scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 365

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Break through Taiping City, and all brothers will be free for three days! Grab money, food, and women!"

Amidst the arrogant clamor, the second wave of the Qing army led by Niyahan also charged towards Taipingfu City. At the same time, Ehena's team had already stepped on the flying ladder and began to climb towards the city wall.However, the bows, arrows and muskets on the city wall of Taiping Mansion are still sparse, but the number of sheep's head stones and wood that can be easily used by ordinary people is a bit exaggerated. On the heads of the soldiers, the Qing soldiers were smashed and bloody, and they were turned on their backs. There was also golden juice made from excrement, croton, wolf's poison, etc., and it was poured under the city wall like money, scalding the flesh of the Qing soldiers. Falling off, howling ghosts and howling wolves.

In any case, from the analysis of the counterattack methods of the defenders of Taiping Mansion, as long as a general of the Qing army with a little bit of battlefield experience can see that there are absolutely not many defenders in Taiping City—at least there are definitely not many regular troops, so it is very important for the operation Bows and arrows, artillery and muskets, which require high technical and operational strength, are scarce. A large number of simple-to-operate sheep's head stones and Leimu are used to smash the soldiers under the city. It also proves that the fat soldiers on the city wall are not recruits, but they are famous The cunning fat army brought in the common people and put on military uniforms to pretend to be soldiers!

After discovering this, the morale of the Qing army was greatly boosted. Niyahan, who had serious doubts about the attack on Taiping City before, also swept away all his worries. He not only rushed to the front, but also kept shouting, "Rush! Rush! Wu Gou doesn't have many troops! Take the opportunity and charge!" The Qing army's demolition team also increased their confidence, sneaking behind Niyahan's team and running as fast as they could.

"Rushing up the city wall!" New cheers came, the first batch of Qing soldiers rushed up the city wall on simple flying ladders, and the first triangular pseudo-dragon flag of the Qing army was also planted on the city wall of Taipingfu, and the following Soldiers of the Qing army also flooded onto the city wall in an endless stream.Seeing this scene, the soldiers of the Qing army who were waiting in formation in the distance were naturally cheering, and the generals of the Qing army were all overjoyed, saying that they would be able to ascend the city in the first charge.

"Shushu!" Our Lord Zhang yelled again.

"Slave understands!" Without Prince Zhang's order, the former Guangzhou general Shu Shu immediately struck a thousand, stood up and rushed to the front of his direct line team without saying a word, shouting: "Brothers, break through Taiping City and enjoy yourself for three days! Come with me!"

"Kill!" The third wave of the Qing army's siege team burst into slogans, and following Shushu's horse, Meteor strode towards the city wall of Taipingfu.

"It's time." At the same time, on the city wall of Taiping Mansion, Li Mao, the fat man's guard, smiled slightly, raised his hand, and ordered lightly: "Beat the drums and fight back with all your strength!"

"Boom, boom, boom!" The earth-shattering sound of war drums sounded on the city wall, and then, the even more earth-shattering roar of artillery also sounded on the city wall, and more than sixty shells of different sizes came out of their chambers, whistling and flying towards the densely packed city. Qing army soldiers, thousands of Miyoshi rockets also shot from the city wall, and shot obliquely at the charging Qing army siege team.At the same time, arrows and bullets shot out from the city wall like a torrential rain, shooting at the Qing soldiers under the city wall and far away from the city wall. The arrows and bullets were so dense that they completely blocked the sun at noon, like A dark cloud came over the heads of the Qing army.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Amidst the sound of violent explosions one after another, the generals of the Qing army were stunned to see that one by one their best and most skilled soldiers on the western front were smashed to pieces, and one after another flew into the air, like broken bodies. Falling far away like a string kite!One after another, their main fighters were full of arrows, and one after another, their bodies were bleeding, and they fell into the pool of blood screaming and screaming, and a large piece fell down in an instant.

