At the end of December, Xinzhou City.
At this time, the Xinzhou city defense was in dilapidated condition, with dark marks everywhere on the four walls, which were the scars caused by the artillery of the bandit army. Countless arrows, turrets, and parapets on the top of the city were destroyed, and almost all the facilities such as the horse traps and traps outside the city were destroyed.
The Ming army in the city suffered heavy casualties. Before the expedition, Hong Chengchou led 30,000 soldiers and horses in Miyun Town, 12,000 soldiers and horses in Qiantun Guards, and 36,000 soldiers and horses in Ningyuan Town. There are 13,000 people in the front line and 20,000 troops in Liaodong Town. A total of more than 110,000 troops were mobilized. "
But now, there are only more than 70,000 of the more than 110,000 nine-sided elites left. Moreover, the morale of the army has been weakened and food and grass have been cut off for a long time. The soldiers in the city have almost relied on eating rats, killing war horses, and chewing tree bark to survive until now.
Hong Chengchou was worried that the commander-in-chief of each town would secretly surrender the enemy, so he had to keep one eye open almost every day when sleeping. Over time, Hong Chengchou was exhausted. Two people.
"Master Governor, the traitors have sent me another letter to persuade you to surrender."
Wu Sangui came to the magistrate's office with a letter. At this time, Wu Sangui was no longer as heroic as before. His face was covered with beard stubble. He had not been able to take a good rest for a long time, and his whole person became very decadent.
"well!"
Hong Chengchou sighed and said, "Why haven't Liu Yan's new troops come to help yet?"
Wu Sangui was silent.
It has been more than a month. If the original letter asking for help had been delivered, Liu Yan would definitely take action. Now it seems that the letter for help could not be sent, and everything is over.
"Supervisor, we
Do we also need to think about a way out? "
Hong Chengchou immediately glared at Wu Sanguo and said sternly: "How can you and I do those things without a king and a father without a king and a father!"
Wu Sangui Nuonuo stepped aside, but there was still a strange light in his eyes.
Hong Chengchou immediately opened the letter to persuade him to surrender. After reading it for a while, he stood up in surprise, and his right hand holding the letter trembled involuntarily.
"Supervisor?"
Wu Sangui said differently: "What happened to the Governor? What did Li Zicheng say in the letter?"
Hong Chengchou's face turned pale, and his eyes seemed to be a little distracted, and he said: "Li Zicheng said in the letter that Huang Taiji had led hundreds of thousands of troops to capture Jinzhou, Zu Dashou surrendered to the Qing army, and now hundreds of thousands of Qing troops have broken through and moved south. We are fighting fiercely with Liu Yan in the capital, Liu Yan is about to be defeated, the Ming Dynasty is over!"
"What!"
Wu Sangui was also shocked. Both Wu Sangui and Hong Chengchou knew how powerful Liu Yan's troops were, but they also knew how powerful the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops were. After all, Liu Yan's new army was small in strength. Is it really impossible to withstand the Qing army's attack?
"Li Zicheng asked us to surrender, and then march to Beizhili together to compete with the Qing army and Liu Yan under the walls of Beijing!"
Wu Sangui struggled for a moment and then said loudly: "The governor must not hesitate. The traitors are not Manchus, so there is no harm in surrendering them!"
Hong Chengchou glared at Wu Sangui suddenly, but met Wu Sangui's firm and ambitious eyes.
After a while, Hong Chengchou sat slumped on the chair and said painfully: "I never imagined that today would happen!"
Wu Sangui looked at the painful Hong Chengchou and thought
I wanted to say a few words of relief, but I couldn't say anything. Wu Sangui himself was more worried about his uncle Zu Dashou and wondered what would happen to his family after surrendering to the Qing army.
Suddenly, a guerrilla general who was supervising Biao Camp rushed in in panic and said loudly: "This is to inform the governor that the bandit army is attacking the city. Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town in the north of the city, sent someone to ask for help and asked the governor to supervise Biao Camp. Send it up!"
Hong Chengchou looked at Wu Sangui and saw Wu Sangui gritting his teeth and saying: "Withdraw all the governor's camp here to protect the governor!"
"What?"
Looking at the surprised guerrilla general, Wu Sangui said coldly: "Didn't you hear clearly?"
"Yes, I obey!"
Wu Sangui then also sent people outside, withdrew the 20,000 troops from Ningyuan Town under his command, and deployed them all around the prefect's Yamen, leaving the city defense forces in the east and south of Xinzhou empty.
After hearing the news, Wang Tingchen, the former commander-in-chief of the garrison, cursed and wanted to send someone to question Wu Sangui about what he was doing. However, when he received the news that the Supervisory Biao Battalion had also withdrawn into the city, he suddenly laughed miserably: "Haha! Unexpectedly, Tangtang Hong Mr. Ge also wants to do these shameful things!"
Immediately, countless thieves rushed to the top of the city. Wang Tingchen and the remaining thousands of soldiers from the former garrison were divided and surrounded in the east city wall and the streets and alleys near the city gate.
"Kill the thief!"
Wang Tingchen roared angrily while leading his troops to fight to the death. After killing more than a dozen bandit soldiers, he was surrounded by a large group of bandit soldiers on the horse path of the city wall and was hacked to death with random knives.
To the south, there were only more than 4,000 people left on the side of Zuo Guangxian, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement and suppression force. The city wall had also been completely breached by the bandits. Arrows rained down from the sky.
The defensive lines of the Ming army soldiers were all covered. A large number of Ming army soldiers fell down screaming, but they could not organize a decent counterattack.
