Chapter 690 687 [Everyone Is Hungry]
Anba finally understood why the Manchu Qing Dynasty always suffered defeats, but the Datong Army always won.
He was rushing with the army as a guide, and now he was so hungry that his heart was close to his back. Not to mention going into battle, I feel a little dizzy when I walk. I just gnawed some grass roots today.
"General," Anba suggested, "why don't we raid the outside of the city first and get some food to fill our stomachs. It is too difficult to attack the city directly. The soldiers are almost fainting from hunger. Once they fail to attack the city, they will probably be wiped out." .”
Yang Zhenqing is a lunatic and doesn't want to retreat at all: "Soldiers need to be quick. Since it is a surprise attack, let's hit its vital points directly. After getting food outside the city and making a big noise, how can we attack the city with the defense inside? And..." Yang Zhenqing suddenly laughed. Get up, "I trust the fine craftsmen in the city."
Anba's belly was empty, and her heart felt weak at this moment. He proposed a surprise attack. Wasn't it such a surprise attack that allowed a group of hungry soldiers to attack the city at night?
In the darkness, countless torches gradually lit up.
They would rather not bring so much dry food, but also bring enough weapons and kindling materials.
Hetuala was the early capital of Houjin, and its area was not as large as that of Sarhu City after its expansion.
The Aixinjueluo family lives in the inner city, which is also the so-called royal city and imperial city.
In the north of the outer city, all craftsmen live, mostly Han craftsmen. The remaining three sides of the outer city were occupied by Manchu nobles, merchants and Han officials.
Outside the city, ordinary soldiers and their families of the Eight Banners Army lived.
There used to be Han people outside the city, but they have fled one after another in the past two years, and not many Han people can be seen anymore.
Countless torches were lit, and the Tatar soldiers guarding the city soon discovered the troops and quickly blew their trumpets to give a warning.
The city was in chaos, and we had no idea what was going on, let alone where the enemy came from.
Yang Zhenqing led his soldiers and rushed to the residential area outside the city holding torches. The Eight Banners soldiers who live here are either defending in the city or following Suohun to the south to stop the attack. The rest of the people in the settlement are all Eight Banners family members.
In fact, there are not even many young and strong people, and those who can fight are all recruited. More than 90% of the people here are old, weak, women and children.
"Don't look for food, light a fire quickly!" Yang Zhenqing reiterated the military order while running.
The Datong army, all hungry, actually only set fire to the house instead of rushing into the house to look for food. In an instant, fire broke out outside the city, and countless Tatars, old and weak, ran away crying.
There were only a few hundred Tatar defenders left on the city wall, staring dumbly at the fire outside the city.
Their family members were all outside the city, and they didn't know whether they were burned to death. Anyway, their house was definitely gone.
The city guard general is called Solga, the younger brother of Erke Daiqing.
Solga yelled: "Close the city gate tightly and don't go out to put out the fire!"
This order made the Tatar soldiers stationed on the outer city wall extremely angry.
What is burning outside is their home and their family.
As for nobles like Solga, all their families are in the city. Even if the outside of the city is burned down, the nobles will not suffer any losses.
Even more disgusting is the royal family!
People with the surname Aixinjueluo all live in the inner city. After the warning horn sounded, the soldiers in the inner city did not come out at all, but devoted all their energy to defending the inner city wall.
It's so ridiculous that there are only a thousand defenders left in the entire Hetuala.
Half of them were Eight Banners troops who lived outside the city. They were not allowed to go out or rescue their families, so they could only stick to the outer city wall.
Half of them are Eight Banners soldiers who live in the outer city. They are not allowed to go out and can only protect the Aixinjueluo family in the inner city.
Fan Wencheng was awakened by the sound of the trumpet. He dressed under the service of his concubine, and called the housekeeper to ask: "But the Nanmanzi are coming to kill?"
The housekeeper replied: "I don't know, it's very chaotic outside, and many people are asking for news."
Suddenly, there was noise in the servants' courtyard.
Fan Wencheng felt something was wrong, so he went to check it out in person. He only heard a domestic slave shouting: "I am sent by Emperor Zhao of Nanjing. The heavenly troops of Datong have arrived. Han brothers and sisters, please do not want to be buried with the Tatars. Come with me and set fire to them." If you own a house, everyone can be rewarded for their meritorious service, and everyone can be divided into fields and become a landlord!”
Fan Wencheng was horrified and asked, "Who is this person?"
The steward said: "I bought it last year."
Fan Wencheng suddenly remembered the human trade at Guandi Temple. There have been too many escaped slaves in the past two years, so we can only buy back slaves to replenish them, fearing that countless craftsmen have sneaked in.
Maybe those merchants who buy and sell people have secretly defected to the Datong court!
"Get it quickly!" Fan Wencheng shouted.
Datong Xizuo was also shouting: "Burn down the house and make meritorious service, everyone will become a landlord!"
Just outside the city is the Datong Army. As long as they set fire to the house, they can make meritorious deeds and divide the land and become landlords. House slaves know very well how to choose.
Just as the house slaves were going to light the fire, the craftsman shouted again: "Capture Fan Wencheng alive and reward him with twenty taels of silver!"
"Run!"
Fan Wencheng was so frightened that he ran away without even caring about his wife and children. He wanted to flee to the inner city for refuge.
The same situation happened in many places in the city, even in the mansions of Manchu nobles, and people were working as slaves.
