The Kennu were attacking!
Zhou Qingfeng was in charge of training the Imperial Guard in the barracks in the city. When he heard the news, he shuddered and his hair stood on end. He felt an indescribable fear in his heart. Even though he had thought about it a thousand times in his heart, when he really knew that war was coming, his will could not help but waver. In his imagination, the enemy would attack from all directions, their banners covering the sky and the sun, and their formations covering the fields.
After the battle at Coal Mining Village, Li Shuwei had mocked himself many times that he could not even move his legs at that time, lamenting that he was not suited for war. Zhou Qingfeng had fought countless battles on the battlefield and felt that he should not be afraid of war. But now that he heard the news, he realized that he was as weak as a straw in a large-scale war.
"Sound the horn, assemble!" Zhou Qingfeng was dazed for a few seconds, but still gave the correct order. The communications team blew the suona, and the entire barracks was filled with running figures. He grabbed the messenger and asked for details of the enemy, but the messenger could not tell him the specifics. He only said that there were Female Zhenrens at the ferry port.
How many enemies did they come? How did they come from? Who was the commander? What was the purpose of the battle? He could not answer any of the questions. Zhou Qingfeng's forehead was covered in sweat. He now understood why the soldiers of the Daming Dynasty would choose to simply close the city gates and not come out when faced with the enemy. It was all because they were in the dark and panicked when they heard that the enemy was attacking.
"F * ck, war is really not an easy thing. I'm not any better." Zhou Qingfeng had been confident for half a year, but now he knew that he was not good enough. He cursed himself for thinking too simply in the past. When the enemy had the initiative, the response from his side would be a mess.
The Imperial Guard assembled quickly. When Zhou Qingfeng was about to lead the troops out of the city, he saw that the streets were desolate and every house was closed. Fear spread quickly. Li Yongfang was under his control, but the other officers in the city were running around anxiously. The Garrison King Ming Yin, who was sick at home, hurriedly ran over and asked Zhou Qingfeng not to go out of the city to fight, and to stay on the city wall to guard.
Not knowing what was going on, Zhou Qingfeng was also anxious, not daring to leave the city. He led his team on horseback and rushed to the north gate of Fushun. As soon as he reached the city wall, he found that there were thousands of people waiting to enter the city. The Garrison King's Imperial Seal issued a strict order not to open the city gates, in order to prevent enemy spies from sneaking in and seizing the city.
Zhou Qingfeng's forehead was still dripping with sweat. This was a test of a commander's decisiveness. He took out the bronze binoculars and scanned the outside of the city. Outside the city, there were many village houses, but he really couldn't see anything strange. He didn't know the enemy's situation, so he didn't dare to casually say that he would open the city gates. Because Nurhachi had driven away the rebellious soldiers and people, he had sent spies to seize the city many times.
What should I do? Were they supposed to just stand there like idiots and watch the chaotic situation worsen? Zhou Qingfeng's mind was in a mess. He looked left and right, but couldn't find anyone he could discuss with, let alone a way to solve the problem. Just as he was angry at himself for being useless, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew from the sky. The 'Triplane' landed steadily inside the city gate.
Guo Jiao waved at Zhou Qingfeng from the pilot's seat of the plane and said, "Hurry up, let's fly out and see what's going on."
It's good to be able to fly!
Zhou Qingfeng ordered the Imperial Guard to stand by. He directly jumped down from the city gate and quickly climbed into the back seat of the plane. Guo Jiao quickly took off with him. First, they patrolled several directions outside of Fushun City. Strange, there were no signs of enemies. Even with the Heaven's Eye, they couldn't see the large-scale presence of enemies on the ground. There were only messy villagers fleeing everywhere.
Yay … What's going on? Didn't they say that the Kennu were attacking?
"Go to the ferry port." Zhou Qingfeng patted Guo Jiao's shoulder and pointed in the direction of the Hunhe River.
Guo Jiao's heart skipped a beat. The 'Triplane' changed direction and flew south. The Hunhe River was one or two hundred meters south of Fushun City. They arrived in a few breaths. The port and the ferry port where the news of the enemy attack first came was quiet. There were only a few hundred people surrounding an empty space to watch the show.
Zhou Qingfeng frowned as he circled in the sky. When Guo Jiao landed, he saw a corpse lying on the empty space. It had a bald skull and a rat's tail. It was wearing leather armor and had a bow and a sword thrown to the side. There were a few bloody holes on the corpse. It was obvious that it was a fatal wound caused by a spear.
"What's going on?" Zhou Qingfeng looked left and right. He wanted to know where the news of the enemy attack came from.
Someone immediately stood out from the crowd. He held a spear and shouted, "Sir, the first squad of the second platoon is on guard. We discovered that the Kennu were attacking along the river. My squad charged forward and killed one of them. The rest of the Kennu fled. "
What …? Just five enemies and they caused such a huge commotion?
Zhou Qingfeng was even more confused. He turned around and said to Guo Jiao, "Fly upstream along the Hunhe River until you reach the direction of Saer Hu. See if there are any other enemy troops." He then called for the people in charge of the port and ordered them to report the situation to Xu Bing and the rest in the city. Also, to prevent further chaos.
After giving the order, Zhou Qingfeng continued to ask about the situation at the port.
