I have a cornucopia

Chapter 204: The Royal Army has arrived, and the sky in Yangzhou has cleared up

A quarter of an hour later.

Small East Gate.

"quick!"

Chen Zilong, riding a horse, urged the militiamen anxiously.

Next to him was Xia Wanchun.

There was no need to find Zhang Guowei for this kind of thing, and Zhang Guowei was in the government office, which was far away. Xia Wanchun just brought the 400 new soldiers that the Songjiang Elders' Association provided to Chen Zilong. Because the Qing army was moving south, all the prefectures in Jiangnan were urgently replenishing their militia. After all, no matter what happened in the end, having troops in hand was the most important thing. Even if they were welcoming the royal army, they had to have enough troops to bargain.

There is a fundamental difference between the Welcoming King's Army without a single soldier and the Welcoming King's Army with thousands of elite soldiers.

The former is fat meat that can be slaughtered at will.

You can only hope for the enemy's character, which is often the least reliable.

But the latter is different.

That means bringing in capital.

Not only can you maximize your benefits, but you can even become a loyal minister and start the process of ennobling your wife and children to become dukes and marquises for generations.

Just look at Wu Sangui and you will know that he could be directly crowned king if he brought tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to welcome the royal army.

Therefore, during this period, the Elders Associations in various places have been continuously sending reinforcements to the front line. Suzhou, Songjiang and other places basically went to Yangzhou. The Suzhou militia has expanded to 7,000 people, and the Songjiang militia has also reached 4,000. The Zhejiang militia has not arrived yet because of the long distance, but the 3,000 new soldiers who reinforce them have passed Hangzhou. Huizhou and even some Jiangxi militias are also rushing to Nanjing. Even Fujian has sent a militia as reinforcements to Fuzhou. In fact, Yunnan, Guangxi and other places have also sent troops to defend the king, but these are far away, let alone where they are, and it is hard to say whether they have already set off.

Xia Wanchun brought a group of new recruits like this to hand over to Chen Zilong.

Although he was young, he was quite famous, and his father was Chen Zilong's deputy. He could be considered to be both loyal and filial by bringing the new recruits here. However, he was delayed on the way north from Guazhou and did not enter the city until dark. As a result, he happened to meet Li Xiangjun.

The Songjiang militia camp is located at Xiaodongmen, and the salt merchants' luxury residential area is inside Xuningmen, close to the south city wall, all the way to Chaoguanmen, also known as Yijiangmen. The entire area is filled with luxury houses where salt merchants live, so it is also the closest to Xiaodongmen.

As soon as Xia Wanchun arrived there and explained the situation, Chen Zilong immediately understood.

It’s not like he doesn’t know these people.

Li Xiangjun, Hou Fangyu, and even Huang Shu, which one of them did he not know?
He is also very familiar with Hou Fangyu.

He didn't even have to wait for Li Xiangjun to wake up; he could guess what it was just by looking at all these people together.

Huang Shu, who had surrendered to Dorgon a long time ago, and Hou Fangyu, who was wanted by the regent, got together. Considering the relationship between Li Xiangjun and him, they actually ran away. It's needless to say what they wanted to do. While sending someone to report to Zhang Guowei, he directly brought his troops here...

"All crazy!"

He sighed on horseback.

Of course, he also understood why Hou Fangyu was so crazy.

After all, Hou Xun was killed by Shen Tingyang, and the Hou family was also finished. For Hou Fangyu, he didn't care whether there was bloodshed in Jiangnan. As long as he could restore the Hou family's prosperity, it would be no big deal to surrender to the Jianlu. The Ming Dynasty could no longer give them prosperity, so whoever could give them prosperity, he would surrender to. Huang Shu was a bit speechless...

This is pure evil!
I have to say that being a human being to this extent is truly pure.

"Uncle Shi, look!"

Xia Wanchun suddenly shouted.

Chen Zilong turned his head hurriedly, and then he saw flames coming out of the salt merchants' mansions. Before he could figure out whose house it was, a second fire appeared, and then a third. Because of the season and the fact that most of the buildings in the city were made of wood, the first fire became very large in a blink of an eye.

Thick smoke rose in the red night sky.

He pulled out the flintlock pistol without hesitation, opened the cock, and pulled the trigger towards the sky. The sudden gunshot broke the tranquility of Yangzhou.

"Go and close the door!"

he shouted.

At this time, arresting Huang Shu and others is no longer the most important thing. The most important thing is to avoid any accidents at the city gate.

He led the militia to speed up forward.

On the city wall behind him, the trumpet had already sounded, and the Songjiang militia stationed at Xiaodong Gate also hurriedly began to deploy their defenses. Chen Zilong had just reached the intersection facing Chaoguan Gate when the city, awakened by the sound of gunfire and trumpets, began to fall into chaos.

Especially the rapidly expanding fire in the south of the city...

