Chapter 279 Burning Wuchang City King Gui surrenders
Su Zhuang watched as some soldiers of the Second Division of the Second Army had climbed onto the wall of Wuchang City.
He thought this process would be difficult, but he didn't expect it to be unusually easy.
The defenders of Wuchang City were very weak in their will to defend the city.
A large number of Qin troops climbed onto the city wall, and suddenly there was a violent explosion on the city wall.
The Qin army suffered heavy casualties, and the remaining Qin army retreated.
Su Zhuang learned about what happened on the Wuchang city wall.
The Qin army climbed onto the city wall, and the Ming army detonated a large amount of black powder in iron cans.
These tin cans contained a large amount of medicine, which was more powerful than the landmines used by the Qin army.
The tin can killed some Qin troops, but it killed more Ming troops.
The general guarding Wuchang City directly ordered the soldiers on the city top to die together with the soldiers of the Qin army who boarded the city.
"Inform the Second Division to stop the tentative siege. Our army will directly attack the city with artillery. This is slower, but more reliable."
Tao Guifan received Su Zhuang's order and immediately ordered the attacking troops to withdraw.
The casualties in the attack on Wuchang City were too great. According to this casualty situation, if Wuchang City was really captured, their second division would also lose its combat effectiveness and would be unable to participate in subsequent battles.
Second Division Zhu Shi Qutian speculated: "Old Tao, Zuo Liangyu is a famous ruthless man in the Ming army. Except for treating his own subordinates as human beings, he never treats others as human beings.
The soldiers guarding the city must have been forced by Zuo Liangyu to resort to the same death strategy."
Tao Guifan nodded and said: "I think this is also the case. The Ming army on top of the city is definitely not Zuo Liangyu's confidant.
I didn’t expect that the internal struggle within the Ming army would be so fierce, and they would use friendly troops as bait.”
After the Qin army's attack on the city was blocked, they honestly used heavy artillery to attack the city.
The 150 artillery pieces on the artillery regiments and river warships had a range far beyond that of the Ming army's Hongyi artillery, and their rate of fire was very fast.
Artillery troops can set up artillery positions outside the range of the Ming army's Hongyi artillery without having to worry about being harmed.
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On top of Wuchang City, Zuo Liangyu saw that the siege army of yellow-robed thieves had withdrawn.
He said proudly: "In these two moments, I have seen through the thief in yellow.
It would be impossible for them to capture Wuchang City without paying the price of tens of thousands of people."
The generals in Zuo Liangyu's army also continued to brag about Zuo Liangyu's abilities.
"Sir, your plan is really wonderful.
There is a specialized firearms workshop in the city. The newly produced black powder is extremely powerful. It is packed in a tin can with scrap iron nails inside.
Put it on the city wall and let the local military households in Huguang defend the city.
They deserve it and cannot hold the wall.
When the army of thieves in yellow boarded the city, we used rockets to set fire to the tin cans.
They had a series of explosions, which frightened the thieves in yellow out of their wits, and the thieves in yellow no longer dared to attack the city."
"This is such a clever plan, General. The military households in the guard station have no idea what's in these tin cans?
They thought these were tools for defending the city.
The panic of not being able to defend the city wall, these military households behaved so vividly that the thieves in yellow didn't notice anything strange.
They sent a large number of troops to the city wall, so that we could have a chance to eliminate so many thieves in yellow in one fell swoop.
These are all real thieves. If the court rewards us less, we will definitely not do it.
It's just a pity that some of the heads were blown up, so there's no way to identify them and they can't receive the reward."
When Zuo Liangyu's army saw that the yellow-robed thieves' offensive had weakened, they all celebrated happily.
In the eyes of these people, if the thieves in yellow failed to attack the city, they would not be able to break through Wuchang City in a short period of time.
Zuo Liangyu drank wine and watched the thieves in yellow attacking the city.
He was extremely confident at first that he would be able to defend Wuchang City and wait for the situation to change.
