Chapter 834: A Rabble

Naturally, a telegram requesting reinforcements had to be dispatched. Though Beikai was more than ninety percent confident he could repel the bandit attack, concealing news of bandits attacking would always constitute dereliction of duty. He had his life secretary send a telegram reporting that bandits were about to attack Hongji, numbering approximately two thousand, and that Hongji had completed battle preparations.

In the telegram, he did not explicitly ask whether reinforcements were needed—given Hongji Station's current importance, reinforcements were inevitable. Of course, Beikai very much hoped this incident would leave the Senate with an impression of him as "fearless in the face of danger."

Finally, since the marine platoon had already boarded the ships, he armed the clerks and administrative personnel around him—the most reliable naturalized citizens. Hongji Fort possessed more than thirty spare Minié rifles beyond those carried by the marines. He issued these rifles to the clerks and gave each a grenade, forming Hongji Fort's general reserve.

When the bandits approached Hongji Station and observed the well-fortified stockade, realizing those inside were already prepared, Shen Hu ordered the main force to halt, rest, and cook. This wasn't from any sympathy for his men, but because the bandit column stretched out over more than ten li. Seven or eight hundred men still lagged behind. Better to eat and rest first while waiting for everyone to gather. Besides, he had an ally at sea—"Fan Hai Bao." Once Fan Hai Bao arrived, they would advance by both land and sea, with far greater odds of success. He had heard the mine had one large ship and three small boats by the shore, but Fan Hai Bao commanded fourteen vessels of various sizes. Shen Hu didn't believe those few lonely boats could accomplish anything.

Shen Hu's forces were a somewhat more "regular" bunch among the bandits. At least wherever they went, someone attended to food and drink. Immediately, some set up cooking pots at the foot of the hill, ordering the dozens of local women captured along the way to boil water and cook.

Shen Hu gazed at the fortress across from Hongji. It was his first time encountering such a fortification, and he judged it to be quite crude. That earthen enclosure stood at most two persons tall. Though the slope was somewhat steep, men could climb up without ladders. The only difficulty was that the ditch outside the earthen enclosure would require some effort to fill.

Other than that, this enclosure didn't appear difficult to capture at all. Though You Long and You Hai had warned him about cannons at the protruding corner sections of the earthen enclosure, Shen Hu dismissed this concern—he had seen plenty of cannons. A considerable interval elapsed between firing one shot and the next. That time was sufficient for his men to swarm onto the earthen walls.

"What about that earthen enclosure over there? Does it also have cannons?"

"That's where the miners live. No cannons." You Long gestured. "Inside are all coal miners and their families. Not much of value."

"Good, ignore them for now." Shen Hu laughed lecherously. "After we breach the main fort, we'll take that miners' stockade too and find some women for the brothers to enjoy."

His confidants laughed together. Shen Hu generously patted You Long and You Hai on the shoulders. "I'll give you two one each!"

"Thank you, Great Chief!" The two were overwhelmed with gratitude and immediately knelt to pay respects.

"Mm, mm, I think..."

Before he could finish articulating his thoughts, he spotted a small group of perhaps one hundred or eighty men running toward the street between the two stockades—there were some attractive-looking buildings on that street, presumably containing valuables. The bandits couldn't wait for his orders and wanted to start looting immediately.

"Fools!" Shen Hu cursed. These bandits weren't his men; he couldn't control everyone. Besides, he already knew from his scouts that everything on this street had been cleared out. Nothing remained but empty buildings.

He watched this group of bandits run chaotically toward the street between the two stockades. At that moment, a row of white smoke rose from a corner bastion of the main fort, and the running bandits suddenly began falling one after another. The survivors screamed and quickly fled back.

"Those bird guns are terrifying!" Shen Hu exclaimed in shock. He had seen matchlock rifles before, but the bandits were at least forty or fifty zhang from the firing stockade. At such a distance, firing was normally just for show—let alone killing people, the bullets couldn't even fly that far.

That group just now had left more than a dozen corpses on the ground. The mine's bird guns not only shot far but also with fearsome accuracy.

He hurriedly summoned You Long and You Hai and demanded to know exactly how many bird guns were inside the fortress.

"At most three to five dozen!" You Long said. "We rarely saw anyone with bird guns. The militiamen at the mine all use spears and machetes..."

"Really?!"

"I dare not lie! There definitely aren't more."

But even three to five dozen of such formidable firearms made this a difficult bone to gnaw. Shen Hu hadn't expected the mine's firearms to prove so deadly and immediately hesitated.

While he wavered, the rear bandits kept arriving. Shen Hu instructed his confidants to summon all faction leaders for a meeting to discuss how to assault the stockade. Worried that news of the enemy's fierce firearms would shake morale, he mentioned nothing of it at the meeting. But Hu Lanyan declared that the enemy were the Australians, renowned for their firearms. Both their cannons and bird guns were extremely formidable, shooting with both accuracy and range. He proposed employing fire attacks and smoke tactics for the assault.

