Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 249: Breaking the City in One Stroke

Under the continuous and intensive bombardment of the Palace Army, two earth walls and part of the city wall outside Yanzhou City were collapsed in more than half a month.

The main force of the Qing army had been slow to come south to reinforce, and Zhu Cilang did not want to waste any more time, so he immediately ordered the army to speed up the capture of the city.

Then, thousands of the siege vanguards of the Palace Army immediately launched a fierce attack on the weak points of Yanzhou City.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle at the collapsed part of the city wall. After the musketeers of the Palace Army attacked the city, they first fired three rounds of musket fire towards the dim smoke and dust. After the screams from inside were heard intensively, the captain who led the charge began to order the soldiers to attack.

After receiving the order, the captain of the second vanguard group immediately ordered the soldiers behind him to split into teams of three, with one holding a shield and two holding spears, and climb up along the rubble of the collapsed city wall, preparing to capture this severely damaged section of the wall.

But the Qing army seemed to be well prepared and did not give up resistance easily.

So, when the three soldiers in the front were engulfed in smoke and dust and had just climbed onto the top of the wall, more than a dozen sharp gun tips stabbed towards them. The three men were unable to dodge and fell down screaming, even hitting the two teams of soldiers following behind.

Afterwards, the Palace Army and the Qing army armored soldiers continued to fight on this section of the collapsed city wall. The two sides exchanged life and death, and dozens of corpses continued to roll down from the smoke and dust. Neither side gained the upper hand.

As the battle continued, the soldiers of the second round quickly lost more than 40 people and suffered heavy casualties. They could no longer fight, and the corpses of the two armies rolled down from the city wall and soon piled up into a small hill under the city.

In desperation, the captain in charge of the vanguard had to once again arrange the musketeers and crossbowmen to fire arrows at the gap where the city wall collapsed, where the smoke and dust had gradually dissipated and the vision was slowly becoming clearer.

Then, in the smoke and dust, more than a dozen screams of Qing soldiers were heard again.

At the same time, the troops of the Palace Front Army on the side of the collapsed city wall had set up ladders and started to attack the city, which greatly dispersed the Qing army's forces on the west wall.

Therefore, on the city wall, the Qing army, which was short of manpower, relied on the advantage of terrain and put up a stubborn resistance, but it was gradually unable to hold out under the second round of attack by the Palace Army.

Soon, after paying the price of more than a dozen people, a team of three finally climbed to the top of the wall in the third round. However, facing the joint attack of more than a dozen Qing army armored soldiers, they were quickly defeated again.

However, due to their distraction, the second and third three-person assault teams also took the opportunity to climb onto the wall and fight with the Qing army.

The soldier in front of the three-man assault team held up a shield and repeatedly blocked the Qing army's spear attacks.

The two teammates behind him quickly raised their guns and rushed towards the attacking Qing army. The three of them worked together and quickly killed three Qing soldiers.

But the next three-man assault team was not so lucky. As soon as they rushed up, they ran into a dozen Green Camp soldiers head-on and were all killed soon.

However, the troops of the Palace Army continued to arrive, and soon four three-man teams rushed up. After losing the advantage of terrain, the Qing army on the city wall was no match for the Palace Army and began to retreat continuously. The Palace Army soon gained a troop advantage in this section of the city wall.

Seeing that they could no longer hold out and that the Eight Banners soldiers behind them had already run away, many Green Camp soldiers of the Qing army turned around and ran towards the city walls on both sides.

Just as the dozen or so three-man assault teams in the second round climbed up this section of the collapsed city wall and were preparing to expand their victory to both sides, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out.

Suddenly, more than a dozen lead bullets were fired from both sides of the city wall, catching the palace army off guard. Six or seven people fell down at once. Then more than a dozen crossbow arrows were shot, and this part of the palace army basically lost the ability to take the initiative to attack.

Since the third and fourth divisions were reserved for controlling the streets under the city wall to prevent the Qing army from fleeing, the vanguard captain in charge of the west city wall had to personally lead the fifth division to rush up the city wall.

As more and more troops from the Palace Front came up to the city, the Qing army's attack was finally contained, and the battle situation on the city wall began to reverse.

At this time, the smoke from the collapsed city wall had basically dissipated, and the vision gradually became clear.

The Palace Army immediately organized a charge towards the city tower, preparing to directly capture the tower, open the city gate, and let the main force of the army outside the city in through the city gate.

