1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 543 Stalemate (V)

On June 1645, 6, Duduo, the coach of the Qing army, sent people into Yangzhou and ordered the defenders to surrender, but Shi Kefa categorically refused.

On June 6, the red cannons of the Qing army arrived at the front line of Yangzhou. On the second day, the Qing army set up cannons on a high ground in the northwest of Yangzhou and bombarded Yangzhou.The Yangzhou defenders also fired back with artillery, and the two sides started an artillery battle.

On June 6, the Qing army smashed down the northwestern city wall of Yangzhou, and the Qing army's surrender troops swarmed in, and the Ming army immediately started a fierce street battle with it.Liu Zhaoji, general of the Ming army, Zhuang Zigu, Ma Yingkui, Jiang Yunlong, Chen Guangyu, Li Long and other generals of the former battalion died in battle, and Shi Kefa was captured.

Due to the heavy losses of the Qing army during the siege, and the fierce resistance after the city of Yangzhou was broken, Duoduo immediately ordered the massacre of the city.The massacre started from the day the city was broken and lasted for more than ten days. There were mountains of corpses and rivers of blood in the city.

Wang Zhongyi pushed aside a corpse covering his body, sat up slowly, and through the faint starlight, he saw that the ground was full of fallen corpses.

Looking back to the north, I saw that Yangzhou City in the distance was full of raging fires, almost lighting up half of the city.He knew that this was the massacre and looting of the Jiannu who had invaded Yangzhou city.In order to force the refugees hiding in the ruins of the building to come out, and in order to seize the time to loot their property, Jiannu would set fire to the looted houses and courtyards, making Yangzhou city full of flames, almost like daytime. It is also more convenient for Jiannu to search for property.

On the third day after the city of Yangzhou was destroyed, Wang Zhongyi escaped with his family from a farm in the outskirts of Yangzhou along with a wave of refugees, preparing to rush to the river.But before he walked out of Lixu, he encountered thousands of soldiers in Ming costumes.Just when many refugees thought they were saved, they were slashed and killed by the Ming army. The young woman was forcibly pulled out, and the rest were chopped down to the ground, and all their belongings were looted.

The refugees who were cut down on the ground did not realize before their death that the troops they encountered were actually the former Ming Dynasty army who had surrendered to the Qing army a few days earlier. , became extremely ferocious, killing everyone regardless of age.

When several soldiers raised their knives and slashed at Wang Zhongyi, his father first kicked him into a depression, and his mother threw herself down in front of him after being cut down, and then his father also fell on the ground. In front of him, both of them pressed him down.

After randomly picking up the corpses, the slaughterers hurried towards Yangzhou City, where more wealth and killings were waiting for them to share.Poor Wang Zhongyi, who has just turned his age, is not yet familiar with the facts. He has never experienced such a bloody experience. He watched his parents and relatives fall in front of him one by one, and he was too frightened to say a word.

He lay down in the pile of corpses in a daze for several hours, until the night fell, and the hunger in his belly woke him up a little.

In June, it was already the beginning of summer, and the fallen corpses had already begun to emit bursts of rotten stench, which made people want to retch.After Wang Zhongyi took a few steps, he suddenly remembered that his parents' corpses had not yet restrained.But looking back, under the darkness of night, there were so many corpses everywhere that it was impossible to identify them.Tears flowed out in an instant, and a hoarse sob came out of his mouth, but suddenly he thought of something, and suddenly stopped the crying, and looked around in horror.

After a while, Wang Zhongyi gritted his teeth, stretched out his hand and wiped his face, made a little sense of the direction, and staggered towards the river.

On June 6, no less than 22 refugees gathered on the entire bank of the north of the Yangtze River. Looking at the boats parked in the middle of the river, the anxious and panicked refugees knelt down by the river, praying that the boats would take them across the river. So as not to build slaves to slaughter.

The officers and soldiers of the Zhenjiang Navy remained unmoved, swimming back and forth on the river, and prevented any small boats from crossing the Yangtze River.

"What did Zheng Hongkui say?" A Qi State liaison ship had just approached the "Yangming", and Niu Jinming asked from the side of the ship.

"That Zongbing Zheng said that if the city of Yangzhou is destroyed, then no ships or personnel can be allowed to cross the river, in case Jiannu pretends to be the Ming army or refugees seize the ship and take advantage of the situation to forcefully cross the Yangtze River." Said the sailor of the liaison ship loudly.

"Bullshit!" Niu Jinming scolded, "If you are afraid of Jiannu pretending to be a disguise, you can let the people who boarded the boat take off their clothes before coming up. I still don't believe it, you, a naked Jiannu, can still take the boat?"

"If it's a woman, do you have to strip naked for inspection?" A sailor asked wretchedly.

"Hey hey..." The officers and sailors on the ship couldn't help giggling after hearing this.

"Fuck you!" Niu Jinming scolded with a smile, "What good things are you thinking of? The fucking slaves are massacring the city, and people are dying every moment. You should accumulate some morals!"

Hearing the words, everyone on board suppressed their smiles and looked towards the north solemnly, as if they could see countless Yangzhou residents being slaughtered and ravaged by the murderous Jiannu. Avici hell.

"Dock the boat on the bank of Jiangbei, and we will pick people up!" Niu Jinming said.

When the refugees gathered at Guazhoudu were in panic, suddenly cheers erupted from the crowd. The bewildered refugees looked around and saw dozens of boats of various sizes that had been wandering on the river for the past few days approaching slowly. towards the shore.

