Fu Shanhe

Chapter 64 Throwing the Body into the River
A mistake, possibly a coincidence.

A series of mistakes, it's hard to say.

In particular, the culprit who caused the tragedy left the camp one step ahead of time, which increased the suspicion.

"General Huang, this Captain Zhou claimed to be a private salt dealer from Shandong, but he didn't have a Shandong accent, so the fact that he defected to us was suspicious in itself.

It was just that he used Magistrate Liu's head as a token of his surrender, which deceived everyone for a while, so no one checked his identity carefully.

Now it seems that this person is most likely an impostor.

The purpose is to sneak into the camp and deliberately cause damage to us!"

Zong Guangtai analyzed while suppressing his physical discomfort.

However, when these words fell into Huang Renlong's ears, they took on a different meaning.

If you find him suspicious, tell him as soon as possible!

Who wouldn't be confused when seeing someone holding the county magistrate's head as a token of surrender?

What's more, they knew each other before and had done several illegal salt deals in secret, so they were old acquaintances.

It was he who gave the nickname Zhou Paopi.

If he had known that there was something fishy about the man surnamed Zhou, he would have killed him long ago. There was no way he would have played the trick of buying his bones for a huge sum of money.

Now, instead of attracting any talented people, they ended up buying a bunch of corpses.

Huang Renlong reacted quickly. No matter whether Captain Zhou was a spy of the Imperial Guard or not, he must be one now.

It is better to fall into the court's trap than to make the wrong choice of people.

"Wang Damazi, spread the word on the street that I'm offering a reward of 10,000 taels for Zhou Paopi's head!"

As soon as Huang Renlong said this, Zong Guangtai was speechless.

As the leader of the rebel army, with tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, he still has strong underworld habits.

But these are just minor details. After losing the artillery, the rebels' siege firepower was sharply reduced.

The rebels were obviously going to suffer a great loss by using catapults to fire at the defenders' artillery.

If there is insufficient firepower on the battlefield, the only way to make up for it is with human lives.

“General, our army will suffer heavy losses if we attack the city like this.

Replace the elite troops and use the captured untouchables to consume the defenders' ammunition.

We will launch the attack after we have filled up the moat."

Zong Guangtai spoke to himself.

He didn't care at all how ugly Huang Renlong's face looked when he mentioned the word "untouchables".

Except for a few gentry in the rebel army, ninety-nine percent of them were what he called "untouchables".

In the past, he was the son of a high-ranking aristocratic family, so naturally no one dared to make a fuss when he said this.

Now the situation has been reversed, everyone is a traitor, and no one is nobler than anyone else.

If you still do this, it would be a provocation.

"Just follow what you say, sir!"

Huang Renlong said, suppressing his dissatisfaction.

Now is not the time to turn against each other. Although the Zong family has gradually lost its dominance in the uprising, it still has influence.

The ability to gather so many rebel forces was mainly due to the leadership of the clan.

Without the support of the clan, he became a private salt dealer, living in a dark corner. Who knew who he was?

If you want to break out of the cocoon and become a butterfly, you must make a name for yourself.

Taizhou’s influence is not enough, and it is necessary to capture a big city like Yangzhou in order to establish enough prestige among the rebels.

The more this is the case, the more they rely on the support of the clan.

The Mr. Zong in front of him was not a top strategist, but he was the strongest strategist he could come into contact with.

He also gathered many scholars along the way, but unfortunately, each of them could only read the classics.

They are full of sage books, but when it comes to using them, they are all speechless.

It’s not that these people have no talent, it’s just that no one has ever been exposed to such high-end technology as rebellion.

Not everyone is qualified to learn the "Dragon Slaying Technique". The noble families have treasured materials, but in times of peace, who would dare to let their children learn it?
Zong Guangtai had only a superficial understanding of the subject, and that knowledge was something he had to cram for after he started the rebellion.

Just look at the siege and you'll see that the rebels are completely in the exploratory stage.

……

"Master Qianhu, there was an explosion in the rebel camp, and their artillery has all gone silent!"

Upon receiving this good news, Li Mu immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks and ran straight to the city gate tower.

The surprise came too suddenly.

The rebels' artillery posed no threat to the defenders because the enemy did not use it correctly.

The rebel soldiers had no armor, so as the defenders, they could inflict maximum damage using shrapnel.

But siege is different. You must use solid bullets to hit the target at a fixed point to pose a threat to the city.

Probably because they were provoked, the rebels outside the city did not use the artillery as a siege weapon, but instead engaged in a firefight.

It’s impossible to keep stepping on the pit.

After a few days of shooting, the enemy reacted and the defenders were under great pressure.

It is true that the Yangzhou city wall is strong, but it was built two hundred years ago and has only been maintained since then.

The world has been peaceful for so many years that local officials are not so concerned about the maintenance of the city walls.

It looks unchanged on the outside, but its true defensive power remains to be verified.

Li Mu was shocked when he saw the tragic situation of the enemy's artillery position through the telescope.

The loss at the scene was so heavy that it was beyond description. The enemy's artillery positions were completely wiped out.

This is definitely not something our own artillery can do!
Even if every shell hit the target, it would not cause such great damage.

"Mr. Lan, send someone to report the victory to the commander.

The soldiers fought bloody battles, killed thousands of enemies, and destroyed the enemy's artillery positions!"

Li Mu said without changing his expression.

There was no need to delve into what happened in the enemy camp, because the outcome was good anyway.

Dayu did not attach as much importance to artillery as later generations, and destroying the enemy’s artillery positions was not considered a great achievement.

But for defending the city, the size of the achievement is not important; the key is to have good news to appease people's hearts.

"My Lord, how about polishing up the victory report?

If the commander asks, the people below can also reply. "

Lan Linjie suggested with a little hesitation.

Falsely reporting military achievements is nothing new.

Especially in this kind of city defense battle, the number of enemy troops killed is decided by the front-line generals.

As long as the city is defended and the reported battle results are not too exaggerated, the court will turn a blind eye.

"No polishing, just report it as I say, not a single word is allowed to be added!"

Li Mu shook his head and said.

With so many witnesses at the scene, it was impossible to hide the truth.

If the credit is directly attributed to him, his generals will definitely feel unbalanced and someone might even go and tell on him.

On the contrary, the fuzzy processing is the most impeccable.

It is unclear who did it, and when the court verifies the credit, it will still be attributed to him as the defending general.

While the two were talking, the rebels drove the villagers to serve as cannon fodder and used human wave tactics.

Truckloads of soil were constantly pushed into the moat, and the river continued to narrow.

"Don't waste time collecting the bodies. Throw them directly into the river and try to fill the riverbed as soon as possible!"

This speed of filling the river still could not satisfy the rebel generals, so they issued a cruel order to throw the bodies into the river.

The worst thing was the wounded. Although they were still alive, they were thrown into the river because they had lost their ability to move.

The villagers who were arrested dared not speak out despite their anger.

(End of this chapter)