Shi Kefa's face turned pale as he listened to the situation report from the Anqing prefect.
Unexpectedly, Li Zhi had such extraordinary means. He actually sent more than a hundred people to sneak into the city of Anqing Prefecture controlled by the southern gentry, and took away Ruan Dacheng's counterfeit banknote workshop under the eyes of the Anqing prefect. More than 40 workers in the counterfeit banknote workshop,
No one escaped and they were all killed by Li Zhi in the workshop.
Not a single worker escaped. It was obvious that gunpowder detonated several rooms in the workshop at the same time. Shi Kefa didn't know what method Li Zhi used to achieve such an effect.
What’s even more frightening is that Ruan Dacheng’s entire family was killed in the explosion. According to the neighbor next door to Ruan Dacheng’s mansion, the Ruan family’s yard that morning was like a flaming crater. The explosion set off huge flames one after another, and the east side was blown up and the west side was blown up.
After exploding in the south and then in the north, the scene was as spectacular as lava erupting from a volcanic crater.
After the explosion, the Ruan family's mansion turned into a sea of flames. More than fifty members of the Ruan family were killed. Including Ruan Dacheng, as well as Ruan Dacheng's three sons and four grandsons, none of them escaped from the Shura Hell.
Li Zhi's methods were more terrifying than before. In the past, Li Zhi wanted to kill people and had to send troops to travel thousands of miles to attack the city. The people in Jiangnan had already learned this well and fled south as soon as they found out that Li Zhi had sent troops, leaving Li Zhi
It was all in vain. The last time Li Zhi sent troops south to arrest the Southern Zhili gentry who donated money to the Jiangbei Army, more than half of them escaped.
But now, Li Zhi didn't need to send troops at all. He directly sent people to sneak into the city and bombard them. Moreover, the bombing was so violent that it could kill people all over the house at every turn.
Shi Kefa's hands trembled, and he tried to calmly stroke his beard and asked: "What method did Thief Li use? How could he be so terrifying?"
The prefect of Anqing raised his hand and said: "My lord, according to the description of the scene that morning by the neighbor next door to the Ruan family, it seems that Li Thief used a rocket. Li Thief's killer was lurking on the roof of a nearby house and fired a rocket, which blew up two hundred steps away.
The Ruan family’s mansion.”
After hearing the words of the Anqing prefect, the generals of the Jiangbei Army looked at each other. They had all seen rockets. The weapon was powerful, but the hit rate was extremely low. Unless it was a large-scale battle involving tens of thousands of people, it would be several miles wide.
The front line must be bombarded indiscriminately, otherwise the rockets often miss the target.
Li Zhi's rocket can accurately bomb the Ruan family's house from two hundred steps. This is definitely not an ordinary rocket.
Everyone shook their heads and sighed, saying that Thief Li had another powerful method. The battle between Jiangbei Army and Thief Li was becoming increasingly difficult to fight.
Shi Kefa asked helplessly: "What happened to the killer sent by Li Zhi? Was he caught?"
The prefect of Anqing Prefecture shook his head helplessly and said: "Those Tianjin thieves were very rampant. After bombing the Ruan family, they rushed to the city wall. How could the guards and horses on the city wall be the opponents of these thieves? They were beaten to death by fire cannons.
Several people were killed. These bandits escaped from the city wall before dawn and headed north."
Shi Kefa took a breath and was speechless.
In front of Shi Kefa, the generals sitting in the main camp of the Jiangbei Army all had solemn faces. Li Zhi's methods were so terrible that they had to worry about the safety of themselves and their families.
If Li Zhi sent troops to conquer the south in the past and could be stopped by the Jiangbei Army, Li Zhi's current method of killing people and whole families thousands of miles away is simply impossible to prevent. Many generals of the Jiangbei Army have bought property and settled in Nanjing. If Li Zhi had
If they sent people to rush into Nanjing and massacre, wouldn't the generals of the Jiangbei Army collapse without a fight?
Wu Sangui cupped his hands and said: "My lord, the traitor Li is very capable. It would be better for me to bring all my family members to Nanchang and arrange them in the Jiangbei Army's barracks."
