When several Ming soldiers fled, the Hanyang general also woke up, and he hurriedly asked the officer guarding the south gate, "When did the thieves come in?" How many of them came in? ”

"As soon as the walls collapsed, they rushed in," the officer cried out miserably, with a mournful face, "and there are thousands of them, and they are all heading for the north." ”

When He Zhen and Liu Tichun led their troops into the city, this officer had a real look at the city tower, and when he saw so many Ming troops rushing in, his soldiers were frightened. Originally, there were a lot of auxiliaries and recruited Ding Zhuang in the city on the city tower, first of all, they didn't dare not come, and secondly, the prefect set a high reward according to Hu Quancai's instructions, and many Zhong Xiang Zhuang wanted to work hard to earn some silver for their families; Some daring scoundrels in the city also received the "Yong" brand from the prefect, and wanted to throw bricks and stones outside the city with the defenders, not only to earn more silver, but also to fantasize about being taken by the official, earning a personal soldier or even a petty officer.

After seeing the Ming army pouring into the city, those strong men who wanted to make money immediately dispersed, and even those scoundrels threw down the uniforms they had just received, ran home desperately, and went back to be good citizens again.

"How is that possible?" The chief soldier shook his head blankly, now he couldn't care about how the Ming army dug up the city wall. Obviously, some soldiers had been deployed in advance, and experienced officers and veterans were led to defend the city walls, but in the end, there was no resistance, and the Ming army was allowed to attack the city so quickly.

At this time, from the other side of the city came an earth-shattering killing shout, a herald ran to the side of the general soldier, he was sent by the angry Anlu prefect, after seeing the Hanyang general soldier, the herald hurriedly called a thousand, shouted: "Marshal, there are many thieves in the west of the city, the prefect asks you to send reinforcements quickly." ”

"Got it." The general soldier's heart was in a mess, the progress of the situation was completely beyond his expectations, and he was masking whether he should send a team of soldiers to the west of the city to support the Anlu prefect, when another untidy herald came running. The general soldier knew the second herald, who was the Wuchang soldier under his own command.

"Dashuai, the north of the city can't stand it, the thieves have already entered the city, there are too many people, the brothers really can't beat it, Dashuai has to quickly lead the troops to exterminate it." The second herald shouted incoherently.

The adjutant general who led the troops to the north of the city did not expect that the Ming army had already entered the city, and collided with Hao Shaoqi's forward. Before I could figure out how many Ming troops were behind me, after a while, thousands of Ming troops poured out of the streets and alleys, killing the five hundred Qing soldiers in a daze, and in the blink of an eye, half of them were swept away. The deputy general couldn't care about it at all, and he couldn't afford to relieve the siege of those trapped subordinates, and he was also desperately fighting his way out under the protection of his own guards, and took the remaining nearly 300 people to fight and retreat towards the prefect's yamen, and at the same time hurriedly asked people to come to Hanyang General Soldier to ask for help.

"Let's go reclaim the gap first!" After listening to the report, the chief soldier decided not to save anyone for the time being, and he had to climb the Nancheng Tower to see what was going on around him before he could make a decision. Whether it is trying to eliminate the Ming army in the city, or plugging the gap and continuing to hold on, it will not be wrong to plug the gap in the south of the city that was opened by the Ming army.

After a little thought, the Hanyang General Army did not use the pro-military battalion, but sent a green battalion to launch the first round of attacks on the gap. Now the situation is chaotic, the pro-barracks is the most powerful force in the hands of the general soldiers, and he does not dare to lightly put the pro-barracks somewhere.

……

"That's a lot of soldiers." Although the view on the city wall is not as wide as that on the city tower, Deng Ming can also see that there are at least a thousand Qing soldiers gathered under the tower of the southern city, and Liu Tichun's previous judgment that there are only more than a thousand armored soldiers in the city is obviously wrong.

