Chapter 155: Zeng Guoquan massacres the city in Jinling (4)
Zhao Liewen looked at the ruins and was shocked. He quickly returned to camp and asked Zeng Guoquan to stop the war.
Zeng Guoquan was extremely reluctant to have his sweet dream disturbed, saying: Although you are noble, it is useless.
After Zeng Guoquan finished speaking, he snored again and fell asleep again. After a while, he snored like thunder.
Li Wen thought hard and made four plans: stop the killing, settle the women and children, actively deal with the aftermath, and ban food and leave the city.
Lie Wen finished drafting the article and was eager to invite him again, but seeing Zeng Guoquan already as sleepy as a dead pig, Lie Wen stopped talking.
In the middle of the night, the spies rushed to report, and Li Xiucheng fled with everyone. Zhao Liewen was surprised and happy. He immediately woke Zeng Guoquan and told him in detail.
Zeng Guoquan was very impatient and said: "Jinling City is big, and thieves can slip through the net. It's natural. Just change the memorial slightly." I have drafted four chapters. I have put a lot of thought into it, but it seems to be feasible. Send my order quickly to stop killing good people and robbing women immediately.
Although the ban was issued, Zhu Hongzhang, Li Chendian and other 40,000 Hunan warriors turned a deaf ear and killed and looted for seven days, setting fire to destroy all traces, and then stopped.
When Peng Yulin heard about it, his blood surged up and he was furious. He urgently reported to Zeng Guofan and ordered Zeng Guoquan to be killed to relieve the people's anger.
Zeng Guofan was afraid that Peng Hu would do something wrong, so he ordered his soldier Liu Shoutian to supervise him. Yulin angrily cut off Liu's ear, and then reported to Zeng Guofan: I don't want an official, I don't want money, I don't want my life, but I want to kill Zeng Guoquan. What can anyone do?
Zeng Guofan looked at Peng Yulin's actions and sighed: "Jinling failed to conquer, and there are thousands of things; Peng Xueqin is full of blood, and he doesn't care about the day!" The day before yesterday, I informed the Lake Governor that Jinling would be restored. Is there an official reply?
Ouyang Zhaoxiong said: There is a distance of five hundred miles between Anqing and Wuhan. It is estimated that we will arrive tomorrow. Peng Yulin is upright, loves the people like a son, hates evil like an enemy, so he must be on guard against the commander-in-chief.
Zeng Guofan said: "What's the difficulty? It's my fault!" I immediately wrote to Peng Xueqin that my younger brother had no trace of Cai's rebellion. I don't know how to punish him. I don't know how my younger brother offended you. I can't shake it. What Yuan Fu did was all under my instructions; please kill me first to relieve his hatred and soothe his thieves' heart!
Peng Yulin accepted the letter, sighed, and replied: Di Shuai has an iron bone and a soft heart, but Yu Lin would not dare to die. Di Shuai is going to Jinling now, please advise Yuan Fu to kill people only on the battlefield, and there is no need to kill people to cheat.
Zeng Guofan persuaded Peng Yulin to list and summarize the situation of Jinling's recovery, and wrote it together with the official document:
Secretly taking photos of the army's capture of Jinling, Zhejiang Governor Zeng Guoquan's general situation was recorded on the 16th day of the lunar month together with his ministers. According to Zeng Guoquan's consultation on the 19th, the difficulty of attacking the city and purging the old nest, and the pain of fighting to the death with the gangsters, are really unprecedented for long-term military personnel.
After gaining the pseudo-city of Tianbao, the defense among the thieves became increasingly dense. The bunker city strangled the defile and made hundreds of attempts to attack without any gaps. Until May 30, Li Xianghe, Luo Fengyuan, Wang Yuanhe, Huang Runchang, Chen Shouwu, Xiong Shangzhen, Wang Shiyi and others led a team to conquer and occupy the Longneck Mountain Yin, commanding a commanding position. , the momentum is under control.
Since the first day of June, each battalion took turns to attack hard, resulting in many casualties. Li Chendian found out that the rice and wheat in the city were still enough to last for several months. He also saw that our army's more than 30 tunnels had not been completed, and the more than 50,000 officers and soldiers were exhausted. If we did not take this opportunity to conquer, things would change over time, which was deeply frightening. .
