Chapter Fifteen: Brimming Bowls and Basins

  "Bandits are coming to kill us, run quickly!"

  The capital is filled with endless wailing and shouting, the people are like headless flies, fleeing in all directions. The heart of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial city that has stood for over 200 years, has never fallen before. Even the Mongol army, with its mighty victory at Tumu Fortress, did not shake the capital.

  But now the city is like a leaky sieve, and the Great Sequential Army has poured in from several city gates, with shouts of killing everywhere, and flames everywhere.

  The man was pushing a wheelbarrow and running wildly, the child on the wheelbarrow wailing loudly. Suddenly, a burning house beside the road collapsed, its beams crackling with flames, heavily smashing onto the man.

  Ah!

  A heart-wrenching and lung-splitting scream, the man fell to the ground, the unicycle also fell beside him, and the child landed on the ground, wailing even more miserably. But no one paid attention to him anymore, the woman who was following behind the man seemed to have gone mad, pounced onto the ground, using both hands to push the burning wood.

  Whoosh! A puff of black smoke emerged from the woman's hand, she couldn't care about the pain anymore, and was desperately using force, seeing that the wooden board was about to be pushed open. But just at this moment, a swordsman jumped out from the side alley and stabbed the woman in the back. The corpse also fell onto the beam, burning together with the man.

  The knife guest didn't care, he grabbed the luggage of the unicycle and turned to find the next target. Such scenes of taking advantage of the fire to loot were constantly staged on the streets of Beijing. **Rascals, various scoundrels, prisoners in prison, as if they all crawled out of hell at once.

  Ran to the mortal world to wreak havoc, in an instant, a group of demons danced wildly, and the mortal world became hell!

  Gu Zhenhua was leading his men in a rush from here, but he had no time to care about these poor people, desperately whipping the war horse and galloping at top speed.

  Ammunition! Ammunition! Ammunition! This was the only thought in Gu Zhenhua's mind.

  "Right ahead is Wang Gong's factory, and the firecrackers are inside!" Xu Fang shouted loudly as he followed closely behind Gu Zhenhua on horseback.

  Gu Zhenhua's war horse turned a corner, and a large building appeared. This was the Wang Gong Factory, the most important military arsenal in the capital city! The famous Tianqi Great Explosion occurred here.

  Gu Zhenhua had just arrived at the gate when he saw a fierce battle unfolding before his eyes. Dozens of Qing soldiers were trying to force their way in, while the defenders inside were desperately fighting back. The two sides clashed with extraordinary ferocity.

  Gu Zhenhua's eyes also turned red, these military supplies were his treasures, and he absolutely did not allow anyone else to touch them!

  "Kill!"

  With a loud roar, Gu Zhenhua urged on his war horse, like a fierce tiger, and charged forward. The iron spear in his hand was getting more and more handy, two big Shun army men had just killed over, Gu Zhenhua swung his spear with all his might, right on the waist of the two men, and pulled them off their horses.

  With a random shot, another knight was knocked down and killed on the spot. At this time, the Dashun Army also felt threatened and rushed up one after another. Gu Zhenhua showed no fear and charged forward to meet them.

  "You're looking for death!" A leader of the Da Shun army swung his large knife and chopped down, Gu Zhenhua's hands moved quickly, dodging the blade. The iron spear in his hand fiercely stabbed into the warhorse of the young leader, the spearhead was pulled out, with an eyeball still hanging on it, the horse's eye socket became a bloody hole, bleeding profusely, and instantly fell to the ground.

  "Good, you're really brave!"

  Gao Hongtu couldn't help but shout loudly from behind, he was also from the Beijing camp, had seen countless great generals, and it was rare to see someone with such bravery. He too instantly ignited his fighting spirit, charged forward, and clashed with Gu Zhenhua in a fierce battle.

  At the same time, Xie Bin rushed over. He was originally protecting Crown Prince Zhu Ciyan. Seeing this scene, he was also boiling with rage. Xie Bin had been practicing martial arts since childhood and was skilled in using a wooden sword. His moves were cunning and unpredictable, and in an instant, two large Shun soldiers were cut down.

  Three men were like three fierce tigers, the entire Da Shun army in front of Wang Gong's factory was scattered, and they easily killed their way in. At this time, Xu Fang also led his men to charge in.

  They rushed in, but there were people running out. There were twenty or thirty men with bundles on their backs, rushing out in a flurry, and they happened to see Gu Zhenhua and the others.

  The leading old man was suddenly frightened and turned around to escape. Gu Zhenhua shouted loudly, "Halt!"

  Before the words had fallen, the big green horse rushed out and blocked their way back. The leading old man saw that there was no escape, and with a thud, he knelt on the ground, and the others followed suit.

  "Spare our lives! Spare our lives!" These people begged for mercy repeatedly.

