Chapter 208: Zhao Laohu’s Gift

Gao Qiu also persuaded him: "Li Ren, according to the interrogation results, several groups of people near Fuyang participated in the attack. You have such a big fanfare, wouldn't it be known to everyone? The people here are fierce. Look, even the county magistrate hides and doesn't see anyone, I'm afraid..."

Zhao Xing smiled but refused to answer.

The next day, Zhao Xing moved. He moved very quickly. The war horse was wearing a strange two-wheeled car, carrying two soldiers, carrying some weapons, and quickly rushed towards Huqian Mountain. Behind him was a long brigade, which was the five hundred civilians he hired from Fuyang City.

Fifty soldiers, plus fifty Zhuang Dians, arrived at the foot of Huliang Mountain at noon. At this time, Huliang Mountain was quiet, and it seemed that the mountain was ready.

Zhou Bangshi and Gao Qiu were following Zhao Xing. When they saw the quiet forest, they were a little timid. Zhou Bangshi stamped their feet and said, "It seems that they have prepared for a long time. Brother Li Ren, why not set up a camp here and send someone to detectives everywhere."

Zhou Bangshi was still able to speak, and Gao Qiu had already shook his mind because he knew Zhao Xing's temper and knew that Zhao Xing would rush into the mountain without hesitation. He looked at the thin 100 soldiers beside him and only shivered.

Zhao Xing still looked relaxed: "Brother Nanbo, it's okay. I have seen a more sinister battle than this. Leave it to me about this battle. Just look at the scenery and write a few more poems."

Without waiting for Zhou Bangshi's answer, Zhao Xing waved over Xiang Jundu Head and ordered: "Zhang Du Head, your task is to hold back the situation. You don't need to charge. Let your soldiers stand a little more majestic. We will finish this road, which is enough."

Zhang Dutou agreed repeatedly. This guy didn't know the situation. He thought that this was an opportunity to flatter him, but he didn't expect Fuyang County to refuse to send troops to sponsor him, and Zhao Xing had no intention of asking the other party to send troops.

With a hundred people, Zhang Dutou wanted to siege a famous bandit nest. He had not eaten too much. What he most hoped for now was to run away, but he did not dare.

Five Gurkha soldiers automatically formed a team of sharp swords and walked forward. Immediately behind them, two more search teams were found. Then Zhao Xing urged Zhang Du to take the wing army to the road and escort him. While walking, he was still interested in joking with Zhou Bangshi: "You think, what would happen if the people from Huqianshan heard that I, Zhao Laohu, came?"

Gao Qiu was supported by two people and moved forward slowly. His mind was still useful. He interrupted and said, "Li Ren, there are only a dozen patrol guards in the baggage team behind you. If someone tramples the way out, I'm afraid those ten people can't protect the entire baggage team."

Zhao Xing laughed calmly: "I hope they will seize the rear team. My baggage team has nothing else to carry, and it is full of gunpowder. I have already ordered the ten Zhuangzi, but some people have grabbed it, so there is no need to fight for it. I lit the gunpowder and ran away quickly."

As they were talking, there was a shout of killing sound from behind. Then several Zhuang Dings carried small wooden barrels and ran over panting. The barrel seemed to have leaked, dragging several black gunpowder lines behind them.

As soon as Zhao Xing saw them, he asked, "How is it?"

Ten Zhuang Dings nodded together: "According to Dalang's instructions, we will divide into ten teams. When we encounter an attack, we try to push the cars together. The farmers have dispersed and are running around."

Zhao Xing did not delay and immediately ordered: "Ignite."

Several torches immediately came to the gunpowder line left by Zhuang Ding, and the gunpowder quickly burned into the distance. In just a blink of an eye, the dispersed Xiangjun also came. Zhang Du's head ran away and looked at the gunpowder line extending to the distance. While he tilted his head, he asked, "Sir, we have been trampled on the way back, what should we do?"

