Dominate the Country

The campsite is still the same campsite. But in the early morning, the spirit of the militia that was full of vigor and vitality was gone. It was like a pile of old and weak people in their seventies and eighties, and a smell of decay and weakness filled the entire campsite.

There were also screams of the wounded. God was pitiful. When Li Zhao marched into Tumenji, he didn't even think of bringing a doctor with him. The current doctors were just recruited from Lushan County after Li Zhao learned a lesson two days ago. They arrived yesterday afternoon. But traditional Chinese medicine has no good treatment methods for trauma and gunshot wounds [Western medicine at this time is even more barbaric]. These wounded soldiers of the militia can only endure the knife and receive the simplest bandage.

Li Zhao's place. The heads of the militias in various counties were all present. None of these people were injured. Compared with the military meeting yesterday, there was only one less Zheng Guanwei, who was killed by a cannon of the Chen family. The people who were on the same raft with him saw two bloody holes on his body, and he fell into the Yinma River and never floated up again.

The atmosphere in the tent was like the red clouds in winter. An invisible pressure made everyone feel like a heavy stone was pressing on their hearts. No one wanted to talk, and no one dared to talk. No one dared to guarantee that if they touched this heavy pressure, they would be crushed to death!

Li Zhao's face was like ice in winter, and his eyes were bright like a lone wolf looking for food.

He was really holding back a fire and wanted to vent it. He was also the center of the low-pressure cyclone in the tent.

The raft that was made with great effort was disrupted by the two cannons of the Chen family. The Chen family also organized bird guns and bows and arrows, and easily defeated the water militia. Li Zhao was sure that the water volunteers who lost forty or fifty people could not cause any damage to the Chen family.

As for the land, so many people worked hard to carry long ladders to the Phoenix Terrace, but their morale dropped sharply just because of the two cannons of the Chen family. The two big men under Baofeng's militia leader Zhou Qingyu pounded their chests before the battle, clamoring to compete with Zheng Guanwei, but when it was their turn to fight, they were weak because of the Chen family's guns and cannons. When the Chen family guards solved the problem of the waterway and turned their guns and guns to deal with the land, they all dropped their burdens and ran back to their camp.

Li Zhao, who was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, later commanded the militia to attack, but found that he could no longer command the troops.

The militia retreated to the camp and counted the number of people. The final number of casualties was 76, including 32 deaths, mainly casualties on the waterway, mainly the Shouxian militia, 10 missing, and 34 injured. Including 12 yamen runners.

Li Zhao's face was ashen, as cold as ice that could scrape off a layer of frost. Such a large number of casualties, the capital of the county, can't be covered up, and the militias of each county are still afraid of fighting and don't listen to the command. If he can still have a good face to the leaders of the militias in front of him, it would be a ghost.

The Ruzhou militia has no artillery, but there are a batch of bird guns. When attacking the city, the militia also used bird guns to suppress the city head.

Now Li Zhao is facing a huge problem: how can he deal with the Chen family, how can he cover up the casualties of dozens of people?

This is a fatal problem. Is to be loyal to the country and report to the governor's office. The Chen family, a powerful family that privately manufactures firearms, must be eradicated early to show the majesty of the court and to enforce the laws of the country. But in this way, his future, even Li Zhao's current official position, will be lost.

Or continue to hide it and let the Chen family make a second Qingtiaoling?

Li Zhao certainly didn't want to leave the Chen family as a scourge, so he once again summoned the leaders of the militias in each county, but the result disappointed him.

"Mr. Dong, the Chen family has artillery in hand and a favorable geographical location. It may not be easy to eradicate their foundation in a short period of time." Li Zhao's staff still gave him face as the boss. They said "it may not be easy", but the fact is that it is impossible!

Under the current circumstances, to eradicate the Chen family in a short period of time, the first thing to do is to quickly break the Phoenix Terrace. Although Li Zhao didn't know what the Chen family used to build this fortress, the militia had at least attacked it. He saw with his own eyes that the bullets hit the wall and only left a small pit. The hardness of the material used by the Chen family to build the fortress is comparable to that of bricks and stones. Therefore, the fortress in front of us is small in scale, but it cannot be underestimated. To quickly break it, we must mobilize artillery, that is, mobilize the army of Nanyang Town. Otherwise, with the broken appearance of Ruzhou Camp, let them come to attack the Chen family, the effect will not be better than that of the militia.

"Why don't you stop the war temporarily and cultivate morale? Even if you can't wipe out the Chen family, at least you don't have to cause resentment among the people of the whole state. You should also quickly communicate with the prefect and inform the magistrate of Lushan. This matter is no longer something that you can do alone." Before summoning the militias of various counties, who knew that the Chen family even had artillery? I thought the Chen family only had a few broken bird guns and a bunch of swords and guns. There was no news from Fenghuangtai. The Chen family hid it too deeply.

Li Zhao's staff, if you let them slander and frame others, or shirk Li Zhao's own responsibility, they are all good at it. But if you rely on them to fight, Li Zhao will definitely be miserable.

Now Li Zhao's staff began to use their expertise to reduce the pressure on Li Zhao's shoulders as much as possible.

"Dongweng, the Chen family actually privately manufactured guns and built forts. This is a sinister and far-reaching plan."

"Fortunately, Dongweng and Magistrate Wang had already seen that Chen Hui had a rebellious mind, and the magistrate of Lushan took the opportunity to prevent him from being arrested. But the thief Chen was really brave, and his son broke into the prison and rescued the thief Chen..."

It didn't take long for Li Zhao's staff to come up with a good excuse for Li Zhao. After what they said, Li Zhao and Wang Zhizhou were completely blameless. The dozens of casualties in the militia proved the fierceness of Chen's bandits. Lushan County Magistrate Chang Rui would not be in any trouble. He was a descendant of the Eight Banners, the foundation of the nation and the Qing Dynasty. He was of good origin and had just come to the local office. He had no experience. Not only was he innocent, but he could also make great contributions!

Of course, these were all their wishful thinking. If the matter was really exposed, whether it could be done as they imagined would depend on relationships and money. The current Henan Governor Asiha was notoriously "incompetent and greedy".

This man was a descendant of the Zhenghuang Banner. He was a student of the official examination and was awarded the title of Cabinet Zhongshu. He was promoted to the Langzhong of the Ministry of Justice and served as a Zhangjing of the Military Affairs Office. He served as the Governor of Jiangxi more than ten years ago. But now it is the 31st year of Qianlong. Fifteen or sixteen years have passed, and he is still a frontier official at the level of governor. The reason is that this man is timid, greedy, incompetent and unable to take responsibility. He has been repeatedly corrupt and derelict in his duties, and has been repeatedly demoted and dismissed, but because of his ancestors and family background, he was repeatedly let off and reinstated by Emperor Qianlong.

As long as the silver can be used, Li Zhao also believes that the governor will cover up this for Ruzhou.

He lost the battle, and this time he will lose a lot of money, but it is certain!