Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 56
"Let go!" A young Xiaoqi's face was full of gunpowder smoke, and his shrill roar came from his already hoarse voice, revealing the determination and fearlessness that he shouldn't have at his age.

Following his order, the Ming army around him immediately ignited, and then several people worked together to raise a small Franco cannon, and pressed down the muzzle, aiming at the Qing soldiers who were attached to the city below the city.

With a sound of "Boom", gunpowder smoke filled the air, and the defenders quickly put down the small Frang machine and replaced it with the gunpowder-loaded Zitong.

At this time, Xiao Qi stared wide-eyed to see how many Qing troops were destroyed by a single shot just now, and also to see where the Qing troops were densely packed and needed artillery support.

"Boom!" There was a cannon sound, and the gravel splashed, but it was a shell from the Qing army that hit the wall.

Before the little flag could command his subordinates to fire another cannon, he was hit by gravel and fell down the city wall covered in blood.

Seeing this, the Ming soldiers who fired the guns did not change much on their faces, they looked very numb. They were no longer ordinary young and strong, but the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty tempered by 30 days of defending the city.

Death happens around them every day, and they have no time to grieve for anyone, because the next one to fall will be one of them.

"Let go!" A defender quickly took the place of the small flag, waved his hand to direct the team around him, and raised the Franji cannon again, aiming at the Qing soldiers climbing the ladder.

In the sound of "Boom!", the climbing Qing was knocked down like a bunch of candied haws, the same was so bright red, blood and minced meat, it made people sick.

"Kill the captives! Spearmen, take them down the city!" In another place, all the Ming soldiers beside the wall died in battle, and the city was piled with corpses full of arrows. Fighting with swords.

Amidst the sound of clashing swords, the sound of arrows plunging into the body, and the screams that filled the sky and the earth, groups of Ming soldiers stepped on the corpses of their companions and fought bloody battles with the Qing soldiers who ascended the city.

The same tragic scene happened on every section of the city wall of Yangzhou City.

In the gap in the west city, the artillery team of the Qing army stood on the high slope outside the city, overlooking the city, making the Ming army's advantage of relying on the city wall to guard it all gone.

In the days of artillery battles, under the command of Chen Yujie, the Ming army's artillery team was not at a disadvantage, but it was still unable to destroy the Qing army's artillery team.

On the contrary, under the shelling of the Qing army, the city wall of the west city collapsed even more severely, and the artillery team of the Ming army lost its position and had to retreat temporarily.

Under the artillery of the Qing army, the gap could no longer be defended, so Wang Yan followed He Gang's advice and asked people to rebuild a section of a ten-foot-high sub-wall outside the gap at night.

The sub-wall was repaired into a pocket shape, and Wang Yan built a high platform behind the sub-wall, put the Franji artillery on it, led the Qing army to rush in, and fired bombardment.

The artillery of the Qing army on the high slope was blocked by the city wall and could not pose a threat to the sub-wall, nor could it destroy the artillery of the Ming army on the high platform, while the Ming army could easily bombard the Qing army who rushed into the gap.

On the sub-wall, the Ming army's bird commanders kept bombarding, and the pikemen kept poking at the Qing army under the sub-wall.

Behind the sub-wall, the archers of the Ming army kept throwing arrows at the Qing army in their pockets, and the Qing army also threw waves of arrows behind the sub-wall.

Cannonballs exploded among the Qing soldiers from time to time, but behind the Qing soldiers from the Green Camp, there was a real Manchurian supervising the battle with a knife, so they had to risk their lives and continue to attack the city.

Large areas of the Qing army, under the sub-wall, stabbed with swords and spears, shot bows and arrows, and released firearms with the defenders. The corpses continued to pile up, and finally they were higher than the sub-wall, fighting frantically on the mountain of corpses.

The offensive and defensive battle in Yangzhou, with the Qing court's reform of the military system of the green battalion and the arrival of the Zhunta Department, suddenly became extremely tragic.

