Seeing the ten porters in front of him, the bandits seemed to have achieved their goal, but they really did not shoot again. Then a guy wearing a melon-shaped hat and stinged and said, "Be aware of it, the old man will only rob money and not kill his life. Who among you is the leader?"

Zhao Er hurried out, bowed and nodded, "Big King, the little Zhao Er is the boss."

The big-thumb brother of the melon-skin hat pointed back and said, "I am not the king, that is my king. Stop talking nonsense, let me ask you, how far is this place from Suzhou?"

Zhao Er took the time to observe the bandits with the melon-skin hat.

The man who was called the king was indeed full of heroic spirit. A scholar in the green clothes beside him looked sick, with a pale face and coughed a few times from time to time. The other dozen people were also savvy men.

Zhao Er's observation was only an instant action, and it was not noticed by the other party at all. Then, he immediately said: "Yes, yes. If you go back to the king, you will be Guzhen further ahead, and there are still about a hundred miles away from Suzhou."

The melon-skin hat seemed very satisfied. At this time, the scholar behind him spoke: "Hurry up, you have to hurry up."

The melon-pie hat immediately said, "Okay, for your respect, stop being too slow, and hand over the valuable ones quickly."

At this time, some of those men began to walk forward, as if they were preparing to take over the cart and check their belongings.

Zhao Er immediately said, "Yes, I'll give you this." Then he turned around and ran quickly to the trolley in front of the men. While he was turning around, Zhao Er gave Chi Saner and other brothers a color.

After Zhao Er returned to the car, it took only a few seconds. The men next to the car suddenly lifted the canvas cover on the car, pulled out the hidden rifle from the car, then turned it over and quickly pulled out the formation.

"Don't move, just move will make your head bloom!"

This is really not a scare. With such a close distance, with the shooting skills of the guards, it is not difficult to hit such a big target in the head.

Things happened too quickly. The Guards had been practicing this kind of action very well for a long time. From lifting the cover, then scrambling the guns to dispersing the formation, the bandits on the opposite side did not react at all.

"Cao, it's the officers and soldiers!"

After all, I understood, and someone subconsciously wanted to raise the gun.

‘其!’ ‘其’ two gunshots. The soldiers of the Guards fired. The soldiers who were already ready quickly reported when they saw a bandit intend to counterattack. Sure enough, the two bandits had holes in their heads.

Amid the gunshot, the legs of the melon-skin cap weakened and he knelt on the ground with a plop.

The bandit leader who had never spoken at this time shouted, "Brothers, run!" Then he lifted his clothes and planned to pull out the six revolvers that were tied to his waist.

Zhao Er had been staring at him for a long time, and immediately pulled the trigger. With a crisp gunshot, the bandit leader fell down.

The death of the bandit leader immediately aroused the resistance of other great men. The soldiers of the Guards had no choice but to pull the triggers repeatedly. With the sound of gunshots, the bandits on the opposite side fell one by one.

"Don't kill if you give up the gun! You won't kill if you give up the gun!" Zhao Er kept shouting.

I don’t know if it was the call or the role of falling companions. In short, the last five or six people no longer had the desire to resist. They lowered their hands blankly and looked at the corpses all over the ground.

Zhao Er quickly signaled the soldiers to stop shooting, and then the soldiers quickly rushed towards the remaining bandits and began to capture prisoners.

The battle of soldiers and bandits in the wild lasted only a few minutes. A squad of soldiers from a long-trained and well-prepared Guards easily defeated more than 20 bandits, more than a dozen bandits were shot dead during the battle, and the remaining five bandits were captured alive.

While watching the soldiers clean the battlefield, Zhao Er thought about how to write the summary report after going back. At this moment, a rapid sound of horse hooves came from afar.

‘Crash’, a sound of pulling the gun bolt, the soldiers quickly began to alert. Zhao Er waved his hand, and two of the soldiers quickly hid in the woods beside him.

‘Bang!’ A soldier fired a gun into the sky to warn him, and then shouted loudly: “Who? Stop immediately and accept our army’s inspection!”.

"Don't shoot!" From a distance, the person on the horse shouted loudly: "I am the company correspondent, is it Squad Leader Zhao in front?"

Zhao Er signaled the soldiers to be alert and immediately said, "I am Zhao Yuliang, who are you?"

The horses approached quickly and could clearly see the people on the horse's back wearing the Guards uniform. Then, the people immediately came down and quickly came to Zhao Er, giving a standard military salute.

"Company Correspondent Sui Hong, I have met Squad Leader Zhao." As he said, he handed over his soldier certificate and a document.

Zhao Er first replied a greeting, then took the soldier's certificate and documents and looked carefully. He did not find any problems. Then he said: "I am so lucky that this brother is suffering. What order should the company send?"

Sui Hong smiled and said, "It should be. That's right. The company headquarters received an order from the regiment command center, requiring each squad to gather in Suzhou immediately and prepare to rush to Hubei. I was originally going to Guzhen to send a message, and your platoon leader said that your squad is still on duty outside, so he borrowed my horse to find you and asked you to return quickly. I also heard the gunshots and found them."

