The Ming army marched in the direction of the capital city of Qiongzhou, with three infantry battalions of the Nanyang Army, one mercenary battalion and one artillery battalion, one town of the Nanyang Army auxiliary, one battalion of the Nanyang Marine Corps, the second town of the Zhengjia Army Marine Division, 1,000 people from the Zhengjia Army Naval Division, and two hundred teams of the Zhengjia Army's right tiger guard ironclad soldiers, totaling 11,000 people.

One of the biggest advantages of fighting by sea is that the logistical burden is less stressful, and there is no need to worry about being attacked by the Qing army on the granary. All grain and grass are transported by water.

When the army passed by Wenchang County, Wang Xinyu found that Wenchang County was empty, not only did he not find that there was a Qing army stationed, but he didn't even see any local soldiers and people.

At first, Wang Xinyu was worried that it was an empty city plan, and the Qing army deliberately opened the city gate and ambushed in the city.

A small group of auxiliaries and native soldiers were sent to attack tentatively, and it was found that it was indeed an empty city, and there was no ambush in the city.

The Ming army entered the city without much effort, and saw that only a few local people were left in the city, and the warehouses in the city were emptied, and not even a grain of grain or copper plate could be found, only hungry rats remained. The gate of the county government was closed, and the Ming army crashed open the gate and found that the county government was also empty, and the county magistrate and the official had long since disappeared.

"It seems that the forces of the Tartars have shrunk, and they should all be concentrated in the capital city of Qiongzhou." Wang Xinyu made a judgment.

Soon after, the scouts who went to Danzhou and Lingao to spy on intelligence returned, and also said that the two cities were already two empty cities, the Qing army had long run out, most of the people were also transferred, the yamen and warehouses in the city were all empty, and several Qing army barracks inside and outside the city were also empty.

After receiving the news of the spies' report, Wang Xinyu immediately sent someone to inform the training camp of Feihu Town, which was being trained in Wanzhou, and ordered Wang Jinzhong to immediately dispatch the mountain soldiers of Feihu Town, and rushed to Danzhou and Lingao, and easily occupied the two cities.

Wang Xinyu did not feel too happy to win three cities in two days, because this showed that the Qing army had abandoned the three small cities and concentrated all its forces in the capital city of Qiongzhou, preparing to fight to the death with himself in the capital city. It seems that the siege battle of Qiongzhou Mansion will definitely not be so easy to fight.

The capital city of Qiongzhou is much stronger than Yazhou, Wanzhou and other cities, and it cannot be compared with the county towns such as Huitong and Lehui. Since Zhu Zhiguang has shrunk his troops and moved all the food from the surrounding three cities into the capital, there is enough food in the capital city of Qiongzhou at this time, and he is not afraid of the siege of the Ming army.

The capital city of Qiongzhou is already a completely isolated city, isolated and helpless. The sea communication was completely cut off, the Qing army in Qiongzhou could not escape, and the Qing army on the Leizhou Peninsula and Guangdong on the opposite side could not come to reinforce it. Originally, Wang Xinyu's fleet was enough to seal Hainan Island, and with the arrival of twenty-six British ** ships that had just been purchased, the Qing army's sailors were more or less sent to death.

If you besiege Qiongzhou, a large number of your troops will be forced to be trapped under the capital of Qiongzhou, and you will not be able to control the entire territory of Hainan Island in time, nor will you be able to guarantee that you will be able to suppress Yanping Port and Pontianak, and you will have to transport a large amount of grain from these two places to Qiongzhou, which is a very unfavorable thing. More importantly, the Chinese New Year is approaching, and the soldiers all hope to end the battle of Qiongzhou as soon as possible, so that they can have a good year with peace of mind.

Wang Xinyu himself also wanted to end the siege of Qiongzhou as soon as possible, so that he would have time to go to Yanping Port before the New Year, and then go back to Xiamen for the New Year and marry Miss Zheng.

The vanguard of the Ming army arrived at the city of Qiongzhou and built a simple line of defense to prevent the Qing army from attacking out of the city. Then the Ming army began to set up camp. The Ming army in the back came one after another, sending auxiliaries to cut wood in the mountains and forests behind to build siege equipment. The siege artillery was also clouded one after another, and cannons were erected outside the city.