Otherwise, if the army used ladders and other methods to force their way into the city, and was blocked by the Qing army, who knows how many people would have died!
However, the Qing army relied on the narrow passage on the city wall and had built simple defensive fortifications with corpses, and organized their only musketeers and crossbowmen to block the attack. The palace army did not dare to charge easily, and the two sides fired at each other, and the battle situation was tense for a while.

Zhu Cilang had not expected that the fighting spirit of this group of Qing troops would be so tenacious.

He also thought that as long as they attacked the city wall, the Qing army would collapse without a fight.

However, in the original history, there were indeed many cases where Green Camp soldiers were besieged in the city, ran out of food and ate people, and defended the city until the city was finally broken or reinforcements arrived.

In other words, if the Ming court had provided the same food, wages, and logistical support to its soldiers as the Qing court did to its Green Camp soldiers, even if it had been in arrears from time to time, the Jian Nu would probably not have been able to rise for another five hundred years.

The so-called bandits can only engage in minor incidents.

Of course, the main force among them was the Eight Banners soldiers who supervised the battle from behind.

Otherwise, these Green Camp soldiers would definitely not have such fighting spirit under such circumstances.

Back to the present, the Palace Army fought back from time to time, and the Qing army shot and released arrows, fearing that the Palace Army would rush over.

However, the Qing army's musketeers were also unable to fire multiple volleys, and the palace troops quickly rushed forward under the loud shouts of their officers.

The Green Camp soldiers lost their firearms and cover, and their formation instantly became chaotic. The Eight Banners soldiers and baoyi who were supervising the battle from behind were completely helpless.

As the Palace Army rushed forward, this group of rebel soldiers, including the dozen or so baoyi and Eight Banners soldiers who were supervising the battle, were basically all killed, except for a few who escaped.

At this point, as the Palace Army rushed up the city wall in an organized manner, the west gate tower of Yanzhou City was quickly occupied by the Palace Army.

The surviving Qing soldiers fled towards Yanzhou City and quickly disappeared into the streets. As for the few Eight Banners soldiers and baoyi who still wanted to fight back, they were killed behind the parapet before they could even rush up the city ladder, under the concentrated fire of hundreds of muskets.

As the west gate of Yanzhou City was opened by the Dashi Army, Yanzhou City was broken, and the four thousand headquarters of the main force of the Palace Army's siege army immediately entered the city in a vertical formation!
Relying on the advantage of several times the number of troops, after suffering casualties no less than those of the Qing army, the Palace Army finally drove out the Qing army that was resisting stubbornly on the city wall and even dared to go out of the city to counterattack.

Since the Northern Expedition in Shandong, the Qing army had not had any decent resistance. The garrisons in places like Tengxian were either insufficient in number or the defenders retreated voluntarily, so the Palace Army captured the city without much effort.

This made Zhu Cilang never expect that the Qing army in Yanzhou City would have such strong combat effectiveness!

However, the military superiority of the Palace Army and the combat effectiveness of the army were enough to crush all of Dorgon's conspiracies and tricks.

But this also greatly slowed down the army's siege speed, giving the Qing army in the north a chance to catch their breath and prepare for battle.

At this time, the smoke and dust on the city wall had basically dissipated, and the palace army outside the city quickly completed the adjustment of its formation. The formation composed of musketeers, pikemen, swordsmen and shieldmen advanced in the form of six columns. The remaining Qing troops on the city wall had almost no strength to fight back.

With the close cooperation of the musketeers and the pikemen, and their successive attacks, the Qing army often collapsed before they could even reach the front line of the army climbing the city wall.

The Qing army, which had lost more than half of its troops in the recent battle under the city, was unable to organize an effective attack with the remaining troops on the city wall and could only choose to flee in panic.

Soon, after suffering hundreds of casualties, the Palace Army captured key points such as Yuecheng, Wenglou, and Chenglou to the west of Yanzhou City, and the drawbridge at the west gate was lowered.

The Palace Army began to enter the city in an endless stream, and the loss of the urn tower and the gate tower made the Qing army completely lose its strategic fulcrum and had to retreat into the city.

The musketeers of the Palace Army who were the first to climb the city wall, under the command of their officers, placed their muskets in the middle of the parapets and concentrated their fire on the fleeing Qing troops below.

Under such an attack, the Qing army inside the city wall was unable to gather and counterattack, which effectively protected the main force of the Palace Army entering the city through the main gate.

After the vanguard soldiers had basically defeated the Qing army on the city wall, Gu Defu followed Zhao Zhengdong and took a thousand soldiers from his headquarters to rush up the city wall, then went straight to the city ladder and rushed down from there.

Under the command of Zhao Zhengdong, the soldiers from his three bureaus were divided into combat units based on flag teams as planned. They could be divided into two again when necessary.