There is sufficient food and grass in Wuchang City.
The thieves in yellow are very precious about their lives, and there is definitely no way to break through Wuchang City.
As time passed, the roar of heavy artillery by the yellow-robed thieves outside the city continued.
Zuo Liangyu used his telescope to see that more than sixty cannons had been lost to the yellow-clad thieves outside the city.
This number is more than the Hongyi cannons on the top of Wuchang City.
He saw that the outer city wall of Wuchang City had collapsed due to more than ten days of continuous bombing.
Only the inner city wall including Wengcheng is still holding on, but the inner city wall is about to lose its hold.
The thieves in yellow continue to attack, and the inner city wall cannot stop them for long before they are broken by the thieves in yellow.
Zuo Liangyu organized several large armies to break out of the encirclement, but they were all eliminated by the thieves in yellow.
He watched the time for the thieves in yellow to break through the city wall slowly come, and the panic in his heart gradually intensified.
"The thief in yellow wants my life, Zuo Liangyu, so I want all of you to accompany me to hell."
Zuo Liangyu called his confidants and told them to make preparations after the city was broken.
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4333 (the ninth year of Chongzhen), February 28th.
Su Zhuang looked at the Wuchang City wall that had been bombarded by heavy artillery for more than ten days and was about to be breached by them.
The outer city wall of Wuchang City completely collapsed three days ago.
Now only the inner city wall is left, which is also covered with cracks like spider webs.
"Notify all armies that after the city wall is breached, they will rush into the city immediately. Anyone who dares to resist will be shot to death without holding back.
At the same time, enough troops are left to defend each city gate. The Ming army is likely to choose to break out before it is on the verge of destruction."
Su Zhuang continued to wait. In the evening, a salvo of heavy artillery fire caused the Wuchang City wall to completely collapse.
Tao Guifan and Yun Kuohai immediately led their troops into Wuchang City.
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Zuo Liangyu listened to the report from his subordinates that Wuchang City was captured by thieves in yellow clothes.
He saw that the north, west and south gates were already bursting with flames.
There was a ferocious expression on his face, and he gloated: "Burn it! Burn it vigorously! Burn all the thieves in yellow to death."
In the past few days, Zuo Liangyu had his army pile up firewood poured with kerosene at the gates of the city and inside the residences of Wuchang City.
From the outside, these houses look like ordinary houses.
Once the wood is ignited, surrounded by wooden buildings, the fire quickly spreads.
Only a passage was left at the east city gate, and only a small amount of wood was piled.
Zuo Liangyu left people with blood feuds with the thieves in yellow in various residences to light the firewood.
If they light firewood, they are likely to be killed in the sea of fire, and die together with the thieves in yellow.
All the land of these people's families was confiscated by the yellow thieves, and all their families were executed by the yellow thieves.
Their only purpose in living is to kill as many thieves in yellow as possible.
As Zuo Liangyu expected, the thieves in yellow invaded the city, and those who stayed in the residences immediately lit the firewood.
If he keeps enough people, even if half of them repent, the fire will spread to the whole city.
Zuo Liangyu predicted that the fire would soon cover the entire Wuchang City, and all the thieves in yellow who entered the city would be trapped in the fire.
Most of the thieves in yellow would definitely choose to put out the fire instead of chasing his remaining soldiers.
They had the opportunity to kill the yellow-robed thieves and run to South Zhili.
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Su Zhuang saw a raging fire burning in Wuchang City.
He did not expect that the Ming army would use such a lose-lose method.
Water and fire have always been ruthless, and water attacks and fire attacks are common tactics used by the army.
If there is no plan prepared in advance, a sudden encounter will definitely cause huge casualties.
When the staff department conducts war games, they have corresponding methods to deal with some common and uncommon tactics.
Su Zhuang had already seen Chief of Staff Tong Yunpeng rushing into the city with a team responsible for putting out the fire.
Several of them worked together to drag the water pipe sewn with thick cotton cloth.
