scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 202 The Battle of Wuchang

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One night of siege and another night of bloody battles, when the sky was already dawn, the bloody street fighting in Wuchang City continued, in order to buy time for the mite masters and wives in the inner city to board the ship and escape, and also to buy time for ourselves to board the ship and escape Now that the Wu army has already occupied the southern city of Wuchang, and Wuchang is doomed to fail, Tuhai, Yue Le, and Cai Yurong, commanders of the Qing army, had no choice but to use their last elites to fight the trapped beasts with the Wu army, to consume blood, and imagine that they could temporarily defeat the enemy. Retiring the Wu army's attack temporarily delayed the advance speed of the Wu army, buying precious time for crossing the river and fleeing for their lives.

This battle is not so much the last battle of the Wu army to recover Huaxia Jingnan, but rather the first decisive battle between the Wu army and the Qing army in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in the second stage of the see-saw battle. Tactical initiative, no matter how much the Yunnan-Guizhou army spent, they vowed to take down the important town of Wuchang and try their best to annihilate the elite main force of the Qing army, thus establishing an advantage in the stage of strategic stalemate.And when the Qing army was doomed to be in danger in Wuchang, its tactical purpose was to retreat in Wuchang, bring the last elite of the Qing army back to the north of the Yangtze River, and bring the backbone and core of the invaders, the Eight Banners masters. Go to the north of the Yangtze River to preserve the seeds and vitality for future wars.

With a desperate attack on the one hand and a desperate defense on the other, this battle is doomed to be extremely cruel and bloody.The streets and alleys are full of soldiers from both sides fighting each other. The streets and alleys are full of corpses and blood flow. In order to fight for an alley that can lead to the main road, the armies of both sides usually have to pay the lives of hundreds of soldiers. , In order to compete for a street that can lead to the inner city or to the dock, the two sides put battalions of troops into the battlefield one after another, slashing and consuming the narrow streets frantically.

I have to admit that at the critical moment of life and death, the Qing army, whether it was the authentic mite soldiers or the traitors and puppet soldiers, showed a very high level of perseverance and high-spirited fighting spirit, fighting against the Wu army's attack. Don’t let it go, there are endless Qing army soldiers who hugged and bit Wu soldiers and died together, and they can be seen everywhere; there are also a considerable number of mite people in the inner city of Wuchang, who did not flee to the pier, but chose to take up arms and fight side by side with the Qing soldiers , middle-aged men and women rushed into the battlefield, the elderly and children shouted and cheered, and desperately resisted the progress of the Wu army. The Wu army, who had both strength and combat effectiveness, rushed desperately all night, but they never reached the gate of Wuchang's inner city.

The Qing army was strong and brave, and the Wu army was not far behind. Affected by the production speed and logistical supplies, after the sharp weapons and grenades in street warfare were basically used up, the soldiers of the Wu army did not hesitate to pick up the original knives, guns and spears, and rushed into bloody battles one after another. The battlefield, entering the streets and alleys that I am not familiar with, fighting to the death with the soldiers of the Qing army entrenched there, desperately consuming the last elite main force of the Qing army, half of the outer city of Wuchang has completely become a huge On the Asura battlefield, flames shot up to the sky everywhere, the sound of killing was like thunder, blood and flesh rushed everywhere, and corpses littered the field everywhere.

Relying on the desperate resistance of the Qing army, Tu Hai, Yue Le and others finally ensured that the two water gates of Wuchang West Gate and North Gate will not be affected by the flames of war for the time being. More than 500 large and small warships of Yang Jie, the commander of the Yangtze River Navy of the Qing Army stationed in Hanyang, and thousands of civilian ships temporarily recruited by the Qing Army, although they have all been ordered to arrive at the two docks to carry the transfer of Qing soldiers and civilians, But the wharf is too small and there are too many people fleeing for their lives. There are less than [-] ships that can be loaded each time. Trampled on each other, countless dead, crying and shouting loudly, not to mention maintaining the order of boarding, the Qing army navy, just wanting not to be squeezed into the river, not to be trampled to death and injured, is already an extremely difficult task.