What was even worse was the soldiers of the Qing army under the city wall. Not only arrows and bullets fell on their heads, but also grenades with blue smoke hit them like hailstones. Blood and brains splashed together, screaming and screaming, and the simple ladder was knocked down by fat soldiers with giant logs. The Qing soldiers on the ladder fell down the city wall and fell into the moat in panic The number of soldiers of the Qing army crowding the moat was countless, and the moat was scarlet, densely packed with corpses and wounded soldiers.As for the dozens of soldiers from the Qing army who rushed up the city wall before, they were also chopped into countless pieces by the soldiers of the fat army who were suddenly killed by a large number of people, and all their flesh and blood were thrown under the city.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The fat army's bombardment was still firing violently and quickly. The red cannons with a long range were designed to bombard the artillery formations of the Qing army, and the mother and child cannons with a short range were designed to bomb the soldiers of the Qing army. With skilled operation and the help of the fixed medicine kit, the Hongyi cannons of the Fatty Army completely silenced the Qing army's artillery team almost effortlessly. Across the fields, the Niyahan army, which was bombarded the worst by the fat army's sons and daughters, simply lost thousands of people in an instant, and the blood gathered into a stream and flowed into the low-lying places. .

"I got caught, run!" "Run!" "Help!" "Who will save me!"

The shouts of killing in the Qing army turned into cries, running for life, and cries for help. Countless Qing soldiers couldn't bear the fierce firepower and dense muskets and arrows of the fat army. A, trampling on each other, fled all over the mountains and plains in the distance from the city wall, and the soldiers of the Qing army crowded under the city wall at the narrow suspension bridge, swarming across the river and falling into the water, the fat soldiers took the opportunity to bombard the suspension bridge with bows, arrows, muskets and grenades , Desperately reaping the lives of Qing soldiers.

The particularly vicious soldiers of the Fatty Army, who were more likely to be related to Fatty Lu, simply bombarded the deck of the suspension bridge with Miyoshi rockets. Throwing and kicking the flames and gunpowder to the distance, but the side of the suspension bridge was already crowded with Qing soldiers, and the tail flames of the rockets kicked back and forth burned many Qing soldiers. It exploded, splashing a huge wave of flesh and blood.The moats on both sides of the hanging gun are filled with dead soldiers of the Qing army, so that latecomers can walk across the river without the soles of their shoes getting wet.

Seeing such a scene, the fat soldiers on the city wall of Taiping Mansion were of course bursting with laughter, but the Qing army generals in the distance were all stunned and stunned, and so was our Prince Zhang, his eyes were twice as wide as usual Da, muttered in his mouth: "How is it possible? How could it not be an empty city strategy? Could it be that Lu Yifeng, a dog thief, hasn't read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and he doesn't even know how to use an empty city strategy?"

"We've been caught!" Xuanyi General E Qi finally came to his senses, stomping his feet and screaming: "Wu Gou is false this time, but it's true! Deliberately deploying many defenders on the city wall, organizing a large number of The common people went to the city to help the battle, making us think that they are bluffing and luring us to attack Taipingfu City!"

The generals of the Qing army nodded secretly, agreeing with E Qi's opinion, and when they peeked at Prince Zhang, the war god of the Qing Dynasty, they found that our Prince Zhang looked indifferent, showing no particular anger, surprise or disappointment, nor the slightest hint of embarrassment. Ashamed and guilty, his expression was in a trance, as if he had already lost his soul.

At this time, all the troops of the Qing army that attacked the city had escaped the moat, but less than half of the [-] siege infantry were able to cross the river alive. The rockets of the Fatty Army killed them, and at the same time, the artillery and rockets of the Fatty Army bombarded the defeated Qing army from behind, trying their best to expand the results of the battle and increase the casualties of the Qing army soldiers.There was also Mu Cheng'er's army who set up temporary fortifications to suppress the defenders on the city with bows, arrows and muskets. They were also bombarded by the artillery and rockets of the fat man's army, and were forced to throw down their expensive carts and flee for their lives.In addition, the last two waves of siege teams of Niyahan and Shushu were also bombed by the Fatty Army's rocket artillery and suffered heavy casualties, so they had to retreat.

It is also the luck of these Qing troops. The Xindu Tongzhuman, who was sent by Prince Zhang to lead the supervising team, is quite loyal. It has to be expanded by 4000%!But even so, this time the Qing army still lost more than [-] troops in one breath, and they were all the main soldiers who had been tempered after several years of war-such a loss, not to mention the decline of the Qing Dynasty. Fatty Lu with few soldiers or old traitor Wu with strong soldiers will definitely feel pain for a long time.

