Chapter 179 Under each sleeper

Chapter 179 Under each sleeper

Chapter 179 Under each railroad tie.
Eight days later, Shao Quanzhong led the main force into Qingyang, marking the official collapse of Dong Zhiyuan's bandit gang.

The city of Qingyang was ravaged by the rebels for two and a half years. The city was covered with weeds, bones were piled up, and strange birds and beasts were the kings and queens.

The Huai Army generals had been through hundreds of battles and had seen all kinds of big scenes. Even in Jinling, where people were starving everywhere, there was no such tragedy as in Qingyang.

Even the foreign devil Lao Ge couldn't stand it anymore and instigated Shao Quanzhong, "Sir, the Qing Dynasty has not signed the Geneva Convention yet. I suggest that all the 5,000 captured rebels be executed. These people are polluting the world if they live in the world."

The Eighteen Battalions of Dong Zhiyuan were driven from Shaanxi to Gansu by Duolong'a. They were called "Shaanxi bandits" and were said to have gathered a crowd of 200,000, a number that included their families.

There are probably more than 60,000 troops capable of fighting.

When Tian Xingtuan was setting up insurance teams in various places, he witnessed the tragic scenes of countless Han people in entire villages being massacred by the Shaanxi bandits, and he showed no mercy to the Shaanxi bandits.

The outdated paper bullets were used up vigorously, and more than 50,000 of the 60,000 Shaanxi bandits were killed, most of them shot in the back while fleeing.

In addition to the 2,000 men of Bai Yanhu's army who saw the opportunity early and fled to Yili Province, there were still about 10,000 strong rebels who fled north to Jinjibao and took refuge with Ma Hualong, the chief leader of the Shaanxi-Gansu rebels.

The old and weak family members of the rebels could not outrun the Huai Army. They all knew what their men had done to the Han people and felt that they would not be forgiven. They did not wait to be caught by the Huai Army and fled into the wilderness.

But now it is November in the lunar calendar and December in the Gregorian calendar. The weather is cold, there is no food or shelter outside in the wilderness, and most of the rebels’ families have died of hunger and cold in the mountain valleys.

In the end, Tian Xing's troops only captured 5,000 prisoners, including both able-bodied men and the old and the weak.

In the battle of Dongzhiyuan, only 12,000 of the 200,000 Shaanxi bandits escaped, and 5,000 were captured. Most of the other old, weak, women and children froze to death after escaping from the crime, and they were not killed by the Huai Army.

In this battle, Tian Xingtuan's 6,000 men faced off against more than 60,000 men from the 18th Battalion. They fully utilized their superior firepower on the plain and defeated the enemy with minimal casualties on their side, which was a great victory.

Tian Xing had never felt so at ease killing people, and he fully realized that the regular army, which had been trained for a long time and tested in actual combat, was the most powerful killing machine.

Looking back at the farce of leading a group of Jianghu heroes to kill Emperor Xianfeng, it seemed like a lifetime ago. It was the wisest decision for me to take Haiqing with me to join my second brother.

One third of Tian Xing's troops were new recruits, but this had little impact on their combat effectiveness.

Today’s recruits are completely different from the farmers who could not tell the difference between their left and right feet and were trained by Shao Quanzhong himself when Shaojiawei started his business.

They were all militiamen who had received formal training for at least a year by retired Huai Army instructors. They could shoot guns, ride horses, march in formation, dig trenches, and even blast.

After this battle, these new recruits quickly grew into veterans. The Huai Army had been cultivating the Huai River region for four years, and the huge investment in the insurance team system had begun to show its great power.

As all the generals waited in anticipation, Shao Quanzhong stood with his hands behind his back as he looked at the 5,000 prisoners shivering in the cold wind, then looked at the tragic situation in Qingyang, and finally did not issue the order to massacre.

"People call me Shao the Butcher. This is definitely a misunderstanding. I am quite kind. Even manure can fertilize the fields, right? It would be a pity to kill so many humanoid creatures."

All the generals were stunned. These were obviously demons that deserved to be killed. Why did their leader suddenly change his nature and become a goody-goody?
"Come here, call Tao Maolin and Liu Zhengwan."

Two first-rank Qing generals came to Shao Quanzhong, slapped their sleeves with their hands, and knelt on one leg, "Greetings, Lord Zhongcheng."

"No need to be polite. You two have been following General Duolong'a to eliminate the bandits in Shaanxi. You have worked hard in the battle. Now that the Huai Army has arrived, you should take a break. I will give you some easy tasks."

These two were Duolong'a's right-hand men and Chu army generals brought by Duolong'a from Hubei.

Duolong'a was well versed in military strategies and had good command skills. The two of them had made many military achievements under Duolong's command.

