1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 46 First Blood
Zhang Zhao's remaining bandits from the Heaven and Earth Society howled excitedly like hungry wolves breaking through a fence and entering a sheepfold.

Facing the remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society just a few steps away, he charged at them with his spear, pointing the gleaming, polished spearhead at them.

The young men, who had not yet been tempered by blood and fire, inevitably began to shrink back, and their formation began to falter.

If it weren't for Peng Gang personally overseeing the situation and playing a role in rallying the people, the barely organized team would probably have fallen apart long ago.

When Peng Gang was on the battlefield for the first time, his legs trembled slightly uncontrollably. He was also afraid and uncertain.

But he knew that if he backed down, not only would all his efforts over the past three months be in vain, but his own life would also be in danger.

Given the current training level and organization of the young men in Honglianping, once the team breaks up, there is absolutely no possibility of them being regrouped.

They will inevitably become fish on the chopping block of these bandits.

Fuck!
I've already died once, so I'm going to die anyway!
Let's fight those bandits!

"Shoot!" Peng Gang shouted the order as he loaded the musket.

The young men, emboldened, thrust forward with their spears, attempting to force the bandits back and block them at the doorway.

The bandits reacted quickly, and seeing twenty long spears thrusting towards them as soon as the gate opened, they hurriedly stopped in their tracks.

However, they rushed too fast, and one of the bandits still couldn't stop in time, crashing hard into the oncoming spearhead and being pierced through.

Another unfortunate bandit managed to stop himself in time, but his accomplices behind him failed to do so, and could only watch helplessly as the spear pierced his intestines.

Three or four bandits were stabbed, but unfortunately, they did not lose their fighting ability.

"Fire the gun!"

Zhang Zhao raised his gun and pulled the trigger. The flint struck the anvil with a snap, sparking a bright flame that ignited the priming agent in the priming pool.

A deafening gunshot rang out, and Peng Gang watched helplessly as Lu Qian, who was standing in front of him, collapsed with a groan and a cloud of blood erupting from his chest.

After one gunshot, two more gunshots followed, and two more young men were hit and fell to the ground.

The enemy also has muskets! A full three muskets!
With three people falling dead in succession, the morale of the young men in the group was on the verge of collapse, and some were tempted to break away from the line and escape.

"A bunch of cowards! What's the point of running away! Do you want to continue living a life of starvation and begging?"

When his comrade-in-arms was killed by bandits, Huang Dabiao, a martial arts expert, was filled with rage and vowed to avenge his comrade.

He shouted loudly to embolden himself, took two steps forward with his spear, skillfully swung the mulberry wood spear to parry a broadsword, and then thrust forward, killing a bandit wielding a broadsword.

"You damned bandit! Give me back my brother's life!"

Huang Dabiao's words and actions greatly inspired the younger generation.

As Huang Dabiao said.

We finally managed to eat our fill for three months, and finally we were able to live with dignity and respect.

Once you run away, even if you survive by sheer luck, what good will it do?

Are they to return to the village and continue to be looked down upon, bullied and ridiculed, forced to eat grass roots and dirt, and eventually starve to death?

Will Heaven continue to favor them and let them meet an owner who is like a father or elder brother, taking care of their food, their lives, and even teaching them to understand reason and read?
"I've said it before, Honglianping is our home!"

Peng Gang reloaded the musket and struck down a bandit musketeer who was reloading it.

"Whoever dares to lay a finger on our family, they deserve to die!"

The word "home" is like a stimulant, giving young people the courage to stay put.

At this moment, Xiao Guoda lit the fuse, successfully igniting the medicine pool and firing his musket, securing the first kill.

They managed to take down two bandits in succession, salvaging the situation somewhat.

The gradually loosening spear formation was stabilized.

However, this was not enough to break the bandits' offensive.

They were old bandits from the Heaven and Earth Society, and despite losing three men, they showed no signs of retreating.

The bandits were skilled in martial arts, and Huang Dabiao, who had just stabbed one of the bandits to death, was quickly forced back into the ranks by the bandits using cleavers and machetes.

"Where's the cannon?! Where's the cannon?!"

While frantically loading the musket, Peng Gang kept urging carpenter Qin and blacksmith Wu to hurry up and bring the wooden cannon up. Whether they could drive the bandits out of the charcoal burning area depended on the performance of the wooden cannon.

Since they were fleeing into the mountains, only three of the bandits used long-handled weapons; the rest of the bandits, except for the two surviving musketeers, all used short weapons.

An inch longer, an inch stronger; only a knife, no shield.

