The commander of the Qing army was not prepared at all, and when he saw the Ming army killing, in the blink of an eye, all fourteen of his men were killed. Even he didn't have time to react, he was knocked over by a punch, and then several big men came up and tied the Qing army into zongzi.

After a while, the captured Qing army commander was taken to the Ming army camp.

"Are you from Shengxian or Xinchang? Tell me the truth! If you dare to play tricks, watch out for your dog's head! Luo Xiang, who served as the general of the vanguard force, interrogated the prisoners.

The commander of the Qing army did not dare to lie, and like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, he confessed everything he knew. Through the interrogation of the prisoners, Luo Xiang learned that the Qing army in Shengxian County only had more than 300 people in the county and urban areas, 78 people were arrested by the government service, and more than 100 people were killed in the white service.

The so-called county and urban and rural Yong is equivalent to the armed police of later generations, the government service is equivalent to the police, and the white service is equivalent to the auxiliary police, which is all the regular armed forces of a county.

The Qing army has this little strength, and Luo Xiang doesn't pay attention to it at all. Those officials are quick to catch, and the white servants are brave, and they are very majestic in bullying the common people on weekdays, but when they really fight, they are a group of rabble.

There was no regular green battalion army in Xinchang, there was originally a battalion of green battalions, but after the loss of Shaoxing and other places, the thousand general managers of the green battalion had already led people to run, and they went to Jinhua to guard the city in the name of "Jinhua", but they were actually fleeing for their lives. Only the magistrate was left and did not dare to run. The laws of the Qing Dynasty were very harsh, and if the magistrate ran away, his family would have to die if he was guilty of losing his land.

After figuring out the situation in Shengxian and Xinchang, Luo Xiang had a bottom in his heart, and he asked people to report the situation to the Chinese army behind him and speed up the march.

"Drive!" A fast horse arrived from the Chinese army behind.

When the soldiers arrived in front of Luo Xiang, they turned over and dismounted, knelt on one knee and clasped their fists and saluted: "Report to your lord!" The commander has an order, arrive at the city of Shengxian County, and first issue an ultimatum to the Tartar County Order, so that he can surrender Kaicheng within an hour, and then spare his life! If the Tartar county commander refuses to surrender, we will attack the city again! ”

"I understand, the marshal wants to let Tartar County order him to open the door and surrender, which will be beneficial to both sides!" Luo Xiang nodded slightly.

After a whole day of rapid marching, in the evening, the vanguard of the Ming army arrived at the city of Shengxian County. The vanguard of the Ming army was 2,000 soldiers, 1,000 auxiliaries, 1,500 people, 300 sailors, 200 cavalry and scouts, a total of 5,000 men and horses, and surrounded Shengxian County.

Luo Xiang didn't even bother to build a barracks, so he directly asked people to go to the city and shout: "Listen to the puppet Qing court and county orders in the city!" We are the Ming king, so far today, if you open the city and surrender within noon tomorrow, our marshal can spare you from death, this Shengxian county order is still yours! If you refuse to surrender, you will be killed after the city is broken! ”

With 5,000 men and horses facing 1,500 rabble in the city, there was hardly any suspense in such a battle. However, the Qing court and county commanders in the city thought that they had the protection of the city wall, and they wanted to use the advantages of the city defense to resist stubbornly.

An hour later, the main forces of the Ming army behind also came one after another. Before dark, the Ming army outside Shengxian had gathered more than 13,000 people.

"How? The Tartar county order did not open the city and surrender? After Wang Xinyu arrived, he asked Luo Xiang.

"Marshal Qiyu, the Tartar County Commander thought they could hold the county seat." Luo Xiang replied.

"Ridiculous!" Wang Xinyu sneered, "We have won a strong city like Ningbo, not to mention a small county town!" The Tartar County Order is too self-sufficient! Pass my order and attack the city overnight! ”

The Ming army built siege equipment overnight, and instead of building more complex shield vehicles, they directly built simple ladders and simple trench bridges to fill sandbags. There was no need to build a shield cart at all, and the rabble in the city even shot soft arrows. The auxiliaries put on simple paper armor and pushed the cart directly to fill the moat.

At noon the next day, the hour came, and the prefectural order still did not open the city and surrender. So Wang Xinyu ordered the siege of the city.

About half an hour later, the auxiliaries and the people set off in carts. The carts were pushed to the edge of the moat, and the auxiliary soldiers pushed the carts, and the sandbags loaded on the carts fell into the moat.

A few feathered arrows came here and there, piercing the auxiliaries, and although the defense of the paper armor was not very good, it was not a problem to block these arrows. At the cost of only a few dozen auxiliary soldiers being wounded, a section of the moat was filled.

"Kill!" The soldiers of the Ming army, dressed in light armor such as cotton armor and leather armor, shouted, brandished steel knives, and rushed towards the county seat.

