People who had not experienced war did not know the horror of war. The sudden death of their own people could make people who were still confident and brave a second ago become a soft-footed shrimp in the blink of an eye. The huge psychological impact would make people's minds go blank.
As the target of the female soldiers, Master Xiao, who lived in seclusion in the countryside, was the local ruler. His family had deep roots, and its influence extended to all walks of life in society. He could mercilessly decide the life or death of the tenants and servants at the bottom. He felt that he had experienced too many things in the world, and he could remain calm even if Mount Tai was pressing down on him.
According to the normal way of communication, the foreign 'Revolutionary Army' would definitely be fooled by the old fox in this place. Even a shrewd person like Wang Kai had no way to deal with this kind of local snake. Therefore, on the execution list submitted by him, this Master Xiao was listed as a dangerous person and must be eliminated as soon as possible.
At present, the female soldiers had received a good deterrent effect with only one volley. The children and servants behind the wall were terrified. Even Master Xiao himself did not expect that people would die as soon as the battle started. However, there were still servants who were far away from the courtyard wall who had the courage to look out. They immediately exclaimed, "Master, those evil women rushed to our door."
The people behind the wall immediately looked at the door. They imagined that these evil women would break the door with knives and axes, or climb the wall to enter. Master Xiao immediately sweated and shouted, "What are you waiting for? Shoot them to death. "
There were a few archers inside the wall. After being urged by the master, they bit the bullet and stretched out their bodies to draw their bows outside the wall. They clearly saw two women wearing armor and iron helmets running over a distance of more than thirty meters. These evil women did not bring knives and axes. Instead, they threw two parcels outside the wall.
The parcels did not look big, but after they were thrown, they did not know why it was smoking. The archers on the wall had no time to judge what was going on. After drawing the bow, they shot an arrow. Within a distance of more than 10 meters, even a soft bow had a lot of power. Of the five or six arrows, three or four hit.
These arrows were shot when the female soldiers in charge of blasting retreated, but they did not have any effect after hitting. Due to physical and tactical reasons, female soldiers did not wear armor. However, the female soldiers in charge of blasting in front of the enemy were an exception. The female soldiers who did this job were all strong and agile. Wearing the forged breastplates could protect the vital parts of their body from ordinary attacks.
The archers on top of the wall were still annoyed that their arrows had no effect even though they had clearly hit the target. Before they could nock their arrows again, the female soldiers on the opposite side immediately returned the favor. The second volley of bullets had already arrived. Bang! Bang!
There was another burst of popping sounds, and several archers on top of the wall were immediately hit hard. The 12mm caliber light musket was not to be trifled with. Three of the five or six people standing on the wall were hit. Zhao Ze, who designed them, tried his best to make them according to the standards of modern rifles. They had good accuracy within 30 meters, and the effective range of a salvo could reach 80 meters.
The archer who was shot was badly mutilated and fell off the wall. The damage caused by the high-speed lead bullets was much more terrifying than the damage caused by arrows. Even if these archers were wearing leather armor, it was useless. A single bullet would pierce through them. One of the archers was hit by three bullets at the same time. His entire upper body was almost broken, and he fell to the ground and died on the spot.
When the corpse fell to the ground, the servants inside the wall hurriedly dodged. No one dared to come out of the wall again. Without waiting for Manager Xiao to react, the two bags of explosives placed outside the walls exploded. In order to conserve gunpowder and also in consideration of the fact that there weren't any solid targets in the countryside of Tianjin, these bags of explosives only contained 1.5 kilograms of gunpowder. But when they exploded, the power was equally astonishing.
With two loud booms, the thin walls of this residence immediately collapsed. Behind the wall, Master Xiao, who was still thinking about how to resist, was immediately knocked down by a large amount of flying rocks. Even the family descendants standing beside him suffered a calamity. The servants who were further away were scared out of their wits by the loud noise, thinking that it was the descent of heavenly thunder.
Blasting was a completely new tactic that could completely change the shape of the battlefield. The officials who were still thinking of fighting would definitely suffer greatly.
Behind the blasted courtyard wall, a large number of people screamed and ran around. Some people even laid down on the ground. The female company commander who was in charge of commanding outside the wall revealed a sinister smile. She was extremely satisfied with the perfect explosion. "This group of trash, they think they can resist to the end by hiding behind a wall. But how can they be a match for our 'Revolutionary Army'.
Sisters, put on your bayonets and charge in as a squad. When you see those people in fancy clothes, give them a stab. Let the enemy's blood dye our battle flag red. Let our name spread far and wide from today onwards. "
The battle had not even started for ten minutes, and there were only two rounds of gunfire. However, the explosive method of attack was far beyond the imagination of the current officials. Seeing that the enemy had collapsed, all the female soldiers immediately took out the triangular bayonets hanging on their waists and inserted them into the holder under the muzzle. The type 1617 matchlock gun with bayonets was 1.8 meters long. It was like a short spear.
Carrying rifles that were taller than their heads, the female soldiers in a squad of ten braved the smoke of the explosion and rushed into the enemy's residence. The organized resistance in the residence had already disappeared. The surviving officials' children and servants ran around like headless flies. They also knew that today was a disaster, but when they were about to escape, they still wanted to grab something valuable.
A squad was divided into three combat groups. They were mobile and could communicate with each other using whistles. When they saw someone wearing silk, they would stab them to death. They would not tolerate those who dared to resist. There were a few good servants in the residence who wanted to show off a few moves, but they couldn't take the direct bombardment of the firearms at close range.
At this stage of the battle, there was no longer any suspense.
