Chapter 72: Wild Bees Break the Formation

  Second update, red envelope!

  A large crowd immediately began to stir, lifting the heavy catapult frame, laboriously moving it forward, and then under the cover of shields, pushing it forward for some distance.

  After a flurry of activity, the three catapults were operational again, reloaded with stones, and under a chorus of shouts, they fired once more.

  This time the effect was much better, two of the three stones fell into the village wall, one directly hitting the village wall, and making a shallow pit on the rammed earth wall, and also made a loud noise, causing people on the wall to feel a slight vibration under their feet.

  The village guards then became tense again, shouting and hurrying to load the cannons to fire outward.

  After three consecutive launches, the three catapults finally adjusted their angles, and the people pulling the ropes also found the rhythm, gradually being able to work together. This third launch was even more accurate, with all three stones falling within the compound. One stone even landed right next to a large pot that was just about to be filled with boiling water, knocking it over and spilling scalding water everywhere. The two old slaves and an elderly woman responsible for boiling the water were scalded, almost to death, and a chorus of cries echoed from within the compound.

  "Alright! Are you ready?" Xiao Tianjian called out to Tie Tou after seeing that the carriage's aim was getting more and more accurate.

  "Alright! Boss!"

  "Alright! In a moment, listen to my command and start charging forward! Feng Gouzzi! Are you ready?" Xiao Tianjian shouted at Feng Gouzi who was standing not far away.

  Feng Gouzzi's face was filled with excitement, and he quickly nodded and shouted: "I've been ready for a long time! Boss! I guarantee that the people in the village won't be able to leave without eating their fill! Hehe!"

  Xiao Tianjian also revealed a sly smile and immediately nodded: "Then let's get started! Let the people in the village know who's boss! Hmph!"

  Feng Gouzzi immediately nodded and agreed, then picked up three cloth bags and gave one to each of the carts. He tied the three bags together with a stone and shouted loudly: "Brothers, now it's up to you! Send this stuff to Fan Lao Cai for me! Haha!"

  Three catapults quickly rose again, and the stones wrapped in sacks whizzed out, falling into the village in the blink of an eye.

  Tie Tou covered his face with a thick cloth, leaving only his two eyes exposed. He nodded at the people around him who were making preparations to depart. The others also wrapped their heads tightly with cloth pieces, each one looking like a rice dumpling, and some even wrapped their hands with cloth strips. Their sleeves, collars, and pant legs were all tied tightly with cloth strips, not leaving any gaps. They looked as strange as ninja from the Eastern Sea, the more bizarre the better.

  Everyone's eyes widened and stared in the direction of the Zhuangzi, and sure enough, soon a burst of screams and wails came from over the wall, along with some people cursing loudly. The continuous gunfire that had been going on just now suddenly stopped, and even the bow and arrow shots ceased.

  "Go for it, Iron Head!" Xiao Tianjian immediately stopped smiling and shouted loudly at Iron Head.

  Tie Tou waved his hand and led the twenty men in a loud shout, charging out with one hand holding a shield and the other supporting a long ladder, sprinting wildly towards the village.

  At this moment, looking at the strong men on the wall, they were jumping around like madmen, bumping into each other like headless flies, and the cries of pain and angry curses filled the air. No one was paying attention to the commotion outside anymore.

  Tie Tou led the twenty men under him almost without any danger, and they quickly crossed the moat. They divided into two groups, swiftly setting up ladders against the wall of the Zhuang manor. The hooks at the front end were securely fastened onto the top of the wall, so there was no need to worry about being pushed down by the Zhuang family's guards anymore.

  At this time, Zhuang Ding was still continuing to jump and dance, completely disregarding the fact that someone had already leaned a long ladder against the wall of the Zhuang's house. The culprit behind all this was the countless small black dots flying around above the wall, which could only be seen up close as a group of wild bees that had gone mad. As soon as they saw someone moving, they would swarm and attack, using their stingers to pierce people's skin, causing the Zhuang Ding to run wildly in all directions, with no heart to resist the rods outside!

  Xiao Tianjian had Feng Gouzi bring a group of people to the nearby forest that night and found several large beehives of wild bees. Taking advantage of the opportunity that the wild bees were not active at night, they used cloth bags to bring back these beehives. Now, he has thrown them into Fanjia Fortress with a trebuchet. As soon as the cloth bag hit the ground, it opened its mouth, and the frightened wild bees rushed out frantically. Anyone who saw people would be surrounded by frantic attacks. The people in the village were not mentally prepared at all. Some people even swung their arms, ready to make a big move, but ended up becoming the biggest victims. These wild bees stung the villagers so much that they cried out in pain and fled in disarray. How could they still have the spirit to resist the sticks outside?

  Iron Head led the way, climbing up the long ladder, step by step, until this moment when the farmhands finally realized that something was wrong. They gritted their teeth and endured the intense pain of being stung, trying to find tools to resist, but from time to time, wild bees would fall on them, stinging them and making them cry out in agony, their muscles twitching involuntarily, unable to effectively resist anything.