"That flag looks like a two-zhang flag." Zhao Tianba looked stern, pointed to the banner of the Hanyang General Soldier and said, "There is a General Soldier in this city!" ”

Deng Ming looked around and said to Mu Tan: "Go find General Liu immediately and ask him to hurry back with his troops." ”

Mu Tan took the order and left. Deng Ming and the guards continued to look at the Nancheng Tower, and saw that the Qing army there had adjusted their formation, and soon a group of hundreds of men and horses moved in their direction.

"Are they trying to recapture the gap?"

Deng Ming remembered that the general Kuidong had said to himself in the previous battle of attack and defense of the city, this kind of gap was extremely important, if it was lost, not only would the previous achievements be lost, but the troops entering the city might also be cut off from retreat and be completely annihilated in the city. However, since this dispatch, the troops have never encountered strong resistance from the Qing army, and the garrison on the gap is very easy every time. The last time they were in Yicheng, Liu Tichun and Hao Shaoqi thought that there was no need to leave a heavy guard to deal with so few enemy troops in the city, so they did not send jīng soldiers to guard it. It turned out that their judgment was accurate, and there was really no need for that.

After learning from the captives that the city of Anlufu was empty a few days ago, the generals of the Ming army felt that the difficulty of attacking the city this time would even be below Yicheng, and when formulating an action plan in advance, no one thought that the Qing army had the strength to counterattack the gap.

"Sir, it's dangerous here." After seeing hundreds of Qing soldiers coming in the direction of the gap, there were immediately guards who left the city and joined Yuan Zongdi.

"If the Tartars recapture this gap, will our army in the city be in danger?" Deng Ming didn't know how many Qing troops there were in the city, and whether the strength was above the Ming army, but he must ensure the retreat of the two Ming armies of Liu Tichun and He Zhen.

"Isn't there a way out for General Hao?" Zhou Kaihuang, like the other guards, attached the most importance to Deng Ming's safety, and his benefactor Yuan Zongdi was also outside the safe city at this time, and immediately said when he heard this: "Sir is too dangerous here, we don't have enough troops." ”

At this time, the Ming soldiers who collided head-on with the Hanyang general army had already run back out of breath, Deng Ming's guards stopped them and asked, and soon Wu Baoping ran up to the city wall to report: "Sir, it is indeed a general soldier flag." ”

A general soldier probably has a few thousand men on hand, and there will be a pro-soldier battalion with considerable equipment, training, and morale, and the number of this pro-soldier battalion will generally be about 600, and individual generals can even have a pro-soldier battalion of 1,000 people.

In addition to Deng Ming's guards near the gap, there were only hundreds of Ming soldiers, plus more than 200 auxiliaries without armor.

"It seems that there is at least one general army in the city, and the total strength of the Tartars is not yet known, and we cannot give up the gap and lose the army in the city." When his subordinates persuaded Deng Ming to leave the city again, he still shook his head and refused: "Although there are many people in the Tartars, the gap is not big, we have hundreds of people, enough to hold out for a while." General Liu will soon get the jǐng report. We'd rather take that risk. ”

No longer listening to the persuasion of the guards, Deng Ming strode to the gap, stretched out his hand to take the red flag erected on the wall, carried it along the wall to the east for a while, and then plunged it down, held it hard with one hand, and said to the guards: "I will hold the big flag here until General Liu and them come back." ”

If there is really a large number of Qing troops in the city, if the gap in the north of the city is unfortunately not saved, if the situation is really reversed as Deng Ming fears, then this red flag can ensure that the Ming army in the city will not despair, and let them know that the retreat is still in the hands of their own people.

Seeing that Deng Ming was far away from the slope of the gap and expressed his determination not to go down the city, the guards stopped arguing, but immediately began to prepare for battle.

Deng Ming looked at Zhao Tianba, although the latter had changed into a pair of newly seized iron armor in Yicheng, but it was still not as good as the one on Deng Ming's body.

"Today, I will stay on the city wall and not come forward to fight," Deng Ming quickly took off the iron armor and helmet on his body and handed it to Zhao Tianba: "I'll see you here." ”

……

After the Hanyang general army ascended the castle tower, he immediately understood why the guards were so panicked, even to the point of hysteria.

