Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

In front of the woods in the valley, the men and horses who were resting in the forest moved at the sound of the wind.

More than twenty musketeers quickly gathered and lined up at the edge of the woods. Although they were not many in number, they were fearless and showed great courage in their every move.

Luo Xiong was able to become the commander of the guards and was knowledgeable. These twenty or so musketeers were obviously experienced in battle.

However, no matter how sophisticated the firearms are, their power is limited by quantity. More than twenty musketeers can only fire six or seven bullets in three rounds of shooting.

There was no way to resist the charge of 500 elite guards. In Luo Xiong's eyes, this was a battle without suspense.

Five hundred elite guards, well-equipped, and fifty crossbowmen.

Facing an enemy force of more than a hundred men, it was nothing but a one-sided massacre.

Luo Xiong thought to himself that even if they were a secret faction of the imperial court, as long as they did not reveal their identities, there would be reasons for their demise even if they were all killed.

Zhou Zhengyang was abducted by the other party. The matter was of great importance and he had no choice but to take the risk.

……

In the woods, Chen Kuishan saw the scene before him. He had been in the Jinling Guard for many years and was familiar with military formations. Such a confrontation with such a huge disparity in strength made him feel at ease.

Suddenly there was a commotion behind the woods, and the young man who was leading the group returned in a hurry.

There was a large number of people following him, several times more than the ones he had just taken away.

These people were also carrying many boxes of different sizes, and it was unknown what was inside them.

Chen Kuishan was surprised. How could there be so many more people suddenly? He was a little confused when he heard the young man say, "Tie up Chen Kuishan for me!"

Two people had already rushed forward and tied Chen Kuishan up.

Chen Kuishan realized something was wrong as soon as he entered the woods. Then, seeing that the Suzhou guards had an absolute advantage, his mood fluctuated several times, and he felt that he had a chance of escaping.

However, he didn't expect that at the last moment, the other party suddenly turned against him. He was still unwilling to give up and tried to get away with it.

He said, "What do you mean? I am from the Central Vehicle Division. Now that we are facing a powerful enemy, you still want to fight among yourselves."

Jia Cong smiled and said, "You are indeed a member of the Imperial Chariot Division. Yesterday, I asked Shen Shi to leave the Imperial Chariot Division logo at Geng's mansion to remind you of the internal and external cooperation.

However, you have been away from CRRC for too long, so suspicion is inevitable, so I have to be careful.

After the afternoon yesterday, I arranged for more than twenty people to seal off Geng's residence tightly. All those who left the residence were secretly detained by my people.

One of the maids in the inner courtyard took your note and went to deliver the message to the secret agent of Suzhou Guard nearby. My people intercepted it and you were exposed long ago!"

Chen Kuishan looked as pale as death. He had spent a large sum of money to let this maid go out of the house to deliver a letter, but the maid never came back. Although he was worried, he could not figure out the reason.

Ever since he entered the woods, he began to realize that he might have fallen into someone else's trap, but he didn't expect that he had been exposed as early as in Geng's house.

He subconsciously looked at the five detained people, but saw that they had taken off their hoods and it was not Zhou Zhengyang at all.

It turns out that they have been playing a trick on me from the beginning and using me as a pawn.

Chen Kuishan was in complete despair; he could foresee what fate would await him.

But at the last moment, he was still having delusions in his mind. With only a hundred people, how could they resist the Suzhou guards and horses outside, which were several times more numerous?
At this time, he saw the wooden boxes that had just been brought in being opened. When he saw the things inside, Chen Kuishan felt a chill run down his body...

……

Outside the woods, Luo Xiong's 500 guards had all entered the mountain pass, filling the open area in front of the woods. The sharp momentum of the troops was quite shocking.

The entire mountain pass is gourd-shaped, and the forest occupied by the other side is the only passage out of the mountain pass.

Luo Xiong saw the terrain clearly and dispatched dozens of people to bypass the mountain pass, intending to attack the enemy from behind.

Fifty steps away from the enemy's musket formation, fifty crossbowmen from Suzhou Guards lined up to confront each other, with infantrymen holding rattan shields in front of them to provide protection.

Fifty steps is the effective killing distance of archers, and the tough rattan shield is said to be able to withstand bullets and kicks.

Luo Xiong looked with contempt at the more than twenty musketeers lined up at the edge of the woods.

He shouted to the woods: "As long as you throw down your weapons and surrender, and hand over the people you have looted from the city, I will show mercy. If you resist stubbornly, you will be crushed to pieces!"

