Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 487 Changsha Burns!

Heng Ling spoke:

"West City is deserted. If you are willing to clean it up by yourselves, feel free to move in."

"Why not East City?"

"It is the ancestral rule of the Qing Dynasty that no one is allowed to enter the city without permission."

"General Heng means that we, the Outer Mongols, are outsiders?"

"That is not my intention. If you are dissatisfied, please submit a memorial to the Emperor to impeach me!"

……

The atmosphere is cold~
The expectations of both sides were dashed.

The Mongolian leaders from outer vassal states who came to support felt that it was already this damn time and you Manchus were still acting like the bosses?
I feel sad and heartbroken.

But Hengling felt that these people did not seem like reinforcements, but rather were here to cause trouble.

The welcoming banquet ended unhappily~
The subsequent military meeting was even more fragmented.

One party requested that
The city of Jingzhou pulled out heavy artillery to blast open the Wu army camp first, and then the cavalry would charge.

The other side believes that
Heavy artillery was difficult to place and carry, so it was not suitable to move it. We could only support it with some light artillery, let the Green Camp soldiers charge first, and the knights dismounted to support with bows and arrows.

Anyway,

No agreement.

That night, the angry leaders did not even stay in the city.

The next day,

The express messengers with the joint complaint set off.

The horse team, who were raking the valley to vent their anger, also set out.

……

can only say,
The bleak war situation and the weak Qing court made the Mongols' ambitions swell again.

The residual power of the Dzungar genocide could no longer deter them.

Led by the four Eleuth tribes, the Outer Mongols were ready to make moves, and their loyalty to the Qing court began to fade.

Jingzhou Prefecture and Jingmen Prefecture suffered a great disaster.

Dangyang County,
The city gate is closed.

The magistrate looked pale and looked outside the city.

The officials and gentry all had bitter faces.

A gentleman muttered:
"It's over. The Eight Banners of Mongolia have also surrendered to Wu."

The magistrate was still stubborn:
"Could it be a misunderstanding? It's reasonable for the foreign soldiers to use a slightly rough method to collect food."

The gentry retorted:
"Master, look at the smoke outside. One, two, three, four, there are 15 fires! It's normal for soldiers to collect food and kill a few poor people, but is it necessary to be so exaggerated? If these Tartar officials hadn't surrendered to Wu, would they dare to be so presumptuous?"

……

was saying,

A team of Oirats cavalry passed by the official road outside the city again and arrogantly hacked to death a family of civilians who fled to the city gate to seek refuge.

The hearty and penetrating laughter reached the top of the city.
It's like the devil chanting, making people tremble.

The magistrate turned his head.

He turned his head and looked at everyone.

"Everyone, I heard that the Wu army seems to have a rule~"

The silent master,

Immediately said:

"After conquering any city that resists, we will kill all the officials and gentry in the city, regardless of whether they are good or bad."

Everyone's face changed slightly.

They looked at each other and exchanged glances.

A clerk muttered:

"Emperor Wu is so confused, why doesn't he just kill all the poor people?"

……

The magistrate stood with his hands behind his back and raised his head to look at the sky.

After a while,

Everyone present finally made up their mind.

They all knelt on the ground and spoke earnestly:
"County Master, for the sake of all the people in the city, how about ~"

"Alas, alas, alas."

The magistrate sighed continuously and even wiped away tears.

Everyone was not in a hurry. This seemingly boring process was indispensable and very important.

A hypocrite is also a gentleman.

Guess,

Who writes the county annals of this county? How would it be written?
……

The magistrate cried for a long time before turning around.
A wave of sleeves:
"In order to protect the people of Dangyang, I have made a difficult decision. Surrender to Wu, and do not hurt any more civilians."

Everyone felt relieved.

Shouting:

"The county magistrate is wise."

On the same day,

Two constables who had received a generous reward, two escort agency heads, and a rare fellow villager in the city whose ancestral home was in Zhejiang but who had moved to Dangyang 2 years ago, formed a elite team and left the city.

Dangyang, unconditional surrender!

……

The Mongolian cavalry's actions of raiding the valley objectively helped the Wu army.

