Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 288 The Battle of Yangzhou
The light rain continued, as if the thread had been broken, and the entire Yangzhou city was plunged into a rain and fog.

Looking from the heights of the city wall, the Qing army below the city is faintly visible, and the soldiers mixed in the rain and fog are like ants, and they can't see the edge at a glance.

The roaring sound of cannons rang out throughout Yangzhou City, and some people had not yet evacuated, or it was too late to evacuate, and they guarded their houses tremblingly, embracing each other to keep warm.

With the ships running out, the people in Yangzhou City are already less than [-].

The harsh impact, as well as the artillery flying over the city wall and entering the city, had an unimaginable impact on the Ming army.

At this time, the weak military spirit in the city suddenly cracked.

Shi Kefa was at the head of the city, patrolling the defense, and his strong body seemed extremely great at this time.

At this time, a sound of footsteps disturbed his inspection.

"Mr. Li, Senior Superintendent?"

Hundreds of people came in mighty force and surrounded Shi Kefa all at once, but it was unknown where they came from.

Li Qifeng, the chief soldier, and Gao Qifeng, the deputy supervisor of the army, were a little embarrassed, but they had no choice but to bite the bullet and move forward, cupping their hands and saying:

"Master, for the sake of Yangzhou's safety, this will eventually have to be done!"

"Yangzhou?"

Shi Kefa frowned, and said coldly: "I'm afraid it's for your future, official career!"

"Don't you also want to help the tyrant and surrender to the Qing dynasty?"

The soldiers who followed closely also lowered their heads in shame, not daring to look directly at them.

"Have you forgotten the kindness of the king and the father, and the festival of the courtiers?"

Shi Kefa's chest heaved, and he wanted to curse, but as a literati, he couldn't say those dirty words.

At this time, the deputy general Shi Dewei came in a hurry, looked at the crowd, and said angrily: "Don't you want to rebel?"

Now, Li and Gao couldn't do anything, they could only bow their heads in shame: "Master, Yangzhou City has become a jeopardy, and it's useless to guard only. We just want to survive, and I hope the master will make it happen."

"Let them go!"

Shi Kefa sighed.

"Master!" Shi Dewei was in a hurry, there were thousands of people in this group.

"Everyone has their own aspirations!" Shi Kefa waved his hand: "Whether it is a commoner or a soldier, it is voluntary to stay in Yangzhou. If you don't have the same heart, how can you defend the city? It's better to go."

"Thank you, Supervisor, for making things perfect." Li Qifeng and Gao Qifeng were busy thanking each other, and couldn't wait to leave.

I look down on Shi Kefa more and more in my heart, how can the benevolence of a woman save the country?
Immediately, they colluded with generals Hu Shangyou and Han Shangliang to leave the city together.

So, in a blink of an eye, thousands of people left Yangzhou and surrendered directly to the Qing army, and brought news from the city of Yangzhou that their strengths ebbed and flowed.

At this time, Yangzhou had no more than [-] troops in the city.

At this time, the only troops available in the huge city of Yangzhou were the Zhongguan Battalion headed by Liu Zhaoji and He Gang, whose strength was quite weak.

Seeing this, many people in Yangzhou knew that they couldn't hold on anymore, and Huizhou merchants were dispatched one after another.

The Anhui merchants and salt merchants headed by the Wang brothers went out of the city in the rain, met Azige, and offered the raised silver 3 million taels.

"What are you waiting for?"

Although Azig was dazzled by the silver, he still held his breath and asked in a cold voice.

"My lord, we are from Yangzhou. Master Shidu swore to guard the city. We, the common people, have to obey. We know that Master Wang is coming, so we specially offer some Cheng Yi..."

"Don't play tricks with me. It's nice to say it. Hurry up and recruit it truthfully. What are you thinking?"

Azig is not a fool, he asked in a deep voice.

The Wang brothers had no choice but to confide: "I hope the prince can control the soldiers after the city is destroyed, and don't destroy Yangzhou City. After all, this will also be the land of the Qing Dynasty in the future."

"Okay, I promise you!"

Azig sneered in his heart, looked greedily at Baiyin in front of him, and said casually.

Thanks to the Wang brothers, they returned to Yangzhou.

"Why is Yangzhou City so rich?" Azig asked casually.

The generals on the side were also dazzled, and their hearts were burning with greed.

"Reporting to my lord, Yangzhou is right next to the canal, and there are countless merchants traveling from south to north, and even the famous Huaihe salt merchants - Hui merchants, so it is a first-class rich place in the south of the Yangtze River."

Shang Kexi couldn't help explaining.

Hearing this, all the generals in the hall were breathing heavily, and their eyes lit up.

Wu Sangui and other generals of the Han Dynasty had already had eyes like torches, and they had been thinking about it for a long time.

Azig even showed a meaningful smile.

"Boom--"

The artillery continued for days and nights. After a day and a night of bombing, even though the city of Yangzhou was high and steep, it was no match for the red artillery. The city wall collapsed by more than two feet.

In this way, the Han army became a front-line army again, pushing forward against the gravel.

Even ordinary people have heard about the prosperity of Yangzhou. Their greed is at work, and they all want to arrive first, so as to obtain huge gains.

Azige and other generals watched from the rear, waiting for the main army to capture Yangzhou, and immediately let the Han army withdraw, so that the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners could capture this wealth.

The lowly and weak Han army is not worthy of such wealth.

"Once the city cave is opened, Yangzhou is hopeless."

Azig said confidently.

The Manchu, Mongolian, Han and other generals under his command naturally flattered him.

"Do you know why Ximen was broken?"

Azig said with a bit of air, without taking any reaction from the crowd, he continued:

"Although Shi Kefa has a good heart, he is a literati leading the army. He is really bad."

Shang Kexi heard the words, and hurriedly cooperated:
"I heard that this Ximen, a large piece of land is where the ancestral tomb of the Li family in Xinghua is located. Shi Kefa couldn't bear to seize it, so he let it go, and it became our best direction instead."

"It's so ridiculous that the so-called literati cherish each other and use it to defend the city!"

"Hahaha!" Azig laughed loudly: "The Han people are already weak, and now they use literati to lead the army to fight. How can the pen beat the bow and arrow?"

"It's ridiculous, the Han people don't deserve to have this great country."

Shang Kexi on the side, Wu Sangui and the others could only laugh along, but deep in their eyes were extremely dissatisfied.

Compared with Dorgon, Duduo's contempt for the Han people is only in a hidden place, but Azig is blatantly in the open, which really makes people feel uncomfortable.

But the situation is pressing and there is no way.

"what--"

At this time, Azig suddenly showed surprise.

Everyone looked at it and became surprised.

Originally thought to file in, who knew that they encountered resistance.

A Ming army, accompanied by a large number of civilians, brandishing various weapons, stones, etc., kept blocking the Qing army.

However, the Qing army, who only wanted to plunder, was suddenly attacked, and was immediately disrupted, and was blocked at the entrance of the cave for a while, in a dilemma.

"Trash!" Azig snorted coldly.

Shang Kexi and the others on the side looked ugly.

"Continue to add troops, I'll see how long he can block it."

(End of this chapter)