Li Chendianyuan led Wu Zongguo and others to reopen the tunnel from a place where thieves and artillery were extremely dense. Xiao Fusi, Huang Runchang, Xiong Dengwu, Wang Yuan and Yuan built dozens of forts more than ten feet away from the city, and sent battalions to mow wet reeds and wormwood. There are piles of mountain accumulation, covered with sand and soil.
The terrain on the left road is very high, which is conducive to vocal attacks, while the terrain on the right road is very low, which is conducive to stealth attacks. This situation lasted for half a month, without a moment's rest, and they were forced to fight hand to hand, injuring countless elites. The commander-in-chief Chen Wansheng, Wang Shaoyi, Guo Pengcheng and others were known as brave generals. Within a few days, they were killed one after another, which is particularly pitiful.
At the fourth watch on the night of the 15th, when the tunnel was loading, Zeng Guoquan and Li Chendian were discussing everything at the entrance of the cave. The loyal chief Li Xiucheng showed up with hundreds of his buddies, and attacked the tunnel barrier from Taiping Gate near the city root. Hundreds of people came from the east corner of Chaoyang Gate. , wearing official military uniforms, holding fire eggs and burning the wet reeds and wormwood in the forts and nearby areas.
After the officers and soldiers had worked hard for a long time, they were attacked late at night. Lai Wu Weishou, Li Chendian, Huang Tingjue, and Zhang Shiri blocked the left road, and there was no hope of killing the thieves. Peng Yuju, Xiong Shangzhen, Tao Lizhong, etc. blocked the right road, and many were captured and killed. , Fortunately, the cave entrance was saved.
On the morning of the 16th, Zeng Guoquan mobilized the four armies and ordered all armies to stand firm at the wall to prevent conflicts. However, he attacked the Taipingmen and Longneck areas from dawn to noon. Li Chendian reported that the tunnel had been sealed and the lead wires had been installed. .
Zeng Guoquan offered generous rewards and severely punished those who retreated. Liu Lianjie, Zhu Hongzhang, Wu Mingliang, Wu Weishou, Xiong Dengwu, Chen Shouwu, Li Chendian, and Zhang Shiri each led their battalion officers to sit on the ground and listen, willing to bear military orders and swear to serve the country to the death.
Then he sent an order to get angry immediately, and with a thunderclap, the city wall was opened for more than twenty feet. The sky was covered with smoke and dust, and the valley was filled with bricks and stones. Wu Mingliang, Wu Weishou, Zhu Hongzhang, Tan Guotai, Liu Lianjie, Zhang Shiri, Shen Hongbin, Luo Chunyu, Li Chendian, etc. all took the lead and rushed straight into the mouth, each with their own brave ants advancing together, unstoppable.
However, the thieves at the top of the city on the left road poured gunpowder on our soldiers and burned them. Many of them died, so the main force was temporarily retreated. Peng Yuju, Xiao Fusi, Li Xianghe, Xiao Qingyan, Xiao Kaiyin, etc. used their swords to kill many people, and none of them retreated.
Wu Mingliang, Wu Weishou, Zhu Hongzhang, Liu Lianjie, Tan Guotai, Zhang Shiri and others led their troops to climb Longguang Mountain and lined up with the Taiping Gate thieves on the right to bombard them. The thieves resisted for half a time and then retreated. Li Xianghe and Wang Shiyi attacked from Taipingmen Yuecheng.
The thieves knew that the gap in the tunnel this time was no longer as blockable as the previous one.
During the Wei Dynasty, the officers and soldiers attacked in four directions. Wang Yuanhe, Wang Shiyi, Zhu Hongzhang, Luo Chunyu, Shen Hongbin, Huang Runchang, Xiong Shangzhen and others attacked the middle line and attacked the north of the puppet king's palace.
Liu Lianjie, Zhang Shiri, Tan Guotai, Cui Wentian and others attacked the right side, heading towards the Shencemen area from Taicheng. Zhu Nangui, Zhu Weitang, Liang Meicai and others also led their troops to attack from the side of the Shencemen tunnel and met up with them. They advanced together and their troops became stronger. They fought fiercely to Lion Mountain and captured Yifeng Gate. Among them, on the left side, Peng Yuju led Luo Chaoyun, Zhao Qinghe, Huang Nannan, Wu Mingliang, Wu Mingshan, Wu Yishan, etc. from the old inner city site to Tongji Gate.