The steam pump is placed directly in the moat of Wuchang City.
These steam pumps were quickly started by the soldiers, quickly pumping out water and transporting it to the city along the water distribution pipes.
The water pipes in the hands of the soldiers spurted out a large amount of water.
Wherever they passed, the blazing fire was extinguished.
The burning houses and wood were doused, and large amounts of white smoke continued to rise, covering the entire city of Wuchang.
The fire-fighting troops quickly came to the center of the city, put the steam pump into the well, and quickly extracted the well water to put out the fire.
The raging fire in Wuchang City was brought under control in a short time.
Only the east city gate was blocked by the soldiers under Zuo Liangyu's command, and the fire-fighting troops were unable to enter the city.
The flames there started out as the smallest ignition point in the city and gradually turned into a raging fire.
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Zuo Liangyu saw thick smoke billowing all over Wuchang City.
He showed a happy smile. The fire would cause great casualties to the thief in yellow, and the thief in yellow would not be able to pursue him.
Zuo Liangyu led thousands of hard-core soldiers under his command and immediately opened the east city gate, trying to escape to the southern Zhili area.
Yun Kuohai saw this group of Ming troops rushing out.
He cursed a beast and fired a dozen machine guns to block the city gate.
Zuo Liangyu's army was unable to break out of the city gate.
Wuchang City is full of wooden buildings, and the flames spread quickly. The fire burning at the East Gate turned the sky red.
Zuo Liangyu looked at the copper and iron wall with the yellow-robed thieves in front of it, and the raging fire behind it.
They have no way to escape.
"Heaven will kill me!"
Zuo Liangyu's Ming army was quickly swallowed up by the fire.
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Su Zhuang looked at the casualty statistics reported by each army, and he slammed the table in anger.
The death toll this time was not high, and the fire was under control in its early stages. Only the flames at the east city gate were not under control and are now in ruins.
The Qin army suffered many injuries this time, most of them suffering from burns and scalds.
Burns and scalds are extremely susceptible to infection even if penicillin solution is applied to the wound.
The Ming army was so frantic that they directly burned the city with fire to prevent them from occupying the city.
Chief of Staff Tong Yunpeng reacted quickly and immediately led the army to use pumps to control the spread of the fire.
But some Qin troops rushed too fast and were surrounded by fire. By the time Tong Yunpeng led his troops to rescue them, many of them were already injured.
Su Zhuang sighed and said: "The Ming army was too cruel and did not care about the lives of ordinary people.
Fortunately, many people in Wuchang City were hiding from the military disaster, and they all escaped from Wuchang City.
We controlled the fire in the city in time.
This is when Zuo Liangyu burned Wuchang City, which did not cause too many deaths.
But the people in Dongcheng, because Zuo Liangyu led the troops to resist, our army was unable to put out the fire, and the people here suffered heavy casualties."
Liang Feng, the commander of the Second Army, said: "Zuo Liangyu brought it upon himself, and the most people burned to death were his army.
I didn't even expect that Zuo Liangyu would do this.
We must make preparations when attacking the city in the future.
Wuchang City is on the riverside and has ample water resources.
If it is a city without a large amount of water nearby, this strategy of burning the city can cause great harm to us."
Su Zhuang nodded and said: "I will inform the entire army of this situation so that all armies will be more vigilant."
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4333 (the ninth year of Chongzhen), March 2nd.
Three divisions of the Sixth Army met in Hengyang City.
Su Shan looked at Hengyang City, the capital of Hengzhou, which was the last Ming army city the Sixth Army faced.
The Sixth Army captured Hengyang City and would soon be able to open up the connection between Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi.
Su Shan said to the generals of the Sixth Army: "Besiege the city and ask the secret guards to go to Hengyang City to persuade them to surrender.
Our achievements along the way have frightened the Ming armies everywhere.
If you can persuade them to surrender, do your best to persuade them to surrender.
