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"Liu San! I'm going to fight the Cantonese bandits, hurry up and come with us! "Outside Liu San's house, someone was shouting.
"Alright! I'll tell my family that I'll be there soon! You guys go first! "Liu San shouted towards the outside. Soon, he heard the person shouting outside walk away quickly. Liu San held a wooden stick tightly in his hand, and finally felt relieved.
"Brother, what should we do?" Liu San's brother, Liu Wu, asked.
Liu San shouted at his brother in a low voice, "What are you shouting for? The militia or the Liberation Army, we won't help anyone! Besides, I'm just a small policeman. What can I do? "
On October 9th, in the early morning, the outbreak started from the West Gate. The elites of the militia took the lead in launching an attack. After some resistance, the weak Liberation Army finally gave up the west gate. The army began to retreat into the city.
The area around the former Wuzhou magistrate's yamen had already been transformed into a small fortress. The government and the military both used this as the core. Of the 1,400 people left behind, 800 were stationed here. Six hundred people guarded the dock.
According to the previous agreement of the Anti- Liberation Army Alliance, the navy was responsible for attacking the Water Gate Pier in the south of the city. The militia was responsible for destroying the Wuzhou magistrate yamen guarded by the Liberation Army. There was a slight deviation in the development of the matter. The west and south of the city were the first to fight in the west. The other thing was that the Liberation Army guarding the west of the city was not surrounded in the west. They used their fierce firepower to open up a gap in the siege of the militia and charged into the city in the opposite direction, heading straight for the yamen of the Wuzhou magistrate.
Other than the Liberation Army at the South Water Gate and the docks, the other Liberation Army guarding the city gates had all chosen to retreat to the Wuzhou magistrate's yamen. Although the militia failed to achieve their goal of dividing and annihilating the Liberation Army, they at least surrounded the Liberation Army at the Water Gate in the south of the city and the magistrate's yamen. Other than these two places, there were no other armed forces of the Liberation Army in Wuzhou. At least from this point of view, the battle could be considered a complete victory.
"You didn't catch any captives?" Li Shouchang asked, a little surprised. He had thought that such a surprise attack would be effective. At the very least, it would cause great damage to the Liberation Army. However, he did not expect that the Liberation Army would all run away without capturing a single prisoner.
"They must have been injured, I saw blood on the city wall!" Li Shouchang's personal follower quickly said.
"What? You didn't even see his corpse? "Li Shouchang asked. Just now, both sides had fiercely fought for a while. The sound of the spears was like popping beans. In just a short while, Li Shouchang's core troops had lost more than 20 people. Li Shouchang could not hold on any longer. He immediately ordered the other troops to continue attacking.
If one were to say that Li Shouchang had deep feelings for this group of people, then that was naturally not the case. Li Shouchang's so-called cherishing of his brothers was because they were all paid. Those people were beaten to death, which meant that all the money that had been invested in them had been wasted. Those people were injured. Although the investment had not been wasted, the value of this group of people was worth considering. First of all, whether they were fatally injured or not. If they were fatally injured, then there was no hope for them. Their previous investments were finished. If they were not fatally injured, then they had to consider whether or not they would still be able to fight after their injuries were healed. If their subordinates lost their ability to fight, then their previous investments would still be wasted.
In short, supporting the militia was a very costly investment project. Li Shouchang was not willing to give up on the militia in his hands. A large reason was that his investment was far from making a large profit. No one was willing to do a business that was losing money.
Li Shouchang thought this way, and the other militia investors thought the same. That was why the Liberation Army was able to easily make an opening in the front line formed by thousands of militia and retreat back into the city with their injured comrades.
However, the current battle situation looked very favorable to Li Shouchang. The enemy was few in number and had fallen into a heavy encirclement. If they put in a bit more effort, they could easily take Wuzhou. The city walls of Wuzhou had once resisted too many enemies. It would not be easy for the Liberation Army to rely on themselves to take down Wuzhou. With this thought in mind, Li Shouchang immediately organized militia training and launched an attack on the Wuzhou Magistrate's yamen where the Liberation Army was entrenched.