But then again, for this disastrous siege, our Lord Zhang must bear the responsibility for his misjudgment, but when it came to commanding the battle, our Lord Zhang was not at fault. The reason for the disastrous defeat was also because the Fatty Army in Taiping City had too much firepower, the supplies for defending the city were too abundant, and because of the absolute location, Prince Zhang's tactical arrangements did not make any mistakes.So Niyahan, Mu Cheng'e, Shu Shu and other Qing army generals returned to the Qing army's banner in despondency, but they didn't accuse Prince Zhang of anything wrong, they just knelt down to plead guilty to Prince Zhang honestly.

Prince Zhang still didn't speak, his expression continued to be dazed. After a long time of stalemate, Zhuman came up and whispered in Prince Zhang's ear: "My lord, it's time for you generals to stand up. This defeat has nothing to do with them, it's ours." Misjudged the strength of Wu Dog in Taiping City."

"Get up..., get up." Prince Zhang finally came to his senses.

"Thank you, my lord, for not killing me." Niyahan, Shushu and others kowtowed their heads to thank them, and then got up, and Niyahan asked cautiously: "My lord, attacking Taiping City head-on, I'm afraid it won't work, what's the next step?" What should our army do, I ask the prince to show me."

"What should we do next?" Prince Zhang was stunned again, and it took a long time before he gave another order to convince the Qing army, "The soldiers have been running around all night and fought another battle. They are very tired. Let us start today." Set up camp by the Guxi River, rest overnight, and decide what to do tomorrow."

It is considered sympathetic to the delivery of the orders of the soldiers. Naturally, there will not be any cheers in the Qing army after the big defeat. They just silently packed up the supplies, cleaned the battlefield and carried the wounded soldiers. Set up camp on the upper reaches of the Xihe River, and rested overnight. The Fat Army in Taiping City also sent scouts to closely monitor the movements of the Qing army.

The tentative camp was set up, the sky was getting dark, Prince Zhang, who was defeated for the first time in half a year, didn't bother to gather the generals to discuss the military situation, arranged a patrol team and the generals on duty, and then went straight into his bedroom, Holding the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in his hand, he sighed for a long time, complaining so much that he was like a long-lost woman-the god damn Lu Yifeng, why didn't he read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" such a famous military classic?Why don't you use an empty city plan in Taiping City?

No one dares to disturb our Lord Zhang without authorization, except for Zhuman, the only confidant of Lord Zhang in the army. He found out from the soldiers of Lord Zhang that he hadn’t had any money since he entered the tent, and the loyal Zhuman immediately let him go. The cook made a hot meal, served it on a wooden tray, and delivered it to Prince Zhang's tent in person, and Prince Zhang's personal soldiers naturally did not stop him.But when Zhuman entered the dormitory, our Lord Zhang still devoted himself to his duties and read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" under the candlelight, knitting his brows and thinking hard, thinking hard about the strategy to turn defeat into victory = breaking the city, like the autumn wind The scene in Wuzhangyuan.

"My lord, it's the second watch, let's rest for a while." Zhuman put the food on the table, reached out to grab the lord's book, and said, "My lord, I heard that you haven't eaten yet, so let the cook give it to you." You make some meals you like, and eat some while it's hot."

"I have no appetite, I can't eat." Prince Zhang replied with a sigh.

"People are like iron, rice is like steel, if you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry." Zhuman continued to persuade: "Your servant knows that you are sad for today's big defeat, my lord. It's all right, just win the next battle, but you can't do without food, my lord."

As he said that, Zhuman also put a plate of rice field eel with chicken in front of Lord Zhang, forced a smile and said, "My lord, your favorite pair of dragon and phoenix. I remember you said that this dish was created by Zhuge Liang, and it will take a while to eat it." You are as smart as Zhuge Liang, my lord, please use more, so that you can figure out Zhuge Liang's ingenious plan and lead us to defeat Wu Gou."

Anyway, Prince Zhang finally picked up the chopsticks and took a few mouthfuls, but he was depressed, and he couldn’t help but feel unwilling to eat. Under the depression, Prince Zhang had to divert his thoughts and asked, "How is the situation in the camp?"

