Chapter 1349
Forced into a corner
Chapter 1349 Forced into a corner
At this time, Zheng Ai can confirm one thing, that is, even if there are no Haihan soldiers downstairs, they will still face insurmountable difficulties if they want to rush into the room at the end of the corridor.The shields in their hands could block the bullets from the Haihan muskets, but they couldn't stop the continuous firing of the mysterious weapons in that room.If one bullet can kill a person, then their group of dead soldiers is only equivalent to more than 20 bullets, not to mention that there are not even ten people who have not fallen in the corridor at this time.
Even though they knew that the opponent's weapon could penetrate the shield, everyone subconsciously continued to use the shield to protect the front, but four companions fell in a pool of blood one after another, which made them lose the courage to move forward.The place where the companion fell was like a life-and-death line drawn. Those who tried to cross this line fell to the ground, and when they retreated behind this line, the room did not continue to fire. It's just that the muzzle of the black hole has been aiming at them, as if the god of death is looking for the next target.
"Listen, people in the hallway, you are surrounded, put down your weapons and surrender immediately, anyone who violates the law will be shot!"
There was a loud shout from downstairs, probably at a volume that could only be uttered with the aid of a tin horn.Although it was noon and the sun was shining brightly, the hearts of Zheng Ai and the others were already cold.The gunfire downstairs has completely stopped, and the situation is obviously controlled by the Haihan people. It is difficult to turn around and break out at this time.And the room at the end of the corridor may be more terrifying than the Haihan soldiers downstairs, and there is only a dead end in that direction.
"Fight them!"
Even though more than half of them were killed or injured, some of them were still very fierce. They immediately stood up with their bows and arrows in their hands, aiming downstairs from behind the guardrail, intending to shoot another enemy before dying in battle.It’s just that his body just leaned out of the guardrail, and before he had time to pull the bow and arrow away, there was a gunshot like popping beans below. Zheng Ai saw blood splashing from the back of the man’s head, and fell on his back without even groaning. up.There was a finger-sized blood hole on his forehead, and this fatal shot passed through his head and took him away directly.
Zheng Ai's hand holding the shield trembled slightly. He had planned to fight to the death, and would rather die than let the Haihan people catch him alive, but he saw his companions fall under the guns one by one. In the tragic situation, he found that his will seemed not so strong.
The huge disparity in combat power between the two sides was one aspect, and on the other hand, he found that the Haihan people did not seem to intend to kill all the assassins directly, but deliberately left the possibility of survival.In a desperate situation but suddenly found a glimmer of life, how many people will resolutely choose to die generously?
Zheng Ai originally thought that if he carried out this task with the determination to die, he would definitely have the determination to die for the country, but when the real thing came to an end, he discovered that many situations were not consistent with what he had imagined beforehand.It is very easy to seek death. Now as long as you stand up, put your head out of the guardrail, or take a few steps forward, you will definitely be beaten to pieces like your dead companions, and die in an instant.
But the slogans to persuade them to surrender continued to be repeated downstairs, even if they blocked their ears with their hands, they couldn't block such a loud noise, every word and every word penetrated into each of their ears clearly.This seems to persuade them to surrender, but it is actually another form of attack, and the effect of disintegrating their psychological defense seems to be no worse than muskets.
Some people have already begun to cast their eyes on Zheng Ai, waiting for him to make a final decision.Zheng Ai is the commander of this operation, and everyone is looking forward to it. No matter whether they want to fight to the death or try to save their lives, they must make up their minds as soon as possible.Otherwise, if we continue to procrastinate, we may lose even a chance to get out.
When Zheng Ai was about to speak, the door at the end of the corridor slowly opened wider and wider. He saw the muzzle of the gun retracted from the door, and it seemed that the other party was about to stop.Zheng Ai's heart relaxed, and he was about to call for everyone to charge shoulder to shoulder for the last time, when suddenly his pupils shrank, and he almost dropped the shield in his hand to the ground.
This was because he suddenly saw something in the door at the end of the corridor that should not have appeared here—a shiny black cannon.