It was no easy task for the bandits to break through the spear formation in close combat.

The bandits seemed to have figured this out as well, and were not in a hurry to charge. Instead, they maintained a stalemate with the long spear formation formed by the young men, buying time for the musketeers to reload.

Zhang Zhao muttered to himself as he filled the brown bass in his hand, inwardly complaining that the Nong brothers were too impatient.

If it wasn't Nong Guangzong who climbed over the wall to open the door, he would at least have an archer at his disposal, and an archer's rate of fire is much faster than that of a musketeer.

If Nong Guangzong were here, he would have shot down five or six charcoal burners and broken their spear formation by now.

The belated carpenter, Qin, and Wei Shoushan finally arrived, panting as they ran to Peng Gang's side, carrying a lychee wood cannon.

Peng Gang didn't have time to worry about where Wu the blacksmith had gone. He hurriedly poured gunpowder into the vent hole, then wrapped the scrap iron and nails left over from making the caltrops in a cotton handkerchief, and used the musket rod to push the cotton handkerchief full of scrap iron and nails into the cannon barrel.

Just as the reloading was finished, two gunshots rang out in his ears, and Peng Gang could vaguely sense that more young men had fallen.

Peng Gang disregarded everything else, ordered the young men in front to get out of the way, and with a determined heart, tore off the matchlock from the musket and lit the fuse.

Life or death, success or failure, hinges on this one shot!
A muffled thud!
Fragments of iron and scrap nails rained down on the bandits five or six steps away.

Immediately, a series of shrill screams echoed in Peng Gang's ears.

"Those damn charcoal burners have mountain-splitting cannons!"

"Run, damn it!"

"These charcoal burners are fucking soldiers!"

Six or seven of their comrades were shot down by a single shot. The bandits were horrified, their will to fight instantly collapsed, and they abandoned their wounded and fallen comrades, cursing and swearing as they scattered in all directions.

During the rout, three or four panicked individuals accidentally fell into pits, got stuck in bamboo skewers, or stepped on caltrops.

The bandits fled in disarray, and Peng Gang breathed a sigh of relief, collapsing to the ground in a deep relaxation.

Peng Gang, his mind blank, got up in a daze the moment his buttocks touched the ground. Seeing that the bandits had gone far away, he and the still-shaken young men finished off the bandits lying on the ground. Even the bandits who were no longer moving did not forget to use the gun butt to stab them in the heart and neck several times to make sure they were dead.

In the end, only one bandit, whose two legs had been broken and who was unable to move, was left to be questioned.

Close the gate tightly and send people to guard it.

Peng Gang had Wei Shoushan bring over a brazier full of glowing red charcoal. He stripped the bandit of his clothes, grabbed the largest and reddest piece of charcoal with fire tongs, and pressed it firmly onto the bandit's bloodied and mangled thigh.

A pungent smell of burnt flesh and blood instantly filled the air.

"Who sent you!"

"Hiss hiss hiss~ Ahhh~"

The bandit seemed to still want to put up a fight, but Peng Gang calmly picked up another piece of charcoal and brought it close to the bandit's crotch: "If you're so loyal, you won't talk, huh? I'd like to see if your dick is harder or your mouth is harder."

Sensing the burning heat from his groin, the thief immediately begged for mercy: "No! No! I'll talk! I'll talk! Nobody sent us! We were just passing through! Looking for some food!"

"You're trying to take advantage of me?!" Peng Gang continued to press, "Who are you bandits?! Who is your leader?!"

"We are not thieves! We are heroes of the Heaven and Earth Society!" The bandits stared in fear at the tongs holding the red-hot coals in Peng Gang's hand, afraid that Peng Gang's hand would tremble or that he would not hold the coals tightly.

"Take the fire tongs away! I'll tell you everything. We're the boatmen! We're Zhang Zhao's old brothers. We had no choice but to flee to Pingzai Mountain to make a living in order to avoid being captured by the government troops."

"Pah! You bunch of cowards, you dare to call yourselves heroes?! How many of you are there?!" Peng Gang spat, his eyes full of contempt.

It turned out to be an old bandit from the Heaven and Earth Society under Zhang Zhao's command in the submarine force. He wasn't just any ordinary member of the Heaven and Earth Society; no wonder he was so resilient.

If that wooden cannon had been fired any later, he and the young men in the charcoal kiln would probably be lying on the ground now.

It was extremely dangerous.

"The Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals," the bandit hurriedly confessed.

　My friend got engaged today, sorry for the late update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)