  The result was that they watched with wide eyes as Tie Tou led the people to climb up the wall of the Zhuang one after another, staring fiercely at the Zhuang Ding and pressing forward. The Zhuang Ding had already been unable to resist by this time, and they frantically brushed off the wild bees on their bodies and fled towards the bottom of the wall.

  The Fan family fortress, which had been stagnant for two days, was easily occupied by Tie Tou and his men, who seized the wall of the manor. Before long, a loud rumbling sound was heard, and the suspension bridge hanging high above was cut off from its ropes, falling onto the moat outside the manor, forming a path leading into the manor.

  Tie Tou led the men to clear the wall of the Zhuang village, and immediately rushed down the wall, charging into the village. They quickly knocked down two Zhuang villagers who were trying to resist at the gate, and opened the gate from inside.

  Looking at the open manor gate, Xiao Tianjian was grinning from ear to ear. He hadn't even fired a single tiger squat cannon and had already entered the manor. Compared to the previous two days' results, this was incredibly good, and as far as he could see now, there were almost no losses. It seemed that these biological weapons were indeed formidable!

  Then he also covered his head with a piece of cloth, wrapped his head tightly, checked the cuffs and other places on his body, raised the long gun in his hand, and shouted: "Brothers, follow me in!"

  The men outside the village, seeing this situation, all went crazy and cheered, then took out the prepared rags and other things, wrapped their heads, and followed Xiao Tianjian to rush towards the village.

  When Xiao Tianjian led his men into the Zhuangzi, they encountered little resistance and quickly occupied it. The few remaining Zhuangzi guards who resisted were cut down by Tie Tou and Yan Chongxi and others, while the rest of the guards were stung by wild bees until they resembled pigs' heads, clutching their heads and crouching on the ground, wailing for mercy as they desperately tried to shoo away the swarming bees. It was a truly pathetic sight.

  The whole Fan family had disappeared at this moment, and the whole family ran into his mansion, closed the gate, and made a burst of screams in a panic.

  Tie Tou and Yan Chong Xi had already led a group of people to surround his house, this moment even if they grew wings on their ribs, they probably wouldn't have anywhere to fly.

  "Pour boiling water on the beehives or set them on fire! Quick! This thing stings and it's not good to suffer! Hehe!" Xiao Tianjian soon saw the two or three cloth bags on the ground, which were now open with large beehives exposed inside. Many wild bees were still flying around their respective hives, buzzing loudly and making a mess that was hard to understand.

  Someone quickly brought over torches and vigorously waved them to burn the wild bees flying around the beehive to death. Some of the beehives were set on fire, and someone brought hot water from the farm to pour over them again, which was enough to thoroughly get rid of the several wild beehives. Only some wild bees in the sky couldn't find their way home and were still buzzing around. Some people kept driving them away with torches, and gradually some of the wild bees fell to the ground and died after stinging people. The rest of the wild bees couldn't find their hive and slowly started to disperse, at least making everyone feel a bit safer.

  Huang Shengqiang led a few men to carry the tiger squat cannon from outside the village, bringing some ammunition and other items. As soon as they saw Xiao Tianjian, they asked for instructions on what to do. It turned out that Huang Shengqiang was in charge of operating the cannon, but before he could fire a shot, they had already entered the village. Huang Shengqiang felt a bit suffocated and thought he hadn't been able to show his face in front of the new leader. Now he was afraid of being looked down upon, so he hastily wanted to find something to fire a cannon at.

  Xiao Tianjian glanced at the tightly closed gate of the Fan family's courtyard, and with a casual gesture, he ordered Huang Shengqiang: "Blast open this big gate for me. I want to see if Old Man Fan can still hold on!"

  Huang Shengqiang immediately jumped up and responded with a loud "yes", then led several temporary subordinates assigned to him to run outside the gate, without saying another word, and began to set up this tiger cannon.

  The tiger squat cannon is actually just a lightweight artillery, the barrel is relatively short, and the chamber is also relatively thin. It's considered to be a field artillery in the Ming dynasty army, belonging to the category of field guns. The structure is very simple, without a gun carriage, only with two iron claws at the front that can be stuck into the ground, and a small iron anchor with an iron chain to restrain the recoil force, which is quite convenient.

  Xiao Tianjian captured this tiger squat cannon from Wang Tiandong, which is only a few dozen kilograms in total weight. Two people can move it around, and one large bullet can be loaded at a time, with 100-200 small bullets loaded in front of it. One shot can hit a large area, making it quite effective against close-range cluster targets. Moreover, it can also be used to attack fortifications in specific areas. However, there is a major drawback - its range is extremely limited. Within 30 steps, the power is still acceptable, but further away, these small bullets have little penetrating power. Therefore, after Xiao Tianjian understood the capabilities of this thing, he didn't think much of it.

  But for now, this tiger cannon is also his only heavy firepower weapon. Although he's not satisfied, he can only make do with it for now. After all, many rods are still hard to come by! He's also content, using it to blast such a big door, this thing should be fine, right?