"Mom! Mother! Help!" The ugly mite shouts rang out, and on the Yangtze River, another Qing army warship was sunk by too many civilians, the river surged into the warehouse, and the Qing soldiers on the deck He and the mite people cried and jumped into the river, crying for help in the cold river water, and the soldiers and people in the cabin cried even more violently. The area was crowded and tugged, and the number of people who were able to escape from the cabin was actually pitifully small. Most of the soldiers and civilians in the cabin still sank slowly into the river with the warship and disappeared into the depths of the rough water.

"Maintain order, maintain order! Each ship must not be overloaded by twice, and if anyone scrambles to get on board, no matter who it is, shoot and kill!"

Seeing this scene, Prince Miqing Yue Le, who was in charge of commanding the military and civilians to retreat by boat, couldn't help crying, and shouted orders in a crying voice, asking the army to restrict the order of boarding, but more than [-] people had accumulated on the two docks in the north and south of Wuchang. The thousands of soldiers and civilians in Yue Le's hands are like a solitary boat in the flood. Not to mention controlling the direction and controlling the boat, it is difficult even if they don't want to be washed away by the refugees and the people.The crowd was still rushing towards the pier, and the people were still desperately climbing and boarding the ship. No matter how the Qing army sailors drove them away, it was still useless.

"It's still too hasty!" Yue Le slapped the wall next to him fiercely, tears welled up in his eyes, and wept sadly, regretting our previous mistakes in decision-making, in order to preserve the manpower of the city defenders and stabilize the morale of the army and the people For this reason, all ordinary people's boats were confiscated, nearby large and small piers were blocked, and no civilian boat was allowed to approach Wuchang to carry people. This led to today's situation.

Of course, Yue Le himself is very clear that Tu Hai made this decision at the time because of the situation, and it was a wise move not to take it. He and Ma Bao's troops have directly captured Wuchang City.What Yue Le and Tu Hai never imagined in their dreams was that the main force of the Wu army broke through the impenetrable Wuchang city wall in just one night, entered the city of Wuchang, let them bind themselves in a cocoon, and lifted a rock to smash their own feet.Thinking of this, Yue Le couldn't help but think of the news sent by Ye Bilong, and couldn't help but slapped the table again, and roared with red eyes: "Lu Yifeng, the thief! It's all you, the dog!" Thief did a good job!"

"My lord, look up at the sky!" An inexplicable terrified scream came, and when Yue Le quickly looked up at the sky, he saw three Wu Jun airships flying extremely low against the whistling north wind, making a difficult and slow flight. Heading towards Wuchang Beimen Wharf.Seeing this scene, Yue Le's complexion turned into that of a dead person in an instant, and he yelled frantically: "Hurry up and hide! Wu Gou is here to throw gunpowder bombs again!"

Yue Le's order was destined to be ignored. Seeing the appearance of Wu Jun's airship, the cries and shouts on the pier suddenly amplified countless times. More soldiers and civilians rushed to the pier desperately. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians In an instant, he was squeezed off the pier, screaming and falling into the icy water. The Qing soldiers and civilian ships on the river were in a mess, colliding with each other and fighting for the waterway. For this reason, nearly ten small boats were overturned.

When the airship of the Wu army, which took risks against the wind, flew over the pier with difficulty, the chaos on the pier at the North Gate suddenly reached its peak. The soldiers and civilians of the Qing army who were afraid of the bombing by the Wu army were either scrambling to climb onto the warship, or scattered around looking for hiding places. They trampled and trampled on each other in the hidden areas, causing hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded.But even so, the three Wu Jun airships dropped bombs one after another without mercy, first a single bomb directly filled with safety explosives, and then dropped one after another after the airship lightened and flew high. Cluster bombs.

