Chapter 19: Secretly Crossing the Granary
Chapter 19: Secretly Crossing the Granary
The streets were filled with chaos.
A man dressed in red, with a sword at his waist, a full hat and black boots, came slowly to the scene of the incident. He was handsome, in his early thirties. He glanced around and gently tapped the folding fan in his hand.
"At least two of the squads are young and strong. The one leading them is really strange. Look at his footsteps and the marks left by the spear. The spear is extremely heavy, but he himself is not affected." The man in red laughed and said, "Father went to war with thirteen iron armors. Men, once they gather together, they are likely to make some noise. Liu Taibao is willing to give up even though he has saved his life."
"About thirty people."
Next to the man, the follower was wearing yellow clothes and armor, more than two meters tall, with a bell tied around his waist, holding a drum in his left hand and a drum whip in his right hand, and his face was completely covered by a black tiger totem, which gave a more precise answer at this moment.
The red-clothed man nodded slightly and asked, "How's that guy who calls himself Luan Xiang? His palm technique is vicious, but it's useful. If he practices for another twenty or thirty years, he will be no worse than you."
The Great Shaman replied, "Luan Xiang asked for ten beautiful girls, a thousand taels of gold, and a weapon from the arsenal. He reported that there were at least four extraordinary people in the city at that time, who were only slightly weaker than him and had previously lived in the He Family Courtyard in Xicheng District."
The red-clothed man's eyes darkened slightly, and he thought of the previous incident of being hunted down by his subordinates.
"Liu Taibao has absorbed some extraordinary people from the opposition. If he can expand, then he is an organization. If he has an organization, then he has a goal. Didn't you tell me that a lieutenant died in the past two days?"
The Great Shaman shook his head. "No one is so daring."
The man in red said to himself, "What do they want to do?"
A group of young and strong men armed with swords, including powerful officials and strange people, will never abide by the law.
After a while, the man in red said, "Send people to check the riverside. Anyone digging water will be killed. Keep watch over the granary and the ordnance camp. From now on, order the entire army not to set fire. Recall all the white flag cavalry. Capture a thousand Yangzhou people and drag them to the open space in the central square to chop them one by one until they come out. Order all the generals of the surrendered army outside the city not to leave the camp from now on. This king does not want to hear excuses. The Great Halberd Camp and the Divine Machine Camp are on standby."
"Yes." The great shaman took the order, and several black eagles immediately flew out from the hand drum and flew away into the sky.
……
The city fell on the second day and night.
There were two divisions of soldiers, totaling 600 elite soldiers, guarding the granary in the west of the city.
Yangzhou has been prosperous since ancient times. After inspection, the reserves in this granary are enough to support the army's needs for three months.
Jiang He hid on the eaves of a house, poked two holes in the wall with a dagger, and observed the opposite side in the moonlight.
The task assigned to him was to create chaos, and destroying the granary was one of the relatively quick options. However, the White Flag Cavalry were all gathered together for some reason, and if he was not careful, he would be trapped in the battle and die of exhaustion. The Garuda mode had a huge improvement, but correspondingly, the consumption was also fast, and it was only suitable for a quick battle.
On the other side of the eaves of the houses, a family of four huddled together, covered only with rags, all of them terrified. On the first day of the city's fall, the soldiers seemed to be a little restrained because they were looting money, but once they figured out the situation, they basically used knives and guns according to their personal preferences.
In an open space not far from the houses, a young soldier was detaining hundreds of Yangzhou residents. All of them bowed their heads and prostrated themselves, ready to be killed. No one dared to escape. As for the young children, hundreds of them were crying and wailing, shaking the earth. This tragic scene blended into the night sky of Yangzhou but was unnoticeable.
Jiang He left the house and continued searching the surrounding area, trying not to look at the green soldiers so as not to arouse the prey's instinctive alertness.
Generally speaking, the areas around ancient granaries were forbidden areas, and reselling grain was a capital crime punishable by skinning and stuffing straw. However, blinded by greed, they sold grain at high prices when there was a shortage of grain on the market, and bought it back at low prices when there was an abundance of grain in summer and autumn. By doing this back and forth, they could easily make considerable profits with sufficient reserves.
Of course, this kind of thing cannot be made public.
In the darkness of the night, wailing lingers in the ears.
Jiang He's eyes were solemn and he seemed extremely patient. It was not until late at night, after several hours, that he finally found a clue in a cowshed.
