Chapter 60: Zhou Xiuying Forms an All-Female Army

  Li Zhen's eyes fell on Yang Banhou, indicating for Yang Banhou to speak.

  "General," Yang Banhou replied, "I have killed General Xu Yao, the Invincible, and completed my mission."

  Zhu Wu said: "General, I have killed General Pan Qiliang of the Flying Tiger Army."

  "General, I have killed Zhang Hanpin."

  "General, I have killed Cai Yongliang."

  ……

  Everyone completed their tasks without a single mistake.

  Li Zhen's face broke into a brilliant smile, and he said with satisfaction: "You have completed your mission perfectly on your first try, excellent. The Xiaodao Society will be headless and in disarray, it is already impossible for them to defend Shanghai. Moreover, I have already persuaded the female general of the Xiaodao Society, Zhou Xiuying, tomorrow at noon she will lead her men to open the city gate and welcome our army into the city."

  Female General?

  Yang Banhou's face revealed a strange expression after hearing this.

  What's the catch here?

  The rest of the soldiers, though they didn't say a word, all had a faintly amused smile playing on their lips.

  Especially those eyes full of curiosity, revealing that they are very interested in Li Zhen and Zhou Xiuying's affairs. Although they didn't dare to ask, they had already made guesses in their hearts, and it was certain that Li Zhen had used some means to subdue the female general of the Small Knife Society. Seeing several people's gossiping eyes, Li Zhen waved his hand: "Rest early, tomorrow noon I will fire a shot to inform Huang Shihai, let him lead the troops to attack the city."

  Everyone nodded and went to rest separately.

  The next day, around 10 o'clock in the morning.

  Li Zhen took out the sniper rifle, loaded the bullets, and fired the first shot into the sky. Next, he fired a shot every minute, three shots in total, signaling Huang Shi Hai to launch the attack.

  After delivering the message, Li Zhen let Yang Banhou and others disperse.

  Li Zhen left the mansion and headed towards Yang Xiuying's residence. At this time, Li Zhen changed into a different set of clothes, putting on the uniform of a small knife will soldier, and also wrapped his head with a red cloth. Disguised as an ordinary soldier, Li Zhen arrived at the outer gate of Yang Xiuying's residence and said to the guarding soldier: "Please trouble brother to report to General, Li Zhen has urgent matters to report."

  The gatekeeper knew that there were many things in the city, and thought that something important had happened again. Without suspicion, he turned around to report it immediately. In a moment, Zhou Xiu Ying came out wearing a helmet and armor, with a jade belt around her waist, long boots on her feet, and holding a large golden-backed knife.

  At this moment, Zhou Xiuying was extraordinary in her demeanor, elegant and refreshing. Even Li Zhen was stunned. Seeing Li Zhen's daze, a hint of joy flashed in Zhou Xiuying's eyes, then she led Li Zhen into the mansion, dismissing everyone from the main hall.

  Li Zhen said: "Xiu Ying, I have informed the large army outside the city, now we can take action."

  Zhou Xiuying nodded and said: "I will immediately assemble the soldiers and head to the city gate."

  At this time, Zhou Xiuying and Li Zhen came out of the mansion, then gathered their soldiers and rushed to the city gate. Li Zhen followed beside her, walking towards the city gate together. When they arrived at the city gate, Huang Shihai had already led his soldiers in a feigned attack.

  From this morning on, Huang Shi Hai had someone pay attention to the movements in the city.

  The sound of gunfire rang out, and Huang Shihai immediately led his soldiers to rush over.

  When Huang Shi Hai launched the attack, he saw that the city gate of Shanghai County was open, and a majestic female general came out of the city. Huang Shi Hai pondered in his heart and knew that the person was Zhou Xiu Ying. However, when Huang Shi Hai looked closely again, he also found Li Zhen standing beside her. This time, Huang Shi Hai was shocked, unexpectedly Li Zhen had hooked up with Zhou Xiu Ying, which was unthinkable.

  Zhou Xiuying led the soldiers out of the city and directly killed Huang Shihai.

  The two armies clashed, and Zhou Xiuying immediately showed signs of defeat, ordering a retreat into the city.

  Huang Shi-hai saw Li Zhen beside Zhou Xiu-ying and knew that this was what Zhou Xiu-ying had intended. He led his soldiers in pursuit, easily catching up with Zhou Xiu-ying, then brought the Qing army pouring into the city.

