armyinform Chapter 828 The situation in the city
Chapter 828 The situation in the city
When Ma Hao saw the original sheep suddenly lift off the sheepskin covering his body and turn into a tiger, showing its sharp fangs towards him, he knew that he was finished.
Sure enough, with a huge roar, a cannonball landed directly on the dock, and after more than a dozen of his men were directly blasted into a pile of pulp, he knew that things were going to change.
With the continuous roar of artillery, Ma Hao's men on the dock, armed with swords, guns and clubs, who were ready to fight, died, were injured, and fled.
In less than a stick of incense, the originally clean and tidy dock turned into a ruin. Broken limbs and various flesh and blood were mixed together, making it look like a Shura field.
Ma Hao was lucky enough to escape the fate of being bombarded to pieces by artillery. He was lying in a crater shivering.
Just when I was thinking about how to escape, I suddenly heard a horn sound coming from the boat. Then, there were teams of people wearing black attire, black velvet high boots, long knives on their waists, and holding firecrackers. Well-trained strong men rushed forward.
As soon as the other party landed, they directly pulled the trigger on Ma Hao's men who were still standing in a daze in the distance, turning them into a hornet's nest.
After a round of attacks, he put the firecracker on his back, then drew out his long knife and began to cut off the heads of those on the ground, whether they were living or dead, one by one, and then put them away. put it together.
Looking at the strong men in black who cut off the heads of his men one by one as if they were slaughtering animals, Ma Hao was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder were broken and his soul was out of his mind.
He kept shouting:
"I'm Ma Hao, I'm the boss here, you can't kill me!"
Ma Hao shouted while constantly flopping on the ground with his limbs.
Soon, Ma Hao's actions attracted the attention of the two soldiers.
When they heard that Ma Hao was the leader of these people, they dragged him directly to Chu Mo.
Looking at the man in front of him who claimed to be the owner of the dock, one of the four major forces in Yangzhou City, and the leader of the caravan, Ma Hao, Chu Mo curled his lips in disdain.
If Yangzhou City was full of such low-class characters, how could they survive for so long in the cracks between the two great empires of Tang and Zhou?
In fact, Chu Mo misunderstood this matter.
The reason why Li Shimin and Chu Xin did not want to capture Yangzhou City was first of all because the current Yangzhou City had become useless.
Most of the people in the city have long since relocated their families due to years of war. The existing population has been reduced to a hundred, and whether it can be taken or not is of little significance.
Secondly, both Li Shimin and Chu Xin wanted to use Yangzhou City as a battlefield for the tug-of-war between the two sides, and wanted to consume the other side's troops here. Therefore, after each occupation, they would quickly evacuate, hoping to let the other side settle in, but later Catching turtles in an urn.
The reason why Chu Mo was able to defeat Ma Hao so easily was mainly because Ma Hao was so smooth during this period that he mistook Chu Mo's tiger as a lamb and underestimated the enemy.
Furthermore, he did not expect that these two broken ships were actually equipped with more than 30 artillery pieces. Chu Mo was stunned immediately.
And this time I came here just to discuss the "tolls" issue with the other party. I didn't expect that the other party would be so ungrateful and kill him as soon as he came up.
Ma Hao looked at the disdain on Chu Mo's lips. He had always been at the bottom of the class. He was good at observing people's emotions and he naturally understood what it meant.
He immediately knelt down in front of Chu Mo and said:
"Sir, I have 30 taels of gold, 200 million taels of silver, dozens of boxes of jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings in my treasure house. I am willing to dedicate them all to you, sir. I just ask for your life."
"Do you think I look like someone who needs money?"
Chu Mo took out two blunderbuss made of gold from his waist and gestured in front of Ma Hao:
"Even the bullets inside are made of gold, and they are not recycled after being fired."
"Do you think I will be short of your three melons and two dates?"
Seeing that the disdain and contempt in Chu Mo's eyes didn't seem to be fake, Ma Hao's heart skipped a beat.
Damn it, it’s not easy to fool someone like this stupid son from a wealthy family.
With a roll of his eyes, Ma Hao crawled forward two steps, then carefully raised his head, glanced at Chu Mo, and whispered:
"Sir, if you can spare my dog's life, then from now on, I, Ma Hao, will be your most loyal eagle dog. I have more than 6000 subordinates in Yangzhou City, and I will give them to you as well."
After a pause, Ma Hao gritted his teeth when he saw that Chu Mo was still unmoved, and continued:
"Sir, actually there are people behind me. The reason why I was able to rise in Yangzhou City in a very short period of time is mainly because of their support."
"If you, sir, are willing to spare me this time, then I, then I am willing to lead that man out and offer him to you."
Chu Mo, who originally didn't care much about Ma Hao, suddenly became interested when he heard that he had powerful support behind him.
"You said there is someone behind you to support you. Is this person from the Tang Dynasty or the Zhou Dynasty?"
Seeing that the other party was interested, Ma Hao instantly knew that his hope was coming, so he hurriedly said:
"Sir, according to my observation, there is a higher probability that they are from Datang."
"The equipment that I receive every time is basically the standard equipment from the Tang Dynasty, and I rarely see the equipment from the Great Zhou Dynasty."
"After Xiao Xiao established a foothold in Yangzhou City, the orders they issued to me were basically to fight against Great Zhou. Therefore, Xiao Xiao guessed that the person behind me was from Datang."
After listening to Ma Hao's analysis, Chu Mo touched his chin, then nodded and said:
"The analysis is good. Now please introduce to me the other three forces in Yangzhou City and who they belong to."
Upon hearing Chu Mo's inquiry, Ma Hao immediately began to explain incessantly.
According to him, in the current Yangzhou City, other than him, the one occupying the north is a force controlled by the Zhou Dynasty, called the Zhaotian Gang. The leader of the gang is an extremely mysterious person. It is said that no one has seen his true face.
He has approximately 12000 men, at least 1000 muskets and four artillery pieces.
Occupying the west side of Yangzhou City is the Miewu Clan, which is also a force cultivated by the Tang Dynasty. The identity of the leader is also a mystery, but its subordinates are much more than those of Zhatian Bang, with a total of 15000 people, about 800. There are 3 muskets and [-] artillery pieces.
As for the force that finally occupied the east, it was the Self-Preservation Association composed of locals born and raised in Yangzhou City and some merchants.