The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 171 Feng Zicai, Chen Yucheng

On the official road from Yisuhu City on the bank of the Xiangjiang River to Jiangshe City on the north bank of the stream, a large group of Qing army infantry were advancing rapidly. The soldiers in the ranks were all short and strong, wearing "Yong" uniforms, straw sandals, carrying bags on their backs, swords, shields, muskets and rifles. The only few horses were used to drag two very clean thousand-jin cannons.

"You're so annoying, walk faster, or it'll be dangerous."

A man wearing a pure black official coat and a sixth-rank hat, who was as short as the soldiers below him, with a tanned face and a pair of bright eyes, urged the soldiers below him while taking a canteen from his belt, tilted his head back and gulped down a mouthful of "yellow soup". Under the stimulation of alcohol, he, who had not slept for a day and a night, suddenly became much more energetic.

After cheering himself up, he took a deep breath of the slightly cool morning air, took off his straw sandals, and strode forward.

The two or three hundred short soldiers under his command were inspired when they saw that he, a sixth-rank official, was enduring the hard work and walking briskly. They quickened their pace and marched quickly along the official road.

This short officer who speaks Guangxi dialect is the captain of the "Ever-Victorious" Brave Battalion in Yulin Prefecture, Guangxi, and his name is Feng Zicai!
Even though he was only a small captain, he had an honor that even a general or a deputy general might not get. After he followed Xiang Rong to pacify the Tiandihui rebels in Bobai, he was given the title of "Sergulen Baturu" by Emperor Xianfeng because of his extraordinary bravery in combat!
Of course, Sergureng Baturu's soldiers were not Green Camp opium soldiers, but the rebels who followed him to rebel from the Tiandihui. In fact, they were a group of poor people who could not survive. In order to earn a living, they joined the Tiandihui rebels led by Liu Ba. Later, because they had no food to eat like Liu Ba, they were recruited by Bobai County Magistrate You Changling and became a regiment warrior. Now, in order to have a good meal, they followed Xiang Rong to Hunan to fight. This time, they also assigned Xiang Rong, their superior who had made meritorious contributions, to be a pioneer.

According to Xiang Rong's instructions, Feng Zicai's two or three hundred soldiers bravely served as the vanguard of the thousands of troops supporting Xiangtan County, advancing while clearing the way!
They are said to be clearing the way, but in fact they are just being used as cannon fodder in the front. If you encounter a large group of Taiping Army, these two or three hundred people will be useless. Feng Zicai, you can just be a loyal martyr!

However, General Feng Zicai, who came from the Tiandihui and had the enviable "Baturu" as his military commander, had no choice but to lead his troops in front of the brigade.

But Feng Zicai is not an honest boy. He also has his own way to save his life, which can be summed up in one word - fast!

As long as he is fast enough, he may be able to break through before the enemy ambush circle is formed. After all, he is not a big fish, with only two or three hundred people under his command. Xiang Rong, Jiang Zhongyuan and He Chun behind him are the big fish!

If he could distance himself from the middle and rear troops, even if the Taiping Army had ambushes, they might see that he was outnumbered and let him go.
The team marched forward for about two quarters of an hour and stopped in front of a river that was more than ten feet wide.

Feng Zicai looked back and saw that the two thousand elite soldiers led by Xiang Rong had been left behind. He looked forward again and saw a wooden bridge over the river ahead. To the north of the bridge was a town. Both the bridge and the town were deserted.

Feng Zicai had good eyesight and could see some figures in the cold town from a distance. Most of them were skinny and ragged. According to Feng Zicai's experience, these people should be poor people in the town or beggars from nearby villages. Most of the wealthy families and militia in the town had fled because of the Taiping Army's siege of Xiangtan County. Only those who could not escape were left here and were still suffering.

When those people saw Feng Zicai's men coming, they did not flee, but continued to stand on the streets of the town, staring blankly.

Feng Zicai thought: "If there are ambushes in the town, those people should flee immediately to avoid being affected, right?"

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and said, "Shoot your old musketeers and spearmen, light the matches, and prepare to chop people with swords and cards! Set up two small cannons under the bridge and aim them at the houses closest to the big wooden bridge in the town. If the brothers crossing the bridge are ambushed, fire the cannons!"

"twitter!"

After some arrangements, Feng Zicai also drew his sword, took a rattan shield from a Qing soldier, crouched down, and was the first to step onto the wooden bridge. His brothers were also veterans, so without him saying anything, they automatically divided into two groups, with rattan shields in front and muskets and rifles in the back, and went up the wooden bridge together.

"Dou Lei, motherfuckers, it's another bunch of traitors!"

