The streets of Nanyang City have long been in chaos, and some places are even overcrowded. Because the fire is so big, it has long been out of control, and it is impossible to put out the fire in a short time.
The common people did not want to be burned alive, so they ran to areas that were not yet on fire. Even if there were officers and soldiers fighting with thieves in some places, they were willing to go over and survive for a while longer.
However, facing the murderous thieves, they could not do much to help the government and the defenders. They could only use iron pots and sticks to protect themselves. Anyone who can pretend to wave a few times in front of the thieves is considered a bold person.
It's no wonder that they are the thieves who can jump out of the hole in the ground. They are elite soldiers. They are guys who have been on the battlefield and killed living people. They are very different from ordinary people.
In the eyes of the thieves, all the people in the city, men, women, old and young, were just lambs to be slaughtered. In the past, these were "two-legged sheep" that could be seen everywhere. After being killed, they had to be used as military rations.
It was a blessing for them not to eat these "two-legged sheep". As long as they obediently handed over the money and food in their hands, maybe they could be spared and spared their lives.
But if the dog officers and soldiers came to block the attack, it would be no wonder that the weapons in their hands did not recognize people.
At this time, in order to defeat the defenders as soon as possible, he contacted his companions who were attacking the city outside the city.
The thieves rushed from the yard to the street and killed everyone they saw. They were extremely vicious.
Like man-eating beasts that have been hungry for a long time, their momentum is extremely fast.
On the other hand, because the fire was so strong, no one could hide in the yard.
If you want to avoid being choked by the thick smoke, you must run to a place with less fire.
The easiest way is to rush outside and attack along the street.
Not many thieves want to climb over the wall. Not to mention the effort, they are considered too cowardly.
Seeing that the army is about to break the city, who would be stupid enough to climb over the wall and attack the dog officers and soldiers outside?
However, after rushing to the street, they discovered that the situation was very different from what they expected.
The main reason is that the dog officers and soldiers not only did not flee, but were already prepared.
They actually sent horse soldiers and chariot soldiers to stop them, which suddenly became a bit tricky.
Although many thieves carried bows and arrows, there was still no way to deal with the advance of the chariots.
The officers and soldiers hid behind the chariot and were difficult to be injured in most cases.
Some sections of the road even let the horsemen charge back and forth, as if they were sweeping the streets.
You can only go straight on the street. Once you are spotted by a horseman and poked with a spear, your body will probably be completely cold.
The number of thousands of thieves who rushed into the street was quite large. It can be said that proper tactics can indeed play a role in surprising the enemy.
It's just that they underestimated the enemy too much, thinking that the defenders would be in chaos when they saw this, and even took the initiative to surrender to them.
This was an extremely serious mistake. Even though they had a considerable advantage in military strength, the army actually killed about half of the men.
What made the rebels feel most helpless was that due to the intensity of the fire, large plumes of thick smoke began to pour into the cave, making it impossible for the soldiers who were temporarily unable to rush out of the cave to hold on.
Everyone can only escape from both ends of the cave at the same time. When you come out of one end of the city, you will see a raging fire. If you are lucky, you can escape the sea of fire. If you are not lucky, you will be burned directly.
This was not because it was set on fire, but because the thick smoke from the fire did not allow the soldiers to stay here at all. It only took a moment to choke a strong soldier to death.
There was not much time left for the people in the fire scene to escape. Coupled with their panic and ignorance of the local situation, the rebels who had just emerged from the cave were overwhelmed by the billowing smoke.
It's easy to escape from a courtyard, but if the main block is constantly burning and there are hideous flames everywhere, it will be extremely difficult to save your life.
The rebel soldiers were all from Shaanxi, and they were unfamiliar with the place in the city. Their eyes were completely black, and they could only run around like headless flies.
Some were thought to have choked to death, some were choked to death on the road, and some encountered officers and soldiers.
Only after removing these three unlucky parts can the rest survive. If you are lucky, you will meet your own people on the road.
God knows what the city is like, and who knows who set the fire.
Not to mention the later rebel soldiers who were cursing, the people who had sneaked into the city earlier were also full of complaints.
They planned to burn down the hateful Nanyang City with fire after looting it.
Now, it's a good thing. Before the robbery could be carried out, the city itself caught fire. Is there any justice in this?
I and a group of people worked hard and fought to the end, and then we got a pile of ruins with smoke coming out?
By this time, the rebel soldiers felt somewhat at a loss.
Our own side attacked the city, and the dog officers and soldiers defended the city.
The dog officers and soldiers used gold juice to dig holes in the ground.
When I came in from the underground cave, I found that the city was already on fire. It seemed that something was wrong...
Most of them are rough people and their brains are not that lively.
There is no time to think now, and no one can immediately find out the crux of the matter.
We can only fight to the death with the dog officers and soldiers, and then see if we can still get some benefits.