Li Shouchang wanted to rebel. Of course, before this, he had prioritized secrecy. He did not even dare tell a portion of his elite troops. Now that they had victory in their hands, naturally, the more people in the group, the better. Thus, the scene of Liu San being called out appeared. However, it was clear that Liu San had no plans to follow Li Shouchang in rebellion. His doors were tightly shut and he ordered his family not to get involved in anything.
Very quickly, Li Shouchang also felt this problem. Previously, when Wuzhou had been surrounded, even if the subordinates of the militia did not actively participate, they were at least on call. Furthermore, they could be pulled to the city walls to be responsible for guarding. The core troops of the four major militia groups had about 1,000, and the subordinate troops had 3,000. Taking everything into account, there were more than 4,000. Now, there were less than 2,000 people who had truly joined the troops. More than half of them had not chosen to join the attack against the Liberation Army. This made Li Shouchang feel that something was very wrong.
At this time, Li Shouchang ordered the four major militia groups to surround the area around the Wuzhou Governor's manor controlled by the Liberation Army from the east, west, north, and south. Then, all the militia groups immediately went to pull people over. If more than 3,000 of the 4,000 people had come, Li Shouchang could still feel confident. Now, less than 2,000 people had come. He truly felt guilty.
Fortunately, at this time, the sound of gunfire finally came from the south of the city. Li Shouchang knew that the boat army had also met fire with the Liberation Army. He felt much more at ease. He immediately ordered his subordinates to start pulling people. At the same time, he told the other militia groups to quickly pull in the militia members who were usually on the periphery to participate. After sending out all the people inside, Li Shouchang went to find the former commander of the imperial army, Liu Wensheng, on top of the city walls. "Sir Liu, when can the cannons on top of the city walls be transported to the bottom of the city?"
Li Shouchang completely disapproved of the imperial army's combat power and did not expect them to be able to charge and break through enemy lines. Li Shouchang only hoped that the imperial army would be able to use the cannons on top of the city walls. This was also the only military equipment that the militia had not received formal training. From the spears to the broadswords and spears, the level of the backbone of the militia was not inferior to that of the imperial army.
After hearing this, Liu Wensheng said with a bitter face, "The Cantonese bandits actually welded the muzzles of the cannons with molten iron. Now, all the cannons on top of the city walls cannot be used!"
"What?" Li Shouchang was immediately stunned. In the military plan that he had formulated, the purpose of seizing the city walls was to seize the cannons. The militia had their own spears, but they did not have cannons. Without cannons, there was no way to attack the solid defense system. However, the Cantonese bandits had actually destroyed the cannons without saying a word.
Li Shouchang also did not dare to believe Liu Wensheng. He hurriedly ran to the nearest cannon. When he looked at the muzzle, it was still black. He breathed a sigh of relief and said angrily to Liu Wensheng, "Do you still have the mood to joke at a time like this?"
Liu Wensheng held a rod in his hand and inserted it into the barrel of the cannon. However, it was only inserted for less than a long time before it was blocked by something. Liu Wensheng said with a bitter face, "Mr. Li, I'm not trying to scare you. See for yourself if it's blocked by molten iron!"
Li Shouchang also tried using the rod, and only then did he realize that there was indeed something blocking the barrel. He used all his strength to pound the rod in, and the sound of metal colliding could be heard. At this moment, Li Shouchang had no choice but to believe that the cannons were really useless.
However, Li Shouchang still did not give up. "Lord Liu, are all the cannons like this?"
Liu Wensheng grinned and lamented, "I've already sent someone to check. All the cannons' muzzles have been welded by molten iron!"
"Then … then can it be repaired?" Li Shouchang asked with great anticipation.
"How can it be repaired? These cannons will be completely useless! "Liu Wensheng replied in pain.
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