1848 Great Qing Charcoal Burners

Chapter 66 Marching and Combat
The first half-day.

Since everyone had eaten and drunk their fill at Honglianping before setting off.

Peng Gang's team was not significantly different from Su San Niang and Chen A Jiu's boat corps.

Because each member of the submarine force only carried a few kilograms of weight, they marched faster and more easily than Peng Gang's team.

This made Chen Ajiu even more convinced that Luo Dagang's evaluation of Peng Gang was an exaggeration, and that Peng Gang's young gangsters were nothing but empty shells.

Although the marching looks beautiful, once you embark on a long journey, your true colors will be revealed.

In the latter half of the day, the situation changed. Two or three new recruits in the submarine force got separated and went missing, and in the end only one was found.

Peng Gang's team experienced greater physical exertion due to the weight they carried compared to the submarine crew, and two new recruits also fell behind due to exhaustion.

However, Peng Gang required each group leader to line up and count off the number of people in their group every time they cooked, ate, or rested.

The two newcomers who had fallen behind were both discovered in time and brought back.

Su Sanniang pondered for a moment, then understood why Peng Gang had made these young men line up and march in the training ground of the charcoal burning plant, and why he had to count off their numbers repeatedly.

These training exercises aren't just for show; they're also very practical.

Each time the submarine crew counted heads, they had to count each person one by one, which often resulted in omissions.

Peng Gang's team only needed the team leader to blow a whistle to order the team members to report their numbers.

The headcount can be completed in as few as eleven or twelve breaths, or as long as seventeen or eighteen breaths, without any errors.

After all, only when a team member is absent should the team leader and deputy team leader specifically confirm who did not return on time.

Moreover, confirming which group member is absent is quick. There is no need for the group leader or deputy group leader to check the personnel one by one. The group members only need to look to the left and right to see if the people on the left and right are the people who should be standing next to them when lining up. It is very efficient.

As for relieving themselves, the submarine crew can relieve themselves whenever they want without even having to ask permission.

One of the new submariners who got separated from his unit and went missing did so because he went to relieve himself and never returned.

If a member of Peng Gang's team wants to relieve themselves, they must report to the team leader for approval before they can go, and they must go in pairs, going out together and returning together.

If the team leader or deputy team leader needs to relieve themselves, they must report to Peng Gang, and the team leader and deputy team leader cannot go to relieve themselves at the same time.

Therefore, no one in Peng Gang's team ever got separated from the group or lost contact while relieving themselves.

As the sun began to set, the two teams found a relatively open and dry place not far from a water source before nightfall to set up camp and rest.

After a day's march, not a single member of Peng Gang's 122-man team had fallen behind or gone missing.

The submarine force of 87 men was missing a full three men.

When cooking, Peng Gang's team ate hot bamboo rice, along with cured meat, pickled vegetables, and boiled eggs, which was even better than what the small landlords ate at home.

The submarine crew could only eat dry rations, or roast a sweet potato and boil a pot of potatoes and wild vegetables with salt water to get by.

Normally, this wouldn't be unacceptable to the submarine crew, since that's how they usually eat.

These days, it's good enough to have food to eat; they can't afford to be picky.

However, without comparison, there is no harm. Looking at the young men in Peng Gang's team, they can not only eat hot white rice, but also vegetables and meat.

Both new and old submarine crews felt that the food in their hands didn't taste as good anymore.

Many submarine crew members begged Su Sanniang and Chen Ajiu to ask Peng Gang to buy some rice and meat.

There were too many boatmen begging Su Sanniang and Chen Ajiu, many of whom were veterans. The crowd was in uproar, so Su Sanniang and Chen Ajiu had no choice but to agree and went to find Peng Gang.

When Su San Niang and Chen A Jiu arrived at Peng Gang's camp, Peng Gang had already set up his tent and started boiling water to make tea.

After finishing their meals, the young men either laid out straw mats, covered themselves with thin blankets, and went to sleep, or burned mugwort around the camp to repel mosquitoes. They were all orderly and quiet.

The scene at the submarine camp was completely different from the chaotic, noisy, and bustling camp where people were drinking and playing drinking games.

Su San Niang and Chen A Jiu had to admit that Peng Gang was indeed very skilled at governing and managing his subordinates.

He could make sure that whatever he said, his subordinates would do as he pleased, as if it were their own arm.

"Master Peng, could you sell us some bamboo rice and cured meat? The brothers are craving it." Su Sanniang sat down in front of the campfire somewhat shyly, seeking Peng Gang's opinion.

The bonfire, swaying in the mountain breeze, made Su San Niang's wheat-colored face glow red.

Su San Niang was of good looks; among the Hakka women of Guangdong and Guangxi, she was considered above average in appearance. With a little grooming and dressing up, she could be considered pretty. But to say that she was exceptionally beautiful or a national beauty would be an understatement.

