Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 50 Guarding Yangzhou, Military and Civilian Help
"Kill the prisoner!"

Shocking shouts of killing resounded at the four gates of Yangzhou. Wang Yan stood on the west gate tower with a knife in his hand, watching the Qing soldiers being picked off the city wall one by one.

Yangzhou is a majestic city, a fertile land in the north of the Yangtze River. Countless wealthy merchants lived in the city with a lot of money. Naturally, Yangzhou was built tall and big. The Qing soldiers rushed to attack the city and it was difficult to take it down.

Wang Yan saw that the Qing army's every attempt to the city was resolved by the Ming army, and he was relieved, but at this moment, an old soldier from Shandong suddenly came to report, saying, "There is a section about three meters long in the northwest corner of Yangzhou City. Zhang's city collapsed", which made Wang Yan break out in a cold sweat instantly.

Wang Yan's momentary negligence almost made a big mistake. He only knew that the Qing army invaded Yangzhou from the west city, but he didn't know that the city wall collapsed, or someone mentioned it to him, but he ignored it.

The embankment of a thousand miles collapsed in an ant's nest, Guan Yu lost Jingzhou carelessly, and Wang Yan almost caused Yangzhou to fall into disaster again.

At this time, Wang Yan was watching the Qing army ascending the city, and he was no longer relaxed just now, nor did he have the slightest contempt, and even cursed in his heart, "Duoduo is insidious, almost fell into the trap."

The city of Yangzhou was high and very strong. The attacking Qing army seemed fierce, but in fact they could not pose an effective threat and could not climb the city at all.

The Qing army pretended to attack the four gates, but sent surprise soldiers to the collapsed city wall. Wang Yan immediately drew a thousand infantry troops, and went straight to the northwest corner of the city wall to support Li Taizhen.

After the Qing army broke through the city today, the artillery battalion on the high slope outside the west city did not withdraw. Before Li Qifeng's [-] soldiers reached the gap, the Qing army's artillery on the high slope opened fire first.

The earthen wall that Li Taizhen and the army had just built was bombarded to pieces.

Artillery, a sharp weapon of the Central Plains Dynasty against the northern peoples, was in the hands of the Manchus following the continuous surrender of the Han army, which gave them artillery skills that were not inferior to the Central Plains Dynasty. no deposit.

"Array!" The earthen wall was destroyed and had lost its defensive function. Looking at Li Qifeng's Qing army who was about to climb down from the ruins, Li Taizhen's face turned cold, and he drew out his sword heavily and shouted.

When the five hundred Ming troops heard the order, they stood in formation behind the earthen wall, and men with straight spears stabbed at the Qing army who was about to kill.

In the sound of shouting and killing, the two armies collided quickly, swords and guns clashed, making bursts of noise, harvesting fresh lives.

Those who fell on both sides were all Han Chinese, which is a tragedy for the entire nation.

Li Qifeng had many soldiers, but Li Taizhen had few soldiers. Although the Ming army was determined to die, they had a huge disparity in strength and lacked geographical advantages. They were gradually rushed away by Li Qifeng's Qing troops and surrounded.

At this time, Li Qifeng was already surrounded by the Qing soldiers, standing on the collapsed ruins, he looked around the battlefield, his face was full of joy: "Boys, work hard! Kill this Ming army, and I will go straight to Ximen , to welcome Prince Yu into the city, we will definitely be rewarded, and returning to our hometown in Gansu is no problem at all!"

The Ming army fell one by one, Li Qifeng seemed to have the intention of leaving a small number of troops to continue the siege, and dispatching most of the Qing army into the city to attack the west city.

Once Li Qifeng's Qing army entered the city, attacked Ximen from the back, and joined Duoduo to attack Wang Yan from both sides, then Yangzhou City would definitely be attacked by the Qing army again.

This made Li Taizhen very anxious, but there was nothing he could do but fight to the death with a knife.

"Kill!"

Just as Li Qifeng was about to lead the troops and went straight to the west gate along the city wall, suddenly there was a shout from the distance.

