Chapter 70

The old fox and the young fox just stared at each other, the atmosphere in the room gradually becoming heavy. Outside the window, the entire Tanggu city was in turmoil, the chaotic sounds surging from all directions like waves. Before long, a fire broke out in a distant warehouse, the flames shooting up to the sky.

Thick smoke rose into the sky like the smoke signals of a nomadic invasion, proving to all directions that the commercial gem of Tanggu had been completely lost.

Luo Huo watched the two important figures staring at each other like bulls, his heart filled with anxiety. Finally, he knelt down with a thud, "Sir, and this nobleman, can't we talk about this after we move to a safer place? Once the fire starts, the mob will be even harder to control, and it will be dangerous to stay here..." He bowed his head repeatedly, like a garlic pestle.

The first to speak was Marshal Jiu, Zeng Guoquan, "Haha, Overseas Lone Guest Xiao Letian, you truly have a big heart. I used all my official authority, but I couldn't suppress you. You are indeed a dragon among men... Alright, since I'm already on your pirate ship, I'll play this game with you to the end. To be honest, I'm really curious to see how far this play can go..."

Xiao Letian let out a long sigh of relief, thinking to himself, "Thank goodness you backed down. If you had refused to cooperate, I would have been in real trouble. Even if Tanggu were burned to the ground, I would have had to flee."

"Marshal Jiu, you have great courage. I am unworthy of such praise. The French merchant ship Lucky has already been arranged. We can take refuge on it until the unrest is over..."

When Xiao Letian and the disguised 'distinguished guest' came down from the second floor, the team at the door was already assembled. Thirty musketeers, protected by shield bearers on both sides, formed the cutting edge of the assault team. The seventy-odd merchants, looking dejected and dispirited, were sandwiched in the center of the formation, including Huang Juren and Little Braid Sun.

As Xiao Letian accompanied the 'distinguished guest' down from the second floor, Little Braid Sun, who couldn't keep his mouth shut, blurted out, "Damn, I thought you were some distinguished guest, but you're just an old man..." Before he could finish, the eagle swooped in front of him, and with a flash of its talons, it crushed half of Little Braid Sun's jaw.

"Ouch..." Little Braid Sun rolled on the ground in pain, unable to speak with his shattered jaw.

This made Huang Juren and the surrounding merchants even more frightened. They instinctively backed away, leaving Little Braid Sun to roll on the ground, with no one daring to help him.

"Behave yourself, Master Sun is also our guest, and he might be useful later..." Xiao Letian nodded, and two guards lifted Little Braid Sun and carried him back into the formation.

The two-hundred-strong breakout team finally began to move. When they left the busiest commercial street, they realized that the actual chaos outside had exceeded their imagination.

Rioters were everywhere, and the city's merchants could no longer satisfy their greed. The chaos had spread to ordinary citizens. Countless residential doors were broken, and the inside and outside of the houses were in disarray, with screams and the cries of women and children. The uprising had completely changed its nature, and no one could control these rioters.

"Huang, open your eyes and look at what you've done..." Xiao Letian pulled out a revolver from his chest and pressed it against Huang Juren's head, cursing loudly.

"Beast, is this what you wanted? Did you really think you could use this uprising to deal with me? I really want to kill you, but killing you would be too easy for you..." Xiao Letian's hands trembled, unsure if he would pull the trigger and shoot the bullet into Huang Juren's head.

"It's not me, it has nothing to do with me..." The smell of urine forced Xiao Letian to let go. Looking at the limp Huang Juren, who looked like a mangy dog, Xiao Letian felt deep sorrow. The people of the Qing Dynasty were ruled by such people? They dared to act but not to take responsibility, setting fires and then escaping to watch the chaos from the sidelines?

Throughout Chinese history, many schemers and ambitious people have emerged, many of whom are not recorded in history books. Most of them were like Huang Juren, fanning the flames and stabbing from behind, but once the fire was ignited, they were the first to be scared.

