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The battle of Jiangyin had lasted for more than fifty days, and the casualties of the rebels inside and outside the city had exceeded 80,000. However, in order to preserve the Han people's clothing, the people of Jiangyin continued to fight and refused to surrender.
In addition to the people in the city, there were tens of thousands of residents in the surrounding countryside, even three-foot-tall children, who all stepped on the swords without regrets.
In mid-July, Qing general Wang Liang led 500 naval soldiers to reinforce Liu Liangzuo. Wang Liang was a local thief who surrendered to the Qing and had long been hated by the people. When they reached Shuangqiao, a farmer in the field cursed Wang Liang.
The Qing soldiers were furious and wanted to capture and kill the farmer, but the farmer fled. The Qing soldiers on the boat could not catch him, so they took out their anger on the young crops in the field. They went down to the field and pulled up the young crops and threw them onto the boat. As a result, the mud was slippery and they could not stand. Many Qing soldiers fell into the water and died. Those who were lucky enough to reach the shore were surrounded by the villagers, and they knelt and said: "Have a knife."
Just offer a knife? How could it be so easy? In a short time, people from all over the country handed over their hoes and hoes. The floating corpses covered the river and piled up like rafts, until the rocks hit them and the water stopped flowing.
But this small victory was ultimately a fluke. Jiangyin City was already in danger under the fierce attack of Liu Liangzuo's army of nearly 100,000.
Since Yan Yingyuan entered the city, he ordered every household to send out one man to defend the city. There were a total of 100,000 soldiers in the village, but 40,000 to 50,000 of them have been killed in the battle. Almost every family has someone killed in the battle. Even Yan Yingyuan himself was shot in the right arm by a marble and can only fight with his left hand now.
Prince Lu refused to reinforce Jiangyin early on, so he cannot be relied upon.
During this time, a pirate named Gu Sanma came with a fleet of hundreds of ships of various sizes to support the Japanese. After staying for three days, the battle went badly, so they set sail. (Gu Sanma's name was Gu Rong, and he called himself the King of Loyalty and Righteousness.)
There was also a Prince of Yiyang, a vassal of the Ming dynasty, who was supported by the eunuch Ji Taichuan and the general Hu Laigong, who raised the banner of rebellion in Chongming and claimed to have 100,000 soldiers on the sea. The rebels from Taicang, Kunshan, and Jiading went there to beg for help.
Prince Yiyang and the eunuchs used empty words to comfort and prevaricate. Later, they sent a general to station at the mouth of the river. The Qing army sent troops to attack, and after a few rounds of fighting, they all fled.
Later, they heard that there was a man named Zhang Shi (Zi Zhang) in the Ministry of War who was guarding Changshu with others, so Jiangyin also sent people to ask for troops. At first, Zhang Shi refused, so the envoy from Jiangyin persuaded him with the saying that the lips and teeth are cold.
During this period, there was a scholar named Jin Lei, with the courtesy name Gongnan. He gathered more than 400 elite warriors and arrived at Shashan first to wait, ready to support Jiangyin together with Zi Zhangshi's army when it arrived.
But eight or nine days passed, and there was no news from Zhang Shi, so Jin Xiucai set out for Jiangyin.
Liu Liangzuo sent 3,000 cavalrymen to intercept Jin Xiucai's troops near Zhouzhuang. Jin Xiucai's entire army was wiped out, and he himself only managed to save his life.
At this point, all possibilities of external aid to Jiangyin were almost cut off, and they could only hold on and wait for the Qin army to come to their aid.
After Hong Chengchou's order came, the Qing army continued to dispatch troops from all over the place to support. Thousands of Qing troops arrived in Jiangyin every day. They set up camps for ten miles under the city and the offensive became more and more fierce.
Under the fierce bombardment of Qing army artillery, a large crack appeared in the wall of the northern corner of the city. Yan Yingyuan had no choice but to order the volunteers to repair it under the enemy's artillery fire and arrows, and to build another wall on the inside. After one day and one night, the crack was repaired. But more than a thousand people died in the process.
When all the arrows in the city were used up, Yan Yingyuan ordered the demolition of houses to take bricks and stones. When the enemy attacked the city, bricks and stones fell down from the city walls, causing heavy casualties to the Qing army.
The commander-in-chief of the Qing army who had just arrived to help was furious and said, "It was not so difficult for me to conquer Beijing and Nanjing. How come it was so difficult to conquer a place as small as Jiangyin?"
Then they used Songjiang to obtain dozens of large and small artillery pieces. Together with the existing artillery pieces, there were hundreds of them in total. They used the pots collected from the people's homes to cast iron bullets, some of which weighed more than 20 kilograms, and fiercely bombarded the South City. In one day, they used more than 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder, and the shells rained down. The four cities were all shaken, and the city walls were in danger.
The soldiers on the city walls saw the fierce artillery fire outside and hid behind the walls when they saw the fire. After the sound of the artillery fire, they climbed up the city walls again. When the Qing soldiers saw this, they deliberately fired blanks and had people light a large number of signal smoke, making the sky below the city filled with smoke and difficult to see even at a distance.