Although the caliber of this gun is less than two inches, a gun is a gun, and its power cannot be compared with that of a musket.If the barrel was filled with iron shotguns, one shot would be enough to cover such a narrow corridor.Moreover, as far as Zheng Ai knows, the Haihan Cannon does not need a fuse to ignite at all, but a medicine bag plus a rope to pull it out. It can be fired with a light shake of the hand, leaving no extra reaction time for the enemy.Even if their group was only about three feet away from the muzzle, the opponent still had enough time to fire the shells and tear them all to pieces.
Why is there a cannon waiting for him in the room on the second floor of the Haihan Management Committee?Zheng Ai no longer had the time to think about what kind of mistake happened in the middle, so that the Haihan people could lay such a strict trap for him to drill. Now he only knows whether there are Chen Yixin and Ma Yuling in that room. Now, they couldn't rush in and arrest people, even if they paid their lives.After all, it is impossible for flesh and blood to fight against steel cannonballs.
If life can be exchanged for life, Zheng Ai will choose to perish with the enemy chieftain without hesitation. He is not afraid of death, but he does not want to die meaninglessly.When he saw this cannon, he knew that no amount of struggle would be futile. No matter what, this operation had no chance of success.The only variable is whether all the remaining people died here, or how many survived by luck.
At this time, the sound of persuasion downstairs suddenly stopped, and the surroundings suddenly fell into silence.Zheng Ai waited for a while, but he didn't wait for the artillery on the opposite side to fire, and no Haihan soldiers rushed up from downstairs. Just when he was feeling at a loss, a voice came from the room at the end of the corridor: "It's better to die than to live, you guys Do you want to die that much?"
Zheng Ai replied in a deep voice: "A man will do something and not do something. If he dies for the country, he deserves it!"
The voice in the room replied: "If you want to do things for the country, you don't necessarily have to die. If you die, it may not be of any benefit to the country."
Zheng Ai was silent for a moment before responding: "If my death can be exchanged for the vigilance of the court, it will be worth it!"
"Stupid! What else can your actions do other than bring a new round of war for Da Ming?" The voice in the room retorted mercilessly: "Haihan has no intention of going to war with Da Ming, but you Doing so is forcing us to go to war with Ming! Could it be that the Denglai Rebellion a few years ago was not enough to make you realize the danger of war?"
Zheng Ai didn't respond this time, he knew that he couldn't say anything to the other party, because only the winner is qualified to comment on the situation in such a tone, and he is just a failed assassin, and he is likely to bear the responsibility for the result. Very heavy responsibility.
It's hard to say whether Haihan has the intention of going to war with Ming Dynasty, but it is a fact that Haihan has used force to occupy the land of Ming Dynasty.It's just that Zheng Ai also knows that it's useless to talk about these things with the other party. How can the land that was taken by force be taken back with a touch of lip service.If the problem can be resolved through negotiation, why should he appear here and now as an assassin.
If he debates with the other party on the issue of territorial sovereignty, Zheng Ai knows that he will only humiliate himself in the end, and whether Haihan will use this as an excuse to start a war against Ming, he simply does not have enough power to influence the actions of the Haihan people .As for the "Denglai Rebellion" mentioned by the other party, Zheng Ai believes that this is not the same as the current complicated relationship between Da Ming and Haihan. Invasion, the two are different in nature, and it is obvious that the other party has a rhythmic intention to confuse them.
But the problem is still back to the starting point. It is useless for Zheng Ai, as a loser, to debate these details. The other party mentioned that the purpose of the Denglai Rebellion was just to use war as a threat to exert pressure in a disguised form, forcing people like himself to disarm and surrender. .
Zheng Ai was silent for a long time before he spoke again: "We people, no matter whether we are dead or alive, will become your pawns to blackmail Daming, won't we?"
This time it was the turn of the voice in the room to be silent, and after a while, the voice sounded again: "Da Ming is not Hai Han's enemy, even if the two countries were to go to war, this place would definitely not be in Shandong, so you are satisfied ?”
This answer seemed to be wrong, but Zheng Ai let out a sigh of relief after hearing this, and slowly put down the shield and waist knife in his hand.Seeing this, everyone behind him hurriedly asked, "Master Zheng, are you stopping the fight?"
