Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 121 The Prince's Order

Chapter 121 The Prince's Order
Ever since the sound of the golden bell was heard, Fang Yuanke knew that his group was probably going to be abandoned by his uncle.

He was very clear that his uncle had been training him as his successor, and he also knew how much he meant to his uncle.

But this did not stop him from thinking that he would be abandoned by his uncle.

This matter has nothing to do with the strength of family ties, nor with his importance in Fang Guoan's heart. The only thing related to it is the safety of Hangzhou.

Fang Yuanke did not blame Guoan for their final choice at all.

Because he had heard from his uncle more than once how important Hangzhou was to the entire Jiangnan war situation, and he also knew that if his uncle were in his place, he would give up on him without hesitation.

But this doesn't mean he will sit idly by.

"You guys stay behind, I'll lead the way!"

Fang Yuanke shouted loudly, then left the Qing army behind him and rushed directly towards the cavalry between them and Hangzhou.

At this time, soldiers at the rear of the team were constantly entangled by the Qing army and trapped in the encirclement, but he was very clear that these dismounted cavalry in front of him were the biggest obstacle to retreating to Hangzhou.

At this moment, Fang Yuanke had already seen with his experienced eyes that this cavalry was not the surrendered troops under Liu Liangzuo, so he planned to personally fight their way out for his soldiers.

"Whoosh!"

A sharp arrow flew straight towards Fang Yuanke. The arrow was too fast and he had just stabbed it out so he had no time to block it. So he could only use the force of pulling out the gun to pull his body away from the arrow's attack range.

"puff!"

The sound of an arrow entering the body came from behind him, followed by a thud as a Ming soldier fell to the ground.

Fang Yuanke didn't know whether the soldier was shot in a vital spot or the Qing army took advantage of his injury to find an opportunity.

All he knew now was that he had to fight his way into a gap in the cavalry's defense line before being completely surrounded, otherwise the elite troops that his uncle had painstakingly trained for many years would be completely wiped out.

But before that, he had acted as a sharp blade to tear open the Qing army's formation, and then he stood at the end of the team to block the Qing army's charge for a long time.

By this time, his physical strength seemed insufficient for him to break through the defense line of the Tatar cavalry.

"Killing a few more Tartars will be considered as serving the country!"

With this in mind, Fang Yuanke squeezed out the last bit of strength from his body, and then he alternating between fast and slow steps, and in just a few breaths he rushed to the front of the cavalry formation.

Normally, when charging into a formation, there must be someone to protect the sharp blade on both sides. But in the current situation, Fang Yuanke's troops have long lost their formation. How can there be someone to block the attacks from all parts of the formation for him?

A buzzing sound.

Fang Yuanke's spear pierced the enemy in front of him with a sound of breaking through the air, but the man did not dare to use armor to resist and could only dodge sideways.

But how could this young general's reputation as the bravest among the three armies be earned in vain?

When the tip of the spear was aligned with the cavalryman's chest, he took advantage of his unstable center of gravity, tightly grasped the spear with his left hand, and suddenly pushed with his right hand. Then the tip of the spear smashed into his chest with force like a heavy weapon.

There was a muffled sound.

The cavalry was forced to retreat several steps by the shot, and a gap suddenly appeared in the defense line.

But the soldiers who can be sent out as cavalry have more than just this much strength?

Just as the cavalry was retreating, several weapons came in front of Fang Yuanke.

At this point, he also knew that he would not be able to block all the attacks. After using the barrel of his gun to deflect the knife that was heading for his neck, Fang Yuanke was unable to do anything else to respond and could only let the knives hit him.

"Major General!"

Several roars were heard from the battle group, but at this time the enemy's formation had almost completely surrounded Fang Yuanke's troops.

Every soldier has to face several enemies, how can anyone come to the rescue?

"My son!!!!"

Fang Guoan, who had been paying attention to the entire battlefield, saw Fang Yuanke being hit from the fleeting gap.

Then a heart-wrenching cry suddenly resounded through the sky.

In order to defend Hangzhou, he could give up his elite soldiers and even his own nephew whom he treated as his own son.

But when this scene happened before his eyes, he only felt a pain in his heart, and there was nothing in front of his eyes except a blur.

"Chen Hongfan!!"

At this time, Fang Guoan has basically figured out the whole story. In the entire city of Hangzhou, besides him, Chen Hongfan, is there anyone else who has connections with the Tartars?

If the war was not still going on and the several battalions of soldiers had not yet retreated to a safe area, he would have entered the city now to take Chen Hongfan's head as a memorial to the dead soldiers.

With this in mind, Fang Guoan looked up again towards the left side of the battlefield.

