Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 615 Wuzhou, which you couldn't take in three months, I took in half a day!

Wuzhou, formerly known as Cangwu, is an ancient city in Lingnan.

As early as the Han Dynasty, it served as the seat of the Jiaozhi Inspectorate.

It was expanded during the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, and the city wall was 22 feet high and 9 li in circumference.

There were five city gates, and moats were dredged on the southeast, west and south sides of the city walls.

"There's a reason why the Heaven and Earth Society, with its tens of thousands of members, couldn't conquer this place."

He observed the forest path through the city walls with binoculars and nodded slightly. "These walls are indeed sturdy."

Not far away, amidst shouts, over a hundred Green Standard Army prisoners pushed several hastily made large shield carts toward Nanxun Gate, which was directly south of Wuzhou City.

Each of the armored wagons contained a coffin.

The Heaven and Earth Society's siege of Wuzhou City, which lasted for several months, was not entirely without effect.

At least they cut off the water supply to the moat and filled in large sections of the trenches, allowing siege engines to reach directly to the city walls.

The defenders on the city wall shouted and launched a counterattack.

Cannons of all sizes spewed flames.

The scorching hot bullets flew in without warning.

As we all know, artillery is a technical branch of the military, requiring intelligence and mathematical skills.

In the Qing Dynasty, where the Eight Banners enjoyed a secure livelihood and scholars were all focused on studying the classics and passing the imperial examinations, science students had no chance of advancement.

Given the productivity of this era, no one would waste their fortune studying science.

Even someone with the means to study science wouldn't go to the filthy military to become an artilleryman.

As a result, the shelling was purely random and relied entirely on luck.

Some bullets landed near the shield wagon, kicking up large clouds of dust.

The Green Standard Army prisoners pushing the shield carts were immediately thrown into a panic and instinctively turned and ran.

However, they were met with arrows and muskets.

'Whoosh whoosh~'

"Bang, bang, bang~"

Yang Xiuqing, who was in charge of the battle, resolutely carried out Lin Dao's orders and shot all the Green Standard Army prisoners who had escaped back.

"next batch."

Another group of Green Standard Army prisoners were brought up. "Go push the shield cart against the wall and light the fuse outside the coffin."

"Spare me!" A Green Standard Army prisoner immediately knelt down and begged, tears streaming down his face, "I have an eighty-year-old mother to support and a three-year-old child to raise. Please, gentlemen, spare me!"

'puff! '

With a swift stroke, a severed head fell to the ground and rolled.

Yang Xiuqing, his one eye filled with murderous intent, shouted sharply, "Who else?!"

The Green Standard Army prisoners, ingrained with the habits of seasoned soldiers, dared not provoke any more attacks.

These traitors are truly ruthless.

The various methods we used to employ are no longer effective against them.

Hundreds of Green Standard Army prisoners slowly made their way toward the shield wagon.

Yang Xiuqing didn't shout anything, but directly ordered the guns to be opened fire.

"Bang, bang, bang~"

A volley of musket fire fell more than a dozen Green Standard Army prisoners who had been shot in the back.

The remaining people dared not dawdle any longer. They all ran as fast as ducks, rushing to the shield cart to continue pushing it forward.

The numerous cannons on the city wall fired for a while, and by sheer luck, managed to destroy one shield wagon before ceasing fire altogether.

Lin Dao lowered his head, looking at the drone control screen in his hand.

There are still many cannonballs left on the city wall, but no gunpowder.

The Heaven and Earth Society besieged the city for several months and launched repeated attacks.

The defenders were consuming a great deal of gunpowder and arrows.

In addition, the Qing army was corrupt and suffered losses from various thefts and improper storage. Although there was a lot of expensive and difficult-to-preserve gunpowder on the books, less than one-tenth of it could actually be used in actual combat.

If it weren't for the reinforcements from Guilin breaking through the encirclement and rushing into the city more than a month ago, bringing a batch of military supplies, the defenders' artillery would have been rendered useless long ago.

