scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 340 The Battle of Gaoyou
The weather is not beautiful, just the day after Fatty Lu decided to pursue the Jieshu team, and it was also the day of the second year of the second year and the 14th of March in the [-]th year of Kang Mazi. Before dawn, the junction of Jiangpu and Chuzhou It started to rain heavily in the area, and it didn't clear until it was close to noon. Father-in-law Sun, who hadn't seen him for a long time, came out of the thick clouds and sprinkled the precious sunshine on the wet Jiangpu land stingily.

"My God, are you finally willing to let the sun shine?" Fatty Lu, who had waited all morning for the sunshine that had finally come out of the clouds, began to curse at the sky for injustice. Why did he do this when he was about to attack? Heavy rain, adding so much trouble to yourself?While cursing, Fatty Lu quickly ordered the main force to pull out the camp and cross the river so that he could attack the Liutang Mountain camp where Jie Shu was entrenched.

The order was conveyed, and the main force of the Fat Man Army stationed on the south bank of the Chushui River immediately mobilized. Those who set up their camps set up their camps, those who loaded food, grass and ordnance into vehicles, those who carried artillery, and Wang Xu led an army to cross the river first. Set up a guard on the north bank of Chushui to prevent the Qing cavalry from raiding the ferry.While busy in an orderly manner, Line Fu, who was in charge of artillery, suddenly came to Fatty Lu, saluted and said: "General, the ground is muddy, and our army's heavy artillery cannot be carried."

"How is it possible?" Fatty Lu froze, waved his hand and ordered: "Call more helpers, let Han Yuanren send 500 people to carry the artillery."

"Back to the general, the last general has already borrowed 800 people from the second general of Han, but the artillery can't be moved if it can't be moved." Line Fu replied with a sad face.

Fatty Lu was amazed when he heard the words, and hurriedly led Yao Qisheng, Zhu Fangdan and others to the artillery team behind to check the situation. Sure enough, at least [-] soldiers from the Fatty Army were pushing and pulling each of the Hongyi cannons, but these soldiers were shouting. His voice was hoarse, and the Hongyi cannon, which weighed several thousand catties, was still crawling slowly like a snail. It hadn't gone ten feet away for a long time, but it exhausted the infantry of the fat army.Fatty Lu knew something was wrong. When he jumped off his horse and wanted to go over to check, he found that his fat feet had just stepped on the ground, and the sticky soil had already flooded his insteps. It turned out that this area was basically farmland. The soil in it is as sticky as paste.

"Oops, I'm just as lucky as Napoleon." Fatty Lu yelled bitterly, knowing that he would have encountered the same unlucky situation that Napoleon encountered in Waterloo that year. The heavy rain softened the soil and heavy artillery could not Move, the proud shelling tactics can not be displayed.

"General, don't let the soldiers waste their strength." Yao Qisheng suggested: "No matter how many people are on the ground, they can't move the heavy artillery. We can only wait for the sun to dry the ground. Otherwise, our Hongyi cannons will not be able to pass. The range of the mother and child artillery is too short, and the Mangou camp on the top of Liutang Mountain cannot be shot at the foot of the mountain, and the infantry alone will attack with their backs, and I am afraid that there will be heavy casualties."

"Then don't rush to cross the river, wait for the sun to dry the ground for a day." Fatty Lu ordered helplessly.

Fatty Lu, Yao Qisheng and others had gone to Liutang Mountain area to survey the terrain before, and found that Jieshu had set up the Qing army camp on the top of Liutang Mountain extremely cunningly, overlooking the battlefield from a high position. The pond is extremely unfavorable to the deployment of the Fatty Army's troops. At the same time, because of the reduced range of the Fatty Army's upward shooting, the Fatty Army's light artillery can not reach the Qing Army camp at the foot of the mountain. Only the Hongyi Cannon with a maximum range of ten miles can do it. .Now that the Hongyi cannons were unable to participate in the battle, it was a loss-making business to use infantry to attack the heavily guarded Qing army camp. Fatty Lu, who had always been careful about budgeting, naturally refused to do anything.