Anlu Prefecture, Yichang Prefecture, Jingmen Prefecture, and Jingzhou Prefecture were all spreading rumors that the Eight Banners of Mongolia had surrendered to Wu and that more than half of Hubei was occupied by Wu's army.

The Hubei gentry group, who were originally not very courageous, were completely defeated.

Letters of surrender from various counties came in like snowflakes.

The navy of Wolong Town in Xiangyang, the 4th Corps on the march, the 2nd Corps on guard, and even the city of Wuchang all welcomed envoys of surrender from various counties.

For a time,

Even Lin Huaisheng was a little confused.

A pleasant surprise, but also a headache.

If you make a mistake,

Even if we admit that the Mongolian cavalry have surrendered to Wu, how can we stop them from raiding the valley?
Also, didn’t the State of Wu take the blame?

Frank and sincere,

It is said that the Mongolian cavalry did not actually surrender to Wu, our army just did not have the time to wipe them out!

That's also slapping yourself~
……

Lin Huaisheng and the other staff members pondered for a long time.

I feel that the only thing we can do now is to speed up the suppression as much as possible and eliminate all enemies in the Hubei battlefield.

But in my hand,
Only one mobile army remained - the Young Guards Battalion.

The establishment is 1000 people, which is roughly equivalent to 2 normal battalions.

The average age of the soldiers was young, but they were highly motivated to fight.

This kind of fanaticism is not the same as the ferocity of the Huaixi soldiers of the 2nd Corps.

The Guards Battalion is composed of two types of people:

One type is the orphans and vagrants taken in by Your Majesty at the beginning of the rebellion, and the other type is the descendants of the Wu army soldiers who died in battle.

Special background, superimposed special age, superimposed latest equipment,

This created the unique enthusiasm of the Young Guards Battalion.
The commander is Li Xiaowu, who was just transferred here. In terms of seniority, he can even be traced back to the start-up period of Cun Ju Tang, which makes him older than Xishan Shares.

……

The only elder in the gang who can compete with him in terms of seniority, Liu Akun, is trapped in the gentle countryside of Hangzhou City and cannot extricate himself.

My lovely wife is good at dancing and is a big shot in the business world.

Moreover, her heart is broad and her virtue is unparalleled.

She took the initiative to help her husband collect more than a dozen young and beautiful concubines, and also bought land by the West Lake to build a garden, which was decorated beautifully.

It is said that

A Kun has lost 50 kilograms and walks unsteadily.

But, God rewards hard work!
He has 8 children, one of whom takes his mother's surname.

……

Lin Huaisheng and Li Xiaowu chatted alone for half an hour.
after that,

The Young Guards Battalion, which had been seeking battle to no avail, set out from Wuchang in high spirits, taking away 150 four-wheeled baggage carts and 500 civilian laborers.

Marching by land,
Target - Qianjiang County on the south side of the Han River.

Gradually block the Mongolian cavalry's space for detour.

Huguang Campaign,

The focus is entirely on Hubei and the Jianghan Plain.

There was a significant deviation from the original plan, but no one was surprised.

The real battlefield is changing rapidly.

If everything goes as predicted, it can only mean that the enemy commander is a spy for our side, or that our commander is a monster.

……

On the east side of the Xiangjiang River, Changsha City.

The city wall is bloodstained, red and black~
This is the trace left by the last attack.

after that,

The Wu army did not launch any more attacks, but simply raided several nearby gentry houses.

Wusimai silently waited for the arrival of reinforcements.

Whether it is land reinforcements from Jiangxi or water reinforcements from Xiangjiang River.

Anyway,

Changsha is right in our grasp.

In the handsome tent,
A copy of Complete Tang Poems was spread out on the left side of the desk, and a piece of rice paper was placed on the right side.

Wu Si Mai held the brush full of ink, frowned, thought hard, and wrote with difficulty.
Writing poetry is damn hard.

……

"Report~"

A second lieutenant opened the commander's tent and hurried in.

He was stunned by the ball of paper on the ground where there was no place for his feet.

"What's the matter?"

"Changsha City is on fire! The Qing army is rushing to cross the Xiangjiang River."