The siege of the city was very enjoyable. The 150 artillery and 120 artillery shells of these two types of artillery had been exhausted.
If we only rely on traditional methods to attack the city, the casualties of the army will be huge.
If we cannot persuade us to surrender, we can only wait for the transport team to supply us with ammunition and then launch a large-scale siege."
Su Shan's order was quickly implemented by the Sixth Army.
The 40,000 men of the Sixth Army directly surrounded Hengyang City and surrounded it with walls on all four sides, leaving no chance for people in the city to escape.
The Qin army's actions frightened the Ming army in the city.
When they saw the envoys sent by the Qin army, they did not directly drive them away or kill them like other cities.
Respectfully, he welcomed the envoy into Hengyang City.
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Emperor Chongzhen's uncle, King Gui Zhu Changying, called all the cronies in the Gui Palace, mainly his sons.
He looked pale and looked at the cronies in the palace with dull eyes.
"Prefect Li came to the palace the day before yesterday and asked us to give money to defend the city.
I took out 50,000 taels of silver. Unexpectedly, Magistrate Li and his cronies disappeared with the money.
They were afraid of the power of the Qin army and knew that Hengyang City could not be defended.
We have been in Hengzhou for nine years, and we know the situation here very well.
There are only less than a thousand officers and soldiers in Hengyang City. Let alone 40,000 Qin troops besieging the city, even if there are 5,000 Qin troops, we here can't stop them.
Now the envoy of the Qin army has arrived in Hengyang City, and he is here to persuade us to surrender.
The officers, soldiers and gentry in the city all wanted to surrender.
These people are bargaining, and I guess it won’t be long before they open the city gates and surrender.”
Zhu Youzhen, the eldest son of Prince Gui, frowned and said, "Father, what should we do?
We are the clan of the Ming Dynasty and we must not surrender to the Qin army.
Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan and Guizhou are both occupied by yellow-clad thieves, and there is now another war in Jiangxi next door.
Refugees keep coming to us. From what they say, Jiangxi will not be able to survive.
There is no place for us at all.”
Zhu Youlang's younger brother Zhu Youlang has been thinking about the way out for their Prince Gui's Mansion.
Hengzhou has been surrounded by the Qin army. If there was a possibility of escape, they would escape before the Qin army pressed the border.
Now that there is no way to escape and Hengyang City cannot be defended, the only option left for them is to surrender.
Zhu Youlang stood up and said: "Father, the only way we can do now is surrender.
Since the Qin army swept across the world, no Ming vassal king has taken the initiative to surrender to them.
Even if King Su He of Qin asks for thousands of gold to buy horse bones, as the vassal king who surrendered on our own initiative, our Prince Gui will receive preferential treatment.
The current situation of the Qin army is that they want to occupy the world, and the Ming Dynasty can no longer stop the Qin army.
Throughout ancient and modern times, when new dynasties were established, in order to show their generosity, they gave certain preferential treatment to the obedient clans of the previous dynasty.
Just need to live under surveillance.
We vassal kings are originally under the supervision of the Ming Emperor, so if someone else monitors us, it will not affect our lives."
King Gui Zhu Changying listened to the words of his two sons and the roar of cannon outside.
There was no time for him to weigh it carefully.
Zhu Changying sighed and said: "I will personally discuss with the Qin army's envoys and surrender to the Qin army!
I, Zhu Changying, will bear all the blame.
A hundred years later, I will naturally repent to my ancestors."
As long as there is a glimmer of hope, for the Gui Palace to be passed down.
Zhu Changying would not choose the path of surrender.
Looking at the Ming Dynasty now, it has reached a time when the country has been destroyed and the family has been destroyed.
Let him die for his country. Zhu Changying has not lived enough. He really can't do it.
Zhu Changying made up his mind, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, finally having a chance to survive.
The gates of Hengyang City were opened to welcome the Qin army into the city.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I had diarrhea yesterday, so I saved just one chapter and wrote it after I got back from the clinic for infusion.