Zheng Ai shook his head lightly and said: "Stop beating, for Hai Han, the lives and deaths of us people are not important. Since we can't get things done, then beating again will be death in vain."
The reason why Zheng Ai refused to surrender was because he was worried that after his team was captured, Haihan would use them as a fuss, and then provoke an all-out war against Ming.Even if the consequences are not so serious, they are very likely to be used to threaten the Shandong government and obtain some unequal conditions.But the last few words of the person in the room dispelled his doubts—even if the Haihan people wanted to attack Daming, they would not choose Shandong as a place.
Haihan's foundation is in the South China Sea. Even if he wants to attack Daming, he should attack from a location like Fuguang's doorstep, not Shandong thousands of miles away.Therefore, it is logically reasonable that the Haihan people caught a group of assassins who attempted to act in Shandong, and it would not trigger a full-scale war between the two countries.
And in the current situation where Haihan is in control of the situation and can kill them, there is no need for the other party to use lies to trick Zheng Ai and others into surrendering.The Haihan people didn't even need to persuade them to surrender. It was simpler and more straightforward to kill them with a single shot, without leaving any future troubles.
Zheng Ai thinks that the main reason why the opponent didn't do this is that he really didn't intend to kill his team.But if the stalemate continues, there will be no other way for my team to go except to die here, and death will be in vain, which will not have any substantial impact on Haihan's local status.
Since it is useless, why die?Even though Zheng Aidang gave up the idea of dying for the country, he chose to surrender to the Haihan people.Of course, this is still a gamble, betting that the Haihan people will not slowly torture them to death after capturing them, betting that their weight in the other party's heart is really insignificant, betting that they can continue to live.
In the desperate situation, Zheng Ai couldn't think of any other better and more reasonable choice, so he put down his weapon, raised his hands, and slowly stood up.Sure enough, no more bullets were fired from downstairs, but there was the sound of intensive footsteps. It should be that Haihan soldiers were about to come up the stairs to fetch people.
Zheng Ai slowly turned his head and glanced downstairs, the carts had been dragged to nowhere, and he didn't see any other companions who didn't rush upstairs.But there were several puddles of blood scattered on the ground, which couldn't be more conspicuous.The number of Haihan soldiers assembled in front of the office building is probably as many as a hundred people, and there are still groups of Haihan soldiers patrolling back and forth in the distance. Even the official road passing here has been temporarily blocked.
Zheng Ai just glanced at the surrounding situation, and knew that if he hadn't rushed upstairs, he would have turned around and fled immediately, and he might not have been able to escape the encirclement of the Haihan people.This is a trap, a big trap that has been laid out long ago, waiting for him to lead his team into it.The Haihan people even had the leisure to move a cannon up to the second floor and hide it in the room in the corridor as a final blow.
Zheng Ai's long-planned assassination and kidnapping operation was doomed to fail before it even started.When he realized this, his heart was as dead as ashes, all thoughts were empty, and he had no idea of resistance at all.
A group of Haihan soldiers rushed up to the second floor, locked the dejected assassins one by one with iron shackles, and dragged them downstairs.No one made a sound during this process, only the tinkling of iron shackles was heard.Zheng Ai suddenly realized that the other party might have even prepared the shackles in advance, and was just waiting to capture them alive here.
"The leader, send it to the room."
There was another sound from the room at the end of the corridor, and then Zheng Ai, who had been locked hands and feet, was temporarily put on a pair of shackles, connecting the shackles between his hands and feet together, so that he could only bow down The posture of the body moved forward with small steps, which was very similar to the way he was slowly pushing forward with a shield in the corridor before.
The cannon that was originally stuck at the door had been pushed back into the house. Zheng Ai was brought to the door. After taking a deep breath, he probed to see what was going on in the room.
It was not the first time for him to enter this room. In fact, he had entered here before when negotiating an order with the Haihan people, and saw the young Haihan general sign the contract with his own eyes.At this time, that person was in the room with a calm expression, as if he hadn't affected his emotions at all because of the battle just now.