"Three dou of rice! Didn't you say that any citizen who attacked me would have their rent reduced by three dou of rice? For these three dou of rice, you've destroyed the entire Tanggu city. Look at these smashed warehouses and the harmed citizens; this is the result of your three dou of rice..."

Only at this moment did the cause of the uprising become public. The merchants who had been in the same trench as Huang Juren were filled with anger. If it weren't for the guards, they would have torn this old coffin-dweller to pieces.

Later, it was precisely because of Xiao Letian's overall handling of the Tanggu uprising that the riot became known as the 'Three Dou of Rice Riot.' This riot, which claimed thousands of lives, deeply affected the Confucian scholars who appeared righteous on the surface. The young students who discovered the sinister face of the scholars even sparked a small movement to study Western learning, which was something Xiao Letian had not anticipated.

The two-hundred-strong team soon encountered the remnants of Ma Bao's troops. After two volleys of gunfire, these Green Standard Army soldiers, hiding behind broken furniture, scattered again, offering no resistance.

The most difficult to deal with were the rioters who had gone mad with looting. These excited citizens might have only one chance in their lives to get rich, so they cherished it greatly. When poverty became unbearable, they were willing to risk their lives.

"Form the long spear formation..." Xiao Letian shouted, and dozens of long spears stood like a forest on the street, their sharp tips pointing at the approaching rioters, held firmly by strong arms.

"Good soldiers!" Zeng Guoquan exclaimed, his eyes shining with a strange light as he looked at the good soldiers and then at Xiao Letian.

However, what happened next left Marshal Jiu and the merchants speechless. As the citizens hesitated in the face of the sharp spear tips, Xiao Letian suddenly shouted, "Throw..." Immediately, over a dozen soldiers grabbed handfuls of silver dollars from their backpacks and threw them at the rioters.

The street was filled with the sound of silver coins falling. The sudden attack of silver coins left the citizens dazed. "Oh my God, these are foreign silver dollars! My God, we're rich..." Greedy citizens immediately fell to the ground, their backs and buttocks raised high.

"Money, money, don't take my money... precious silver dollars, they're everywhere, I can finally get married..."

"If you dare to take my money, I'll kill you... hands, you stepped on my hand..."

The street was in chaos. Xiao Letian, having succeeded in his scheme, smiled at Marshal Jiu, "Sir, don't laugh, in war, deceit is not to be despised. On one side is the threat of death, and on the other is the chance to get rich. Only a fool would fight to the death. The way is now clear..."

Everyone was speechless. Under the protection of over a hundred private soldiers, they managed to escape the waves of rioters. Indeed, in the face of Xiao Letian's silver attack, no group of rioters dared to attack them. However, it came at a cost. In just a quarter of an hour, over 50,000 silver dollars had been thrown, a speed of spending that left all the big bosses present speechless.

"What are you looking at? Do you think I'm stupid, throwing away my own money? This is all your money, the silver dollars you signed the contract for but didn't have time to move. They're all your silver dollars... hahaha..." In Xiao Letian's mad laughter, there were tears from countless merchants, but even though their hearts were bleeding, none of them dared to cause trouble.

"The contract is signed and in my pocket. It's in black and white. I don't believe you dare to default. Once this is over, I'll come to each of you to collect the goods. If you don't give them to me... well, don't blame me for being unfriendly..."

Zeng Guoquan once again recognized Xiao Letian's shamelessness. This guy really had 'shameless' carved on his forehead, but you couldn't complain. If any merchant dared to complain, Zeng Guoquan believed Xiao Letian would personally throw them into the mob.

Thus, the two-hundred-strong team safely crossed the street. Not far ahead, just two hundred meters away, was the open dock, and the tall mast of the Lucky merchant ship was clearly visible.

"Brothers, keep going, we'll be safe soon!" Just as Xiao Letian was encouraging everyone, a low rumble of hooves came from the distance, and the ground began to tremble.

"Cavalry! Damn, it's cavalry..." The eagle let out a strange cry and immediately protected Marshal Jiu. If the situation became critical, he could carry Marshal Jiu and fly to the roof in a blink, a distance of two hundred meters.