Wu Simai felt relieved. He put down his brush and crumpled up the rice paper with only one ink spot on it.

He took off his sword and pistol and hurried out of the tent.

far away,

Columns of smoke rose from Changsha City and reached the sky.

Wusimai was stunned.
Are the people of Changsha crazy? Burning themselves?

There are really few elegant people in this world, they are all fucking psychopaths!
……

"Beat the drums, assemble."

In fact,
Before the drums of war sound,
The military camp was in an uproar, and everyone was fully armed and ready to attack.

but,

When the main force was three miles away from Changsha City, everyone knew that they could not enter the city. The raging fire had already burned through half the sky.

The heat is amazing!

Second Lieutenant Wu Laoer frowned and said:

"If we can't get in, the people of Changsha can't get out either, right?"

The comrade next to him sighed:

"It's over. Changsha is over."

……

The fire in Changsha City started from the east and south.

Zeng Di preset 20 fire points.

With a blast of arrows, the militia guarding the fire point all set fire.

Fire oil, grease, large amounts of firewood, as well as gunpowder and baggage that could not be taken away, all became the best fuel for this fire.

Thick smoke billowed and the fire was fanned by the wind.

"Run."

A few smart people didn't take anything, just jumped out of the house and ran away.

Even more people were reluctant to part with their few belongings, so they packed up their valuables and poured water on the roof.

A broken home is worth a million dollars!
The fire spread faster and more violently than anyone imagined.

……

"Fire dragon! Fire dragon!"

Someone yelled in fear, looking terrified as if he had seen a ghost.

A "fire dragon" composed of flames and cyclones soars straight into the sky.

I even heard the roar of a dragon.
Everyone who witnessed this scene,

Start the escape instantly~
There were countless pushes, shoves and tramples.

Fire tornado - a special fire scene phenomenon.

Once it appears,
It began to devour the surrounding creatures frantically.

The speed of the fire was as fast as walking on water. It was not just burning one room at a time, but street at a time.

The fire dragon moved back and forth in Changsha City.
In just half an hour, several small fire dragons even split out.

……

Thick smoke and flames.

The whole city is like the ancient Pompeii of the East.

A few miles outside the city,

The Wu army soldiers were all commenting on the fire.

The officers generally looked unhappy.

Especially the military staff, their faces were so gloomy that water could drip from them.

The Qing army's burning of Changsha added pressure to their own logistics, and it was a great pressure.

No matter in which era,
Cities are places where wealth gathers.

Putting aside the people, this fire reduced at least 5 million taels of material wealth to ashes.

……

"Return to camp."

Seeing that Changsha City was beyond rescue, Wusimai could only shake his head.

Leave one cavalry company behind to watch from afar.

If anyone managed to escape from the city, he would be brought to his tent for questioning.

The rest,
Everyone return to camp to rest and prepare for dinner.

In another half an hour, it will be dark!

Back to the commander's tent,

He looked at the brush that had not yet dried.
Suddenly wrote:

"When it prospers, the people suffer; when it dies, the people suffer."

After finishing writing,

He picked up the rice paper and looked at it carefully.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching quickly outside the tent, so I quickly crumpled the rice paper in my hand into a ball.
……

"Commander-in-chief, the patrol has arrested several people."

"Bring it in."

The four people were in a state of disarray.
His hair was half burnt and his face was pitch black, but you could tell from his body shape that he was not an ordinary citizen.

Obesity, also known as puberty, is a symbol of status.

As soon as it came into the account,

Several people knelt down and cried loudly:
"Please ask the heavenly soldiers to take charge and skin King Zeng alive."

"Ok?"

"Zeng Yanwang, he actually ordered people to pile up firewood and grease all over the city and set it on fire. There are 20 people in Changsha, 20!"

The wailer could not continue.

He kowtowed repeatedly and soon his forehead was covered in blood.

Wusimai was quite calm and waved his hand to signal that the man should be taken away for treatment.

These 4 people are available.
Next, when they are in charge of Hunan, they can use their own experience to convince the gentry in other prefectures and counties to open the city walls and surrender.

You must choose one between the heavenly soldiers and the King of Hell.

……

The sun gradually sets.

But the darkness did not fall.