On the left, Xiao Fusi, Xiong Dengwu, Xiao Qingyan, and Xiao Kaiyin led Xiao Zhixiang, Zhou Hengli, Li Taishan, Xiao Qingshi, Xiao Hengshu, Zhu Jiyu, Zhao Taihe, Liu Changhuai, Xiao Shanglin, etc. to seize the Chaoyang and Hongwu gates. The thieves guarding the Pipi and the towers at the city gate, as well as the bandits nearby, were all killed.
It intercepts and gallops, and all roads are at the same speed; it leaves troops to garrison, and all gates are arranged in the same way. This is what happened on the 16th when the tunnel was successfully completed, fierce battles took place in the city, and raids were carried out on both sides of the northeast.
When our army arrived at Longguang Mountain, the thieves guarding Pi in the southwest were still standing and seized Chaoyang Gate. The thieves began to cause chaos. And Luo Fengyuan, Zhang Dingkui, Peng Chunnian, Zhang Guangming, Yang Xiping, He Minggao, Peng Guangyou, Xiong Shaolian, Luo Xingxiang, Ye Bixin and others led their troops to attack from the gap in the old tunnel to the west of Jubaomen. Li Jinzhou, Hu Songjiang, Zhu Wenguang, Wu Jiaoqing, Liu Xiangnan, Yi Kongshao, Dai Mingshan, Zhang Zhengrong and others led their troops up the ladder from the edge of Tongjimen Yuecheng, while the battalions of Chen Shi, Yi Lianghu, Yi Liangbao, Chen Rujun and Liu Dingfa fiercely attacked Hanxi, Shuixi Liangmen Yuecheng.
The pseudo-loyal king Li Xiucheng led his buddies to run wildly and rushed out towards Hanxi Gate. However, they were blocked by Chen Shi's brigade and turned back to Qingliang Mountain.
Jiangnan Admiral Huang Yisheng led Xu Yunfa and other naval battalions to capture the stone fortress blocking the river in Zhongguan. Taking advantage of the victory, they stormed the riverside city. Then, together with Chen Shi, Yi Lianghu and others, they captured the Shuixi and Hanxi gates and guarded the thieves. Annihilate them all.
As a result, every gate in the city was broken down, and the situation was determined. The sun was getting dark, and Chen Shi and Yi Lianghu saw the Zhong Chief's bandits hiding in Rulin, a house in the southwest.
Peng Yuju guarded Jubaomen and Tongjimen, Li Chendian and Li Xianghe guarded Taipingmen. Huang Runchang, Wang Yuanhe, Zhu Hongzhang and others gathered up their troops when they saw the stars, formed a circular formation, and stood on Longguang Mountain to rest for a while. This is a situation where the land and water armies conquered the two southwestern cities and defended key passes to prevent conflicts between traitors and gangs.
When Fang Zhu Hongzhang and others were fighting with the thieves in the north of the Puppet King's City, Shen Hongbin, Zhou Hengli, Yuan Dasheng and others led their troops from the left road to roll up flags and rush around the east of the Puppet City, setting up surprise ambushes in order to capture the canal and clear out the holes. Zhu Hongzhang's horse was injured and the pirates blocked the stone bridge. Our troops could not fly across the city river and circle to the west of the pseudo city. After a hard battle at dusk that day, the main troops retreated to Longguang Mountain, while the ambush troops penetrated deep and meandered from the east of the pseudo city. South, we can't close the team, it's already three o'clock.
The pseudo-loyal king ordered a group of thieves to set fire to the Heavenly Prince's Palace and the pseudo-royal palaces at the same time. Gunpowder from the pseudo-palace shot into the sky and smoke filled the city.
Yuan Dasheng, Zhou Hengli, Shen Hongbin and others saw more than a thousand thieves protruding from the south gate in front of the Puppet Palace, armed with weapons and foreign cannons, heading towards civilian houses and streets. Knowing that it was Hong Ni who had rushed to civilian houses, they led their troops to intercept them and kill the thieves. More than 700 people seized two fake jade seals and one gold seal. It is about seven inches wide, which is the seal used by Chief Hong. No less than a few hundred of the maids of the fake palace were hanged in the front garden, and no less than 2,000 of them died in the city river.
At that time, the fire in the pseudo-city had set a prairie fire, and it was impossible to approach the streets and alleys. The thieves were setting fire to the thoroughfares. The officers and soldiers were unfamiliar with the roads at dusk and could not fight in the streets, so they gathered their troops and occupied the city. This is what happened in the sixteenth night when the false king's inner city was attacked and many thieves were killed.