At this time, Zuo Guangxian's left leg had been chopped off by the bandit soldiers and horses. Two servants pushed Zuo Guangxian, who was screaming in agony, to retreat. Blood flowed out from the broken leg, dyeing the city wall along the way red, and continued to flow around. The screams of the Ming army soldiers before they died were heard, making the inside and outside of the city feel like hell on earth.
Suddenly, Zuo Guang hugged the wooden stake next to him, and then shouted loudly: "Give me a knife, and you all should retreat into the city!"
"Commander!"
"Give me a knife and send me on my way!"
The two servants cried loudly and sent Zuo Guang on his way with tears in his eyes. However, they did not retreat into the city. Instead, they roared and charged towards the large number of rogue soldiers in front. They were then stabbed to death by more than a dozen spears on the top of the city. .
On the west city wall, Tang Tong looked at the dense army of bandits outside the city and felt that his calves were cramped. Soldiers of bandits kept coming to the top of the city. Although the soldiers and horses of Miyun Town were still fighting hard at this time, those soldiers were The bandit soldiers who emerged and boarded the city were hacked and stabbed to death, but Tang Tong knew very well that Xinzhou City could not be defended.
"surrender!"
Suddenly, Tang Tong shouted: "Surrender immediately!"
At this time, the surrounding Miyun Town officers and soldiers all looked at their general in astonishment. They saw Tang Tong like a madman, drawing his sword in his hand, jumping on a wooden box, and said loudly: "Surrender to King Chuang with me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a hail of arrows struck from the sky outside the city. Tang Tong saw his subordinates around him screaming in surprise and then panicking for cover. He looked back in surprise and suddenly wailed.
The rain of arrows fell, and there were many casualties on the city. Tang Tong stood straight.
Lying upright on the city wall, his body was covered with arrows. There was also an arrow stuck in his left eye and neck. He had fallen to the ground and died.
"The boss is dead!"
After a howl, more than 10,000 soldiers and horses in Miyun Town collapsed. The city was full of defeated soldiers who swarmed into the city. A large number of rogue soldiers and horses climbed onto the city from the ladder, and then rushed towards the city. West City fell!
In the north, Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town who was waiting for reinforcements, was also yelling. At this time, he learned that Hong Chengchou had sent troops back to defend. Liu Zhaoji, like Wang Tingchen, guessed that Hong Chengchou was preparing to surrender to Li Zicheng.
So Liu Zhaoji gathered the remaining two thousand cavalry in Liaodong Town, and then ordered the north city gate to be opened, preparing to lead his troops to rush out to break out.
"Even if I die, I will still be the chief military officer of Liaodong Town in the Ming Dynasty. I will never surrender to the traitors!"
As the city gate slowly opened, Liu Zhaoji led his troops and rushed out. Two thousand cavalry galloped on horseback. At first, they were still overwhelming, but then they were blocked by the endless sea of thieves outside the city.
Liu Zhaoji looked around and saw countless spears coming from all directions, stabbing his subordinates to death. There were even many hungry civilians and dead soldiers swarming up to him. Even if the war horses trampled on him, they still wanted to kill the horses. The Ming army soldiers on their backs were pulled off, then punched, kicked, and even bitten to death.
There were screams everywhere, and the large cavalry could not charge up at all. The war horses had been surrounded by crazy rogue soldiers who were like "zombie". Even many war horses were frightened. The soldier was thrown to the ground and killed by the bandit soldiers.
When Liu Zhaoji saw this, he laughed miserably and shouted: "What if
How could Liu Yan be defeated here? "
Then Chen Yongfu led a group of knights from a distance to kill Liu Zhaoji. He shot an arrow casually and killed Liu Zhaoji.
All the bandits and knights cheered for Chen Yongfu, but Chen Yongfu didn't have any joy on his face. He just heard Liu Zhaoji's roar just now, and felt mixed emotions in his heart. He just had the urge to cry loudly.
Half an hour later, Li Zicheng received a report that tens of thousands of Ming troops led by Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui surrendered, and Xinzhou fell.
Li Zicheng was overjoyed. The long-lasting offensive and defensive battle of Xinzhou was finally over. The 119,000 elite soldiers led by Hong Chengchou were also the last mobile force that could be dispatched by the Ming Dynasty. They were finally annihilated by him!
Immediately, Li Zicheng led Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Li Laiheng, Li Dingguo, Chen Yongfu and other battalion generals, as well as four military advisors, Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen, and rode into the city. Under the protection of two thousand middle camp knights, they passed through the mountain of corpses. On the bloody battlefield, I arrived at the prefect's Yamen and saw Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui waiting here.
Li Zicheng had heard about the names of Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui for a long time. When he saw the two of them, he couldn't help but look them up and down, and then laughed and said: "Haha, having two people helping each other is like Liu Bei having Kong Ming!"
The corners of Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui's mouths twitched. It was the first time for them to see Li Zicheng so close. This giant bandit who had harmed the Ming Dynasty for many years was now about to surrender to him. They felt very uncomfortable. But at this time, Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui did not hesitate. They bowed and bowed one after another, but were helped up by Li Zicheng.
"Hong Chengchou (Wu Sangui) is willing to lead his troops to surrender. Please ask the King of Chuang Dashun not to give up and take him in."
. "
"Haha, Gudu said, from now on, you two will be Gu's guests, and the generals in the city will still be led by you two. How about we compete in the city of Beijing together?"
Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui looked at each other, clasped their fists and said, "That's what I wish!"
