Chapter 687 Breaking the Stronghold
Qiao Zhiya also didn't expect that the three-pound cannon that took so long and so hard to transport could only make a sound and had no substantial attack effect. At best, it could only scare the opponents in the village. At that moment, he ordered Ruan to go forward to launch an infantry offensive, lest the time would be prolonged and the people in the village would find out the clues. The militia army used squads as combat units. Each squad was also equipped with a ladder that had just been made. Two people were assigned to carry the ladder one after the other. At the same time, two companies totaling more than 30 squads were dispatched, trotting all the way. Rushing towards the wall of Black Mountain Cave.
The stone wall outside Heishandong is actually only about two meters high. There is no established defense system on top of the wall, only two wooden sentry towers in the east and west. These two guard towers are six to seven meters high, and the top floors can accommodate seven or eight archers for combat. However, with the power of the native hunting bows used by the Li people, their range can only cover a distance of thirty or forty meters. Although the large-caliber short-barreled rifles used by the Annan Second Battalion have a shorter range, they still far exceed the original range. The skill of the bow and arrow can completely kill such a "firepower point" outside its attack range.
The people on the Lidong sentry tower had obviously noticed the offensive launched by Haihan. After a few horn horns sounded, many people appeared on the top of the wall, shooting with bows and arrows. However, I don’t know whether the quality of these bows and arrows is too poor or whether these people are temporary archers. The arrows they shot were not accurate at all. Some of them fell to the ground before they even flew twenty meters. It was completely unable to pose a threat to the militia army that was still some distance away.
On the other hand, the militia army's side, Annan's 2nd Battalion fought a real battle with the Dutch in the South China Sea three months ago, and won collective military exploits with the result, and returned to Sanya to rest for more than a month. When the morale is high, they have no fear at all when facing novice opponents like Heishandong, and they calmly fire volleys at the wall in squad units. Although the hit rate of shooting from dozens of meters away is not high, the Li people on the wall always have their upper bodies exposed. Once they are shot, they will be seriously injured even if they do not die, and they will immediately lose their ability to fight.
The effect of suppressing the scattered bow shooters with uniform musket volleys was unquestionable. Soon the Li shooters on the wall were so injured that they hid and did not dare to show up easily again. The two sentry towers also became the new targets of the two small-caliber cannons of the militia army. The palm-thick wooden boards could only protect against bows and arrows, but not metal projectiles. Under the salvos of artillery and rifles, the sentries were The building was soon riddled with holes. Except for a few smart people who jumped from the watchtower early when they saw that the situation was bad, the others who tried to hide in the watchtower became living targets in the flying sawdust.
Soon the infantry rushed under the wall and put up the ladder on the top of the wall. Unwilling to fail, the defenders began to throw stones, wooden piers and other heavy objects from the top of the wall in an attempt to prevent their opponents from breaking through this line of defense.
However, their idea was a little simpler. Although the militia army had made a lot of simple ladders, after seeing the terrain of Heishandong on the spot, Qiao Zhiya had changed his mind and let the infantry with ladders conduct a feint attack, while the real The killing moves are concentrated in the direction of the gate.
Several engineers took advantage of the moment when the Li people on the wall were beaten back and lurked quietly outside the village gate, where they would begin to set up explosive bags for blasting. In order to ensure a success, the engineers placed a five-kilogram pack of explosives outside the two opposite gates on the left and right, and then released fuses. When the infantry pretended to attack various parts of the wall, they would light the fuses and detonate them simultaneously.
With two loud bangs with almost no interval, the gate of Lidong Village was blown into pieces together with a section of the village wall next to it. Even the frontline command post a mile away could feel the slight tremor coming from under their feet. .
"This new explosive is quite powerful!" Qiao Zhiya was also slightly surprised. When he left the chemical industry department, new explosives had just begun trial production, but at that time there were no theoretical problems. The main reason was that some raw materials needed further improvement in the production process to complete the purification process, so as to increase the power of the gunpowder. Judging from the effect of this explosion, the power of this kind of explosion should have reached the expected level.
