444. Chapter 444, No War in Lingnan (Part 2)


Chapter 135: All Quiet in Lingnan (Part 2)

Guangzhou, Feeling, Changliuguan

Feieling is located in the north of Guangzhou City, facing Yuexiu Mountain in Guangzhou City across the city wall. It is an important commanding height and transportation hub outside Guangzhou City, controlling the main roads north of Guangzhou City. However, since the "Australians" occupied this place, it was convenient for Feieling to carry out large-scale construction and build many towers, palaces and towers, which were named Changliuguan. As a result, Feeling in the north of Guangzhou gradually got a new name of "Changliu Fairy Mountain".

In and around the city of Guangzhou, almost everyone from the wealthy to the peddlers knows that the Changliu Taoist Temple is a major sect founded by the Australian Kun people. It is said that the several Australian masters who are in charge of Changliu are all very powerful and can do anything in heaven or on earth. What's more important is that this sect is very prestigious in the Australian Kun people's court, and its disciples can work as servants for the government and receive official salaries. Therefore, relying on the strong support of the Australian Kunren court, Changliu Taoist Temple and its subordinate Changliu sect developed extremely rapidly after the change of ownership in Guangdong. In this short period of less than a year, in addition to this "main mountain" outside Guangzhou, there are dozens of "incense halls" in various counties in Guangdong, which are very popular...

——The reason why the time-travelers want to create this Changliu faction is mainly to solve the hidden dangers caused by the previous "peaceful takeover" of Guangdong.

Compared with Major General Sun Yang's strategy of Jiangnan, which was completely ignored, because the old leaders who have made great contributions to the party and the country are still vacationing in Sanya New City on Hainan Island in this time and space, and accepting the Doraemon plane. The reason why the black technology props of the 22nd century are used for medical treatment and recuperation. In order to ensure the absolute safety of these old leaders during the war, the resources and troops invested by the Allies in the Lingnan Strategy were extravagant.

After the Allied forces used a series of super killer weapons such as giant airships, steel battleships and [Random Gate] decapitation tactics, word spread throughout Guangdong. If you encounter a hard-core county magistrate who is determined to defend the county seat and resist the enemy, the attacker will also use some "immortal methods" - for example, using the method obtained from Doraemon. Here comes the [Weather Controller], first adjust the temperature in the county town to forty degrees above zero, then drop it a bit. It snowed heavily; after half a day, it was adjusted to minus 40 degrees, causing a flood in the city; after another half day, it was adjusted back to 40 degrees above zero, and there was another heavy snow... After several rounds of this, it was no longer possible. The soldiers and civilians in the city couldn't bear it, so they tied up the county magistrate and opened the door to surrender...

Generally speaking, in the first stage of the war to conquer Guangdong, due to the use of tigers and rabbits, the opponent's will to resist was completely shattered. The casualties of the Allied forces themselves were only a few hundred, and the enemies killed with their own hands were not more than 100,000. By two thousand, the entire conquest process could be described as bloodless.

But the problem is that too little blood is shed, which is not simply a good thing for the conquerors, but will also bring a series of troubles.

——After completing the initial occupation of the entire territory of Guangdong, the Allied forces' overall governance policy in the early days of their rule was to maintain stability above all else. Various modernization projects are carried out in major cities to absorb the idle labor force in society. In the countryside, they tried to keep it as quiet as possible. Apart from refusing to recognize the tax-free privileges of the Ming Dynasty's gentry, demanding a new land clearing, and apportioning "reasonable burdens" to various villages and towns, they did not use the big weapon of land reform.

Because, for the Chinese League, which has tens of millions of square kilometers of territory in Australia, South Africa and North and South America, fertile fields are worthless, and there is no shortage of precious metals such as gold and silver. The only valuable thing that can really make the various republics compete is population. If land reform is implemented in Guangdong and farmers are given land owned by large landlords, it will mean that farmers will be firmly bound to a small piece of land in their hometown again. On the contrary, it will seriously weaken population mobility and be detrimental to the recruitment of immigrants by relevant departments. Work.

Moreover, unlike any previous conquerors, the traversers' army does not need to rely on local taxes in Guangdong to support them. As long as this land can continuously provide immigrants to the various union republics, then even a penny of taxes from the occupying authorities will be enough. Without collecting it, the occupying forces could live a comfortable life relying on the financial aid from the various union republics... So generally speaking, after the change of ownership, the tax level of Guangdong Province was greatly reduced, at least the agricultural tax was even more The reduction was reduced to just a fraction. Although the relevant authorities also know that such a large-scale tax reduction will only allow landlords to take the opportunity to increase rents, it may not bring much benefit to the people. From ancient times to the present, large landlords have always only passed on the burden to farmers, but never Reluctant to share even the slightest benefit with poor people. But now that they have received so many benefits, these landlords and gentry should at least calm down!