When he saw that those battalions of soldiers were about to gather together, and the Tatar cavalry who tried to rush in and separate them were blocked dozens of steps away by the rain of arrows, his thoughts became more and more urgent, and he even shouted to the soldiers beside him without waiting for the two armies to gather.

"If the Tartars dare to pursue us again, fire the cannons from the city walls! Go!"

At this point, Fang Guoan no longer wondered why the Qing army dared to fight such a big battle. He now just wanted to chase the Tartars into the range of the city's artillery fire so that he could attack them head-on with artillery.

The Tatars were still fifty steps away from the artillery range.

The reinforcements were on full alert, while the retreating soldiers were divided into two groups and retreated to the left and right sides of the formation.

Thirty steps.

Seeing that they were about to meet up with the reinforcements, some brave soldiers actually turned around to rescue their entangled comrades.

Ten steps.

Most of the retreating soldiers had retreated to the rear of the formation, while the reinforcements had already begun fighting with the Qing army.

Arrived!

The reinforcements fought and retreated, and not only did the pursuing Qing troops enter the range of the city's artillery fire, but even the Qing army's main formation maintained a forward momentum.

Seeing this, Fang Guoan, whose mind was mostly occupied by the word revenge, felt excited.

He knew that the Qing army must have something to rely on if they dared to do so.

But in his opinion, what could withstand the bombardment of artillery?

Since the Tartars dare to chase us, let them taste the power of artillery.

Closer, closer.

Fang Guoan kept praying in his heart, and when the Tartar formation was within range, he even wanted to move it closer so that the artillery could vent his anger.

"Marshal! Give the order!"

Fang Guoan stared at the Qing army's formation, but seemed unaware of the words of the general beside him.

"Marshal! It's less than 150 meters away. If you get any closer, we can't hit you!"

"put!"

At the reminder of the general, he seemed to have thought of something and suddenly ordered the artillery to fire.

But after he waited for a while with great anticipation, there was no movement at all on the city wall.

"Why aren't you firing yet?!"

Fang Guoan shouted angrily towards the city and then looked towards the Tartar formation, but when he turned his head back, he heard the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground behind him.

When he turned his head again, he saw that the general he had sent earlier was lying straight under the city, while Zhu Changxun, the regent of the Ming Dynasty whom they supported, was smiling at him on the city wall together with Chen Hongfan and Zhang Bingzhen.

"Chen Hongfan, you! Your Highness!"

"General Fang, stop struggling and surrender!"

Looking at the figure in the bright yellow dragon robe, Fang Guoan finally connected everything together.

Why Liu Liangzuo wanted to fight a bigger war.

Why did the Qing army dare to pursue them into the range of the city's artillery fire? It turned out that it was not Chen Hongfan who leaked the information, but the root of everything was His Royal Highness the Regent.

At this moment, Fang Guoan felt that his persistence and sacrifice were so ridiculous, and it turned out that his loyalty was worthless.

"Marshal! Let us protect you and fight your way out."

"Kill them out? What's the point of killing them out?"

Looking at the Qing army formation getting closer and closer, Fang Guoan, who was so disheartened, didn't even want to move.

His nephew and his elite troops were all trapped in the enemy's camp, and all his troops were surrounded by the Tatars outside the city of Hangzhou.

To him, it was nothing.

After all, as a warrior, dying on the battlefield is expected.

If he was really afraid of death, then why would Fang Guoan lead his troops into battle time and time again?

But the appearance of Zhu Changxun really turned this iron man into a walking corpse.

"Marshal! Take us back! The Ming Dynasty is at stake!"

"go back?"

Hearing these two words, Fang Guoan seemed to remember something. He looked into the distance for a while and then said slowly, "Take the brothers and fight your way out."

"Marshal! What about you?"

"Ke'er has suffered a lot with me over the years. I want to take him back."

Hearing this, the general turned his head to look at the vast number of Qing troops and immediately understood the commander-in-chief's idea.

At this time, the Qing army's formation had covered them under the city wall like a shield. It was simply a pipe dream to want to reach Fang Yuanke's final position under such circumstances.

In such a situation, the Marshal still wants to take the Major General back. Doesn't that mean he has lost his mind?

"The Marshal treats us well. Since you want to take the Major General back with you, we will go with you!"

After saying that, the general turned around and shouted to the soldiers, then rushed out first.

"Brothers! Kill!"

"kill!"

The soldiers' roar was like thunder, which not only turned the desperate Fang Guoan into a seasoned warrior again, but also frightened Zhu Changxun so much that he turned pale and took several steps back.

"Chen Hongfan! Find a solution quickly!"