The soldiers already knew the battle plan before launching the attack, so they all took cover in time, but the people in Lidong were probably not so lucky. Although it is unclear how many casualties were caused by the explosion, the screams coming from the stockade can indicate that the number of injured is definitely quite large.
There was no need for the command to issue orders anymore. The soldiers outside the wall had already rushed towards the huge gap created by the explosion. Although the people in the village still tried to block the gap with their flesh and blood, the militia troops quickly defeated the Li people's counterattack with their muskets and began to pour into Heishantong from the collapsed gate of the village.
"It went much smoother than expected." Qiao Zhiya put down the telescope in his hand and said to himself. Even if there are thousands of people in Heishandong who can participate in the battle, they are just a bunch of lambs to be slaughtered in front of the Haihan militia army with absolute military superiority. The wall outside Heishandong can be regarded as the last line of defense to protect them. This barrier After being broken through, the people in the village really had no tricks that could change the situation of the battle.
Of course, for those enemies who insist on fighting to the death, the militia army will also give them enough respect and fulfill their wishes with bullets and bayonets. For these soldiers of Annan origin, killing these Li and Han people who were enemies of the Haihan group was the same as killing the Dutch in the Ambrosia Islands earlier. There was no insurmountable psychological barrier.
Just as Qiao Zhiya expected, after the last and only line of defense was breached, both the Li people and the fugitives in the village became trapped animals. There were still a considerable number of people who tried to resist the invaders with blood and primitive weapons, but this delusion was quickly shattered in the face of the whizzing lead bullets.
The best armor for the Li people is only made of cowhide. This may help them defend against a certain degree of sharp weapon damage in close combat, but for bullets with huge kinetic energy, wearing this layer of armor is not as good as wearing an extra layer of paper. There won't be much difference on the body. The large-caliber rifle equipped by Annan's Second Battalion can directly penetrate a Li man wearing cowhide armor within 20 meters, and still have enough power to damage the second target behind him. A single volley fired by the infantrymen in squad units, coupled with bayonets, was enough to repel a small-scale charge launched by twenty or thirty men. But if they want to cause effective damage to the militia forces, the coalition forces of Li and fugitives often have to pay dozens of casualties to find one or two opportunities.
According to the battle plan formulated in advance, the militia army did not rush into every boat-shaped house to search. Instead, they first identified the people outside, gradually compressed the encirclement, and blocked the escape route. About thirty minutes after the battle began, news came back from the front line that the situation was basically under control. The only thing left to do was to clean up the Black Mountain Cave door by door and arrest the fugitives and resistance elements hiding there one by one. Caught.
This process took much longer than the time required to conquer Heishandong. In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, the soldiers did not rush into the dark and narrow boat-shaped house to conduct the search. Instead, they first let the Li soldiers outside Shouting, urging the people in the house to come out and surrender. For enemies who try to continue to resist stubbornly, more intense methods will be used to hunt and kill them. Qiao Zhiya did not intend to kill all the people in Heishandong. The hard labor camp lost almost a thousand people in this riot. It was time to replenish the labor force. As long as those who dared to resist were killed, the remaining people would still be there. All can be driven as labor force.
If there is no benefit at all, even if they return after winning the battle, they will definitely still complain about the military expenditure of this operation. Qiao Zhiya was originally from the military, so he naturally knew all these things. There was obviously no gold or silver in Lidong, but if he could capture a group of laborers and go back, he could be considered as able to deliver work to his superiors.
In the evening, the militia army discovered a body suspected of being Zhao Ye during the search and immediately notified the headquarters. Qiao Zhiya did not dare to be careless and led Li Qingyang to the scene immediately. This is a boat-shaped house located in the center of Black Mountain Cave, and it is also one of the last buildings to be inspected. The body and all the things in the house had been moved out and placed outside. When the squad leader responsible for searching this house saw Qiao Zhiya arriving, he immediately stepped forward and saluted with a military salute and reported: "Report to the chief, when we searched this house The body was found in the house. According to the identification by the Li people in the village, he was the planner of this operation. His surname was Zhao. He had been in Heishan Cave for several months and had been regarded as the master of the cave. Treat your guests well.”