As Zhang Du's head stood firm, the wing troops knew that the rear was blocked, and they stopped running, and stood firm one after another, looking at Zhao Xing anxiously. Zhao Xing watched ten lines of fire running towards the end of the road. A little further away, the huge noise kept ringing, and this fighting method was called "noisy". The soldiers who won the battle laughed at the enemy with shouts, in order to reduce the enemy's momentum and hope to scare the enemy away.

The end of the path was covered by many trees. Zhao Xing could not see the bandits here, but there was a huge "puffing noise". This showed that the bandits were not far from them, about five or six hundred meters away. At this time, the war horses were tied to the trees, and the monks were still busy squeezing their ears. Zhao Xing's answer to Zhang Dutou's question was: "Clog your ears, open your mouth! Squat down!"

Zhao Xing said this, and he did it immediately. Zhang Dutou hesitated and learned to do what he did. Some of the soldiers were hesitant, not knowing whether they should learn from the Zhuang Dings. But as they were hesitating, a huge explosion suddenly broke out in the place where they ran. The explosion was so loud that it was no less than a mountain collapse and tsunami. Immediately afterwards, the earth shook, and countless wooden barrels were blown into the air. The wooden barrels exploded in the air, and the flying wooden pieces crackled the surrounding trees. Zhao Xing, who was hiding under the trees, were not hurt. Some of the soldiers who were still standing in the middle of the road were in tragic. They were so shaking that they could not stand by the explosion waves that they had no time to dodge. They were affected by the debris, and suddenly there was a scream at the scene...

After a long time, the shaking of the earth subsided, and the screams had not subsided. The road was full of lying in a row. The wounded reached twenty-three, almost half of them were injured.

Zhao Xing ordered a brief bandage to the Xiang army, and then, without turning his head, he pointed ahead and ordered: "Go forward, continue moving forward. Today's wounded will be given a serious injury. I will give you an additional ten stakes, no, fifty stakes. The Xiang army, if you are injured, advance, their nests are ahead, and our main force has been killed! Go forward quickly!"

The small wooden barrels that exploded in the air were all small pieces of wood. The explosive power of the black gunpowder was limited. Even if they were injured, they were slightly injured. Each of these slightly injured was given a pot of white wine to clean the wound. Most of them were not willing to pour the wine on the wound, but poured it directly into their stomachs. Then, the wounded soldiers were drunk and no longer covered in their wounds, but rushed to the front of the team more bravely than those intact soldiers.

The suspension bridge has been suspended in advance under the stone fort in Hulishan. This stone fort built in the Five Dynasties to avoid wars has experienced countless wars, but who would have thought that as time passed, the person who had avoided wars became a bandit instead.

The people in the castle received news of Zhao Xing's revenge yesterday. The relatives of the bandits who participated in the attack that day had gathered. The old and weak retreated into the fort, while some young and strong were ambushed at the foot of the mountain, preparing to start harassing along the way... This harassing tactic once left countless bandit-suppressing officials helpless, but they did not expect that Zhao Xing actually adopted a tactic that they had never heard of, and the team rushed to the castle without delay.

The Fortress Lord clearly saw on the castle wall that after passing the battle at the foot of the mountain, the team was not intact. One quarter of the people were wrapped in injuries, but the injuries were the most active. They pointed at their wounds and cursed the people in the castle, as if these injuries were caused by bandits in the castle. They vowed to break through the castle and keep the crowds and dogs in the castle...

The Lord of Fort Lu wondered: This group of people had obviously arrived at the castle after a fierce battle, but why did the team outside have not moved at all? The Lord of Fort Lu also heard the continuous explosions just now. As a person who had played with gunpowder, the Lord of Fort Lu knew that the person who was raiding must have been subjected to violent resistance, because the explosion just now was definitely not from the gunpowder they made.

Zhao Xing stood under the castle, and inserted his hand outside the range of the bow and arrow and shouted at the castle: "Master Lu Fortress, your people sent me a few ships of gunpowder - it's not a bad thing if you come and don't give me any more. I'm here to return the gift today. How about my gunpowder just now? It doesn't matter if you didn't see it in the castle. I have some here. Are you planning to try it?...

