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Chapter 366 Just be a soldier of the Qing Dynasty

Shang Jianbao, the general of Jingzhou appointed by the Qing court, feared the enemy like a tiger after the defeat of Dangyang, and did not dare to lead his troops to rescue Yichang City, which was besieged by the Xinghan army. As a result, this important town controlling the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was easily captured by the Xinghan army.

After a short rest for a few days, the Xinghan army rushed to Jingzhou downstream by land and water.

In order to rescue Jingzhou, Governor Chen Huizu of Huguang appointed Meng Yingrui, an 80-year-old veteran, as the coach, and the second son of the famous general Yue Zhongqi, Yue Min, as the deputy general.

Since he was in command of troops stationed in various places for flood control and yamen servants, although the number was close to ten thousand, Meng Yingrui believed that the combat effectiveness was really low, so he decided to station troops in Shashi in the lower reaches of Jingzhou, and waited for the Xinghan Fan army to attack the city. When the people are exhausted and the horses are exhausted, they will go northward in a large scale and attack the Jingzhou Eight Banners defenders inside and outside. This will surely defeat the Xinghan Fan Army.

Governor Chen Huizu of Huguang agreed with Meng Yingrui's combat deployment, reported it to the imperial court, and sent another person to Jingzhou to inform General Shang Jianbao of Meng Yingrui's combat plan so that Shang Jianbao could hold on and consume the Xinghan rebel army.

At this time, the Xinghan army had already approached Jingzhou from both land and water. The Eight Banners navy stationed in Jingzhou did not dare to defend against the enemy, and kept warships large and small in the military port every day.

On July 23, under the command of Qiu Ba, a brigade commander and a member of the Hubei Tiandihui, the Xinghan Army Navy, composed of fishing boats and merchant ships, quietly sailed towards the Eight Banners Military Port in the thick fog.

Afterwards, four fireboats were quickly released to ignite the two "Shun" sandships and three "Guang" warships of the Qing army shrunk in the port, and fishermen who were familiar with water used skin bags to breathe in the water, chiseling and sinking the Qing army's "big boat". "A river patrol boat with a brand name.

Qiu Ba ordered more than a dozen small fishing boats, and each boat had a drum on it, and the drums were played in all directions on the river at the same time.

In the mist, the Qing army didn't know how many ships and soldiers the Xing Han army had come, but seeing their own ships constantly on fire and the sound of war drums in all directions, they abandoned their ships and fled to the city one after another.

As a result, the largest navy of the Qing court in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was wiped out without even seeing the enemy, and the Xinghan Army captured as many as 19 warships.

After Qiu Bada defeated the Eight Banners Navy, he asked his subordinates to control the Qing army's warship to turn around and bombard Jingzhou City with the artillery on the ship.

The destruction of the navy caused General Shang Jianbao of Jingzhou to lose seven souls and six souls. Every day, he just does not care about military affairs. He only burns incense and worships Buddha.

Zheng Tai, the deputy general of the Huguang Green Camp who retreated into Jingzhou with Shang Jianbao, was dumbfounded when he heard about this, and secretly sent someone to inform the commander of the Xing Han Army, Gu Shidao, that the reinforcements led by Meng Yingrui were coming to Jingzhou. Pack your bags and prepare for a strategic shift.

However, Zhou Linwang, a member of the Gongjin Association and Qianzong, suggested to stay to help the Han army break through the city, and then the wealth of the Manchurians could be divided up, making all the soldiers rich.

"Short-sighted, short-sighted!"

Zheng Tai scolded Zhou Linwang for being confused, and told him that the official uniforms they wore were the greatest wealth in the world, as long as the general's orders were carried out in place, would they be afraid that Mr. Jia would not give them glory and wealth in the future?

"If you don't do good officers and soldiers, what kind of thief should you be..."

Others also criticized Zhou Linwang's whimsical ideas.

Zhou Linwang saw that he couldn't get the support of the crowd, so he had no choice but to evacuate in embarrassment, but Vice General Zheng asked them to lead his troops to the big gentry households in the city to "demand payment".

"You can't take the people's, you can only take the lord's!"

Zheng Tai took out a list, all of them were big and famous families in Jingzhou City, and each family had a high official.

That is to say, three generations up, all are traitors.

