"Does the Ming army want to attack Changzhou City?"
Kang Kara looked at the posture of the Ming army and couldn't help but his heart was beating wildly. There were only 1,800 of him in the city now, plus the hundreds of green battalion defenders in the city who he had completely disappointed.
If a fight breaks out, these green soldiers will become a hidden danger.
He carefully looked around Wujin City, and when he saw the tall and solid brick-clad city wall, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Even though the Ming army was large, it would be impossible to capture such a big city in a short time. It was so close to Zhenjiang and Jiangning.
, reinforcements will surely arrive at any time, not to mention Suzhou is also nearby.
As long as I don't go out and stay on the city, can they still fly in?
Kangkara, who had just suffered a big loss, was suffering from severe pain from his wound. He didn't care about his reputation as a warrior of the Eight Banners, so he kept a low profile for now.
He stood at the top of the city and observed carefully for a while, and found that the Ming army was under the city and made no movement. It seemed that they had no intention of attacking the city. They even began to retreat slowly in batches not long after.
"Sir, do you want to give chase?"
"I'll chase you and your mother." Kang Kara scolded the brainless Changzhou magistrate angrily, "This is obviously a trick of the Ming army to lure us out of the city. They have already laid an ambush outside."
The scolded prefect thought to himself, aren't your Manchu soldiers very powerful? The Ming army outside is probably less than 20,000. If you rush out, they won't immediately collapse?
Those who were scolded were secretly annoyed, it turns out that you Eight Banners soldiers are just good at talking.
Although Changzhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty was not as good as Susong, it surpassed Jiahu and ranked third among the prefectures around Taihu Lake. It governed five counties, among which Wujin County was attached to Guofu City, close to the canal, and the city was ten miles around.
However, in Changzhou, the largest city is Wuxi. As early as the Yuan Dynasty, it had a city wall covered with bricks, eighteen miles in diameter, two feet high, with four gates and three water passes.
Wuxi County even ranks second among the five Jiangnan prefectures, surpassing the prefectures of Songhu Jiachang and second only to Suzhou.
The Taihu Lake area was once known as the granary of the south of the Yangtze River. However, starting from the middle Ming Dynasty, the handicraft industry in the south of the Yangtze River developed, with a large number of mulberry, cotton, silkworms, and weaving being planted. The Taihu Lake area was an important place for grain transportation to the north, and a large amount of grain was transported to Nanjing through the canal every year.
and Beijing. This made Susong unable to be self-sufficient in food and had to rely on food imports from Huguang and Jiangxi.
It can be said that the canal is a lifeline in the Taihu Lake area. Once the canal is blocked and stopped, the entire Jiangnan provinces surrounding Taihu Lake will be shut down. Not only will the handicraft manufacturing industry be greatly affected, materials will not be able to enter and exit, and goods will not be shipped out. More importantly,
There is still no food supply.
But now, Kangkara was trapped in Changzhou Fucheng, watching the Ming army blocking the canal outside.
Not far away, near Wuxi.
After the Ming army captured the 500 green battalions who came from Suzhou, they began to launch a dragnet against the remaining 500 Qing troops, relying on the crisscross water network, Caobiao, Zhongsu Camp, Shizhong Town, Jiangsu Dubiao, Fu
People from various groups including Biao, Daobiao and even many volunteers came.
In every river, every reed field, and every rice field, there may be soldiers and horses ambushed.
Cold arrows are everywhere.
There are even cold guns.
In the end, after losing hundreds of men and horses along the way, the three Alima brothers finally saw the extremely tall Wuxi City, the second largest city in the Jiangnan Five Prefectures. Although it was only a county town, it was eighteen miles around.
Seeing it, I finally felt at ease.
Alima took the lead and led the remaining four hundred people to rush to the city.
The city gate is wide open.
The green camp soldiers guarding the gate did not dare to stop them and allowed them to rush in.
After they filed into the city, the city gate behind them slowly closed.
Alima didn't know it, so he went straight to the county government office.