Looking at the whole city from the tower of the south city, almost the entire Xicheng was fighting: the troops of the Anlu prefect were outflanked by Liu Tichun and cut into two sections, part of which was being pursued and beaten by Liu Tichun, and the Qing troops around the prefect could not resist and kept retreating to the center of the city; The other part of the Qing soldiers was caught between He Zhen and Liu Tichun, and although they had not yet been eliminated, they all retreated into the residential areas west of the city, and small groups were surrounded in the houses to fight the trapped beasts; It seems that the resistance of the west tower will not last long, there has been a fire on the city tower, it is estimated that the Ming army has climbed the tower and is besieging the Qing soldiers who are guarding the city tower; Look at Beicheng again, Hao Shaoqi's army is pressing over from there.

The speed at which the tide of the battle was so appalling that the commander-in-chief realized that the Qing troops in the north had suffered the same crushing defeat as in the south, and had not been able to organize effective resistance at the opening, and led the Ming army to advance unhindered. After entering the city, although the street fighting prevented the Ming army's superior forces from being fully utilized, it was still much stronger than the Qing army. The Qing army, which went to reinforce it, was obviously not mentally prepared, and they collided head-on with the superior enemy, and before they could find a defensive terrain to rely on, they suffered heavy losses.

There was also a battle near the bell tower in the southwest, and there seemed to be a lot of figures shaking at the foot of the drum tower in the northwest, whether it was the bell and drum tower or the west city tower that was about to be lost, as long as the Ming army obtained one of them, it could get a commanding height with a good view, and the generals of the Ming army could immediately see the full shape of the city.

The gates are blocked! The commander-in-chief realized that the priority was not to reinforce the other defenders to continue to defend the city, but to find a way to break through the siege. The progress of the Ming army was too fast to be stopped, and the fall of Zhong Xiang was a foregone conclusion. Under normal circumstances, the commander-in-chief can also choose a city gate to guard and allow the army to evacuate the city in an orderly manner as much as possible. As long as you control a castle tower, you can find out the enemy's attempts and forces to outflank them, and as long as the generals are calm enough, they can well grasp the opportunity to retreat and save as many troops as possible.

However, now the city gate has long been blocked by the Qing soldiers themselves, and the boulders used to block the city gate are all pulled by ox carts, and the city gate hole is tightly plugged. The Qing army did not want to enter the city even if the attackers destroyed the city gates, and did not want to remove these stones lightly. The rocks that had been stuffed into the gates with great effort were by no means emptied in a hurry. The general soldier knew that he didn't have this time, and it was impossible for the army in the city to throw away his armor and jump over the wall to escape, and he didn't have so many ropes to tie the city.

The desperate general turned to look out of the city, and outside the west of the city there were numerous Ming troops, looking in the tens of thousands. Although most of the Ming troops outside the city were auxiliaries without armor, once the Qing army lost control and was defeated, then the more than 2,000 armor soldiers under his command would have no advantage over the auxiliaries.

"The army must be taken out of the city in an orderly manner and military discipline must be maintained." The Hanyang army saw that there was a Ming army's surveillance force outside the city gate, and if the city gate was not blocked, maybe they could try it, and if they could suddenly rush out and kill these Ming troops, they could fight for a way out for the army.

The general soldier continued to look west, until he saw the gap near the corner of the city wall, and his heart jumped sharply, where the Ming army did not seem to have many numbers and banners, indicating that there were few Ming officers leading the armor soldiers; There are not many Ming troops behind the gap outside the city, so you can try to kill all the way out of the gap to the west, rush to the edge of the Han River, and escape along the south of the river, maybe you can find some boats; Take a look at the city again, the Ming army in the west of the city has been killed on the west avenue of the city, but there is no Ming army in the southwest of the city, and there is a big gap between the large army of the Ming army and the gap.

The general soldier immediately asked his subordinates to go to find the prefect of Anlu and the county order of Zhongxiang, and the two civil officials were responsible for guarding the territory, so let the prefect be responsible for holding the yamen to delay time, and let the prefect be responsible for breaking off; Zhixian definitely has no way to live, but once he dies, he can avoid the punishment of his relatives by the imperial court. The prefect is responsible for the death of the post, but if he can escape by chance, he will have the credit of covering the army to break through after the break, and he will probably be forgiven by the imperial court.