  Gu Zhenhua's face sank, and he asked loudly: "What are you doing here? Are you trying to take advantage of the situation?"

  "Sir, don't get me wrong, we're just craftsmen, came to the capital to work, only want to escape, no other meaning."

  Just as he was speaking, Gao Hongtu also walked over, furrowing his brow and glancing at the elderly man leading the group. He couldn't help but ask: "Are you Ge Jiangshi?"

  The old man plucked up his courage and lifted his head, took a look at Gao Hongtu, and hastily said: "You are General Gao, I'm really not a bad person, please spare my life."

  Gao Hongtu nodded and hastily went to Gu Zhenhua's side, saying: "This is the master of the capital city who will be doing the monitoring. He is exceptionally skilled at making firecrackers and is a straightforward person. Don't make things difficult for them."

  Gu Zhenhua's eyes lit up as soon as he heard that the other person was a firearms expert, it was as if he had found treasure, wasn't this exactly the kind of talent he needed!

  "Come on, surround them for me, don't let a single one escape!"

  The men under his command acted on the news and surrounded the dozens of workers. At this moment, another sound of horseshoes came, and it was Xue Biao who arrived.

  As soon as Xue Biao saw Gu Zhenhua, he smiled and said: "Old Fourth, everything has been taken care of. I've sent out all the flyers, now all the prefectures are probably in an uproar."

  Gao Hongtu and others were at a loss, not knowing what was being said, but Gu Zhenhua's heart was clear. He had long ago formulated many plans for the breakout, encountering different situations, how to respond accordingly.

  To put it bluntly, if you want to leave the city safely, you have to muddy the waters and make a big splash. The murkier the water, the easier it is. So Gu Zhenhua had He Zhonghou help write many flyers, which said that Chu Wang was going to pursue fugitives and extort rations, plundering the homes of meritorious officials and nobles, basically using the same scare tactics as Zhu Chunshen.

  Gu Zhenhua's abacus was very clever, as long as these dignitaries felt the danger, they would definitely rush out desperately, which could tie up the main force of Dashun Army and create an opportunity for them to escape.

  Having saved the prince, and with so many military supplies, Gu Zhenhua felt more and more that he should stir up trouble and gain time. Therefore, just as they decided to transport the artillery away, Gu Zhenhua had Xue Biao take action, and beforehand, they found a group of beggars, gave them enough silver, and had them deliver flyers to the mansions of the powerful officials.

  Xue Biao settled the matter, and Gu Zhenhua also let out a sigh of relief. Smiling, he said: "Third Brother, we'll move the ammunition now. I have a task for you - you must protect these craftsmen and safely escort them out of the capital. Not one of them is allowed to get hurt!"

  Xue Biao didn't know why Gu Zhenhua was so particular about these craftsmen, but he subconsciously said: "Don't worry, Fourth Brother, I guarantee the task will be completed."

  After a brief handover, everyone got moving. Xu Fang and Gao Hongtu had both been here before and were very familiar with the route. They led Gu Zhenhua to the warehouse where the firearms were hidden, but by this time, more than half of the guards had already escaped.

  Ouch!

  The warehouse door opened, and a vast warehouse appeared before Gu Zhenhua's eyes. There were more than a dozen rooms, cluttered with a large number of rifles, most of which had rusted. Some gun barrels were cracked, some parts were missing, and they couldn't be used at all.

  Xu Fang didn't pay attention to these junk, directly brought Gu Zhenhua to the deepest part, where there were hundreds of wooden boxes. After opening them, they were all firelocks. Although some were rusty, each one was intact, with the barrel still shining black, full of murderous aura.

  Gu Zhenhua saw it and was also moved to tears, hastily saying: "Get everything out of here, don't leave a single one!"

  The men worked together, moving out all the killing machines. Even Gu Zhenhua took action himself, carrying four wooden boxes at once, running to the front with ease. Xu Fang was originally a scholar, but now he had no choice but to roll up his sleeves, hugging a box of firearms and stumbling out.

  Gao Hongtu had already run to the backyard of Wang Gongchang's factory, where he found twenty horse-drawn carriages and dozens of mules. Gu Zhenhua and his men loaded all the fire lances onto the vehicles, a total of 1,800 bird guns were fully loaded.

  "Be careful, all of you! If we accidentally set off the explosives, we're done for!"

  Gao Hongtu shouted for everyone to transport the gunpowder and bullets. At this time, Xue Biao suddenly ran quickly to Gu Zhenhua's front and excitedly said: "Old Fourth, Ge Jiangshi said that in the eastern warehouse with the letter '丙' (C), there are still cannons and Lu Mi rifles, do you want..."

  "Want to? Of course I want!" Gu Zhenhua's eyes turned red: "Not going with me yet?"