Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 288: Explosion
Outside Bozhou City, the Qing army stood in a row, with 4,000 white and red banner soldiers at the forefront. These Manchu soldiers were all wearing armor and riding horses, and they were the elite of the elite of the Qing army.
In front of the Manchu army were more than 10,000 surrendered soldiers and civilians who were driven here. These civilians were divided into four groups of 2,000 to 3,000 people.
Two of the four groups of civilians followed the main force of the Qing army to the north of the city, and the other two groups were dispersed to the east and west of the city.

The civilians were in a state of chaos, and everyone looked at the city wall in the distance with horror. The Qing cavalry patrolled around in front of several civilians' formations, monitoring the civilians in the formation to prevent them from escaping.
After the Qing army had formed up, several cavalrymen with pigtails rode up to the city and asked for surrender.

"Listen, the Ming army in the city, the Western bandit Zhang Xianzhong has been killed by our Great Qing, and the hundreds of thousands of Western bandits in Sichuan Province have also been completely destroyed. You Ming army can't even defeat the Western bandits, how can you resist our Great Qing Heavenly Army?"

"My Great Qing court is kind and does not want to see the people in the city suffer from war. As long as the Ming troops in the city surrender, my Great Qing court will forgive their past mistakes, and the military officers and officials in the city can still keep their original positions."

"Bozhou is now an isolated city. The Ming court can no longer protect itself. You will not receive any reinforcements. The Ming troops in the city should not persist in their mistakes. Open the city gates immediately to welcome the Qing army into the city."

As soon as the Qing army cavalryman finished shouting, a rain of arrows immediately fell from the city, and the Qing army cavalryman immediately rode away.
Although the Qing cavalry failed to persuade the enemy to surrender this time, they did not gain nothing. As soon as they approached the edge of the city, they found the flag of the Ming army commander hung on the top of the city wall.
Under the banner of the Qing army, Nikan listened to the reports from the scouts and roughly understood the current situation in Bozhou City.

After the Nikan army arrived at the city, they also captured some civilians outside the city who had not yet entered the city through the search of a large number of scouts.

According to the people, the bandits in the city had already left for the west half a month ago. Soon after they left, the Ming army raised the flag in the city, and then the Ming army began to relocate the people outside the city.

The situation at this time was already very clear. After the Western Army fled to Bozhou, they did not choose to continue south to Guizhou Province, but chose to flee to western Sichuan.

After the Western Army abandoned the city, the remaining Ming Army saw the Western Army leaving and entered the city to occupy Bozhou.

The Ming army later found out about the Qing army. To prevent the Qing army from attacking the city, they obtained food and money outside the city and took the people hostage. They also moved the people outside the city away, hoping to fortify the city and resist.
The report from the cavalrymen at the foot of the city also confirmed Nikan's guess. The general's flag on the top of the city was inscribed with the words "Supervisor General of the Cabinet".

Although the main purpose of the Qing army's entry into Sichuan was to wipe out Zhang Xianzhong, it did not mean that the Qing army knew nothing about the Ming army in Sichuan. Who else could be in the city except Wang Yingxiong, the governor of Sichuan Province in the Ming court?
The Ming army had just reoccupied Bozhou after the Western bandits abandoned the city, which meant that the Ming army in the city did not even have the strength to defeat the remnants of the Western bandits. At this time, the Ming army was defending the city to the death, which obviously showed that there were not enough troops in the city.

Nikan sorted out the strength of the Ming army in the city and breathed a sigh of relief. The regent had sent letters many times asking Hauge to lead his troops back to Beijing immediately, but Hauge refused to move because of the righteousness of conquering Sichuan Province.
The expedition to Sichuan was a major event for the court. Even Dorgon did not dare to obstruct such an event.
Due to past events, Hauge and Dorgon had deep resentment against each other. In recent years, with Dorgon's deliberate suppression, the conflict between the two sides has only increased.
Nikan knew very well that even if he took Bozhou now, Haoge would definitely not surrender easily.