If the Ming army turned around, this battalion of Qing troops would need to block the Ming army there and prevent the Ming army from approaching the road in front of the southern city wall, which would be an escape route for the Qing army. The rest of the Qing army should immediately move to the south of the city. In the plan of the Hanyang General Army, the Qing army could use the time that the Zhixian held the yamen to shrink to the vicinity of the Nanchenglou, and then move outside the city through the gap. The Ming army outside the city in the south does not seem to have too many soldiers, and the city gates on the east and west sides are blocked, as long as the terrain of the city can be used to prevent the Ming army from breaking through, the enemy army wants to outflank the Qing army and then go out from the gap in the north, and then bypass Zhongxiang City to pursue.

The general soldier glanced at the gap in the city wall again, the battalion soldiers he sent to close the gap just now were already close to the target, although the terrain was narrow, but there were only a few flags there, and they were all some trumpet flags and not like command flags, they must be some stragglers with no combat effectiveness, and the battalion soldiers should be able to take it down as long as one charge.

"There's always a good thing to do to recapture the gap." The chief soldier muttered to himself. Whether it's defending, counter-attacking or breaking out, this action is always useful.

……

Seeing the Qing army walking here, the Ming army around the gap suddenly panicked. Most of the auxiliaries carried only ropes and sticks with them, which was no different from bare-handed in front of the armored soldiers of the Qing soldiers. These panicked soldiers looked up and saw the mysterious clan that had proclaimed themselves the governor of Jiangnan standing firmly on the city wall with a red flag firmly in his hand. He had already changed into Zhao Tianba's armor.

When he saw a soldier looking at him, Deng Ming smiled at the man.

Just now, when Deng Ming decided to hold on, the guards discussed to block the gap to the death, and dared to storm the defense line to kill the survivors outside the city. But Deng Ming did not agree to this order, he asked the guards to explain clearly to the surrounding Ming army, hoping that they would stay, but if they insisted on going out of the city, they would not be stopped; Auxiliaries are also counted, and if the soldiers with armor want to leave the city, they need to take off their armor so that those who are willing to stay and fight have equipment to use.

"After you leave the city, hurry up and report to General Yuan," the guards shouted Deng Ming's order to the Ming soldiers next to the gap: "Tell General Yuan that you have withdrawn from the city, and when you leave, you see that the Admiral Jiangnan is still holding on to the wall, so let General Yuan quickly send troops to support." ”

After hearing this order, the soldiers looked at each other, and finally decided to stay. Of course, Deng Ming did not embarrass them, but if Deng Ming was willing to withdraw from the city with them, it would be fine, but now Deng Ming is not leaving, if he leaves, in case Deng Ming falls into the city in the future, no matter whose subordinates these soldiers are, whether it is Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi or He Zhen, it is impossible to let them go.

There were no less than a few dozen people standing at the opening, and most of them were standing on the city wall. There are also some defensive equipment left by the Qing soldiers that can be used, such as hanging baskets for carrying earth and stones. The Ming army moved these hanging baskets to the outside of the city wall, and a large number of auxiliaries went out of the city, they dug stones under the base of the city wall, put them into hanging baskets, and then carried them up by the auxiliaries on the city wall.

The Ming army made arrangements, and the people's hearts were a little calmer, and at the same time, the Qing army was already running and approaching.

Zhao Tianba, who was standing east of Deng Ming, lifted an iron bow and aimed at the Qing soldiers on the road under the city wall. In addition to Zhao Tianba, there are two shè arrow masters in the guard, and Wu Yuewang is one of them.

"Don't shè face." While explaining to his companions, Zhao Tianba pulled the bow full open, aimed carefully, and let go of the first arrow.

The arrow went like a meteor, and shè hit the leg of a Qing soldier who ran in front of him, who screamed and fell to the ground. Then he used to reach out and hold the rapier and pull it out hard.