Unfortunately, the result of doing so was counterproductive. Even though the occupying authorities had used so many benefits to bribe the old upper-class landlords and gentry in order to maintain a stable overall situation, the big landlords in the countryside of Guangdong still showed no appreciation. Instead, riots continued - one of them was not The most important reason is that although the Allies did not carve up their fields, they were still recruiting immigrants and constantly inducing tenants to benefit, which naturally harmed the interests of the big households. The most fundamental reason is that Guangdong has been peaceful for too long, so that a considerable number of the arrogant wealthy gentry have become severely rigid in their minds and have completely failed to adapt to the jungle survival rules in turbulent times. Not only do these people extremely stubbornly refuse to admit that fists are the greatest truth, but they naively believe that as long as they can write eight-legged essay, those despicable warriors should bow to them... and even try to extort money from Australians! The result was that the countryside of Guangdong was suddenly filled with demons.

Among these thorny landowners, some relied on their Ming Dynasty fame to refuse to pay any taxes, and even went so far as to extort money from the "Australians"; some blatantly used wild words to intimidate the government, and even incited the villagers to People besieged the new government's land surveying team and tax collection team; some The landowners and gentry also sent people to Guangxi to contact the chieftains of various ethnic groups in an attempt to subvert the rule of the "Australians" by cooperating internally and externally, but they never thought about how to deal with airships and armored ships... There were even some mentally ill careerists who collected hundreds of The old, weak, sick and disabled started playing the game of becoming emperor!

Although the relevant departments will deal with such cases strictly and strictly, they still cannot stand the landlords and gentry in Guangdong Province who are eager to commit suicide one after another... At present, more than 10,000 people have been exiled to Africa to play survival games with black uncles, and they have been exiled again. Thousands of people went to the Pacific islands to become neighbors with the cannibals, which made the landowners and gentry in the area near Guangzhou feel stable. However, there are still undercurrents surging in eastern Guangdong and northern Guangdong...

Compared with these wealthy locals who have wrong ideas and are eager to die, what is more troublesome for the occupying military authorities is the Jianghu sects that are as slippery as loaches and as vicious as poisonous snakes. After ruling Guangdong for several months, the occupying military authorities finally understood why they had to ruthlessly destroy all feudal guilds when they founded New China - these underground forces in urban and rural areas. They are intricately connected, well-informed, and have great hands and eyes. There are so many sneaky and dirty tricks that it is almost impossible to guard against.

Although these gang members are definitely no match for the army in terms of frontal armed confrontation, when it comes to various underhanded tactics, it is really confusing. It has only been a few months since the Allies entered Guangzhou, and the ferocious big airship with a shark's mouth is still there. It's hanging on the heads of Guangzhou citizens! There are already people who are bribing Allied military officials, snooping on military intelligence or stealing various logistics supplies; there are also people who are colluding inside and outside to sell spoiled and rotten food to the Allied forces, causing large-scale food poisoning in the army; and even coercing villagers to attack He can do things like going to military camps and trying to rob ordnance and cause chaos!

Therefore, after occupying Guangdong, the relevant departments immediately organized several severe crackdown campaigns. They immediately arrested all the beggars and those idle green men in the city and sent them to the most difficult frontiers overseas to serve as coolies. However, due to the limited manpower available, it was only possible to basically clean up the gang members in Guangzhou. And far away from the Pearl River Delta, chaos is still everywhere... Among the merchants and servants in the city, the landlords and gentry in the countryside, and the temples and Taoists in the mountains, there are informants and protectors of these gang members everywhere. Almost pervasive!

Although the above-mentioned riots will not overturn the Allied rule of Guangdong, they can seriously interfere with the progress of various modernization constructions. What's even more terrible is that many martial arts sects are based outside Guangdong Province. No matter how severe the crackdown is in Guangdong, it will only scratch their skin.

In short, because they are temporarily unable to resort to the three desperate measures of "land reform", "socialist industrial and commercial transformation" and "elimination of feudal superstition", the occupying forces can only bite the bullet and wage a long-term security war in Guangdong. war. Due to various limitations in the use of military and police forces, relevant departments also ordered the formation of their own "patriotic societies" to fight fire with fire - thus, the Changliu sect was born.

To put it simply, the Changliu sect is a "new Taoism" established based on the Hainan Island Crossing Group. Facing the local people in the newly occupied areas, the short-term goal is to deal with those martial arts sects that dare to become enemies of the "Australians". At first, I don't know who had the imagination and randomly named it a very vulgar name, "Fist of the North Star". As a result, there was a strong protest - how can you beat someone else's brick sap with your fist?