Just by hearing the shouts of killing, Li Qifeng could estimate that at least ten thousand people were coming to kill at the northwest corner, which made his face change and his heart suddenly turned cold.

Li Taizhen was overjoyed when he heard it, and quickly shouted: "Brothers, reinforcements are coming, fight to the death with me!"

This change made Li Qifeng's plan to attack Ximen with Duoduo on both sides come to naught, and at the same time, he was extremely startled, there were only ten thousand officers and men in Yangzhou city, and such a force suddenly appeared.

Not long after, the appearance of the reinforcements appeared in Li Qifeng's eyes, answering his doubts.

Groups of people armed with all kinds of weapons, even wooden sticks and shoulder poles, shouted and rushed towards the gap, and soon collided with the Qing army.

Li Qifeng was intimidated by the reinforcements at first, but when he revealed his true colors, he felt relieved, and even said with a hint of contempt, "A group of mobs could fight ten thousand against one hundred thousand!"

The appearance of the reinforcements was indeed not good, like a group of farmers who had just picked up their weapons and had no fighting power, but when they fought, Li Qifeng was shocked.

It is true that this group of people are ordinary people, but most of them are young and strong people who earn a living in water transportation, and they have gathered all kinds of people from all walks of life in Yangzhou City, especially local ruffians and desperadoes.

These people who live by water transportation are divided into dozens of gangs, large and small. In order to compete for water transportation, especially since the north fell into war, the water transportation has almost been cut off, so that the various water transportation gangs, which were originally conflicting for their own interests, competed for the few remaining people. Business and resources are at stake.

Although the fights between these gangs can only be regarded as fights and fights, they cannot be regarded as experienced battles, but they have fought after all, after all, the organization is much better than the discipline of ordinary people!
At this time, although the newly added reinforcements were still unable to defeat the Qing soldiers of Li Qifeng's department, their large number was enough to hold Li Qifeng back and prevent him from completing the pincer attack on Ximen.

Li Qifeng saw that his subordinates were unable to repel the mob in front of him, and the contempt in his heart suddenly turned into anxiety. He was about to order the guards around him to join the battle, but suddenly he saw a young man wielding two seedling knives, blending into the uninhabited land, and was about to Kill him.

The Chinese army pays attention to battle formation coordination, strict military discipline, orders and prohibitions, and does not call for personal force, but if you have particularly superb martial arts, it will undoubtedly be easier to stand out.

The young man was in his 20s, but he was very proficient in saber techniques. He repeatedly struck repeatedly, slashed across the calendar, and smashed the saber. A knife can cut down a Qing soldier.

Seeing how powerful he was, many of the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty deliberately avoided this fierce god, making it easier for him to charge forward.Before he knew it, the young man became the arrow of the reinforcements, coming straight to Li Qifeng.

Seeing this, Li Qifeng's face couldn't help changing for a while, the saber technique used by Qing Zhuang seemed to be Qi Jiguang's "Xinyou Saber Technique", with some Shaolin sword techniques incorporated into it, he could be called a master of martial arts.

If it was just "Xinyou Sword Technique", Li Qifeng could still see his routines clearly, but the other party had integrated Shaolin Sword Technique and his own understanding into it, resulting in many changes, which had the potential to start a sect, but it was not Li Qifeng who could see through it.

At this time Li Qifeng also had to admit that if he let the young man approach, he would not consider himself an opponent.

At that moment, Li Qifeng hurriedly sent dozens of personal guards forward, hoping to rely on the cooperation of the battle formation to block the opponent, but the personal guards were not that young and strong opponent. , every knife was accurate and ruthless, before the guards formed a formation, he killed several people.

Li Qifeng felt fear at this moment, and hurriedly wanted to retreat, but that young man was coming towards him, how could he allow him to retreat.He forced back the besieging guards with a few knives, and with a sprint, he was already in front of Li Qifeng.

"Killer!" Qing Zhuang yelled, swung his knife and chopped off Li Qifeng's head, "Songshan Hu Weizong is also!"

