Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 226 He Qi: Can you believe that being a corrupt official is a loss?

Upon hearing this, Mach spoke very righteously.

"What the hell is this?!"

"Why does Yiliang withhold rations from my frontline soldiers when he is celebrating his birthday? How can the soldiers fight without enough food? How can they fight against the Tang bandits?"

"This is really ridiculous!"

Upon hearing this, He Qi apparently joined in cursing the corrupt officials in Jiangnan, but he was secretly criticizing them in his heart.

It sounds like we are good people...

However, after complaining about the corrupt officials in Jiangnan, Ma He turned to He Qi and said.

"Master He, I don't care what your reasons are, but you must pay the general the same amount of money."

"You have to pay the remaining two hundred taels even if you have to pay for it yourself."

"Otherwise, I won't be able to explain to the commander-in-chief when I go back, and you won't be able to explain to him either!"

Mach said seriously.

He stared at He Qi with sharp eyes, and his expression seemed to say that there was no room for negotiation on the matter.

He Qi opened his mouth, but finally spoke with a flattering smile on his face.

"Okay, since Brother Ma said so, I can't not give you face."

"Then I will pay the remaining two hundred taels with my own money..."

However, even though the smile on his face was huge, it couldn't hide the anger in He Qi's heart.

Damn it, he was only trying to earn some hard-earned money by reselling military rations.

Unexpectedly, I have to pay money for this.

Being a corrupt official is a loss. Who the hell dares to believe this?
Mach heard this and said with a smile on his face.

"Master He is very insightful."

"Don't worry, I will say a few good words for you in front of the general."

He Qi still said with an apologetic smile on his face.

"Good good!"

"In that case, I would like to thank Brother Ma here."

After that, he raised his glass to Mach again.

As he was talking, He Qi called the manager of Cuiyun Tower and asked a few young ladies to stay in the box to accompany Ma He for a drink.

He left Cuiyun Tower and prepared to go back to his home to get the silver.

Two hundred taels of silver is not a small amount, so He Qi naturally couldn't carry it with him.

Walking on the streets of Anqing City, the breeze from the river blew away his dizzy head, which had been a little dizzy from drinking, and it became clear again.

Taking a deep breath, He Qi felt helpless.

It’s not easy to be a corrupt official these days!

It's fine if you have business relationships with the boss, you even have to flatter the boss's close friends. Even if you embezzle less due to force majeure and fail to satisfy the boss' appetite, you have to make up the difference yourself...

Hey, what is going on?

The sound of horse hooves rang out, and He Qi subconsciously looked in the direction where the sound came from.

A messenger with his robe stained with blood was seen galloping on the street. People on the street dodged for fear of being hit and rushed towards the parade ground in Anqing city.

Seeing this, He Qi subconsciously made way for him and hid in a shop on the roadside. Looking at the blood on the messenger's body, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

The mind is broken.

Could it be that the Tang bandits are attacking?

This time, Li Yi personally led the main force of the Tang Dynasty on the Eastern Expedition, mobilizing a total of six division-level units, namely the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and the Imperial Guard Division, as well as the 1st and 3rd Cavalry Regiments, and the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th Artillery Regiments, totaling nearly 100,000 troops.

The movements of such a large-scale and heavily armed group naturally cannot be concealed.

He Qi naturally also knew that the main force of the Tang army was about to attack.

Now seeing the blood-stained messenger again, he subconsciously felt a pang in his heart.

Knowing that it might be the Tang army coming to attack!

……

The Qing army's messenger rode his horse into Anqing City and headed straight for the parade ground inside the city.

The Qing army sentries stationed outside the parade ground did not dare to stop him, and he rushed directly to Huang Yingsong, the general of Anqing.

"Report... Report, to the commander-in-chief!"

"The Tang bandit army has arrived at Huangshiji and launched an offensive against it. Huangshiji is in urgent need of reinforcements. Please send reinforcements as soon as possible."

When Huang Yingsong heard this, the originally calm expression on his face became solemn and his brows furrowed involuntarily.

"How is the war going in Huangshiji now?"

"Can our army provide support?"

The messenger shook his head vigorously and asked for help again.

"To reply to the general, the Tang bandits' attack is very fierce and our army is unable to withstand it."

"Please send reinforcements as soon as possible, otherwise Huangshiji may not be able to hold out for much longer."

Upon hearing this, Huang Yingsong did not directly respond to the messenger's request for help, but turned his gaze to one of his staff members beside him and asked.

"Mr. Niu, where are our reinforcements from Jiangnan going now?"

Niu Dun heard this and spoke.

"In reply to your words, sir, according to the latest news, the Jiangnan camp led by Admiral Zhang Guoliang has now reached the Tongling area."

"It will take at most three to five days to reach Anqing."

Huang Yingsong's expression softened after hearing this, and he said to the messenger who came to ask for help, "Send a message to Qian Dusi who is guarding Huangshiji immediately, and order him to hold Huangshiji firmly and stop the Tang bandits from moving eastward."

"Our reinforcements will arrive soon!"

Well, in fact, Huang Yingsong did not really intend to send troops to reinforce Huangshiji.

