Chapter 46 Shura Field

Chapter 46 Shura Field

Chapter 46 Shura Field

Wang Siguizi was a man of the underworld, quick-witted and outspoken. After reporting, he immediately set out to join the Qinhu Lake bandits.

Tian Xing didn't leave. He and Shao Quanzhong didn't ride in the same sampan on the way back, so now he had time to report the unimportant and urgent information.

“When I was in Jingjiang, I secretly tracked down Magistrate You.

As soon as he returned, he ordered his personal soldiers to tie up and jail several Liu family members who had reported to him about the bandit suppression in Qiweizi.

He also used severe torture to force several members of the Liu family to confess their connection with Hou Batian.

Then they used the torture of 'three strangulations to kill' and executed several Liu family members on the spot without waiting for autumn. The report said that the rebels died due to torture. It seems that they are on the same page with us."

Bandits and bullies are the butt-wiping paper of our Qing officials. They should be thrown away. Shao Quanzhong had told everyone about this long ago. Unfortunately, the Liu family did not understand this principle and approached them to seek death.

“However, when they confessed, I heard that another group of Liu family members who escaped joined the Hong Gang’s Red Stick Bai family under Hou Batian.

If we want to protect Magistrate You and get this done thoroughly, we must first eliminate the Bai family."

"Those are minor matters. You don't understand the officialdom. No matter if a citizen sues an official or not, he will be beaten with 20 sticks. A few fugitives cannot bring down Magistrate You.

County Magistrate You is not afraid of the news leaking out, he is just afraid that I will use Qiao Songnian's power to deal with him. "

"My men in the Speed ​​Troops have followed your example in Pan Village and organized more than a dozen insurance teams in Jingjiang, allowing the villagers to build their own dikes to resist small groups of bandits.

The swords, guns, bows and arrows and other items we seized in Qiweizi have also been distributed.

Our influence has expanded from Taizhou to Jingjiang and Taixing counties in Tongzhou. Should we expand to Tongzhou city?"

"That's enough. The people in Tongzhou are bent on clinging to Shanghai. If you force something, it won't work. So don't get into conflict with them.

Our next priority is to capture Hou Batian and expand our influence to Yangzhou."

"Shouldn't we solve the problem of Qinhu Lake first?"

"Although there are few bandits in Qinhu Lake, we have no other way to defeat them if we are united. We can only attack with force. We have to wait until we have more people and our soldiers are well trained.

Hou Batian had greater power and many subordinates, but they were united by the money he earned from smuggling salt.

Once Hou Batian falls, the monkeys will scatter, which is actually easier to deal with, and Hou Batian is richer--"

"Then I will go and destroy Hou Batian directly?"

"No, he has such a great reputation, and he is a member of both the Qing Gang and the Hong Gang. Yang Yong cannot compare to him, so he needs many experts to protect him.

Brother, don't take risks easily. Send someone to gather information and find out his background first.

Now that we have some money, let’s recruit soldiers.”

…………

There is no need to post a notice for recruitment this time. Last time, due to limited quotas, those who were qualified but not admitted were enough.

The next morning, after sending his men to notify the new recruits to join the army, Shao Quanzhong strolled to the training ground.

The marching teams have all been sent out, the Zhong Battalion and the Right Battalion are in training, and the Heng Battalion is paying salaries.

It is not yet time to pay salaries, so Hengzi Battalion is paying out compensation to those who died in the battle of Qiweizi and the salaries owed for last month.

"Whose food do we eat? Whose clothes do we wear? Whose salary do we get?"

"Eat Commander Shao's food, wear Commander Shao's clothes, and get Commander Shao's salary!"

Huh? Shao Quanzhong was quite surprised.

He listened carefully again and found that it was indeed "Commander Shao", not Shao Hengzhong's original "General Shao Tuan" or the current "General Shao Ying".

Originally, the soldiers' salaries were paid personally by Shao Quanzhong, or at least under his supervision.

But Heng Camp is an exception.

The backbone members of the Heng Camp were all brothers that Shao Hengzhong had made friends with since childhood, the so-called "fellow villagers who dared to fight". This kind of group formed by fellow villagers was difficult to disintegrate through bribery.

If he tried to drive a nail in by force, it would not only be ineffective, but might also cause Shao Hengzhong to become alienated from him.

Shao Quanzhong had a special purpose in recruiting Shao Hengzhong. He planned to give his battalion unique privileges, and he only needed to grasp Shao Hengzhong's loyalty.

Who knew that I had no idea, but this side took the initiative to execute it.

Shao Quanzhong caught a glimpse of Le Xiucai's back, as he left the playground and headed towards the classroom, and he understood.