However, you can't help this matter. I'm traveling all the way, but you didn't coax it back in just one word or two. Today, I have to let you see the gunpowder that I, Zhao Laohu, responded to."

The Lord of Fortress smiled bitterly. Before he could answer, thirty people came out of the corps army. Ten people stood in a row and used sticks to build a long tube-like object. Behind the ten people, two people were squatting on the ground, holding seven or eight long tubes of the same type in their arms - this was a musket, and this was a flint musket, but it was a copper tube, and the barrel was as thick as a cannon.

Immediately afterwards, ten people ran to the side of a musketeer with a large shield of more than one person, and raised their shields to cover the musketeers. Ten other people carried baskets and squatted behind the musketeers. They lit ten torches, inserted the torches on the ground, and found an iron lump the size of a fist from the basket - this is a thing similar to the Song Dynasty weapon Thunderbolt Fireball. Zhao Xing named it "Palm Thunder", which is modernly called "copycat grenade".

Ten musketeers aimed at the city wall, and the wingmen lined up their teams, squatting behind Zhuang Ding's team, and posed for charge at any time. With Zhao Xing's wave of his hand, the muskets fired, and the huge iron balls made the gravel on the city wall fly. Zhuang Ding on the castle wall lowered his head to avoid it. At this moment, under the suppression of the musket, the grenadier jumped forward and threw out the thunder in his palm that was smoking in his hand.

Huge explosions sounded one after another, and three Zhuang Dings rushed to the suspension bridge with a large package and holding a long wooden pole in their hands. At this time, the grenadiers paused a little, and the three men laid the wooden pole on the suspension bridge. One of them climbed up to the other end of the suspension bridge along the wooden pole. At this time, the grenadiers threw the grenades again. This time, they threw the grenades into the castle as much as possible, so that the explosion could extend into the castle.

The people on the top of the city discovered the actions of the three people. They shouted at their best to throw stones downwards and the thunder fireball. With the strong counterattack in the castle, the three Zhuang Dings fell down. Finally one of them approached the city gate. He lit the package on his back and threw it out. Then he rolled and crawled to the edge of the trench, turned over and jumped into the trench.

A huge explosion then rang out, and the explosion seemed to ignite a big fireworks. Fireworks appeared on the wall of the stone castle. Amid the continuous explosions, the flames flew, and the gate of the stone castle fell down with a bang...

Before Zhao Xing could issue an order, the gang army shouted and rushed towards the castle with the sword in their hand.

The battle was over for Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing's patriarchs climbed the city wall and began to guard the police, while the wings robbed the castle. It was not until sunset that Zhang Dutou satisfied to find Zhao Xing sitting upright on the city wall. He smiled and ordered his entourage to hand over several packages: "Sign up, this is yours."

Gao Qiu had obviously discussed with Zhao Xing a long time ago. He looked at him with a sinister face and took out a confession and said, "There is a list of several people on it. We need to be arrested. Zhang Dutou, let your people look around and find them."

"Understanding", Zhang Dutou threw down the package and took people away excitedly.

In the evening, countless torches were lit in the stone fortress in Huliangshan. Zhao Xing ordered all the houses outside the castle to be lit as torches, leaving only the ancestral hall in the center of the castle, right in the square in front of the ancestral hall, the trial work was in full swing, and a monotonous voice in the field kept rereading: "Next."

Accompanied by this voice, there was a pleading sound, but then a scream. So the monotonous voice continued to shout: "Next!"

After dinner, all the people Zhao Xing needed to identify had been selected. The executioner in the square came to report in a pool of blood all over the ground: According to the interrogation results, the group of people's attacks on grass markets in various places had been successfully carried out for many years. The climate this year was not good. In this famine era, Hangzhou City was the only county town nearby with surplus grain, so the bandits targeted Hangzhou.

Among the thousands of grass markets in Hangzhou, the Jasmine Garden next to Zhaoxing’s mansion is the richest, with a large transaction volume there. There are often some fresh things coming from outside the vassal state. Even if these things are purchased at the market price on the grass market and then taken to other places, they can earn several times the price.

