There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 88: Still need to attack the city

Yuezhou.

The current Yuezhou prefect is Ge Yingbin, a hapless fellow. He has been in office since the 57th year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, and his term was supposed to end this year. He had even arranged the necessary connections for his return to Beijing to report on his work.

As long as we can get through this last year, my future will not be as bad as it is now, even if it is not bright.

Well, it was indeed bad. Ge Yingbin never thought that he would be so unlucky.

Looking at the flags fluttering outside the city, especially the words "Da Han" embroidered on those flags, they were so glaring in his eyes.

On the city wall, next to Ge Yingbin, the magistrate of Baling was completely panicked.

The Baling County Magistrate was filled with fear. "Master, what should we do? The rebels from Jingzhou have come to our Yuezhou Prefecture. Does this mean that the army of General Fu has been completely annihilated?"

In fact, the Han army did not display the Chinese flag at the beginning, but first used the general's banner brought by Fu Zhina, preparing for another wave of fraud to seize the city.

It’s a pity that the Yuezhou prefect Ge Yingbin was not really stupid. When he saw that the Han army came from the Yangtze River, he felt something was wrong, and then he saw the huge strength of the Han army.

Of course, what really made Ge Yingbin suspicious was that the Han army's formations were too neat, so neat that they didn't look like officers and soldiers.

Out of caution, Ge Yingbin sent his staff and advisors to politely request a token of trust to find out where the officers and soldiers came from.

then……

What happened next? The advisor sent out as an envoy was detained, and the Han army showed the flag with Chinese characters on it and stopped pretending.

Ge Yingbin was so nervous. He just tried to test the waters, but the rebel showed his true colors. He should at least pretend!

Ge Yingbin remained silent, but the Baling County Magistrate beside him was a little restless and could only look to the second-in-command, Yuezhou Tongzhi Zhong Jun, for help.

Zhong Jun was also anxious, and immediately reminded: "Mr. Futai, Mr. Futai?"

"What's wrong?" Ge Yingbin came back to his senses.

You still ask what happened?
The magistrate Zhao Derun was speechless and said simply, "Your Excellency, the rebel army has arrived outside the city. No matter what the reason is or where the rebels come from, we should fight to defend the city. We can't just sit there and wait for death, right?"

Upon hearing this, Ge Yingbin quickly nodded and said, "That's right. Immediately send an order to this government office, asking all the gentry in the city to send people to defend the city. And those civilians who came here before are also to come and defend the city. Also, open the government treasury and take out all the grain to distribute."

Fortunately, although the Yuezhou prefect was speechless, he still knew the importance of the matter and knew that defending the city was the top priority.

Outside Yuezhou City, the Han army camp is next to Dongting Lake.

"General, please spare me! General, please spare me!"

The staff and advisors who were detained by the Han army were now knelt and begging for mercy with tears and snot.

Nie Yu smiled amiably and said, "Haha, this general is not a murderer. As long as you surrender now, your life will be safe."

When he heard that he was asked to surrender, the aide subconsciously hesitated, because this traitor would be beheaded and his property confiscated.

"Don't want to? It's okay if you don't want to. Just drag him out and chop him off!" Nie Yu said with a wave of his hand.

The aide kowtowed hurriedly, "I am willing to surrender to the Han army. I also know the distribution of troops in Yuezhou City, and I can present it to the general as a token of my loyalty."

Wow, he thinks really quick. While surrendering, he also sells out his teammates to gain merit.

In fact, we can't blame this guy for selling out his teammates. As the prefect's staff and advisor, he has real access to military secrets, so he knows that facing the thousands or tens of thousands of Han troops, the few people in Yuezhou City cannot hold on at all.

Because Yuezhou Prefecture had no soldiers available at all, the prefect, the co-prefect, and the magistrate discussed defending the city. However, the only people in the city were the civilians they had recruited before, plus the servants that the gentry and wealthy families wanted to provide. These together were the entire "force" to defend the city.

