The gradually spreading scent of gunpowder, coupled with the panicked shouts of the soldiers from the military preparation office outside, finally made Xu Yaozu understand that this was not thunder on a winter day at all, but rather that someone was attacking his team with firearms and cannons!
At this moment, the shouts of the soldiers from the military preparation office had devolved into a chaotic mess. Some shouts seemed to be getting farther away, while others were gradually turning into screams of agony.
Although Xu Yaozu was somewhat greedy and lustful, and his position as the backup officer for Yanzhou was obtained through his cheap brother-in-law, he still possessed a basic understanding of common sense.
The shouts turning into screams meant injuries, and the ones getting farther away meant desertion.
The five hundred elite soldiers he had brought with him had already been scattered!
Upon reaching this conclusion, Xu Yaozu didn't have time to think further. He first quickly took off his official uniform, then, curling up, he scrambled out of his sedan chair. Immediately after, he quickly darted to the sedan chair of the esteemed Master Hao Liangcai ahead, and yanked the already stunned Master Hao out of his chair.
"What in the hell is going on!"
Xu Yaozu was both shocked and enraged. Grabbing Hao Liangcai by the back of his clothes, he pushed Hao Liangcai in front of him and cursed, "Weren't you the one who said that Ningyang County only had a bunch of peasants going up the mountain to rebel? What the hell is going on! Where did they get firearms!"
After finishing his tirade, Xu Yaozu also whispered a threat, "Later, just say I'm your sedan chair bearer! If I can escape, I can still find a way to save you. If you sell me out, I'll have my brother-in-law exterminate your entire clan! Understand!"
Hao Liangcai, who had already been stunned by the explosions, nodded frantically like a pecking chicken, "Yes, yes! Your subordinate understands, understands!"
The explosions around them slowly ceased.
Xu Yaozu first supported Hao Liangcai's arm, putting on a show of helping the esteemed Master Hao escape. Then, he lowered his head to survey the surroundings.
The ambush location was a narrow path. The mounds of earth on both sides of the path were higher than the path itself. The fact that the rebels could use this terrain for an ambush indicated that there must be someone knowledgeable in warfare among them.
The path and the mounds on both sides were dotted with small craters from the explosions, indicating that the firearms used by the rebels were far less powerful than cannons, but stronger than muskets, a fact that could also be inferred from the sound of the explosions.
As for the five hundred elite soldiers he had brought… about a hundred or so injured soldiers were lying on the ground, groaning. They had been injured by firearms. The remaining soldiers were either already running away, with only their backs visible, or had completely knelt on the ground.
And this damned Hao Liangcai, what kind of rebels had this fellow provoked? Or had he already defected to the rebels? Otherwise, why wouldn't he mention the rebels having firearms at all?
If this dog-like Hao Liangcai had defected to the rebels, could he still escape?
The more Xu Yaozu thought about it, the more he was alarmed.
Just as Xu Yaozu was secretly contemplating his escape, dozens of people stood up from behind the small mounds on both sides. The person walking at the very front was toying with a dark, thick, club-like object in his hand.
Zhu Xiaosong slowly walked up to Hao Liangcai, the esteemed Master Hao, transferring the grenade he was toying with from his right hand to his left. With his right hand, he slapped Hao Liangcai hard, saying, "Esteemed Master Hao, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
Hao Liangcai was both enraged and terrified. He fell to his knees with a thud, crying, "Mercy, good sir! Mercy, good sir!"
Zhu Xiaosong ignored Hao Liangcai, who was desperately begging for mercy, and instead looked at Xu Yaozu with amusement, "And who might this lord be? Why is he so scared that he's even taken off his clothes? Is he planning to learn from Cao Aman's old trick of discarding his robe and cutting his beard?"
Xu Yaozu also fell to his knees with a thud. After kowtowing several times, he straightened up and replied, "Good sir is joking. Your humble servant is merely one of esteemed Master Hao's sedan chair bearers. I dare not accept the title of lord."