They quickly advanced to the designated streets and began to drive out and hunt the Qing soldiers who were hiding in panic on both sides of the streets and in the homes of the people.

After leading his soldiers into the city, Gudefu quickly assigned tasks to each team and shouted at everyone not to leave the team and to act according to the plan.

Amid the dense footsteps of the main forces of the four thousand headquarters entering the city and the clinking sounds of armor leaves shaking and colliding, Gu Defu personally led a flag team into an east-west alley, preparing to intercept the fleeing Qing army.

At this time, gunshots rang out in Yanzhou City, and the pungent smell of gunpowder filled the air. Many Eight Banners soldiers and baoyi were still resisting stubbornly.

After the Qing army's Green Camp soldiers lost the advantages of the city walls and the supervision of the Eight Banners soldiers, they basically all ran away or knelt on the ground to surrender with the surviving civilians. Only a few retreated into the city.

After they ran into a street, they suddenly heard footsteps in front of them. Gudefu made a quick decision, waved his hand, and immediately organized the musketeers to line up and raise their guns to prepare to shoot.

Sure enough, a group of Qing troops suddenly appeared from the alley ahead, but they reacted quickly and immediately discovered the ambush of the Palace Army. After three soldiers were shot and killed by muskets, they quickly hid back in the street, occasionally stretching out their bows and shooting blindly in the direction of the Palace Army.

Gu Defu quickly determined that these twenty or so Qing soldiers were from the Eight Banners and Baoyi. He immediately signaled the musketeers to take turns shooting and the archers to provide cover at the right time. He must suppress this group of Qing soldiers, and he himself led a team of soldiers to move up along the street.

You have to know that these are all Manchu soldiers, and each head is worth ten taels of silver!
However, Gu Defu had only walked forward a dozen steps when the bows behind the alley were stretched out again. After a volley of arrows, the Qing soldiers hiding inside rushed out all at once, trying to break through the blockade of the Palace Army and run to the other side of the street.

After all, the main force of the Palace Army has already entered the city. If they continue to fight here, the sounds of muskets and bowstrings will sooner or later be attracted by other Palace Army troops.

By then, they will really be unable to escape.

Although Gu Defu was somewhat surprised that the Qing army reacted so quickly, he was still one step ahead. He immediately shot an arrow, hitting a Qing soldier in the cheek and killing him instantly. The Qing soldier then fell to the ground with a "puff".

Afterwards, the archers of the Palace Army who were originally arranged on both sides of the street also attacked and exchanged fire with the Qing army on the street, taking advantage of the cover of the houses on both sides. Both sides suffered casualties.

Then, while the Qing army was suppressed by the volley of muskets, Gu Defu led the five soldiers and rushed forward quickly, and the two armies engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Gu Defu was not only an expert in archery, but also very good at close combat. When he just rushed over, he had already thrown away his bow and took his long spear from his soldiers.

Now he rushed to the front of the Qing army, with his men holding shields in front of him. He saw an opportunity, took the lead and shot through the neck of a Qing soldier with one shot.

Without waiting for the other party to react, he quickly pulled out the gun, and blood spurted out from the Qing soldier's neck, as if his throat was split from the inside.

Immediately afterwards, Gu Defu dodged the charge of another Qing soldier beside him, and the Qing soldier was slashed in the thigh by another soldier of the Palace Army who seized the opportunity. He fell to the ground with a scream, bleeding all over the floor.

At this time, the soldiers who were originally behind Gu Defu had also rushed up and engaged in a melee with the Qing soldiers.

The Qing soldiers had already suffered many casualties and were incompletely organized. How could they compare to the Palace Army soldiers who had close coordination and were capable of both offense and defense?
They were all quickly wiped out.

After dealing with this group of Qing soldiers, Gu Defu looked up and saw that the flags of the Palace Army had been hoisted on three sides of the city walls.

After the west gate of the city was broken, the Qing troops in the south and north of the city basically lost their will to fight. Even with the Eight Banners soldiers and baoyi supervising the battle from behind, they could not stop their fleeing. Some even wanted to rebel on the spot and immediately turned around to fight with the Eight Banners soldiers.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the other Green Camp soldiers had no time to care about so many things and had already fled.

In fact, if it were not for the Qing army supervising the battle, how could this group of defeated soldiers have such combat effectiveness?
After all, although these Green Camp soldiers knew that they were no match for the enemy, they had no choice but to believe that the Manchu soldiers would soon come back to support them!
However, they never expected that the Palace Army would break into the city so quickly!
(End of this chapter)