No matter what kind of bomb it is, it doesn't matter to the soldiers and civilians of the Qing Dynasty, because no matter what kind of bomb falls and explodes, it can take away the lives of tens of soldiers and civilians of the Qing Dynasty. No matter what kind of bomb falls, it can splash waves of bright blood one after another. The pier is billowing with gunpowder smoke, crying and screaming, corpses are everywhere, and the river beside the river bank is filled with human heads, heads, stumps and flesh and blood. Going with the waves, dense like gruel, pink gruel.

"Wu Gou! Wu Gou! Wu Gou!!" Yue Le burst into tears and yelled, "You guys, are you really going to drive out our Qing soldiers? Why are you so ruthless? Why are you so ruthless?!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" The answer to Yue Le's crying and questioning was the bombs dropped one after another by Wu Jun's airship. Crying and shouting echoed with the sound of explosions. The Qing warships whose masts had been blown off spun around the river like flies without their heads. Blocking the waterway at the pier further slowed down the retreat speed of the Qing army...

………………

At the same time, a section of the city wall at the south gate of Wuchang that has not yet collapsed still retains a city tower that has not been damaged too severely. The headquarters of the Wu army has also moved to this place, although it is impossible to see the wharf at the north gate of Wuchang from this location. However, when they heard the thunderous explosion sound coming from the direction of the North Gate Wharf, everyone in the Wu Jun Command was relieved, knowing that our airship had already flown to the North Gate Wharf to bombard desperately, and was effectively stopping the attack. After the Qing army retreated across the river, the next step was how to solve the problem of the Qing army's Ximen Wharf.

"How far is our army from Ximen Wharf?" Old Man Wu asked sharply.

"There are still three miles!" Wang Shirong quickly replied: "General Tian Jinxue, General Gao Dejie and Wang Jing are attacking the dock together, but Mangou has a lot of troops there, and the resistance is also very tenacious, so the progress is not very fast."

"Give them an order that if they can't take down the Ximen Wharf within an hour, military law will be followed!" Old Man Wu ordered harshly, pointing at his nephew Wu Yingjing, and shouting: "Jing'er, take the headquarters up and help Tian Jinxue and them attack Ximen Wharf! Remember, the battle at Ximen Wharf is related to whether our army can cut off the retreat of the main force of the Mangou elite, no matter how much the price is paid, the wharf must be taken down for uncle!"

"Obey!" Wu Yingjing clasped her fists and agreed loudly, and hurried down the tower to lead the troops to the west gate.At this time, Fatty Lu hurried up to the tower again, saluted Old Man Wu, and said, "Grandfather, please let your son-in-law's army join the battlefield and attack Ximen Wharf! Your son-in-law's army just found some spirits and sugar in the city." , Improvisedly made a batch of hand-throwing incendiary bombs, used to attack the full dog warship, the effect is the best."

"What hand is throwing incendiary bombs?" Old Traitor Wu asked curiously.

"Back to grandfather, it's the kind of incendiary bomb used by the Taiwan navy. The year before last, Zheng Jing used this kind of incendiary bomb to destroy the Fujian navy. The Mangou navy feared it like a tiger." Fatty Lu quickly replied: " Just now after our army ran out of grenades, my son-in-law suddenly remembered this thing, so he asked the soldiers to put sugar into the spirits bottle, and then stuff a cloth strip dipped in kerosene at the mouth of the bottle, ignite the cloth strip, shake it vigorously, smash it Immediately after going out, there was a sea of ​​flames, although the power was not as powerful as the incendiary bombs made of gutta-percha by the Taiwan army, it was not as small as that."

"Very good, my grandson-in-law is really up to the task, and he can create a water warfare weapon for the Taiwan army so quickly." The old man Wu was overjoyed, and quickly ordered: "Then let your army go to Ximen too, but you don't want to go. Now, your army is under the command of Line Yuxuan, and you stay to instruct other troops to make this kind of incendiary bomb, which can definitely be used in street fighting."