Under the mountain of weeds, there were two iron doors installed on the ground. They were rusty on the outside and locked with iron locks. Hidden in the weeds was a lifeless couple. They were dead, stabbed to death by the green soldiers with spears during the search.
Jiang He took out a dagger and pointed it at the iron lock, then pressed his whole body on it and suddenly stopped. After a crisp sound, the iron lock broke.
Gathering the weeds again, he pulled the body over and walked into the tunnel ahead. It was pitch dark inside, and the screams from the outside were also cut off. Grains were scattered under his feet, and wooden carts were parked in the grooves dug on both sides. The walls were embedded with extinguished oil lamps, which were obviously the passages for transporting grain. Jiang He walked forward in the darkness and took an oil lamp. Since vision was useless, he simply closed his eyes. After two hundred steps, he stepped on the steps with his feet, raised his hands, and after twelve more steps, he suddenly felt a touch in his palm. As he rubbed back and forth, the iron lock appeared again.
Another blow of the sword cut it off. The deputy general's dagger inlaid with gems was so sharp that it was unstoppable.
Jiang He opened the iron gate and rushed out of the tunnel. He stood still for a moment and noticed the existence of the vent. The oil lamp was lit. He was surrounded by walls made of grains. The wooden frames were struggling to maintain stability. He reached out and grabbed some grains and stuffed them directly into his mouth to chew.
After a few times, someone frowned. The taste was so dry that he wanted to drink water. Fortunately, the Garuda Egg quickly gushed out green energy, digested the grains into nutrients, and finally stored them in the heart.
Jiang He grabbed the grains with both hands, chewed and swallowed them repeatedly. After half an hour, the "wall" in front of him was reduced by a layer, and he turned in another direction and continued eating.
An hour later, the space near the iron gate had expanded a whole circle. Jiang He began to move, and his iron stomach was like a bottomless abyss, devouring the surrounding grains to his heart's content.
The sky outside was bright, dark clouds gathered, and drizzle fell.
Jiang He kept eating. This kind of opportunity was quite rare. In the real world, it would be difficult to find similar resource points on the island.
From late night to early morning, and from early morning to noon.
Eventually, Jiang He slowed down, and he retched a few times while holding onto the wooden frame. His throat was red and swollen, and his cheeks were sore. However, as a reward, his heart became stronger and more powerful, the pure green crystals on the surface looked unusually gorgeous, and his defense was greatly increased.
"It seems like I won't have to eat for half my life."
After eating, Jiang He took out the cinnabar mirror to hypnotize himself, thus entering a deep sleep state and began to rest on the spot.
……
Yangzhou Dungeon.
Chu Fuqiang swung the heavy axe and the padlock broke.
The two prisoners at the bottom were released and stared at the crowd nervously.
The news of the fall of Yangzhou City had already spread. At first, a few hundred people came here to hide, and then a group of green soldiers rushed in and killed indiscriminately. The direct descendants of the White Flag looked down on the prisoners here as a source of soldiers, and due to the lack of money, the Tianlao seemed to be forgotten by the outside world.
"You two can either come with me to kill the Qing soldiers, or you can leave on your own. Make your choice now."
One prisoner, seeing that everyone was silent, stood straight into the crowd. Another prisoner hesitated, but did not want to fight with the ferocious green soldiers, so he ran away.
Chu Fuqiang's eyes darkened, he raised his hand and swung out the heavy axe, the axe blade hit the back of the running prisoner, almost going through his body. The man was left with only the ability to breathe and soon lost his life.
Chu Fuqiang felt no guilt at all. These were all criminals. If he gave up violence, he would not be able to mobilize them at all. In the original disorderly environment, only the strong can make rules and establish order.
A group of people left the dungeon and had just walked a few steps onto the street when several of them, who had already colluded with each other in advance, fled separately.
Chu Fuqiang turned around and said, "The royal army is already a hundred miles outside the city. The Yangzhou Qing army is trapped in siege. This is just the last madness. You guys follow me to make meritorious deeds. After the war, I will ask Liu Taibao to let you atone for your merits, restore your freedom, and even get a position."
In fact, few people believed this, but it did not stop the prisoners from using it as a goal and constantly comforting themselves.
Half a quarter of an hour later, a raging fire broke out in the dungeon.
Chu Fuqiang cleaned up most of the traces to prevent the Qing soldiers from discovering that the prisoners had left the dungeon and becoming alert, while the hundreds of corpses inside were enough to cover up the truth.
"Hopefully it will work out."
(End of this chapter)