Several three-pounder cannons spat out tongues of fire, and shells smashed on the top of the city, bombarding the Qing soldiers defending the city to pieces. The musketeers and archers approached the city, and the arrows rained down on the city.

A simple ladder was erected on the city wall, and when the Ming army's light armor soldiers began to ascend the city, the Qing army at the head of the city had already begun to rout.

At this time, the city gate opened, and the Qing court ordered the surrender of the city.

Seeing the county order of the Qing court wearing a seven-grade official uniform, Wang Xinyu shouted: "Take it!" ”

Several pro-soldiers immediately stepped forward and held down the desperately struggling magistrate.

"Spare your life! Spare your life! The villain has meritorious service to the city, and I hope the adult will spare his life! The magistrate of the Qing court knelt on the ground and begged bitterly, hoping to survive.

Wang Xinyu sneered: "It's late!" Last night you were ordered to dedicate the city by noon today, so why didn't you open the gates? When our army began to attack the city, you see that it can't be resisted, so you can surrender the city? ”

"The villain's hometown still has wives and children, I'm afraid that if the city surrenders, the court will kill the villain's family." The magistrate argued.

Wang Xinyu sneered: "Don't think that this clan doesn't know the laws of the Tartar puppet dynasty!" This puppet dynasty law is very strange, if you surrender in Kaecheng, the puppet dynasty will not kill your family, but will take you hostage and wait for you to go back; If you lose the city and flee for your life, the puppet dynasty will kill your family for the crime of losing your land! Come on, pull down the Tartar County Order and behead it! ”

The law of the Qing court is indeed a bit strange, the local magistrate who lost the city and fled for his life is a crime of losing the land, at least beheading, and even affecting his family. But if Kaesong surrenders, it will not affect the family. In the future, if you come back "anyway", the court will hold you accountable, which may be dismissed, assigned, or even beheaded, but the family members are fine. Because of this, when Zheng Chenggong went on the Third Northern Expedition, many Qing court officials surrendered directly. Later, Zheng Chenggong was defeated under the city of Jiangning, and those officials returned to the imperial court "anyway".

Afterwards, Shunzhi dealt with the incident and did kill a group of officials, but except for a few banner people who were affected by their families, the general Han officials did not affect their families.

The county commander didn't expect Wang Xinyu to be proficient in the laws of the Qing court, and his face was as frightened as dirt, but he still wanted to live, so he knelt on the ground and begged for mercy: "As long as the adults spare the villain, the villain will definitely let the Xinchang County Order Kaecheng surrender." ”

"Hahaha!" Wang Xinyu looked up to the sky and laughed, "Xinchang County, I'm afraid it's not more difficult to fight than your Shengxian County, right?" When the domain went to Xinchang County, people shouted for him to surrender, if he didn't surrender, the domain would attack the city! Why bother to let you surrender him? If he refuses to surrender, it will be in vain for you to surrender him! ”

"Spare your life! Spare your life! You can let the villain go like a dog. The magistrate begged bitterly.

Wang Xinyu waved his hand: "Pull it down, cut it!" ”

Li Rui came up and asked: "Dashuai, killing this county order is like killing a dog, why do you want to kill him and pollute our treasure sword?" If we keep him alive, maybe he will be as obedient to us as a dog. ”

Wang Xinyu said: "This person refused to surrender at the beginning, thinking that we would worry about the loss of the siege, anyway, Shengxian is a small mountainous county, it doesn't matter if we take it or not, he took a fluke and took our ultimatum as a fart!" Since he took our ultimatum like a fart, let them know that we walk the talk! ”

The county order of the Qing court was beheaded, and the knife and axe hand held the bloody human head.

"Keep the head, go to Xinchang tomorrow to recruit Xinchang County Order, it's still the old rule, an hour, those who don't open the city and surrender beyond the time limit will be regarded as stubborn resistance to the end, and there will be no mercy!" Wang Xinyu ordered.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Ming army was stationed in Shengxian County. After entering the city, set up camp, boil the pot and cook, and maintain order in the city.

This small mountainous city has a small population, and the Ming army did not cause many casualties in the siege of the city, after the Ming army entered the city, it quickly maintained order in the city, and those village warriors, government officials, catchers, white servants and people surrendered one after another. Some of those who had taken refuge in people's homes were later searched out and taken prisoner.

Early the next morning, the Ming army set off for the third watch to cook and the fourth watch, pull out the camp, and drive to the county seat of Xinchang.

From Shengxian to Xinchang, it is only a short period of more than 30 miles. As early as yesterday, the Ming army had already explored the road at night, and the Ming army rushed to Xinchang at the speed of a rapid march. Before the time arrived, that is, before nine o'clock in the morning, more than 5,000 people of the vanguard of the Ming army arrived at the foot of Xinchang City.

After arriving in Xinchang, Luo Xiang followed the old rules and first asked people to go to the city to recruit Xinchang Zhixian.

