As the gun went off, thick white smoke also enveloped the thin blue line. This was why Pan Jinlian had to wait until they were so close before ordering the gun to fire - although the effective range of the Longqing-style rifle exceeded 100 meters, 70 meters was the limit if you wanted to be accurate!
After a volley, the thick smoke from the black powder will seriously obscure the police officers' vision. It will be a luxury to aim again. They can only shoot roughly...
In the smoke, a sharp whistle sounded again, and the soldiers coughed while quickly reloading. The memory engraved in their muscles allowed them to complete all the steps accurately without seeing, so they would not be completely blinded when they could not see.
Then, at the command of the whistle, they raised their guns and fired again.
The hit rate this time was indeed not as good as last time. Although the distance was closer, it only caused half the damage...
Of course, this was what the observers saw upwind. The sea breeze blew the smoke toward the enemy camp, and the soldiers could not see the situation on the opposite side at all.
Normally, after two rounds of shooting, it would be time for a bayonet charge, but the whistle gave the order to reload again.
The soldiers didn't care about that and reloaded completely reflexively. Eight seconds later, they fired the third round!
And then nothing happened...
When the smoke was blown away by the sea breeze, the soldiers with red eyes saw that there were two or three hundred dead and wounded Ryukyu soldiers lying on the beach in front of them. The remaining Ryukyu soldiers were so scared that they turned around and ran back to the beach, wanting to get on the sampan and return to the ship to escape from these terrifying blue demons.
In fact, the Ryukyu soldiers were the most elite armed forces of Zhongshan Kingdom. They were born in good families on the main island, most of them had fought against the Japanese pirates, and they were at the forefront of the rebellion, and they frightened the rebels with their bravery.
But in front of this thin blue line, they quickly collapsed.
They collapsed in front of the line of execution, because they were the ones being executed...
Before this, they had never been able to imagine that this kind of musket, which was completely inaccurate, could not shoot far, and was prone to exploding, could have such terrifying power.
You know, in the Zhongshan Palace Army, the best soldiers used bows and arrows. Only those who were not good at shooting arrows had to pick up muskets with trepidation. At the moment they pulled the trigger, they had no idea whether the next shot would be shot at the enemy or blow off their fingers.
Therefore, there is no such thing as aiming and shooting from three points in a straight line. They will try to keep the bird gun away from their bodies, and take a shooting posture similar to that of Uncle Hei using an AK, so that when the barrel explodes, at least other parts of the body can be saved. Of course, the hit rate can be imagined...
So, when they found that the blue enemies on the opposite side could hit the target without missing a single shot, they were all stunned. Looking at their comrades falling in groups before their eyes, they could hardly believe their eyes.
What was even more unbelievable was that the second shot came so quickly that it felt like just a moment of distraction before another group of people were knocked down.
Oh my god, is there a second shot for a bird gun? After one shot, it becomes a fire stick, right?
The Ryukyu soldiers now completely lost their fighting spirit and fled back to the seaside as if they had seen a ghost.
Pan Jinlian did not order a pursuit, because it would cause huge losses to the Ryukyu people. Even if he didn't fire a single shot, he would chase them into the sea like ducks and drown most of them...
This was contrary to the principle of "maintaining authority, killing less and being cautious" proposed by the young master at the police work meeting. So he thought that these people should be allowed to spread the terror of the Marines back, rather than killing them all on the beach.
On the other hand, Captain Wu Da was not as conscious as Commissioner Pan. After two rounds of shooting, he personally led his team to chase and kill the fleeing soldiers. He chased them all the way to the seaside and captured most of them. Of course, many of them were drowned...
~~
King Shang Yuan was on his Sanshan Yitong ship, watching helplessly as half of the 3,000 royal troops he regarded as his life were destroyed in an instant. His eyes went dark and he passed out...
When he slowly woke up, he saw Ma Deshun had returned to him.
Shang Yuan stared at him intently, and Ma Deshun knelt down and cried, "Your Majesty, I am guilty, and I am willing to die to thank you!"
"You will die later." Shang Yuan waved his hand weakly and asked, "How many people are coming back?"
"Eight hundred..." Ma Deshun's voice was as soft as a mosquito.
"How many?"
"Eight hundred." He had to raise his voice.
"Eight hundred, it's only been a short while, and it's gone..." King Shang Yuan said with a broken heart.
"Eight hundred were returned, and twelve hundred were gone..." Ma Deshun was also a serious man, and he did not forget to correct Da Wangdao even at this moment.
"Puff..." King Shang Yuan spat out a mouthful of blood and almost fainted again.
"Oh, Master Ma, please stop talking." Zi Laixi quickly supported King Shang Yuan and complained to Ma Deshun, "Do you really want to piss the king off to death?"
But after spitting out the blood, King Shang Yuan felt better. He asked quietly, "What time is it?"
The princes were stunned, and hurriedly looked up at the sky and said, "It's almost noon."
"Why are you still surrounding us?" King Shang Yuan waved his hands and said weakly, "Quickly surrender. Do we have to wait for them to attack us again from the sea?"
When the princes heard this, they looked as if they had lost their parents and said, "How can we be vassal subjects? How can we face our ancestors?"