When Shi Kefa heard Wu Sangui's words, he stroked his beard.
In fact, Shi Kefa was not afraid of Li Zhi killing his family. Shi Kefa was actually a civil servant, and he relied entirely on Zuo Liangyu and Wu Sangui to lead the army. The reason why Shi Kefa became a leader was entirely based on his personal reputation. If Li Zhi killed Shi Kefa's family, not only would he not be able to
Weakening the strength of the Jiangbei Army will actually increase Shi Kefa's reputation.
If Li Zhi takes action against Shi Kefa's family, then Shi Kefa will become a loyal saint for the sake of scholars, which will only increase Shi Kefa's appeal and increase the strength of the Jiangbei Army. So no matter how he thinks about it, Shi Kefa is not afraid of Li Zhi
Touch your own family.
Zuo Liangyu was not afraid of Li Zhi's methods. Zuo Liangyu was a typical warlord. All his nephews and sons served as generals in the army, and even his wives and concubines were in the army.
The one in the Jiangbei army who was most afraid of Li Zhi's methods was Wu Sangui, whose family lived in the capital. If Li Zhi attacked his family secretly, it would only take three days to get from Tianjin to the capital.
Shi Kefa knew that Wu Sangui's question about him was a false question. What Wu Sangui wanted to say was that his Wu family members were safe.
"Uncle Chang is the backbone of our army, and he will be poisoned by Thief Li at any time. Uncle Chang should take all his family members to the Jiangbei Army and arrange them in the military camp."
Wu Sangui's face lit up with joy, he clasped his fists and said, "I will obey my instructions!"
Shi Kefa looked at the generals in the tent and said: "You are all the backbone of our Jiangbei Army. You must not put your family in danger. If you are above the guerrilla level, you can take your wife, son, and daughter to the army camp to avoid unforeseen events and dampen morale."
After hearing Shi Kefa's words, the soldiers in the tent immediately accepted the order, and the panic on their faces gradually disappeared.
Seeing that the morale of the generals had recovered again, Shi Kefa nodded.
Zuo Liangyu pondered and said: "Shi Gong, it is heartbreaking that Ruan Gong has died now. However, printing money to disturb the Li thieves is a good strategy. I wonder if the gentry in Nanchang Prefecture can continue to open a factory to print money and import counterfeit money to Shandong and Tianjin.
?”
Shi Kefa thought for a while, then turned to look at the Nanchang gentry sitting on the left side of the tent.
When the gentry in Nanchang heard Zuo Liangyu's words, it was as if they heard a reminder. No one dared to agree.
Li Zhi's methods were too powerful and had already frightened the gentry in Nanchang.
Although sending all the family members to the Jiangbei Army for protection would prevent Li Zhi from assassinating him, it is by no means a good thing. Not to mention the poverty in the military camp, what is even more frightening is that in the past, they were all men. Life in such a place is not only difficult, but also
It was a very dangerous place for the wives, daughters, concubines and maids of the gentry.
Gentlemen are no better than officers, and they have no authority at all in the military camp. Maybe some poor soldiers will go crazy one day and insult the gentry's female relatives.
It is okay to ask the gentry each to contribute a little money to fight against Li Zhi, but it is still a bit difficult to ask them to abandon everything and put their wives and daughters in danger to fight against Li Zhi.
Shi Kefa looked at the faces of the Nanchang gentry and knew that once Ruan Dacheng died, no one would come forward to print counterfeit money.
Ruan Dacheng can be said to be Shi Kefa's old friend. The two of them often walked around in Nanjing. Shi Kefa felt a little sad when he thought that his old friend was exterminated by Li Zhi because he worked for the gentry.
Shi Kefa shook his head and sighed: "It's a pity that Ruan Tongcheng, a talented man from the south of the Yangtze River, who only made a name for himself in the world, died like this at the hands of Thief Li." After a pause, Shi Kefa said: "Prefect of Anqing, you have to search for Ruan Dacheng's clothes in the Ruan family's house.