The person who shouted took the head of the Shengxian county order to the city, pointed to the head, and shouted to the city: "Listen to the Xinchang county order of the Tartar puppet dynasty!" Our Ming Wangshi is here, if the city surrenders within two hours, our commander can save you from death, and this Xinchang County Order is still yours! If you refuse to surrender, then the fate of the Shengxian county order is your end! ”

Seeing the head of the Shengxian county order, the Xinchang county order was frightened.

"What to do? Did we surrender Kaesong? "The county order consulted with the master, the county secretary and the head catcher.

The city of Xinchang County is similar to that of Shengxian County, the city walls are less than two zhang high, and the moat is narrow and shallow. The only advantage of Xinchang is that the number is a little larger, there are 500 village warriors, more than 100 government officials to arrest fast, more than 200 white soldiers, and the county order also summoned more than 2,000 people to help defend the city.

To let the county order surrender like this, he was really a little unwilling, because he was reluctant to put the black gauze hat on his head.

In the eyes of the county order, the current Ming army is a group of thieves, don't look at the thieves who are powerful now, but can they beat the court? When Nanming was strong, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and Sichuan were all in the hands, and there was a large-scale counteroffensive, but in the end? Isn't it defeated yet?

If you surrender to the thieves, although you can avoid death, but if the court comes back in the future, although you can go back anyway, the black gauze hat on your head will definitely be gone. Reading people for ten years is not to be an official.

Just as Xinchang Zhixian hesitated, time passed quickly.

"My lord, two hours are coming!" Master reminded.

Xinchang Zhixian looked at the city and saw that the Ming army under the city was only more than 5,000 people, most of them were auxiliaries and people, only more than 2,000 soldiers, or light armor soldiers, and there were no cannons and siege equipment. So the magistrate said: "The thief is just a partial teacher!" This county is a small mountainous county, it doesn't matter, the thieves won't spend heavy troops in this county, let's wait. ”

The master said: "But my lord, Nasheng County is also a small county in the mountains, but it was attacked by thieves. ”

"There are too few defenders in Shengxian County, less than 1,500 people. It is normal for thieves to break through with 5,000 troops. There are more than 3,000 defenders and people in our county, and it may not be easy for thieves to have 5,000 men and horses to attack the city, so let's wait. The prefectural order insisted on another observation.

But after further observation, the magistrate found that something was wrong: the follow-up troops of the Ming army came one after another, and they were still carrying a large number of artillery! On the river, a large number of Ming ships appeared, groups of Ming soldiers and auxiliaries got off the boat, boarded the shore, and the auxiliaries and Minzhuang unloaded all kinds of siege equipment from the boats.

The Ming army's twelve three-pounder guns, six four-pounder guns, and four six-pounder cannons were lined up, and the muzzles of the black hole were aimed at the head of the city.

The number of Ming troops who arrived one after another was as high as more than 10,000 people, and they had already set up a posture to attack the city. Rows of heavily armored soldiers lined up in a neat formation, and the white plate armor shimmered with a silver light in the sunlight, stinging the eyes of the county commander.

"This posture can't be held!" The county order is broken.

Just when Wang Xinyu was about to give the order to attack the city, the green flag of the Qing army on the city was lowered, and the city gate was wide open.

The magistrate took a cadre of government officials, catchers, white servants and people out of the city and surrendered to the Ming army.

Luo Xiang led the leading troops to the city gate, disarmed the villagers, and took over the city gate. Before the Qing court county order could open his mouth to invite merit, Luo Xiang suddenly shouted: "Take it!" ”

Several wolf-like soldiers immediately pounced on it, twisting the magistrate like an eagle catching a chicken.

The magistrate was suddenly tied up and fell to the ground. He didn't know why, so he asked puzzledly: "General, the villain has contributed to the city, why don't you reward it and take down the villain?" ”

Luo Xiang sneered: "Give you two hours to think about it, you don't open the city gate and surrender." Two hours have passed, and we are about to attack the city, and then you surrender the city? Sorry, it's late! Come on, pull it down, cut it! ”

"The general spares his life! The general spares his life! The magistrate begged bitterly, "The villain wants to see you handsome!" ”

Luo Xiang sneered: "It's useless for you to see our handsome!" It's our commander who gave you a two-hour limit! Time has passed, and you can only bring humiliation upon yourself when you see the handsome! ”

"The general spares his life! The general spares his life! As long as the general spares his life, the villain is willing to make cattle and horses for you, and repay the general for not killing! "Zhixian desperately begged for mercy.

"Push it out, cut it!" Luo Xiang did not hesitate at all, and asked the magistrate to be pushed out and beheaded.

"And you! I just asked you to surrender, why not open the city? Luo Xiang pointed to the masters, county officials, head catchers and officials who were kneeling on the ground and snorted coldly. (To be continued.) )