Next, the relevant departments held an internal name collection activity, and a series of unimaginative names such as Jingwu Sect, Qionghua Sect, Wanhua Valley, Tiance Mansion, Hidden Sword Villa, Tianxiahui, Money Gang, etc. emerged. Weird name. In the end, the leader of the New Taoism, Tuo Quanzi, who couldn't bear it, borrowed the sect from a fairy tale TV series and named the new sect Changliu Sect after the Changliu Immortal Mountain in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas".

Then, in order to highlight the "Australian characteristics" of the Changliu sect and distinguish it from the local martial arts sects of the Ming Dynasty, the weapons used by the disciples of the Changliu sect are also unique, which are three-edged military thorns and Western thin swords! The former's lethality has been proven on modern battlefields. And that Western stiletto sword that looks like a toy actually has a good record in fighting - it should be noted that the earliest name of this thing is the armor-piercing sword. It is a street fighting weapon developed from aristocratic duels. It completely gave up cutting. The chopping function has developed the fatal blow function to the extreme. The extremely thin sword body is not only light and easy to carry, but also can easily penetrate the human torso, causing severe organ bleeding and body cavity infection. This was basically the case in ancient times. It's a dead end.

Of course, this kind of weapon does have limited use when armies are fighting against each other, but in rivers and lakes fights, it is definitely a sharp weapon. If this thing is really flashy and lacks practical value, how can Western gentlemen keep using it? Was it worn into the twentieth century?

Even on the street fighting battlefield in the East, the lethality of this thing is not bad - compared with Western swords that rely entirely on stabbing as a means of killing, the traditional Chinese sword also retains some cutting and blocking moves, so The sword body cannot be made too long, at least it cannot cut the ground when swinging, and the blade length is not as long as that of a Western sword. In this way, when a local "hero" in Guangzhou holds a traditional Chinese sword and fights a Changliu sect disciple holding a Western sword in the street, he is likely to be stabbed by the Western sword before the Chinese sword hits his opponent. Entered the liver! This is a fatal injury!

Although in the East, there are some two-handed swords and Miao knives that can be made very long, after all, they are not within the reach of ordinary people.

The more important point is that this Western sword is a required course for nobles in the West that has been passed down for centuries, and it is also an international competition event. Therefore, in modern times, there is an extremely complete training tutorial that can be directly transferred and applied - it is better than The moves you came up with while reading martial arts novels must be strong!

In addition, compared with the traditional Chinese sword, this Western sword has another advantage, that is, it can be more conveniently hidden in umbrellas and crutches - an umbrella sword specially made by the disciples of the Changliu sect to perform covert missions. It is about one meter long and weighs about one kilogram. It is usually hidden in the umbrella handle and can be used freely, but when it is pulled out, it is a Western sword - the design of this hidden weapon has actually existed since ancient times, but this design requires high steel materials for the sword body, and suitable materials are rare, and Even if most people occasionally get good steel, they are reluctant to use it to make such hidden weapons.

However, for time-travelers with super productivity in modern industry, this little trouble is not a problem at all. After using ordinary spring steel for high-temperature modulation, and then quenching the sword tip, the finished Western sword has both elasticity and hardness. It is excellent and not expensive to make, so this kind of umbrella sword is available to everyone in the Changliu sect. Even the lowest handyman disciple can get an umbrella sword or a cane sword after a few months of entry. To defend yourself.

Although after watching the training of the Changliu sect disciples, many time travelers murmured that it felt awkward to let a group of Ming Dynasty people with buns use Western swords to poke and fight on Chinese soil. It's a bit awkward like a fake foreign devil, but Taoist priest Liangquanzi said that this is normal - according to the description in "The Classic of Mountains and Seas", Changliu Mountain was originally a Western fairy mountain, so it should naturally teach Western martial arts...

Of course, since the goal of this sect is to assist the occupying forces in massacring the Ming Martial Arts, they cannot rely solely on cold weapons to solve the problem. Therefore, most of the inner sect disciples who have passed the review are equipped with revolvers or double-barreled shotguns, and even some inner sect disciples. The disciples also received explosives blasting training from the engineers, preparing to use them in sneak attacks to break through the tall walls of temples, Taoist temples and wealthy residences.

At present, this sect is still in its infancy stage, and many people within the Chinese League are not optimistic about its future, denouncing it as apostate and deviant. But in the future, the Changliu sect really flourished and was known as the terminator of the martial arts world. It killed heads of famous sects, ancient temples and mountains, and left corpses everywhere...

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When Xu Xiake and his clan brother Xu Zhongzhao came to Changliuguan in a carriage, they saw a group of newly recruited disciples of the Changliu sect, with sandbags tied to their legs and blue cloth robes on their bodies, walking from the roadside. Li Fugui, a former part-time worker who had just passed the exam in the morning, ran by sweatingly. Surprisingly among them, there were several outer disciples behind them, blowing whistles and waving whips, urging and supervising them not to be lazy.