(End of this chapter)
At this time, Zheng Ai can confirm one thing, that is, even if there are no Haihan soldiers downstairs, they will still face insurmountable difficulties if they want to rush into the room at the end of the corridor.The shields in their hands could block the bullets from the Haihan muskets, but they couldn't stop the continuous firing of the mysterious weapons in that room.If one bullet can kill a person, then their group of dead soldiers is only equivalent to more than 20 bullets, not to mention that there are not even ten people who have not fallen in the corridor at this time.
Even though they knew that the opponent's weapon could penetrate the shield, everyone subconsciously continued to use the shield to protect the front, but four companions fell in a pool of blood one after another, which made them lose the courage to move forward.The place where the companion fell was like a life-and-death line drawn. Those who tried to cross this line fell to the ground, and when they retreated behind this line, the room did not continue to fire. It's just that the muzzle of the black hole has been aiming at them, as if the god of death is looking for the next target.
"Listen, people in the hallway, you are surrounded, put down your weapons and surrender immediately, anyone who violates the law will be shot!"
There was a loud shout from downstairs, probably at a volume that could only be uttered with the aid of a tin horn.Although it was noon and the sun was shining brightly, the hearts of Zheng Ai and the others were already cold.The gunfire downstairs has completely stopped, and the situation is obviously controlled by the Haihan people. It is difficult to turn around and break out at this time.And the room at the end of the corridor may be more terrifying than the Haihan soldiers downstairs, and there is only a dead end in that direction.
"Fight them!"
Even though more than half of them were killed or injured, some of them were still very fierce. They immediately stood up with their bows and arrows in their hands, aiming downstairs from behind the guardrail, intending to shoot another enemy before dying in battle.It’s just that his body just leaned out of the guardrail, and before he had time to pull the bow and arrow away, there was a gunshot like popping beans below. Zheng Ai saw blood splashing from the back of the man’s head, and fell on his back without even groaning. up.There was a finger-sized blood hole on his forehead, and this fatal shot passed through his head and took him away directly.
Zheng Ai's hand holding the shield trembled slightly. He had planned to fight to the death, and would rather die than let the Haihan people catch him alive, but he saw his companions fall under the guns one by one. In the tragic situation, he found that his will seemed not so strong.
The huge disparity in combat power between the two sides was one aspect, and on the other hand, he found that the Haihan people did not seem to intend to kill all the assassins directly, but deliberately left the possibility of survival.In a desperate situation but suddenly found a glimmer of life, how many people will resolutely choose to die generously?
Zheng Ai originally thought that if he carried out this task with the determination to die, he would definitely have the determination to die for the country, but when the real thing came to an end, he discovered that many situations were not consistent with what he had imagined beforehand.It is very easy to seek death. Now as long as you stand up, put your head out of the guardrail, or take a few steps forward, you will definitely be beaten to pieces like your dead companions, and die in an instant.
But the slogans to persuade them to surrender continued to be repeated downstairs, even if they blocked their ears with their hands, they couldn't block such a loud noise, every word and every word penetrated into each of their ears clearly.This seems to persuade them to surrender, but it is actually another form of attack, and the effect of disintegrating their psychological defense seems to be no worse than muskets.
Some people have already begun to cast their eyes on Zheng Ai, waiting for him to make a final decision.Zheng Ai is the commander of this operation, and everyone is looking forward to it. No matter whether they want to fight to the death or try to save their lives, they must make up their minds as soon as possible.Otherwise, if we continue to procrastinate, we may lose even a chance to get out.
When Zheng Ai was about to speak, the door at the end of the corridor slowly opened wider and wider. He saw the muzzle of the gun retracted from the door, and it seemed that the other party was about to stop.Zheng Ai's heart relaxed, and he was about to call for everyone to charge shoulder to shoulder for the last time, when suddenly his pupils shrank, and he almost dropped the shield in his hand to the ground.
This was because he suddenly saw something in the door at the end of the corridor that should not have appeared here—a shiny black cannon.