Le Xiucai is very enthusiastic about his work, but it depends on whether Shao Hengzhong is willing to do so. He should not do something good with bad intentions.

"Brother." Shao Hengzhong had already changed into a new military uniform. Seeing Shao Quanzhong, he stepped together and saluted.

"We will start training right after we get paid. I just watched the training of the Loyalty Battalion and found that we are far behind.

I told my brothers that we should ask the Loyalty Camp to send people to help us with training, and the instructors would serve as officers at all levels directly on our side. My brothers were all convinced.

If we have anyone who has made meritorious contributions in the future, we can transfer him over and promote him when we organize a new battalion.

Our Huai Army can only have you as the leader, big brother. There shouldn’t be a distinction between the Tongzhou militia and the Taizhou militia.”

Ah this——

Shao Hengzhong's awareness is higher than I expected. Is my old method of having big warlords control small warlords no longer necessary?

“Brother, I suggest that you don’t wait for the new classroom. Just build a tent and open a large classroom that can hold a hundred people. This will save you from giving the lecture twice.

Everyone will listen to your lectures together. From now on, all the officers of the Huai Army will be students of you, the head of the Military Academy."

"Shanchang" means the principal. When Shao Quanzhong heard this word, he felt dazed.

My subordinates are working together to push me towards my opponent from my previous life. Should I pull the Hongmen Tiandihui over now and directly set up a secret society?
Ahem, if I join the Hongmen and fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, I will immediately become a rebel leader. It’s better to forget it. However, it’s not a big deal if I become the principal.

Shao Quanzhong, with his hands behind his back, came to the four hundred brothers from the Heng Camp who were queuing up to receive their salaries.

"Brothers, if you trust me and are willing to follow me, I will never mistreat brothers who sincerely work for me.

We are about to expand our army, and after the expansion we will only have two battalions. To form a Huai Army, we need at least thirteen battalions.

You all arrived earlier, so everyone should train well and fight the bandits.

Those who perform well in training and have made achievements in suppressing bandits will soon be promoted and become rich.

We just came back yesterday and the kitchen didn’t prepare anything, so let’s all eat meat at noon today!”

"Thank you, Commander!"

Everyone cheered together.

With the one tael and five cents of food money deducted from everyone every month, we could only guarantee that we would have enough to eat, and that there would be enough rice and vegetables. This was the result of Le Sen not being corrupt.

On average, they could only eat meat once a week. Any more would be over budget. In those days, any troop would be excited to hear the superiors say they wanted to eat meat.

"Commander, the meat in the kitchen is only enough for lunch, and then there will be no more."

Le Sen went to give literacy lessons to the Boy Scouts, and it was Master Fan from the kitchen who reminded Shao Quanzhong.

Shao Quanzhong had just received tens of thousands of silver coins, and County Magistrate You would soon give him more. So Shao Quanzhong was now very wealthy.

Just as he was planning to ask Le Sen to purchase some extra pigs and sheep in the name of this battle, a personal soldier came to report, "Miss Wenxiu has brought pigs and sheep to reward the troops again."

Well, no need to buy it.

It's only been over a month, why is Miss Wen here again? The frequency of rewarding the army is a bit high.

The last time she returned from rewarding the troops, Miss Wen had not received Shao Quanzhong's response regarding marrying into the Wen family. However, she was unwilling to lower the standards for a young lady from a Jinshi family and marry a man without any official title, so the matter remained at a standstill.

I heard yesterday that Qiao Songnian had donated a seventh-rank official position in Beijing to Shao Quanzhong. Shao Quanzhong's status rose greatly. Mrs. Wen was suddenly panicked and sent Miss Wen to reward the troops again.

Before coming, he told Wen Gui that Shao Quanzhong didn't have to marry into the family. As long as he let the first child have the surname Wen after marriage and inherit the Wen family business, he could marry the daughter of a Jinshi family.

Magistrate Wen died for his country, and Young Master Wu died of illness. People have been quietly spreading the rumor that Wen Xiu is unlucky for her father and husband, and Mrs. Wen is starting to get anxious.

"Report! Miss Rong Hui has arrived at the port by boat from Shanghai."

"I'll go and greet him in person!"

Shao Quanzhong suddenly lost his composure. "Siwen, bring me my tweed military uniform, I'll put it on right away, along with my tweed coat - don't forget the white gloves!"

Shao Quanzhong was busy dressing himself up, trying to maintain his best image, and was busy for a while.

Two groups of guests who came to visit the village have already arrived outside the gate.

Miss Wen is noble and elegant, beautiful, youthful and fashionable. She stands out in her respective groups.

The two met at the gate of the wharf and immediately noticed each other.

The two girls looked at each other and sparks flew immediately.

(End of this chapter)