Start: Datang Wanli a lonely city

Chapter 937 The Burning Summer Palace ([-])

(A bit slow, pick up the pace a bit)
  Time: The next day, that is, early morning on October 10th.

After the rising golden sun shrouded the earth and took away all the darkness, it was time for breakfast for the Yin and Fa coalition troops stationed in the Old Summer Palace.

It's a pity that whether it's steaming oatmeal or warm sunshine.

All the warm things mentioned above were unable to dispel the gloom and coldness in the hearts of Montauban, Grant and other senior leaders of the Yin and France Alliance.

God knows! How did they survive last night?

To be more precise, it was how they survived the second half of the night yesterday.

When the first gunfire rang out after 12 midnight, they were already sleeping soundly on the luxurious big bed that only Emperor Daqing and members of the royal family were entitled to enjoy, and they didn't pay attention at all.

Because in the first half of the night, the coalition soldiers were either shooting and shooting animals and fish raised in the summer palace so that they could be eaten.

Or the Yin army and the French army would shoot and threaten each other during the fight for a piece of cloth, a decoration, etc.

So that from time to time, the sound of gunshots will be heard in the ears; naturally, there are specialized military disciplinary officers to deal with such matters.

So after turning over, they wrapped themselves in exquisite and comfortable silk quilts and planned to continue sleeping.

But soon after, more gunshots were fired continuously, and there were hurried reports from the guards, letting them know that this was not the case.

Although they didn't know how the people from Xuange Camp came out of the surrounded main building; or how the people who had been hiding in the Summer Palace evaded their search.

But starting from the second half of the night, these people launched a frantic attack on the coalition camp.

They used accurate marksmanship to kill sentries from a distance, or they fired at soldiers in tents.

After more soldiers reacted and hurriedly chased in the direction where the gunshots came from, the attackers had already run away, and no one could be seen at all.

If it weren't for the ground, you could still find the weapons used by the Xuange Battalion, the iconic copper bullet casings, everything looked like they were made by ghosts.

And such attacks have basically never stopped since they started at twelve o'clock.

They fired a few shots from different positions from all directions and immediately ran away regardless of the result.

Therefore, after one night, there were not many actual casualties, but the entire coalition army did not sleep well, so that everyone looked very sleepy.

After all, no one can guarantee that after he falls asleep, a fatal bullet will hit him in the night.

wrong! The statement above that ‘there will be few casualties in one night’ is not true.

Because just when they sat down in front of the dining table covered with snow-white tablecloth in the morning breeze, facing the rich food in front of them, they felt a little unable to swallow.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise.

Looking in the direction from which the noise came, I found that it was a French soldier who was sipping oatmeal a second ago.

The next second later, he suddenly vomited blood in large mouthfuls.

Such a movement frightened the other soldiers nearby.

Soon after, the military doctor rushed over.

But it was already too late at this time, because the unlucky soldier seemed to have lost his life quickly after spitting out all the blood in his body.

For this reason, military doctors can only be busy now, trying to find the cause of death of this unlucky guy.

But before the results came out, Montauban and Grant, who had been in the army for many years, actually had a sufficient answer in their hearts:

How else could he die? Of course it was the reason for that incredibly powerful cannonball before dawn.

At that time, due to range issues, the shell just landed in the open space on the edge of some tents, where it exploded into a scary big crater.

There were only three soldiers at that time, and they were slightly injured by the flying stones; the other twenty or so soldiers were knocked to the ground, but they got up without any external injuries.

At that time, they were quite happy to see this situation.

But it was only now that I realized that the internal organs of these soldiers must have been injured in the huge shock at that time; I could only watch them suddenly die like this without knowing when the injuries would occur.

Just like the unlucky guy who vomited blood and died just now.

Otherwise? The medics in the coalition forces either bleed or use saws to cut legs and arms. There is nothing they can do to deal with such internal injuries.

A group of senior leaders of the coalition forces had an elusive opponent in their minds.

There were also times when their various crazy attack methods had greatly affected the morale of their soldiers and made them worry.

The oriental man ‘Gong’ appeared with a few young people.

After speaking, the biggest doubt in the minds of Montauban and others was solved: "Dear Sirs and Generals, I already know why the people of Xuange Camp are so elusive.

After giving some rewards, several nearby people told me.

Among the rumors they heard, people from Xuange Camp dug many tunnels in the Old Summer Palace, so they could secretly come out of the building to attack us in the middle of the night.

They even hid some treasures in some tunnels. "

After General Grant heard this, he directly asked the key sentence: "Do you know where the entrances to these damn tunnels are?

Tell them that as long as they speak up, we can reward them enough. "

"It's a pity. I'm afraid no one knows where the entrance is except Xuange Camp and those people inside." Gong Xiaogong answered after shrugging his shoulders.

But then, another solution was given:
  "But the thing is simple. As long as someone goes around this Western-style building and digs a deep enough trench, they can naturally find where these tunnels are and completely cut off their possibility of getting out."