Then, Arima gradually felt that something was not right, and he couldn't help reining in the horse.
Behind him, a horse stopped.
The streets were deserted, and the silence was eerie.
"Brother, where are the people in Wuxi City?" asked Suonidai, the second eldest brother.
Rough sounds echoed in the streets.
The streets were deserted and as quiet as a ghost town.
The shop doors were closed, and even the windows were closed.
An extremely bad feeling came over him, and Arima clamped two spears under his left and right armpits, "Back off!"
Suddenly, there was a sound.
But it came from behind.
"Zuo Ling, the street behind is blocked, stop the horses!"
Another figure appeared on the street in front of here, and he quickly put the cabinet on the horse.
Then came earth bags, wood, etc., completely blocking the street entrance.
"ambush!"
"Fight out of the city!" Arima roared angrily, turned his horse's head and galloped away with his two spears.
Many people suddenly appeared above the street shops and on the roofs. They held bows and blunderbuss, and some carried spears and javelins. They attacked them from a high position.
This is an ambush.
The city of Wuxi had been captured by the Shizhong camp as early as last night. There were Ming army spies lurking in the city, and many people and gentry who were sympathetic to the Ming Dynasty secretly supported it. In the middle of the night, they cooperated with the outsiders to lead Shizhong into the city and captured it in one fell swoop.
Although Wuxi is a large city, it is only a county after all. There are very few Qing troops stationed there, so it will be easy to capture.
Arima and the others, who were in a panic, didn't know that this was a trap waiting for them.
At this time, he was trapped in a trap and it was already difficult to get out of the trap.
Upstairs, someone poured hot golden juice from the window.
Someone poured hot oil in another window.
Screaming again and again.
Although the four hundred defeated soldiers were wearing helmets and armor, they were unable to move on horseback on this narrow street. They were blocked in front and behind, and had no way to escape.
Alima was hit by several arrows and rolled off his horse manically. He kicked a street shop violently, but the shop front was covered with wooden boards and there were two or three large wooden poles bolted all over. He tried to kick it open but
Very difficult.
When his two brothers saw this, they quickly joined in.
More than a dozen Qing soldiers wearing armors and carrying bows and arrows slammed into them desperately, and finally knocked open a shop. However, there was still a group of Ming soldiers hidden in the narrow shop. They carried shields and spears.
Waiting there, it seemed that I had anticipated all this.
Both sides yelled and bumped into each other.
Arima was very fierce and couldn't use his two spears in the narrow space, so he gave up his spears and used a shield in one hand and an ax in the other. He cut down one person in two or three strokes, and chopped down three or four people in the blink of an eye.
After a bloody battle, a group of Ming soldiers in the room were cut down by them, and their blood flowed all over the floor.
Arima took the lead and rushed to the back of the shop, trying to fight his way through.
The shouts of killing continued.
Arima had just found the back door, but more Ming troops had already arrived there.
There was a loud bang.
Before Arima fell, he muttered, "Three-eyed gun!"
This is a backward firearm commonly used by the Ming army in Liaodong. It is named after its three barrels. It is far behind the shotgun and is extremely crude. It can also be used as a mace.
But just a few steps away, he was sprayed by a row of three-eyed guns.
Even though Arima was wearing two layers of armor, he was beaten until blood sprayed all over his body, and he screamed and fell unwillingly.
After one row of three-guns fired, the second row came up and fired again.
After the third row fired, those in the first row had re-lit the fire of the second blunderbuss.
After more than ten rounds of banging, the smoke filled the air and was extremely choking.
A group of spearmen, holding spears and shouting, rushed in from behind the shop and blocked the gap.
Arima opened his eyes angrily and unwillingly, but he could only lie on the ground and let the Ming army trample on him.
An hour later.
The shouts of killing gradually stopped.
The streets were full of blood. The Ming army carried knives and beheaded the Tatars on the streets, stripped off their clothes and armor, took away their bows and knives, and even the corpses of dead horses were disemboweled, skinned and fleshed.