In the morning, Wu Bao 'er and the pirates were arranged to train the sailors at the port. Xu Bing specially brought a spear squad to supervise them. After confirming that the situation was stable, she left and the spear squad stayed behind to keep watch.
Wu Bao 'er and the other 20 apprentice sailors were training about a hundred meters upstream when they suddenly saw a few wooden rafts floating down the river. At first, no one noticed anything wrong. It was only when the rafts floated down that someone exclaimed, "It's the Female Enlightened Masters."
The Female Enlightened Masters were good at fishing and hunting. It was a simple matter for them to get a wooden raft down the Hunhe River. Wu Bao 'er looked over and saw five Female Enlightened Masters challenging him to a battle. They were armed with blades and had bows on their backs. He immediately jumped onto the shore, turned around, and ran. His subordinates ran even faster. The apprentice sailors lost their leader and naturally ran ashore while shouting, "The Kennu are attacking".
That was how the news of the enemy attack spread.
As for the corpse on the ground ….
It was done by the spear squad that was in charge of supervising Wu Bao 'er. The squad leader excitedly said to Zhou Qingfeng, "Sir has been lecturing us about how cruel and bloodthirsty the northern barbarians are. He also said that our Han people have been fighting with the northern barbarians since the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties and have suffered for one or two thousand years. He also said that if the Female Enlightened Masters were to invade the south, our Han women and children would either be killed or enslaved.
Every day, I heard about this kind of thing and felt angry. Today, when I saw this bald Female Enlightened Master with a long braid, I felt my blood boil. I saw that there were only five of them and it was an opportunity when they brought their horses ashore. So I brought my brothers to attack with spears. "
Zhou Qingfeng was dumbfounded as he listened. Only then did he realize that the political lessons he had been repeatedly lecturing about had worked.
That was great!
The spear squad leader said with a smile, "When those Female Enlightened Masters saw our men running for their lives, they laughed and didn't take us seriously. When they saw us rushing up with spears, they were also frightened. Some of them retreated, some held blades, and some drew their bows. In the end, one of them was stabbed to death by our brothers in panic. The rest rode their horses and fled. "
Speaking of this, the squad leader scratched his head in embarrassment, "Now that I think about it, I'm a little scared. We were hot-headed and rushed forward, our formation was not neat. One of our brothers even got hit by an arrow. Fortunately, it wasn't serious. Those Kennu were also fierce. We attacked with ten people, but they still managed to resist for a while. If we hadn't practiced for so long, I wouldn't have dared to say that we could beat them. "
Looking at the squad leader's bashful smile, Zhou Qingfeng was really scared. His whole back was wet with sweat. Going down the river and bringing horses, he could roughly confirm that this should be a harassment and investigation team sent by Nurhachi.
However, it was these mere five people who had caused such a ruckus throughout the city. They were unlucky enough to run into one of Zhou Qingfeng's spear-wielding squads. Otherwise, as long as they casually killed a few people, they could cause Zhou Qingfeng's situation in Fushun to completely collapse. Just think about the Japanese invasion of China in the future. A few soldiers could run amok and capture a county town. Zhou Qingfeng's worries were not without reason.
"Good, very good!" With lingering fear, Zhou Qingfeng ordered the ten spear squad members to line up. He patted the soldiers' shoulders and chests one by one. "You were brave and dared to fight, raising the prestige of our army. Our Han men should be like you guys, kill every enemy we see, and fight every thief we meet.
Your courage is worthy of recognition. Today, I will grant you the title of 'First Battle Hero Squad'. All soldiers will be rewarded with five taels of silver. The squad leader will be rewarded with … fifty taels of silver. "
Wow …!
The hundreds of onlookers at the riverside pier exclaimed. They couldn't believe their ears. They just met five Daoist Masters. Ten of them bullied five and only killed one, letting the rest escape. This … this was worth fifty taels of silver! Wasn't this making a mountain out of a molehill?
Many people thought to themselves: If I knew that I would get so much money, I would have fought too!
Making a mountain out of a molehill?
No, it was not making a mountain out of a molehill.
This was the first battle since the establishment of the Imperial Guard, the first drop of blood!
When this squad rushed up, they didn't know that they would get money. It was completely out of courage. This was too rare.
If everyone in China had this kind of courage, Nurhachi wouldn't be afraid even if he was ten times or a hundred times stronger. The key was that every time an enemy invaded, no one dared to rush up and fight with their lives. Everyone wanted someone else to be their scapegoat, so everyone ended up dead.
Zhou Qingfeng wanted to boost this morale. He took out the title as an honor and even took out money as a reward. This was to maintain this morale — if the enemy came, fight with them and be resolute in not being afraid. To dare to fight and fight, one must have this spirit of fighting with their lives.
"What's your name?"
"This subordinate's name is Li Yanxi."
"Okay, I'll remember it for you." Zhou Qingfeng really took out a small notebook that he carried with him and seriously wrote down the squad leader's name, squad leader, honorary title, and so on. After that, he patted his shoulder again and encouraged him, "Train well, be brave and good at fighting. You will have a bright future."
After receiving a few words of praise from Zhou Qingfeng and thinking about the fifty taels of silver, Li Yanxi's face turned red as if he had been injected with chicken blood. He stood up straight and shouted, "I'm willing to die for you, sir."
"Not die for me, but die for our nation."
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