Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 16
The Zhao army on the city tower was cleared by the Qing army, and Hetuo ordered Zhou Yong to lead his men to rush up the steps to support the green battalion soldiers at the city gate who blocked Wang Yan from leaving the city.

After controlling the city tower, the Qing soldiers on the city continued to shoot feather arrows, which made Zhao Jun's offensive stagnate when he had rushed into the gate, and was blocked by the green battalion soldiers below the city, unable to leave the city.

At this time, at the north gate, Wang Yan led more than 1000 Zhao troops, rushing towards the Green Battalion blocking the gate, and the Qing army on the city rushed down to Wang Yan's Zhao army, and the situation suddenly fell into a state of anxiety.

If this was normal, Wang Yan would be very excited if Zhao Jun could draw with the same number of Qing soldiers, but now he was very anxious.

The Zhao army was in chaos in the city, and all the generals and schools were lost. The Qing army would soon enter the city from other directions. If they couldn't get out early, they would inevitably be attacked by the enemy, and finally all died under the north gate.

The two armies fought in a melee, fighting hand to hand, and Wang Yan's mastery of bird gun tactics also lost room for display, so he could barely suppress the rain of arrows on the city.

Time passed slowly, and the situation became more and more unfavorable for Wang Yan. He had lost all his cards and had no other power to turn the tide of the battle.

On the tower, Hetuo silently watched the battle below the city, and couldn't help becoming a bit interested in Wang Yan. He thought that Wang Shiheng was just a scholar with no strength to restrain a chicken, and a counselor who was good at making plans, but he didn't expect him to be able to command troops. Not bad, Manchurians fear the strong, now that Zhao Yingyuan is dead, he has the heart to surrender to Wang Yan.

Wang Yan and others fought hard in the city, but they couldn't break through and blocked the Qing soldiers. They were anxious, but the Zhao army behind them suddenly screamed. It turned out that the Qing troops who entered the city from other gates came to support.

For a while, Zhao Jun was attacked by the enemy, and failure was in sight.

In the past, Wang Yan would feel that his death in battle was irrelevant, but now Wang Yan doesn't think so.

He believes that he is the person chosen by the sages of the Han nationality. He shoulders a mission that ordinary people cannot understand, so he feels that he cannot die here easily.

In an instant, the unwillingness in his heart turned into grief and indignation, which made his eyes turn red, and he slashed and killed the Qing army in front of him frantically. His revelation moved the Qing army for a while.

"Wang Shiheng! Come down!" He Tuo looked at Wang Yan, who kept wielding his sword and fighting wildly, with a look of pity on his talent. "Don't you Han people have a saying that those who know the current affairs are the best? You have tried your best at this point in the war!"

Wang Yanchong was in front of the crowd, slashing left and right, but he is not a general after all, he is not good at fighting, if not for Liu Shun and others desperately protecting him, he would have gone to hell already, he turned a deaf ear to the words of Hetuo's surrender, and just fiercely fought with the saber in his hand Swiping, pouring out his choice.

That Qingzhou scholar Qian Yifeng was hit by an arrow, his clothes were stained red with blood, after hearing Hetuo's words and seeing Wang Yan's indifferent response, he suddenly sneered. "You barbarians, how can you understand my heroes in China, who only know that those who know the current affairs are heroes, but don't know that they sacrifice their lives for righteousness, and kill to be benevolent?"

When He Tuo heard this, his face immediately turned cold. Since the Qing army entered the customs, countless high-ranking officials of the Han nationality have surrendered. In the whole of Beizhili and Shandong, there has been no decent resistance, but Qingzhou has already lost two to three thousand of his troops.

He offered to surrender with good intentions, but Wang Yan ignored him!

How dare a small soldier in the city laugh at him!

If the Han people are like this, how could he dare to spy on China.

For a moment, his thoughts were complicated, and he was speechless, frowning as he watched the battle in the city.