Although the officers and soldiers are at a disadvantage in terms of strength, they have a considerable number of horses and chariots.
There are many rebels on the opposite side, but they are all infantry.
The several strong attacks launched before were all overwhelmed by the army and cavalry.
Fortunately, the county magistrate Yao Yunxi had already gathered all the mules, horses, oxen, and donkeys in the city.
So convenient for centralized feeding and then collecting the golden juice of livestock.
When the rebels come in, not to mention a donkey, not even a pig will be seen now.
There are quite a lot of chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry in ordinary people's houses, but these things cannot be ridden...
On several occasions, the rebel soldiers watched helplessly as the dog army's cavalry brigade rushed over like a plow.
The horse soldiers are all heavily armored soldiers. Unless you shoot their mounts, you can hardly hurt them with bows and arrows.
Ten horsemen armed with spears can sweep across a street, almost maximizing the power of the combined force of man and horse.
The rebels wanted to use a rope to trip the horse, but after searching for a long time, they found that they didn't have a rope, and it was too late to improvise a horse-stopping stake.
Due to the need to pass through underground caves, long spears are not easy to carry, so now only swords and shields can be used to defend against enemies.
I had never thought that something like this would happen before, I thought that if I just kill him, something big will happen.
It's better now, thick smoke is coming out of the yard.
Outside the courtyard were either the chariots of the dog officers or the horsemen rushing quickly.
All in all, when we came to the city, the battle was very frustrating, and the longer we fought, the more awkward we felt.
"...We have sinned so much!"
Wang Jiazhen, the prefect of Nanyang, looked at most of the city that had been devoured by the fire and couldn't help but start to blame himself.
Although the idea of setting the fire came from Zhang Guoqin, the decision to do so was approved by Wang Jiazhen.
"Set fire to stop the enemy" is a bad idea after all, because the people in the city are bound to be implicated.
Judging from the intensity of the fire, the property damage will definitely not be low. After the fire, I am afraid that most people will become victims.
Even the house was burned down. If he could not get relief from the government, he would be no different from a wandering man outside the city.
Nanyang City was destroyed by his own hands, so it was no longer important how he appealed to the court.
Wang Jiazhen was already prepared to be escorted to Beijing and then apologize to His Highness the Crown Prince.
Officials set fire to defend themselves against the enemy. This was simply the first strange thing that had happened since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.
It is unknown how many of the traitors were burned to death, but Nanyang City will definitely turn into a pile of ruins.
When Xiang Yu burned Xianyang, he did so to avenge his country and his family.
The officials of the Ming Dynasty burned down their own cities. If they were to be rebuilt in the future, who would pay the money?
Wang Jiazhen was determined not to be able to afford it, and Commander-in-Chief Zhang Guoqin could not afford it, much less willing to pay it.
This is the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the wilderness, but the scope is expanded, and the clearing reaches the city...
"Cleaning the field" is the responsibility of natural disasters!
The "Qing City" was set on fire by officials!
If this matter reaches the ears of the censors, they will definitely report the person involved as a negative example of civil servants and military generals.
The first crime was cowardice. Before Nanyang City could be invaded by the bandits from the outside, he set fire to the city.
The second crime was harming Min. The fire displaced the people in the city and left them with nowhere to live.
The third charge is waste. It will cost a lot of money to rebuild Nanyang.
The whole territory of Henan had to rely on the imperial government to support and support them, but now it was better, and the imperial court had to pay more.
It was completely unnecessary for Wang Jiazhen to think so, because Zhang Guoqin felt that Nanyang City was already in danger.
This is definitely not a high-sounding statement or an exaggeration.
Under the fierce attack of the bandits and the fighting in all directions in the city, Nanyang City will fall into the hands of the enemy by sunset at the latest.
Today's situation is completely different from the previous one. The rebels already know what is happening in the city, and they will not easily retreat from the city's roots.
Even if they lose more troops, they will attack the city in one go and join up with their accomplices in the city as soon as possible.
The defenders at the top of the city had lost confidence when they saw the city was on fire and in chaos.
If the generals and captains were not supervising the battle at the top of the city, some people would have surrendered to the other side by now.
Regarding his men, Zhang Guoqin could not guarantee that they would fight with him until the last moment.
At such a critical moment, as long as the defenders of one city wall openly surrender to the enemy, Nanyang City will be declared lost.
Although the city gates have been blocked with stones, they cannot be broken open even if they are hit hard.
However, the bandits can still climb up from the top of the city and eventually occupy the entire city.
"boom……"
Just when Zhang Guoqin was thinking about it, a loud noise suddenly occurred not far away.
The ground at the top of the city bulged under his feet, curved into a "ji" shape, and then fell suddenly.
