Chapter 23 Siege of the Church

Not to mention that Lianzhuang gathered tens of thousands of people in the village to raise a flag to rebel. Moreover, Zhao Dongyun frowned when he heard that a riot army besieged Pingxiang Church on the evening of 22nd. Of course, the reason why he frowned was not to worry or care about the life and death of those foreign priests, but that the mob would kill foreigners. The great political impact of his father after his death.

In the late Qing Dynasty, almost every teaching case eventually caused a huge political impact. In small, local officials apologized for compensation, and in large cases, it caused diplomatic disputes and even the interference of the great powers. Therefore, whenever a teaching case occurs, it will always attract the great attention of local military and political dignitaries.

And this time, the rebellion between the Nanzhili Lianzhuang Association and the Boxer Regiment inherited part of the nature of the Gengzi period, that is, extreme hatred of foreigners and large-scale harm to foreigners and even all people or things related to foreigners. In this way, it has attracted the attention of many countries and wants to send troops to 'help suppress'.

They did not come here to help China suppress the rebellion. They came for the safety of their own citizens. Of course, they must use this as an excuse to claim huge amounts of compensation and various unequal treaties after sending troops.

Today, Zhao Dongyun knows that he must not let those great powers find excuses, which has nothing to do with his patriotism, but because if a foreigner is killed by a mob under his nose and triggers large-scale intervention by the great powers, he will not talk about subsequent compensation and treaties, but for Zhao Dongyun Then his career will almost end immediately.

Because the Qing court needs people to be blackened, someone needs to come out to take responsibility!

So although Zhao Dongyun didn't care about those foreign priests, he had to quickly transfer troops to Pingxiang for rescue!

At this time, the sun had gone down, and the sky was dark red with a little dark gray. Zhao Dongyun rode on his white tall horses, wearing the same officer's dress, a command knife hanging around his waist and a revolver six-gun.

There are nearly 100 cavalrymen in front of him. In order to hurry, these hundreds of horses are running west at a trot speed. Although there are only a hundred riders, the rumble of horses still sounded all over the field.

Only when you are in it can you feel the great momentum of the cavalry. The momentum of a large number of cavalry running is definitely not comparable to those infantry.

"Your Excellency, there is already news ahead that there are at least 300 mob besieging the church. I'm afraid the church won't last long!" Ce immediately reported to Zhao Dongyun that Wu Changlan, the leader of this cavalry, like most other officers of the Wuwei Army, was also from Tianjin Wubei School and was several years older than Zhao Dongyun.

Strictly speaking, his cavalry did not belong to Zhao Dongyun, but in this south to suppress bandits, Duan Qirui temporarily assigned his cavalry to Zhao Dongyun to undertake Zhao Dongyun's reconnaissance, pursuit and other combat tasks.

However, although it was a temporary dispatch, Wu Changlan still did his best. The reason was actually quite simple. It was not that he admired Zhao Dongyun, let alone that Zhao Dongyun had something to shock him, but because Duan Qirui gave him orders. He just obeyed Duan Qirui's orders.

Of course, there is another reason that Zhao Dongyun is now a new rising political star in the North Ocean. At a young age, he also supervised an infantry battalion and supervised a machine gun battalion. He directly commanded more than 2,000 troops, and this rebellion was even more Yuan Shikai's personal general has gained the opportunity to fight in tens of thousands of Beiyang Army. In terms of his position within Beiyang, today's Zhao Dongyun should be no less than the standard of the Beiyang Standing Army, or even more than some.

In the face of such Zhao Dongyun, Wu Changlan also felt the need to be better with him. Even if he did not deliberately please him, there was no need to offend him. Therefore, Wu Changlan's orders to Zhao Dongyun have been relatively transparent for more than a month.

This evening, he suddenly heard that Zhao Dongyun was going to urgently dispatch troops to rescue Pingxiang Church. He also knew that foreigners did not dare to delay it. He immediately gathered urgently and led nearly 100 cavalry to follow Zhao Dongyun to the west.

Zhao Dongyun looked at Wu Changlan: "It's almost here now. Let your people be ready for battle!"

Wu Changlan said, "Your excellency, don't worry, the men under the Ministry are ready to fight at any time!"

Zhao Dongyun nodded and did not doubt Wu Changlan's words. For more than a month, Wu Changlan's cavalry has performed quite well, not only to detect the surrounding movements, but also to attack the mob.

Zhao Dongyun and several other officers led Wu Changlan's cavalry all the way and soon arrived in Pingxiang. At this time, he could already feel the breath of the mob.

In an open space, Zhao Dongyun once again saw the temporary altar of law, and there were many yellow papers, flags and so on scattered around. As the distance approached, there were slowly traces of people in front of him, but the night had come and could not be seen clearly from afar.

After crossing a small Shantou, Zhao Dongyun saw a large firelight in front of him, and there were bursts of shouts in the firelight.

Zhao Dongyun was expressionless at this time and immediately stopped the war horse with a reins: "Brother Wu, dispel those mob!"

Wu Changlan immediately said, "Take the order!"

Then he shouted, "Brothers, dismounted and fight on foot!"