But he waited for a while, but saw no reaction in the forest. The more than 20 musketeers were still lined up and confronting each other, with shadows looming behind them and swords flashing.

But the light in the woods was dim and I couldn’t see much.

Although Luo Xiong knew that he had a sure victory, he did not launch an attack immediately.

This was because although the twenty musketeers could not reverse the situation, as long as they launched an attack, the musket fire would still cause certain casualties to the Guards.

As long as there are casualties in the Guards, military procedures such as pensions and reductions in personnel are inevitable and will attract more attention, making it more difficult to cover up the matter.

Luo Xiong hoped to use his superior military force to force the other side to surrender, or hand over Zhou Zhengyang, and then strangle him on the spot to minimize casualties.

……

At this time, a young man walked out of the woods. He was wearing coarse clothes and a felt hat. He had a handsome face and a calm demeanor.

He shouted to this side: "Suzhou Guard Commander Luo Xiong is hiding the imperial criminal Zhou Zhengyang, who is involved in a major case of the Jinling Water Conservancy Bureau. In compliance with the Emperor's decree, he is to be arrested and brought to justice, and handed over to the authorities to investigate his crime.

Luo Xiong, it would have been fine if you had not surrendered, but you actually took your troops away from the garrison without the general's orders and started a resistance. Are you planning a rebellion?

Soldiers and officers of Suzhou Guards accompanying you, do not follow this thief and commit acts against heaven, committing crimes that deserve death, do not make mistakes! "

Jia Cong's voice was clear and loud, and his words were pronounced clearly and with great momentum. All the guards present could hear them clearly, and a slight commotion began to appear among the crowd.

They were only ordered to go out of the city to suppress bandits, how did it become an act against heaven? And was the imperial edict that the young man mentioned true? Did their commander really commit a serious crime?

At this time, Wei Yongzhou walked up to Jia Cong and said, "Master, our staff is all in place, there is no need to delay any longer..."

Seeing the morale of his troops wavering, Luo Xiong was furious and shouted, "Where did you come from, you yellow-haired brat? How dare you forge an imperial decree? I will skin you alive..."

But before he could finish his words, the enemy's muskets fired in succession, which was completely unexpected and seemed so abrupt and strange, like a rogue act.

Bullets were fired densely at the shield soldiers in the first row of the guards, making a sound of collision between rattan shields and bullets. Several shield soldiers were caught off guard and were knocked to the ground by bullets.

Luo Xiong was completely confused by the other party's sudden action. The guy on the opposite side was too insidious and did not play by the rules at all.

My troops are far more numerous than his, and I haven't even given the order to charge, but he opened fire with only twenty broken guns without saying a word. Is he looking for death? This is really too much!

He heard the young man's slow voice again: "Luo Xiong, you are protecting the wanted criminal, you have your own troops, and you are trying to kill the angels. Your crimes are extremely heinous. If you don't wake up, you will die without a burial place!"

Wei Yongzhou, who was beside Jia Cong, couldn't help but twitch his lips after hearing these words.

The uncle's mind was quite sinister. He was setting a trap for Luo Xiong. He fired first and then provoked the other party with words, so that Luo Xiong would lead his troops to charge in anger, and then he would have an excuse to kill the other party.

But think about it, there is no problem. Luo Xiong is leading his troops in pursuit, and he will never surrender. There is no way to solve the problem without a fight.

After hearing what Jia Cong said, Luo Xiong was so angry that he was furious. It was obviously this vicious boy who fired the first shot, and he even used his words to accuse others and mislead people.

He shouted angrily, "Bowmen, release your arrows. The rear guard is ready to charge and wipe out this group of crazy bandits!"

The fifty crossbowmen of the guards fired continuously, and the arrows flew like locusts, which was quite powerful.

When Luo Xiong gave the order, the twenty musketeers began to put away their guns and retreat, using the dense trees in the forest to avoid the rain of arrows. Except for a few people who were grazed by arrows, there were no casualties.

The guards fired a round of crossbow arrows, suppressing the shooting of the musketeers in the woods. Luo Xiong seized the opportunity and commanded the shield soldiers in front and the infantry behind to charge into the woods.

Although the Suzhou Guard was not equipped with musketeers, Luo Xiong, as the commander of the guard, was knowledgeable and knew that the enemy's firearms soldiers had just fired a round of shots.

Before he had time to reload his ammunition, he was suppressed by his own archers. Now most of the twenty muskets were empty, which was a perfect opportunity for him to launch a charge.