Although the caliber of this gun is less than two inches, a gun is a gun, and its power cannot be compared with that of a musket.If the barrel was filled with iron shotguns, one shot would be enough to cover such a narrow corridor.Moreover, as far as Zheng Ai knows, the Haihan Cannon does not need a fuse to ignite at all, but a medicine bag plus a rope to pull it out. It can be fired with a light shake of the hand, leaving no extra reaction time for the enemy.Even if their group was only about three feet away from the muzzle, the opponent still had enough time to fire the shells and tear them all to pieces.
Why is there a cannon waiting for him in the room on the second floor of the Haihan Management Committee?Zheng Ai no longer had the time to think about what kind of mistake happened in the middle, so that the Haihan people could lay such a strict trap for him to drill. Now he only knows whether there are Chen Yixin and Ma Yuling in that room. Now, they couldn't rush in and arrest people, even if they paid their lives.After all, it is impossible for flesh and blood to fight against steel cannonballs.
If life can be exchanged for life, Zheng Ai will choose to perish with the enemy chieftain without hesitation. He is not afraid of death, but he does not want to die meaninglessly.When he saw this cannon, he knew that no amount of struggle would be futile. No matter what, this operation had no chance of success.The only variable is whether all the remaining people died here, or how many survived by luck.
At this time, the sound of persuasion downstairs suddenly stopped, and the surroundings suddenly fell into silence.Zheng Ai waited for a while, but he didn't wait for the artillery on the opposite side to fire, and no Haihan soldiers rushed up from downstairs. Just when he was feeling at a loss, a voice came from the room at the end of the corridor: "It's better to die than to live, you guys Do you want to die that much?"
Zheng Ai replied in a deep voice: "A man will do something and not do something. If he dies for the country, he deserves it!"
The voice in the room replied: "If you want to do things for the country, you don't necessarily have to die. If you die, it may not be of any benefit to the country."
Zheng Ai was silent for a moment before responding: "If my death can be exchanged for the vigilance of the court, it will be worth it!"
"Stupid! What else can your actions do other than bring a new round of war for Da Ming?" The voice in the room retorted mercilessly: "Haihan has no intention of going to war with Da Ming, but you Doing so is forcing us to go to war with Ming! Could it be that the Denglai Rebellion a few years ago was not enough to make you realize the danger of war?"
Zheng Ai didn't respond this time, he knew that he couldn't say anything to the other party, because only the winner is qualified to comment on the situation in such a tone, and he is just a failed assassin, and he is likely to bear the responsibility for the result. Very heavy responsibility.
It's hard to say whether Haihan has the intention of going to war with Ming Dynasty, but it is a fact that Haihan has used force to occupy the land of Ming Dynasty.It's just that Zheng Ai also knows that it's useless to talk about these things with the other party. How can the land that was taken by force be taken back with a touch of lip service.If the problem can be resolved through negotiation, why should he appear here and now as an assassin.
If he debates with the other party on the issue of territorial sovereignty, Zheng Ai knows that he will only humiliate himself in the end, and whether Haihan will use this as an excuse to start a war against Ming, he simply does not have enough power to influence the actions of the Haihan people .As for the "Denglai Rebellion" mentioned by the other party, Zheng Ai believes that this is not the same as the current complicated relationship between Da Ming and Haihan. Invasion, the two are different in nature, and it is obvious that the other party has a rhythmic intention to confuse them.
But the problem is still back to the starting point. It is useless for Zheng Ai, as a loser, to debate these details. The other party mentioned that the purpose of the Denglai Rebellion was just to use war as a threat to exert pressure in a disguised form, forcing people like himself to disarm and surrender. .
Zheng Ai was silent for a long time before he spoke again: "We people, no matter whether we are dead or alive, will become your pawns to blackmail Daming, won't we?"
This time it was the turn of the voice in the room to be silent, and after a while, the voice sounded again: "Da Ming is not Hai Han's enemy, even if the two countries were to go to war, this place would definitely not be in Shandong, so you are satisfied ?”
This answer seemed to be wrong, but Zheng Ai let out a sigh of relief after hearing this, and slowly put down the shield and waist knife in his hand.Seeing this, everyone behind him hurriedly asked, "Master Zheng, are you stopping the fight?"