"Everything is normal, and our scouts didn't find any signs of Wu Gou leaving the city to attack at night, please rest assured, Your Highness." Zhu Man replied respectfully, and then said in a low voice: "Another thing I have to report to my Highness, Niya just now The generals Han and Shushu have found the servant, and they will ask the servant to persuade the prince to retreat tomorrow, so as not to be surrounded by Wu dogs."

"Retreat?" Prince Zhang put down his chopsticks and said bitterly: "A bunch of slaves who have no king and no master! Traitors and thieves! The master wants this king to restrain Wugou's two corps of Taiping Mansion and Jiangning. The battle is only now starting. , They are thinking of retreating? The master’s important matter was delayed, and the master blamed it, should they take care of it, or this king?”

"My lord, don't blame General Ni and the others, they are also for your own good." Zhuman said kindly: "Our army has gone deep into the hinterland of Wugou alone, surrounded by several armies of Wugou. The most important thing is to fight quickly. If you miss the hit, run away immediately, otherwise, once Wugou's army adjusts and surrounds our army on all sides, our army will be in danger."

"Why are you talking for those disobedient dog slaves? Forgot how did those dog slaves intentionally harm us in Chizhou last time?" Prince Zhang gave Zhuman a look, and shouted: "Retire the soldiers, then What about the errand assigned by the master?"

"My lord, the servant is not helping General Ni and the others to speak, the servant is helping the general and not helping the relatives." Zhuman replied respectfully: "And the servant also thinks that if we retreat to the Ningguo Mansion, we can avoid being surrounded by Wu dogs and continue to fight." Complete the errand assigned by the master and son. The Ningguo Mansion is located at the junction of Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. The terrain is steep, the city is strong, and the food and grass are still sufficient. If we... "

"Report—!" The sudden sound of an urgent report interrupted Zhuman's free speech, and then a soldier rushed into the tent, clasping his fists to Prince Zhang and playing: "Report to Prince, our army scouts are outside the camp. Captured a Wugou official who claimed to be Chen Rui, the wife and younger brother of the prefect of Wugou Taiping Prefecture. Now he is serving as a priest in Wugou's army. He said that he was ordered to see the prince, and he had a secret important event to report. May the prince see this person? ?”

"Wu Dog's envoy? Why did Wu Dog send the envoy here?" Zhu Man was taken aback.

"Whatever he does, let's talk about it after meeting first. My lord is familiar with military books and has a deep understanding of military strategies. Are you afraid that Wu Gou's envoy will use fraud?" Prince Zhang waved his hand decisively and shouted: "Lead him in, search carefully, and be careful that he looks Just as the Wu Dog envoy killed Ming Zhongtang, he also had explosives hidden on his body."

After a rigorous search, Chen Rui, the fat man's envoy, was led into the Qing army's camp and brought before our Prince Zhang.And when our Lord Zhang and Zhuman looked at the visitor carefully, they found that Chen Rui was about thirty years old, with a medium build, neither fat nor thin, and his appearance was not bad, and there was a big package on his back, Zhuman hurried Pointing to the package, he asked, "Has the package been searched? Have you hidden any weapons?"

"General Huizhu, I searched it, but there are no weapons inside, only gold, silver and jewels." The soldiers of the Qing army who escorted Chen Rui into the camp replied respectfully.

"Gold, silver and jewellery?" Prince Zhang and Zhuman were all taken aback, thinking at the same time, why did the fat army envoy bring the jewels?And that Chen Rui also slapped a thousand, and said respectfully: "Chen Rui, my little envoy, kowtow to the prince of Daqing Baojun, and greet him."

"Who sent you here?" Prince Zhang shouted.

"Returning to the lord, it was our Dazhou General Zhengdong who sent a fast boat from Digang to Taiping City, and then our Dazhou Li Mao followed General Li and sent a small envoy to greet the lord." Chen Rui also agreed. To be honest, after answering the truth, he took off the package on his back and put it on the table next to him, unwrapped it, and opened the square wooden box of the package, revealing a box full of jewels and jade, and said more respectfully: "My lord, this is our General Lu. A little bit of meaning, please accept it with a smile."

"Lu Yifeng's dog thief is my mortal enemy, why did you give me such a heavy gift?" Prince Zhang asked suspiciously.

