Chapter 147

The yamen runners and prisoners in the carriages screamed and jumped out of the carriages. The sturdy yamen runner clamored for people to grab the two boxes full of tools from the carriages.

The horses pulling the carriages were also ignited by the spreading fire in the carriage, rushing madly toward the giant rocks blocking the road in front. But the mountain road was narrow and could not accommodate several large carriages side by side.

Soon, several large carriages squeezed together. Before they could rush to the giant rocks blocking the road, they completely blocked the road surface. Several burning horses struggled constantly, making miserable roars.

At this time, they heard the sound of bowstrings behind them, and six or seven feathered arrows were shot, shooting these burning horses to death.

The hot flames licked the grease on the horse corpses, which had a strange terror and cruelty, and the fire became more and more soaring.

Huang You'an and the sturdy yamen runner originally wanted to take their men to climb over the giant rocks blocking the road, but these violently burning carriages and horse corpses completely blocked the way back.

The sturdy yamen runner shouted, and those yamen runners and prisoners swarmed up, pulling out long knives with narrow blades from the two boxes containing tools.

At this time, they didn't distinguish between yamen runners and prisoners, and rushed toward the road they came from like a swarm.

Now they didn't know that they had fallen into someone else's trap, and someone had set an ambush here in advance.

Now that the corpses in Shicao Wozi have been discovered, I can't help but have doubts when I think about it.

Beside that youth stood another young man, wearing the official uniform of a yamen platoon leader. Huang You'an recognized this person immediately; it was Deng Hongchun, the platoon leader of Liuhe County!

Yang Hongbin said to Jia Cong beside him, "The Advisor was half right. These ronin really disguised themselves as yamen runners and prisoners, hiding in the construction site to do hard labor. What a plan to cross the sea by a trick!"

No wonder we searched the entire Jin Ling City and didn't find any trace of them!

Jia Cong said: "The corpses in Shicao Wozi, although their faces were slashed and unrecognizable, the yamen coroner found that many corpses had scars on their hands and feet, all caused by shackles."

The leading dozens of people held fire guns, lined up in three rows, and stood neatly behind them. The first row of gunners leveled their fire guns and aimed at them.

It was concluded that some of the corpses were prisoners under escort, and the yamen had recently sent a large number of prisoners to the construction site for hard labor.

But after running a few steps, they heard two violent vibrations in front. The two big trees by the road didn't know how they were broken from the roots.

I also asked Liu Hai, who was guarding the scene. According to his daily patrols, those prisoners doing hard labor, as well as the yamen runners escorting them, almost never opened their mouths to speak.

I copied scriptures in the temple every day, and in my spare time, I looked out at the construction site from the third floor of the official residence. The prisoners serving hard labor at the construction site left a deep impression on me, which is why I linked the two things together.

The giant rocks blocking the road, the burning porcelain jars, and the horses shot to death in time were all to completely block their way forward.

For daily responses and speaking, it was that Huang You'an who came forward. At that time, Liu Hai didn't take it to heart.

The thick tree trunk fell to the ground, blocking the way back, and a large number of figures emerged from behind the trees and cliffs on both sides.

The two people standing at the very front seemed to be the ones in charge. One of them was a teenager, with a handsome face, firm expression, and a curved knife hanging from his waist, standing in the crowd very conspicuously.

Yang Hongbin had once again learned of Jia Cong's meticulousness and added:

"The Advisor also came up with such a good method, designing to lure them out of the construction site. Otherwise, there were hundreds of craftsmen there. Once they fought, the consequences would be unimaginable."

This leaves only one explanation: the yamen runners and prisoners at the construction site were impersonated by Eastern Japanese. Most of them couldn't speak the Great Zhou language, so they kept their mouths shut to cover it up!

It was they who killed the yamen runners and prisoners of the yamen and mixed into the construction site to hide.

And behind these fire gunners were more than a dozen archers. Looking at their official uniforms, they should be the standing archers of the yamen.

Jia Cong laughed, "It's also because Advisor Yang is careful. I asked Prefect Jia how the yamen would transfer personnel from Liuhe County. If you hadn't disguised yourself as the Liuhe County platoon leader and lured them away, my method would have been useless no matter how good it was."

The yamen runners and prisoners at the construction site were so stingy with words.

Advisor Yang examined the corpses found in Shicao Wozi and concluded that the deceased were most likely killed by Eastern Japanese sword techniques.