Sui Hong said so much in one breath, and then he took the time to take out the kettle and sip it hard.

Chi Saner heard this and said excitedly: "It's great, there's finally a mission! Squad leader, let's hurry up, don't let the platoon leader wait for a long time."

Zhao Er was also excited. After so many days of his release, he had no decent tasks. This time it was an order from the regiment command center. It seemed that there was a big job. "Brothers, the company has emergency military affairs. The bandits' bodies are not transported back and buried on the spot. You must move quickly!"

After issuing this order, Zhao Er suddenly felt that his clothes were being pulled twice, and then glanced at Chi Saner beside him.

Chi Saner shook his old partner and signaled what to do if these prisoners were doing?

Zhao Er realized that there were still a few more living people to take away. It was really troublesome.

Chi Saner smiled and said, "Just shoot them one by one and bury them here."

This is a joke. The Guards are disciplined strictly and will never allow the shooting of prisoners. Especially before the order to suppress the bandits, the command center emphasized that most of these bandits are refugees who live without a living and take risks only when they cannot survive. If it is not necessary, they must never kill lives. Especially when surrendered prisoners, they should treat them as favorable as possible.

But the bandits did not know the military rules of the Guards.

The melon-pie hat has been paying attention to Zhao Er and Chi Saner from beginning to end. He was just a bowl of rice that was observing his words and expressions, and he could easily find the commander of the group of officers and soldiers. After all, his life was in his hands, so he could not help but be careful. Chi Saner's joke immediately scared him.

Some of the Qing government troops were unable to keep up with the bandits. Not to mention that they were indeed genuine bandits, even if they were truly innocent ordinary people, killing a few for military merits was just a matter of one word. Besides, just a few minutes ago, these people shot and killed more than a dozen of their brothers without blinking.

"Master!Master! Can't kill! Can't kill!"

The melon-skin hats were stacked and the tears fell down, and it was like a death row before the execution.

Zhao Er was about to make fun of his deputy, but he suddenly interrupted him and immediately frowned: "What are you ghost!"

The soldier guarding the prisoner next to him saw the squad leader's face turned cold, and immediately pulled the bolt of the gun and drank: "Shut up!"

When Guapi Hat saw that the soldier had pulled Dashuan, he became more determined to make a judgment. The officers and soldiers were about to take action. Now is the last chance. If you don’t fight for it, your life may be scrapped in minutes. He didn’t care about anything and shouted loudly: “Master!Master! Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me! I have a secret report!”

Zhao Er thought to himself, who wants to kill you? Isn’t it okay to joke? I’m really ignorant. Just as I was about to talk, Chi Saner was a meticulous person on the side, and quickly signaled to the squad leader: “Let me hear what he said.”

So Zhao Er said something and changed it temporarily: "Okay, then I'll give you a chance and tell me what valuable news is there?"

The melon-skinned hat was granted a general amnesty and immediately said: "Yes, yes! The youngest is called Chen Jingrui, the person who looks like a scholar is called Li Hong. We are all brothers from the Brothers Association and are planning a big event..."

Wuhan, Hubei Governor's Office.

Zhang Zhidong is receiving the visiting imperial envoy Ronglu.

Ronglu was originally in Nanjing and led the new army to train and rectify the errands. Although it was related to Zhang Zhidong, he usually said hello and would go to the provincial government to conduct military affairs. However, this time Ronglu came as the name of inspecting the ministers of the lesson plans of the five provinces, so Zhang Zhidong could not get rid of it.

Because of the previous Wuxue teaching plan, Guangxu scolded Zhang Zhidong again. In the past two years, Lao Zhang has been scolded by Guangxu several times every year, but fortunately, Lao Zhang is seeking progress. After the emperor scolds him, he will immediately find his aide to analyze where he did something wrong. He was scolded by the emperor, and after analyzing the reasons, he will correct it accordingly.

For example, last year, he was scolded by Guangxu for purchasing steelmaking equipment and was even errands. So after coming to Wuhan, Zhang Zhidong obediently learned how to build railways with the Americans and never refined steel again. This time he was scolded for the lesson plan, and now he is very humble in facing Ronglu.

"Please look at Lord Zhang, this is the detailed incident of the Danyang lesson plan." Ronglu handed over a memorial. Then he said: "The first suspicious point is the two nuns. Many of my students speak French. They can easily chat with the missionary during the investigation. According to him, although he was the one who went to the county government to bail, when he arrived at the county government, he found that he did not know the two nuns at all."

Speaking of this, Zhang Zhidong interrupted, "Then why does he still need bail?"

Rong Lu said: "That's right. According to him, two nuns in their church did not go back to the church on time. They searched for it from many sources, but they did not find it. On that day, someone sent a letter saying that the two nuns were arrested by the county government, so he hurriedly went to bail. But after discovering that it was not, he wanted to leave, but the two strange nuns begged. He thought they were all brothers and sisters serving the Lord, and when he felt soft, he agreed. He bailed them out of the county government and took them back to the church. The two nuns stayed for one night and said hurriedly away the next day."

Zhang Zhidong frowned and said, "Since it was the missionary who was on bail, there is no doubt about this?"