The fire provided hundreds of thousands or even millions of lumens of light to the surrounding area, making the night as bright as day.

The Xiang River,

The Zeng brothers stood on the deck of the ship, looking out silently.

suddenly,

Seeing a man on fire on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, he rushed into the river.

then,

Just disappeared.

The eldest brother Zeng Di saw that some of his brothers had a look of pity on their faces.

He comforted her by saying:
"Even though I kill him, I love him."

"When there is not enough food, the common people will cause trouble. This has been the case in every dynasty. Eventually, the situation gets out of control and people suffer. Instead of this, it is better to implement population reduction from the beginning! Only by reducing the population can the country be stable."

"It is better for the people of Changsha to be destroyed along with the city than to aid the enemy."

"The second, third, and fourth brothers all died in Changsha. Humph, our Zeng family is the contemporary Yang family generals, unparalleled in loyalty and righteousness."

……

West Bank of the Xiang River,

At the foot of Yuelu Mountain, the retreating troops stretched for more than ten miles, advancing silently with torches.

Zeng Di thought about it,
Call the sixth brother Zeng Zhao:

"Sixth brother, you take 300 local soldiers and 200 Yuanzhou militiamen to defend Yuelu Mountain. If the Wu bandits pursue us, you will be responsible for covering their retreat."

"Row."

"Five days! As long as the Wu thieves don't send troops to pursue us within five days, we will be safe."

Before separation,
Zeng Di thought about it and told his sixth brother:
"If something cannot be done, do not resist. Of the thirty-six strategies, running away is the best one."

……

Away from the plains on both sides of the Xiangjiang River, mountains rise one after another.

The further west you go,
The more dangerous the mountain, the higher the peak.

The militia under Zeng's command are all from the mountains. Once they enter the mountains, they are like fish in water and are not afraid of anyone.

You have hundreds of cannons, but I have thousands of calluses on my feet.

Who is afraid of whom?

Zeng Zhao was very confident that he could save his life, so he gathered 500 people and quietly climbed Yuelu Mountain.

mountain top,

There were red cannons that were shipped out from Changsha in advance.

Test firing several rounds,

Zeng Zhao observed where the shells landed and determined that the Xiangjiang River was within range, and even a small part of the west side of Changsha city was within range.

after that,

It is to collectively appreciate the giant torch on the other side of the Xiangjiang River.

The barbaric chieftain soldiers even organized a bonfire festival, with barbecues, singing and dancing.

Anyway,

Evil spirits emerge in troubled times.

……

The afternoon after tomorrow,

A fleet of warships sailed onto the Xiangjiang River, with silver-grey shark flags flying on their masts.

Zeng Zhao immediately realized that the Wu army’s navy had arrived.

"Damn it, big brother is still wise."

"If we don't retreat now, we will be attacked by the Wu bandits from both land and sea, and we will all die in Changsha."

The gunner asked:

"Sir, do you want to fight?"

"Do not hit."

After thinking about it,
Zeng Laoliu gave instructions to everyone again.

"Until Wu the thief crosses the Xiang River, no one is allowed to fire. Otherwise, I will gut him~"

"Whoo."

Zeng is fierce.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to suppress these lawless chieftain soldiers.

……

The Hell battleship was not anchored in the waters near Yuelu Mountain.

Instead, they dropped anchor 5 miles away.

From Captain Wesson to his many gunners, all remained vigilant towards Yuelu Mountain.

Years of service experience have taught officers:

The warship sailed into an unfamiliar anchorage, and any commanding heights in the surrounding area were extremely dangerous.

unless,

Our infantry planted the flag on the commanding heights.

Otherwise, any mature naval officer would choose to drop anchor far away from the commanding heights.

Zeng Laoliu was amazed.

The second time, I found that Wu Jun was very cunning.

His vigilance against the Wu army reached an unprecedented level.

He will never forget it.
Outside Changsha City, the army leaving the city was killed by Wu’s army using the "drag sword tactic", leaving corpses all over the ground.

Especially in the Huangdao Gate Wengcheng,
The walls were collapsed and blood was everywhere, with corpses piled up to a height of one person.

(End of this chapter)