After hearing such a method, Montauban took a look at the environment of the main building.

Still frowning, he raised his doubts:
  “For safety during excavation, it must be far away from the people in the building and out of their range, but in this case the amount of work will be huge.

"Gong", as you have seen now, the soldiers are very tired after not sleeping well, and they have to continue fighting; I am afraid they don't have the energy to dig such a long and deep trench. "

After hearing such a doubt, Gong Xiaogong grew up in the capital when he was young and was considered a local snake.

Such a problem was solved easily: "It doesn't matter, just send out soldiers to capture some young people in the surrounding areas.

There is no need to worry about their resistance. Under the rule of Da Qing for one or two hundred years, the people in the capital who were brave enough have long been killed, and the rest have all been smoothed out. What happened in Yangcheng nineteen years ago will not happen. That kind of thing. "

Finally, after hearing such a guarantee.

General Grant finally showed a satisfied smile, patted Gong Xiaogong's shoulder hard, and praised:

"Gong, you are really a good friend of the Great Yin Empire; no! In view of your excellent performance, you are fully qualified to join the Great Yin Empire.

If you eliminate the Xuan Ge Camp, you will even be rewarded by Her Majesty the Queen and become a noble Lord of Great Yin. "

Under such a statement, Gong Xiaogong imitated the Western devil's pretending to be a gentleman, and nodded very reservedly.

But what this traitor did made the next situation for Hu Biao and the others even more difficult...

******
  Time: October 10th, just early 9 o'clock in the morning.

But by this time, everyone in the main building had already begun to face the third attack today.

Facing a dozen French troops more than a hundred meters away, Liang Zheng gritted his back molars and shook the Gatling rocking handle in his hand into a hot wheel.

no way! This thing relies entirely on the power and gravity of the hand crank to continuously load and fire bullets.

In other words, the maximum rate of fire of this thing depends entirely on how fast you can swing it.

By the way, when Hu Biao was choosing machine gunners, why did Mao pay attention to team members such as Duan Zheng, Shi Polu, and Yuan Hai who were not too young but were single?
  Isn't it because of the amazing hand speed developed by people like Team Leader who have been single for many years?

This kind of hand speed and this kind of hand-operated heavy machine gun are a perfect match, okay?
  Just like that, when the countdown in his mouth went from 'one' to 'four', Que Zheng suddenly stopped shaking the handle in his hand.

At the same time, he yelled at the deputy shooter beside him: "Let's go, change places~"

After saying that, he dragged the heavy machine gun in one hand and prepared to leave this already dangerous place.

It means that he only fired for four seconds from this position. Even with his hand speed, he could not even finish the bullets in the magazine.

It's not that he doesn't want to stay here and shoot for a while longer. But these hand-cranked Gatling heavy machine guns, because of their crazy firepower and damage, have now become a thorn in the side of the Yin and France coalition forces and a thorn in their flesh.

I don't know how many rifles and even artillery are staring at them. Once they show up, they will frantically greet them.

If you go a little slower, you will end up with gunfire and death.

Just like yesterday afternoon's battle, Yuan Hai was just holding on to a little luck, hoping to finish the last few bullets in the magazine before retreating.

In this way, after retreating to a safer position, you can change the magazine more calmly.

Result? Just because of the delay of less than a second, an anti-personnel grenade flew over with a whistling sound that broke through the air.

The only thing Yuan Hai could do at that time was to press the deputy shooter's head, and the two fell to the ground in time.

In the huge explosion, Yuan Hai and the deputy shooter were only slightly injured, but they waited until the overturned heavy machine gun was set up again.

But it was discovered that this key firepower for defensive operations had been completely scrapped.

Because of this matter, Hu Biao scolded the street for half the night, and he didn't stop until he went out to shoot black guns in the middle of the night.

But now, Yuan Hai can only hold a Hanyang weapon, curse and keep firing and fighting.

Therefore, after absorbing Yuan Hai's lessons, Duan Zheng and Shi Polu would rather be more cautious than take the risk of firing more shots.

Unfortunately, no one can tell clearly what happens on the court.

At the moment when the team was getting up to evacuate, a minie bomb flew over. Although it did not hit the little yellow fat man, it hit his deputy shooter in the neck.

After he was unfortunately shot, that man was only [-] or [-] years old, and in the modern world he could only be a high school student's father-in-law.

The fifth assistant shooter the team replaced in just a few days fell to the ground clutching his neck.

Frightened, he shouted loudly: "Mother, mother, I'm going to die, I don't want to die~"

It's cruel, but there is no other way. Under the current situation, a heavy machine gun is far more important than a human life.

So even in the first moment, the team leader saw the deputy shooter falling to the ground.

After the somewhat immature cry for help reached my ears, I couldn't help but feel heavy in my heart.