"Ahh

The Qing officer was not only unable to pull out the arrow, but let out a terrible scream.

When it was Wu Yue's turn, he squinted and took aim, and shè took out a second arrow, which also hit the leg of a Qing soldier.

The three shè hands took turns shè arrows unhurriedly, and the target was either the officer of the Qing army or the enemy soldier who rushed to the front.

"What a good arrow." Zhao Tianba took out an iron-boned wolf tooth arrow from the quiver again, and secretly praised in his heart.

In the past, when shè arrows were to hit the vital point, because the damage caused by ordinary bows and arrows was limited, if they did not hit the vital point, they could not make people lose their combat effectiveness, but this kind of wolf tooth arrow was completely different.

Other bows and arrows can sometimes be pulled out by brave people with a moment of pain, but there are several rows of barbs on the arrows of this iron arrow, and after shè enters the human body, these iron thorns bite the muscles tightly like wolf teeth, and become entangled with the blood vessels and tissues around the wound, and cannot be pulled out at all.

Several Qing soldiers who fell from the arrows screamed in pain, and some people pulled out knives to cut off the shafts of the arrows. In the past, if the arrow could not be pulled out, cutting the shaft of the arrow could greatly reduce the pain. However, the shaft of the wolf's tooth arrow needs to be filed with a steel file to be filed, and these Qing soldiers only add to their own pain by cutting the shaft with a knife.

Soon the soldiers halted this futile attempt, and the long shafts of the arrows remained outside the body, and the slightest movement would make them shake, and any slight shaking would stir the wound and make the wounded let out unbearable screams.

After discovering the three Ming soldiers, the Qing army also sent archers to fight back, but they did not have the cover of the battlements, and soon several people were hit by the condescending Zhao Tianba and others. The Ming army did not attack any enemy in the face, so no Qing troops were killed until now. However, the people who were hit by the iron arrows of the Ming army were completely incapacitated, and their continuous painful voices were also tormenting their companions around them.

Just now, an arrow from the Qing army hit Wu Yuewang's upper arm, but it failed to penetrate the iron armor on his body, and Wu Yuewang, who was unscathed, immediately returned fire, and an arrow pierced the opponent's shoulder armor. The heavy body of the iron arrow and the rigid shaft of the arrow make it much more armor-piercing than ordinary feather arrows, closer to crossbow arrows, and the light armor on the archer's body is not very effective against it, especially at this distance.

The Qing soldier archer, who had been hit, dropped his weapon and sat on the ground against the wall behind him, gasping for air, holding the still trembling shaft of the arrow on his shoulders with both hands, trying to stop its shaking, but in the blink of an eye he was dizzy with pain, but there was nothing he could do to alleviate the pain.

Although there were not many archers in the Ming army, the arrows they came over greatly slowed down the advance of the Qing army. Now these Qing soldiers no longer dare to rush on the open road by the city wall, but hide behind the houses on the side of the road, bending down and touching forward. Even the guerrillas leading this battalion hid behind the wall of a private house in the distance, carefully exposing half of their bodies to observe the movement on the wall.

This guerrilla had already recognized the iron arrows used by the other side, and as far as he knew, this weapon was mostly a show-off equipment, because it was too expensive, more expensive than crossbow arrows. Originally, feather arrows were not cheap, and using this kind of jīng weapon, which is many times more expensive than feather arrows, to attack small soldiers, that is, one arrow can kill ten people and lose money. Therefore, the guards, who are generally prince-level figures, will carry such a pot of wolf's tooth arrows to show off their status as the monarch, and no one will really use it as a standard weapon.

But now the other side is attacking the soldiers with this kind of weapon, and seeing the pain of those soldiers, the guerrillas themselves are also terrified. The Ming army never hit the fatal part, if it was an arrow, it was really impossible to survive and die.

The guerrillas saw that their archers did not achieve any results, and most of the arrows were blocked by the wall buttresses and city walls, but even if there were no wall buttresses, most of them could not help the dazzling iron armor on the archers of the Ming army.

Guerrilla glanced at the red flag standing on the wall, and said secretly: "Who is the flag then?" ”