With the support of the Qing army entering the city, Wang Yan's situation became more and more difficult. Most of the more than 500 soldiers he brought with him were killed or injured, and the remaining soldiers were divided by the Qing army. Knife, powerless to fight again.

But although Zhao Jun was in a desperate situation, no one begged to surrender. China has never lacked traitors, but it has never lacked warriors who dare to fight to the death.

In the city, Han Zhaoxuan saw such scenes, looked at the fallen Zhao soldiers one by one, but felt no joy of victory in his heart. He couldn't help asking himself, is wealth and glory really that important, and whether everything now is really his. everything you want.

Unknowingly, Han Zhaoxuan felt a bit of guilt in his heart, and let him lean on the wall like a ghost, and shouted down with a bit of crying: "Wang Shiheng, I have demoted both Jinshi and senior members of the court. Why did you lose your life as a referee!"

"I and you have different ways and do not conspire with each other!" Wang Yan was surrounded by the crowd, and when he heard someone shouting in the city, he replied decisively. "In the Ming Dynasty, there were chief assistants who surrendered, Jinshi who surrendered, and generals who surrendered, but there was no Juren Wang Yan who surrendered."

Following Wang Yan's answer, the tragic air spread rapidly among the crowd.

"I, Qian Yifeng, a scholar from Qingzhou, will not be surrendered to the Qing Dynasty!"

"I, Qingzhou Huo Shijie, will not surrender to the Qing Dynasty!"

"I, Cangzhou Liu Shun, will not surrender!"

"I, Wang Wei of Shaanxi, will fight to the death with Yuer and other Jiannu!"

"I am willing to go to the underworld with my son!"

·····
A cry came out from Zhao Jun's mouth under the city, converging into a torrent, shaking the surrounding Qing army, and making Wang Yan burst into tears.

Zhao Jun did not fall into a slump because of being surrounded by the Qing soldiers, but because of Wang Yanzhi's words, he became brave and fearless!
Han Zhaoxuan, Li Shiyuan, Li Shutai and other Han officials in the city saw this, and their faces were indescribably ugly.

He Tuo knew that it was impossible to recruit and surrender, so he put away his pity for talent and decided to kill the killer. However, the Qing army behind him suddenly became confused.

"Look! The camp is on fire!"

"Not good! There are cavalry rushing here."

He Tuo heard the exclamation of the Qing soldiers behind him, and looked back quickly, only to see that the main camp of the Qing army outside the north gate was engulfed in flames, followed by shouts of killing all over the sky, and I don't know how many people came to Qingzhou to kill.

"Brother Zhao Jun, don't panic, Lechang Zhao Shenkuan leads 3000 troops, come to help!"

"The 1000 troops of Lechang Qin Shangxing are here!"

"Shouguang Guo Papai, Monk Diwu, come!"

All of a sudden, nearly ten thousand torches were lit outside the north gate of Qingzhou. Thousands of troops suddenly appeared as if they had descended from the sky. The Qing soldiers who attacked Wang Yan outside the city gate rushed forward.

These people were the rebels that Zhao Yingyuan followed Wang Yanzhi's policy and contacted. They knew the truth of their lips and teeth, and they took action as soon as they got the news that Qingzhou was besieged.

Among them, Bei Shouzheng, Ma Ruiheng, and Liu Tong, who are far away from Qingzhou, have already moved to Jinan, while the rebels from Lechang and Shouguang, which are very close to Qingzhou, directly gather their troops and come to Qingzhou.

In the battle of Dalinghe, the Ming army failed to rescue the siege several times. Later, Hong Chengchou was trapped in Jinzhou for half a year, and the reinforcements of the Ming Dynasty were also unable to rescue the siege. The reason was that the Ming army could not fight the Qing army in the field.

These rebels originally had no strength to fight the Qing army in the wild, let alone attack the Qing army camp, but Hetuo led the main force of the Qing army to attack Qingzhou, and the remaining 8000 Qing troops had to guard the east, west, and north. The three large battalions, combined with being careless, gave the rebels an opportunity to make a sneak attack.