The defenders only heard the thunder of cannons and thought that the Qing troops could not enter the city quickly. However, they did not know that the Qing troops had sneaked through the moat and swarmed in from the smoke. The defenders hurriedly went up to the city to fight back, but were killed and retreated step by step.
In the end, it was Yan Yingyuan who charged forward with a knife in his left hand, shouting "kill the enemy!" and after suffering more than 2,000 casualties, he barely drove the Qing army out of the city.
At night, the Qing army retreated, and the people took their cups and cups to the city walls, and divided into groups to drink. The student Xu Yong imitated the Chu song and composed a five-o'clock song, which was sung by people on the mountain tops, accompanied by sheng, flute, xiao and drum. The sky was clear, the moon was bright, the dew was thin on the fields, and the swords and halberds were silent.
Huang Nushi played the qin in the enemy tower, and his singing was tragic and majestic, resounding through the sky. The Qing soldiers outside the city rushed forward to eavesdrop, some cursed, some lamented, and some even cried.
At this time, Yan Yingyuan selected a thousand brave men, quietly left the city from the south gate, and rushed to the camp of Liu Liangzuo in Shifangyan. They took axes, short knives, or shoulder poles, rushed into the enemy camp and killed hundreds of enemies. When other camps came to rescue, Yan Yingyuan had already led his troops into the city.
Liu Liangzuo was furious when his camp was attacked. The next day, he bombarded the city more fiercely. Jiangyin was in a precarious situation. Everyone found Li Chongyang and asked him when the Qin army would arrive.
Jiangyin was under siege at the time, and the carrier pigeons that were released might have been shot dead. There was no response for many days, and Li Chongyang also lost contact with the outside world.
He answered firmly: "Everyone must hold on. The King of Qin will definitely send troops to rescue Jiangyin. If we cannot wait for the reinforcements, I will be the first to die for the city and will never live."
Most of the twenty Yebushou members who followed him had died in the battle, and the remaining few resolutely said, "We swear to live and die with Jiangyin."
Right now, the only hope for Jiangyin City is the Qin Army. Everyone has witnessed the contributions of Li Chongyang and others to Jiangyin City. Although they are a little disappointed with his answer, they did not make things difficult for them.
At this time, an old scholar named Fan came out and said to Yan Yingyuan: "I am old and weak. I am unable to help defend the city, and I will also waste the food and grass in the city. Yan Dianshi, please give me half a barrel of gunpowder. I will go out of the city to pretend to surrender and wait for an opportunity to die with the enemy. This will also be considered as doing my part for Jiangyin."
Upon hearing what Mr. Fan said, several elders present echoed and asked Yan Yingyuan to agree.
Yan Yingyuan resolutely refused to agree, and Mr. Fan took out a dagger and said, "If Yan Dianshi doesn't agree, I will kill myself in front of Yan Dianshi, so as not to be a burden to everyone."
Everyone present had red eyes and tears in their eyes. Yan Yingyuan led everyone to kowtow three times to the old men. When the people in the city heard about it, they burst into tears.
Amid the fierce artillery fire, the flag of surrender was raised in Jiangyin City. The defenders on the city shouted to the Qing army, asking them to send someone out of the city to discuss the details of surrender. The Qing army believed it. They had been attacking fiercely for almost two months, and suffered extremely heavy casualties. Naturally, they hoped to surrender first.
Mr. Fan then led a group of white-haired old men, holding flags and burning incense, and using ropes to lead the way out of the city.
Behind them were a hundred death-defying warriors carrying wooden barrels filled with gunpowder and covered with silver as a token of surrender.
The defenders on the city watched as Mr. Fan and his men, leaning on their sticks, walked step by step toward the enemy camp and towards their death. Looking at their gray hair and their backs that were trying hard to stand straight, they all burst into tears. Some women could not help but burst into tears.
When the Qing army general went up to the tent to surrender, the man carrying the wooden barrel ignited the explosives. Suddenly, a shocking explosion was heard in the enemy camp, and fireworks filled the entire sky. More than 2,000 Qing soldiers in the camp were killed on the spot.
Sad cannon fire was heard from the top of Jiangyin City, mourning for the fathers and villagers who died bravely...
This move further angered the Qing army. The next day, they dispatched more artillery to bombard the city fiercely. The rebels in the city were extremely tired and had no idea what to do.
Hua Ma Liu finally sent someone to persuade him to surrender, but Yan Yingyuan replied generously: "There are only generals who surrender, but no governors who surrender!"
Liu Liangzuo retreated in shame and anger, and attacked the city more urgently. The top of Jiangyin City was stained red with blood, and corpses covered the city walls. At this time of wind and rain, bursts of thunder suddenly came from the north of the river. From the top of the city, you can see billowing smoke and dust rising into the sky.
Li Chongyang took out a telescope and saw countless black flags covering the sky. He was so excited that he danced and shouted on the top of the city wall: "Our army is coming, our army is coming, to rescue Jiangyin! Folks, I didn't lie to you, the King of Qin really sent a large army!"
The struggling Jiangyin City was suddenly filled with jubilation upon seeing this. The cheers of escaping death reached the sky. The Qing troops under the city shrank back in fear, hesitating.
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ps: Today is the second update, I continue to beg for monthly votes.
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.(To be continued..)
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