  The Qing army entered the city, and the soldiers guarding the city panicked.

  The soldiers in the city were all ordinary people, and their combat effectiveness was not strong. Even if there were some Jianghu figures among them, they were only individually brave, and it was difficult to reverse the overall situation. Moreover, with the death of generals such as Liu Lichuan, Xu Yao, Chen Alin, Lin Afu, Cai Yongliang, and Pan Qiliang, there was no one in charge, making it even more impossible to resist.

  Everyone expected Zhou Xiuying to hold on, but little did they know that Zhou Xiuying was already Li Zhen's person. After Huang Shihai entered the city, he didn't let his soldiers slaughter wildly, but instead immediately ordered: "Put down your weapons, those who surrender will not be killed!"

  "Lay down your arms, those who surrender will not be killed!"

  All the soldiers shouted in unison, their voices echoing throughout the city.

  Zhou Xiuying borrowed a slope to get off the donkey and put down his weapons to surrender.

  As Zhou Xiuying laid down her arms, the remaining dagger-wielding soldiers lost their backbone and also threw down their weapons to surrender. The Qing army entered the city and easily controlled the situation.

  This battle ended easily.

  The Xiaodao Hui soldiers were originally ordinary civilians, and it was easy to arrange for them. Li Zhen let Lan Cuiwen be in charge of registering and recording, turning the Xiaodao Hui soldiers back into ordinary civilians. Li Zhen showed leniency, and these Xiaodao Hui soldiers were overjoyed in their hearts and did not dare to rebel. Li Zhen then brought all the Qing troops outside the city into the city, and also brought the two hundred British and French coalition forces who were being held captive in the camp into the city.

  County government office, main hall.

  Li Zhen sat on top, with Zhou Xiangying standing beside him dressed as a man.

  Below, Huang Shi Hai, Yang Ban Hou, Huang Hu and Lan Wei Wen were seated respectively. Li Zhen looked at Lan Wei Wen and said: "County Master Lan, now that Shanghai has been pacified, the most important task is to stabilize the people's hearts and restore production. You will immediately take charge of this matter."

  "Yes, sir!"

  Lan Weiwen received the order and immediately turned around to execute the task.

  Li Zhen turned to Huang Shi Hai and instructed, "Shi Hai, you lead the entire army. Except for Yang Ban Hou's 120 special forces soldiers, there are only over 800 soldiers in the army, which is too few. You select soldiers from the military camp to strengthen our power. Exclude those who gamble or smoke opium, and try to choose as many literate ones as possible, then form a foreign gun team."

  "I will obey your orders!"

  Huang Shi Hai nodded in agreement and immediately turned around and left.

  Li Zhen looked at Yang Banhou and instructed, "Banhou, the 120 sharp knife special forces soldiers under your command must increase their training intensity. During this period, I will start training the sharp knife special forces soldiers."

  "Yes!"

  Yang Banhou agreed and then left with Huang Hu.

  Zhou Xiuying stood beside Li Zhen and asked coldly: "What should I do?"

  Li Zhen looked at Zhou Xiuying with a firm gaze and found that her chest was flat, secretly guessing that she must be wrapped up to look like this. Li Zhen put away his thoughts and said: "Xiuying, you are my woman, of course, you will follow me."

  Zhou Xiuying pursed her lips and said in a low voice: "I don't want to have nothing to do, I want to practice martial arts and fight."

  Li Zhen said, "Fighting is a matter for the big masters. On the battlefield, killing enemies and making achievements are things that men should do. Why do you want to rush into the hail of bullets? It's very dangerous."

  It's not that Li Zhen doesn't support her, but rather he is worried about Zhou Xiuying's safety.

  Zhou Xiuying hummed and said: "If you don't agree, I'll leave Shanghai myself."

  "Stop it! Stop!"

  Li Zhen reluctantly nodded and said, "You want to form an army, that's fine. But don't recruit male soldiers, just assemble a female-only battalion. I'll give you a quota of 300 people, as well as provide guns, ammunition, and all the necessary training equipment according to military regulations. If you can train a female battalion, I'll acknowledge it, after all, you're my woman."

  "You're so great!"

  Zhou Xiuying said with some embarrassment, her face flushing slightly red.

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