But it didn't matter. As long as they captured Bozhou, Sichuan Province would be completely conquered from north to south, and Hauge would no longer be able to disobey orders by claiming to be fighting for the imperial court to conquer Sichuan Province.
If Haoge still finds excuses to refuse to return to the court, the regent will no longer have to be polite to him.
When Nikan thought of this, his face turned cold and he said

"Since they don't choose to live, let them die"

"Pass my military order and start attacking the city immediately"

Nikan's order was passed down, and the army quickly began to take action.

Although Nikan judged that the city was inhabited by the remnants of the Ming army, the number of troops would not be too large, and according to the detection of the scouts, the defenders on all sides of the city were indeed sparse.

But this was just a guess after all. Nikan was also very cautious and did not launch a large-scale attack on the city from the beginning.
In the Qing army formation, 4,000 Manchu soldiers remained motionless, while the civilians on the three sides of the city wall each sent out a thousand men and were driven towards the city wall by the Qing army.

The Qing army did not even give out swords, but only gave these civilians a few door panels to stand on, and then let the civilians carry a large number of flying ladders and rush to the city.
To the north of the city, a thousand civilians were quickly driven to the city wall. When they were about 100 to 200 meters away, a hail of arrows suddenly fell from the wall.

The first dozen civilians were shot to the ground, and the bloody smell filled the air. Some seriously injured civilians kept screaming. The civilians below the city were terrified, dropped the ladders in their hands, and immediately fled to the rear.
Nikan looked at the panicked civilians fleeing in the distance, but his face was calm. Although the civilians did not even touch the city wall, they could see the real situation in the city.

There were only about 100 to 200 arrows falling from the northern wall, and once the civilians fled, the rain of arrows from the city stopped immediately. This showed that not only were there not enough soldiers in the city, but there were probably not enough arrows either.
The civilians fled to the rear, but before they could take a few steps, the Jurchen cavalrymen in the rear rode up on horseback and hacked the fleeing civilians to the ground.
When nearly a hundred people fell to the ground, the civilians finally dared not to flee anymore and were driven back to the city again.

After several rounds of this, more than half of the 1,000 civilians in the north of the city were killed. Half of them were shot by the Ming army, and the other half were killed by the Manchu soldiers in the rear.
During these repeated attempts, the rain of arrows from the city walls became less and less.

Nikan looked at the blurry figure on the top of the city wall, thought for a moment, and then spoke to Haninga, the guard of the White Banner beside him.

"Ha Ningga, go pick two thousand surrendered soldiers from the Western Army, give them swords and shields, and order them to attack the Western City."

Haningga took the order and left. Soon, the surrendered soldiers of the Western Army who had been captured from the ranks of the civilians were also selected. After being given swords, shields and shields, these surrendered soldiers were also driven to rush to the city.
These surrendered soldiers were obviously much more experienced than the civilian laborers. They were divided into small teams, with the shield bearers in front to provide protection, and the rest of the soldiers followed behind the shield bearers.
However, the thousands of surrendered soldiers this time fled more quickly than the civilians.

Rumble

The surrendered soldiers were still two or three hundred meters away from the city wall when suddenly a rumbling sound of cannons was heard from the top of the city wall. Five iron bullets suddenly smashed into the surrendered soldiers' formation, shattering the shields in front and piercing through the soldiers behind the shields, instantly breaking bones and tendons.

These surrendered soldiers were hastily gathered together, and they had no morale at all. Iron bullets whizzed around them, and the surrendered soldiers immediately scattered and fled. The Qing army still used the same trick again. The military supervisors kept hacking and killing the fleeing surrendered soldiers. The surrendered soldiers were forcibly driven away and barely rushed to the city again under the artillery fire. Rocks fell from the city like rain, and the surrendered soldiers who were attacking the city collapsed again.

The surrendered soldiers under the city collapsed again, but there was no anger on Nikan's face. Nikan looked at the iron bullets brought back by Haningga and nodded slightly.

"The iron bullet weighs more than a pound and has a very fast firing rate. It is probably a Portuguese gun. These five Portuguese guns should be the trump card of the Ming army in the city."

Nikan retracted his gaze and looked at Du Lei, Gushan Ezhen of the Plain White Banner, Malaxi, Gushan Ezhen of the Bordered Red Banner, and others beside him, and said:

"Malaxi, you lead 2,000 Red Banner soldiers to attack the north gate. Durehaninga, you and the others will each lead 500 soldiers to launch a feint attack on the east and west cities. We must take this city today."