Facing the saber that was chopped down, Li Qifeng couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat, but he was a military commander after all, and his skill was not bad, so he avoided the fatal blow by swinging the knife, but Hu Weizong's kung fu was even better, and he practiced both hands. The knife missed one hit, another knife had already been picked up, and Li Qifeng was scratched on the chest immediately.

With one slash and another strike, Hu Weizong hit Li Qifeng four or five times in a flash, making him unable to support himself and fell to the ground.

Seeing this, the guards of the Qing army couldn't help but turn pale with shock. If the main general was killed, they would all be executed by military law. They didn't care about Hu Weizong's power at the moment, and came to rescue him with a knife, but Hu Weizong's sword skills were sharp and extremely fast. Before he got closer, Li Qifeng was slashed across his throat with a knife, and blood gushed out like a fountain, obviously there was no possibility of resuscitation.

A group of Qing army guards also changed from saving people to snatching corpses, and hurriedly retreated with Li Qifeng who was already lifeless.

"The chief general of the Qing army has been beheaded by me!" Hu Weizong did not snatch the body, but at the moment he killed Li Qifeng, he shouted loudly: "The Qing army is about to be defeated, let me kill you!"

At the west gate, the siege of the Qing army was still going on, but it was obvious that they did not work hard. It seemed fierce, but there were no casualties.

Duoduo rode his horse and looked at the Qing soldiers attacking the city without any change in his expression.

Suddenly a war horse galloped in front of him, and a Qing soldier hurriedly got off his horse, ran up to Duoduo and knelt down, and said in a loud voice: "My lord, Li Qifeng died in battle, and the army in the northwest corner was killed by the Ming army." Retreat, already defeated on the high slope to the west, Hu Yousheng, the commander of the artillery team, asked the master to send reinforcements quickly, and stabilize the artillery array on the high slope!"

After hearing the Qing soldier's report, Doduo's face finally showed a slight change, and he looked at the Qing soldier in surprise, as if he didn't believe his report.

Duoduo knew exactly how many soldiers and horses there were in Yangzhou City. He was besieging from all sides. How could there be a large army to resist in Yangzhou City? What about the more than 4000 elite soldiers of Li Qifeng who entered the city through the gap?

But the fact is the fact, Doduo now has no choice but to let Li Benshen stop the siege and go to guard the artillery formation to the west, while he retreats to the camp angrily.

Seeing the retreat of the Qing soldiers, Wang Yan couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief, but he couldn't rest yet. The Qing soldiers were only retreating temporarily, and they would attack the city again when they were fully prepared. Yangzhou city defense, training young and strong, and cleaning up tens of thousands of corpses in the city.

In the Qing army camp, Duoduo was full of anger.As soon as he returned to the camp, the Zhengbai Banner general of Zhenmanzhou who had been defeated and returned to the camp before, and Li Shutai, who had bandaged his wounds, came to report, saying: "The Zhenmanzhou who entered the city first lost more than 1000 people, and the Han army who entered the city later Zhenglan Qi also killed more than [-] people."

In the Eight Banners of Manchuria, there were no more than 6 soldiers, and he lost more than 2000 people in one fell swoop.

"Who is defending in the city? Can you find out?" Duoduo was already in a high position in his 30s, and since he went south, he has been going smoothly without a single defeat.Unexpectedly, today he lost so much in Yangzhou City and lost so many real Manchuria, he would be punished by the Qing court, which immediately made him hate the people who guarded Yangzhou.

"The servant only saw the letter on the banner of Ximen, which says the Commander of the Loyalty Battalion!" A Qing army sentry quickly knelt down and said, "I don't know who it is, but please forgive me, master!"

　I got home yesterday, slept through it, didn’t have time to write, I owed a chapter, I will make it up when I have time.

　　In the new week, it is on the potential list, thank you for your support, a lot of recommendations and comments,
　　Finally, Hu Weizong, the character sponsored by book friend Gu Yue, has made his debut. I hope you like it.

　　


(End of this chapter)