The boats are coming to pick us up across the river!
The refugees at Guazhoudu began to swarm towards the shore, trying to seize an optimal position so that they could escape Jiangbei early.As residents near Yangzhou City continued to flee, the bloody and cruelty of the slave massacre began to be exaggerated and passed on, and the fear of the refugees had already been aroused to the highest critical point.

"Don't be crowded, come one by one." The boat did not dock directly at the pier, but was still a few meters away from the shore to prevent refugees from rushing onto the boat, "All the men took off their clothes, leaving only knee pants! Do not carry any swords on your body!"

More than a dozen sailors brandished long bamboo poles, vigorously beating the refugees who were wading through the water and climbing onto the boat, while several soldiers from Changshan Island held bayonet-tipped muskets, nervously Looking at the refugees on the ship's side.

"Touch!" A musket sounded suddenly, not only startling the refugees who were rushing to the side of the ship, but also startling the sailors on board.

"He has a knife on him!" said the village soldier who fired the gun, holding the musket in both hands, still facing the refugee who was shot but still rolling, and a short knife fell aside.

"Well, well done!" A naval officer walked over and patted him on the shoulder. In this case, there was a mistake and he didn't let it go.In case a Jiannu sneaks in, it's no small matter.

After being filled with refugees, more than [-] large and small ships did not sail to the south bank. Instead, they docked at a sandbar in the middle of the river (now Zhenjiang Shiyezhou) on the southwest side of Guazhou Ferry. After unloading the refugees, they returned to the north bank of the river again. Pretend to be a person.

The defeated soldiers who fled from Yangzhou to the riverside can board the boat and leave Jiangbei as long as they abandon their weapons.In just half a day, the ships of the State of Qi transported more than [-] people to the sandbar in the middle of the river, but there was an endless stream of refugees fleeing from the vicinity of Yangzhou City, stretching for more than ten miles along the river.

Perhaps it was because the ships of the State of Qi had transported refugees to and fro several times, but there was no incident of a rout and seizure of the ships. The ships of the Zheng Family Navy then sailed to the bank of Jiangbei one after another, and began to transfer refugees.

However, something disgusting happened.The officers and sailors of the Zheng family's fleet took refuge on board the ship and ransacked the refugees for money. All refugees who failed to pay five taels of silver were not allowed to board the ship.Those refugees who had no money but were eager to escape were ruthlessly rejected by the Zheng family sailors. As for the refugees who forcibly climbed onto the boat, they were dragged out of the cabin and swept into the river with the current.

For a while, the entire Guazhou Ferry Wharf was in chaos.Hundreds of soldiers fled to the riverside, in anger, brandished their weapons and wanted to forcibly board the ship, and immediately cut down more than a dozen sailors of the Zheng family.Several small boats drifted downstream uncontrollably along the river because of the scrambling and hacking between the two.

Zheng Hongkui was furious, and several armed merchant ships arrived near Guazhoudu and fired shells at the group of rout soldiers.

After being bombarded, the defeated soldiers fled in all directions, causing another chaos among the gathered refugees. The artillery bombardment affected hundreds of refugees without any reason at the pier, screaming, crying, cursing... resounding through the sky.

I don't know who heard the bombardment of Zheng's fleet, and suddenly shouted "Tartars are coming", which immediately caused tens of thousands of people to stampede on the wharf, women, old and weak were pushed to the ground, and then Trampled by countless footsteps, the refugees near the river were pushed down the embankment by the swarming crowd, and fell into the river like dumplings.

In the evening, the crowd gradually returned to calm. Among them, thousands of refugees were trampled to death or fell into the river, and the crying on the north bank of the river was loud.

"This Zheng family... how can it be like this?" Niu Jinming watched angrily as the Zheng family's naval ships sailing to the south bank in the distance began to drop anchor one after another. How dare you expect them to prevent that slave from crossing the river?"

On June 6th, after several days of transshipment, there were still as many as 26 to [-] refugees stranded in Guazhoudu. According to the descriptions of those refugees who fled from the vicinity of Yangzhou City, the slave-building army was still wantonly slaughtering in Yangzhou City at this time With looting and looting, Yangzhou City has become a hell on earth, and the residents in it have been slaughtered for fear of being slaves.

And as time goes by, the slave-building army may appear on the bank of Jiangbei at any time.After several days of searching, most of the refugees with a little wealth were almost transported to the south bank by the Zheng family fleet. As for the remaining refugees, most of them had little belongings, and they seemed to have little motivation. Thousands of people were perfunctorily transferred.

In the afternoon, a light rain fell, and the refugees on the riverside rejoiced that in such a rainy weather, the slave army would not rush here.

Then, something desperate happened.A dark team drove over from the direction of Yangzhou City. As the distance gradually approached, a huge "Li" character faintly appeared in the eyes of countless refugees in Guazhoudu.

Li Chengdong was riding on a horse, looking at the river with a blank face. Dozens of ships appeared vague and unreal in the drizzle. screams.

A group of beast soldiers full of hostility, as if they have not recovered from the thrill of the Yangzhou massacre that just happened, did not show the slightest pity for the refugees who cried and begged, waved the murder weapons in their hands, and rushed towards the innocent people with a grinning grin. poor and poor refugees.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!..." Suddenly, several shells were fired from the warships parked in the middle of the river, and they hit Li Chengdong's troops hard. The force inevitably weakened a bit, and after hitting several people, the shell only rolled twice before it plunged into the soil.

"Withdraw!" Li Chengdong was startled, and ran back on his horse.The imperial court actually sent naval gunboats to deploy in the river. It seems that as a vanguard, it would not be so easy for him to cross the river first under the order of Duoduo.

(End of this chapter)