Fatty Lu now holds multiple positions, and it is indeed inconvenient to come to the battlefield to command the street fighting in person, so he hurriedly clasped his fists in agreement, and rushed downstairs to urge Lan Yuxuan to lead his troops to fight, and called a few generals of the Wu army to teach them simple instructions on the spot. The method of making the version of the Monotov cocktail allows them to find the materials themselves and rush to make it temporarily - Fatty Lu also thought of this kind of earth-made incendiary bomb after the grenade was used up, so naturally there is no way to provide them with raw materials.When everything was ready, Hu Guozhu's messenger found Fatty Lu, saying that Ye Bilong had requested to reopen the negotiations, and asked Fatty Lu to rush to Baishazhou immediately to participate in the negotiations.

Civilian and military affairs come one after another, and if you want to change someone else, you might call it off, but Fatty Lu enjoys it--Fatty Lu really enjoys killing dogs, so not only does Fatty Lu not Complaining or complaining of suffering or tiredness, he got on the horse with an earthen burning bottle, and rushed to Baishazhou five miles away to torture the nerves of the poor man dog negotiator.

When Fatty Lu rushed to the negotiation site, Hu Guozhu, Ye Bilong and others had already started the fourth truce negotiation in the tent. Given the critical situation of the Qing army in Wuchang, Ye Bilong also gave up his dream of asking the Wu army to withdraw from Wuchang Mansion. The Wu army stopped attacking immediately, and let the Qing army in Wuchang and the banner people in the city leave by boat. The Qing court was willing to place Wuchang Mansion and the three provinces of Sichuan, Guangxi, and Pianyuan under the direct jurisdiction of the Pingxi Palace.However, the Pingxi Palace must make concessions in terms of military pay, food, and prisoners of war ransom—half of the concession amount!
"Yifeng, you're finally here." Seeing Fatty Lu, the most naughty and forceful person from the army, arrive, the gentle and polite Hu Guozhu and Fang Xueshi were relieved, and quickly asked Fatty Lu to sit down.Ye Bilong, Zheerken, and Fu Dali had black lines all over their faces, crying in their hearts—how did this most difficult, cunning, and vicious fat man come so quickly?

After listening to Fang Xueshi's hasty introduction of the negotiation situation, Fatty Lu was not in a hurry to turn his words into the topic of negotiation, but he just asked Wu Jun's followers to bring a torch, and greeted Ye Bilong and the others: "Yi Zhongtang, Mr. Zhe, Mr. Fu!" , please come out, the officer wants to show you something."

Ye Bilong and other three representatives of the Qing army, Hu Guozhu, Fang Xueshi and others all looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing what medicine was sold in Fatty Lu's gourd, but following Fatty Lu out of the tent, he saw Fatty Lu shaking the wine bottle in his hand vigorously, Then use a torch to ignite the cloth strip on the mouth of the wine bottle, and after throwing it vigorously towards no man's land, the wine bottle first shattered with a clang, and then turned into a sea of ​​flames with a 'sudden' sound. The land is also burning extremely vigorously.

"Yi Zhongtang, Mr. Zhe, Mr. Fu, this thing is called an incendiary bomb." Fatty Lu introduced slowly: "Two years ago, Taiwan's Zheng Ni used this kind of thing to destroy your Fujian navy in Jinmen, and burned it down in one go. It is very easy to manufacture your nineteen sea-going ships, and in less than half an hour just now, we have rushed to build more than 500 of them."

Ye Bilong's face turned pale again, and he immediately understood what Wu Jun's weapon was targeting. Fatty Lu said darkly again: "Ye Zhongtang must really want to know, how did our Pingxi Palace get such a thing? The officials dare not lie, this is dedicated to our prince by the envoy of Zheng Ni from Taiwan, the only condition is that we hope that our prince Pingxi will play the banner of anti-Qing and Fuming, and join hands with them to deal with the Qing court."

"Yi Zhongtang, do you want our prince Pingxi to continue to be a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty? Or do you want our prince to be forced to rebel? Please think about it. Although our prince is loyal to the Qing Dynasty, if Ye Zhongtang insists on fooling and playing Our prince, our prince will not be a lamb waiting to be slaughtered."