In order to defend against the Han people, the Qing court did not give local officials the power to recruit and mobilize troops. Even their recruitment of civilian laborers was somewhat skirting the law. These civilian laborers were originally intended to support Fuzhina.

Now they were just the right ones to take over. Defending the city might get them into trouble, but not defending it would definitely cost them their lives. The surrendered staff and advisors were taken away to draw up a defense map of Yuezhou, which was actually the layout of the city, including various military defense buildings such as watchtowers and arrow embrasures.

This was also the biggest reason why Yuezhou Governor Ge Yingbin dared to defend the city despite knowing that there were no soldiers available. The Yuezhou city wall was up to 18 meters high, with more than 400 arrow emplacements and 3 watchtowers, which looked intimidating.

It's only afternoon.

"Hehe, General, this telescope is really useful. We can see the city wall so far away clearly. I think we have seen a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty." Chen Younian held the telescope in his hand and exclaimed from time to time.

Feng Xiuyong looked up at it for a moment, then smiled and said, "General, although the Yuezhou prefect's advisor is a coward, he certainly didn't lie. The soldiers guarding the city walls are all dressed in civilian clothes, obviously temporary recruits, and haven't received any training. It seems that Yuezhou City is already in the hands of our Han army."

When Chen Younian heard what Feng Xiuyong said, he quickly put down his telescope and interrupted, "General, when will we attack the city? I am willing to be the vanguard!"

Xu Sanlang, who was quietly observing the military situation, also put down his telescope and said, "I am willing to take this city for the general!"

The next day.

After a day of recruiting civilians, the walls of Yuezhou City were already filled with young and strong civilians. Most of these young and strong civilians were at a loss, as they were suddenly told that rebels had arrived and were suddenly asked to come and defend the city.

Fortunately, the prefect still has a conscience. Anyone who comes to defend the city will receive two dou of rice every day.

Of course, the common people accepted the reality, and the servants of the gentry in the city were left with only resentment.

They were forcibly conscripted by the prefect and had no intention of helping to defend the city. They were even well-informed and knew that the rebels in Jingzhou would only kill officials, not civilians or slaves, and would even release these slaves and set them free.

Don’t ask them how they were sure they were rebels from Jingzhou. They could come to Yuezhou Prefecture, and so many of them came, and they used flags with Chinese characters on them, so they must be the Han army from Jingzhou!

Not only did the servants guarding the city resent the prefect, but the gentry in the city also hated Ge Yingbin's unruly behavior. He forcibly confiscated their servants and money and food without even a polite word or reason.

My goodness, the Han army hasn't even attacked the city yet, but the people are already divided!

Outside the city, the Han army was using human-powered rollers to lift and unload the heavy artillery from the ship. There were a total of fifteen cannons, and another five were taken away by Bai Nan, but unfortunately they were not used.

Fifteen heavy artillery pieces were pushed by the laborers to the artillery position that had been dug out all night, and then filled with soil to secure it.

"What it is?"

Ge Yingbin was stunned. He had never seen such a large cannon.

The barrel is frighteningly long and thick. Is this a red cannon?
Zhong Jun and Zhao Derun, who were standing next to them, were also thirsty. They had thought that the rebels would launch a large-scale attack on the city, but they had never thought that the rebels actually had red cannons.

Although this red cannon looked strange, its barrel was so long that it was much larger than the cannons they knew and was completely on a different level.

It took more than ten laborers just to push the cannon, and that was even with the cannon wheels installed.

Zhong Jun murmured, "This is trouble."

At the Han army position outside the city, fifteen heavy artillery pieces were pushed to the artillery position in a dignified manner, and then several Han army gunners came forward to adjust the gun positions.

They had already fully witnessed and realized the power of their own artillery in the previous battle with the Qing army, and they were almost familiar with how to aim and fire quickly.

At this time, I felt more familiar with the artillery.

The gunner repeatedly calculated the angle and then tested the gun directly.

"Hurry, run!" Ge Yingbin exclaimed.

It’s impossible not to run!
The Han army aimed their guns at the city wall, the one where they were. If they hit it, no one knew what would happen.

　Overtime today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)