Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 819 Attack the Street
Li Zicheng and his gang rushed into the village like wolves and tigers, chasing several villagers who were fleeing towards the center of the village. They intended to take over the village in one go. Suddenly, a series of clanging sounds came from the other end of the village.

Did it sound like a bell? Li Zicheng didn't care. In his opinion, it was just a warning sound for the village. Many villages had similar things, either a broken bell or a piece of iron hanging from a tile. Once something big happened in the village, it would ring to warn the whole village.

This thing is useful if a thief breaks into the village, but it is just a decoration when it comes to Li Zicheng and his gang. What? Can we stop them from entering the village by hitting them a few times? Can we gather the villagers with hoes and dung forks to stop their swords? It's a joke.

"Listen to me, young and old men in the village, come out here! If you dare to resist, don't blame me for being ruthless, because you will regret it when you lose your head!"

"Listen! The one who came today is our Chuang Wang! Grandpa Chuang Wang coming to your village is a blessing you have accumulated over several lifetimes. Following Grandpa Chuang Wang, you will have delicious food and drinks. You can all enjoy it secretly from now on. If you dare to run away or report to the police, watch out for your heads!"

Li Zicheng and his gang shouted loudly, all of them thinking that the situation was in their hands and the matter was settled. But before they could shout twice, they turned a corner and rushed to the central area of ​​the village. This village was strange. In the very center was a threshing ground of considerable size. Normally, such a threshing ground would be placed at the entrance of the village or near the fields. How could it be in the center of the village?

Before anyone could react, Li Zicheng, who was rushing in the front, suddenly stopped. His eyes seemed to see an incredible scene, and he was stunned.

Not only Li Zicheng, but also Li Guo and his other subordinates were the same. They all stared at the opposite side with expressions of extreme shock. Some even raised their hands and rubbed their eyes, as if they couldn't believe what they saw.

"Military formation!"

That’s right! It’s a military formation!
About twenty meters away from them, thirty or so strong men formed a military formation. These men wore leather armor and had long swords hanging from their waists. Nearly half of them held muskets in their hands, which were held horizontally and pointed directly at Li Zicheng and his gang.

On the left and right of the team, there were several people holding spears, shields and other weapons. The whole formation exuded a fierce murderous aura. The few villagers who had just run with their heads covered had hidden behind the formation, pointing in the direction of Li Zicheng and talking about something in a buzzing voice, with indignation and grievance on their faces.

"Not good! Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Li Zicheng had fought many battles before. He was stunned for a moment but then reacted instantly. At this time, he had no time to think about why such a battle formation would appear in this ordinary village, and why there were soldiers holding weapons and even muskets.

Could it be that he accidentally ran into the Ming army camp? That's not right! He had observed the village from outside before entering it. Isn't this just an ordinary village? How could such a group of people suddenly appear?
Li Zicheng came to his senses and turned to run. He could not care about anything else now. He ran out to make plans. But just as he turned around, a sharp whistle sounded from the battle formation, and then the enemy's muskets opened fire. With a crackling sound, half of Li Zicheng's group fell down in an instant, and even Li Zicheng himself was hit in the arm by the musket. He staggered but did not dare to stop and continued to run.

But no matter how fast a person runs, he cannot outrun a bullet. No one knew what was wrong with the musket used by the other party. It could continue shooting after firing without reloading. After the second shot, Li Zicheng was shot in the back. Li Zicheng shook violently, turned his head to look in disbelief, and then fell to the ground with unwillingness.

After continuous shooting, no one in Li Zicheng's group could stand. Although some of them managed to escape two rounds of volleys, they were already so scared that their legs were weak. Didn't they see that their boss Li Zicheng was knocked down? Could they be stronger than Li Zicheng? If they were also hit, they would be disabled if not dead!

He hastily dropped his weapon, knelt on the ground with his hands raised high, and shouted, "Grandpas, please stop hitting me. I surrender. I surrender! Please spare my life..."

Seeing this, Sun Yuanhua finally breathed a sigh of relief. He asked Xiaoqi in the team to take a few people to go up and check how many of the people on the opposite side were dead and how many were still alive. It would be fine if there were only dead ones, but he would tie up all the living ones and then ask them where these thieves came from.

That’s right, the commander of this team was Sun Yuanhua. It was Li Zicheng’s bad luck, as he had no idea where he was and who he met.

After crossing the Taihang Mountains, Li Zicheng and his group continued to move north and unknowingly arrived at the area north of Lingchuan. The area north of Lingchuan was not any other place, but Zhaowuling, one of the old nests where Zhu Shenzhu started his career.

The village that Li Zicheng planned to capture was not any other village, but Zhaowu Village at the foot of Zhaowuling Mountain. Li Zicheng never thought that he would find his way to Zhaowu Village, where Zhu Shenzhu started his career. Or it could be said that Li Zicheng had a good vision. Just like Zhu Shenzhu back then, he took a fancy to the geographical location of Zhaowu Village at first sight and planned to take it as a hiding place.

Unfortunately, Li Zicheng arrived too late, and Zhaowu Village was no longer the same as before. Ever since Zhu Shenzhui occupied Zhaowu Village and took over Zhaowuling, he built it into a base. Zhaowuling in particular was the top priority. Not only did he move several hundred households from other places here, he also set up mining and smelting sites, and even firearms research and development and manufacturing workshops.