"Our general wants to ask the lord one thing." Chen Rui said flatteringly: "If the lord can agree, then our general has ten times as much gift to you, the lord."

Prince Zhang and Zhuman looked at each other, feeling even more puzzled, and then Prince Zhang asked: "Lu Yifeng is a thief, what do you want to ask me?"

"It's a very simple matter." Chen Rui said with a smile: "In about three or four days, our general will return from Fanchang and return to Nanjing after passing through the city of Taipingfu. I beg you, my lord, to hold your hand high, don't send troops to intercept, and let our general go back to Nanjing. If your lord agrees, gold, silver and beauties, please feel free to open your mouth, and our general will try his best to satisfy you."

"Lu Yifeng's thief wants me to let you go?" Prince Zhang's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself, "Why does Lu Yifeng's thief beg me to let you go? Is there something wrong with Wugou's other battlefields? Or something happened to Wugou's main force?" ?”

"Lu Yifeng is a thief, why do you want our lord to give way?" Zhu Man asked with a yell.Chen Rui's expression was hesitant, and he didn't dare to answer, Zhuman shouted again: "Speak! If you don't tell the truth, push it out and chop it up immediately!"

"This general, it's not that the villain doesn't want to tell the truth, it's just that the villain really doesn't know." Chen Rui replied helplessly: "The villain is just an errand runner. With such an important military situation, how could the general let the villain know?" Do you know the reason? Not to mention the villain, even the villain's brother-in-law, Jifu, doesn't know the reason."

Zhu Man thought it was the same, and when he was about to give up the questioning, Chen Rui added cautiously, "However, the villain privately speculates that it may be related to the excessive consumption of ammunition and the heavy casualties of the general's army, because the villain You know, the general didn’t intend to attack Tongling before this expedition, so he didn’t bring much ammunition, and after a big battle, I’m afraid there won’t be much left. There is also Yangzhou Mansion, the fight is too fierce.”

"Huh?" Our Lord Zhang's eyes lit up, and his heart began to beat violently.After a little calculation, our Lord Zhang immediately snorted coldly: "Does Lu Yifeng's bastard think too little of this king? This king is loyal to the Qing court, and he is loyal. A little bit of gold, silver and jewels, Do you want to buy this king?"

"My lord's loyalty to the Qing court and the Qing emperor, of course our generals and villains are aware of it, and we admire it very much." Chen Rui hurriedly flattered him, and then said cautiously: "But the little people have heard a little bit. You were named the king of the county, but because of the shortage of money and food in the Qing Dynasty, you have not been rewarded with money to repair and expand the mansion, so far, your lord, Fujin and your children can only live in the original Beizi mansion. We were wronged. So our general thought, if you can show your respect, lord, and don't fight this battle for the time being, then our general will honor you with 10 taels of silver and help you expand the palace."

"10 taels of silver? Lu Yifeng's dog thief is really generous." Prince Zhang sneered, but he was quietly flipping through the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in his hand, when Zhuge Liang used silver to bribe Yang Song to frame Ma Chao in front of Zhang Lu, and finally forced Ma Chao to death During the period of surrendering to Liu Bei, our Lord Zhang frowned a few times, kicked Erlang's legs and said: "But Lu Yifeng is a thief who is in the south of the Yangtze River, extorting money. The warehouse must be full of money, right? 10 taels of silver , hum."

"My lord, please make an offer, and our general will try his best to satisfy it." Chen Rui quickly replied.

"20 taels of silver!" Prince Zhang raised two fingers and said viciously, "And you have to pay first!"

"My lord, can I pay half of it first?" Chen Rui asked cautiously: "It's not that we can't take it out, but if you go back on your word, my lord, then we will lose my wife and lose my army."

"He's someone who has read "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Prince Zhang was overjoyed, but he snorted coldly and said, "Are you afraid that this king will not keep his word? Well, for the sake of your dog slave's attitude is still respectful." , I allow you to pay half of it first! But be quick, the remaining 10 taels will be paid when Lu Yifeng's dog thief passes through Taipingfu City, if you dare to play tricks, hehe!"

"My lord, our general is also famous for keeping his promise." Chen Rui hurriedly hit the thousand and said flatteringly, "10 taels of silver will be kept in front of the lord after dark tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)