Rong Lu smiled and said, "There are two doubts. First, since he doesn't know these two nuns, where did the two nuns in the church go before? Second, who sent him a letter to go to the county government for bail?"

Ronglu did not wait for Zhang Zhidong to answer, and then said, "Compare the confession of the county government. On that day, after the two women were sent to the county government, they did not admit that they were kidnapped children, but said that the two children were bought. But when the county government asked to present the comprador documents, they could not take it out. Therefore, after bail, the suspected kidnapped children were not handed over to them, but stayed in the county government. But on the third day, the woman who asked to get the child back did not go to the county government, but went directly to the church to ask for the person. Adult, generally speaking, since this matter has been passed by an official and the civilian woman wants to get the child back, she should always ask for a question at the county government. But in this case, the civilian woman directly found the church to ask for the person!"

Zhang Zhidong nodded: "It's true."

"Also, when the two nuns were requesting bail, they told the county government and French missionaries that they were from the Nanjing Church. Later, I searched many times and no one in the Nanjing Church knew these two nuns. It can be seen that these two lies. Moreover, afterwards, I went to the Baojia Bureau of Wuhu to investigate and found that the person who sent the nun was not a local person, and there was nowhere to be found."

Having said that, Zhang Zhidong also understood that there was something strange in the middle.

"Let's talk about the day of the incident. The news that the woman failed to ask for her child was circulated very quickly. In just half a day, thousands of people besieged the church. At night, nearly ten thousand people gathered. It is hard to believe that there is no organizer."

"What about Danyang's lesson plan?" Zhang Zhidong asked.

Ronglu took out another note: "Please read it, sir. There are many doubts about this case. First of all, the problem of the corpses of children in the church cemetery. Although the cemetery of the church is not the same as the villagers, it is not guarded day and night. Anyone can bury the bodies when there is no one. It cannot be explained that it is a problem of the church. Moreover, judging from the degree of decay of the children's bodies found, the burial time varies greatly. I specifically investigated the coroner, and several of them had been buried for more than ten years. More than ten years ago, there was no church in Danyang!"

"Let's talk about the nanny hall, it's obvious that the dead babies in the nanny hall died suddenly within one day. This nanny hall has existed for a day or two in Danyang, and it has not received a large number of dead babies once or twice. In fact, if there were similar situations before, the Danyang Church would have been burned long ago and could not wait for the present. And this time, all the infants and children in the nanny hall in the church died. Isn't that strange?"

After saying this, Ronglu looked at Zhang Zhidong: "As for the Wuxue lesson plan, I have to ask for advice."

Zhang Zhidong thought deeply: "When I tried the case, I did not find any similar suspicion. Ouyang Liran, the Catholic who carried the young children, was still in detention. According to him, the four children he carried were all very healthy and were supposed to be sent to the French Catholic Church in Jiujiang. When he was passing by the wharf of Wuxue Town, Guangji County, one of the children suddenly died. He didn't know what happened. At that time, it might be that the local people had been angry with the church for a long time, and they were even more angry when they saw this. They immediately gathered more than a thousand people to burn the Wuxue Church. As for the British priest and customs inspector Colin, who wanted to organize the rioters to commit crimes at that time, he was unfortunately beaten to death."

After hearing this, Ronglu thought for a while and said, "Then the problem may be the speed of the gathering of the masses. In addition, did the adults examine the corpse of the young child? Also, did the believer say that he had seen any suspicious figures on the dock at that time?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "The body of the young child was stolen by the masses. Later, he was buried in the cemetery outside the city under the presidency of the government, and there was no autopsy. As for Ouyang Liran, if Lord Rong is interested, he can be summoned immediately."

Ronglu immediately said, "Okay, then I'll trouble you."

Zhang Zhidong said, "You're welcome, Lord Rong is also helping me." He then asked someone to summon Ouyang Liran. At this moment, an aide came in and said, "Sir, there is a soldier in uniform outside, saying that he is from the Eighth Regiment of the Guards. If there is an emergency military situation, you want to see Lord Rong!"

Ronglu immediately said, "I'll help me lead the way."

The staff member glanced at Zhang Zhidong again, and Zhang Zhidong immediately waved his hand and said, "Go quickly!"

"yes!"

The staff turned around and left, and soon brought a soldier. The soldier wore the guard uniform and looked dusty, with deep eyes and chapped lips. He seemed to have not rested for many days.

After entering the house, the soldiers glanced at the two adults, and then saluted Ronglu: "Sui Hong, the correspondent of the Eighth Regiment of the Guards - it's him again - has met the leader!" Then he said: "I've met Lord Zhang."

Ronglu replied with a gift and said, "What's the urgent matter?"

Sui Hongdao: "Five days ago, the first squad of the 2nd Platoon of the Fourth Company of the 8th Regiment arrested several bandits while performing military affairs. After interrogation, one of the bandits told me that they were all members of the Jiangnan Ge Laohui and explained the three lesson plans that occurred in Liangjiang before were planned by a young man named Li Hong of the association. The purpose was to provoke conflicts between foreigners and the court and trigger the war in China and the United States. Ge Laohui would take advantage of the chaos to seize the ripples and build the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom again!"
Chapter completed!