At the same time, in the camp of Liutang Mountain, it was discovered that after the Fatty Army pulled out the camp, the Qing Army had already started to pull out the camp. Don’t look at Jie Shu who hates Fatty Lu so much, but Jie Shu is also an instant kill in history. With Geng Jingzhong's North Army, the real military ability is far higher than Mazi's cousin.So after experiencing the power of the Fatty Army's artillery formation, Jie Shu immediately understood that the Liutangshan Camp was completely vulnerable to the Fatty Army's artillery formation. , save the strength and go to Chuzhou Prefecture to compete with the Fatty Army. This can not only achieve the task of holding down the Fatty Army's direct corps as Yue Le explained, but also increase the chances of winning and reduce a lot of losses.

To the great surprise of Jie Shu, Wang Zhiding and others, Tan Ma suddenly came to report again, saying that the main force of Fatty's army had stopped crossing the river and chose to rest and wait in place.Hearing this news, Jie Shu couldn't help being a little puzzled, and wondered what Wu Gou was up to. They defeated our army in Chushui yesterday, and their morale was high. How could he make such a big mistake when he was more slippery than a loach on the battlefield?Is this dog thief up to some tricks again?

"I understand!" Wang Zhiding suddenly came to his senses, and shouted with a fist: "It must be because of the weather! It has been raining heavily for most of the day today, not only the water in the Chu River has surged, but the ground must also be soft and muddy. The Hongyi cannon weighing tens of thousands of catties couldn't be carried, so Lu Yifeng's dog thief had to wait to cross the river. Without the cover of the Hongyi cannon, he relied on the infantry to attack by force. Even if tens of thousands of Wugou white hat soldiers died Take down this formidable Liutang Mountain camp!"

"That makes sense!" Jie Shu also came to his senses, slapped his thigh and said joyfully, "Wu Gou's cannons are too short to hit the top of Liutang Mountain from the foot of the mountain, and the Sanhao rockets can only shoot directly but not projectile, so they still can't threaten My camp at Liutang Mountain, as long as Wu Gou's red barbarian cannons can't cross the river, we are absolutely sure to defend Liutang Mountain!"

"My lord, this servant thinks that our army should suspend the withdrawal of the camp." Wang Zhiding quickly suggested: "Although the sun is out now, if it doesn't stay in the sun for a day or two, Wu Gou will never even think about moving the Hongyi Cannon to the foot of Liutang Mountain. , and our army guarding this mountain can not only contain the Wugou Jiangning Corps more effectively, but also put Wugou in a dilemma, even if it receives warnings from other battlefields, it will be difficult to draw a large number of troops to rescue quickly."

"It makes sense, suspend the camp and continue to station!" Jie Shu ordered decisively, raised his head again, looked at the black clouds in the sky and prayed loudly, "O ancestors of the Qing Dynasty, you must bless us, the people of the Qing Dynasty. Loyal warriors! Let it rain again, the bigger the better, and the longer the better!"

Probably whether it is extremely peaceful, or it may be that the wild boar skin and yellow stewed chicken have heard the prayers of the descendants, and it is more likely that Fatty Lu, who has been lucky for nearly a year, should recite some words. Bullied by the vicious and vicious sister Wu Yun, thick dark clouds once again covered the sky, and no matter how the evil Fatty Lu prayed to God and worshiped Buddha and prayed devoutly, at the third quarter of Shen time, the raindrops of beans still started to fall sporadically , forcing the Fatty Army to camp again on the south bank of Chushui River to shelter from the rain, not to mention, they didn't stop after a while.

Encountering such a situation, the generals of the Qing army, such as Jie Shu and Wang Zhiding, who had already decided to abandon Liutang Mountain, of course smiled and praised God's blessings, but fat generals such as Lu Fatzi and Yao Qisheng could only sigh in vain.In desperation, Fatty Lu could only carry forward the spirit of Ah Q, and comforted himself: "It's okay, as long as it rains like this in the south of the Yangtze River these days, our Gaoyou defenders can also relax. You can’t even use bows and arrows (bow strings will become soft when exposed to water), Tian Dazhuang is much more confident in defending Gaoyou City.”

"Not necessarily, the general has forgotten the words that the sun rises in the east and the rain in the west is different from the sky in ten miles?" Yao Qisheng shook his head, and then suggested with concern: "General, the students think you'd better send more messengers and battlefields everywhere." To get in touch, to understand the specific situation, the students always have a premonition that this third-front war will not be so easy for our army."