Before dark, all the Ming troops besieging the city gathered under the city of Qiongzhou, set up a large camp that stretched for several miles, set up dozens of large and small artillery, and set up a watchtower for watching the movement in the city.

Zhu Zhiguang, the prefect of Qiongzhou, stood at the head of the city, looking at the Ming army camp under the city, with a grim look on his face. He knew that the Ming army was menacing this time, and he would definitely not leave if he didn't capture Qiongzhou.

"My lord! The people have already been organized! An officer who looked like a thousand commanders of the Qing army stepped forward and saluted Zhu Zhiguang.

Zhu Zhiguang nodded: "Bring up all the weapons to defend the city!" The trebuchet is placed in the city, and the stone projectile can be fired by the banner at the head of the city. If it is moved to the top of the city, it will be destroyed by the cannons of the thieves. ”

In the city of Qiongzhou, the circumference is more than 1,200 zhang, three zhang high, the city wall is two zhang and seven feet thick, there are three city gates in the east, west and south, there are corner towers in the four city corners, there is a sub-city behind the city wall, there is an urn city behind the city gate. The defenders in the city included more than 2,000 Green Battalion Qing soldiers who had been collected from the surrounding counties, more than 3,000 local Tusi soldiers were recruited, and Zhu Zhiguang also recruited more than 10,000 people from the surrounding three cities to cooperate with the defense of the city.

Between the outer city and the sub-city, more than a dozen trebuchets were erected, and a large number of stones were placed on the ground. At the head of the city, the people nervously prepared stone plates tied to ropes, and the wolf's teeth were beaten. There was also a cauldron burning at the head of the city, in which the golden juice was boiled; On the ground were 10,000 enemies, lime bottles, fire oil cans and other weapons to defend the city.

In order to prevent the Ming army from attacking, Zhu Zhiguang also dug a trench between the outer city and the sub-city, dug out a few ponds, and filled them with water. Once the Ming army is found to be attacking, the defenders in the city can immediately cut off the tunnel and divert water to pour it in.

Within an arrow distance at the foot of the city wall, there are countless obstacles such as plum blossom piles and deer barricades, which can be used to block the siege weapons of the Ming army from approaching the city wall.

"My lord, there are Haikou people in the city! As if to shout! A Qing soldier reported to Zhu Zhiguang.

Zhu Zhiguang walked to the tower of the south gate, only to see a person walking out of the Ming army's formation, walking to a place a stone's throw away and stopping.

"Lord Zhu!" The man who came raised his voice and shouted, "I, the king of the Ming Dynasty, came here with the intention of recovering Qiongzhou!" After our Wang Shi conquers Qiongzhou, he will promote Qiongzhou Mansion to Qiongzhou Political Division! You and I are both Han Chinese, but why did Lord Zhu serve the Tartar court that brutally slaughtered my Han people? If Lord Zhu is willing to open the city and serve my Ming Dynasty, we can report to the imperial court, and Lord Zhu will be the first governor of the Qiongzhou Division! ”

"Shut up!" Zhu Zhiguang shouted, "You wait for the Haikou, who claims to be a pseudo-Ming, and dares to speak wildly!" I got the inheritance of the Ming Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty, which is orthodox, and I, Zhu, am an official of the imperial court, how can I surrender to the thieves! When my king master comes here, you will all be in a different place! It's better to surrender to my royal division as soon as possible! ”

"Master Wang!" The people under the city who persuaded him to surrender sneered, "They are the Tartars who slaughtered my Han people!" How can it be accompanied by the word Wang Shi? ”

Zhu Zhiguang retorted: "Back then, the Ming Dynasty was unpopular, and thieves were everywhere. Although the Qing Dynasty is a foreign race, after the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it pacified the thieves who plagued the Ming Dynasty and avenged the first emperor! The Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming inheritance, which is orthodox! But the puppet Ming dynasty did not accept the king, and actually colluded with thieves! If it is decided today, the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and live a peaceful life, but the thieves and thieves will raise the beacon fire again under the banner of pseudo-Ming and prevent the people from living a peaceful life! It's so hateful! ”

"Don't let the people live a good life? It is the Tartars who do not let the people live a good life! Under a shaving order, how many lives are ruined! The Tartars entered the customs and slaughtered countless people of my Ming Dynasty! The so-called revenge for the first emperor is a lie of the Tartars! Now my Wang Shi is going to overthrow the Tartar court and restore my Ming dynasty! The man who persuaded him to surrender shouted.