Master Xiao's residence occupied a large area and had a complex structure. However, it could not withstand the security department's focus on cleaning up the area. Many of the local guides who followed Qiao Xuenan were from this residence. When these people saw that the local tyrant was finished, they immediately became extremely excited and fanatical. They actively guided the female soldiers to attack.
When half of the female soldiers' bayonets were dyed red with blood, the commanding officer ordered them to "kneel on the ground to avoid death" and accepted the surrender. The children and servants of Master Xiao's family were completely frightened by the slaughter. When they looked at the female soldiers with bayonets, it was as if they saw a female yaksha from hell. They cried and lay on the ground, trembling.
As the communications staff officer from the headquarters, Qiao Xuenan immediately wrote a report to Zhou Qingfeng to report the victory. The security department began to screen the captives and the dead. The people from the business department just happened to arrive with the local workers. They were responsible for counting the goods and people.
The victorious female soldiers rested for a moment, then immediately regrouped and rushed to the next target. They and other combat troops would fight tirelessly for a short period of time until all the stubborn local officials in Tianjin were eradicated.
Qiao Xuenan left with the female soldiers. As the communications staff officer of the headquarters, he was responsible for integrating the personnel of the security department and the business department to cooperate in the battle. Not long after he left, Wang Kai hurriedly rushed to the official's house that had just been captured. When he saw the identified corpses, he could not help but sneer, "These local tyrants were so awe-inspiring in the past. I bet you didn't expect this day to come."
It was easy to kill but difficult to manage.
As a troop transported by sea, the logistics of the Beijing-Tianjin Army needed to be solved on the spot. Zhou Qingfeng could not always stay in Dagukou, let alone stay in Tianjin. How to efficiently use the resources of the enemy's territory for their own use would determine how long the Beijing-Tianjin Revolutionary Army could fight in the heart of the enemy.
Although there were still 5,000 militias coming by ship, Zhou Qingfeng still had to make good use of the local manpower and material resources in Tianjin. Wang Kai's business department was responsible for this matter. When he rushed to Master Xiao's house, the first thing he did was to count how much money and grain this local tyrant had.
Tianjin was an important place in the north. It was the node that the Jiangnan River had to pass to the north. As long as the officials here casually stretched out their hands, they could fish out a lot of grain and silver. This Master Xiao came from the Ministry of Revenue. His family's descendants were all over the Beijing-Tianjin area. The wealth of his family was shocking.
After opening several cellars in the house, Wang Kai laughed at the pile of silver inside. "Greedy, greedy, greedy. Who told you to be greedy? What's the use of being greedy? You're just making wedding clothes for our Revolutionary Army from left to right.
Just a mere head of the Ministry of Revenue who was in charge of tax collection for the water transport has no less than 100,000 taels of silver. How many corrupt officials are there in Tianjin? As long as we kill all these parasites, our Beijing-Tianjin Army's military expenses will be enough. "
It was impossible to march and fight a war without money.
Clothing, food, shelter, transportation, food and drink, appeasing the people, bribing the enemy, all of this required a lot of money. Wang Kai estimated that as long as he killed all the officials around Tianjin, it would be easy to raise three million taels of silver.
This head's house didn't only have silver. He also built more than a dozen huge granaries with tens of thousands of dans of grain. Wang Kai saw that there was no shortage of money, grain, and people here. He simply announced that his business office would be set up here. He was too lazy to move around.
After counting the money and grain, he also counted the people.
This Master Xiao's family had more than 50 people. All the adult men were killed. The remaining 30 women and children were sent to the port and transported back to Jinzhou by the return ship for training and distribution. As for the Xiao family's servants and tenants, Wang Kai declared them free people on the spot and removed their personal attachment. Then … land reform!
The Revolutionary Army wouldn't take a needle or a thread from the masses. They wouldn't force people to join the army. But there would always be people who were willing to take the land.
Even if some tenants were afraid to take the land, Wang Kai wouldn't stop them and let them leave freely. But the land that was originally rented was changed to be farmed by people from elsewhere. Anyway, the land wouldn't run away here. There were a lot of people who were willing to join the Revolutionary Army for ten mu of land per person. This tactic of pulling and beating forced those farmers to follow the 'Revolutionary Army'.
The Revolutionary Army was very experienced in carrying out land reform in the Liaodong Peninsula. For a farming country like China, with its agricultural civilization, land reform was a killing machine that could kill anything that stood in its way. No one could stop it.
The Revolutionary Army had been carrying out land reform for almost a year. This matter had already spread all over the world. Guan Shen gnashed his teeth in hatred towards this. However, the people at the bottom yearned for it and looked forward to it day and night. When Zhou Qingfeng arrived in Tianjin, he would eradicate the officials and carry out land reform.
The land belonged to the Revolutionary Army. As long as the farmers turned over 30% of the harvest, they could continue farming. The two-year rent free policy was also implemented in Tianjin. In order to protect their own interests, the farmers would immediately change their stance and support the Revolutionary Army.
Wang Kai flattered enthusiastically in the report he wrote to Zhou Qingfeng. "Grand Marshal's land reform policy is really wonderful. He can win the hearts of the people without spending a single soldier or money or grain. Every time I think about it, my heart is filled with infinite joy and admiration. Grand Marshal is a born saint. He should sit in the north facing the south and be the supreme ruler. "
When Zhou Qingfeng saw this report, he immediately criticized angrily, "Do your work and stop flattering me!"
After getting the reply, Wang Kai pondered over these lines of words. His newly hired advisor lowered his voice and said, "Master, these three requests and three excuses can't be taken seriously."
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