Why Zhu Shenzhui's new army was so powerful? The main equipment, especially firearms, came from here, and the training place for the new army was also in Zhaowuling. But after Zhu Shenzhui entered the capital, the situation in Zhaowuling changed. In addition to some garrisons, it mainly became a mining, smelting, and manufacturing organization. With Sun Yuanhua's return to Beijing, Zhu Shenzhui transferred Sun Yuanhua to the Construction Department of the Imperial Household Department, and Zhaowuling became a direct organization of the Imperial Household Department, mainly responsible for the development and experiment of military equipment, etc. In other words, Zhaowuling is now the location of the Ming Dynasty's arsenal, and this arsenal does not belong to the Ministry of Industry or the Ministry of War, but to the Construction Department of the Imperial Household Department. Sun Yuanhua, the head of the Construction Department, is the direct superior of the arsenal.

Since it is an arsenal, the defense and guard are naturally very tight. The entire Zhaowuling not only has more than one battalion of elite new troops stationed there, but also has two fully armed centurions as guards. In addition, Zhaowuling itself produces military equipment and firearms, so there is no shortage of weapons. On weekdays, the craftsmen, people in the garrison, and others here also regularly maintain military training. If something happens, it is no problem to mobilize a team of thousands of people.

Compared with the Zhaowuling construction site in the mountains, Zhaowu Village at the foot of the mountain belongs to the outskirts of Zhaowuling. Some family members of the stationed garrison and the original villagers of Zhaowu Village live here.

On weekdays, these people usually farm nearby or take on some of the work of transporting materials in and out. It looks no different from an ordinary village, but most of these people have also undergone basic military training. In addition, from time to time, Zhaowuling will send people over to go through Zhaowu Village to the nearby areas to experiment with some firearms and stay for a day or two.

Li Zicheng's luck was really bad. He never thought that when he was planning to attack Zhaowu Village, Sun Yuanhua had just come down the mountain and arrived here half a day ago. This time Sun Yuanhua came to Zhaowu Village to experiment with the newly finalized new type of musket. This musket was modified on the basis of the original plum blossom gun. Compared with the original plum blossom gun with five rounds, it had one more round, reaching six rounds, and the loading device and firing structure had also been adjusted to shorten the loading speed and improve the firing efficiency.

This new type of musket had just been formed and was not yet fully perfected. Sun Yuanhua planned to experiment a few times to determine whether it needed further adjustments before finalizing it. But he didn't expect that Li Zicheng and his blind men would rush into Zhaowu Village with a roar before he could rest.

When the warning bell of Zhaowu Village rang, Sun Yuanhua immediately gathered his men to prepare for battle.

Sun Yuanhua had also served as a governor and led troops to fight in wars. Although his personality was not suitable for leading troops, he had fought in several battles. Moreover, the people he led were the elite of the new army. Although there were not many people, their combat effectiveness was not weak, not to mention that Li Zicheng had even fewer people.

In this way, Li Zicheng ran into Sun Yuanhua who had just set up his battle formation without any preparation. As Sun Yuanhua gave the order to attack, just two rows of guns directly defeated Li Zicheng's group. Even Li Zicheng himself was shot and fell to the ground, and his life or death was unknown.

There was chaos in front, and Sun Yuanhua didn't hear clearly what Li Zicheng and his gang were shouting. After quickly dealing with this group of guys who came out of nowhere, Sun Yuanhua ordered people to clean up the battlefield and find out where this group of people came from.

But before Sun Yuanhua was ready to go back to rest, Xiaoqi, who had just gone to collect the prisoners, ran back excitedly. Seeing Sun Yuanhua, he said excitedly: "Sir! Good news! Very good news, sir!"

"Good news? Where is the good news?" Sun Yuanhua asked curiously. This kid looked extremely excited, as if his wife had given birth to a boy. It was just that he killed a few blind bandits. How could this be considered a good thing?

The little flag quickly pointed behind him and said to Sun Yuanhua: "Sir, do you know where these people came from?"

"Where did it come from?"

"From Taihang Mountain!"

"From Taihang? When did bandits appear in Taihang? And why do they come here?" Sun Yuanhua asked in confusion.

Seeing that Sun Yuanhua hadn't come to his senses yet, the flag bearer slapped his thigh and said, "My lord, you haven't come to your senses yet. Didn't a military report come to Zhaowuling a few days ago, saying that the bandit Li Zicheng had crossed the river to the north and disappeared, and asked all the troops in Shanxi to pay close attention to this matter?"

"That's true, but this is not the place... What did you say? You mean... these people...?" Sun Yuanhua didn't react at first, but in an instant a light bulb went off in his head and he came back to his senses. His face changed drastically and he looked excited. He raised his hand and pointed to the front where there were dead and injured people and asked hurriedly.

"That's right!" Xiaoqi nodded repeatedly, smiling, "Congratulations, sir! The leader of this group of thieves is Li Zicheng, the bandit known as the King of Rebellion! Sir, capturing Li Zicheng is a great achievement! I congratulate you, congratulate you..."

(End of this chapter)