Tao Maolin was promoted to the governor of Gansu, was given the title of Hammer Brave Baturu, and was awarded a yellow jacket. Lei Zhengwan was promoted to the governor of Shaanxi.

However, after Duolong'a's death, the court initially sent Du Xing'a, the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, to lead the two generals.

Du Xing'a was far inferior to Duolong'a in terms of ability. Under his chaotic command, the invincible generals under Duolong'a began to lose battles. The court saw that Du Xing'a was really not good enough, so it transferred him to the rear to serve as the general of Shengjing and replaced him with Qiao Songnian as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu.

Before Shao Quanzhong took office, the remnants of the two Duolong'a were still fighting on the front line of the bandit suppression campaign in Shaanxi and Gansu.

Fighting is fighting, but the result is negative.

When Tao Maolin attacked Huining, his subordinates mutinied due to lack of food and wages. Lei Zhengwan was injured while attacking Lianhua City. Both of them hurriedly ran back to Shaanxi from the Gansu front.

They were all waiting for punishment from their superiors, but it turned out that both their superiors, Du Xing'a and Liu Rong, were transferred, and their new superiors were Qiao Songnian and Shao Quanzhong.

Shao Quanzhong was commanding the army to attack Dong Zhiyuan and had no time to deal with the two guilty military officers. Now that he had called them here, they were all worried.

Shao Quanzhong concurrently served as the governor of Shaanxi, and Lei Zhengwan's governorship became a nominal one. This was already a demotion for Lei, and he was also wounded on the battlefield. Even if he had no merits, he had worked hard, so he felt more at ease.

Tao Maolin's heart was pounding, not knowing how his new superior would deal with him.

They followed the Huai Army all the way and witnessed how they fought, which made them feel disheartened.

The world has changed. The defeated Chu soldiers we two brothers have are of no use at all. Now that the leader has time to look for us after the war, is he planning to send us home?
Judging from Shao Quanzhong's tone, eh? It doesn't look like he's going to punish us?

"Someone, bring the wheel!"

Five thousand prisoners were escorted past the wheels one by one. Women and children who were lower than the wheels passed by, while men who were higher than the wheels were picked out and led aside.

The women and children cried, while the men had fanatical and determined looks in their eyes, along with disdainful sneers.

"General Tao, I sentence the families of these rebels to be exiled to Ningguta as slaves to the armored men. Send some of your men to escort them."

"Whoo!"

It was indeed an easy job. The men didn't have to fight. It was like a public-funded tour. And they were escorting women. The men would rush to go. Ahem. General Tao's men were transferred to the armed yamen.

"General Lei, you are injured. You should rest and recover first. You will have time to complete your mission after you recover. Go down and have a good rest."

Lei Zhengwan left inexplicably, but my leader seemed to care about me. What kind of task would he give me?
The captive men held their heads high, waiting to be executed. Hum, if we die unyieldingly, we will go to heaven, flowing with honey and milk, with more than seventy beautiful virgins serving us.

Hai Qing was very excited and led the military police to behead people. "Are you going to kill someone?"

Shao Quanzhong waved his hand, "No, I plan to send them to build the railway from Longjuzhai to Xi'an, and then build the railway all the way to Yili, so that they can be exhausted to death and atone for their sins. We will capture many prisoners of traitors and bandits in the future, and I want the bodies of these executioners to lie under every sleeper of the railway to the border."

Haiqing understood, it was a waste recycling. These prisoners of war would definitely be used as slaves, which would greatly reduce the cost of building the railway. However, letting them live a few more years would be a bargain for them.

"I'll have to trouble you, my third brother. Slaves can't be too temperamental, otherwise they'll be hard to manage. According to convention, they should all be eunuchs, so they won't have any random thoughts and can concentrate on their work. I'll leave this task to you, my third brother, with Tong Lin and the eight skilled eunuchs."

Hai Qing was extremely excited and led his men to quickly set up a simple "Huai Army Camp Operating Room".

The bandits kept muttering something about the great rioters, not knowing what they would face. They were brought in in batches and carried out in an assembly line.

The laborers needed to recover after the operation. When General Lei recovered, he could take his men with him as supervisors. General Lei's men became the first batch of railway soldiers in the Qing Dynasty.

After dealing with the prisoners, Shao Quanzhong set his sights on the next combat target.

Should we go straight to the thieves' nest and first attack the rebel commander Ma Hualong who was sitting in the fortified city of Jinjibao? Or should we first clip the wings and eliminate the bandit Dong Fuxiang who was entrenched in Zhenjingbao, Huanxian County?

Hmm? Dong Fuxiang? Why does this name sound so familiar?
(End of this chapter)