In her early years, Su San Niang followed her husband, a member of the Heaven and Earth Society, to roam the world and run the society's transportation business, often appearing in public.

After her ex-husband's death, Su Sanniang led her remaining troops to avenge him. She fought battles all year round, enduring sun and rain, which damaged her skin.

Several crow's feet lines, resembling slashes, had appeared at the corners of Su San Niang's phoenix eyes, and her left eyebrow was cut in two by an old scar.

But for a heroine like Su Sanniang, beauty was merely an embellishment, not that important.

Peng Gang had no feelings for Su San Niang, not because he was a sage without desires.

Although Su San Niang was somewhat beautiful, she didn't fit his aesthetic preferences; he preferred women with a fuller figure.

Furthermore, he was an adult. Although Luo Dagang and Su Sanniang did not explicitly say so, he could tell that the relationship between Luo Dagang and Su Sanniang was not simply a partnership.

With so many deployments in the submarine force, Su Sanniang chose to give her smuggling channels to Luo Dagang instead of Da Tou Yang and Da Li Yu, indicating that the two had already developed feelings for each other.

Compared to Su San Niang, Peng Gang was more interested in Qiu Er Sao, another widowed beauty from the old submarine crew, whom they often mentioned when making lewd remarks.

Since we've never seen its true appearance, it only fuels our imagination.

Just like how sometimes after getting used to watching Japanese educational films, watching Liu Bei's works can be more exciting.

"I can share thirty jin of cured meat with the brothers in the boat crew, but the bamboo rice and eggs were made according to the number of people before departure, so I can't share them with the brothers in the boat crew," Peng Gang instructed Zhang Ze, who was in charge of logistics.

Luo Dagang and Su Sanniang's boatmen are here to help, after all; we'll need them in the future.

Sharing some food with them within our means shouldn't be a big problem.

The premise is that he must first protect his own team.

The bamboo rice was prepared in fixed quantities and could not be distributed to the boatmen.

Eggs, a precious high-protein food, are usually given out as rewards and birthday gifts. Only this time, when leading the young soldiers out to war, did Peng specially boil three eggs for each person to take on the road in order to boost morale. It was even less likely that they would be shared with the submarine troops.

"Alright, on behalf of the brothers of the submarine force, I thank Master Peng." Su Sanniang thanked Peng Gang, and then, with Chen Ajiu, went to Zhang Ze to collect thirty catties of cured meat and returned to her camp.

After two and a half days of trekking through mountains and valleys, Peng Gang and his group arrived at Dachong.

Unsurprisingly, his group was intercepted by the clansmen and guards of King Da Chong.

Peng Gang somewhat overestimated the Wang family, who came from a militia background.

Wang Dazuo's younger brother, Wang Dafa, led eighty or ninety men who, from a hundred paces away, impatiently began indiscriminately firing their guns at Peng Gang's troops.

The noise was frightening, and many of the new members in the team were indeed startled, but no one was hit.

The submarine crews were positioned too densely, and two unlucky ones were grazed by stray bullets, but fortunately, they were only minor injuries and nothing serious.

Peng Gang's group had mules and horses, and more than half of the people were carrying large and small bags.

Wang Dafa's clansmen and guards, seeing the money, fired a round of shots and then charged forward in a huge swarm, howling, trying to break up Peng Gang's troops and seize his supplies.

Wang Dafa couldn't stop him even if he wanted to, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and rush forward with him.

Peng Gang looked at the approaching Zijingshan militia. They not only dared to fire their guns and cannons when facing the enemy, but they even dared to charge into the enemy lines. They were undoubtedly brave.

"Archery team, listen up! Check the matchlock! Pour the powder! Load the ammunition!"

"Guards, listen up! Load the shot!"

After quickly lining up, Peng Gang gave the order to the three groups of musketeers, who were lined up in three rows, to load the cannons that had been unloaded.

Peng Gang's roar tore through the stagnant air.

The musketeers simultaneously raised their rifle butts, took out their tinderboxes, blew on them to ignite the fuses, and then bit down on the corners of the oiled paper gunpowder packets.

One of the new members of the third group was so nervous that his hands trembled uncontrollably. When the paper package was torn open, a strand of dark brown powder was spilled out and immediately swept away by the hot air.

Huang Dabiao, the group leader of the third group who had participated in actual combat, cursed him as a coward with disappointment and told him not to spill all the remaining medicine in the paper packet, lest the insufficient medicine cause the gun to misfire.

Fortunately, the three groups of musketeers had practiced this set of movements countless times on a regular basis. Even though some of the new members were too nervous in the face of battle, they were still able to reload the guns by relying on muscle memory when the enemy was still more than 30 paces away from the front of the formation.

The first group of musketeers raised their muskets of varying lengths, aimed them at the enemy in front of them, held their breath, and waited for Peng Gang to give the order to fire.

(End of this chapter)