……

Meng Yingrui, who was rushing to Jingzhou Road, had no idea that the Eight Banners Navy had been defeated, and rushed to Shashi day and night.

Unexpectedly, not long after I arrived in Shashi, I received an urgent notice from Jingzhou, saying that a Xinghan army had captured Weishi Town, an important upstream pass. I hope General Meng can send troops to recover this place, otherwise the thieves will be able to bombard without hesitation. Jingzhou.

"The thief progressed so quickly?"

Meng Yingrui was greatly surprised and ordered someone to fetch a map. Knowing the importance of Wei City, he immediately changed the original battle plan and attacked Wei City together with his lieutenant general Yue Min and led more than [-] people.

As a result, when Meng Yingrui and Yue Min led their troops to Weishi Town, they were violently bombarded by more than [-] cannons from the Xinghan Army who had already lined up, and more than a dozen warships came to the river where there were no warships. Shell them.

"Ambush, ambush!"

The pieced together Qing army suddenly lost its position, yelling and retreating to the rear.

"Don't retreat, those who retreat will follow the military law!"

The old general Meng, who had fought in the three dynasties of Kang, Yong and Qian in his life, was so angry that he swung a knife and beheaded a retreating soldier in order to stabilize his position.

At this moment, however, dozens of Xinghan Army elite soldiers wrapped in red scarves and wearing armour, charged straight at the Qing army with long knives. .

Two more elite soldiers of the Xinghan Army surrounded the Qing army from both wings. So far, the Qing army had no chance of gaining a foothold and retreated across the board.

No matter how Meng Yingrui and Yue Fen tried to restrain them, they couldn't stop the rout.

In the chaos, Yue Min was beheaded on the spot by the Xinghan cavalry.

Meng Yingrui's mount was hit by a musket, and after falling off the horse, he was wrapped up by the defeated soldiers and ran away. As a result, he was too old, and he was out of breath before he could run a hundred feet.

The children of the Meng family wanted to run away with their ancestors on their backs. They didn't want the old general but they didn't want to be humiliated by the defeat. They let their children and grandchildren escape by themselves, and committed suicide with the pistol given to him by the famous Manchurian minister Bandi.

In this battle, the Qing army was defeated. Only [-] people were killed, but [-] people were captured, and only [-] people fled back to Shashi.

Ge Tong, the general of Wuchang who stayed behind in Shashi, heard that General Meng and General Yue had both died for their country. After the entire army of more than [-] soldiers and horses was wiped out, he took more than [-] Qing soldiers from Shashi and fled in embarrassment in the direction of Wuchang without saying a word.

After the great victory in Wei City, Gu Shidao, commander of the Xinghan Army, ordered Meng Yingrui and Yue Min to enter the city to persuade them to surrender.

However, Shang Jianbao didn't see the envoy, and he didn't make arrangements to defend the city. He just locked himself in the general's yamen, eating fast and praying to Buddha.

Seeing this situation, Zheng Tai, the deputy general of the Huguang Green Camp guarding the outer city, directly led his troops to abandon the city and flee south with the looted wealth.

Upon seeing this, Ding, the magistrate of Jingzhou, and other officials decided to flee south with Deputy General Zheng, or flee to Mancheng.

All of a sudden, there were no Qing officials in the outer city!

The community members in the city took the opportunity to open the city gate, allowing the Xinghan army to occupy the outer city without a single soldier being abolished, and then turned the artillery deployed on the city head to deal with the Xinghan army, and continued to bombard the city.

On the 25th, the Xinghan Army officially launched an attack on Mancheng.

Under the threat of the Xinghan army, the captured Qing army climbed up the city one after another. After two consecutive days of attacking the city, most of the medicines and arrows of the Eight Banners soldiers in the city were consumed.

Due to the strict military discipline of the Xinghan Army, after entering the city, they set up a list to calm the people and strictly prohibited soldiers from disturbing the people. As a result, the people in the city developed a good impression of these "traitors" who wore clothes they had only seen on the stage.

Many people even gathered together to watch the Xinghan army's ongoing attack on Mancheng from a distance, and cheered from time to time.

Some people even sent summer melon and fruit medicinal materials to the Xinghan army, and many of them had many traitors in their ancestors.

The whole city is at stake.

(End of this chapter)