........................

According to Yao Qisheng's crow's words, the heavy rain really only affected Jiangning, Zhenjiang, Taiping Mansion and the southern part of Yangzhou, but there was only a drizzle around Gaoyou City in the middle of Yangzhou, and it didn't affect Yue Le's army at all. Siege warfare.Just when Fatty Lu was lamenting that the sky was not helping him in the heavy rain, the battle between Yue Le's army and Fatty Gaoyou's army was already in full swing and completely heated up.

"Kill! Kill Wu Gou!" Amid thunderous shouts, thousands of Qing army infantry lined up in a dense formation, carrying more than [-] flying ladders, and strode towards Gaoyou with red eyes. The city wall rushed towards the Gaoyou city wall that had been stained dark red with blood.

At the same time, dense flying ladders have been erected on the Gaoyou city wall, and countless Qing infantry climbed up the wall, turning the Gaoyou city wall into a sugar cube covered with ants.The scene on the city wall was even more miserable. The moat connected to Gaoyou Lake had been completely filled with corpses of soldiers from the Qing army and sandbags of earth, stone, and sandbags. The unpleasant smell of burnt human flesh and human oil makes me want to vomit.

"The dog is coming up again! Throw the grenade! Splash the golden juice! Hurry up!!" The shout of Tian Dazhuang, the general of the fat army, was heard on the city wall. Yan's grenade poured boiling hot golden juice, and poured out arrows as dense as raindrops. While leading a group of elite soldiers to put out fires and make up for leaks, they frantically hacked and killed the Qing soldiers who climbed up the city wall.

Under the tenacious resistance of Gaoyou soldiers and civilians, Qing soldiers kept falling from the city wall to the ground, making unbearable screams, and the Qing soldiers below the city wall also fell in pieces, not because they were blown to blood by grenades Flying horizontally, they were scalded by the golden juice and screamed like ghosts and wolves, but no matter whether they were dead or alive, these soldiers of the Qing army could not even fall down.

"Pour oil on fire! Throw torches!" Tian Dazhuang, who was almost exhausted when he saw the fresh troops of the Qing army rushing to the front of the formation, decisively ordered to pour oil on the fire. Cans of tung oil mixed with sulfur were thrown out, one after another A torch was thrown down, and the city wall was soon caught in a skyrocketing fire. Countless soldiers of the Qing army rolled and screamed in the sea of ​​flames, their eyebrows and braids caught fire together with their clothes, and the smell of scorched human flesh rose into the sky. Countless Gaoyou soldiers and civilians vomited dry gastric juice and vomited jaundice, but neither the soldiers of the fat man nor the people in Gaoyou City flinched. They just poured kerosene and threw torches one after another, using the flames to temporarily stop the Qing army from attacking the city. , to strive for self-army adjustment time.

Except for the west gate, which is protected by Gaoyou Lake, the battles at the southeast, north and south gates of Gaoyou were equally fierce. Since March [-], when the Yueyue army came to the city, in just six days, there were only [-] defenders of the Gaoyou fat army. This is already the fourth large-scale siege against the Qing army.In the previous three offensive and defensive battles, the Fatty Army had sacrificed more than [-] soldiers and more than [-] civilians who helped in the battle, and consumed more than [-]% of the supplies for defending the city. It caused more than three times the casualties of the Qing army, but it was basically at the end of the crossbow, and all kinds of defense materials were basically exhausted. Can it stop the next attack of the Qing army, or even last until the sky is completely dark? Said that the soldiers of the Fatty Army didn't know, even Tian Dazhuang, the guard of Gaoyou of the Fatty Army, didn't know either.

"Dangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdangdang!" The sudden sound of Jinjin made Gaoyou's soldiers and civilians very pleasantly surprised. They all thought that the Qing army's sudden withdrawal of troops when it was about to break through the city must be our reinforcements. I only saw the densely packed Qing army flags, and the motionless Qing army cavalry formation.

Only Tian Dazhuang sighed softly, because Tian Dazhuang knew very well that no reinforcements would come, and the mission Gao Dejie gave him was to defend Gaoyou City to the death. Hold Yue Le's 12 troops, protect the cities of Yangzhou in the south, and provide an opportunity for the Fatty Army's next strategy and buy time.Therefore, Gao Dejie will not have reinforcements for Gaoyou, nor will there be reinforcements for Tian Dazhuang, the fat man who was a current general of the Wu army post before he entered the south of the Yangtze River.