The only thing that felt inconvenience was that Zhao Xingli's castle by Cao City gave people too much oppression. To be cautious, they sent several groups of people to sneak into the castle and wanted to investigate the strength of the castle.

Lujia Stone Castle has the habit of being a thief for two hundred years. The long-term prudent style has been developed that has not attracted too much attention in such a long period of time. It is precisely because of their usual prudence. Other bandits have been meticulous inquiring about their work before the action, but Lujia Stone Castle has taken a full year to do it.

Finally, when they learned that Zhaoxing Castle was completed, the workers completely withdrew from the fort, so they believed that this time period was exactly the rare moment of weakness in the castle. They couldn't wait to take action, but unexpectedly, Lujiabao's careful plan of assault kicked on an iron plate.

Previously, out of caution, the Lord of Fortress had invited a large number of accomplices before the operation. In his opinion, the nearly sixty thieves gang was large enough. When this group of thieves marched, they were enough to close their doors and doors and dare not interfere with their actions. So on the dock, the thieves had a arrogant act of rushing to the stone fort... Unexpectedly, everything came from them that they did not expect that Zhao Xing's counterattack would be so tough.

After the attack failed, there was no news about the bandits involved in the operation. Only the bandits who were Wangfeng survived. They passed the news back to the stone fort. Then, Zhao Xing came to Fuyang with great fanfare.

The Lord of Fort Lu also wanted to gather everyone's hands and fight to the death. The person who listened to the wind came back and told the scene of the battle. The Lord of Fort Lu knew that the Yaofa Puppet could be used in this way. He was full of confidence in this victory - there were too many things about the Yaofa Puppet here. I see that I will fight back against you as a "war to defend the city" to avenge the Lu family's children who died at the entrance of the castle.

However, the final result of the incident was still "unexpected".

The land fortress owner did not expect that Zhao Xing was so vicious. He used several trucks of explosives to make dumplings for the people he sent to harassment. The "Battle of Defending the City" was also suppressed by Zhao Xing's muskets. Before he could ignite his medicine-soldier, Zhao Xing's grenade had already arrived, triggering an explosion of gunpowder on his wall...

When Lubaozhu saw Zhao Xing, he looked depressed. He wanted to talk to Zhao Xing for a few words, say soft words, and ask for forgiveness, but he still didn't expect that Zhao Xing would not talk to him after reading the certificate, but only turned to ask Gao Qiu: "Where is the nearest inspection department nearby?"

The Lord of Fort Lu was happy. Seeing that Zhao Xing meant that he wanted to hand him over to the government. In this way, he had a way out. The Lord of Fort Lu believed that after he spent all his money, he would be able to reduce his guilt. Of course, if such a big thing happened, his old life would not be saved, but the children might have escaped.

As long as the Lu clan is still there, there will always be a day to turn over.

Gao Qiu replied: "I have already asked about it in Fuyang County. There was originally a Dongzi Inspection Office in the southwest of the mountain, but now it has been abandoned and it has become unregulated."

When the massacre began, Zhou Bangshi did not show up. He came out now and bowed and said, "Congratulations to Brother Zhao, the century-old bandit nest was removed in one fell swoop..."

"What's wrong," Zhao Xing shook his head there and replied: "This battle is different from what I imagined. Although the weapons I used slightly more than they imagined, this battle was also beyond my imagination - more relaxed than I imagined!"

What Zhao Xing did not explicitly say is that although the robbers also had the practice of stepping on plates and touching the situation, the bandits stubbornly infiltrated several times, which seemed too professional. The professional ones did not seem to be for robbery, but for spying on intelligence.

What is in Zhaoxing Castle? Although the officials who shuttled through the castle never knew, Zhao Xing knew that there was a coin minting field, a gunpowder distribution experimental field, and a firearm research institute hidden in his castle.

Who would know that there are important secrets hidden in the castle and have to investigate so stubbornly? With such professional infiltration skills, he has repeatedly broken through his strict defense?
Chapter completed!