Still resisting the urge to save people, he continued to drag the heavy hand-cranked Gatling, retreated more than ten steps, and stopped when he came to a wall...

Fortunately, the team was dragging the heavy machine gun away five or six steps away.

The Taoist Shou Zheng rushed up like lightning, dragging the young deputy shooter with him, braving the bullets flying around him, and quickly escaped from this dangerous place.

Then he removed the opponent's right hand that was tightly covering his neck, and looked at the wound on the deputy shooter's neck.

After heaving a sigh of relief, he smiled and cursed: "It's okay, don't scream! You won't die, but a large piece of flesh was bitten off by the bullet.

There is still some distance between the blood vessels and trachea. "

However, as he said so, his hands quickly started to stop the bleeding and bandage the young deputy shooter.

It was just that during this process, he didn't notice that an iron kettle on his waist had been pierced when he rushed to drag the person away.

In the beginning, the first thing to flow out of the iron kettle was clear boiled water.

But after a few seconds at most, the water traces flowing out of the gun hole gradually turned red, and finally turned into that dazzling bright red.

In the end, Xu was comforted by the righteous Taoist people, as well as timely hemostasis and bandaging.

During this process, the young father-in-law stopped screaming, and the expression on his face gradually relaxed. He even fell asleep by the time the bandaging was completed.

That's right! He fell asleep, not passed out.

Because the expression on his face had completely relaxed, and he was purring loudly.

"This kid is really capable of shouting. He almost scared me to death." Upon seeing this, the Shou Zheng Taoist couldn't help but complain, but his tone was still quite joyful.

The main reason is that he has seen too many deaths of father-in-laws and maids in the past few days.

Therefore, if you meet such a person and survive, it is not the kind of person who is seriously injured and disabled. No matter what the process is, people who keep the righteous way are still quite happy in their hearts.

At such a moment, Hu Biao's high-pitched scolding voice suddenly sounded in his ears:

"Shou Zheng, Taoist Shouzheng, are you really dead? Forget it if you are dead. I will burn it for you later. If you are not dead, get here quickly. Duan Zheng is going to die soon~"

In fact, people who keep the truth quite understand why Hu Biao's tone becomes so manic when he opens his mouth now.

I don’t know which grandson came up with such a vicious idea.

Starting at ten o'clock yesterday morning, thousands of captured Daqing people began to dig a trench about a mile away from the main building.

This means that even if they have dug more than one tunnel these days, some are deeper and harder to find.

But as long as these people are allowed to dig, one day the entire tunnel will be dug out and broken, and then they will be trapped and die here.

In addition, the Yin and France coalition launched multiple attacks on the main building every day with the support of artillery fire.

The depletion of their personnel, physical strength, and mental energy has become increasingly severe.

Under the continuous casualties, they are now unable to even keep the coalition forces out of the small building; they are afraid that soon, the battle for each room will begin.

Faced with such a bad situation, Hu Biao, as the commander of the team, has a very bad temper. People who follow the righteous way can completely understand.

However, understanding the reasoning still does not affect the upright Taoist people who cursed in their mouths: "I will die in the street, and I will not die even if you die."

Then he was about to get up and ran in the direction of Hu Biao.

But the moment he stood up, he suddenly felt a spinning sensation in his head, and a tearing pain in his waist.

He who was originally kneeling on the ground knelt back down again.

Xin touched the painful spot on his waist with his hand. When he raised his hand, he saw that his hand was covered in bright red.

The Shou Zheng Taoist didn't know that he had been shot when he was trying to pull someone in; his spleen might even have been injured in the shot.

It was just because I was in a hurry to save people and was so mentally nervous that I didn't notice this at all.

If you notice it now, it seems to be too late.

He felt that his whole body was left with no strength at all, and he didn't know why. He didn't even have the strength to kneel down on one knee.

The next second later, the whole person collapsed to the ground.

As the young father-in-law's snoring continued to reach his ears, his eyelids became heavier and heavier.

With his professional knowledge, he knew that he must not sleep at this time.

When you fall asleep, it will really pass.

But knowing this clearly, he couldn't do anything; and facing the attack of the Yin Law Alliance, no one among the people who were fighting noticed the situation here.

At the same time, twenty or thirty steps away from him, Dui Zheng exhaled his last breath in his chest.

Just a dozen seconds ago, the team leader put a new magazine on the heavy machine gun and dragged it to another predetermined machine gun position.

Prepare to hit again for three or four seconds before starting the transfer.

Then, his right hand grasped the crank handle.

A 9-pound grenade landed less than one meter in front of him; before he could do anything, the shock wave of the explosion and flying shrapnel knocked him to the ground, including the heavy machine gun.

So before he died, Qi Zheng's only thought was:

"What the heck! It's okay if I die, but that precious heavy machine gun must not be damaged by the explosion; that way Yuan Hai can still use it and kill more foreign devils for me to avenge..."

　PS: The next chapter will be later

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)