Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 239 Fire Fighting and Pursuit

Moreover, along with the arson, there was also looting and massacre.

Under the attack of the Qing army, the entire Jiangning city became a mess in a short period of time!

Ever since the Qing army defeated the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, captured Jiangning City, and launched a massacre in the city, Jiangning City, which had finally stabilized for a period of time, was once again hit by war.

In the chaos, countless people fell in pools of blood and in the raging flames.

……

Tang army camp!

Li Yi met Zhang Guoliang and others who led their troops to surrender in the military tent and gave them a banquet.

Li Yi sat in the main seat, facing everyone in the tent, raised his glass and spoke.

"For this first cup, I will use tea instead of wine, and I offer it to all the generals."

"If the generals had not come to their senses and abandoned the dark and joined the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty would not have won the battle of Jiangning so easily."

"Generals, this is a great achievement!"

After saying this, Li Yi raised his cup and drank up the tea in it.

The reason why Li Yi drank tea was not because he didn't want to drink, but because he was in the army now and he didn't want to get drunk.

If he, the head coach, gets drunk and something emergency happens, no one can make decisions and give commands on behalf of Li Yi.

In addition, with the end of the battle of Dashengguan, the Tang army controlled Yuhuatai and Jubaomen, and the battle of Jiangning had been basically won.

However, there are still a large number of remnant Qing troops in the city who are still resisting stubbornly, and who knows what trouble they might cause.

Don’t pop champagne at halftime!

As soon as Li Yi finished speaking, Zhang Guoliang and others raised their glasses and drank the tea in them.

After drinking the tea, Zhang Guoliang spoke.

"The Tang Dynasty's conquest of Jiangning is what the world wants and it is the general trend."

"I led my troops to surrender here just to comply with the will of heaven and the will of the people. I dare not claim any credit for this."

Li Yi laughed out loud when he heard this.

"Hahaha, I dare to guarantee that you generals will not regret your choice today."

"I will definitely lead everyone to accomplish the great cause of 'expelling the Tartars and restoring China', completely destroy the Qing demons, and restore the glory of our Han family."

"By then, your names will be recorded in history and admired by future generations!"

After saying that, Li Yi invited everyone to eat and drink.

The banquet was quite lively. Li Yi was very kind and warm to them all. The faces of these generals who had recently surrendered to the Tang Dynasty were all filled with smiles.

It was obvious that Li Yi's attitude towards them made them feel at ease.

Just at this moment, a notification sounded outside the tent.

Soon, the curtain of the military tent was lifted, and Zhang Tai, the chief of Li Yi's attendant room, walked in from outside and came to Li Yi to report.

"Your Majesty, something happened in Jiangning!"

When Li Yi heard this, the expression on his face couldn't help but move, then he frowned and asked.

"The situation in Jiangning is now settled, what else can happen?"

Zhang Tai heard this and replied with a serious expression.

"In reply to your Majesty, the remnants of the Qing army set fire to Jiangning City."

"Right now, the fire in Jiangning City has already started, and the fire is difficult to control..."

After listening to Zhang Tai's report, the expression on Li Yi's face suddenly changed.

He couldn't sit still any longer, so he stood up from his seat and walked out of the tent.

When he came outside the military tent and looked into the distance, the expression on Li Yi's face changed.

At the end of his sight, in the direction of Jiangning City, the fire had now illuminated half of the sky red.

Moreover, the fire is still spreading rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Li Yi looked at the fire in the direction of Jiangning City, his expression changing constantly.

Finally, he exhaled heavily and sighed with annoyance in his tone.

"What a cruel Yiliang! He really has a cruel heart."

"This Manchu burned Jiangning to a scorched earth. It was easy for him to set the fire, but after this fire, I wonder how many people will lose their homes and become homeless..."

On the side, Zhang Guoliang and others also walked out of the military tent.

Looking at the blazing fire in the direction of Jiangning, everyone's expressions were complicated.

"This... this Qing Yao is too inhumane!"

"Yes, how can this be possible? There are still many civilians in Jiangning City!"

"War is a matter between soldiers. They actually implicated the civilians. It's really... really too shameless."

"..."

In order to leave a good impression in front of Li Yi, these newly surrendered Qing army generals stood on the moral high ground and condemned the atrocities of the Qing army.

Well, although when the Qing Dynasty broke into Jiangning and destroyed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, they also burned, killed and looted in Jiangning City.

However, now they have changed their allegiance and naturally cut off ties with their previous selves.

It was so justified to accuse the Qing army from top to bottom!
Suddenly, the expression on Li Yi's face changed and he spoke.

"The Qing demons set fire to Jiangning City this time. I'm afraid it's not just to vent their anger. They want to force the Tang Dynasty to send troops to put out the fire, and then take the opportunity to escape from Jiangning."

"I will definitely not be able to make him happy!"

"Zhang Tai, immediately send a message to our cavalry troops, and have them attack immediately, bypass Jiangning City, and block the Qing army's retreat to the east. We must not let any of the Qing monsters who set fire to the city escape."

"Especially Yiliang, I will skin him alive!" Upon hearing this, Zhang Tai immediately clasped his fists in response, then turned around to convey Li Yi's order.