During the last war, Yangzhou had been burned several times.

Most of the buildings in the city are made of wood.

The shells fired from outside the city, especially those rockets that were originally intended for arson, inevitably caused fires. Nearly one-third of the casualties in the city were actually caused by fires. That was in the summer and autumn, but now it is the cold winter. Once a fire breaks out in this season, it is easy to sweep the entire new city, so at the same time, accompanied by the continuous sound of gongs, the Yangzhou militia that was originally patrolling and guarding rushed to the fire first, and the awakened salt merchants also began to appear on the streets. But it was obvious that someone was setting the fire, and it was still being set, and new fires were constantly appearing. Chen Zilong led his Songjiang militia and continued to head south to the Chaoguan Gate in the chaotic streets.

He didn't have to worry about putting out the fire, but the purpose of setting the fire was to create chaos, and the purpose of creating chaos was of course to seize the city gate.

That was what he had to worry about.

This street, which was more than a mile long, could almost be said to go straight ahead. The fire in the luxury residential area on the left was also expanding. This was because of the large number of wooden painted pavilions built by the salt merchants, as well as their flowers and plants that had dried up in winter. The fire was pushed by the wind and spread rapidly towards this side.

The elderly, the weak, women and children, who were also driven out by the fire, soon blocked the streets.

"Get out of the way!"

Chen Zilong waved his pistol anxiously.

The militiamen following him used the dove guns in their hands to drive away the old, weak, women and children who were blocking the road, but more of them who were driven out by the fire joined in.

The streets were getting more and more crowded, and he had to stop and have his men lead the way.
Then, not far ahead, a group of frightened cries suddenly rang out, and then a large group of old, weak, women and children poured out from an alley, blending into the crowded crowd on the street like a flood...

"The Jianlu have entered the city!"

"The Jianlu have entered the city!"

……

Shouts rang out behind them.

Before Chen Zilong could react, several heads of rat tails appeared. They were frantically hacking and killing the old, weak, women and children they met, creating greater panic. Behind them, another rat tail was still shouting. Next to this rat tail was a man wearing a Confucian robe. The appearance of these rat tails made the streets completely chaotic. Although there were only a dozen of them, it made the streets seem like doomsday. After all, these old, weak, women and children would not think about why the Jianlu appeared when the city gates were closed, and the panic caused by the rat tails behind them completely controlled them.

All they knew was to crowd together, like a flock of frightened ducks being chased by a few vicious dogs.

"Huang Zhonglin, do you want to be infamous forever? You are a successful Jinshi, but you don't have a single bit of shame?"

Chen Zilong roared.

Huang Shu, who was shouting for the Jianlu to enter the city, turned around and looked at him in surprise.

Then he turned around and pulled it from behind.

"Commander Chen, Commander Chen, it's me, it's me, don't fire!"

Wang the salt merchant, who was dragged out, cried out in tears.

A Jianlu behind him suddenly pushed him, and then dragged out another salt merchant... Huang Shu looked at Chen Zilong proudly.

After he and Hou Fangyu returned, they immediately captured the salt merchant Wang and two other salt merchant leaders who were discussing matters at the Wang family's house, then set fire to the Wang family's house and ran out with the hostages, setting fire while closing the door. They had to escape quickly, so they had to control a city gate.

There were a dozen Jianlu in total, and no matter how good they were at fighting, it would be difficult for them to seize the city gate, so they had to set fire and create chaos.

The closest Qing army outside the city was outside Anjiang Gate.

It was originally one of the main attack targets. The Qing army used the canal as a barrier and set up a large camp on the west side of the canal to attack Anjiangmen, the south gate of the old city. Although the canal was frozen at that time, the ice here was impassable. However, the Qing army built a floating bridge from the west bank to the east bank, and there was also a Chaoguan floating bridge outside the Chaoguanmen. In short, they could escape as long as they went out of the Chaoguanmen.

Moreover, the garrison at Chaoguan Gate was composed of militiamen from Yangzhou, led by a guard captain adopted by one of the salt merchant leaders.

He was originally a Yi Ding from Xuan Da.

"Chen Wozi, I am just trying to survive. Li Xiangjun has already been offered to me, so why do you still have to force me?

The Qing army is outside the city, and the regent's 200,000 troops have already arrived. Instead of trying to stop the chariot with a mantis arm, why don't you open the gate and welcome the surrender? I am still the governor, and you can also be the governor. The regent is not trying to seize Jiangnan, but to escort the emperor of the Ming Dynasty to the south. In the future, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty will form an alliance to suppress the rebellion. Yangzhou will still be the land of the Ming Dynasty, and you will still be the subjects of the Ming Dynasty.

Why bring about your own destruction?

Huang is a native of Huizhou, how could he harm his hometown?"

Huang Shu shouted.