On the martial arts field not far away, there were also many Changliu disciples sweating like rain, lifting dumbbells, pressing horizontal bars, fencing each other and fighting with bare hands.

——Although the Changliu sect is a decadent and backward "feudal sect" on the surface, it actually uses formal military training methods. All new disciples and outer sect disciples must run three thousand times every morning. meters, then five hundred push-ups, five hundred leg raises, five hundred frog jumps...plus cultural classes. Although it is just an old trick of later generations of sports schools, if it were an ordinary martial arts sect these days, ordinary disciples would not have that much food calories and protein intake to maintain such high-intensity physical exercise. Thanks to the wealth of the "Australians", who have abundant meals and meat-based meals, these poor young men who have been in a state of semi-starvation for a long time are able to squander the calories of youth so freely.

According to the arrangements made by the Changliu Sect's first "Immortal Master" Pirates Quanzi after referring to Xianxia novels, these new disciples will hold an intra-sect competition after three months of training, and they will be divided into handyman disciples and disciples based on their performance. Outer disciple. The former was then assigned to various incense halls to do some chores, while the latter continued to learn various street fighting skills, and would later serve as the main thug and accumulate experience in battles until he was promoted to an inner disciple...

——On the official payroll issued by the Hua League, the handyman disciples of the Changliu sect are temporary workers, the outer disciples are contract workers, the inner disciples are the staff of the public institutions, and the elders, hall masters, and inspectors above are all category, that is, entering the civil service establishment.

"...Hey, brother, as the saying goes, the poor in culture and the rich in martial arts, look at this Taoist temple recruiting so many strong men and half-grown young men, who work hard every day. If you are an ordinary poor kid who can't afford three meals a day, you can practice like this I'm afraid I'm going to vomit blood, but none of these people look sallow and thin. And if they are allowed to run like this every day, I really don't know how many pairs of shoes the Australians will lose..." Xu Zhongzhao touched his beard. muttered.

"...Brother Zhong Zhao, although Australians act extravagantly, they are actually very smart! How can they support so many idle people in vain?"

As a traveler who has traveled all over the country and is well aware of the shortcomings of the world, Xu Xiake saw the meaning behind this at a glance, "...I can't see that in three months, the dock merchants, car and boat shops in Guangdong Province, There will be no one who fails to follow the lead of the Australians!”

Next, the two Xu brothers went to see the "Immortal Master" of Piquanzi who presided over Changliu Guan. The other party also enthusiastically arranged for them to stay in a jingshe and prepared a banquet to wash away the dust. However, when Xu Xiake talked about going north and returning home, Duanquanzi looked troubled:

"...You two don't know that Huguang is about to start a war right now, and the journey is not peaceful. If you plan to go north to Huguang from Shaoguan, and then go eastward along the Yangtze River to the south of the Yangtze River, you will probably be detained by the Ming Dynasty's army. Halfway there..."

"...What? Could it be that the Australian Song Dynasty court was so impatient and was already preparing for the Northern Expedition?" Xu Xiake couldn't help being shocked when he heard this.

"...No! No! Our army currently has no intention of northern expedition to Huguang. This is due to the internal fighting of the Ming Dynasty royal family!"

In response to Xu Xiake's surprised question, Dianquanzi waved his hands and explained, "...According to reports, Emperor Chongzhen, who had escaped from the capital and traveled to the north, left Luoyang at the beginning of this month and went south to Wuchang to station himself. Now he is launching a campaign against the whole province of Huguang. Recruiting troops, he also issued an order to seal the river and detain all ships on the river. The Yonghe Emperor's court was preparing to transport troops to attack the remaining capital (Nanjing). After hearing the news, the Nanjing court also abandoned the important town of Yangzhou and transferred all the troops and horses that were originally entangled with the Wenxiang sect in the north of the Yangtze River to the west to the south of Anhui. Determined to fight to the death with Emperor Chongzhen on the river..."

At this point, looking at the shocked expressions on the faces of the Xu brothers, Duanquanzi smiled and suddenly changed the subject, "... Of course, you two don't have to worry. Even if the land route is inaccessible, there is still a sea route to go! It just so happens. Pindao was about to send his disciples on a warship to Zhejiang to set up an incense hall, and he could just take two of them with him. Let’s go together. Mr. Zhao Yingong from Hangzhou has admired His Excellency Xu Xiake for a long time, and I am sure he will welcome you..." - Xu Xiake and Xu Zhongzhao looked at each other and smiled bitterly... Although they had already expressed their intention to surrender. , but after all, I still have a hand in case something happens. But now if we take an Australian warship to go to our hometown in the south of the Yangtze River... this pirate ship will never get off again!

Alas, forget it, just think of it as making up your mind in advance!

"...In this case, I'm sorry to bother you, Taoist Priest..."

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