Zheng Ai shook his head lightly and said: "Stop beating, for Hai Han, the lives and deaths of us people are not important. Since we can't get things done, then beating again will be death in vain."
The reason why Zheng Ai refused to surrender was because he was worried that after his team was captured, Haihan would use them as a fuss, and then provoke an all-out war against Ming.Even if the consequences are not so serious, they are very likely to be used to threaten the Shandong government and obtain some unequal conditions.But the last few words of the person in the room dispelled his doubts—even if the Haihan people wanted to attack Daming, they would not choose Shandong as a place.
Haihan's foundation is in the South China Sea. Even if he wants to attack Daming, he should attack from a location like Fuguang's doorstep, not Shandong thousands of miles away.Therefore, it is logically reasonable that the Haihan people caught a group of assassins who attempted to act in Shandong, and it would not trigger a full-scale war between the two countries.
And in the current situation where Haihan is in control of the situation and can kill them, there is no need for the other party to use lies to trick Zheng Ai and others into surrendering.The Haihan people didn't even need to persuade them to surrender. It was simpler and more straightforward to kill them with a single shot, without leaving any future troubles.
Zheng Ai thinks that the main reason why the opponent didn't do this is that he really didn't intend to kill his team.But if the stalemate continues, there will be no other way for my team to go except to die here, and death will be in vain, which will not have any substantial impact on Haihan's local status.
Since it is useless, why die?Even though Zheng Aidang gave up the idea of dying for the country, he chose to surrender to the Haihan people.Of course, this is still a gamble, betting that the Haihan people will not slowly torture them to death after capturing them, betting that their weight in the other party's heart is really insignificant, betting that they can continue to live.
In the desperate situation, Zheng Ai couldn't think of any other better and more reasonable choice, so he put down his weapon, raised his hands, and slowly stood up.Sure enough, no more bullets were fired from downstairs, but there was the sound of intensive footsteps. It should be that Haihan soldiers were about to come up the stairs to fetch people.
Zheng Ai slowly turned his head and glanced downstairs, the carts had been dragged to nowhere, and he didn't see any other companions who didn't rush upstairs.But there were several puddles of blood scattered on the ground, which couldn't be more conspicuous.The number of Haihan soldiers assembled in front of the office building is probably as many as a hundred people, and there are still groups of Haihan soldiers patrolling back and forth in the distance. Even the official road passing here has been temporarily blocked.
Zheng Ai just glanced at the surrounding situation, and knew that if he hadn't rushed upstairs, he would have turned around and fled immediately, and he might not have been able to escape the encirclement of the Haihan people.This is a trap, a big trap that has been laid out long ago, waiting for him to lead his team into it.The Haihan people even had the leisure to move a cannon up to the second floor and hide it in the room in the corridor as a final blow.
Zheng Ai's long-planned assassination and kidnapping operation was doomed to fail before it even started.When he realized this, his heart was as dead as ashes, all thoughts were empty, and he had no idea of resistance at all.
A group of Haihan soldiers rushed up to the second floor, locked the dejected assassins one by one with iron shackles, and dragged them downstairs.No one made a sound during this process, only the tinkling of iron shackles was heard.Zheng Ai suddenly realized that the other party might have even prepared the shackles in advance, and was just waiting to capture them alive here.
"The leader, send it to the room."
There was another sound from the room at the end of the corridor, and then Zheng Ai, who had been locked hands and feet, was temporarily put on a pair of shackles, connecting the shackles between his hands and feet together, so that he could only bow down The posture of the body moved forward with small steps, which was very similar to the way he was slowly pushing forward with a shield in the corridor before.
The cannon that was originally stuck at the door had been pushed back into the house. Zheng Ai was brought to the door. After taking a deep breath, he probed to see what was going on in the room.
It was not the first time for him to enter this room. In fact, he had entered here before when negotiating an order with the Haihan people, and saw the young Haihan general sign the contract with his own eyes.At this time, that person was in the room with a calm expression, as if he hadn't affected his emotions at all because of the battle just now.
(End of this chapter)