"I will obey your order and defeat the enemy and capture the city today."

Malaxi and others accepted the order and then hurriedly retreated. The Qing army soon began to mobilize.

One mile north of the city wall, Malachi led two thousand soldiers with red banners to form a battle array under the city walls, and in front of the soldiers were three to four thousand civilians.
Two thousand red-rimmed soldiers were in neat armor, and dozens of shield carts were placed in front of the battle. The wooden boards of the shield carts had been modified to be two meters high, like a shield wall, firmly covering the soldiers in the rear.
The civilians in the front were only holding swords, and the front few rows were holding simple door panels, shields and other items. As for armor, they had no

Seeing that the Jurchen soldiers were ready, Malaxi ordered them to disperse and start attacking the city.

In the Qing army, the drums sounded, but the drums only sounded for a moment. The next moment, a thunderous sound suddenly exploded in the sky.

Boom Ka
On the top of the city wall, red flames appeared. Before Malachi could react, three black shadows came whistling over, and one of them smashed directly into the full army formation.

In front of the Red Banner formation, the tall shield cart shattered, and the huge iron bullet penetrated into the formation. Behind the shield cart, several red-bordered Manchu soldiers in iron armor were exploded into a bloody mist without a sound, and the seven or eight Manchu soldiers behind them were also turned into meat paste.
The splattered blood and flesh splashed on the soldiers, and the soldiers in the formation were all stunned for a moment.
Malachi looked at the huge red iron ball rolling in the formation with a look of horror on his face, and immediately shouted

"Retreat, disperse immediately, retreat two miles away"

Boom Ka
Malachi was only halfway through his shout when he was interrupted by a loud roar.
At this time, the sound of artillery fire was also heard from the east and west cities. However, there was no need for Malachi to give orders. The Qing troops in the formation were like ants being blown away.
Whether they were the armored Eight Banners soldiers or the driven civilians, everyone fled madly to the rear, while on the rear wall, tongues of fire spewed out and thunderous cannons exploded again.

Under the general's flag, Duremalah and other generals had their armor in disarray and looked extremely embarrassed.
Nikan looked at the huge iron ball weighing more than ten kilograms on the ground. The calmness on his face finally disappeared and he shouted angrily.
"Red Cannon, why is there a Red Cannon in such a small town?"

"There are definitely no remnants of Sichuan Province in the city. Check immediately and find out who is in the city."

Nikan's face was filled with shock and anger. Just by looking at the shells, he could deduce that the artillery in the city was probably heavy artillery weighing more than three or four thousand pounds.
This kind of artillery was extremely rare even in the Qing court, but there were actually seven of them in this small city of Bozhou!
The Qing army was unprepared and lined up one mile away, but was hit by the cannons in the city.
Three to four hundred elite soldiers of the Plain White and Red Banners were killed or injured in the artillery stampede. Before Nikan and his men could do anything, 10% of their elite troops were killed or injured.

These were not Green Camp soldiers who would be captured if they died. They were the regular Manchu armored bannermen among the Eight Banners. Now, hundreds of them were killed or injured for no apparent reason. How could Nikan not be angry?

On the city wall, Longxiang Army Lieutenant General Zhao Xing stood in front of three huge black iron cannons, looking at the Qing army swarming around like ants below the city, with a look of regret on his face.

"It's a pity that only two cannons hit the Tartar formation. There are even fewer Tartars in the east and west of the city. Maybe only two or three hundred Tartars were killed in total. It's really a pity."

Jiao Lian put down the telescope in his hand, but his face was calm, and he said

"It's a good plan, but it's not bad to kill two or three hundred people."

"Order the soldiers to the city. Next time, there will be no chance for us to take advantage of the situation."

After Jiao Lian finished speaking, he turned around and walked down the city.

In the morning, the Qing troops were still surrounding the city aggressively. Two hours later, although the cannon fire in the city had stopped, the Qing troops outside the city suddenly retreated several miles away.
There were only countless bloody corpses left under the Bozhou city wall, and no trace of the Qing soldiers.

(End of this chapter)