Zhu Xiaosong gestured for Zhu Erdan to search the sedan chair behind for Xu Yaozu's discarded official uniform, and holding it up, he dangled it, saying, "Tsk, tsk, look at this official uniform. It should belong to the Yanzhou military preparation officer?"
Zhu Erdan also chuckled, mockingly saying, "A dignified military officer not riding a horse but sitting in a sedan chair like a civil official, and not even arranging for scouts during the march. This military preparation officer is truly carefree!"
Liu Niuniu glared with his ox-like eyes, sneering, "Perhaps this military preparation officer bought his position? Or maybe he got ahead through his family connections?"
Xu Yaozu was furious in his heart, but due to his life being in the hands of others, he had to forcibly suppress his anger. Looking at Zhu Xiaosong, he said, "Good sir speaks the truth. This is indeed the military preparation officer's uniform, but the military preparation officer had already fled. Your humble servant's clothes were also taken off by the military preparation officer."
Zhu Xiaosong was almost amused by Xu Yaozu. If he hadn't seen Xu Yaozu's disheveled appearance scrambling out of the sedan chair from behind the small mounds, just looking at his cowardly demeanor now, he probably…
Zhu Xiaosong wouldn't believe Xu Yaozu's nonsense. After all, most of the soldiers in our Great Qing Dynasty were skinny. Even the strong ones were mostly in the Green Standard Army. The soldiers in the military preparation office could generally not have the same potbelly as the corrupt General Xu Yaozu.
Shaking his head slightly, Zhu Xiaosong said to Liu Niuniu, "Take them down for questioning. After you've clarified everything, remember to send both lords on their way together, and have their heads delivered to the Yanzhou prefect."
Hao Liangcai and Xu Yaozu were terrified. After exchanging glances, they both frantically kowtowed to beg for mercy, "Mercy, good sir! Mercy, good sir!"
Xu Yaozu even pointed at Hao Liangcai and cursed, "It's him! It's all him!"
"It was he who took silver to Yanzhou Prefecture, saying that rebels had appeared in Ningyang County and urging your subordinate to quickly lead troops to quell the rebellion. If your subordinate had known it was good sirs, he would never have dared to come!"
Hao Liangcai was equally enraged and pointed at Xu Yaozu, saying, "May the good sirs show mercy! Your subordinate has important information!"
Zhu Xiaosong looked at Hao Liangcai and couldn't help but chuckle, "Speak, what important information do you have?"
Hao Liangcai took a breath, but his finger still pointed at Xu Yaozu, "This man is the younger brother of Fucha Mingxing, the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner. He has always relied on the commissioner's power to act arrogantly. Almost all the silver I've accumulated over the years has gone into his pocket. If good sirs are going to start an uprising, how can they lack funds?"
Zhu Xiaosong, however, shook his head and said, "This information is not a big deal for us. Let alone being the brother-in-law of the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner, even if he were the brother-in-law of that deaf old dog Qian, no one could save you today."
After speaking, Zhu Xiaosong waved his hand, signaling Liu Niuniu to take them down for questioning.
A moment later, Liu Niuniu returned to Zhu Xiaosong's side, "Captain, everything has been clarified."
"Hao Liangcai, that dog official, did not lie. The person from just now was indeed Yanzhou's military preparation officer Xu Yaozu, and he was indeed the younger brother-in-law of Fucha Mingxing, the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner."
"According to Xu Yaozu, it was Hao Liangcai, that dog official, who took gold and silver jewelry to Yanzhou Prefect Wu Zude and Yanzhou Military Preparation Officer Xu Yaozu, begging Xu Yaozu to lead troops to quell the rebellion."
"And according to Hao Liangcai, the reason these soldiers were carrying long spears with broken shafts and curved sabers was entirely because Xu Yaozu, that dog official, wanted to take this opportunity to make a profit in Ningyang County by selling off their original equipment."
"Furthermore, although the Yanzhou Military Preparation Office was listed as having one thousand soldiers, the actual strength was only the five hundred soldiers brought by Xu Yaozu."