Suzhou Guard and Songjiang Guard had a lot of practical experience because they often confronted Japanese pirates along the river. They were the two most powerful guards under the Jinling Commandery.

Under Luo Xiong's military order, the Suzhou guards charged at an extremely fast speed. In a very short period of time, they advanced from fifty steps away from the woods to only twenty steps.

Luo Xiong showed a cruel smile. He had almost seen the result of victory. He wanted to capture the liar alive, skin him alive, and punish him. ...

Just when Luo Xiong thought the situation was settled, many gun muzzles suddenly appeared in the woods, the number far exceeding the original twenty or so.

It was so dense that it almost covered the entire edge of the woods, and it was roughly estimated that there were at least a hundred muskets.

Luo Xiong felt a chill rushing straight to his head and a great sense of crisis exploded in his heart.

The sound of hundreds of muskets firing at the same time was like the roar of thunder, making people tremble with fear.

Bullets flew like heavy rain, tearing out sharp and piercing strange sounds in the air, revealing an unstoppable breath of death.

The first row of Guards infantrymen who were charging the battle line fell to the ground in dozens at once, like tree stumps being chopped off in an instant, the moment the gunshots rang out.

Although the guards' infantrymen following behind heard a loud roar in front of them, the inertia of the forward charge still allowed them to maintain their charging posture.

Luo Xiong, who was supporting the rear, saw a scene that horrified him.

After the first batch of muskets in the woods finished firing, they quickly retreated with extremely skillful and experienced movements.

Soon, figures moved in the woods, and the second group of gunmen moved forward quickly. Before Luo Xiong could fully react, the second round of bullets had been fired.

The two gunmen advanced and retreated, switching positions. Their movements were as smooth as flowing water, leaving almost no gaps. They were like an extremely precise killing weapon.

What made Luo Xiong even more frightened was that the number of the second batch of replacement musketeers was almost equal to that of the first batch, which meant that there were at least two hundred musketeers in that woods.

Didn’t the official document from the county government say that this group of thieves only had more than twenty musketeers? How could there suddenly be two hundred musketeers?

Luo Xiong felt that his sanity was on the verge of collapse and realized that he had stepped into a huge conspiracy.

When the second round of gunfire rang out, the Guards infantrymen who continued to charge forward were like wheat being harvested, and like the waves that followed one after another, a large number of them fell down again.

About thirty to twenty steps away from the woods, the ground was littered with corpses and wailing survivors covered in blood.

Just two rounds of musket fire caused more than a hundred casualties among the Suzhou Guards.

By the time the second round of gunmen retreated, more than a hundred muskets emerged from the woods, and Luo Xiong's psychological defenses had completely collapsed.

If a few more rounds of musket fire continued, his five hundred guards would be wiped out without any surprise.

He didn't know how many musketeers were hidden in that grove, two hundred, three hundred, or even more.

Compared with the ridiculous statement about twenty muskets, the scene before him completely exceeded his cognition and imagination, as if everything was an absurd nightmare.

When the third gunman came up, he did not fire immediately, but raised his gun and waited for firing.

But after the second round of gunfire, no guard dared to move forward.

The Jiangnan guards, who had never seen a volley of musket fire, had their morale completely crushed by the huge lethality of the three consecutive attacks.

The corpses and wailing people all over the ground made them realize clearly that in the face of the terrible lethality of firearms, physical bravery seemed so ridiculous and vulnerable.

If one person retreats, a second person will follow, and then dozens of people will be affected, and finally hundreds of guards will retreat across the board, throwing away their weapons and armor and running away.

Luo Xiong, the commander-in-chief, only gave a few symbolic rebukes, which was unable to stop the retreat of his troops.

Finally, he joined the retreat under the protection of more than a dozen personal soldiers.

Facing the repeated volleys of fire from hundreds of musketeers, the 500 guards he led were nothing more than moving targets, and the best strategy was to escape from the battlefield as quickly as possible.

As for the original plan to kill all these people including Zhou Zhengyang, in order to silence them and avoid future troubles.

He even wanted to skin and dismember the liar to vent his anger, and he had already thrown his plan and ambition to Java.

The remaining 400 Suzhou guards retreated towards the mountain pass like a tide.

However, before the team reached the mountain pass, they saw smoke and dust rising ahead and the sound of footsteps. A large number of soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Great Zhou army poured out of the mountain pass. They had neat appearances and moved swiftly and in unison.