The reason why he said this was that he just wanted the Qing army in Huangshiji to hold out longer, and it would be best if they could hold out until Zhang Guoliang led his troops to come to the rescue.

And Huang Yingsong would naturally lead his troops to defend Anqing City!

Otherwise, if Anqing City fell because he led his troops out of the city, who would be able to take responsibility for this?
Huang Yingsong is not such a reckless person!
Upon hearing this, the messenger thought that Huang Yingsong had agreed to send troops to reinforce, and immediately nodded vigorously.

"The villain understands!"

Then, he said goodbye and left with a happy face.

After he left, Huang Yingsong immediately turned to Niu Dun who was standing beside him and said.

"Pass on the military order from this town, ordering all our troops to gather and prepare for battle immediately, and prepare to strengthen the defense of Anqing City."

"All city defense works must be checked. There cannot be any mistakes or omissions."

After saying this, Huang Yingsong said with a complicated expression.

"If Huangshiji is lost, then these city defense works will be our last resort..."

……

Huangshiji!
There was gunfire and smoke everywhere.

boom! Boom boom!

There was a deafening sound of shelling.

One shell after another cut through the air and shot towards the Qing army positions at Huangshiji.

At the same time, the Tang army's inland fleet lined up on the river and launched firepower at the Qing army's artillery on Jiangxinzhou.

Due to the limited navigation capacity of the Lingqu Canal, the Tang army's inland fleet that accompanied the eastern expedition actually did not have many large ships.

The largest ship is only about a hundred tons and has a very shallow draft.

It can transport heavy artillery, but the ship's structure can hardly withstand the recoil generated by the firing of heavy artillery.

Of course, being unable to withstand the recoil of heavy artillery does not mean that the Tang army’s inland fleet has no means of attack.

During this eastern expedition, the Tang army carried a large number of rockets.

Almost every ship in the Tang army's inland fleet was equipped with a rocket launcher.

As the war broke out, the entire surface of the Yangtze River was covered with the sound of rockets breaking through the air.

Rockets tore through the sky, streaking across the sky like meteors, and shot towards the Qing army's artillery positions.

Suppressing the Qing army's artillery from all aspects.

Clouds of smoke exploded, and the Qing troops in the artillery position were blown to pieces.

Balls of fire kept exploding, sweeping away everything around.

The flames ignited the barrels of gunpowder. With the rumbling sound of the explosion, the shells and artillery pieces piled next to the gunpowder barrels were all blown into the sky.

Logically speaking, the range of artillery should be longer than that of rockets, and the Qing army would not be suppressed so badly by the Tang army's rockets.

But, we are in the Qing Dynasty, and we understand everything!

The artillery was made with shoddy materials, the gunpowder was counterfeit, the gunners were poorly trained, and some were even strong men who were temporarily drafted in to fill the numbers. They were simply unable to achieve the expected results when firing the artillery.

Shells fell into the river one after another, and apart from blasting fish in the river and shooting up columns of water, no other results were achieved.

The threat to the Tang army is indeed limited!
At the same time, the Tang army's infantry also launched an offensive towards Huangshiji.

Feng Zicai personally commanded the troops to deliver firepower and launched successive attacks under the cover of their own artillery.

The barrage of artillery fire slowly advanced forward.

The Tang army's infantry followed the tail of the barrage and rushed forward under the cover of artillery.

Today, the Tang army is already quite proficient in the application of infantry and artillery coordination.

The artillery barrage advanced slowly, and the infantry followed suit. When the infantry charged, the loose soil on the ground blown up by the explosive bombs even became slightly warm.

The so-called defense line of the Qing army was as fragile as paper in front of them.

It almost broke with one poke!
In order to avoid artillery fire, many Qing soldiers hid in the trenches and dared not show their heads after the artillery fire sounded.

The result was that just after the bombardment, before they had time to react, the Tang army's attacking forces rushed up.

The sound of cannons rumbled and the charge horn sounded. Squad leader Zhang Zhengbao, holding a musket, led the team to charge forward.

After charging for a while, Zhang Zhengbao saw a trench in front of him.

He bypassed several traps created by the explosion along the way and leaped into a trench.

In the trench, Zhang Zhengbao just landed and when he looked up, he saw several pairs of eyes full of fear.

He subconsciously raised his gun and shot. With a crisp sound, a Qing soldier who attempted to raise his gun to resist was killed on the spot.

Before the remaining few Qing soldiers could make any move, several Tang soldiers jumped into the trench one after another.

Gunshots rang out one after another, and several Qing soldiers were quickly killed.

Zhang Zhengbao and others opened the magazines of their rifles and loaded bullets. After completing the loading work, they jumped out of the trench and continued to rush forward with guns.

In front, some Qing soldiers finally reacted and started shooting from behind their cover.

Bullets flew past their ears, and the sound of whizzing through the air continued to be heard.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhengbao did not rush forward, but just shouted.

"Everyone, get down, shoot!"

In an instant, a Tang army soldier fell to the ground and shot in a lying position.

The sound of gunfire continued to ring out as they fiercely exchanged fire with the Qing army in front of them.

(End of this chapter)