Li Yi took a deep breath, then turned his gaze to Zhang Guoliang beside him and spoke.

"The Qing demons caused disasters, Jiangning became a sea of ​​fire, and the number of people who suffered was countless."

"As the Han Dynasty's king's teacher, we cannot sit idly by and watch the tragedy happen. We must lend a helping hand to the people and relieve their distress. This is a virtuous policy."

Upon seeing this, Zhang Guoliang instantly understood Li Yi's hint and spoke.

"Your Majesty, I request to lead the troops into the city to put out the fire!"

Li Yi nodded, then patted Zhang Guoliang on the shoulder and said.

"Okay, since Zhang Qing wants to fight, I'll leave this matter to you."

"I believe Zhang Qing will not let me down!"

Jiangning was on fire. Even without considering one's conscience, Li Yi could not sit idly by and do nothing about it, even if it was just for the sake of the people of Jiangning.

It is only right to send troops to help the people of Jiangning control the fire.

The reason why Zhang Guoliang's troops were sent was very simple.

Li Yi was worried that the Qing army set fire to the city not only to cover their own escape, but also for other reasons.

For example, while the Tang army was busy putting out a fire and had no time to take care of other things, the Qing army would turn around and launch a counterattack, attempting to inflict heavy damage on the Tang army.

If something like this really happened, the Tang army, which was currently fighting the fire, would probably find it difficult to gather troops to respond in a short period of time.

By then, the losses will probably not be small.

Although the Qing army might not necessarily do this, it would certainly be right for Li Yi to prepare for it in advance.

Therefore, Li Yi's response was to let Zhang Guoliang's troops, whose combat effectiveness was not very strong, enter Jiangning to put out the fire.

The rest of the Tang army was preparing for war while remaining vigilant to guard against surprise attacks by the Qing army.

In this way, we can put out the fire and take military measures at the same time, which can barely be considered a win-win strategy.

What if there are not enough people to put out the fire?
Li Yi had no choice.

Before making sure that the Qing army had completely withdrawn, Li Yi could not send all the troops at his disposal to put out the fire.

Jiangning is certainly important, but no matter how important he is, he is not as important as the main force of the Tang army in Li Yi's hands.

As long as the main force of the Tang army in Li Yi's hands is not damaged, even if Jiangning City is burned down, Li Yi can calmly mobilize manpower and material resources to rebuild or even expand it after the war.

But if something unexpected happened to the army at his disposal, even if Li Yi saved Jiangning with another fire, Jiangning would not be his.

The war is still going on, Li Yi will not show any softness.

And Zhang Guoliang did not resist this.

Although putting out fires is a tough job, it is just a tough job. It doesn't mean he has to lead his soldiers to die as cannon fodder. How could Zhang Guoliang have any objection?

……

After a fire started in Jiangning City, Yiliang, Senggelinqin and others took advantage of the chaos to evacuate from Jiangning.

Then they retreated along the Yangtze River towards Zhenjiang, preparing to retreat to Zhenjiang and confront the Tang army again.

Riding on the horse, Yiliang looked back at the Jiangning City that had turned into a sea of ​​fire behind him, his eyes full of joy.

"Haha, doesn't the thief Tang want Jiang Ning?"

"Then give this book to him."

"I want to see how the thief Tang is going to clean up this mess in Jiangning!"

The city of Jiangning was burned down by Yiliang, and the cost of rebuilding it afterwards must have been huge.

As Jiangning is a city whose political significance outweighs its economic significance, it is impossible not to rebuild it.

If Jiangning continues to remain a blank land, then what is the point of the Tang army conquering Jiangning?
Once the Tang army wants to rebuild Jiangning, it will inevitably delay their progress in advancing eastward. This will buy more time for the Qing Dynasty to deploy defenses in Zhenjiang.

Yiliang was very satisfied with his brilliant move of setting fire to the city.

Even Aliguo who was standing by spoke up.

"The Governor's decision to set fire to the city was correct."

"We delayed the rebels' offensive at the lowest cost, buying time for our troops to evacuate."

However, although Aliguo praised it profusely, he was extremely disdainful in his heart.

These Tatars are really barbaric.

They actually committed such an act of arson in their own country and on their own land.

You know, although Britain has committed many murders and arson in the past, those were almost always done on enemy territory when launching an invasion.

They were not like the Tatars, who actually set fire to one of the most important cities in their country.

It's so barbaric!
Yiliang laughed complacently and said.

"Let's go, urge the army to speed up and retreat to Zhenjiang as soon as possible."

"Don't delay, or you'll be caught up by the Tang thieves!"

Seeing this, the Qing army generals around responded one after another.

Soon, the Qing army's retreat speed accelerated significantly.

The Mongolian cavalry under Senggelinqin were galloping in the front. Although there were no Tang army pursuers behind them for the time being, their movements were still visibly panic.

The reason is simple: they were really scared by the Tang army!

But at this moment, the sound of rumbling horse hooves suddenly came from a distance.

Yiliang and others subconsciously looked in the direction where the sound of horse hooves came from.

In the darkness, they saw tiny dots of fire leaping closer and closer to where they were.

(End of this chapter)