Mr. Huang Sanye from Nancheng is a personal trafficker, and his backer is the commander of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
At this moment, Huang Sanye didn't even put on his clothes, so he summoned his servants and subordinates. He said excitedly and inexplicably: "Don't panic, Datong heavenly soldiers are coming from outside the city. I have surrendered to Emperor Zhao a long time ago. If you follow me and set fire to any house that is not burning, you will all be able to make contributions to the new dynasty... Remember, you are not allowed to burn the Huang family's house or shop!"
Fan Wencheng ran with the housekeeper and saw several houses on fire along the way. No need to ask anymore, it must have been done by Xizuo. There are probably dozens of Xizao in this city!
It’s over, the Qing Dynasty is over!
Arriving outside the south gate of the inner city, Fan Wencheng shouted: "Open the door quickly, I am Fan Wencheng!"
The defenders remained unmoved, fearing that Fan Wencheng would also surrender to the enemy and become a spy.
But the morale of the defenders in the inner city was already at a loss. Most of their homes were in the outer city. Now not only was there a fire outside the city, but the outer city was also set on fire. Their family members were likely to be burned to death.
"Into your mother!"
When Fan Wencheng saw that the city gate would not open, he became angry and cursed.
As for Ning Wanwo, he is still in the casino and has almost lost all his money.
People in the casino fled in a panic, but Ning Wanwo was very calm and even laughed: "What are you running for? You are dead, how can you escape with a dog's life? In my life, a poor scholar can't It’s worth enjoying it for so many years.”
Inner city, royal palace.
Dayuer got up in panic, got dressed and went to look for his son. He also called Sailer, who was responsible for the security of the inner city: "But the Nanmanzi are calling?"
Sailer replied: "Queen Mother, there are fires everywhere outside and outside the city. I really don't know what is going on. It is estimated that the two generals Suohun and Erke Daiqing have been wiped out in the south. Otherwise, how could the enemy kill He Tuala?”
"Suohun's entire army was wiped out? This... what can we do?" Da Yu'er completely lost his sense of proportion.
Seiler advised: "Queen Mother, please Your Majesty to patrol eastward. There is still room for Manda...Prince Li's side. If you don't leave, the enemy will attack!"
"Okay, let's go, let's go!" Dayu'er said quickly.
Seiler immediately went to summon the guards of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. When they heard that the emperor and the queen mother were running away, they quickly opened the inner city gate and went to the outer city to look for their families. You can't just protect the Queen Mother and the Emperor and escape, leaving your family here. If it's too late, the whole house will be burned down!
Facing the scattered guards, Seiler couldn't hold himself back at all, so he simply went to find his family.
Dayu'er and her son waited in the palace for a long time, but no one came back.
In a panic, she simply walked away by herself, followed only by a group of sincere eunuchs and maids. Not long after leaving the palace, he met the Aixinjueluo tribe, and those guys were also fleeing with their families.
"Your Majesty and the Queen Mother are here, open the city gate quickly!"
The eunuch shouted at the north gate, causing the Tatar soldiers guarding the city to burst into an uproar.
Their home was burned outside the city, but they were ordered not to leave, and now the Queen Mother actually wanted to run away with the Emperor.
These low-level Eight Banners troops finally stopped obeying military orders and did not care about the emperor or queen. They scrambled to leave the city wall, opened the city gate and ran out, calling the names of their families all the way.
When Dayu'er saw this, he didn't care about punishing the soldiers, and quickly escaped from the north gate with his son.
"Captain, the north gate is open!"
"Capture the city quickly!"
Yang Zhenqing led his troops to kill Beimen. He didn't know that Dayu'er and Shunzhi had escaped. Even if he knew, he would not bother to chase after he had fled far away, because his soldiers were already exhausted and hungry to the limit. We must seize the city quickly and fill our stomachs first.
Not long after rushing into the north city gate, a craftsman came forward to greet him: "Liao Zi No. 147, welcome the general into the city!"
Yang Zhenqing cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, brothers!"
Sesaku said: "General, there is a lot of chaos in the city. Please suppress it quickly. If you have any orders, please tell me, General."
Yang Zhenqing said: "Get some food and water first. The more the better. We haven't eaten much in the past few days. When we set fire outside the city, several soldiers were already fainted from hunger."
"General, the Puppet Qing Internal Affairs Office must have food... By the way, there is a military camp in the city, and there must be a lot of food there!" said Hosaku.
Yang Zhenqing ordered: "You come and lead the way. I will send a few people to follow. First, go to the Tatar military camp to prepare meals."
The Datong army, all hungry, now only thinks about eating, not even maintaining public order, let alone whether the Tatar emperor has run away.
No one could have imagined such a crazy attack.
The Tatars could not imagine it, nor could the friendly forces of the Datong Army. On the other side of Sarhu, they were still besieging the city and facing off. Both sides were waiting for Mandahai to lead reinforcements before fighting a decisive battle. Who could have expected that the Tatar capital would disappear inexplicably?
The news first reached Suohun, who was still leading troops to garrison the castle and block Yang Zhenqing's main force.
"What? Hetuala is gone?" Suohun thought he heard wrongly.
Erke Daiqing asked: "Where did the enemy come from?"
The Tatar who reported the news had a sad face: "I don't know where they came from. They suddenly rushed outside the city and set fire to houses everywhere. The outer city also caught fire for no apparent reason and everything was in chaos. I heard that Your Majesty has escaped."
Suohun and Erkedaiqing looked at each other, thinking of running away. If they don't run, they will be attacked from both sides and completely blocked in the ravine.