Zhu Zhiguang said angrily: "My Wang Shi has millions of people! Whip reclamation! If the king is here, you will die without a place to be buried! ”

The man under the city sneered: "Whip reclamation? My Ming fleet is cruising on the sea, don't talk about a million army of Tartars, even if it is tens of millions of troops, you have to send them to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish! ”

The persuasion failed, and the two sides dispersed.

Wang Xinyu sighed: "This Zhu Zhiguang, although he is a Qing official, is stubborn and loyal to the Tartar court, since this is the case, this person can't stay!" So he ordered to step up the construction of siege weapons, and prepare to start a siege battle early the next morning.

The walls of this Qiongzhou Mansion are extremely thick, two feet and seven feet thick. With such a thick wall, even if the red-coated cannon was removed from the ship and aimed at the city wall, I don't know how long it would take to blast through. If you bombard the city gate, there will be an urn city inside, and it will be useless to break through the city gate and enter it.

Therefore, Wang Xinyu decided to fill the moat and blow up the city wall to break the city.

On the third watch of the next day, the Ming army buried the stove and made a fire to cook. On the fifth watch, the Ming army finished breakfast and began to march to attack the city.

The various units of the army lined up, and the ironclad soldiers held iron shields and slowly advanced in the front, followed by archers, flintlock musketeers, bird gunners and other long-range fire suppression troops. A large group of auxiliaries pushed the four-zhang high nest cart and slowly advanced towards the city wall. On top of the nest car stood the archers, who could suppress the Qing army at the head of the city with a strong bow.

The sky had just dawned, the Ming army was in formation, the Chinese army beat the drums of war, and the auxiliary soldiers who were responsible for the task of filling the river pushed dozens of shield carts and sacks filled with sand and soil to advance in the direction of the moat. Ten nest carts with archers standing were also pushed out and approached the walls.

"Trebuchet!" Suddenly, the archer on the nest car shouted.

I saw a stone bullet bounce out of the city, crossed arcs in the air, and smashed around the Ming army auxiliaries.

The falling stones smashed out of the ground, and the sound of the stones falling shocked the auxiliary soldiers pushing the shield cart. Every stone fell to the ground, and the earth shook, and all the auxiliaries felt as if the stone was about to hit themselves.

Some of the auxiliaries turned their heads to look and saw soldiers with sharp blades standing behind them, and these auxiliaries converted from captives had to cut off the idea of escaping. As long as they dare to run, the Ming soldiers will not hesitate to cut off their heads.

The range of the trebuchet is only one hundred and fifty paces, and the trebuchet placed in the city cannot attack the nest car, and the archer standing on the nest car is still very safe. But the auxiliaries pushing the shield cart were in trouble, and after entering the range of the trebuchet, the stones in the city kept falling, and although the hit rate was low, the position was very terrifying.

"Snap" a stone hit a shield cart, the sturdy shield cart was torn apart like an eggshell, and the auxiliary soldiers pushing the cart behind were also smashed over by five people. Huge rocks smashed people to the point that their bones were shattered and their brains were splattered.

Two auxiliaries were stoned to death on the spot, and three fell wounded and collapsed on the side of the shield cart, wailing in pain.

"Up!" The light-armored soldiers of the Ming army, adapted from the captured Tusi soldiers, brandished Pu swords, urged the auxiliaries behind to fill the vacant positions, and continued to push the shield cart forward.

Another stone bullet hit a shield cart, this stone bullet fell from the top, smashed into the middle of the shield cart, smashed on the sandbags carried on the shield cart, jumped a little, rolled over the heads of the four auxiliaries on the right cart, and smashed hard. There was only a heart-rending scream, and the four auxiliaries who were hit fell, two of them had their brains bursting, one of them had his shoulder softened, and the other had his leg broken. The sandbags on the shield cart all flew up, knocking the auxiliaries on the left to the ground.

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