bookcurios Chapter 115: Death of Chengtang 3
Chapter 115: Death of Chengtang 3
"Third Master, the goods must be approaching. Should we go down and hide?"
Bandits treated traveling merchants as merchandise.
"Hide, boys, go down first and listen to my instructions!"
The third master's name is Chengtangsan. He is the third in command of the bandits and the leader of this bandit group.
After hearing Cheng Tangsan's words, the minions went down in a hurry. Only two figures were left on the top of the hill, with their backs to the morning light and disheveled in the wind.
When the guards were three hundred meters away from the bandits, the carriage team suddenly stopped.
"Almost done, we can line up now."
Zhao Sheng yawned, walked out of the carriage, stood on it, and spoke to his personal guard Liang Dong.
Zhao Yongsheng had long wanted to use the crossbow hidden on top of the carriage. He had heard that in the last battle of Guangchang County, the crossbow had played a great role in annihilating the enemy general.
"Everyone, get ready. Protect the Prince Consort and aim your spears at the enemy."
Liang Dong was equipped with a pistol and a long sword on his waist. As a commander, this was his equipment.
The full bow of the crossbow on the roof was operated by shaking the handle. With the "creaking" sound of the gears, the bowstring was soon hung on the crossbow.
Zhao Yongsheng took out a long arrow, installed the explosive arrow head, and pulled out the safety pin.
At the other end of the road, bandits were lying in ambush at the foot of the mountain, and Cheng Tangsan on the mountain was looking at Zhao Sheng's personal guards.
Cheng Tangsan didn't understand why the Royal Guards stopped. Shouldn't they have quarreled with each other and then started fighting after being stopped?
This plot is wrong!
Since the other party has already discovered it, there is no need to hide it anymore.
Cheng Tangsan rode down the mountain and came to the ambush site: "Go and meet them!"
At a command, the bandits followed him in groups of three or five on horseback, rushing towards the direction of the Royal Guards.
The so-called mountains are not actually high mountains, but just slightly larger hills with long and gentle slopes.
The mountain road is nothing more than a river channel under the hills. As more people walked on it, a hardened dirt road was formed. Then, it was washed away by rain again, and new ditches formed on both sides.
After years of war, the trees on the hills were cut down, resulting in a large amount of soil loss. Only a few trees remain on the top of the hill.
At a distance of one hundred steps, there is a pile of lush Bagen grass. It has medicinal value and it is not easy to grow on the roadside.
Liang Dong's horse didn't know what was going on. It stamped its hooves restlessly, its eyes wide open, its nostrils flared, and it breathed heavily.
Just now, the sound of horse hooves was endless, but suddenly everything stopped, as if time had stopped, even the wind had forgotten to flow, and only the occasional neighing of horses broke the deathly silence.
Cheng Tangsan seemed to sense something unusual. In the past, there would be shouts or begging sounds from the other side.
However, everything was broken, which was very different from what he had imagined.
"Brothers, take up your weapons." Cheng Tangsan shouted loudly.
"Royal Guards, prepare for battle." Liang Dong ordered.
"Brothers, charge..."
"Guards, shoot..."
Even though the Royal Guards' horses had heard the sound of gunfire, they still looked a little frightened by the dense gunfire.
Fortunately, these guards already have experience in shooting on the move.
Just as Cheng Tangsan shouted the order, Zhao Yongsheng on the roof of the car had already locked onto him, making Cheng Tangsan understand perfectly what it meant to be the first to stick his head out.
The moment the gunshots rang out, the enemy in front of them was destined to fail. The moment Cheng Tangsan fell, the group of bandits fled in all directions like a flood.
Ten people in the Royal Guards were using shotguns and did not participate in the shooting at the beginning. When six bullets were fired, there were still a dozen bandits fleeing. How could they let them go?
Liang Dong pulled out his pistol and shouted, "Chase him!"
Ten bodyguards, armed with shotguns, followed Liang Dong and chased after him.
The wheeled gun designed by Zhao Sheng has a wheel that serves as both a cartridge case and a magazine. If it is to be continued used, a wheeled hub must be replaced.
However, there were less than twenty people left, and ten personal guards were more than enough to wipe them out.
"See if there are any survivors in the crowd, give them some medical treatment and ask about their condition."
There were wailing sounds among the bandits. No doubt there were some alive among them.
After screening, more than 20 people can be saved, and the rest are difficult to save even if they do not die.
This is the damage caused to them by hot weapons. It is really difficult to survive if you are shot from a hundred meters away.
When Liang Dong returned, he had confiscated weapons and some usable supplies, and was accompanied by a dozen horses. No prisoners were found.
"Were they all wiped out?" Zhao Sheng asked.
"Yeah." Liang Dong answered with a guilty conscience.
"Forget it, don't think too much about it, just destroy it."
"No, I just thought it was too easy. I pointed my pistol and they fell off their horses. When I brought the horses back, some of them were still groaning on the ground. I gave them a quick death."
Liang Dong did not seem to be happy about the victory.
"Sir, some of those with minor injuries have spoken."
Zhao Yongsheng came over and interrupted Liang Dong’s melancholy thoughts.
"What did you say?" Zhao Sheng asked.
"As you said, they are from Xiaolongshan."
"Sure enough, they didn't explain the purpose of their visit?"
"No, they only told me that the person who led them here was their third boss, Cheng Tang San."
"Hmm..." Zhao Sheng seemed a little discouraged and breathed a sigh of relief: "Without a legitimate reason, it's not easy for us to go to Xiaolong Mountain to suppress the bandits."
"Sir, shouldn't I kill the bandit leader?"
Zhao Yongsheng felt inexplicably worried, thinking that he had ruined Zhao Yongsheng's big plan.
"Nothing. At the time, I never thought that the bandit leader should be captured. I always thought that the other bandits would know something about the situation."
It was after noon when all the bandits' bodies were dealt with on the battlefield.
"Will they all come with us?"
Zhao Sheng asked Liang Dong about the situation of these captured bandits.
"My Lord, two or three bandits wanted to leave us, but I refused."
"You did the right thing. Control them first, then ask the other bandits why they left. If they just want to go home, let them go and recover first."
Liang Dong understood and gave orders that all the captives should be recuperated first and plans would be made after arriving in Guangchang County.
These prisoners were all shot and could not ride horses, so they had to be placed on cloak stretchers and hung on the horses.
Mr. Zhao was not so kind as to let them stay in his carriage.
In the evening, under the fiery sunset glow of the Guangchang County City Tower, a group of people walked in.
When the county magistrate Sun Jiping heard that Zhao Sheng had arrived, he hurried towards the city gate with the yamen runners.
"I, Sun Jiping, pay my respects to Prince Consort Zhao..."
When the prisoner lying in the cloak heard this, he realized that he was in big trouble. No wonder he was beaten so badly that he had no power to fight back.
"No need to perform formalities, Magistrate Sun. Imprison these prisoners in the county jail. Have General Chen send troops to strengthen the jail's defenses."
"Okay, I'll convey that message right away. Please, Prince Consort, move to the county government office."
In this turbulent era, for someone of Zhao Sheng's status, living in the county government office would be less safe than living in the post station.
Guangchang County is not big, and the county post station is near the county government office. However, Zhao Sheng lives in the county government office, and everyone else can stay at the post station.