In just a few breaths, they lined up to block the Suzhou guards' retreat.

There were hundreds of these Great Zhou soldiers, and what was even more frightening was that each of them held an improved Rumi gun in his hand.

When Luo Xiong saw this scene, he was on the verge of going crazy. How come there were hundreds of musketeers again? Had the entire Five Armies' Divine Machine Battalion been transferred to Jiangnan?
At this time, he saw from afar a young man standing on the shaft of a carriage behind these Great Zhou musketeers.

He was wearing a soft robe with a silver bamboo pattern, and had a handsome appearance and a dazzling demeanor.

Luo Xiong had never met Jia Cong, but he had heard many rumors about Jia Cong, saying that he was young and had outstanding appearance and demeanor.

Could this man be Weiyuan Marquis Jia Cong? Combined with the hundreds of Great Zhou musketeers in front of him, it seems that Jia Cong is escorting artillery to Gusu.

Luo Xiong seemed to understand all of a sudden that all of this was the result of Jia Cong's careful planning.

He sent people into the city overnight to kidnap Zhou Zhengyang, and deliberately asked people to send out information, so that even the Wu County government was fooled by him.

He used all means to lure me out of the city and walk me into his trap step by step. What a treacherous and vicious little devil!

……

But he still refused to give up and shouted, "The man opposite is Weiyuan Earl Jia Cong, and I am Luo Xiong, the commander of Suzhou Guard. You and I are both officials appointed by the court, why are you blocking my way?"

The young man shouted, "Luo Xiong, you secretly hid the imperial prisoner, recklessly mobilized troops, and besieged the imperial envoy. You can't escape, so why don't you surrender!"

The voice was clear and pleasant, with a heroic air, yet it could not conceal its gentleness and bravery.

After hearing this, Luo Xiong was furious. Why was Jia Cong's tone of voice exactly the same as that of that lie guy?

Also, how come the famous Weiyuan Marquis Jia Cong is a sissy...?

Luo Xiong was very unwilling and was trying to think of a way to escape.

When I saw the young man opposite me, he waved his hand, and the waterproof rain cloths of several mule carts next to the carriage were torn off, revealing several dark iron cannons, and some soldiers were loading bullets into the muzzles...

When Luo Xiong saw the five huge black cannons, he realized that these were the new red cannons that were to be sent to Suzhou Wei.

Just a few rounds of musket fire were enough to defeat the 500 guards under his command. If they were hit by a few more cannons, they would be wiped out in an instant...

What a great Jia Cong! No wonder he was able to pacify the Jurchens in just a few battles. His strategies were profound, well-connected, and his methods were brutal...

He was like a lion attacking a rabbit, leaving no room for others.

At this time, there was a roar of chaotic footsteps from behind, and Luo Xiong looked back in dismay.

He saw countless firearmsmen rushing out from the woods at the rear, densely covering the entire rear, and the number of people was no less than his five hundred guards.

Although these musketeers all wore different uniforms, their aura and formation showed that they were all brave and elite soldiers who had experienced military battles.

These musketeers rushed to a position fifty steps away from the Suzhou Guards, quickly stopped and formed a battle line, arranged a three-attack formation, and raised their guns ready to fire.

Luo Xiong's face turned pale, and he couldn't even hold the whip in his hand, so it fell to the ground.

As if receiving some kind of signal of relief, some soldiers in the Guards began to drop their swords and guns. This behavior spread quickly, and the sound of weapons falling to the ground could be heard everywhere.

More than 800 musketeers on both sides of the mountain pass continued to gather together and completely controlled the 500 surrendered guards.

Jia Cong pointed at Luo Xiong and said, "Capture this man, take him back to Jinling, and hand him over to the Dali Temple for interrogation. Wait for the imperial edict to convict him."

He ordered Zhou Yong, commander of the Firearms Battalion, to send someone to report the incident to the Suzhou Provincial Government Office and to order all the guard camps in the city not to move without authorization and to wait for the court's decision.

Jia Cong and Qu Hongxiu first led 550 musketeers from the camp and escorted Luo Xiong, the commander of Suzhou Guard, to Nanjing overnight.

He also ordered Zhou Yong to complete the aftermath, leaving thirty musketeers to garrison in Huizhou to temporarily guard the artillery, and the remaining nearly three hundred musketeers followed him back to Nanjing.

In the next few days, the imperial edict of Emperor Jiazhao will surely reach Jinling, and a storm sweeping across Jiangnan is about to unfold... (End of this chapter)