At this time, the Yangzhou militia guarding the Chaoguan Gate had already deployed defenses at the city gate.

"Don't fire, don't fire!"

A salt merchant leader who was captured together with salt merchant Wang shouted hurriedly.

When the leading militia commander saw that it was him, he immediately ordered his men to put down their muskets.

"Capture these spies!"

Chen Zilong shouted.

The general seemed not to hear.

But just then...

"boom!"

There was a sudden loud noise behind Chen Zilong.

He turned around in shock, looking at the thick smoke rising a few hundred meters away. The fire ignited by the explosion was also spreading under the smoke. Then faint shouts of killing were heard. He suddenly turned around and looked at Huang Shu.

"Chen Wozi, you don't think there is only one group of people waiting to welcome the Qing army in the city, do you?"

Huang Shu said proudly.

Of course it couldn't be just one gang. There were a lot of people like him under Dorgon who could persuade the salt merchants in the city to surrender. He just followed Ajige because they were from the same hometown and were in contact with salt merchant Wang. But even if he was in contact with Hui merchants, he was definitely not the only one. As for those in contact with Shanxi merchants, he was even less sure.

Obviously, the chaos here also gave these people opportunities.

As soon as he finished speaking, the alarm bell on the Chaoguan Gate Tower suddenly rang.

"The Jianlu, the Jianlu are crossing the canal!"

There an officer was shouting outside in panic.

The Qing army was not far away, and they had of course heard the fire and gunfire in the city a long time ago. This distance was enough for them to launch a quick surprise attack.

"Retreat to Xiaodongmen!"

Chen Zilong shouted.

He turned around without hesitation.

The situation has already gotten out of control. There is no point in fighting for the Chaoguan Gate at this time, unless the militia guarding the gate cooperate with him, but they will not cooperate with him. The Yangzhou militia eats the Yangzhou salt merchants, not the Songjiang gentry. As for talking about loyalty and righteousness, it is a joke.

Isn't it funny to talk about loyalty and righteousness with the militia?
People only care about money, and they will listen to whoever pays them.

Therefore, the most important thing now is to get back to the small east gate before the Qing army enters the city. As long as the two east gates are not lost, Yangzhou will not be considered fallen. It is nothing more than a loss of a large amount of supplies. But even if the supplies in the old city can support it for a few months, it will be fine. As for what Huang Shu said, this problem is not something he needs to consider. Besides, even if Dorgon really sends the prince south, he cannot accept it. Once accepted, it is tantamount to admitting that the Chongzhen in Li Zicheng's place is fake.

Loyal minister...

A loyal minister cannot do this!

Chen Zilong on horseback couldn't help but smile bitterly.

I have to say that this world is in too much chaos. It's such a mess that he doesn't know what to do.

Behind Chen Zilong, Xia Wanchun looked at the chaos in front of him in a somewhat daze. However, considering his current age, this situation was a bit beyond the scope. After all, he was only fourteen at that time. He had no choice but to turn around and retreat with Chen Zilong.

"Open the door quickly and welcome the Qing imperial division!"

Huang Shu shouted at the militiamen.

Then the two salt merchants came to their senses. No matter what happened in the future, at least they had to save their lives now. Besides, if it was really like what Huang Shu said, there seemed to be nothing to hesitate about. The Qing army was escorting the Ming emperor, and the emperor was of course Zhu Cilang. In other words, the Ming and Qing would form an alliance and wipe out Li Zicheng together. How powerful was the Qing army? Together with the Ming army, it could be said that sweeping the rebels was like playing.

What a wonderful future!

For these wealthy businessmen and gentry, the Jianlu were never their enemies. Their enemies were always bandits like Li Zicheng.

Let’s unite with the enemy and suppress the bandits!
This is how we unite with the enemy to suppress the invaders!

They had been dreaming about this since the beginning of the year, but due to some strange reasons it had never come true. But now Dorgon had turned this beautiful dream into reality and had delivered it directly to their doorstep. It would be foolish not to open the door.

"Open the door quickly, open the door to welcome the Qing army. When the army arrives, our sky will be clear!"

A salt merchant leader immediately shouted to the militia commander.

You can see that he's a little excited.

The latter was at a loss.

At this moment, in the direction of the Great East Gate in the distance, there was a flash of fire, followed by a huge explosion, and countless flashes of fire. It was obvious that someone was attacking the Great East Gate, and there was also a faint sound like waves outside. Although the distance was still far, one could barely hear the trampling of thousands of troops...

"Open the door quickly, open the door to welcome the Qing army, and unite with the enemy to defeat the invaders!"

The general shouted.

What else does he care about!

We can't really fight to the bitter end here, right? Besides, following the Qing army isn't a bad idea, maybe I can even become a general!

The militia soldiers rushed to the city gate in a disorderly manner and began to prepare to welcome the royal army...

(End of this chapter)