"Don't panic, Your Highness. Fang Guoan only has two battalions of soldiers and horses by his side. The others have been divided and surrounded by the royal army. They can't turn the tables."

"Three sides surrounded, one missing! How come the Tartars don't even understand this principle?!"

At this time, Zhu Changxun was obviously panicked.

He thought that by leaving a gap to allow Fang Anguo's troops to leave, and then the Qing army could enter the city, the matter would be resolved peacefully.

But now the Qing army obviously wants to annihilate all these troops outside the city. If anything unexpected happens under such circumstances, how can I survive?
"Your Highness, please be careful with your words. Fang Guoan can't turn the tables. Even though the Royal Army only has over 10,000 troops going out today, their combat power is extremely strong."

"What if Huang Daozhou and the others come?"

"Your Highness, we have hundreds of soldiers. What can they do even if they come?"

Under Chen Hongfan's persuasion, Ming Dynasty Regent Zhu Changxun finally calmed down. However, after thinking for a while, he said to the soldier beside him: "Go get some wine and meat."

When Chen Hongfan heard these words, he suddenly felt confused.

It is rare to think of eating meat and drinking wine in such an occasion.

But then again, it's just some wine and meat, and the overall situation has been decided, so just let him eat if he wants to.

Thinking of this, he sneered in his heart, then ignored this guy and turned his attention to the battlefield.

Although the Ming army battalions that were separated in various places on the battlefield had not yet been annihilated, it was clear from the increasingly smaller battle groups that they would not be able to hold out for long.

As for the city, Fang Guoan's troops had naturally been completely surrounded by the Qing army. Even if they continued to charge forward, they could only pull out an arrow in the formation at most, but it was difficult to reverse the situation.

Seeing this situation, Chen Hongfan was naturally relaxed, but when he was still calculating how long it would take to end the battle, he saw several black shadows flying out from behind him and heading straight for the battle group under the city.

"Qing army soldiers! Let's have some meat first!"

Zhu Changxun's shout startled Chen Hongfan so much that he stood there in a daze. He had seen many shameless people in his life, but he had never seen or even heard of such a cruel and insane person.

"Your Highness, what are you doing?"

"Demotivation is undermined!"

Hearing this, Chen Hongfan was speechless. As a fellow military commander, he also felt somewhat sorry for Fang Guoan.

Forget it. It’s only for a while anyway. Once he dies, everything will be over.

Zhu Changxun threw pieces of cooked meat into the battle group. Coupled with the continuous shouting, both the Ming and Qing armies understood what was happening.

Zhu Changxun's behavior was unprecedented, but at this time Fang Anguo's physical strength had been exhausted by more than half, and he had no strength to care about anything else except fighting hard.

"Don't worry about me, just kill as many as you can."

As the saying goes, young and strong people are better at fighting.

Even though Fang Guoan is very experienced at his age, he is already out of breath after just this one burst, and seems to have almost no strength to fight again.

"General! Why are you still saying this? We are blind today. Kill one to get back our investment. Kill two to make a profit."

Hearing this, Fang Guoan laughed at himself.

They have all fought with him for many years, so who doesn't know that the city of Hangzhou is their burial place?

With this in mind, Fang Guoan stopped being pretentious and thrust out his spear before rushing straight into the enemy's formation.

He thought clearly that if he was really exhausted, he would inevitably be captured. It would be better to use his body to tie up a few Tartars while he still had some strength, so as to create an opportunity for others to kill him, and thus die together.

"boom!"

Just as he was about to pounce, deafening artillery fire resounded through the sky.

Then bursts of screams were heard coming from afar.

"Marshal! It's a cannon!"

Hearing this, Fang Guoan turned his head and glanced at the city wall. When he saw the figures of Zhu Changxun and others, he did not laugh at himself.

“As you get older, have you become afraid of death?

Otherwise, how can we expect them to change their minds?"

With this in mind, Fang Guoan prepared to fight a few more Tartars, but when he turned his head, it seemed that some unknown shadow passed through his sight.

When he looked carefully, he saw warships flying the flags of the Ming Dynasty going upstream along the Qiantang River, with flashes of fire constantly appearing on the sides of the ships.

It's a warship?!
Is it a Ming Dynasty warship? !
But they are
"Zhenjiang has been captured! The Tartars have no food! The Crown Prince has issued an order! Rescue Hangzhou!"

Historical records: Zhu Changxun "provided wine and food to the Manchu soldiers from the city wall."

Afterwards, the remaining troops of Fang Guoan had no choice but to cross the Qiantang River to the east.

At this point, Hangzhou fell into the hands of the Qing army.

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(End of this chapter)