"I knew the Qing army was rotten in this era, but I never imagined it was this rotten."

"Even in a large city like Wuzhou, there isn't enough gunpowder."

"So bad!"

His decision not to directly strike the city wall with his father's heavy hammer was not out of mercy.

There's no need for mercy when dealing with Qing demons.

It was purely to purge a group of prisoners from the Green Camp.

After all, the Qing army, whether it was the Eight Banners or the Green Standard Army, was utterly corrupt.

Lin Dao could not easily place them into a brand new team.

Only those who survive repeated suicide missions, after undergoing cleansing and screening, have the opportunity to wash away their past filth and start anew.

The coffins hidden inside those armored wagons contained a large number of C4 cartridges with pre-embedded detonators.

Detonating it near the city wall would be enough to destroy it.

The iron-reinforced shield carts finally withstood the attacks of arrows, stones, rolling logs, molten metal, and other defensive equipment, and were pushed to the side of the city wall.

The Green Standard Army prisoners, their hands trembling, lit tinderboxes, igniting the fuse.

Once the fuse was lit, the prisoners turned and ran like rabbits.

Lin Dao, who had retrieved the drone, nodded upon seeing this scene and said, "Give everyone a can of meat."

Since they risked their lives, they were contributing to the fight against the Qing dynasty.

The rewards that are due should still be given.

A deafening roar, like a mountain collapsing and the earth splitting open.

Even from several miles away, it was still incredibly awe-inspiring.

The members of the Heaven and Earth Society were dumbfounded.

Their thinking was still stuck in the primitive concept of siege warfare; they never imagined such a large-scale project as directly blowing up city walls.

Even if you thought about it, you couldn't find that much gunpowder.

After all, the city walls of Wuzhou are both high and wide.

The smoke and dust rose into the sky, the broken stones and bricks flew about, and the flames were blinding.

As the hellish scene gradually calmed down, Xiao Chaogui, holding a shield in one hand and a knife in the other, roared and led a large group of people to charge towards the destroyed city wall.

These are the true core forces of the God Worshipping Society: the charcoal burners and miners in the mountains.

They ate Lin Dao's chickens for every meal. Naturally, they had to work hard to repay Lin Dao for the chickens and canned meat he provided!

The profound principles of opposing the Qing dynasty are not understood by everyone.

But everyone understands the rule that "he who eats another's food is bound to him."

Firearms and cannons were already very common in this era. Therefore, Lin Dao did not equip them with heavy armor, but rather with shields strong enough to withstand the bullets from a musket.

Shields made of engineering plastics have high structural strength and are much lighter than those made of pure metal.

Lin Dao raised his electronic megaphone and shouted to the crowd.

"Enter the city and annihilate the Qing demons!"

"Whoever kills a Green Standard Army soldier will receive a box of chickens!"

"Whoever kills one of the Eight Banner soldiers shall receive a box of chickens and a box of jarred meat!"

"Whoever kills or captures a corrupt official of the imperial court will be rewarded handsomely according to his rank! A minimum of one box each of chicken eggs and braised pork!"

"Those who want to eat chicken or braised pork, what are you waiting for~~~"

"Kill~~~"

For impoverished people whose staple food was sweet potatoes, the rewards from the forest road were extremely tempting.

Especially meat; many people have never even had a taste of meat in their entire lives.

Morale was quickly mobilized, and large numbers of people, including members of the Heaven and Earth Society and civilians brought in by Lin Dao, rushed toward the collapsed city wall like a tidal wave.

"Head."

Yang Xiuqing, his expression excited, rushed over to greet him and asked, "The city has fallen, what should we do?"

In ancient warfare, there were multiple options after a city was captured.

The most infamous of these was the massacre of the city.

"Have you all read the books I showed you?"

