Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 369: The Surrendered General Dies
In the early morning of July 7, Wang Shizhen and others had just found a roadside inn and were about to rest when they were suddenly awakened by an urgent knock on the door.

"Something bad has happened. Everyone, follow me to Shangjie Town to rescue people. It will be too late if you go too late!"

As soon as he opened the door, a raggedly dressed man immediately grabbed Wang Shizhen's hand and said anxiously.

"You are the person sent by Madam Yang to pick up Master Li."

Wang Shizhen recognized the other person's appearance and tried to remain calm, saying, "I'll wake everyone up right away. Don't worry, tell me slowly. What happened over there?"

"After we met up with General Wang Qian the day before yesterday afternoon, we discovered a few sneaky people following us on the road. General Wang Qian and a few of your brothers took care of three of them at night, but who knew that another person escaped.

This evening, we escorted the second young master to Xincuo Village. We were planning to hurry up and stay in Shangjie Town at night, but we were ambushed by a group of soldiers. The number of soldiers was far greater than that of the people escorting the young master, and they were equipped with hundreds of foreign rifles. Our people were no match for the soldiers. The leader, General Wang Qian, and one of your brothers named Zhao, could only escort the young master to a small hill and use the terrain to block the attack of the soldiers.

The escort team only carried 14 pistols, 8 foreign rifles, and not much ammunition. Before leaving, the brother surnamed Zhao asked me and the other two brothers to break out of the encirclement of the soldiers, and then after contacting you here, we would immediately go to Xincuo Village to meet them. "

"Zhao Zimin and his men, plus the people you sent to pick them up, only have more than 20 people in total. Since the officers and soldiers were able to set up an ambush on the road, they must have been prepared in advance."

Wang Shizhen suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation, and immediately ordered thirty or forty of his men who were resting in the inn to abandon unnecessary items and only carry their pistols, muskets, ammunition, and grenades. They no longer worried about being discovered and immediately gathered and rushed towards Xincuo Village.

"Brother Wang, the Qing army is coming from the flank, quickly get a few brothers to stop them!"

In the dark night, a bright moon hung high above the mountains and forests, providing a bird's-eye view for the more than 20 people on the hill, and also facilitating the Qing soldiers attacking upward from the middle of the hill.

"Two of my soldiers died and four were injured. The remaining ones are all here! If we need to send more people, we can only send them from your direction."

The face of the Jianning Town captain surnamed Wang was caked with blood and sweat. The scars that had not yet solidified were bleeding again because of the violent shaking of his face.

"You reckless fools! If you hadn't leaked the news, how could we have attracted so many Qing troops to surround us? Damn it, today is really a bad day!"

Officer Zhao cursed the other party angrily, raised his head, and shouted, "Sun Rong, Ma Wei, Zhao Shi, the three of you take ten grenades and deploy to the flanks. Remember to use the grenades and ammunition sparingly. Wait until they get close before throwing them. This is all the ammunition we have!"

"Lieutenant Wang Zhao, be careful. The three of us will be there soon."

The three men each grabbed a few grenades from their side, turned around, crawled for a distance, stood up, and quickly ran in another direction.

"Brother Zhao, there are too many soldiers. If we continue to fight like this, we will lose all our men in less than half an hour. We must change our tactics and take advantage of the soldiers' full-scale attack to attack from the northeast steep slope. As long as we break through the soldiers in front of us and our men escape to the woods under the steep slope, the remaining people will have a chance of survival."

Li Rongfa, the second son of Li Xiucheng, the King of Loyalty, who was called Master Li by the group but was actually nearly 40 years old, saw the situation was critical.
He quickly lowered his body and moved to the side of Lieutenant Zhao.

"The cost of casualties in launching a counterattack from the steep slope is too high. I don't agree to do this!"