Huang You'an, who was opposite, saw this posture and knew that something was wrong. But he still held a glimmer of luck in his heart and shouted, "Platoon Leader Deng, what do you mean by this?"

"Huang You'an! You are also a citizen of Great Zhou, yet you collude with Eastern Japanese ronin who are causing trouble in Jin Ling, disregarding national law, and slaughtering the innocent. What is your crime? Surrender immediately, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!"

After being shouted out by Yang Hongbin, Huang You'an's face turned pale. The sturdy yamen runner beside him shouted in stiff official language:

"Don't be afraid, fire guns are useless, Zhou soldiers are vulnerable, rush over and kill them all!" After speaking, he shouted a lot to the people beside him, and a group of people rushed over with strange screams.

Now their way back is cut off, and only by rushing through the encirclement of the government army can they have a way to survive.

At that time, they were also trapped in the Longtan Port, and they still fought a bloody path. Those Zhou soldiers were vulnerable, and they killed nearly a hundred of them. They didn't lose a single person except for some minor injuries.

That sturdy yamen runner was the leader of these Eastern Japanese ronin, and his martial arts were the strongest. During the Battle of Longtan Port, he personally killed more than a dozen Zhou soldiers, including a battalion commander.

Now that the way back is cut off, it doesn't matter. It's just like in Longtan Port, kill all the government soldiers and they can naturally escape.

Huang You'an watched the Eastern Japanese ronin beside him rush up screaming, but he retreated several steps.

He knew that these Eastern Japanese ronin were very strong in combat, but the other side's such meticulous encirclement arrangement was probably prepared.

He is not those Eastern Japanese shorties who joke with their own lives for the sake of some nonsensical bushido spirit.

Jia Cong looked at the swarming Eastern Japanese ronin, his eyes narrowed, and his hand holding the curved knife hilt tightened.

"Prepare to aim!"

"Fire!"

A burst of dense gunfire sounded, and five or six Eastern Japanese ronin rushing to the front fell down. Several who were slightly injured still rushed over screaming.

Jia Cong shouted again: "Release arrows!"

The dozen or so archers standing behind the three rows of gunners had long been standing in high positions, drawing their bows and waiting. Hearing Jia Cong's order, more than a dozen feathered arrows were shot out.

It's just that the speed of the arrows was far lower than that of the fire gun bullets. Those Eastern Japanese were agile and had exquisite sword skills. Waving their swords, they could easily deflect the feathered arrows, and none of them hit.

But because of this, the speed of the Eastern Japanese ronin's charge was delayed.

Yang Hongbin on the side was full of surprise. Last night, Jia Cong asked Jia Yuancun to transfer the yamen archers to participate in the encirclement and suppression. At that time, he didn't care. He didn't expect that Jia Cong's use of archers was like this.

Just this wave of arrow obstruction won time for the second row of gunners to fire their muskets, and dense bullets were fired again.

Because the Eastern Japanese ronin had rushed to a closer position at this time, the hit rate of the bullets was significantly improved. Ten bullets were fired either sequentially or simultaneously.

Some ronin with high martial arts jumped left and right, and even jumped more than half a foot high to avoid bullets, but six or seven Eastern Japanese ronin were still hit and fell.

The sturdy ronin leader saw that the other side's fire guns were fired in a way he had never seen before. The time interval between each shot was greatly reduced, and the lethality was astonishing.

Two rounds of bullets caused more than ten casualties. Seeing that the situation was not good, he hissed and shouted, and the other Eastern Japanese ronin stopped charging and retreated one after another.

Jia Cong saw the ronin begin to retreat. He had anticipated using bows and arrows to make up for the lack of the three-stage firing of the fire guns, and had long asked the archers to prepare enough arrows, and shouted sternly: "Release arrows! Release arrows!"

Only hearing the sound of bowstrings, a rain of arrows was shot out. The Eastern Japanese ronin who were just preparing to retreat had to slow down and turn back to wave their swords to hack the incoming arrows.

At this time, the third row of bullets of the three-stage firing was fired, and the archers in the rear did not stop shooting under Jia Cong's command, causing some agile ronin to lose the opportunity to jump and dodge.

After a row of bullets, seven or eight more ronin were knocked down.

Just one three-stage firing, cleverly mixed with bows and arrows to disturb the enemy, actually killed nearly half of the Eastern Japanese ronin.

(End of chapter)