If Zhao Yingyuan saw this picture, he would feel even more remorse in his heart. He only needs to persist for one more day, and he will be supported by many rebels, and he will not commit suicide.

There are only more than 2000 Qing troops left behind in the camp in the north of the city, and most of them are green camps.

Seeing that the camp was broken by the rebels, Hetuo felt angry and regretted that he underestimated the enemy and didn't pay attention to the rebels who were active near Qingzhou.

Even if he captured Qingzhou tonight, the Qing army's losses would certainly be heavy. Annoyed, he decided to keep these rebels and make Shandong a battle.

Immediately, he quickly asked the generals to suppress the chaos of the Qing soldiers in the city, and he also asked people to inform the [-] Han troops in ambush outside the south gate that the Zhenglan Banner had reached all the Qing troops in the city, and asked them to fight back to the north gate. To wipe out the rebels who came to help the battle in one fell swoop.

At this time, the rebel cavalry had already reached the city, and the Qing soldiers who prevented Wang Yan from leaving the city were immediately overwhelmed by the cavalry. Wang Yan and others who had already reached the gate were overjoyed. out out.

At this time, the rebels poured kerosene on the suspension bridge again, ignoring the Zhao army who was still fighting to death in the city, and threw a torch to block the pursuit of the Qing soldiers.

Seeing the brothers who were protecting him and many of them trapped in the city, Wang Yan felt very sad and guilty, but he knew that now was not the time for women to be kind. His rebel army will all be folded here.

At that moment, he looked back at Qingzhou City, heard the sound of swords and screams that were still fighting in the city, and endured the grief and hatred in his heart and said: "Let's go!"

Hetuo in the city saw that the rebels were not interested in fighting, and his face turned cold. Seeing that Wang Yan and others were about to leave, he couldn't help being furious. He took the longbow in the hands of the soldiers around him, bent the bow and set an arrow, and shot with anger. .

Under the city, Zhao Jun was turning around and leaving. Before he could prevent it, he felt a gust of cold wind blowing, and Wang Yan was shot in the back by a feather arrow, and his whole body immediately fell down.

Wang Yan and the others were already 150 steps away from the city. It was difficult for bows and arrows to exert their power at such a distance, but the man who shot him was Manchu Hetuo, who was good at bows and arrows.

Seeing this, Liu Shun on the side turned pale with fright. No one dared to stay under the city of Qingzhou, so they hurriedly set up the unconscious Wang Yan and followed the rebels to the Qing Army's North Camp.

The rebels who rushed to disperse the Qing army in the camp did not take advantage of the situation to chase and kill them, but set fire to all places in the camp. When Wang Yan and others came outside the camp, the rebels withdrew from the camp and walked away together.

And this scene, all fell into the eyes of He Tuo and other Qing army generals, but the suspension bridge was burned by the fire, they could not go out of the city to pursue it, and the Qing army from other sects had not arrived yet, so all the people could only look gloomy. The rebels disappeared into the dark night.

A great battle ended in this way, but the influence of the Battle of Qingzhou would not disappear immediately. A few days later, a report appeared in the hands of Shi Maluan, the new commander of Jinyiwei in Nanjing.

Jinyiwei Xiaoqi paid homage to the sea on Thursday: "On the night of September [-]th in the year of Jiashen, the Qing army cheated Qingzhou and killed Zhao Yingyuan and Yang Wangxiu. There was a man named Wang Yan who refused to surrender. He wanted to lead troops to the gate, but was blocked by the Qing soldiers and could not fight. Go out, and ask him, Wang Yan will not surrender! Han Zhaoxuan tried to persuade him again, but he still will not surrender! After the Shandong rebels arrived, they broke the Qing army's northern camp, and finally got rid!"

(End of this chapter)