in the blink of an eye!
This is so useless! No wonder China later became a semi-feudal and semi-colonial country!