In Jiangshe Town, on a two-story building facing the wooden bridge, Su Sanniang put down the telescope and cursed under her breath.

She always pretended to be a lady in front of Luo Yaoguo, but in front of her subordinates, she was the big sister of the Tiandihui, so how could she be so civilized?

"Sister," Li Shoucheng, speaking in a Hakka accent, came up immediately, "Should we fight or let these traitors go?" "Let them go? Why should we let them go? Senggelinqin is willing to ask his men to give up their heads, so how can I, Su Sanniang, not dare to cut them off?" Su Sanniang said with a smile, "He can't go back to Yisuhe City now. The King of the West is behind him, and I am in front of him!
But don't hit them too hard, lest you scare Senggelinqin, he will run around and it will be difficult to surround him. Let Chen Picheng's boy soldiers and Li Cuihua's female gunners set up an ambush, don't drive out all those traitors, leave some in the town so that we can catch the big fish. Let the new brothers get ready, and when the Qing demons are stunned, kill them and see some blood!"

"Yes!" Li Shoucheng clasped his fists, turned around and went to pass on the message.

"Brother Four Eyes, Brother Four Eyes, General Li asked your men to fight the Qing Yao. Once Sister Cuihua's gunmen start firing, rush out and kill them!

At that time, Sister Cuihua's people will aim at Qingyao's sword and shield soldiers, and your people will attack their musketeers!"

Chen Picheng, a young man lying in ambush in a shop at the entrance of the town, was clutching a sword he had picked up from the body of a young Qing demon officer. With red eyes he was looking at the team of Qing demon elites who were crossing the river into the town via the wooden bridge. At this moment, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen years old brought him Li Shoucheng's order.

"I understand!" The young man Chen Picheng nodded, took the token and inserted it into his belt, then put the sword back into the scabbard and stretched out his hand, "Give me the grenade!"

Immediately, a young man took out a grenade with a wooden handle and wrapped in layers of oil paper. He tore off the oil paper and handed a nitrate grenade produced by Angel House to Chen Picheng.

Afterwards, another young man took out a tinderbox, unplugged the sleeve and blew on it a few times to make the fire inside burn more vigorously, then he handed the tinderbox to Chen Picheng.

Chen Picheng squatted behind the half-open door of the shop, holding a grenade in one hand and a fire starter in the other, staring intently in the direction of the wooden bridge.

More than 200 Qing monsters were divided into two groups. The front group had crossed the wooden bridge and entered the town. When they passed the shop where Chen Picheng was hiding, several of them held knives and signs and walked towards the shops on both sides, as if they were going to search. One of them walked towards the house where Chen Picheng was hiding.

However, Chen Picheng and his friends were not panicked at all. They just watched the man walk towards death step by step with cold eyes!

Suddenly, the man's head seemed to be hit by something, and it tilted to the right, with blood spurting out. Immediately afterwards, there was a burst of gunfire!
Chen Picheng didn't even look at where the shooting was coming from. He just calmly lit the fuse of the grenade with the fire starter in his hand, then raised the grenade and shouted, "God bless us!" Then he rushed out of the shop, ran past the fallen Qing demon, and rushed towards the dozens of Qing demons who were raising their guns and shooting!
"Pap-pap-pap-pap."

Another round of random gunfire, but Chen Picheng was not hurt at all! This was certainly not because of God's blessing, but because Feng Zicai's gunmen were aiming at the Taiping Army snipers on the commanding heights on both sides of the street ahead. Before Chen Picheng rushed out, Li Cuihua's female snipers opened fire first and knocked down seven or eight Qing army swordsmen. These Qing army musketeers, of course, had to open fire to suppress the Taiping Army snipers. When they found Chen Picheng, they had all pulled the trigger.

Chen Picheng was unusually calm at this time. He kept counting numbers in his mind while running: "One, two, thirty!"

When he counted to "ten", he suddenly used all his strength to throw the grenade in his hand, and then fell to the ground.

The grenade with its fuse burned out drew a beautiful parabola in the air, and then under the influence of gravity, it flew upside down and slammed into the Qingyao formation, hitting a musketeer right on the forehead.

"Your old taste"

"Boom!"

The musketeer had just sworn when his "devil's life" came to an end with a violent explosion!

The loud noise of the nitrate grenade explosion attracted Feng Zicai's attention. He turned around and saw an unbelievable scene. More than half of his dozens of musketeers and spearmen had fallen to the ground. Some were still rolling, some were motionless, and the rest were standing there in a daze like wooden sculptures and clay figures. A group of children holding knives, signs and spears rushed out of the shops on both sides of the street and rushed towards the dazed musketeers and spearmen.
(End of this chapter)