In order to avoid the casualties of his brothers, Wu Changlan is not ready to lead his cavalry to charge on horse. It looks very powerful, but it is too unexpected. Not to mention that the night is not suitable for charging, and it is difficult to guarantee that there are no fire guns and other hot weapons on the opposite side. It is easy to rush up and become a target. .

Anyway, no matter how you fight, it is a victory, so Wu Changlan adopted the safest method: get off the horse and try to keep zero casualties!

As a large number of cavalry dismount, they rode guns in their hands, left their sabers on the saddle, and handed over the horses to their comrades behind them.

Soon, nearly 100 cavalrymen had dismount, and then quickly advanced in the dark night under the leadership of Wu Changlan. At this time, there was a sudden disturbance in the firelight at the foot of the mountain, and people shouted as if they had crossed the night sky and reached Zhao Dongyun's ears.

At a certain moment, suddenly there was a dense gunfire in the night, and the crisp gunshots of nearly a hundred Manli Xiabu sounded through the night sky.

Zhao Dongyun still rode a horse and observed the firelight hundreds of meters away with a telescope. From time to time, there were figures in the firelight, and the shadows ran and fell to the ground from time to time. Those fallen figures may wonder in the pool of blood: "Aren't you invance? How can you still be knocked down by bullets!"

I'm afraid no one will answer this question.

As the first modern army in China, as Yuan Shikai's direct army, the most powerful army in China today, there is no surprise or a process worth a special book in the battle against the mob.

I have to say that when Zhao Dongyun rode near the chapel near the foot of the mountain accompanied by Wu Changlan and others, the ground was soaked. Well, it didn't rain tonight. It was not rain but blood that was soaked in the wetland.

Looking at the remaining bodies on the ground, Zhao Dongyun did not feel much in his heart. It was not the first time for him to command troops to encircle and suppress mob in the next month. Unlike usual, there were a little too many people died today.

"These mob are not organized. We all dispersed after a few shots!" Wu Changlan said, "We have two brothers injured, but they are all minor injuries!"

Zhao Dongyun nodded. He was not concerned about the deaths and injuries of these molls, but he was still very concerned about the casualties of his troops. He didn't want to kill a small moll and let his troops casualties. At this time, he looked up at the church in front of him and said, "What's going on in this church? Has anyone been killed or injured?

Wu Changlan said, "The situation is not very good. Before we came, there were more than 30 people in this church, of which more than 20 were sent by Guangzong County to protect the church, and there were more than a dozen religious people and priests and nuns in the church!"

Wu Changlan took a peek at Zhao Dongyun and then said, "We only found six people, and the rest are dead!" Sure enough, Zhao Dongyun immediately frowned as he expected: "Dead?"

Wu Changlan is also a person in the officialdom. Naturally, he understands the focus of Zhao Dongyun's words. Zhao Dongyun does not care about the lives of others, but only the lives of the priests and nuns in the church.

"Father Henry of the church has not been killed!" Wu Changlan said, "The other nuns and monks also died, and less than ten people survived in the church!"

When Zhao Dongyun heard this, he finally couldn't help cursing: "Damn it, I didn't die before, but I won't die in the future, but now I'm dead, damn it!"

Zhao Dongyun has a headache. How should he report it? Does it mean that his rescue failed to cause the priest named Henry to be dismembered? Or should it be said that Henry has been dead for a long time, and he galloped to rescue in the night and finally saved six lives in the blood of the mob?

It was a little difficult for him to decide this matter for a while, and he had to discuss it with several bookstores in the camp to see how to decorate it with words.

Zhao Dongyun, who was in a bad mood, didn't want to stay here any more. He was about to turn around and leave the blood-soaked church, but he hadn't turned around. There were several quarrels inside, accompanied by a woman's scream.

Without Zhao Dongyun's instructions, Wu Changlan took the initiative to go there. During this period, there were several shouts. Zhao Dongyun frowned and then raised his long military boots and stepped on the blood stains.

After turning around a corridor, Zhao Dongyun saw Wu Changlan and several other people, in which there were several torches burning, which made everyone clear.

Between the lights, Zhao Dongyun saw a woman in a gray robe and a headscarf. She was no stranger to Zhao Dongyun. This was the nun's costume.

It is not surprising to see a nun in the church, even if it is not surprising to see a yellow-skinned and black-eyed nun.

But Zhao Dongyun saw her at first sight after entering, and the reason why he didn't leave her for a long time was because of her face.

There are many words to describe a woman's beauty, such as sinking fish and falling geese, shy flowers and closing the moon, etc., but today Zhao Dongyun feels that these words are not enough to describe the feeling brought by the nun in front of him.

That face is as pure as an angel under the reflection of the firelight. In addition, her robe has been incompletely broken, and a large area of exposed calves are exposed at the skirt, and the neckline is also torn apart, so that a large area of snow-white skin is exposed in the chest, and there are obvious high marks in the chest. This towering is Even the loose monk's robe can't be covered.

When Zhao Dongyun walked in and took two steps to take a closer look, he found that there was a trace of anxiety on her face and a plea between her eyebrows. At this time, Zhao Dongyun did not feel any pity, but had a strange idea: If I tore her clothes completely, what would she look like when she pleaded? Will it still look like an angel?