"Send up thick smoke, advance section by section. Advance a section, then send up more smoke." Hu Lanyan gestured as he spoke. "Our men follow the smoke. No matter how powerful their firearms, they can't see through smoke and can only fire blindly. Once we get close, we all rush up together..."

Hu Lanyan spoke with enthusiasm, but everyone remained skeptical. Many didn't believe firearms could be as devastating as Hu Lanyan claimed. While everyone talked over each other, the large bandit mob gathered outside descended into disorder. In an ancient era lacking communication methods, organizing nearly two thousand temporarily assembled rabble was extraordinarily difficult. Everyone had followed Shen Hu to make a fortune. Seeing the stockade right ahead yet finding the attack delayed, many who had walked all morning were exhausted and parched, eager to breach the stockade and indulge in eating, drinking, and debauchery. Now, with a great crowd gathered under the sun, without food or drink, uncertain what the next step would be, some gradually began cursing, some instigated action, and others discussed loudly. The scene descended progressively into chaos. The minor chiefs of various factions struggled to maintain order, but the gathered bandits came from disparate sources, and numerous scattered bandits in groups of three to five who had come to profit gave no heed to any chiefs.

Suddenly, the unruly crowd, as if receiving an invisible command, surged en masse toward the laborers' stockade. The chiefs couldn't restrain them with shouts or commands; they were instead swept along in the chaotic rush toward the laborer camp.

By the time the news reached Shen Hu, the situation outside had spiraled completely beyond control. Except for Shen Hu's own several hundred confidant troops, the rest of the rabble had utterly lost cohesion, all flooding toward the laborer camp.

From Hongji Fort's direction, thunderous cannon fire immediately erupted. In this space of two hundred fifty meters, targets now presented themselves everywhere. The gunners on the fortress seized this perfect killing opportunity, furiously firing the two twenty-four-pounder cannons at the surging mass of bandits between the stockades. The militia armed with Minié rifles also discharged their bullets at maximum rate. Then the typewriter opened fire as well.

Solid shots with depressed elevation continuously carved bloody lanes through the crowd at plunging angles—the shells possessed sufficient force that even after penetrating the mob, they still smashed hard against the laborer camp wall, raising clouds of dust. The local laborers standing on the earthen walls immediately grew agitated, crowding and straining to retreat—no one wanted such a terrifying thing to strike their face.

"No retreat allowed!" Dugu Qiuhun noticed signs of wavering and immediately leapt forward, waving his tachi and howling. "Anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy!"

Though the local laborers didn't understand his words, they understood his twisted, ferocious expression and the gleaming blade in his hand perfectly well. Moreover, the glittering spear tips of the naturalized citizen laborers behind them were nearly pressed against their backs. The crowd settled down again after some agitation.

Canister from the cannons and lead bullets from the typewriter rained down upon the crowd like a torrential downpour, harvesting lives. Bandits toppled one after another. Some bandits' heads suddenly exploded and flew backward; limbs became fragments. The bandits were first stunned by such carnage, then began screaming, letting out inhuman cries, and turned to flee. In less than five minutes, the great mass of bandits rushing toward the laborer camp collapsed under Hongji Fort's artillery fire and scattered in all directions. No matter how Shen Hu's subordinates tried to intercept them, many simply fled the scene entirely. The battle hadn't even officially commenced, and the bandits had already lost a third of their number. Shen Hu stamped his feet in fury.

"Chiefs—" Before he could finish, many chiefs were already frantically abandoning their seats. Everyone rushed to gather their own forces. Without forces, there was no capital; what was there to discuss about "getting rich together"? Shen Hu, this temporary "alliance leader," meant nothing to them now.

Shen Hu was too enraged to speak. He hurriedly ordered his subordinates to rally his own troops to hold the line, hoping they might somehow regroup the bandit main force. He planned to wait until Fan Hai Bao's forces arrived before making further plans.

At that moment, the marine platoon that had been standing by at sea launched an attack on Beikai's orders. They landed on a beach on the bandits' unguarded flank and rear, striking from behind the chaotic mass of bandits.

The sudden artillery fire from the mountain howitzer and the fierce assault from the marine platoon's flank plunged the already panicked bandits into complete chaos. Many still in shock now lost their nerve entirely, caring only about escape. Those slightly calmer tried to resist, but the volley fire and a row of grenades had them crying for their mothers. You Long watched his nephew You Hai get hurled to the ground, covered in blood. He charged toward the marines without regard for his own life. A marine sidestepped his broadsword and thrust a bayonet into his chest.

(End of Chapter)