Ye Bilong and the others looked pale, and after bowing their heads for a long time, Ye Bilong turned to Hu Guozhu, and said weakly: "General Jinwu, the issue of military pay, rations and prisoners' ransom is up to you, but we have to give us some time to prepare, two Within a month, our Qing court will pay half of it first, and we will pay the remaining half within next year. In addition, I have to implore your army to agree to stop the attack immediately and let us cross the river."

"Absolutely not!" Hu Guozhu replied resolutely: "Your army must lay down their weapons and surrender on the spot. They will not be released until you pay the military salary, food and grass, and the ransom of the prisoners of war! In addition, within this year, the military salary, food and grass, and prisoners of war will not be released." You must pay [-]% of the ransom!"

"We can pay [-]% of the salaries, food and prisoners' ransom within this year." E Bilong said anxiously: "But your army must stop attacking and let our soldiers and civilians cross the river!"

"No!" Hu Guozhu shook his head firmly, "You must put down your weapons and surrender immediately, we guarantee the safety of the prisoners of war!"

"I can't do this." Ye Bilong said with a sad face: "This old man is only negotiating with the imperial envoys, not the commander of the army. He has no right to order them to put down their weapons and surrender."

"Then Ye Zhongtang can go back and discuss with Tutang and Lord An." Hu Guozhu folded his arms and said with a smile on his face: "It's the same sentence, even during the war, the gate of our Pingxi Palace to negotiate an armistice is still open to Ye Zhongtang. Open up, when Ye Zhongtang has figured it out, come to negotiate with us again."

Ye Bilong was dejected and speechless, his already wrinkled face was even more aged, tears welled up in his cloudy old eyes, Zhe Erken and Fu Dali also burst into tears, their expressions were devastated, as if they had already lost their souls.Seeing this scene, Fatty Lu, who hates dogs so much that he hates his eggs so badly, has a rare conscience, and he couldn't help persuading him: "Yi Zhongtang, two adults, you really shouldn't do this, in fact, there is another way, as long as you support Ann If the lord ascends the throne and proclaims himself emperor, and the Yuan Dynasty is changed to Yongzheng, then our Pingxi Palace will definitely support you with all our strength, and you don’t have to worry about not being able to explain to Kangxi when you go back.”

Ye Bilong raised his head suddenly, staring at Fatty Lu with resentment in his eyes, his expression was so fierce that he wanted to swallow Fatty Lu alive, Fatty Lu smiled all over his face and said, "Yi Zhongtang, you don't have to look at this official like that. Well, in fact, it was for the good of the Qing court that Prince An was old and virtuous, diligent and caring for the people. "

"Say one more thing!" Ye Bilong suddenly cried hoarsely, "I just bumped my head to death in front of you, even if I die, I won't let your diabolical plan succeed!"

"Okay, okay. Yifeng, don't talk about it." Hu Guozhu was also afraid that Fatty Lu would really kill Ye Bilong, so he quickly pulled Fatty Lu back with a smile, pointed to Wuchang City in the north, and said very kindly : "Yi Zhongtang, look, your north gate pier is on fire, if you don't go back to Ye Zhongtang, I'm afraid you won't even have a direction to dock your boat."

Ye Bilong quickly turned his head to look to the north, and saw that the area around the water gate to the west of Wuchang City was burning with flames and thick smoke billowing, and it was indeed burning. The loud cries of the common people can be heard clearly even here.Seeing this situation, Ye Bilong was even more helpless, so he had no choice but to reply: "Thank you General Jinwu for your guidance, I will go back to the city to contact Tutang and Prince An."

"But the old man still said the same thing." Ye Bilong paused, and said very seriously: "If Prince Pingxi and General Jin Wu don't want the military salary, food and ransom promised by the old man to fail, please don't open it to us Eight Banners people. Kill ring, please give us some time to discuss and discuss."

"That's good." Hu Guozhu was also very straightforward, and replied: "As long as your army gives up breaking through and retreats to the inner city, then our army will give your army two hours to discuss. Within two hours, our army will never attack the inner city." city!"

(End of this chapter)