"It is I who surrender. It has nothing to do with you..." King Shang Yuan knew the little thoughts of his subordinates very well.
At this time, a burst of intensive artillery fire was heard from the blocking fleet at the mouth of the bay, which was obviously the final encouragement.
Seeing that the performance was going to fail, the princes dared not to act anymore and cried, saying that in the future, the national history would show that it was the benevolent king who could not bear the death of his subjects, so he bore the shame of surrender alone...
"What nonsense are you talking about? I surrendered to the Celestial Empire, and I am not ashamed of myself!" But Shang Yuan still didn't appreciate it.
The ministers were embarrassed and stopped talking. Without further delay, they quickly ordered the warships to raise the white flag.
~~
On the 102nd ship, seeing the white flag raised on the Ryukyu warship, the deputy captain Xiao Ya spat fiercely into the sea and said, "Fuck, is this the end? I haven't even started yet!"
"What kind of lewd words are you talking about?" Haierdi said as if it should be so: "As the saying goes, noble people cherish their lives. None of these second-generation rich people are not cowards."
"Besides, if it's too ugly, the young master will find it difficult." He patted Xiao Ya on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about not running out of shells. We still have plenty of battles to fight."
"That's good." Xiao Ya stopped getting angry.
"Accept the surrender quickly according to the plan. Order them to surrender one by one, starting from the Sanshan Yitong fleet." Haierdi ordered: "The young master wants to have dinner with King Shang Yuan, so tell them not to waste his time."
"I understand!" Xiao Ya was in high spirits. It was rare to have the opportunity to capture a king. Compared to a one-sided naval battle, this was something he could brag about for the rest of his life!
~~
"What? Let the king surrender first?!" After hearing the news brought back by Mei Shimang, the Ryukyu princes were furious again. "How is this possible? A soldier can be killed but not humiliated!"
"Oh, it's not surrender. It's just that Mr. Zhao wants to invite Your Majesty to dinner, so please go there first." Mei Shimang explained hurriedly.
"That sounds like human language..." Feeling that they had finally explained it away, the Ryukyu princes were no longer 'surprised'.
"Ha, ha..." Shang Yi had already been carried into the cabin. He was leaning on the expensive golden nanmu bed, his head resting on the pillow. He said with a self-deprecating smile, "I have to give you this honor. I will attend the banquet."
"What about the king's safety?" a prince asked anxiously. 'Prince' was the first-class honor in Zhongshan State, second only to the king. Not only the king's son could be called a prince, but also the king's brothers, uncles, and meritorious officials could also be promoted to 'prince'.
"Don't worry, you'll be safe over there." Shang Yi said calmly, "My Zhongshan Kingdom is one of the three great vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. I am a vassal king appointed by the Emperor of the Celestial Empire. Since they have the title of Royal Family, they will definitely not harm my life. Otherwise, how can I explain to the court?"
"Your Majesty is truly wise!" The princes and nobles immediately flattered him, saying, "We are now much more relieved."
"..." Looking at this bunch of nominal ministers, Shang Yi couldn't help but get angry. From the beginning to the end, no one said something like "If the master is humiliated, the minister will die, and we would rather die than let the king be humiliated." Even if it couldn't be more fake, it would make him feel better.
Thinking about the fact that this unforeseen disaster was caused by some of these people, he became even more furious and suddenly sneered, "I am not worried about my own safety, but I am afraid that I cannot protect the people in your families this time."
Several of the princes and nobles present suddenly changed their complexion when they heard this, and some even broke out in a sweat.
"Mr. Weng, what's wrong with you?" Shangyi looked at a third-rank official named Weng Shouxiang.
As the name implies, there are three "Sansiguan", which is the highest official rank among the Ryukyu samurai, equivalent to the three orphans of the Ming Dynasty. Although there is a "regent" above it, this position is usually vacant or symbolically granted to the royal relatives, and does not participate in state affairs. Therefore, the Sansiguan is actually the highest-ranking official in Zhongshan State.
Weng Shouxiang, who was named by Shangyi, was from one of the five famous families in Zhongshan State. He was the "Suodaifang" among the three officials, that is, the minister in charge of taxation and the national treasury, and the uncle of King Shangyuan.
He can be said to be the third person in Zhongshan State after the King and Lord Wen.
"No, nothing, it's just too hot." The third person was panicking. In fact, he was frightened when the Celestial Fleet appeared. He just hoped that the king might not know about those things, or that the Celestials might not know about them, and he hoped that he could get away with it.
"Is that so? Then you should cool down." Shang Yuan snorted in dissatisfaction and let Ji Laixi help him up. "Let's go to the banquet."
As he spoke, he did not forget to instruct the old eunuch, "By the way, pick out a few bottles of the best Awamori to take with you. It would be rude to go empty-handed."
"Hey." Zilaixi supported Shang Yuan and slowly walked out of the cabin.
"Your Majesty, my Weng family deserves death!" Weng Shouxiang finally couldn't hold it in any longer, he knelt down behind him, and burst into tears, "It's all your cousin's fault for being confused for a moment..."
ps. The third update will be released in a little while.