At the beginning of May, Dorgon was surprised to hear that Duoduo had lost tens of thousands of people under the city of Yangzhou, and thousands of real Manchurian warriors had been killed or injured. Wait for the high-level generals to approach Huai'an.

On May [-], almost at the time of Li Zicheng's defeat, the Qing army of the Zhunta Department approached Huai'an, Liu Zeqing fled by boat, and Bai Yongfu, the general under his command, surrendered.

Huai'an fell, and since then, the four towns in Jiangbei, except for Huang Degong in Chizhou and Wuhu, all the soldiers and horses in the other three towns have surrendered.

In the report written by Duo Duo to Dorgon, there were as many as 23 Nanming generals, 47 lieutenants, and a total of 23 horse infantry and horses.

The total number of Ming troops who surrendered to the Qing in Jiangbei has exceeded the sum of the Duduo and Azig Qing troops who went south.

The three major feudal towns in Jiangbei surrendered in anticipation of the wind, not because their generals were too weak to fight, but because they relied on "determined strategies" and other reasons to form a powerful power group that could not be lost. , Repeated tricks made them just want to keep their own glory and wealth. Once a strong enemy came under pressure, it was the best policy to immediately surrender to protect themselves.

On May 24, Zhunta led the Qing soldiers under his command, engulfing a part of Li Chengdong in Xuzhou and most of Liu Zeqing, and arrived in Yangzhou in the south.

Yangzhou was besieged for a month, and fought for days, but did not receive any support from the imperial court. After the Qing army arrived at the Zhunta Department in Shandong, its strength had reached 30.

After Duoduo recovered Liu Zhong from Henan, he led [-] soldiers southward to attack Huaiyang, and later won the soldiers of Li Qifeng, Zhang Tianlu, Zhang Tianfu, and Liu Liangzuo. , making his force unprecedentedly powerful.

The arrival of the Zhunta Department not only made Yangzhou's offensive and defensive battle, which had already been caught in a seesaw, fall to the Qing army in an all-round way. The large number of ships he obtained from Liu Zeqing also allowed the Qing army to control the Grand Canal and part of the Yangtze River, forcing Zheng Hongkui's navy. Dare to approach Jiangbei, so that Yangzhou's connection with the imperial court will be completely severed.

Last year when the Hongguang Dynasty was newly established, Wu Sangui, who didn't know Shanhaiguan, had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, ordered to deliver [-] stones of rice to help Wu Sangui.

Shen Tingyang, the minister who handled the transportation of southern grain rice to Tianjin and Liaodong Songshan many times by sea, was in charge of transportation.

The ships in his hands were all large ships capable of sailing, but they were favored by Liu Zeqing. When the fleet traveled to the Huai'an area, Liu Zeqing sent troops to take it for himself.

Now these large ships have been surrendered to the Qing court along with Liu Zeqing's tribe.

The Qing army controlled the waterways, making Yangzhou a truly isolated city, and the situation was not optimistic.

On May 25th, when Wang Yan defended Yangzhou alone, on May 30th, with the arrival of Qing soldiers from the Zhunta Department, Yangzhou ushered in the most violent attack.

Nearly [-] Qing soldiers laid down their corpses, Yangzhou City was also battered by artillery bombardment, and the defenders were killed and injured countless young and strong.

"The Qing soldiers have retreated!"

Suddenly a cry sounded from the city, and the green camp soldiers finally succumbed to the huge casualties and receded like a tide.

Outside the city, in the tent of the commander of the Qing army, Hetuo was furious: "It is unreasonable that an army of 30 can't defeat a city guarded by a group of untouchables!"

Inside the city, Wang Yan was stationed on the southern tower. The bright light armor on his body had lost its luster, his mouth was covered with a messy beard, his eyes were sunken, and he looked very tired.He looked to the south with his bloodshot eyes, and there was not a warship coming north on the sparkling river.

(End of this chapter)