Although the opponent was the cousin of Emperor Han Li Mingyuan, Lieutenant Zhao did not follow his advice when facing the battle. "The contact person is 13 or 14 miles away from Xincuo Village. Even at the fastest speed, it will take 25 or 30 minutes to get there. Do you think you can hold out until they arrive with the people on the hill?"

After all, Li Rongfa had experience in leading troops to fight alone, and had a certain understanding of the current comparison of the strength between the enemy and us and the changes in the battle situation.

"Holding on and waiting for help may seem safe, but it is a sure thing. Only by attacking from the weak point of the enemy's encirclement can we have a chance of success!"

Li Rongfa raised his voice and said firmly, "Don't let my reasons interfere with your normal judgment. I, Li Rongfa, have been hiding and living in misery for more than ten years. I have neither inherited my father's ambition to sleep on straw and eat bitter food, accumulate strength to plan the anti-Qing cause, nor have I risen from adversity like my cousin Mingyuan and done such a big business overseas!

Rongfa is just an unfilial son who does nothing. It is a blessing from Heavenly Father that I can live to this day. Even if I unfortunately die in today's battle, I will not implicate and blame others.

Brother Zhao, make a decision immediately. Gather all the brothers who can hold guns together, break through from the southwest, and open up a way down the mountain for the brothers who survived by chance and my wife and daughter."

"Master Li really decided to do this?"

"We have no other choice but to do this, Brother Zhao. Gunfire is merciless. If I die, please consider that Yu Xi is your emperor's niece and try your best to protect her and her mother."

"Don't worry, sir. Even if Zhao dies in battle, he will not let your lady and daughter fall into the hands of the Qing army."

If Li Rongfa and others died in battle and their surviving wives and daughters fell into the hands of the Qing army, they would face cruel abuse that is beyond words.

Li Rongfa understood the meaning of the other party's words. As the surviving descendant of King Zhong Li Xiucheng, he had anticipated in his mind hundreds of times the possible fate that he, his wife, and daughter might face.

The fate of the family and history could not be reversed, all he could do was pray to the so-called Heavenly Father to protect his wife and daughter so that they could be safe and sound and escape the disaster. …………

"My lord, my lord!"

The Green Camp officer who first reported the news to Ma Ronghe ran to the center of the Qing army and shouted excitedly, "I have learned from the two captured Jianning Town soldiers that the group of rebels on the hill are the remnants of the Taiping Rebellion. They are escorting Li Rongfa, the second son of the pseudo-loyal king Li Xiucheng, and are preparing to meet up with the wife of Jianning Town General Cai Yuanji, and then sail to South America!"

"Cai Yuanji was so bold that he surrendered to the imperial court and then secretly colluded with the Taiping rebels! This is really impressive."

Ma Ronghe stroked his beard with one hand and held the hilt of the sword at his waist with the other, and said in high spirits, "Come here, tell my officers and generals, all of you to load your muskets and attack the hill. Anyone who captures the Taiping remnant Li Rongfa alive will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver and promoted one level!"

"Kill, kill, kill, capture Li Rongfa alive!" As soon as Ma Ronghe finished speaking, the Qing army officers and soldiers, who had suffered more than 20 casualties, seemed to be animals that smelled blood. They forgot the fierce battle just now, regained their fighting spirit and launched an attack on the top of the hill.

The battle changed every second. When Li Rongfa and Lieutenant Zhao led their men to break out, they encountered the Qing army attacking head-on. The two sides experienced a fierce battle with a huge disparity in strength. The battle lasted until 1:13 am. Lieutenant Zhao's side paid the price of losing a total of 24 people, including Li Rongfa and General Wang. Only four intelligence officers who were originally wounded Han soldiers were left. They escorted Li Rongfa's wife and daughter to escape towards the woods.

At 1:27 a.m., Wang Shizhen arrived with his men and rescued the surviving wife and daughter of Li Rongfa and four intelligence agents. In the first round of fighting with the Qing army, he killed Ma Ronghe, the commander of the Fujian Left Camp, and defeated the remaining Qing pursuers.

(End of this chapter)