It was as frightening as if the earth was shaking and the mountains were shaking, and large sheets of thick smoke billowed out from the nearby side hair.
Bricks and debris also continued to fall from the sky, hitting them everywhere, making it difficult to dodge.
The ground at the city gate soon collapsed in a large area after the explosion.
The city wall, which was about two feet wide, collapsed due to the violent explosion.
It seems that the gap is not big, but the walls on both sides of the collapsed location also tilted down.
The broken city bricks almost paved a convenient way to the city head for the bandits outside the city.
There is no need to use a ladder anymore, just run two steps and you can jump up. It is much more convenient than before.
The defenders were already stunned by the sudden situation. They never expected that such a thing would happen.
The only thing they can rely on is this thick city wall. Even if they can't go to war, they can still hide in the city and hold on.
Now that the city walls have been blown down by the bandits, their hope has vanished, and there is no longer a barrier they can borrow.
If the two sides were to fight hand-to-hand, who could defeat a bandit army several times larger than ours?
But at this moment, most of the soldiers still did not leave their posts without authorization and ran away first.
Facing the dozens of thieves who rushed up, they immediately launched a powerful counterattack.
As long as we can hold on, we cannot retreat easily, and there is no way out.
The city was ablaze, and the city was surrounded by an army of thieves.
Either surrender directly or resist to the end.
"The Dog Officer Army is finished!"
"Brothers, give me some forehead flushing!"
Upon seeing this, the rebel army's morale was greatly boosted. No less than two to three thousand people gathered at the gap, all planning to rush to the city from here.
The dog officers and soldiers bullied themselves for many days, using rolling logs, thunder stones, bullets, arrows, and a lot of gold juice.
Especially gold juice, there is no rebel soldier who does not hate this stuff.
I will not give up easily unless I take revenge.
The second general said that after breaking the city, he would not seal the sword for three days!
In less than three days, in just one day, all the people in this city will be slaughtered!
The rebels are doing justice for heaven. If you are stubborn and stubborn, resisting the rebels will be a heinous crime!
"withstand!"
As the chief military officer, Zhang Guoqin also fought bloody battles with the bandits at the top of the city. He was stabbed twice, but his vital parts were not injured, and he still led his troops to defend the city.
The city head is the most important line of defense for the entire city. If the city head is lost, the city will most likely fall. It is really a daydream to expect to be able to defeat the enemy in street fighting.
Fortunately, it was still difficult to climb from the gap to the city walls on both sides. The defenders could use this to hold on for a while, otherwise they would have abandoned the city walls in a short time.
"boom!"
In order to hold on to this place, the soldiers began to throw barrels of gunpowder down, and then detonated them with rockets, using their powerful explosive power to delay the rebel army's attack.
Now that bows, arrows and muskets could no longer withstand the enemy's offensive, the city was about to fall, and the gunpowder barrels could only be used as the first weapon to block the enemy's advance.
If the city head is lost, all the gunpowder will fall into the hands of the bandits. In this case, let's just have a good time and give it to the bandits to "enjoy" in advance.
Sure enough, the explosion was indeed very powerful, killing and injuring no less than two to three hundred people.
But for the huge total strength of the bandit army, this amount of damage is a drop in the bucket and far from solving the problem.
"The dogs will be here!"
"Quickly surround and kill!"
The thieves who rushed to the top of the city immediately spotted Zhang Guoqin's figure. Seeing that his armor was extraordinary, they concluded that it was a valuable item, and planned to pounce on him, capture him, and go back to receive the reward.
"Don't hurt my lord!"
The soldiers who were kept captive by Zhang Guoqin came in handy at this time. Ordinary soldiers may not work hard here, but most of the soldiers were loyal to protect the Lord and were willing to fight bravely to kill the enemy.
They were also the last men Zhang Guoqin could trust. Originally, he wanted to run away in advance, but he really couldn't find a suitable opportunity, so he surrendered rashly and was afraid of being killed by the bandit army.
At this point, Zhang Guoqin no longer planned to run away, and he could fight as long as he could. Having killed so many thieves before, I had made enough money.
Being able to die in battle is worthy of the emperor, the prince, and the court. It is also worthy of the people in the city. If they want to blame themselves for arson, then go and find it below.
"Prefect! Go quickly and light the food in the treasury!"
Seeing that Nanyang City was about to be captured by the bandits, Zhang Guoqin hurriedly shouted to let Nanyang Magistrate Wang Jiazhen understand the current situation.
"...Okay! Take care, General Rong! Come on down!"
Faced with such a fierce battle, Wang Jiazhen was still in a daze, but he woke up when he heard Zhang Guoqin's cry.
Since Nanyang City cannot be saved, the food in the city cannot be kept, and even half a bucket of rice cannot be eaten by the rebel army.
After this farewell, I was afraid that I would have to meet down below, but it was a well-deserved death.