"General Tian, ​​someone from the Mangou side came out with a white flag!" A fat soldier shouted, Tian Dazhuang looked in the direction of his finger, and saw a cavalry squad with a white flag coming out of the Qing army, it seemed Take a prisoner.When Tian Dazhuang raised his binoculars to take a closer look, his face immediately turned pale. It turned out that the prisoner who was escorted by the Qing army cavalry was the Yangzhou Tongzhi appointed by Fatty Lu himself—the former Jiangyin scholar Sha Zhangbai.

"It's Mr. Sha, it's Mr. Sha!" Li Peimao, the governor of Gaoyou, also recognized the prisoner escorted by the Qing army, and screamed with a pale face: "How could Mr. Sha be captured by Mangou? He represents our soldiers and people in Gaoyou The messenger who went to ask General Gao for help, did he send the news of the call for help to Yangzhou?"

Hearing Li Peimao's yell, all the soldiers and civilians in Gaoyou next to him were in fear, talking a lot and demoralizing.Tian Dazhuang's face was even paler, because Tian Dazhuang knew very well that Sha Zhangbai's so-called appeal to Yangzhou for help was just a means and strategy to encourage the morale of Gaoyou's soldiers and civilians. He was able to ask for reinforcements, but he just planned to pretend to go out of the city for a while, and then come back to say that reinforcements are coming.The only thing that Tian Dazhuang didn't expect was that Sha Zhangbai would be captured by the Qing army after leaving the city, and he would be taken to Gaoyou City—what is this poor scholar with no power to restrain himself planning to do?If he said that there was no reinforcements, Gaoyou City would be destroyed immediately!

Waiting in fear and watching, Sha Zhangbai was escorted to Gaoyou City, where corpses were strewn all over the place. A Qing army general, who was tightly protected by Qing soldiers with shields, raised his head and shouted, "The people of Gaoyou on the city and the people of Da Zhou Listen up, soldiers, I am Tuhai, the Minister of War of the Qing Dynasty and the governor of Jiangning! Here, I have to praise you, you really fought well, and thousands of troops blocked our 12 army of the Qing Dynasty Six days of attack, but also killed more than [-] of our Qing soldiers, it is commendable!"

"But what I want to tell you is that you have all been deceived! Lu Yifeng and Gao Dejie have treated you as outcasts from the very beginning, and never thought of giving you one-on-one reinforcements. I just want you to die together with some of our Qing soldiers, so as to buy time for their main force to survive!"

There was a commotion on the city wall, and countless soldiers and civilians in Gaoyou cast suspicious eyes on Tian Dazhuang. Tian Dazhuang's face turned green and white, knowing that Sha Zhangbai had finally betrayed himself and Gao Dejie, and confessed the truth to the Qing army—but it was okay. , Tian Dazhuang's face was covered with blood and smoke, and his pale face could not be seen even if he got close.

"The people of Gaoyou in the Qing Dynasty, and the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty who were deceived by Wu Gou, you all have seen clearly." Sure enough, Tuhai pointed at Sha Zhangbai and shouted, "This is the Yangzhou Tongzhi and Rebellion of the Puppet Zhou Dynasty. Thief Sha Zhangbai, he went to Yangzhou to ask Gao Dejie for help on behalf of you, but was rejected by Gao Dejie, and when he returned to Gaoyou City to report to you, he was captured by our soldiers of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty! Now, let him Let me tell you, Gao Dejie dog thief, did you send a reinforcement for you?!"

After finishing speaking, Tuhai raised his good right leg, kicked Sha Zhangbai on the back, and said in a low voice, "Mr. Sha, it's up to you. After you persuade Gaoyou City to surrender, you will be the magistrate of Yangzhou. Thank you!" Yin Wanliang, the beauties in Gaoyou City, you can choose as you like. If you dare to play tricks, hum."

"Master Tu, please don't worry." Sha Zhangbai smiled slightly, raised his head, and shouted at the city wall: "Gaoyou's Great Zhou soldiers, Gaoyou's people, you are all optimistic, I am General Tian Dazhuang sent to Gaoyou Sha Zhangbai, the general who won the victory, asked for help, Sha Zhangbai, the Tong Zhi of Yangzhou of the Great Zhou!"