Marshal Jiu was not so timid. He pushed the eagle aside, "What a coward. I've seen all kinds of battles on the battlefield. Am I worse than a young man? Move aside, don't embarrass me. I want to see what Xiao Letian can do..."

At this moment, the street was filled with cavalry from the surrounding alleys, all under the command of Ma Bao. These strong Mongolian horses were the most elite force under Ma Bao, with many Mongolian faces among them.

"Charge! Charge... anyone in the way, die..." The疯狂的骑兵根本不顾眼前的百姓，强壮的战马瞬间就能将瘦弱的老头撞出十多米远，然后铁蹄践踏上去，不一会儿就会变成一堆肉酱。

不分男女老幼，在骑兵队伍面前的一切都将被践踏一空。开始骑兵队伍只有十多名，随着周围小巷中涌上来的马匹越来越多，骑兵队伍很快就变成了百人队，而这时候的大地已经开始剧烈的震动起来了。

长街虽然很宽阔，但也只能容纳五六匹马并肩前行，虽说蒙古马体型并不算太大，但是单匹也已经达到400公斤的重量了，一百匹马就是足足四十吨重量在大地上跳跃，这还不算骑手的体重，如此巨大的质量所带来的动能是常人无法想象的，那一刻真的有天崩地陷的感觉。

骑兵突击，不仅在冷兵器时代是战争的王者，就算在滑膛枪时代也依然是当之无愧的王者，现在欧美各国都拥有强大的骑兵部队，一直到汽车和坦克技术普及开来，骑兵部队都没有彻底退出战争舞台，直到二战结束骑兵才算正式离开军队的序列。

现在，马宝带领的骑兵队伍，已经完成了加速，这个瘸了一条腿的协台大人，正兴奋地站在一张桌子上，嘴里哦哦的狂喊，他在为自己的士兵打气。

“冲过去，都给老子冲过去，撞死他们，把这些王八蛋都给我撞死……”

这一刻，九帅曾国荃也兴奋了，他好像又回到了和太平天国战斗的疆场上，重骑兵突击的场景永远都能让他兴奋不已。

“肖乐天，我看你要怎么破阵，告诉我你要怎么破阵……”

肖乐天冷笑着看着冲过来的骑兵团，不屑地说道：“生物学家兼化学家肖乐天，今天就让你们开开眼，让你们见识见识老子我的本事……”

“掷弹兵……都给我上房！”

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Cavalry! The frenzied cavalry paid no attention to the civilians in front of them. A strong warhorse could instantly knock a frail old man over ten meters away and then trample him into a pile of flesh and blood.

Regardless of gender or age, everything in the path of the cavalry would be trampled to nothing. At first, there were only a dozen cavalrymen, but as more horses poured in from the surrounding alleys, the cavalry quickly grew into a hundred-man unit, and the ground began to shake violently.

The wide street could only accommodate five or six horses side by side. Although Mongolian horses were not particularly large, each one weighed about 400 kilograms. A hundred horses, totaling forty tons, were galloping on the ground, not to mention the weight of the riders. The kinetic energy generated by such a massive mass was unimaginable, creating a sense of the world collapsing.

Cavalry charges were not only the kings of war in the age of cold weapons but also remained the undisputed kings in the age of muskets. Even today, European and American countries still have powerful cavalry units, and it wasn't until the widespread adoption of automobiles and tanks that cavalry units were finally phased out of the military, and even then, not until the end of World War II.

Now, Ma Bao's cavalry unit had completed their acceleration. The one-legged commander was excitedly standing on a table, shouting wildly to encourage his soldiers.

"Charge, charge, run them over, crush these bastards to death..."

At this moment, Marshal Jiu Zeng Guoquan was also excited. He felt as if he had returned to the battlefields against the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, where the sight of heavy cavalry charges always filled him with excitement.

"Xiao Letian, I want to see how you will break this formation. Tell me, how will you break this formation..."

Xiao Letian coldly watched the approaching cavalry, sneering, "Biologist and chemist Xiao Letian, today I will show you my true capabilities..."

"Grenadiers... get on the roofs!"

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