Lin Dao slowly began, “The Yangzhou Massacre, the Jiading Massacre, the killings that swept across the Central Plains, the looting and plundering that were utterly despicable.”

"I'm a person who follows the rules."

"Since they did the first thing, we should do the fifteenth thing in return."

"We'll return the Tungusic boar hides exactly as they were after they entered the pass!"

Yang Xiuqing shouted loudly.

"Leader!"

Wuzhou City originally had a garrison of Green Standard Army soldiers, with about three or four thousand men listed in the military register, but in reality there were only a few hundred.

When the Heaven and Earth Society besieged the city, it was the local government officials and gentry who conscripted able-bodied men to defend it, along with local students, servants, and relatives of the gentry.

Later, reinforcements from Guilin rushed into the city, numbering two to three thousand.

Among them were several hundred bannermen.

They were among the most resolute in their resistance.

There was no other way. The rebels tied the severed heads to their belts with their braids and pounced on the enemy menacingly. They cut off the heads of those they killed, even those who knelt in surrender. The bannermen had no choice.

They resisted to the very end.

When retreating to the government office and finding no hope of breaking out, they set the office ablaze, preferring death to losing their heads.

Most of the Green Standard Army soldiers surrendered, but they were unlucky; they encountered a group of people eager to obtain rewards, and even if they surrendered, they would lose their lives.

The able-bodied men fled back to their homes, and the local gentry militia put up a resistance, but they too scattered and fled.

Officials of all ranks within the city were killed or arrested.

It was the brainwashed students at the county school who were putting up a fierce resistance.

When Lin Dao entered the city, the large-scale resistance had already ended.

A large number of people have sealed off all areas of the city.

"Yang Xiuqing".

"My subordinate is here!"

"You lead the law enforcement team to patrol the streets and maintain order. Anyone who tries to cause trouble will be killed without mercy!"

"Leader!"

"Wei Changhui".

"My subordinate is here!"

"You take people to arrange accommodations, and don't let any more people who haven't entered the city yet come in."

"Leader!"

"Xiao Chaogui".

"My subordinate is here!"

"Seal off all warehouses, arrest officials who have fled to various places, and confiscate their property."

"Leader!"

"Shi Dakai."

"My subordinate is here!"

“Go and invite the heroes of the Heaven and Earth Society to come see me.”

"Leader!"

The county and prefectural government offices were set on fire, so Lin Dao simply went to stay at the military camp in the city.

This place was originally a camp for the Green Standard Army, but now it is a complete mess.

People are already leading the cleanup efforts.

Looking at the green flag fluttering on the flagpole, Lin Dao smiled slightly, "The Green Standard Army got its name from the green flag."

It would be quite interesting to think about if this were a flag of a different color.

After entering the military camp, Lin Dao took a quick look inside the barracks and then came out.

There's no way around it; it's not a place for humans to live.

All sorts of insects crawled around, which was enough to make one's scalp crawl.

"Search out all the junk inside and burn it!"

"I'm going to get DDT. The entire camp must be disinfected."

The harm caused by various insects is self-evident, especially the ubiquitous fleas, which are extremely dangerous for spreading pathogens.

The best way to deal with these insects is to use chemical products.

Personnel who had received basic training carried sprayers filled with diluted disinfectant and thoroughly sprayed each room for disinfection.

As for the tattered clothes and bedding on the communal sleeping area, they were all pulled out, gathered in the drill ground, and burned.

Amidst the raging flames, crackling sounds filled the air.

That was the sound of various insects being burned and exploded by flames.

A series of footsteps approached, and Chen Yagui, the Grand Master with a somber expression, arrived at the training ground along with a group of Heaven and Earth Society leaders and incense masters with varying expressions.

Bathed in the glow of the jubilant firelight, Chief Chen's face was filled with despair.

Lin Dao, beaming with smiles, stepped forward to greet him.

"What you couldn't take in three months, I'll take in half a day!"

(End of this chapter)