"In addition to this, the Yanzhou Prefecture Office has over three hundred yamen runners and over seven hundred retainers. If you include the Yanzhou Patrol Inspector, the deployable forces are approximately two thousand."
Zhu Xiaosong grunted, frowned, and after some thought, he ordered, "Return to the mountain."
Encountering someone like Xu Yaozu, who was trying to grab whatever he could even when facing death, Zhu Xiaosong was also despairing.
He had originally planned to have Hao Liangcai and Xu Yaozu serve as the commanders of the transport convoy, but the outcome was far beyond Zhu Xiaosong's expectations. As a result, this ambush only succeeded in killing the officials and Hao Liangcai, and the plan to seize firearms and other equipment completely failed.
Without sufficient equipment, and with a large portion of the hand grenades hastily made on the mountain having been used up, attacking Yanzhou city now would mean facing the encirclement of Yanzhou patrol soldiers, three hundred yamen runners, and seven hundred retainers, which was basically suicidal.
Even more frustrating was that the loss of five hundred soldiers by the Yanzhou Military Preparation Office was not something the Yanzhou Prefect could easily suppress. Even if the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner wanted to suppress it, it wouldn't be easy.
Unless the Grand Secretary himself intervened, it would be impossible to conceal it from the "ten-thousand-year-old dog."
This meant that the garrisons in and around Yanzhou would soon gather in Yanzhou and then surround and suppress Jade Emperor Mountain.
Moreover, with Xu Yaozu's actions as a precedent, the newly arrived Green Standard Army soldiers would not be so careless, and the difficulty of ambushing them would increase exponentially.
In short, this ambush of the Yanzhou soldiers was a complete disaster. The best option now was to retreat to the mountain to rest and recuperate, seize the opportunity to raid more villages, win over more young men, and prepare more hand grenades. Only when their strength had accumulated sufficiently would they smash the Yanzhou Prefecture.
Especially Qufu County.
Having finally raised an army to rebel against the Qing, if they didn't smash the household in Qufu County, Zhu Xiaosong felt he wouldn't be able to swallow his anger in this lifetime.
...
Wu Zude paced back and forth, wishing he could retrieve Hao Liangcai's corpse right now and hack it into a bloody mess.
Because this damned fellow failed to clarify the situation in advance, the Yanzhou Military Preparation Office directly lost five hundred soldiers, and even the cheap brother-in-law of the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner, the esteemed fourth-rank Yinyi Caoji Dao and the leader of the Yanzhou Military Preparation Office, Xu Yaozu, had his head chopped off.
Although the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner Fucha Mingxing likely didn't care about the life or death of a concubine's brother, Xu Yaozu was a fourth-rank official after all. Furthermore, he and Xu Yaozu had dispatched troops privately, so the imperial court would certainly investigate this matter.
What was even more critical was that the rebels on Jade Emperor Mountain did not stop after killing Hao Liangcai and Xu Yaozu. Not only did they cause trouble in Ningyang County, but they also swept through dozens of villages in the neighboring Jining Prefecture, resulting in the extermination of dozens of gentry families. When the Jining Prefecture Governor Liang Feng realized that these rebels were from Jade Emperor Mountain, he immediately wrote a memorial of impeachment and even specially sent someone to notify Wu Zude.
Well, now that Xu Yaozu was dead and gone, the esteemed officials in the imperial court, the Ministry of War, or the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner Fucha Mingxing would all vent their anger on Wu Zude.
To resolve this matter, let alone the silver that Hao Liangcai had sent, even if Wu Zude were to use all the savings he had accumulated during his three years as a clean prefect, it might not be enough.
Therefore, Wu Zude, the Prefect, had completely lost sight of the bigger picture by trying to resolve this matter for Hao Liangcai, and there was even a risk of losing his head.
After pacing back and forth in the room countless times until his head was almost spinning, Wu Zude finally sat back down in his chair and instructed his steward, "Take out our savings from over the years and prepare a few gifts for this official."
After the steward acknowledged his instructions, Wu Zude pointed to two boxes on the desk and ordered, "Take Hao Liangcai's dog head and feed it to the dogs. I don't want to see him."