Under the hopeful and apprehensive gaze of the Qing army and Gaoyou soldiers and civilians, Sha Zhangbai, who was so weak that even a gust of wind could blow him down, suddenly raised his voice and shouted the strongest voice in his life, "Don't listen to the nonsense of dogs! The reinforcements of General Gao Dejie are already on the way and will arrive soon! Hold on! Hold on!"

"Reinforcements are coming!" Shocking cheers rang out from Gaoyou City, Tian Dazhuang suddenly opened his quietly closed eyes, and looked at Sha Zhangbai below in great surprise, just as Sha Zhangbai also raised his head to see Tian Dazhuang, After a bright smile, Sha Zhangbai shouted again, "Soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Han people in Gaoyou, persevere! Persevere! Reinforcements are coming!"

"Savage dog!" Tu Hai was so angry that he almost went crazy, he picked up the whip and whipped Sha Zhangbai's head and face. Sha Zhangbai didn't dodge or dodge, but kept shouting, "Soldiers! Han people! Persevere! Fight against the Qing Dynasty!" Restoring Ming! Anti-Qing and restoring Ming——!"

"Chop off his hands and feet!" Tu Hai yelled crazily, and the soldiers of the Qing army next to him rushed up like wolves, grabbed Sha Zhangbai's hands and feet, and slashed at them with a knife, blood spattered all over the place. , Sha Zhangbai laughed loudly and kept shouting, "Fight the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty! Reverse the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty! Reverse the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty!"

"Anti-Qing and Fuming! Anti-Qing and Fuming! Anti-Qing and Fuming!" There were also rhythmic shouts in Gaoyou City, which made the 10,000+ Qing troops completely desperate.Immediately afterwards, random arrows were fired on the city wall, and they fell on the heads of Tuhai's team overwhelmingly. While the soldiers wrapped Tuhai in their frantic escape, Sha Zhangbai, whose hands and feet had been cut off, was still dying in a pool of blood. shouted, "Fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty, against the Qing Dynasty..."

"Revenge for Master Sha! Revenge for Master Sha!" Amidst the sound of angry slogans and the sound of thunderous charging drums, the gate of Gaoyou City, which had been closed for a long time, suddenly opened, and the only 110 fat cavalry in Gaoyou City charged out , Holding the banner of the Great Zhou Dynasty, he rushed to the Qing army in the distance without hesitation, and rushed to the enemy team that was a thousand times larger than himself. The infantry and cavalry soldiers were completely submerged by the tide-like Qing army...

"A big road leads to my house. My family lives at the foot of Liang Mountain. There are five acres of fertile land at the foot of the mountain. Five acres of fertile land. Who will remember my appearance? Who will remember the injuries I have suffered? ...?"

I don't know who took the lead in singing the military song of the Fatty Army, and more and more soldiers of the Fatty Army sang along, as did the common people in Gaoyou City. The same Qing army galloped and charged, bravely killed the enemy, and sang in unison with tears in their eyes, "...a big river runs through my house, there are wives and children, tiles, tiles, big chickens, fat geese, fat cows Cattle and sheep are strong, grow beans and rice, rapeseed..."

"...I cut off my eyes with a long sword, and I can't stop my homesickness! A big road leads to my house. My family lives at the foot of Liang Mountain. There are five acres of fertile land under the mountain, five acres of fertile land. Rapeseed flowers..."

Over and over again, singing again and again, and when the whole city of Gaoyou echoed the neat and loud singing, more than a hundred fat army cavalry had been completely swallowed up by the Qing army. The common people have completely lost sight of the warriors, only the fat army flag with black characters on a white background is still standing in the ocean-like Qing army, fluttering in the wind in the drizzle...

"God damn Wugou—!" Hearing the neat and clear singing, and seeing the Dazhou flag that has always stood upright, Yue Le roared wildly and drew his knife to chop the handsome case in front of him into pieces. Then he threw down the saber and sat back in the handsome chair, covered his face with his hands, and lamented in despair, "If the Han people in the world are like this, all of us will die without a burial place!"

(End of this chapter)