Li Qingyang leaned down and first identified the face of the corpse, then stretched out his hands to rub it. Finally, he found a slightly yellowed ivory token on his waist and presented it to Qiao Zhiya: "Commander, please look at this. This is Zhao Ye’s identity certificate. He has already experienced his humble position. This is indeed the token issued by Jin Yiwei.”
"Do you recognize the person clearly?" Qiao Zhiya is not an archaeologist, and he cannot tell whether this thing is genuine or not. He is more concerned about Li Qingyang's confirmation of his face and appearance.
Li Qingyang responded: "This man is about five feet two inches tall, has a white face and short beard, a black mole on his right cheek, and a scar on the back of his left hand. They are basically consistent with the confessions we obtained in Danzhou and Shilu. When It’s Zhao Ye himself.”
"Can the cause of his death be seen?" Qiao Zhiya continued to ask.
"His expression is painful and there are traces of vomiting. It is very likely that he died of swallowing arsenic." After Li Qingyang finished speaking, he lowered his voice and added: "Swallowing poison to commit suicide is the code of the Jinyi Guards. He was originally arrested At that time, he was also carrying arsenic.”
Qiao Zhiya nodded silently, thinking that Zhao Ye was a man of character. Even after being forced to this point, he still refused to surrender. He would rather commit suicide by taking poison than be taken as a prisoner. But then he thought about it, if Zhao Ye was really caught, he would have to have Li Qingyang tortured and interrogated slowly after being taken back. The pain would definitely be much greater than committing suicide by taking poison. It would not be a bad idea for him to choose to die now. relief.
"People related to him still need to carefully identify their identities. Since we have caught the culprit this time, we must kill all his associates and don't miss anyone again!" Qiao Zhiya told Li Qingyang: "As for Zhao Ye's follow-up matters, I’ll leave it to you.”
"I humbly accept my order!" Li Qingyang bowed and responded.
Regarding Zhao Ye's specific identity, in fact, most of the soldiers involved in this operation did not know, and the identification and subsequent processing of his identity were basically led by the Ministry of Security. Therefore, before setting off, Li Qingyang took the initiative to ask Ying to accompany the army, and Qiao Zhiya did not express any objection. As for how many people will be arrested and killed in the aftermath of this incident, that is really a matter for the Ministry of Security, and Qiao Zhiya does not want to take this responsibility on himself.
The last place to be searched was the residence of the owner of the cave in Heishan. This was a compound surrounded by fences. There were six or seven boat-shaped houses in the courtyard, where the owner's family of more than 30 people lived. After a brief negotiation, the cave owner finally chose to surrender - of course he seemed to have no other choice.
The owner of the cave was an old man in his sixties. When he was escorted in front of Qiao Zhiya, he still couldn't restrain the angry expression on his face and said something in Li dialect. An interpreter beside him immediately explained the meaning to Qiao Zhiya in a low voice. Qiao Zhiya stared at the cave master and shook his head: "You shouldn't ask why we came to destroy your village. You should ask yourself why you chose to go against us, Haihan. . Everyone has a greedy side. Your village and your people were destroyed by your greed. It’s a pity that so many people didn’t need to die..."
After the owner of the cave listened to the translation, Qiao Zhiya waved his hand and said: "Take him away and interrogate his confession tonight. He will be executed early tomorrow morning. We don't need to take him back to Shilu."
Qiao Zhiya would not let such a restless leader of the Li people enter the hard labor camp without worry. There might be another riot if he was not careful. It would be better to settle the matter as soon as possible to avoid possible future troubles. As for the trial, I'm sorry, the commander authorized by the Executive Committee during wartime already represents the law. Even if Qiao Zhiya's handling of the matter is reported back to the executive committee, no one can accuse him of doing something wrong.
"Clean up the battlefield as soon as possible. We have to deal with several nearby villages tomorrow." Qiao Zhiya looked up at the darkening sky and ordered Ruan Qianqian next to him: "Also, count the casualties on both sides. After dinner, you can take me Go visit the wounded warrior.”
Although Heishandong was one of the most powerful Lidongs in the Qiongzhong area, in the face of the Haihan militia's offensive, it failed even for a day.
(End of chapter)